AU-674254

This is an Australian offical card, a FDC issued by the Australian Post but the image on the card takes us to Papua New Guinea and to a World War II Battle, the Battle of Milne Bay. 

The Battle of Milne Bay (25 August – 7 September 1942), also known as Operation RE or the Battle of Rabi by the Japanese, was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II.

AU-674254, sent by Laura.

Japanese naval infantry troops, known as Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai (Special Naval Landing Forces), with two small tanks attacked the Allied airfields at Milne Bay that had been established on the eastern tip of New Guinea. Due to poor intelligence work, the Japanese miscalculated the size of the predominantly Australian garrison and, believing that the airfields were only defended by two or three companies, initially landed a force roughly equivalent in size to one battalion on 25 August 1942. The Allies, forewarned by intelligence from Ultra, had heavily reinforced the garrison.

The battle is often described as the first major battle of the war in the Pacific in which Allied troops decisively defeated Japanese land forces. Although Japanese land forces had experienced local setbacks elsewhere in the Pacific earlier in the war, unlike at Milne Bay, these earlier actions had not forced them to withdraw completely and abandon their strategic objective. Nor did they have such a profound impact upon the thoughts and perceptions of the Allies towards the Japanese, and their prospects for victory. Milne Bay showed the limits of Japanese capability to expand using relatively small forces in the face of increasingly larger Allied troop concentrations and command of the air. As a result of the battle, Allied morale was boosted and Milne Bay was developed into a major Allied base, which was used to mount subsequent operations in the region. - in: wikipedia

Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto - Indonesia

The last time I posted a card from Indonesia was in 2016!! Long time ago. 

Many, if not most of my Indonesian cards, including UNESCO cards, were sent by Shinta. This year the country added the 9th site to the list and this card was also sent by her. 

Photo © Heritage Collection

Built for the extraction, processing and transport of high-quality coal in an inaccessible region of Sumatra, this industrial site was developed by the Netherlands’ colonial government from the late 19th to the beginning of the 20th century with a workforce recruited from the local population and supplemented by convict labour from Dutch-controlled areas. It comprises the mining site and company town, coal storage facilities at the port of Emmahaven and the railway network linking the mines to the coastal facilities. The Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage was built as an integrated system that enabled the efficient deep-bore extraction, processing, transport and shipment of coal. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1610

Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City - China

Wei also sent me a card of the second site China added this year to the UNESCO WHS list,  the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City. 

Located in the Yangtze River Basin on the south-eastern coast of the country, the archaeological ruins of Liangzhu (about 3,300-2,300 BCE) reveal an early regional state with a unified belief system based on rice cultivation in Late Neolithic China. The property is composed of four areas – the Area of Yaoshan Site, the Area of High-dam at the Mouth of the Valley, the Area of Low-dam on the Plain and the Area of City Site. These ruins are an outstanding example of early urban civilization expressed in earthen monuments, urban planning, a water conservation system and a social hierarchy expressed in differentiated burials in cemeteries within the property. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1592/

Yancheng Wetland - China

On this year session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, China added 2 new sites to it's already long list of World Heritage Sites. China's Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf (Phase I) is the country's 54th World Heritage site, 14th natural World Heritage site and the country's first and the world's second intertidal mud flat heritage site. 

This card was sent by Wei. 

Every year, thousands of migratory birds, especially shorebirds, make stopovers, breed or winter on the intertidal wetlands of  Coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf. The red-crowned crane, spoon-billed sandpiper, Nordmann's greenshank and Saunders's gull are endangered migratory birds that will now be better protected. 

The Phase I site, covers most of the Yancheng Wetland Rare Birds National Nature Reserve, the Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve and intertidal mud flats facing the Yellow Sea in the cities of Yancheng and Dongtai in Jiangsu province.  - in: www.chinadaily.com.cn

Old Town of Ghadamès - Libya

Let's start this month with a new UNESCO card. Old Town of Ghadamès, an oasis Berber town in  northwestern Libya, was inscribed in 1986. 

This great card was sent by Doris from Sweden. 

© Corbis/George Steinmetz

Ghadamès, known as 'the pearl of the desert', stands in an oasis. It is one of the oldest pre-Saharan cities and an outstanding example of a traditional settlement. Its domestic architecture is characterized by a vertical division of functions: the ground floor used to store supplies; then another floor for the family, overhanging covered alleys that create what is almost an underground network of passageways; and, at the top, open-air terraces reserved for the women. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/362/

Dominican Church, Lviv - Ukraine

The Dominican Church is rightfully considered to be one of the best monuments to late baroque architecture not only in Lviv, but all of Europe. The building harmoniously rounds out the historical center’s ensemble. Along with other temples in Lviv, it is included on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites. - in: http://discover-ukraine.info/places/western-ukraine/lviv/72

 UA-358335, sent by Marina.

The Dominican church and monastery in Lviv, Ukraine is located in the city's Old Town, east of the market square.

The present day Baroque church, commonly attributed to Jan de Witte, was consecrated in 1764. In 1865 a neo-baroque bell tower was added to the complex.

UA-1182066, sent by Victoria.

After World War II the complex was occupied by soviets, used as warehouse and in the 1970s changed into a museum of religion and atheism. With the collapse of the soviet union the church was given to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and now serves as a parish church, the monastery however has not been returned yet and still serves as a museum (renamed as the museum of religion). - in: wikipedia

Latin Cathedral, Lviv - Ukraine

Here comes another card sent by Ana. She says Ukraine is lovely and quite different compared to other countries. I've only been to Kiev a couple of hours a few years ago. Didn't get to see much of the city because of the weather but the thing I remember the most is the people and how friendly everybody was. 

This card is from Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine and the seventh-largest city in the country.

© photo by Yurko Dyachyshyn

The Archcathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, usually called simply the Latin Cathedral,is a 14th-century Roman Catholic cathedral, located in the city's Old Town.

In 1360, the king Casimir III of Poland founded the construction of the present day church, built in Gothic style, for a cathedral of the newly created Latin diocese. Construction work continued throughout the 15th century and in 1481 the Cathedral was finally consecrated.

The Latin Cathedral is one of the just two churches in Lviv that weren't closed or subjected to the Muscovite Patriarchate during Soviet rule (the other being the Roman Catholic church of St. Anthony in Lychakiv), however during that time the bishops resided in Lubaczów, a town in southeastern Poland, close to the border with Ukraine. In 1991 Pope John Paul II reactivated the diocese. - in: wikipedia