title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: In the areas of the mine explosions, the British infantry found dead, wounded and stunned German soldiers. The attackers swept through the gaps in the German defences as Germans further back hurriedly withdrew. About British troops advanced up the slope, the creeping bombardment throwing up lots of smoke and dust, which blocked the view of the German defenders. The barrage moved at in two minutes, which allowed the leading troops to rush or outflank German strong points and machine-gun nests. Where the Germans were able to resist, they were engaged with rifle-grenades, Lewis Guns and trench mortars, while riflemen and bombers worked behind them.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Pillbox fighting tactics had been a great success at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April and in training for the attack at Messines, the same methods were adopted along with emphasis on mopping-up captured ground, to ensure that bypassed German troops could not engage advancing troops from behind. In the smoke and dust, direction was kept by compass and the German forward zone was easily overrun in the allotted, as was the line, half way to the German on the ridge. The two supporting battalions of the attacking brigades leap-frogged through, to advance to the second objective on the near crest of the ridge further on. The accuracy of the British barrage was maintained and local German counter-attack attempts were stifled. As the infantry approached the German second line, resistance increased.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: In the II Anzac Corps area, the 3rd Australian Division consolidated the southern defensive flank of the attack, digging-in astride the river Douve with its right in the new craters at , defeating several hasty German counter-attacks; the left flank of the division was anchored by a captured German strongpoint. The New Zealand Division attacked Messines village, the southern bastion of the German defences on the ridge. The village had been fortified with a line of trenches around the outskirts and an inner defence zone comprising five pillboxes and all the house cellars, which had been converted into shellproof dugouts. Two machine-gun posts on the edge of the village were rushed but fire from Swayne's Farm north held up the advance, until a tank drove through it and caused troops to surrender. The New Zealanders penetrated the outer trenches behind the creeping barrage, which slowed to in The German garrison defended the village with great determination, before surrendering when the garrison commander was captured. The 25th Division took the Messines–Wytschaete road on the ridge, north of the New Zealand Division with little opposition except at Hell Farm, which was eventually overrun.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: In the IX Corps area, the 36th (Ulster) Division captured the wreckage of two woods and Bogaert Farm in between, finding that the artillery fire had cut the masses of barbed wire and destroyed many strongpoints. Further north, the 16th (Irish) and 19th divisions advanced through the remains of Wytschaete wood and Grand Bois, which had been hit by a Livens Projector bombardment on the night of and by standing barrages on all the known German positions in the woods. A German force at L'Hospice held out despite being by-passed, until and the objective was reached just after


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: German positions at Dammstrasse, which ran from the St Eloi road to White Château, in the X Corps area, fell to the 41st Division after a long fight. White Château was attacked by the 47th Division as it advanced to the first objective, covered by smoke and Thermite shells fired on the German positions further to the north, along the Comines Canal. The German garrison fought hard and repulsed two attacks, before surrendering after a trench-mortar bombardment at The northern defensive flank was maintained by the 23rd Division, with an advance of in twenty minutes. A German force at the head of the Zwarteleen re-entrant, south of Mt Sorrel where the two attacking brigades met, held out until forced to surrender by volleys of rifle-grenades.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Just after the British second intermediate objective, the first trench of the , on the near crest of the ridge, had been taken. German documents gleaned from the battlefield showed that they expected the forward crest of the ridge to be held until the divisions arrived to counter-attack. The next objective was the rear trench of the and the rear crest of the ridge, away. There was a pause of two hours, for fresh battalions to move forward and the captured ground to be consolidated. About beyond the forward positions, a protective bombardment by swept back and forth, while the heavier artillery stood ready to respond with SOS barrages. Pack animals and men carrying Yukon packs, brought supplies into the captured ground and engineers supervised the digging and wiring of strongpoints. At the protective bombardment increased in intensity and began to creep forward again, moving at in three minutes, as some divisions used battalions from their third brigade and other divisions those that had attacked earlier. Most of the tanks still operational were outstripped but some caught up the infantry.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Fresh battalions of the New Zealand Division leap-frogged through the battalions which had attacked earlier, advancing either side of Messines, where some German posts still held out. A German artillery headquarters at Blauwen Molen (blue windmill), beyond Messines, was captured and a tank broke into a strong point at Fanny's Farm, causing a hundred Germans to surrender. The reserve brigade of the 25th Division continued the advance to the north except at Lumm Farm, which was eventually taken with assistance from the right flank troops of the 36th (Ulster) Division. Helped by two tanks, the rest of the 36th (Ulster) Division advanced to the right of Wytschaete village and captured a German battalion headquarters. Wytschaete had been fortified like Messines but special bombardments fired on 3 June had demolished the village. Two battalions of the 16th (Irish) Division overran the German survivors and on the left, the reserve brigade of the 19th Division took the area from Wytschaete village to Oosttaverne Wood with little resistance.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: X Corps had greater difficulty reaching some of its final objectives; the loss of White Château disorganised the German defenders adjacent to the south. The 41st Division easily crossed the summit and reached the rear slope of the ridge away, which overlooked the eastern slope and Roozebeke valley, taking many prisoners at Denys and Ravine woods. North of the canal, the 47th Division had to capture a spoil heap long, where several German machine-gun nests had been dug in. The British attacks established a footing on the heap at great cost, due to machine-gun fire from the spoil heap and others in Battle Wood further north. At the infantry withdrew to allow the area to be bombarded from for an attack by a reserve battalion at The 23rd Division had many casualties caused by flanking machine-gun fire from the spoil heap while clearing Battle Wood, which took until the evening.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: In the centre of the attack, a company from each battalion advanced behind the barrage, to an observation line several hundred yards down the east slope of the ridge, at assisted by eight tanks and patrols of cavalry. Most German troops encountered surrendered quickly, except at Leg Copse and Oosttaverne Wood where they offered slight resistance. British aircraft added to German difficulties, with low-level machine-gun attacks. The second objective (the observation line) from Bethlehem Farm to south of Messines, Despagne Farm and Oosttaverne Wood, was reached with few casualties. Ground markers were put out for the three divisions due to attack in the afternoon and the area consolidated. The defensive frontages of the British units on the ridge had been based on an assumption that casualties in the advance to the first intermediate objective (blue line) would be and in the advance to the ridge (black line) would be There were far fewer British casualties than anticipated, which caused congestion on the ridge, where the attacking troops suffered considerable casualties from German long-range machine-gun and artillery fire. The British planners expected that the two German divisions behind the ridge would begin organised counter-attacks at about , and arranged for a long pause in the advance down the eastern slope, thereby enabling an attack from consolidated defensive positions, rather than an encounter in the open while the British were still advancing. The masked batteries of the three reserve divisions were used to add to the protective barrage in front of the infantry but no Germans could be seen.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: A pause of five hours was considered necessary to defeat the German divisions, before resuming the advance on the Oosttaverne () line. The pause was extended by two hours to after Plumer received reports on the state of the ground. More artillery joined the masked batteries close to the front line and others moved as far into no-man's-land as the terrain allowed. On the nearside of the ridge, were prepared to fire an overhead barrage, and each division placed sixteen more guns in the observation line on the eastern slope. The in reserve began to advance at to join II Anzac Corps and IX Corps on the flanks. Surviving tanks of the morning attack in X Corps, were to join in from Damm and Denys woods.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: The 4th Australian Division continued the attack on the II Anzac Corps front, the right hand brigade reaching the assembly areas by before learning of the postponement. The brigade had to lie on open ground under German artillery and machine-gun fire, which caused considerable loss but the left brigade was informed in time to hold back until The bombardment began to creep down the slope at at a rate of in three minutes. The right brigade advanced on a front towards the Oosttaverne line, from the river Douve north to the Blauwepoortbeek (Blue Gate Brook). German machine-gunners in the pillboxes of the Oosttaverne line caused many casualties but with support from three tanks the Australians reached the pillboxes, except for those to the north of the Messines–Warneton road. As the Australians outflanked the strongpoints, the Germans tried to retreat through the British barrage, which had stopped moving beyond the rear trench of the Oosttaverne line.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: The left flank brigade was stopped on its right flank by fire from the German pillboxes north of the Messines–Warneton road up to the Blauwepoortbeek, short of the Oosttaverne line, with many casualties. The left battalion, unaware that the 33rd Brigade (11th Division) to the north had been delayed, veered towards the north-east to try to make contact near Lumm Farm, which took the battalion across the Wambeke Spur instead of straight down. The objective was easily reached but at the Wambeek, north of the intended position. The Australians extended their line further north to Polka Estaminet trying to meet the 33rd Brigade, which arrived at with four tanks. The brigade took Joye and Van Hove farms beyond the objective, silencing the machine-guns being fired from them.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: On the IX Corps front, the 33rd Brigade (11th Division) had been ordered to advance to Vandamme Farm at but the message was delayed and the troops did not reach the assembly area at Rommens Farm until half an hour late. To cover the delay, the corps commander ordered the 57th Brigade (19th Division) from reserve, to take the Oosttaverne line from Van Hove Farm to Oosttaverne village then to Bug Wood, so that only the southern were left for the 33rd Brigade. These orders were also delayed and the 19th Division commander asked for a postponement then ordered the 57th Brigade to advance without waiting for the 33rd Brigade. The troops only knew that they were to advance downhill and keep up to the barrage but were able to occupy the objective in against light opposition, meeting the Australians at Polka Estaminet.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Two brigades of the 24th Division in Corps reserve advanced into the X Corps sector and reached Dammstrasse on time. The brigades easily reached their objectives around Bug Wood, Rose Wood and Verhaest Farm, taking unopposed many German pillboxes. The brigades captured and six field guns for a loss of six casualties, advancing along the Roozebeek valley, then took Ravine Wood unopposed on the left flank. The left battalion was drawn back to meet the 47th Division, which was still held up by machine-gun fire from the spoil bank. The final objectives of the British offensive had been taken, except for the area of the Ypres–Comines canal near the spoil bank and of the Oosttaverne line, at the junction of the II Anzac Corps and IX Corps. Despite a heavy bombardment until the Germans at the spoil bank repulsed another infantry attack. The reserve battalion which had been moved up for the second attack on the spoil bank, had been caught in a German artillery bombardment while assembling for the attack. The companies which attacked then met with massed machine-gun fire during the advance and only advanced half way to the spoil bank. The of the original infantry, were withdrawn when German reinforcements were seen arriving from the canal cutting and no further attempts were made.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: The situation near the Blauwepoortbeek worsened, when German troops were seen assembling near Steingast Farm, close to the Warneton road. A British SOS barrage fell on the 12th Australian Brigade, which was inadvertently digging-in beyond its objective. The Australians stopped the German counter-attack with small-arms fire but many survivors began to withdraw spontaneously, until they stopped in relative safety on the ridge. As darkness fell and being under the impression that all the Australians had retired, New Zealand artillery observers called for the barrage to be brought closer to the observation line, when they feared a German counter-attack. The bombardment fell on the rest of the Australians, who withdrew with many casualties, leaving the southern part of the Oosttaverne line unoccupied, as well as the gap around the Blauwepoortbeek. An SOS barrage on the IX Corps front stopped a German counter-attack from the Roozebeke valley but many shells fell short, precipitating another informal withdrawal. Rumour led to the barrage being moved closer to the observation line, which added to British casualties until , when the infantry managed to get the artillery stopped and were then able to re-occupy the positions. Operations to re-take the Oosttaverne line in the II Anzac Corps area started at on 8 June.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: As the infantry moved to the attack contact-patrol aircraft flew low overhead, two being maintained over each corps during the day. The observers were easily able to plot the positions of experienced troops, who lit flares and waved anything to attract attention. Some troops, poorly trained and inexperienced, failed to co-operate, fearing exposure to the Germans; aircraft flew dangerously low to identify them, four being shot down in consequence. Although air observation was not as vital to German operations because of their control of commanding ground, the speed by which reports from air observation could be delivered, made it a most valuable form of liaison between the front line and higher commanders. German infantry proved as reluctant to reveal themselves as the British and German flyers also had to make visual identifications. Reports and maps were dropped at divisional headquarters and corps report centres, allowing the progress of the infantry to be followed.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: During the pause on the ridge crest, an observer reported that the Oosttaverne line was barely occupied; at a balloon observer reported a German barrage on the II Anzac Corps front and a counter-attack patrol aircraft reported German infantry advancing either side of Messines. The German counter-attack was "crushed" by artillery fire by Each corps squadron kept an aircraft on counter-attack patrol all day, to call for barrage fire if German troops were seen in the open but the speed of the British advance resulted in few German counter-attacks. Artillery observers watched for German gunfire and made calls but only to have German guns engaged. The observers regulated the bombardment of the Oosttaverne line and the artillery of VIII Corps to the north of the attack, which was able to enfilade German artillery opposite X Corps.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Fourteen fighters were sent to conduct low altitude on German ground targets ahead of the British infantry and rove behind German lines, attacking infantry, transport, gun-teams and machine-gun nests; the attacks continued all day, two of the fighters being shot down. Organised attacks were made on the German airfields at Bisseghem and Marcke near Courtrai and the day bombing squadrons attacked airfields at Ramegnies Chin, Coucou, Bisseghem (again) and Rumbeke. Reports of German troops concentrating from Quesnoy to Warneton were received and aircraft set out to attack them within minutes. German fighters made a considerable effort to intercept corps observation aircraft over the battlefield but were frustrated by patrols on the barrage line and offensive patrols beyond; only one British corps aircraft was shot down by German aircraft. After dark, the night-bombing specialists of 100 Squadron bombed railway stations at Warneton, Menin and Courtrai. The situation at the north end of the II Anzac Corps front was discovered by air reconnaissance at dawn on 8 June.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: At on 7 June, the British artillery bombardment ceased; expecting an immediate infantry assault, the German defenders returned to their forward positions. At the mines were detonated, killing soldiers and destroying most of the middle breastwork "Ib" of the front system, paralysing the survivors of the eleven German battalions in the front line, who were swiftly overrun. The explosions occurred while some of the German front line troops were being relieved, catching both groups in the blasts and British artillery fire resumed at the same moment as the explosions. Some of the (Stormtroops) in breastwork "Ic" were able to counter-attack but were overwhelmed quickly as the British advanced on the (Sun Position), which usually held half of the support battalions but had been reduced to about and six machine-guns, in each regimental zone.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Smoke and dust from the British barrage limited visibility to and some defenders thought that figures moving towards them were retreating German soldiers, were taken by surprise and overrun. After a pause, the British continued to the held by half of the support battalions, a company of each reserve battalion and machine-guns per regimental sector. Despite daylight, German defenders only saw occasional shapes in the dust and smoke as they were deluged by artillery fire and machine-gunned by swarms of British aircraft. The German defence in the south collapsed and uncovered the left flank of each unit further north in turn, forcing them to retire to the . Some German units held out in and near St Eloi, waiting to be relieved by counter-attacks which never came. The garrison of the (Caterpillar or spoil heap to the British) held on for until relieved.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Laffert had expected that the two divisions behind Messines Ridge would reach the before the British. The divisions had reached assembly areas near Gheluvelt and Warneton by and the 7th Division was ordered to move from Zandvoorde to Hollebeke, to attack across the Comines canal towards on the British northern flank. The 1st Guard Reserve Division was to move to the Warneton line east of Messines, then advance around Messines to recapture the original front system. Both divisions were plagued by delays, being new to the area and untrained for counter-attack operations. The 7th Division was shelled by British artillery all the way to the Comines canal, then part of the division was diverted to reinforce the remnants of the front divisions holding positions around Hollebeke.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: The rest of the division found that the British had already taken the , by the time that they arrived at The 1st Guard Reserve Division was also bombarded as it crossed the Warneton (third) line but reached the area east of Messines by only to be devastated by the resumption of the British creeping barrage and forced back to the as the British began to advance to their next objective. Laffert contemplated a further withdrawal, then ordered the existing line to be held after the British advance stopped. Most of the losses inflicted on the British infantry by the German defence came from artillery fire. In the days after the main attack, German shellfire on the new British lines was extremely accurate and well-timed, inflicting the casualties suffered by the 25th Division.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Historians and writers disagree on the strategic significance of the battle, although most describe it as a British tactical and operational success. In 1919, Ludendorff wrote that the British victory cost the German army dear and drained German reserves. Hindenburg wrote that the losses at Messines had been "very heavy" and that he regretted that the ground had not been evacuated; in 1922, Kuhl called it one of the worst German tragedies of the war. In his "Dispatches" of 1920, Haig described the success of the British plan, organisation and results but refrained from hyperbole, referring to the operation as a successful preliminary to the main offensive at Ypres. In 1930, Basil Liddell Hart thought the success at Messines inflated expectations for the Third Battle of Ypres and that because the circumstances of the operations were different, attempts to apply similar tactics resulted in failure. In 1938 Lloyd George called the battle an and in 1939, G. C. Wynne judged it to be a "brilliant success", overshadowed by the subsequent tragedy of the Battles of Passchendaele. James Edmonds, the official historian, called it a "great victory" in "Military Operations France and Belgium" 1917 Part II, published 1948.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Prior and Wilson (1997) called the battle a "noteworthy success" but then complained about the decision to postpone exploitation of the success on the Gheluvelt plateau. Ashley Ekins referred to the battle as a great set-piece victory, which was also costly, particularly for the infantry of II Anzac Corps, as did Christopher Pugsley, referring to the experience of the New Zealand Division. Heinz Hagenlücke called it a great British success and that the loss of the ridge had a worse effect on German morale than the number of casualties. Jack Sheldon called it a "significant victory" for the British and a "disaster" for the German army, which was forced into a "lengthy period of anxious waiting". Ian Brown in his 1996 PhD thesis and Andy Simpson in 2001 concluded that extending British supply routes over the ridge, which had been devastated by the mines and millions of shells, to consolidate the Oosttaverne line was necessary. Completion of the infrastructure further north in the Fifth Army area, had to wait before the Northern Operation (Third Battle of Ypres) could begin and was the main reason for the operational pause in June and July.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: In 1941, Charles Bean, the Australian official historian, recorded II Anzac Corps casualties from 1 to 14 June as in the New Zealand Division, in the 3rd Australian Division and in the 4th Australian Division. In 1948, James Edmonds, the British official historian, gave casualties of the II Anzac Corps, IX Corps, X Corps, II Corps and VIII Corps, a total of 1 to 12 June. The 25th Division history gave and the 47th Division history notes .


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Using figures from the , Bean recorded German casualties for , from (including 7,548 missing), from and from 21 to 30 June. In volume XII of the German Official Historians recorded for the period including of whom reported as taken prisoner by the British. The count of British casualties was and a further from 18 May to 14 June. The explosion of the mines, in particular the mine that created the Lone Tree Crater, accounts for the high number of casualties and missing from 1 to 10 June. The German medical history, "Sanitätsbericht über das Deutschen Heeres im Weltkrieg" (Medical Services of the German Army in the World War) [1934], recorded 26,087 German casualties from 7 to 14 June.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Edmonds recorded , including , from 21 May to 10 June, using strength returns from , and in "Der Weltkrieg", the German Official History, then wrote that should be added for "wounded likely to return to duty within a reasonable time", since they were "omitted" in the German Official History, reasoning which has been disputed by other historians. In 2007 Sheldon gave for the German 4th Army from 1 to 10 June 1917.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: At on 8 June, the British attack to regain the Oosttaverne line from the river Douve to the Warneton road found few German garrisons present as it was occupied. German artillery south of the Lys bombarded the southern slopes of the ridge and caused considerable losses among Anzac troops pinned there. Ignorance of the situation north of the Warneton road continued; a reserve battalion was sent to reinforce the 49th Australian Battalion near the Blauwepoortbeek for the attack, which did not take place. The 4th Australian Division commander, Major-General William Holmes, went forward at and finally clarified the situation.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: New orders instructed the 33rd Brigade, 11th (Northern) Division, to side-step to the right and relieve the 52nd Australian Battalion, which at dusk would move to the south and join the 49th Australian Battalion to attack into the gap at the Blauwepoortbeek. All went well until observers on the ridge saw the 52nd Australian Battalion withdrawing, mistook it for a German counter-attack and called for an SOS bombardment. German observers in the valley saw troops from the 33rd Brigade moving into the area to relieve the Australians, mistook them for an attacking force and also called for an SOS bombardment. The area was deluged with artillery fire from both sides for two hours, causing many casualties and the attack was postponed until 9 June.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Confusion had been caused by the original attacking divisions on the ridge having control over the artillery covering the area occupied by the reserve divisions down the eastern slope. The arrangement had been intended to protect the ridge from large German counter-attacks, which might force the reserve divisions back up the slope. The mistaken bombardments of friendly troops ended late on 9 June, when the New Zealand, 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) divisions were withdrawn into reserve and the normal corps organisation was restored; the anticipated large German counter-attacks had not occurred. On 10 June, the attack down the Blauwepoortbeek began but met strong resistance from the fresh German 11th Division, brought in from Group Ypres.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: The 3rd Australian Division advanced either side the river Douve, consolidating their hold on a rise around Thatched Cottage, which secured the right flank of the new Messines position; early on 11 June, the Germans evacuated the Blauwepoortbeek sector. British observation from the Oosttaverne line proved to be poor, which led Plumer to order an advance further down the slope. On 14 June, the II Anzac Corps was to push forward on the right from Plugstreet Wood to Trois Tilleuls Farm and and another to the Gapaard spur and Ferme de la Croix. IX Corps was to take Joye Farm, the Wambeke hamlet and come level with the Australians at Delporte Farm; X Corps was to capture the Spoil Bank and the areas adjacent. The attack was forestalled by a German retirement on the night of and by 14 June, British advanced posts had been established without resistance.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Meticulously planned and well executed, the attack on the Messines–Wytschaete ridge secured its objectives in less than twelve hours. The combination of tactics devised on the Somme and at Arras, the use of mines, artillery survey, creeping barrages, tanks, aircraft and small-unit fire-and-movement tactics, created a measure of surprise and allowed the attacking infantry to advance by infiltration when confronted by intact defences. Well-organised mopping-up parties prevented by-passed German troops from firing on advanced troops from behind. The British took and The offensive secured the southern end of the Ypres salient in preparation for the British Northern Operation. Laffert, the commander of , was sacked two days after the battle.


title: Battle of Messines (1917)

text: Haig had discussed the possibility of rapid exploitation of a victory at Messines with Plumer before the attack, arranging for II and VIII Corps to advance either side of Bellewaarde Lake, using some of the artillery from the Messines front, which Plumer considered would take three days to transfer. On 8 June, patrols on the II and VIII Corps fronts reported strong resistance. Haig urged Plumer to attack immediately and Plumer replied that it would still take three days to arrange. Haig transferred the two corps to the Fifth Army and that evening, gave instructions to Gough to plan the preliminary operation to capture the area around Stirling Castle. On 14 June, Gough announced that the operation would put his troops into a salient and that he wanted to take the area as part of the main offensive. On 13 June, German aircraft began daylight attacks on London and the south-east of England, leading to the diversion of British aircraft from the concentration of air forces for the Northern Operation.


title: United Express

text: United Express is the brand name for the regional branch of United Airlines, under which six individually owned regional airlines operate short- and medium-haul feeder flights.


title: United Express

text: On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged to form United Continental Holdings, the holding company for the newly merged United Airlines. On June 27, 2019, United Express changed its parent company name from United Continental Holdings to United Airlines Holdings. As of 2014, 555 aircraft fly under the United Express brand.


title: United Express

text: Major airlines in the United States had long maintained relationships with regional carriers which fed passengers from small markets to larger cities. The Airline Deregulation Act spurred industry consolidation both vertically and horizontally, and as the hub system became more pronounced, airlines formalized these relationships through code sharing, shared branding, and listing regional partners in computer reservations systems. On May 1, 1985, United formally partnered with Air Wisconsin, Horizon Air, and WestAir as United Express, feeding its hubs at Chicago–O'Hare, Seattle International Airport, and San Francisco International Airport. Aspen Airways soon joined the United Express system in 1986 feeding United's hub at Denver–Stapleton. Aspen was dismantled in 1990 being sold to Air Wisconsin and Mesa Airlines. Horizon Air was bought out by Alaska Airlines in 1987 at which time Horizon's contract as United Express was cancelled and a new carrier, North Pacific Airlines (NPA), was established by WestAir to service the Seattle hub as well as hubs at Portland, Spokane, and Boise. NPA was merged into its parent, WestAir, in 1991. San Juan Airlines of Seattle and SouthCentral Air of Anchorage, Alaska, also operated as United Express from 1987 through 1989.


title: United Express

text: In 1988, Presidential Airways became a United Express carrier for United's new hub at Washington Dulles International Airport, but soon floundered. In response, WestAir formed an eastern division to serve Dulles. WestAir itself experienced turmoil; in 1991 it spun off the new division into an independent company, Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA), which years later would go on to become Independence Air.


title: United Express

text: In 1990, Mesa Airlines took over all of the United Express routes from Denver formerly operated by Aspen Airways except the Denver to Aspen route which went to Air Wisconsin. Mesa also added a number of new routes from Denver as well. In 1992 Mesa created a new division called California Pacific Airlines to begin new United Express service from the Los Angeles hub. In 1995 Mesa took over all United Express routes at the Seattle and Portland hubs formerly operated by WestAir. Mesa Airlines contract operating as United Express was cancelled in 1998 at which time Air Wisconsin and Great Lakes Airlines took over the Denver routes while SkyWest took over the Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland routes.


title: United Express

text: In 1992, Great Lakes Airlines became a United Express partner, followed by Trans States Airlines the following year. In 1997, as United officially designated Los Angeles International Airport one of its hubs, SkyWest Airlines became a United Express partner as well. Great Lakes left the United Express system in early 2002, although it continued to do codeshare flights until they ceased operations in 2018.


title: United Express

text: In 1993, Trans States Airlines started United Feeder Service (UFS), to operate British Aerospace BAe ATP aircraft for United Airlines. The aircraft, originally owned by Air Wisconsin, were transferred and subsequently owned by United. UFS operated routes to Chicago O’Hare (ORD) from close markets in the U.S. Upper Midwest. UFS was eliminated from the United Express carrier network in 1999 and disappeared.


title: United Express

text: When United declared for Chapter 11 reorganization in 2002, it pressured its regional partners for reduced fees. In 2004, ACA canceled its contract and reinvented itself as low-cost carrier Independence Air. The next year, Air Wisconsin unsuccessfully bid to retain its flying contract, though it did retain some ground-handling United Express operations. To compensate, United initiated new service agreements with Colgan Air, Trans States subsidiary GoJet Airlines, and Republic Airways Holdings subsidiaries Chautauqua Airlines and Shuttle America. Mesa Airlines was also reinstated into the United Express system.


title: United Express

text: In 2005, United announced that service levels on major United Express routes would be upgraded to a new product called explus. Routes with explus service offer First Class seats and meal service on larger, 70-seat Embraer 170s and 66-seat Bombardier CRJ700s. Expanding the traditional regional partner role, United started to use the airplanes configured with explus amenities instead of, or alongside with, mainline jets on routes linking large cities, such as Chicago to Houston.


title: United Express

text: United announced a new Express focus city at San Antonio International Airport in 2006, but the experiment was short-lived. Trans States was the carrier operating the San Antonio operation.


title: United Express

text: United decided to cancel Dash 8 and CRJ200 service with Mesa Airlines in November 2009. On November 16, 2009 it was announced that ExpressJet would begin operating Embraer ERJ145 beginning in the spring of 2010. Mesa Airlines continued service using CRJ700 regional jets and added the Embraer 175 in 2015.


title: United Express

text: All Continental Express and Continental Connection service officially merged into United Express in late 2011 including that of Cape Air which was operating as Continental Connection on behalf of Continental Micronesia in Guam. Silver Airways was also a Continental Connection carrier that converted to United Express using turbo prop aircraft. Silver operated throughout Florida as well as routes from Washington Dulles Airport however their affiliation as United Express ended in 2013.


title: United Express

text: On April 1, 2012, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. filed for bankruptcy and announced it would draw down its Colgan Air operation. In May, United reached a deal with Republic Airways Holdings for its subsidiary Republic Airways to fly the Q400 in Colgan's place. The eight-year capacity purchase agreement included all 28 aircraft previously operated by Colgan as well as four currently flown by Republic for Frontier Airlines.


title: United Express

text: In August 2015, United announced the start of a new subsidiary, United Ground Express, to provide ground operation service in select airports within its domestic network.


title: United Express

text: By September 2016, Republic Airways Q400s were phased out of service, replacing them with 50 more Embraer 175s.


title: United Express

text: On February 27, 2017, United Airlines announced the return of their partnership with Air Wisconsin as a United Express carrier. They would be flying a fleet of 65 Bombardier CRJ200 beginning second-half 2017.


title: United Express

text: In September 2017, the Q300 was phased out and in January 2018, the Q200 was phased out. These were the final prop aircraft in the United Express system within the United States.


title: United Express

text: On April 16, 2018, United Airlines announced the end of its partnership with Cape Air. Services ended on May 31, 2018, which marked the end of United Express operations in Guam, along with the retirement of the last turboprop aircraft in the United Express fleet.


title: United Express

text: In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Trans States Airlines announced that it would be ceasing operations on April 1, 2020, ending its operations as United Express.


title: United Express

text: On July 30, 2020, it was announced that United Airlines had decided to end its contract with ExpressJet and transferred these operations to CommuteAir. ExpressJet continued its operations until September 30, 2020 and CommuteAir became the sole operator of the United Express Embraer ERJ145 fleet.


title: United Express

text: As of 2022, six airlines remain as United Express feeder carriers: Air Wisconsin, CommuteAir, GoJet, Mesa Airlines, Republic Airways, and SkyWest Airlines. Most of these carriers now have routes spanning the entire United States with regional jets. SkyWest serves a number of small cities that are subsidized by the federally funded Essential Air Service program as well as other local and state governments.


title: United Express

text: United Express bus service connects Beaumont/Port Arthur to George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). This service began after Colgan Air-operated Saab 340 turboprop flights ended on July 1, 2012, and this bus service continues at present with several trips a day.


title: United Express

text: United Express also has a bus service from Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE) near Allentown, Pennsylvania to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). Continental Airlines, which later merged into United, previously operated flights from Allentown to Newark but switched to a bus service in 1995 due to constant delays from air traffic control. It is long. the service was eight times daily. By February 2010 the bus was the only form of service offered by Continental after it cancelled its Allentown to Cleveland Hopkins Airport flights.


title: United Express

text: The combined United Express branded fleet consists of the following regional aircraft as of December 2022:


title: United Express

text: The United Express brand, through its various regional and commuter airline partners, operated a variety of jet aircraft over the years including the following types:


title: United Express

text: The United Express brand, through its various regional and commuter airline partners, operated a variety of twin turboprop aircraft over the years including the following types:


title: Alex English

text: Alexander English (born January 5, 1954) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and businessman.


title: Alex English

text: A South Carolina native, English played college basketball at the University of South Carolina. He was drafted in the second round of the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft in 1976. English played the small forward position and was a star player for the Denver Nuggets in the 1980s. During his Nuggets tenure (1979–1989), the team made the NBA playoffs nine consecutive times, won two Midwest Division titles, and reached the 1985 Western Conference Finals. English played 15 seasons in the NBA for four teams, averaging 21.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. English scored more points than any other NBA player during the 1980s. He was named to eight NBA All-Star teams and made the All-NBA Second Team three times. English led the NBA in scoring in the 1982–83 season. His number 2 jersey was retired by the Denver Nuggets in 1992, and he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997.


title: Alex English

text: After his playing career ended, English worked for the NBA, served as an assistant coach for several NBA teams, was involved in various business ventures, dabbled in acting, and became an NBA ambassador. He currently sits on the board of trustees at his alma mater the University of South Carolina.


title: Alex English

text: English was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina. For some of his childhood, he and his siblings lived with their grandmother while their parents worked in New York. During this time, English often subsisted on a single meal per day.


title: Alex English

text: English attended Dreher High School in Columbia. On January 31, 2020, his number 22 jersey was retired by the high school.


title: Alex English

text: English attended the University of South Carolina in Columbia from 1972 to 1976. He started every game over a four-year career and was arguably the first African-American sports star at the school. He scored a record 1,972 points and was only the third player at the school to record over 1,000 rebounds and connect on better than 50% of his field-goal attempts. English was selected to two independent All-America teams in 1975 and 1976. In the academic realm, English "developed interests that he still maintains in art, sculpture, literature, and, especially poetry." He graduated with a bachelor's degree in English in 1976.


title: Alex English

text: English was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the 1976 NBA draft with the 23rd pick. Playing behind notable wings such as Bob Dandridge, Junior Bridgeman, and Brian Winters, English struggled to break into coach Don Nelson’s rotation. Despite this, English showed promise during the 1978 NBA Playoffs, averaging 13.4 points per game (third highest of all Bucks players that postseason) off the bench while helping the Bucks past the Suns in the first round, before losing to the Nuggets in a seven game western conference semifinals series.


title: Alex English

text: Frustrated with a lack of playing time, English signed with the Indiana Pacers as a free agent after the 1977–78 season. English became a starter in Indiana and began to establish a reputation as a scorer, averaging 16 points per game during the 1978–79 season on another rebuilding team.


title: Alex English

text: English was traded to the Denver Nuggets midway through the 1979–80 season for George McGinnis, a former Pacers star from their ABA days. Though coming off of an All-Star season in 1978–79, McGinnis was only a shadow of his former self and was out of the league by 1982. English went on to become a star player for the Nuggets.


title: Alex English

text: In his first full season with the Nuggets in 1980–81, English averaged a then-career high 23.8 points.


title: Alex English

text: In the 1981–82 season, English averaged 25.4 points and the team advanced to postseason play. He earned a position on the All-Star Team and All-NBA Second Team. The following year, in 1982–83, English won the league scoring title with an average of 28.4 points per game, while teammate Kiki Vandeweghe placed second averaging 26.7 points. Then in 1983–84 English placed fourth in the league in scoring.


title: Alex English

text: In the 1984–85 season English raised his scoring average to 27.9 points to pick up some of the slack from Kiki Vandeweghe's departure. Denver won its division and secured the second seed in the Western Conference. In the 1985 playoffs, English averaged 30.2 points as the Nuggets defeated the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz to meet the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, where they would fall to the eventual NBA-champion Lakers in five games. English suffered a right thumb injury in Game 4, which required surgery and rendered him unable to play for the rest of the series. With the Nuggets already dealing with injuries to other players, English's injury was thought by some to have nearly ensured a Laker victory in the series. English later stated in a 2006 interview that "I think that if I had not broken my thumb [...] we had a chance to beat the Lakers."


title: Alex English

text: English recorded his career-best average of 29.8 points per game in the subsequent 1985–86 season, finishing third in the league behind Atlanta Hawks Dominique Wilkins and Utah Jazz Adrian Dantley. In the 1986 NBA All-Star Game, English set his All-Star career-high by scoring 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting in 16 minutes off the bench for the West squad. During the 1986 NBA playoffs, English led the Nuggets past the Trail Blazers in the first round. In the Western Conference Semifinals, English averaged 29.2 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in a six game series loss to the eventual western conference champion Rockets. In the final game of the series, on May 8, 1986, English tied his own Nuggets single-game playoff points record with 42 during a 126-122 double overtime loss.


title: Alex English

text: After the 1989–90 season, in which English's scoring average dipped to 17.9 and he largely struggled to maintain his level of play compared to previous seasons, English became a free agent, and the Nuggets elected not to re-sign him.


title: Alex English

text: At age 36, English signed a one-year contract with the Dallas Mavericks where he once again played off the bench, this time averaging just under 10 points per game. He played his final NBA game in 1991 for the Mavericks.


title: Alex English

text: No other NBA team signed English for the 1991–1992 season, and after a stint in Italy with Basket Napoli, English ended his playing career.


title: Alex English

text: When English left the Denver Nuggets, he was the holder of nearly every team record, including most career points (21,645), assists (3,679), games (837) and minutes (29,893) in a Nuggets uniform, along with the highest career scoring average with the team (25.9) of any player. The Nuggets retired English's number 2 jersey in 1992. , English's career 25,613 points place him 19th on the NBA's all-time career scoring list. While in Denver, English made the NBA All-Star Team eight times and the All-NBA Second Team three times. During his Nuggets tenure, the team made the NBA playoffs nine consecutive times and won two Midwest Division titles.


title: Alex English

text: He was the first NBA player to score 2,000 points in eight consecutive seasons, and he has the distinction of being the top NBA scorer in the 1980s. English was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997.


title: Alex English

text: English began his coaching career in the National Basketball Development League (now called the NBA G League) as the head coach of the North Charleston Lowgators in the 2001–02 season. The Lowgators tied for the best record during the regular season and were eliminated in the championship series during the playoffs.


title: Alex English

text: Before the 2002-03 NBA season, English joined the coaching staff of the Atlanta Hawks. The following year, he was hired by the Philadelphia 76ers as an assistant coach.


title: Alex English

text: English then joined the Toronto Raptors in 2004 to serve as assistant coach and director of player development. On June 5, 2009, it was announced that English would stay with the Raptors as an assistant coach. On July 13, 2011, with the team heading in a new direction after the hiring of new head coach Dwane Casey, English was not given a new contract, and his services were not retained.


title: Alex English

text: On January 13, 20102, English was added to the Sacramento Kings coaching staff under head coach Keith Smart. On June 5, 2013, new Kings coach Michael Malone announced that the 2012–13 assistant coaches, including English, would not be retained for the 2013–14 season.


title: Alex English

text: English was the first-ever director of player programs for the National Basketball Players Association.


title: Alex English

text: Since 2014, English has been an active participant in the Sports Diplomacy's Sports Envoy program for the U.S. Department of State. In this function, he has traveled to Italy, the Republic of Korea, and Chile, where he worked with Nykesha Sales and Candace Wiggins to conduct basketball clinics and events that reached more than 1900 youth from underserved areas. In so doing, English helped contribute to Sports Diplomacy's mission to reach out to youth populations in order to promote growth and a stable democratic government.


title: Alex English

text: English participates in Basketball Without Borders. He is an NBA ambassador and has taught at NBA academies in various countries.


title: Alex English

text: English and his wife, Vanessa, owned Wendy's franchises in South Carolina. English has also formed a company called GreenSmart Botanicals, which sells hemp-related products.


title: Alex English

text: English has dabbled in acting. His acting debut came in the 1987 motion picture "Amazing Grace and Chuck", playing a fictitious Boston Celtics star. He then had roles in the television series "Midnight Caller" in some 1989 episodes and played the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in "Eddie" (1996). He also played a role as "The Premiere" in the 1997 film "The Definite Maybe". English also appeared in a 1993 film about the hazards of drug use produced by the U.S. Department of Justice; he was presented as a good example to follow as someone who consciously avoided drug use and criminality, in contrast to co-star Ralph Coleman, a former Dallas Cowboys linebacker who was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.


title: Alex English

text: English later acted in a 2007 film called "Lumera" for which his son Alex Jr. was the producer and executive director. In 2013, he appeared on a half-hour TV special called "The Nothing But Net Show", which was also directed by his son.


title: Ashfall (film)

text: Ashfall (), also known as: "Mount Paektu", is a 2019 South Korean disaster film directed by Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo, starring Lee Byung-hun, Ha Jung-woo, Ma Dong-seok, Jeon Hye-jin and Bae Suzy. The film was released in December 2019 in South Korea.


title: Ashfall (film)

text: Paektu Mountain, an active volcano straddling the China–North Korea border, suddenly erupts, causing severe earthquakes in both North and South Korea. Pandemonium ensues on the Korean peninsula, with more eruptions predicted in the area. To prevent another disaster, Jeon Yoo-kyung (Jeon Hye-jin) plans an operation based on a theory by Professor Kang Bong-rae (Ma Dong-seok), who had studied Mount Baekdu and its possible future eruptions.


title: Ashfall (film)

text: Jo In-chang (Ha Jung-woo) is assigned to be the captain of a special forces team taking part in the operation. Jo In-chang contacts Lee Joon-pyeong (Lee Byung-hun) who is part of the Korean People's Army in North Korea as a spy. Meanwhile, Jo In-Chang's pregnant wife Choi Ji-young (Bae Suzy) is alone in Seoul and struggling to survive amidst the disaster.


title: Ashfall (film)

text: In-Chang departs with his team on a plane, and they parachute after their airplane malfunctions. They locate Joon-pyeong, who was being held in a North Korean prison, and seek his knowledge in finding the correct mine closest to Paektu's caldera. After threatening his dying wife to disclose the location of his daughter, Joon-pyeong guides In-chang's team to a power station, and they extract a piece of uranium from a nuclear missile. This alerts the American garrison in South Korea, which sends soldiers to stop Joon-pyeong from delivering the uranium piece to several gangsters from China.


title: Ashfall (film)

text: Meanwhile, Ji-young encounters a tsunami while she was on the way to evacuate from Seoul. She manages to survive and eventually rescued by the US military, and met Professor Kang, who was also evacuating to the United States after his disillusioned feelings with the South Korean government. Due to the earthquake, Ji-young and the evacuees cannot board the ship bound for America and Professor Kang helps her, and he decides to stay to continue helping the South Korean military to prevent the final eruption of Mount Paektu. At the military base, where the US military took control from the South Korean army, Yoo-kyung steals the military documents and sneaks out to meet Kang and Ji-young at a secluded place to contact In-chang.


title: Ashfall (film)

text: Back at the North, In-chang and Joon-pyeong evade the Americans and reach Bocheon, a town near Paektu Mountain. Joon-pyeong meets his frightened daughter Soon-ok, and just as the Chinese gangsters was about to kill him for failing to deliver the uranium, In-chang gives the uranium, but sets its timer to coincide with Paektu's eruption. Although the American soldiers also arrive to take the uranium, they and the Chinese gangsters flee when Mt. Baekdu erupts again, triggering more earthquakes. After Professor Kang updated In-chang about the location of the final eruption, In-chang and Joon-pyeong bring the uranium to an abandoned mine (which was the same location where the final eruption would take place). Joon-pyeong takes the bomb into the mine's depths, leaving In-chang to go with Soon-ok, whom he adopts. The uranium bomb explodes and while Joon-pyeong was killed, the bomb's detonation stops the earthquakes, saving many lives in the Korean peninsula.


title: Ashfall (film)

text: One year later, North and South Korea together oversee the reconstruction of the peninsula. In-chang and Ji-young have a baby son.


title: Ashfall (film)

text: The film was released 19 December 2019 in South Korea. Internationally, it was released on 20 December in the United States, 24 December in Taiwan, 1 January 2020 in Hong Kong, 2 January in Singapore and Malaysia, 8 January in Indonesia, the day after in Thailand and Australia, and 31 January in Vietnam.


title: Ashfall (film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of .


title: Ashfall (film)

text: On 22 December at 11 a.m. KST, "Ashfall" officially surpassed 2 million moviegoers, taking just four days to reach the milestone. Notably, the film had just reached 1 million moviegoers just the day before.


title: Area code 707

text: Area code 707 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the northwestern part of the U.S. state of California. It was created by a split of area code 415 on March 1, 1959. It serves part of the northern San Francisco Bay Area, as well as the North Coast. Major cities in the area code include Napa, Sebastopol, Vallejo, Benicia, Fairfield, Santa Rosa, Windsor, Healdsburg, Rohnert Park, Petaluma, Fort Bragg, Rio Vista, Crescent City, Eureka, Clearlake, Vacaville, Dixon, and Ukiah.


title: Area code 707

text: When the North American Numbering Plan was created by AT&T in 1947, the far northern part of California received area code 916, with the exclusion of the city of Sacramento, which used area code 415. California area codes were reorganized geographically in 1950, so that 916 was assigned to a numbering plan area that comprised only the northeastern part from the Sierra Nevada to the Central Valley. The coastal area to the west was assigned area code 415. With this change, Sacramento was also changed to area code 916.


title: Area code 707

text: On March 1, 1959, numbering plan area 415 was divided in a flash-cut (without permissive dialing period) in which the northern part of the numbering plan area (Solano County and north thereof) received area code 707, which was California's eighth area code (along with 213, 415, 916, 714, 408, 805, and 209), and the last new area code in the state until 619 was added in 1982.


title: Area code 707

text: When area code 530 was split from area code 916 on November 1, 1997, the Dixon area was renumbered from area code 916 to 707 and switched from the Sacramento local access and transport area (LATA) into the San Francisco LATA.


title: Area code 707

text: 707 was the last of California's thirteen "original-format" area codes (i.e., area codes with a "0" or "1" as their middle digit, the others being 310, 510, 818 and 909, all of which, in addition to 619, were introduced decades after 707's debut) to require relief from a "new format" area code (those with 2–8 as their middle digit, which were introduced beginning in 1995 when the NANP ran out of the original format NPAs), despite explosive growth in the area, particularly its southern portion, as well as the proliferation of cell phones and pagers.


title: Area code 707

text: In 1999, a three-way, two-phase split of area code 707 was scheduled by Pacific Bell such that a new area code (627) would have served most of Napa and Sonoma Counties and small portions of Marin and Mendocino Counties, while another new area code (369) would have served Solano County as well as a small portion of Napa County, beginning in December 2000 and October 2001, respectively. However, due to the success of number pooling in preserving numbering resources, the California Public Utilities Commission cancelled these actions on July 27, 2000. Still, after twenty more years of continued growth in the region, it was determined that 707 would indeed require relief, and on August 1, 2022, NANP announced that 369 would overlay 707 beginning February 1, 2023, leaving area code 627 available to be assigned presumably elsewhere in the future (it had been assigned as a prefix within 707).


title: Area code 707

text: Prior to October 2021, area code 707 had telephone numbers assigned for the central office code 988. In 2020, "988" was designated nationwide as a dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which created a conflict for exchanges that permit seven-digit dialing. This area code was therefore scheduled to transition to ten-digit dialing by October 24, 2021.


title: Baking Impossible

text: Baking Impossible is an American cooking competition television series that airs on Netflix, themed around baking and engineering. Each episode presents a cast of contestants with a challenge that combines baking with engineering, often described using the portmanteau "bakineering".


title: Baking Impossible

text: The first season of the series officially premiered on October 6, 2021, with judges Andrew Smyth ("bakineering" specialist), Joanne Chang (baking specialist), and Hakeem Oluseyi (engineering specialist). The show is presented by host Justin Willman.


title: Baking Impossible

text: The contestants compete in pairs, for a grand prize of $100,000. Within each pair, one contestant specializes in baking, and the other specializes in engineering. Prior to the show, none of the pairs of contestants had met before.


title: Baking Impossible

text: Each episode allows the contestant to work for up to 18 hours, after which their creations are stress tested and evaluated by the judges. At the end of each episode, one pair is voted off. The winning team of the episode gets an advantage in the next episode, such as being able to preview the stress test before the other teams, or being able to attempt the stress test more than once.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles (French: "Lac Charles") is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcasieu Parish, it is a major industrial, cultural, and educational center in the southwest region of the state. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Lake Charles's population was 84,872.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The city and metropolitan area of Lake Charles is considered a regionally significant center of petrochemical refining, gambling, tourism, and education, being home to McNeese State University and Sowela Technical Community College. Because of the lakes and waterways throughout the city, metropolitan Lake Charles is often called "the Lake Area".


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles was founded by merchant and tradesman Marco Eliche (or Marco de Élitxe) as an outpost. He was a Sephardic Jewish trader of either Basque-Spanish or Venetian-Italian origins. He had arrived in Louisiana after hitchhiking and was invited onto a Spanish vessel due to his determination and loyalty to volunteer and work freely for the Spanish Empire. Long before incorporation and even before the Louisiana Purchase, other names for Lake Charles were Porte du Lafitte (Port of Jean Lafitte) or Rivière Lafitte (River Lafitte/Lafitte's River), among many other names now lost. Eliche had also founded other outposts and towns in Louisiana prior, most notably Marksville, which is named after him. There are also urban tales he had planned to name the settlement Nouveau Cadix (New Cádiz)", after the city in Spain, but this is uncertain.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The town was first incorporated in 1857 as Charleston, after an early settler, Charles Sallier. Ten years later, on March 16, 1867, Charleston was reincorporated as the City of Lake Charles. The Great Fire of April 1910 devastated much of the city.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles soon rebuilt, grew and expanded in the twentieth century. The Charleston Hotel was completed in 1929, during the administration of Mayor Henry J. Geary. During and after World War II, Lake Charles experienced industrial growth with the arrival of petrochemical refineries. The city grew to a high of some 75,000 people in the early 1980s, but with local economic recession, the population declined and stagnated. In 1985, the city was identified as a potential Strategic Homeport to support Navy Secretary John Lehman's desire for a 600-ship Navy. Support ships were to be operated from the new Naval Station Lake Charles; but with the tailing-off of the Cold War, the 1988 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended it be closed. By 1991, the incomplete base was dropped from the program and shuttered.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: In 2005, the city was heavily damaged by Hurricane Rita. In 2020, it was battered by two hurricanes, Category 4 Hurricane Laura on August 26–27, and Hurricane Delta on October 9, 2020.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles, located on a level plain about from the Gulf of Mexico, has an elevation of approximately above sea level, and is located on the banks of the Calcasieu River in southwestern Louisiana. It borders both Lake Charles and Prien Lake. Contraband Bayou, Henderson Bayou, and English Bayou flow through the city. Oak trees and pine trees dot the landscape; the lumber industry was once the main economic engine of the area. The Calcasieu Ship Channel, which allows large ocean-going vessels to sail up from the Gulf, also borders the city.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 6.12%, is water.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles is tied with Port Arthur, Texas, and Astoria, Oregon, as the most humid city in the contiguous United States, and the second-most humid measured location behind unincorporated Quillayute, Washington. The average relative humidity in Lake Charles is 90% in the morning, and 72% in the afternoon. Average annual precipitation is also high among U.S. cities, at per year.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Hurricane Laura devastated the city in 2020. The National Weather Service called the storm surge "unsurvivable" with one-minute sustained wind speeds of 150 mph (240 km/h). Numerous trees were blown down. The Lake Charles Regional Airport saw a gust of 128 miles per hour (206 km/h) as well as multiple hangars destroyed. Another gust in the city reached 137 miles per hour (220 km/h). Many windows were blown out of Capital One Tower downtown. A communications tower collapsed onto the KPLC studio building (which had been evacuated) and part of a sky bridge was blown out. The radar at the NWS Lake Charles forecast office (whose staff evacuated, with the office's operations transferred to the Brownsville, Texas office) was destroyed around the time of landfall, with its dome and much of its internal equipment sheared from the radar tower's base. A few weeks later, Hurricane Delta also hit Lake Charles.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles is the principal city of the Lake Charles metropolitan statistical area, which had a population of 202,040 as of 2013. It is the larger principal city of the Lake Charles-Jennings combined statistical area, with a population of 225,235. The 2010 population of the five-parish region of Southwest Louisiana was 292,619. For the city proper of Lake Charles at the 2020 census, it had a population of 84,872, with a population density of 1,890 people per square mile among 38,434 housing units. In 2010, the population was 71,993, reflecting a rebound from its 1990 population of 70,580.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: In 2010, the median income for a household in the city was $36,001. The per capita income for the city was $22,855. 20.9% of the population was below the poverty line; in 2020, the median income for a household in the city was $37,894. 26.7% of the population was below the poverty line. The average commute time was 22.4 minutes.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The 2010 census determined that the racial and ethnic makeup for the city was 47% African American, 46% White <1% Native American, 2% Asian, 1% from other races, 2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 3% of the population. In 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the racial and ethnic makeup for Lake Charles was 46.2% Black or African American, 42.5% non-Hispanic white, 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.6% Asian, 2.6% some other race, 5.6% two or more races, and 5.6% Hispanic or Latino American of any race.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: In common with most of the American South, Christianity in the predominant religion in the Lake Area. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives in 2020, the Roman Catholic Church is the area's largest individual Christian denomination, with 51,161 adherents in Calcasieu Parish alone. The Southern Baptist Convention was the city and area's second largest denomination, followed by non-denominational Protestant churches. Other prominent Christian denominations have included the United Methodist Church, National Baptist Convention, USA, Churches of Christ, Church of God in Christ, and the Assemblies of God USA.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Additionally, outside of Christianity, there were an estimated 354 adherents of Islam in the city and metropolitan area. According to Dwellics and Sperling's BestPlaces, there is also a small Jewish population.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: In 2018, the violent crime rate in the Lake Charles area was of the highest in the United States, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked include rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. Lake Charles is safer than 13% of cities in the United States. For every 100,000 people, 13.11 daily crimes occur in Lake Charles. Year over year, crime in Lake Charles has decreased by 25%.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The top employer, the Calcasieu Parish School System, employs approximately 5,000 workers. The second-largest employer is L'Auberge Casino Resort, which has 2,400 workers.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Several petrochemical plants and an oil refinery are located nearby along the Calcasieu Ship Channel. Turner Industries, Westlake Chemical Corporation, and Citgo each employ over a thousand people. The Trunkline LNG terminal, immediately southwest of Lake Charles, is one of the United States' few liquified natural gas terminals. It has facilities for LNG receipt, storage, and re-gasification. Other industrial companies include PPG Industries, Phillips 66, Sasol, and W. R. Grace. Local industry also includes a number of manufacturing companies. Chennault International Airport hosts AAR Corp, which services airplanes, and a Northrop Grumman facility. The Shaw Group has a manufacturing facility which manufactures and exports parts for nuclear power plants.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: With small businesses, big box stores, and a regional mall, Lake Charles serves as the shopping and retail hub of the five-parish area. Prien Lake Mall, which serves nearly 300,000 people is anchored by three department stores: Dillard's, Kohl's, and JCPenney. It has over 80 retail options. Retailers include Talbots, Gap, Aéropostale, Bath & Body Works, Ulta Beauty, Express, American Eagle, Buckle, Spencer's, and Hollister. The Lake Charles Power Center is a shopping area that has of shopping space. The Cottage Shop District supports approximately a dozen small businesses. L'Auberge du Lac Casino Resort offers upscale clothing boutiques.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles has Louisiana's biggest casino market. The L'Auberge du Lac Casino Resort is a , 26-story hotel in Lake Charles. It has nearly 1000 guest rooms, a casino, golf course, spa, and meeting center. A second casino, the Golden Nugget Lake Charles, opened in 2014 next to L'Auberge du Lac. The 18-story casino resort hotel has more than 740 guest rooms, a casino, golf course, meeting space, retail corridor and a private beach and marina.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: While Horseshoe Lake Charles is technically in one of the city's suburbs known as Westlake, Louisiana, it forms part of the city's gambling market along with Delta Downs in Vinton, Louisiana and Coushatta Casino Resort in Kinder, Louisiana.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles has a Creole and Cajun culture because of its location in Southwest Louisiana—an extension of Acadiana.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The city has its own symphony orchestra, the Lake Charles Symphony. It was founded in 1938 and hosts concerts at the Rosa Hart Theatre, which has a capacity of over 2,000.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The Lake Charles Little Theatre was founded in 1927 and is the second oldest community theater in Louisiana.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles is home to a number of museums and art galleries. The largest, the Imperial Calcasieu Museum, features a permanent historical exhibit with artifacts and an art gallery. Its grounds are home to the Sallier oak tree, which is around 400 years old. The Historic City Hall Arts and Cultural Center is used as exhibition space; moving art exhibits are displayed at this public art gallery each month. It also hosts the Charlestown Farmers' Market, which provides a venue for local farmers and merchants to sell goods.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The Central School Arts and Humanities Center, located in the historical Charpentier District, is owned by the city. "Charpentier" is French for "carpenter", a reference to the carpenter-architects who built the mixed-style homes in the district. Central School features the Black Heritage Art Gallery, which is on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail, as well as the Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu, which features extravagant costumes and an interactive float. It has the largest collection of Mardi Gras memorabilia in the South. Other studios and cultural activities include the Art Associates Gallery, Studio 347 Gallery, the Lake Charles Symphony, and the Lake Charles Community Band.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: McNeese State University produces the annual Banners Series of various musical and theatrical performances. Banners also hosts lectures and presentations from notable persons and academics. Local theaters include the Lake Charles Little Theatre, the Artists Civic Theatre and Studio (ACTS), and the Children's Theatre.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Many festivals are held at the Civic Center. The most popular, the Louisiana Pirate Festival (formerly Contraband Days), is hosted on the Civic Center grounds and lakefront. The festival is a twelve-day annual festival held during the first two weeks of May. The celebrations are filled with savory Cajun food, family fun, and live entertainment, including several national acts. The festival is regularly attended by more than 200,000 people, making it one of the largest celebrations in Louisiana. In a reference to the legends of piracy on the lake and Contraband Bayou, the festival begins when the pirate Jean Lafitte and his crew capture the city and force the mayor to walk the plank.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Mardi Gras in Lake Charles has a long history dating back to 1882, when Momus, King of Mardi Gras, landed his royal yacht at the foot of Pujo Street downtown. Throughout the two World Wars, Mardi Gras was downsized which led to a lack of participation by the area's youth. However, an interest in redeveloping the festivities arose, and the first Mardi Gras Ball in Lake Charles was staged in 1964. The full revival of Mardi Gras in Lake Charles was not realized until 1979, when several Krewe captains formed the "Krewe of Krewes", with the primary purpose of parading and promoting Mardi Gras for local residents. In 1985, Mardi Gras of Imperial Calcasieu, Inc. was formed by a group of civic-minded volunteers to further aid in the preservation of this festival. Mardi Gras in Lake Charles regularly draws in crowds of 150,000.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Some of the city's cultural events include Chuck Fest, Martin Luther King Festival, Livestock Show & Rodeo, Black Heritage Festival, Garden Festival, Palm Sunday Tour of Homes, Downtown at Sundown, Memorial Day Avenue of Flags, Crawfish Festival, Asian/American Culturefest, Cajun French, Creole, Zydeco Music & Zydeco Trail Rides, Food Festivals, Marshland Festival, Gatorman Triathlon, Music & Food Festival, Arts Fest, and Riverside Fall Festival.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles has four libraries. The largest, with over 400,000 volumes, is Frazar Memorial Library, on the McNeese State University campus. The first library, Carnegie Memorial Library, was financed by Andrew Carnegie and opened in 1904. It also houses the Southwest Louisiana Genealogical and Historical Library. It, Central Library and Epps Memorial Library are part of the Calcasieu Parish Public Library, which has 13 locations in Calcasieu Parish.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles is home to the McNeese Cowboys, whose football team hosts games at Cowboy Stadium which has a seating capacity of 17,410. Burton Coliseum hosts the McNeese basketball teams.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles has been home to the Lake Charles Lakers and other minor-league baseball teams, indoor football teams, a minor-league ice hockey team and soccer teams.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Golf is popular at the city's Mallard Cove Golf Course. Other golf courses include Gray Plantation Golf Course, Lake Charles Country Club Golf Course, the Contraband Bayou Golf Club, and the Country Club at Golden Nugget. Gray Plantation Golf Course is featured on Louisiana's Audubon Golf Trail.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The city has 31 parks, many of which include playground equipment, athletic facilities, and walking paths. Shiver-Me-Timbers Millennium Park, located downtown, was built entirely by volunteers in 2000. Adventure Cove, a state-of-the-art park, was also built by volunteers, and is specifically designed for handicapped children. Hunting and fishing are popular with both residents and visitors to the Lake Area. An All-American Road, the Creole Nature Trail – "Louisiana's Outback" – brings tourists to Lake Charles and throughout Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles has a mayor-council government. The elected officials include the mayor, the clerk of court, and seven city council members. Each council member represents a district within the city limits. One is elected president and presides over each meeting. The mayor serves a four-year term. The current mayor is Nic Hunter. The mayor appoints the city attorney.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The Lake Charles Police Department (LCPD) provides law enforcement and protection for the city. The police chief is appointed to a six-year term, and the fire chief is also appointed. The Lake Charles Fire Department has eight stations and 15 companies. McNeese State University also has its own police department, the McNeese State University Police Department.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The Lake Charles City Court's jurisdiction covers the city and Ward 3 in Calcasieu Parish. The Fourteenth Judicial District Court, in downtown Lake Charles, covers Calcasieu Parish and includes nine judges who preside over family, juvenile, civil, and criminal trials. Lake Charles is home to a United States District Court, also downtown. The Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeals is headquartered in the city.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles is represented by Clay Higgins of Louisiana's 3rd congressional district. Most of the city is represented by Senator Jeremy Stine of District 27 in the Louisiana State Senate, though Mark Abraham's District 25 includes some neighborhoods of south Lake Charles.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The city has one university and one community college. McNeese State University, on a campus lined with oak trees in the heart of Lake Charles, is a four-year public university in the University of Louisiana System. Contraband Bayou flows through it. McNeese was founded in 1939 and named after educator John McNeese. It offers over 80 majors, and includes the colleges of Business, Education, Engineering and Engineering Technology, Liberal Arts, Nursing, Science, Honors College, and the Doré School of Graduate Studies. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Other properties include a athletic plant and student apartment complex, the Louisiana Environmental Research Center, Burton Coliseum, the MSU Farm, and nearly of donated farm property used for research, farming, and ranching. Over 8,500 students attend McNeese.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Sowela Technical Community College offers associate degrees, technical diplomas, certificate programs, and general education courses that can transfer to four-year universities. Delta School of Business and Technology specializes in vocational courses.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles's public schools are operated by the Calcasieu Parish Public School System. There are two charter schools and several private schools. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lake Charles operates and/or is affiliated with private Roman Catholic schools.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The most widely distributed, daily newspaper is "The American Press". Other popular periodicals include "Lagniappe Magazine", "The Jambalaya News", "Gumbeaux Magazine", and "Thrive Magazine". "The Contraband" is McNeese State University's student newspaper.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Major television network affiliates include KPLC 7, an NBC affiliate also operating the area's CW affiliate on its DT2 subchannel, KSWL-LD 17, a CBS affiliate, KLTL 18, a PBS member station, KWWE-LD 19, a MyNetworkTV/MeTV affiliate, and KVHP 29, a Fox affiliate also operating the area's ABC affiliate on its DT2 subchannel.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: KBYS 88.3 Oldies, KRVS 88.7 Npr, KRLR 89.1 K-Love, KYLC 90.3, KOJO (FM) 91.1, KBAN 91.5, KTSR 92.1 Classic Rock, KHLA 92.9 Classic Hits, KPPM-LP 93.5 Black Gospel, KSMB 94.5 Top40(Chr), KYKZ 96.1 Country, KQLK 97.9 Country, W252AQ 98.3, KNGT 99.5 Country, KELB-LP 100.5, KKGB 101.3 Mainstream Rock, KYBG 102.1 Classic Hits, KAJN-FM 102.9 Contemporary Christian, KBIU 103.3 Chr, KLCJ 104.1 Oldies, KKMY 104.5 Rhythmic Top 40, KZWA 104.9 Urban Adult Contemporary, KIOC 106.1 Active Rock, KJMH 107.5 Urban, KLVI 560 News/Talk, KJEF 1290 Cajun Music, KAOK 1400 Talk, KLCL 1470 Urban Adult Contemporary, KHB42 162.400 NOAA Weather Radio


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The city's streets are laid out primarily in a grid pattern. Interstate 10 passes through Lake Charles, connecting the city with Houston to the west and New Orleans to the east. The Calcasieu River Bridge crosses the Calcasieu River and part of lake. Featuring decorative flintlock pistols on the railing, it is high. About 50,000 vehicles pass over it daily. Despite its age of over 60 years, it is considered safe by the Louisiana DOTD.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Interstate 210 is an interstate highway bypass that loops through the southern portion of the city. The curving Israel LaFleur Bridge goes over the Calcasieu Ship Channel. This bridge has a 96% rating even after withstanding recent hurricanes. The loop has served Lake Charles commuters for 40 years, and carries about 40,000 vehicles per day.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Other major highways include U.S. Highway 90, which runs parallel with Interstate 10, and U.S. Highway 171, which connects the city to the north with Moss Bluff, DeRidder, and Shreveport. Highway 165, which runs northeast to Alexandria terminates at Highway 90 just a few miles east of the city. Louisiana Highway 14 ends at a junction with Highway 90, and runs south then east of the city.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles is served by two airports. Lake Charles Regional Airport, located south of the city, provides commercial airline service to Houston and Dallas. Chennault International Airport, while a fully operational airport, is an industrial and maintenance center. The latter airport, a former Strategic Air Command US Air Force base during the Cold War, is named for Maj. Gen. Claire Chennault, the aviator famous for commanding the Flying Tigers fighter group during World War II.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: The Port of Lake Charles is the thirteenth-busiest seaport in the United States, the fourth-largest liner service seaport in the U.S. Gulf, and a major West Gulf container load center. The City Docks in Lake Charles are the main hub of shipping activity. The Calcasieu Ship Channel provides direct access to the Gulf of Mexico downstream. The ship channel, which has a projected depth of and a bottom width of , intersects the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway just north of Calcasieu Lake.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles Transit, the city's bus system, provides five routes throughout the city. It has one Greyhound bus station, and the Amtrak station serves the Sunset Limited train route.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Electrical needs are provided by the energy company Entergy. The city provides drinking water and sewage service to residents within city limits. Water is treated at six water treatment facilities in the city.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles is served by two hospitals with multiple locations. Christus St. Patrick Hospital operates the Lake Area Medical Center campus in south Lake Charles, and Lake Charles Memorial Hospital operates a birthing hospital called Lake Charles Memorial Hospital for Women.


title: Lake Charles, Louisiana

text: Lake Charles is featured or mentioned in "The Drowning Pool", "The Beyond", "A Taste of Louisiana with Chef John Folse & Co.", "Passion Fish", "Good Eats", "UFC 22: There Can Be Only One Champion", "UFC 24: First Defense", "Blue Vinyl", "Little Chenier", "Mercy", "Split Ends", "All Over But to Cry", "Film Hustle", "Good Boy", and "10 Cloverfield Lane".


title: Symmetric group

text: In abstract algebra, the symmetric group defined over any set is the group whose elements are all the bijections from the set to itself, and whose group operation is the composition of functions. In particular, the finite symmetric group formula_1 defined over a finite set of formula_2 symbols consists of the permutations that can be performed on the formula_2 symbols. Since there are formula_4 (formula_2 factorial) such permutation operations, the order (number of elements) of the symmetric group formula_1 is formula_4.


title: Symmetric group

text: Although symmetric groups can be defined on infinite sets, this article focuses on the finite symmetric groups: their applications, their elements, their conjugacy classes, a finite presentation, their subgroups, their automorphism groups, and their representation theory. For the remainder of this article, "symmetric group" will mean a symmetric group on a finite set.


title: Symmetric group

text: The symmetric group is important to diverse areas of mathematics such as Galois theory, invariant theory, the representation theory of Lie groups, and combinatorics. Cayley's theorem states that every group formula_8 is isomorphic to a subgroup of the symmetric group on (the underlying set of) formula_8.


title: Symmetric group

text: The symmetric group on a finite set formula_10 is the group whose elements are all bijective functions from formula_10 to formula_10 and whose group operation is that of function composition. For finite sets, "permutations" and "bijective functions" refer to the same operation, namely rearrangement. The symmetric group of degree formula_2 is the symmetric group on the set formula_14.


title: Symmetric group

text: The symmetric group on a set formula_10 is denoted in various ways, including formula_16, formula_17, formula_18, formula_19, and formula_20. If formula_10 is the set formula_22 then the name may be abbreviated to formula_1, formula_24, formula_25, or formula_26.


title: Symmetric group

text: Symmetric groups on infinite sets behave quite differently from symmetric groups on finite sets, and are discussed in , , and .


title: Symmetric group

text: The symmetric group on a set of formula_2 elements has order formula_4 (the factorial of formula_2). It is abelian if and only if formula_2 is less than or equal to 2. For formula_31 and formula_32 (the empty set and the singleton set), the symmetric groups are trivial (they have order formula_33). The group S is solvable if and only if formula_34. This is an essential part of the proof of the Abel–Ruffini theorem that shows that for every formula_35 there are polynomials of degree formula_2 which are not solvable by radicals, that is, the solutions cannot be expressed by performing a finite number of operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and root extraction on the polynomial's coefficients.


title: Symmetric group

text: The symmetric group on a set of size "n" is the Galois group of the general polynomial of degree "n" and plays an important role in Galois theory. In invariant theory, the symmetric group acts on the variables of a multi-variate function, and the functions left invariant are the so-called symmetric functions. In the representation theory of Lie groups, the representation theory of the symmetric group plays a fundamental role through the ideas of Schur functors.


title: Symmetric group

text: In the theory of Coxeter groups, the symmetric group is the Coxeter group of type A and occurs as the Weyl group of the general linear group. In combinatorics, the symmetric groups, their elements (permutations), and their representations provide a rich source of problems involving Young tableaux, plactic monoids, and the Bruhat order. Subgroups of symmetric groups are called permutation groups and are widely studied because of their importance in understanding group actions, homogeneous spaces, and automorphism groups of graphs, such as the Higman–Sims group and the Higman–Sims graph.


title: Symmetric group

text: The group operation in a symmetric group is function composition, denoted by the symbol ∘ or simply by just a composition of the permutations. The composition of permutations "f" and "g", pronounced ""f" of "g"", maps any element "x" of "X" to "f"("g"("x")). Concretely, let (see permutation for an explanation of notation):


title: Symmetric group

text: Applying "f" after "g" maps 1 first to 2 and then 2 to itself; 2 to 5 and then to 4; 3 to 4 and then to 5, and so on. So composing "f" and "g" gives


title: Symmetric group

text: A cycle of length , taken to the "k"th power, will decompose into "k" cycles of length "m": For example, (, ),


title: Symmetric group

text: To check that the symmetric group on a set "X" is indeed a group, it is necessary to verify the group axioms of closure, associativity, identity, and inverses.


title: Symmetric group

text: A transposition is a permutation which exchanges two elements and keeps all others fixed; for example (1 3) is a transposition. Every permutation can be written as a product of transpositions; for instance, the permutation "g" from above can be written as "g" = (1 2)(2 5)(3 4). Since "g" can be written as a product of an odd number of transpositions, it is then called an odd permutation, whereas "f" is an even permutation.


title: Symmetric group

text: The representation of a permutation as a product of transpositions is not unique; however, the number of transpositions needed to represent a given permutation is either always even or always odd. There are several short proofs of the invariance of this parity of a permutation.


title: Symmetric group

text: The product of two even permutations is even, the product of two odd permutations is even, and all other products are odd. Thus we can define the sign of a permutation:


title: Symmetric group

text: is a group homomorphism ({+1, –1} is a group under multiplication, where +1 is e, the neutral element). The kernel of this homomorphism, that is, the set of all even permutations, is called the alternating group A. It is a normal subgroup of S, and for it has elements. The group S is the semidirect product of A and any subgroup generated by a single transposition.


title: Symmetric group

text: Furthermore, every permutation can be written as a product of "adjacent transpositions", that is, transpositions of the form . For instance, the permutation "g" from above can also be written as . The sorting algorithm bubble sort is an application of this fact. The representation of a permutation as a product of adjacent transpositions is also not unique.


title: Symmetric group

text: A cycle of "length" "k" is a permutation "f" for which there exists an element "x" in {1, ..., "n"} such that "x", "f"("x"), "f"("x"), ..., "f"("x") = "x" are the only elements moved by "f"; it is required that since with the element "x" itself would not be moved either. The permutation "h" defined by


title: Symmetric group

text: is a cycle of length three, since , and , leaving 2 and 5 untouched. We denote such a cycle by , but it could equally well be written or by starting at a different point. The order of a cycle is equal to its length. Cycles of length two are transpositions. Two cycles are "disjoint" if they have disjoint subsets of elements. Disjoint cycles commute: for example, in S there is the equality . Every element of S can be written as a product of disjoint cycles; this representation is unique up to the order of the factors, and the freedom present in representing each individual cycle by choosing its starting point.


title: Symmetric group

text: Cycles admit the following conjugation property with any permutation formula_44, this property is often used to obtain its generators and relations.


title: Symmetric group

text: Certain elements of the symmetric group of {1, 2, ..., "n"} are of particular interest (these can be generalized to the symmetric group of any finite totally ordered set, but not to that of an unordered set).


title: Symmetric group

text: longest element in the symmetric group with respect to generating set consisting of the adjacent transpositions , .


title: Symmetric group

text: In S, the "perfect shuffle" is the permutation that splits the set into 2 piles and interleaves them. Its sign is also formula_51


title: Symmetric group

text: Note that the reverse on "n" elements and perfect shuffle on 2"n" elements have the same sign; these are important to the classification of Clifford algebras, which are 8-periodic.


title: Symmetric group

text: The conjugacy classes of S correspond to the cycle types of permutations; that is, two elements of S are conjugate in S if and only if they consist of the same number of disjoint cycles of the same lengths. For instance, in S, (1 2 3)(4 5) and (1 4 3)(2 5) are conjugate; (1 2 3)(4 5) and (1 2)(4 5) are not. A conjugating element of S can be constructed in "two line notation" by placing the "cycle notations" of the two conjugate permutations on top of one another. Continuing the previous example,


title: Symmetric group

text: Conjugacy classes of formula_54 correspond to integer partitions of formula_2: to the partition formula_56 with formula_57 and formula_58, is associated the set formula_59 of permutations with cycles of lengths formula_60. Then formula_59 is a conjugacy class of formula_54, whose elements are said to be of cycle-type formula_63.


title: Symmetric group

text: The low-degree symmetric groups have simpler and exceptional structure, and often must be treated separately.


title: Symmetric group

text: Other than the trivial map and the sign map , the most notable homomorphisms between symmetric groups, in order of relative dimension, are:


title: Symmetric group

text: For , the alternating group A is simple, and the induced quotient is the sign map: which is split by taking a transposition of two elements. Thus S is the semidirect product , and has no other proper normal subgroups, as they would intersect A in either the identity (and thus themselves be the identity or a 2-element group, which is not normal), or in A (and thus themselves be A or S).


title: Symmetric group

text: S acts on its subgroup A by conjugation, and for , S is the full automorphism group of A: Aut(A) ≅ S. Conjugation by even elements are inner automorphisms of A while the outer automorphism of A of order 2 corresponds to conjugation by an odd element. For , there is an exceptional outer automorphism of A so S is not the full automorphism group of A.


title: Symmetric group

text: Conversely, for , S has no outer automorphisms, and for it has no center, so for it is a complete group, as discussed in automorphism group, below.


title: Symmetric group

text: For , S is an almost simple group, as it lies between the simple group A and its group of automorphisms.


title: Symmetric group

text: S can be embedded into A by appending the transposition to all odd permutations, while embedding into A is impossible for .


title: Symmetric group

text: The symmetric group on letters is generated by the adjacent transpositions formula_64 that swap and . The collection formula_65 generates subject to the following relations:


title: Symmetric group

text: where 1 represents the identity permutation. This representation endows the symmetric group with the structure of a Coxeter group (and so also a reflection group).


title: Symmetric group

text: Other possible generating sets include the set of transpositions that swap and for , and a set containing any -cycle and a -cycle of adjacent elements in the -cycle.


title: Symmetric group

text: The normal subgroups of the finite symmetric groups are well understood. If , S has at most 2 elements, and so has no nontrivial proper subgroups. The alternating group of degree "n" is always a normal subgroup, a proper one for and nontrivial for ; for it is in fact the only nontrivial proper normal subgroup of S, except when where there is one additional such normal subgroup, which is isomorphic to the Klein four group.


title: Symmetric group

text: The symmetric group on an infinite set does not have a subgroup of index 2, as Vitali (1915) proved that each permutation can be written as a product of three squares. However it contains the normal subgroup "S" of permutations that fix all but finitely many elements, which is generated by transpositions. Those elements of "S" that are products of an even number of transpositions form a subgroup of index 2 in "S", called the alternating subgroup "A". Since "A" is even a characteristic subgroup of "S", it is also a normal subgroup of the full symmetric group of the infinite set. The groups "A" and "S" are the only nontrivial proper normal subgroups of the symmetric group on a countably infinite set. This was first proved by Onofri (1929) and independently Schreier–Ulam (1934). For more details see or .


title: Symmetric group

text: The maximal subgroups of S fall into three classes: the intransitive, the imprimitive, and the primitive. The intransitive maximal subgroups are exactly those of the form for . The imprimitive maximal subgroups are exactly those of the form , where is a proper divisor of "n" and "wr" denotes the wreath product. The primitive maximal subgroups are more difficult to identify, but with the assistance of the O'Nan–Scott theorem and the classification of finite simple groups, gave a fairly satisfactory description of the maximal subgroups of this type, according to .


title: Symmetric group

text: The Sylow subgroups of the symmetric groups are important examples of "p"-groups. They are more easily described in special cases first: