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Kiyonao Ichiki, commander of the Japanese unit

The Battle of the Tenaru was a land battle between the Imperial Japanese Army and Allied forces on August 21, 1942, at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands during World War II. The U.S. Marines were defending the Lunga perimeter around Henderson Field, which had been captured by the Allies on August 7. The Japanese unit, commanded by Kiyonao Ichiki (pictured), was sent to recapture the airfield and drive the Allied forces off the island. Underestimating the strength of the Allied forces, Ichiki's unit conducted a nighttime frontal assault on Marine positions at Alligator Creek on the east side of the perimeter and were defeated with heavy losses. The Marines counterattacked after daybreak, and about 800 of Ichiki's original 917 men were killed. After Tenaru, the Japanese realized that Allied forces on Guadalcanal were much greater in number than originally estimated and sent larger forces for their later attempts to retake Henderson Field. (This article is part of a featured topic: Guadalcanal Campaign.)

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... that Gian Franco Bottazzo and Deborah Doniach proved that type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease?
... that as part of its #BlossomWatch campaign, the National Trust plans to plant trees along a circular bus route in Birmingham?
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In the news

William Ruto

William Ruto (pictured) is elected President of Kenya.
In Giza, Egypt, a church fire spreads to a nursery, killing 41 people, including at least 18 children.
Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, is critically injured after a stabbing at a speech in the United States.
A mass fish kill occurs in the river Oder in Poland and Germany.

On this day

August 21

Xá Lợi Pagoda, raided by South Vietnamese special forces

1717 – Austro-Turkish War: Austrian troops under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy captured the strategically important city of Belgrade from the Ottoman Empire.
1789 – The national colours of Italy first appeared on a tricolour cockade in Genoa.
1944 – World War II: A combined Canadian–Polish force captured the town of of Falaise, France, in the final offensive of the Battle of Normandy.
1963 – South Vietnamese special forces loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, the brother of President Ngô Đình Diệm, raided and vandalised Buddhist pagodas (one pictured) across the country, arresting thousands and leaving hundreds dead.
2015 – Passengers on a Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris confronted and subdued an attacker who attempted a mass shooting.

Baldwin II of Jerusalem (d. 1131)
Art Farmer (b. 1928)
Sergey Brin (b. 1973)

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The Argentine real was the currency of Argentina between 1813 and 1881. From 1822, it was subdivided into ten décimos. The sol was also issued during this period and was equal to the real, while the peso was worth eight reales and the escudo was worth sixteen reales. This 1836 eight-escudo gold coin was issued by the Argentine Confederation, a predecessor state of modern Argentina, featuring a portrait of the Argentine politician and general Juan Manuel de Rosas on the obverse, and a depiction of a mountain with crossed flags and cannons on the reverse. Only six of these coins are known to exist; this one forms part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.

Coin design credit: Argentine Confederation, photographed by the National Numismatic Collection

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