The Western Desert campaign, took place in the deserts of Egypt and Libya and was the main theatre in the North African campaign of the Second World War. Military operations began in June 1940 with the Italian declaration of war and the Italian invasion of Egypt in September. Operation Compass, a British five-day raid in December 1940, led to the destruction of the Italian 10th Army. Benito Mussolini sought help from Adolf Hitler, who sent a small German force to Tripoli under Directive 22; the Afrika Korps was formally under Italian command as Italy was the main Axis power in the Mediterranean and North Africa. In the spring of 1941, Rommel led Operation Sonnenblume which pushed the British back to Egypt except for the Siege of Tobruk at the port; the Axis forces retired again to El Agheila. In 1942 Axis forces drove the British back again and captured Tobruk after the Battle of Gazala but failed to destroy their opponents; the Axis invaded Egypt and the British retreated to El Alamein, where at the Battle of El Alamein the Eighth Army held defeated the Axis forces.
The Allies drove the Axis forces out of Libya to Tunisia and defeated them in the Tunisian campaign. The Axis never overcame the supply constraints limiting the size of their land and air forces in North Africa and the desert war became a sideshow for Germany when the invasion of the Soviet Union began on 22 June 1941; the Western Desert Force was depleted in early 1941 to send units to Greece as German troops and Italian reinforcements reached Libya. By the summer Commonwealth troops had returned from Syria and in the year more US supplies and personnel arrived for the Eighth Army. In Operation Torch the First Army, including the II US Corps, invaded Morocco and Algeria, threatening the Axis armies in North Africa from the west; the Axis forces surrendered in Tunisia on 13 May 1943. Cyrenaica had been an Italian colony since the Italo-Turkish War. With Tunisia, a part of French North Africa to the west and Egypt to the east, the Italians prepared to defend both frontiers through a North Africa Supreme Headquarters, under the command of the Governor-General of Italian Libya, Marshal of the Air Force, Italo Balbo.
Supreme Headquarters had the 5th Army and the 10th Army which in mid-1940 had nine metropolitan divisions of about 13,000 men each, three Blackshirt and two Libyan divisions with 8,000 men each. Italian army divisions had been reorganised in the late 1930s, from three regiments each to two and reservists were recalled in 1939, along with the usual call-up of conscripts. Morale was considered to be high and the army had recent experience of military operations; the Italian navy had prospered under the Fascist regime, which had paid for fast, well-built and well-armed ships and a large submarine fleet but the navy lacked experience and training. The air force had been ready for war in 1936 but had stagnated by 1939 and was not considered by the British to be capable of maintaining a high rate of operations; the 5th Army with eight divisions was based in Tripolitania, the western half of Libya opposite Tunisia and the 10th Army with six infantry divisions, held Cyrenaica in the east. When war was declared, the 10th Army deployed the 1st Libyan Division Sibelle on the frontier from Giarabub to Sidi Omar and XXI Corps from Sidi Omar to the coast and Tobruk.
The XXII Corps moved south-west of Tobruk. The British had based forces in Egypt since 1882 but these were reduced by the terms of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936; the small British and Commonwealth force garrisoned the Red Sea route. The canal was vital to British communications with its Far Indian Ocean territories. In mid-1939, Lieutenant-General Archibald Wavell was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the new Middle East Command, over the Mediterranean and Middle East theatres; until the Franco-Axis armistice, the French divisions in Tunisia faced the Italian 5th Army on the western Libyan border. In Libya, the Royal Army had about 215,000 men and in Egypt, the British had about 36,000 troops, with another 27,500 men training in Palestine. British forces included the Mobile Division, one of only two British armoured training formations, which in mid-1939 was renamed Armoured Division; the Egypt–Libya border was defended by the Egyptian Frontier Force and in June 1940, the headquarters of the 6th Infantry Division took over command in the Western Desert, with instructions to drive back the Italians from their frontier posts and dominate the hinterland if war began.
The 7th Armoured Division less the 7th Armoured Brigade, assembled at Mersa Matruh and sent the 7th Support Group forward towards the frontier as a covering force, where the RAF moved most of its bombers. The HQ of the 6th Infantry Division, which lacked complete and trained units, was renamed the Western Desert Force on 17 June. In Tunisia, the French had eight divisions, capable only of limited operations and in Syria were three poorly armed and trained divisions, about 40,000 troops and border guards, on occupation duties against the civilian population. Italian land and air forces in Libya outnumbered the British in Egypt but suffered from poor morale and were handicapped by some inferior equipment. In Italian East Africa were another 130,000 Italian and African troops with 400 guns, 200 light tanks and 20,000 lorries; the war was fought in the a
Confess is an Iranian heavy metal band. The band is known for facing charges in Iran for their music; the band members incur more than 14 years in prison in their country. Formed in 2010, the band defines its music as nu metal, NWOAHM and thrash, their influences are Lamb of God, Slipknot, DevilDriver, Chimaira. Band members Nikan "Siyanor" Khosravi and Arash "Chemical" Ilkhani were arrested on 10 November 2015 and held in solitary confinement. At that time, they faced execution after being charged with blasphemy for "writing satanic music and speaking to foreign radio stations", their second album included tracks entitled "Teh-Hell-Ran" and "I'm Your God Now", which are considered blasphemous by Iran's hardline Islamic government. The full charges levied against the band included blasphemy; as of January 2017, according to Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International's Researcher on Iran, no band members were facing execution. However, they may still suffer consequences as a result of Iran's crackdown on freedom of expression.
The members petitioned for political asylum in Norway. Khosriva and Ilkhani live in Norway. On 9 July 2019, the band members were sentenced to 141⁄2 years in prison by the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran. For the crime of playing metal, frontman Nikan Khosravi has been sentenced to 74 lashes. Nikan and Arash are in Norway, where they continue making their music. Nikan "Siyanor" Khosravi: Vocalist / Lead & Bass Guitars Arash "Chemical" Ilkhani: Bass / DJ - Sampler Erling Malm: Rhythm Guitar Roger Tunheim Jakobsen: "Mr. Master": DJ / Sampler "DicTator": Guitarist / Touring drummer Samir "Outsider" Malikoghlou: Recording drummer Beginning of Dominion Back To My Future 2/4 In Pursuit of Dreams Revenge at All Costs Confess on Twitter Confess on Facebook Confess on ReverbNation Confess at Encyclopaedia Metallum
The 1911–12 season was the 39th season of competitive football in Scotland and the 22nd season of the Scottish Football League. Champions: Rangers Celtic were winners of the Scottish Cup after a 2–0 win over Clyde in the final. Joe Watters scored the two game-winning goals in the last 23 seconds of the game.. *replay Petershill were winners of the Junior Cup after a 5–0 win over Denny Hibs in the final. Scotland shared the 1912 British Home Championship trophy with England. Key: = Home match = Away match BHC = British Home Championship 1911–12 Aberdeen F. C. season Scottish Football Historical Archive
Robert Lindsay Poole was a controversial Queensland Labor politician from 2001 until his resignation in early 2006. Poole was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland as member for the Gold Coast based seat of Gaven at the Beattie Labor Government's landslide 2001 state election victory. Poole was returned at the 2004 state election with a smaller margin. In February 2006, Poole's extended absences from his electorate, because his wife and children live in Thailand, were publicised. Additionally, it was revealed that the MP would take up to three months off to have a knee reconstruction in Thailand. Poole and Beattie, his party leader, drew strong criticism for this decision to allow Poole to remain overseas for so long. Beattie appointed the member for Ipswich West, Don Livingstone, to mind Poole's seat in his absence, only to find out that Livingstone had been spending time in Thailand visiting Poole, his friend and business associate. On 25 February, Beattie ordered Poole to return from his latest trip by early April or a by-election would be called in Gaven.
Poole subsequently withdrew his candidacy for the seat at the next state election. When Parliament resumed, Poole wrote to Beattie, resigning as the member for Gaven on 28 February 2006. In 2010, Poole faced charges of cheating and fraud before a Thai court, over his involvement with energy company Envee Energy Australia. In March 2011, the court acquitted Poole of all charges. Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 2004–2006 Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 2001–2004
The Afar language is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken by the Afar people inhabiting Djibouti and Ethiopia. Afar is classified within the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, it is further categorized in the Lowland East Cushitic sub-group, along with Somali. Its closest relative is the Saho language; the Afar language is spoken as a mother tongue by the Afar people in Djibouti and the Afar Region of Ethiopia. According to Ethnologue, there are 1,379,200 total Afar speakers. Of these, 1,280,000 were recorded in the 2007 Ethiopian census, with 906,000 monolinguals registered in the 1994 census. In Djibouti, Afar is a recognized national language, it is one of the broadcasting languages of the Radio Television of Djibouti public network. In Eritrea, Afar is recognized as one of nine national languages which formally enjoy equal status although Tigrinya and Arabic are by far of greatest significance in official usage. There are daily broadcasts on the national radio and a translated version of the Eritrean constitution.
In education, Afar speakers prefer Arabic – which many of them speak as a second language – as the language of instruction. In the Afar Region of Ethiopia, Afar is recognized as an official working language; the consonants of the Afar language in the standard orthography are listed below: Voiceless stop consonants which close syllables are released, e.g.. Short a e i o u long aa ee ii oo uu Sentence final vowels of affirmative verbs are aspirated, e.g. abeh = /aˈbeʰ/'He did.' Sentence final vowels of negative verbs are not aspirated, e.g. maabinna = /ˈmaabinna/'He did not do.' Sentence final vowels of interrogative verbs are lengthened, e.g. abee? = /aˈbeː/'Did he do?' Otherwise, stress in word-final. Possible syllable shapes are V, VV, VC, VVC, CV, CVV and CVVC; as in most other Cushitic languages, the basic word order in Afar is subject–object–verb. In Ethiopia, Afar is written with the Ge'ez script. Since around 1849, the Latin script has been used in other areas to transcribe the language. Additionally, Afar is transcribed using the Arabic script.
In the early 1970s, two Afar intellectuals and nationalists and Redo, formalized the Afar alphabet. Known as Qafar Feera, the orthography is based on the Latin script. Officials from the Institut des Langues de Djibouti, the Eritrean Ministry of Education, the Ethiopian Afar Language Studies and Enrichment Center have since worked with Afar linguists and community representatives to select a standard orthography for Afar from among the various existing writing systems used to transcribe the language. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z a, ba, ca, da, e, fa, ga, ha, i, ja, ka, la, ma, na, o, pa, qa, ra, sa, ta, u, va, wa, ya, za Afar people Afar Region Loren F. Bliese. 1976. "Afar", The Non-Semitic Languages of Ethiopia. Ed. Lionel M. Bender. Ann Arbor, Michigan: African Studies Center, Michigan State University. Pages 133–164. Loren F. Bliese. 1981. A generative grammar of Afar. Summer Institute of Linguistics publications in linguistics vol. 65. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics & The University of Texas at Arlington.
ISBN 0-88312-083-6. J. G. Colby. 1970. "Notes on the northern dialect of the Afar language", Journal of Ethiopian Studies 8:1–8. R. J. Hayward and Enid M. Parker. 1985. Afar-English-French dictionary with Grammatical Notes in English. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Richard J. Hayward. 1998. "Qafar", Handbook of Morphology. Ed. A. Spencer & A. Zwicky. Oxford: Blackwell. Pages 624-647. Didier Morin. 1997. Poésie traditionnelle des Afars. Langues et cultures africaines, 21 / SELAF vol. 363. Paris/Louvain: Peeters. Enid M. Parker. 2006. English–Afar Dictionary. Washington DC: Dunwoody Press. Rainer M. Voigt. 1975. "Bibliographie des Saho–Afar", Africana Marburgensia 8:53–63. World Atlas of Language Structures information on Qafar - Afar language learning web site Omniglot - Afar
Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta was an officer in the Gallic army of Gaius Julius Caesar. The little we know of Cotta is found in Book V of Caesar's De Bello Gallico. In 54 BC, when Caesar returned from his second expedition to Britain, he found food in short supply so he distributed his eight legions amongst a larger number of Gallic states from which to draw their sustenance during the winter. To the eighth legion, raised from across the Po he added another five cohorts. In command of this legion and the other cohorts, he put Quintus Titurius Sabinus and Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta; these two were appointed Legati. The troops of Sabinus and Cotta were sent by Caesar into the country of the Eburones, in Belgica, most of which lies between the Meuse and the Rhine where they set up Fort Aduatuca in which to winter; the Eburones tribe was under the rule of Catuvolcus. These two, instigated by the Treveri, collected their men and after a fortnight, fell on a detachment of Romans who were collecting wood.
The marauding Eburones went on to assault the Roman Fort. The Roman infantry mounted the ramparts and despatched a squadron of Spanish horse which, falling on the flank of the enemy, routed them in that engagement. Ambiorix set up a parley with the Romans in which he admitted his debt to Caesar who had taken his side in certain disputes with other Gallic tribes but said that, despite the limited strength of the Eburones, he was compelled to take action by pressure from the other tribes who were determined to win their freedom from the yoke of Rome, he pointed out that a huge force of Germans angered by Caesar’s successes, were rampaging across the Rhine and offered to give the Romans safe passage to the Fort of either of two nearby legions. The Roman representatives, Quintus Junius, a Spaniard and Gaius Arpineius, took the news back to the beleaguered Fort. A council of war, attended by the leading officers and NCOs, was formed. During this council, two opposing opinions took form. Speaking first, Cotta argued.
He pointed out that experience had shown them that Germans could be resisted from behind the fortifications of a Roman Fort, that they had plenty of supplies, were within easy reach of assistance from nearby legions and that they should not take at face value either the news or the advice of an enemy. Sabinus took a grimmer view. Denying that he was motivated by fear, he said that he believed that Caesar was on his way to Italy, that the Germans were about to add to the number of the besieging Eburones and that it seemed that they were about to face the combined wrath of grudge-ridden Germans and Gauls, as the militarily weak Eburones would not dare face a Roman legion otherwise. Moreover, he said it would be better to make for a nearby legion and face the trouble with their comrades than to risk famine through a prolonged siege; the officers told their commanders that whichever view prevailed was not as important as coming to a unanimous decision. Cotta was forced to give way and Sabinus prevailed.
The Romans spent the night in minor disarray, putting together their belongings and preparing to march out of the Fort once morning came. The enemy prepared an ambush; when dawn broke, the Romans, in marching order, more burdened than usual, left the Fort. When a large part of the column had entered a nearby ravine, the Gauls assaulted them from the front and back to both tie up the rearguard and prevent the vanguard from leaving the ravine. Caesar notes that Sabinus lost his mind, running from cohort to cohort and issuing ineffectual orders. Cotta, by contrast, did his duty as a commander, in action his duty as a soldier. Due to the length of the column, the commanders could not issue orders efficiently so they passed word along the line to form a square; the troops fought bravely and in most of the clashes came out on top though fear and panic was close to overcoming them. Thus, Ambiorix ordered his men to throw javelins into the troops, to fall back if met with heavy resistance and harass the Romans if they tried to fall into rank.
During the engagement it is said. Sabinus sent word to Ambiorix to parlay for a Roman surrender. Ambiorix acceded to the request and though he was wounded, Cotta refused to come to terms and said he'd never contemplate surrendering. Sabinus followed through with his plan to meet with Ambiorix, who after promising Sabinus his life and the safety of his troops, had him surrounded and cut down; the Gauls charged the remaining Romans who had their guard lowered as they were waiting on word from Sabinus' meeting. Though the wounded Cotta continued to fight bravely, he and the majority of his legionaries were undone by the unexpected enemy charge. A small contingent who managed to escape fell back to the Fort where in utter despair of the situation, they decided to commit suicide. A handful of men slipped away in another direction and proceeded to find Titus Labienus, a Lieutenant-General of a nearby legion and inform him of the disaster. Caesar mentions Cotta a few other times in the Commentarii de Bello Gallico.
In book II. In book IV. In Book IV.