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From today's featured article

German paratroopers jumping over Crete

The Battle of Rethymno was part of the Battle of Crete, fought during World War II on the Greek island of Crete between 20 and 29 May 1941. Two Australian battalions, supported by Greek forces, defended an airstrip and the nearby town of Rethymno against a German paratrooper attack (pictured). Due to confusion and delays at the airfields in Greece, the German assault was launched without direct air support, and drops occurred over an extended period rather than simultaneously. German units dropping near Allied positions suffered very high casualties, both in the air and on the ground. More than 500 Germans were captured, including the local commander. The Germans concentrated their resources on the battle for the airfield at Maleme, 50 mi (80 km) to the west, which they won. The Allies ordered an evacuation of Crete on 27 May, but were unable to communicate this to the units at Rethymno. Faced by a superior force of Germans equipped with tanks and artillery the Australians surrendered on 29 May. (Full article...)

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In the news

Darwin's Arch before collapsing

Darwin's Arch (pictured), a rock formation in the Galápagos Islands, collapses due to natural erosion.
Cyclone Tauktae makes landfall in Gujarat, killing at least 90 people in India and Pakistan and forcing the evacuation of over 200,000 others.
In association football, Leicester City win the FA Cup, and Manchester City win the Premier League.
The China National Space Administration's Tianwen-1 lander-rover vehicle successfully lands on Mars.

On this day

May 20: National Day of Remembrance in Cambodia (1976); National Day in Cameroon (1972)

Levi Strauss

794 – According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia was beheaded on the orders of King Offa of Mercia.
1217 – First Barons' War: English forces under William Marshal defeated French troops at the Battle of Lincoln.
1873 – Levi Strauss (pictured) and Jacob W. Davis received a patent for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim overalls, allowing their company to start manufacturing blue jeans.
1983 – uMkhonto we Sizwe, the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress, detonated a car bomb in Pretoria, resulting in 19 deaths and 217 injuries.

Gero (d. 965)
John W. Beschter (b. 1763)
Šárka Kašpárková (b. 1971)

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Today's featured picture

La Nymphe surprise is an 1861 oil-on-canvas painting by the French Impressionist painter Édouard Manet. The painting depicts a young woman (described as a nymph) sitting in a wooded landscape beside a lake, looking surprised at the viewer. A blue iris grows at her feet, and she is nude except for pearls around her neck and a ring on her little finger. The model for the painting was Suzanne Leenhoff, a Dutch pianist with whom Manet had an affair; they later married in 1863. The work is in the collection of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Painting credit: Édouard Manet

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