Attila, asteroid 1489 (the 1,489th asteroid to be discovered, on April 12, 1939), is approximately 15 kilometers in diameter and has an orbital period of 5.7 years. Attila was named after the West’s most famous barbarian, Attila the Hun. J. Lee Lehman associates this asteroid with power and dominance issues. Attila, she says, “signifies the fighter. The Attila type does not retire gracefully.” Jacob Schwartz gives the astrological significance of this asteroid as “active dominance to get what one wants even fighting when it is unnecessary.”
code name for the plan of the fascist German command for the preventative seizure of the so-called unoccupied zone of France. Operation Attila was designed to meet the contingency of the loss of control by the French Vichy government over its North African possessions; the objective of the operation was to prevent the transfer of the French naval fleet in the Mediterranean and of the French air force to the side of the English and Americans or to a separatist French military administration in North Africa. As a result of Hitler’s Directive Number 19 of Dec. 10, 1940, Operation Attila, the fascist German command undertook the necessary preparatory measures. Plan Attila was replaced in May 1942 by Plan Anton, which, in contrast to Attila, stipulated the participation of the Italian armed forces in the occupation. In accordance with this plan, German and Italian troops occupied the entire territory of France, including the island of Corsica, on Nov. 11–12, 1942.