On this day in ...... 1982, for the 1st time in 13 years, Spain unlocked the gates that excluded the people of Gibraltar from the country. The new socialist government opened passage -- to Spaniards or Gibraltarians only -- between Spain and the British territory at the tip of the Iberian peninsula "for 'humanitarian reasons.'" Gibraltar had been sealed off since an assault by Franco's forces in
1969.... 1916, French forces penetrated German lines that had laid siege for nearly a year and took more than 7,500 prisoners, thus winning the Battle of Verdun. It would prove a turning point in World War I.
