MAPS OF HISTORY · ON THIS DAY · August 8

THE DAY IN HISTORY · AUGUST 8

August 8 in history

1918 — Amiens

8 Aug 1918 — 530 tanks, 800 aircraft, dominated artillery and total surprise: the German line breaks in hours and 15,000 surrender. Ludendorff calls it “the black day of the German Army” — not for the ground lost, but because the men gave up.

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1919 — Rawalpindi — Afghanistan goes free

8 Aug 1919 — After a month’s border war, Britain signs away control of Afghanistan’s foreign policy. Watch the parchment north-west corner of this map become sovereign — the first piece of the imperial glacis to break off.

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1942 — Gowalia Tank — “Quit India”

8 Aug 1942 — Congress votes for immediate British withdrawal; Gandhi gives the crowd a mantra: “Do or die.” By dawn the whole leadership is jailed without trial, and the leaderless country rises anyway.

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1944 — Hengyang

23 Jun–8 Aug 1944 — In Ichigo’s path, 17,000 men of the Tenth Army hold a rail city against 100,000 for 47 days — the longest defense of the war. It falls; the corridor is cut through; and the political shock in Chungking and Washington outlasts the campaign.

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