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Balalae Island
Balalae Island (or Ballale/Ballali) is an island of the Shortland Islands Group in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. Early history ''Ballale'' means border place in the local Alu language. As long as the natives of the Shortland Islands can remember, the island was uninhabited. According to a local legend, a strange blue light was often observed over the island. Therefore, the island was avoided, and, traditionally, no one lived there. For the local people, Ballale Island was considered a haunted place (''sacu-sacu''). War groups from neighbouring Buka Island used this uninhabited island to cannibalize their prisoners captured during successful tribal feuds and headhunting raids to Choiseul Island. Englishman Sam Atkinson purchased the island in 1901 and established a coconut plantation, harvesting copra. The plantation included the Atkinson family home, as well as copra drying sheds and living quarters for workers. Copra was exported by boat. When Sam Atkinson died in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal. The country takes its name from the wider area of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (currently a part of Papua New Guinea), but excludes the Santa Cruz Islands. The islands have been settled since at least some time between 30,000 and 28,800 BCE, with later waves of migrants, notably the Lapita people, mixing and producing the modern indigenous Solomon Islanders population. In 1568, the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to visit them. Though not named by Mendaña, it is believed that the islands were called ''"the Solomons"'' by those who later receiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Bowell
Norman Henry Bowell (2 February 1904 – 5 March 1943) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army soldier. Cricket and WWII service The son of the cricketer Alex Bowell, he was born in February 1904 at Oxford. Having been on the Hampshire staff from the beginning of the 1920s, he made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Northamptonshire at Northampton in 1924, but was not required to bat or bowl in a match which was curtailed by poor weather. Bowell travelled with the Hampshire team onto their next fixture which followed immediately after at Trent Bridge against Nottinghamshire, making scores of 2 and 6, in addition to bowling ten wicket-less overs. The following season, he made a single first-class appearance for Northamptonshire against Dublin University, scoring 48 runs in the Northamptonshire first innings, before being dismissed by Gustavus Kelly. Bowell made no further appearances in first-class cricket, but did play minor counties cricket fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balalae Loc
Balalae Island (or Ballale/Ballali) is an island of the Shortland Islands Group in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. Early history ''Ballale'' means border place in the local Alu language. As long as the natives of the Shortland Islands can remember, the island was uninhabited. According to a local legend, a strange blue light was often observed over the island. Therefore, the island was avoided, and, traditionally, no one lived there. For the local people, Ballale Island was considered a haunted place (''sacu-sacu''). War groups from neighbouring Buka Island used this uninhabited island to cannibalize their prisoners captured during successful tribal feuds and headhunting raids to Choiseul Island. Englishman Sam Atkinson purchased the island in 1901 and established a coconut plantation, harvesting copra. The plantation included the Atkinson family home, as well as copra drying sheds and living quarters for workers. Copra was exported by boat. When Sam Atkinson died in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire-associated North Solomons. Its land area is . The population of the whole province, including nearby islets such as the Carterets, is approximately 300,000 (2019 census). The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at . The much smaller Buka Island, , lies to the north, across the wide Buka Strait. Even though the strait is narrow, there is no bridge across it, but there is a regular ferry service between the key settlements on either side. The main airport (or airstrip) in the north is in the town of Buka. Bougainville is the largest island in the Solomon Islands archipelago. Most of the islands in this archipelago (which are primarily concentrated in the southern and eastern portions of it) are part of the politically independent Solomon Islands. Two of these islands ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buin, Papua New Guinea
Buin is a town on Bougainville Island, and the capital of the South Bougainville District, in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, in eastern Papua New Guinea. The island is in the northern Solomon Islands, Solomon Islands Archipelago of the Melanesia region, in the South Pacific Ocean. It is a government-established town in the jungle, now inland from the coast, where its sea-landing predecessor of the same name was located. The town is in an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea established in 2000, and was the former North Solomons Province (1976-2000).''Merriam Websters Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition'', p. 183. History Buin and Bougainville Island gained world attention with the Japanese Army's occupation in 1942, World War II, and the subsequent Bougainville Campaign, American counterattack in November 1943. After the war, the present-day town of Buin was established, inland to the north from its original location, which had been a minimal point of sea-landing on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Vengeance
Operation Vengeance was the American military operation to kill Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy on April 18, 1943, during the Solomon Islands campaign in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Yamamoto, commander of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, was killed on Bougainville Island when his transport bomber aircraft was shot down by United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft operating from Kukum Field on Guadalcanal. The mission of the U.S. aircraft was specifically to kill Yamamoto and was based on United States Navy intelligence on Yamamoto's itinerary in the Solomon Islands area. The death of Yamamoto reportedly damaged the morale of Japanese naval personnel, raised the morale of the Allied forces, and was intended as revenge by U.S. leaders, who blamed Yamamoto for the attack on Pearl Harbor that initiated the war between Imperial Japan and the United States. The U.S. pilots claimed to have shot down three twin-engine bombers and two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isoroku Yamamoto
was a Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II until he was killed. Yamamoto held several important posts in the IJN, and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations, especially its development of naval aviation. He was the commander-in-chief during the early years of the Pacific War and oversaw major engagements including the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway. Yamamoto was killed in April 1943 after American code breakers identified his flight plans, enabling the United States Army Air Forces to shoot down his plane. His death was a major blow to Japanese military morale during World War II. Family background Yamamoto was born in Nagaoka, Niigata. His father, Sadayoshi Takano (高野 貞吉), was an intermediate-rank ''samurai'' of the Nagaoka Domain. " Isoroku" is an old Japanese term meaning "56"; the name referred to his father's age at Isoroku's birth. In 1916, Iso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, or fleet admiral. Etymology The word in Middle English comes from Anglo-French , "commander", from Medieval Latin , . These evolved from the Arabic () – (), “king, prince, chief, leader, nobleman, lord, a governor, commander, or person who rules over a number of people,” and (), the Arabic article answering to “the.” In Arabic, admiral is also represented as (), where () means the sea. The 1818 edition of Samuel Johnson's '' A Dictionary of the English Language'', edited and revised by the Rev. Henry John Todd, states that the term “has been traced to the Arab. emir or amir, lord or commander, and the Gr. , the sea, q. d. ''prince of the sea''. The word is written both with and without the d, in other languages, as we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender in World War II. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) was formed between 1952–1954 after the dissolution of the IJN. The Imperial Japanese Navy was the third largest navy in the world by 1920, behind the Royal Navy and the United States Navy (USN). It was supported by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service for aircraft and airstrike operation from the fleet. It was the primary opponent of the Western Allies in the Pacific War. The origins of the Imperial Japanese Navy go back to early interactions with nations on the Asian continent, beginning in the early medieval period and reaching a peak of activity during the 16th and 17th centuries at a time of cultural exchange with European powers during the Age of Discovery. After t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pen And Sword Books
Pen and Sword Books, also stylised as Pen & Sword, is a British publisher which specialises in printing and distributing books in both hardback and softback on military history, militaria and other niche subjects; factual non-fiction, primarily focused on the United Kingdom (UK). Pen and Sword has over 6,000 titles available in print, and also available as ebook download. Releasing 500 new titles each year on a variety of subjects, it is part of the ''Barnsley Chronicle'' newspaper group. History The first books produced by the company were in response to public demand, following a series of articles first published weekly in the ''Barnsley Chronicle''. ''Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks'' told the story of crash sites in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park, and a further weekly feature on the history of two Kitchener battalions, known as the Barnsley Pals, aroused a public interest. Over the years these books have been reprinted a number of times. Following on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Singapore
The Fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore,; ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் வீழ்ச்சி; ja, シンガポールの戦い took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of Japan captured the British stronghold of Singapore, with fighting lasting from 8 to 15 February 1942. Singapore was the foremost British military base and economic port in South–East Asia and had been of great importance to British interwar defence strategy. The capture of Singapore resulted in the largest British surrender in its history. Prior to the battle, Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita had advanced with about 30,000 men down the Malayan Peninsula in the Malayan campaign. The British erroneously considered the jungle terrain impassable, leading to a swift Japanese advance as Allied defences were quickly outflanked. The British Lieutenant-General, Arthur Percival, commanded 85,000 Allied troops at Singapore, although many units ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Provinces Of The Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is divided into nine provinces. The national capital, Honiara, on the island of Guadalcanal, is separately governed as the country's Capital Territory. History Under the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, there were initially 12 administrative districts: Choiseul, Eastern Solomons, Gizo, Guadalcanal, Lord Howe, Malaita, Nggela and Savo, Rennell and Bellona Islands, Santa Cruz, Shortlands, Sikaiana (Stewart), and Ysabel and Cape Marsh. The administrative centre was in Tulagi. After World War II, the protectorate was reorganised into four districts, namely Central, Western, Eastern, and Malaita, which were then further subdivided into councils. The administrative centre was moved from Tulagi to Honiara. At its independence in 1978, the protectorate became the sovereign state of Solomon Islands. Honiara continued to function as the capital of the sovereign nation, and the inherited districts and councils remained until 1981, when the nation was reorganised in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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