ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - December 9

1861, OKLAHOMA, INDIAN WARS: The Battle of Chusto-Talasah/Caving Banks. Retreating Creek/Seminole Indians under Chief Opothleyahola are driven out of defensive positions on the Horseshoe Bend of Bird Creek by 1,300 Confederate soldiers.

1940, AFRICA, EGYPT: General Sir Archibald Wavell, the commander-in-chief in the Middle East and North Africa, launches the first British offensive in the Western Desert. Major General Sir Richard O’Connor’s Western Desert Force of 31,000 British and Commonwealth troop, supported by aircraft and long-range naval gunfire, is ordered to attack the fortified camps that have been established by the Italians in Egypt. Sidi Barrani is captured on the 10^th and 34,000 Italians are taken prisoners as they retreat rapidly from Egypt. It is a famous victory in the face of overwhelming odds.

1965, SOUTH VIETNAM, GROUND WAR:  Elements of the 60^th and 80^th Viet Cong Battalions attack the ARVN’s 1^st Battalion, 5^th Regiment, at Que Son. In the heavy fighting that follows, both the 1^st Battalion and its regimental command group are overrun. The regimental commander is killed and the ARVN force is scattered to the south and east. At the same time, another Viet Cong battalion attacks the 1^st Battalion, 6^th ARVN Regiment, to the northeast, but it manages to hold its ground.

1939, EASTERN FRONT, FINLAND: Russia attacks Finland, but the invasion only penetrates the border areas and is carried out so inefficiently that Germany and the world thinks the Red army is of poor quality. But the Soviet Union had purged its officer corps three years before, on suspicion of political disloyalty, and had not yet completed the training of enough new officers.

1940, POLITICS, JAPAN: Japan officially recognizes the puppet government of President Wang Ching-wei in China.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - November 14

1940, BALKANS, GREECE: Greece launches a major counter-attack and 3400 British troops, plus air support, arrive from Alexandria, Egypt. When Greek forces finally enter Koritza they capture 2000 Italians and drive almost all the invaders back into Albania by December.

AIR WAR, BRITAIN: Germany sends 449 bombers to bomb the city of Conventry. The raid kills 500 civilians, leaves thousands homeless, and shocks the British public.

1965, SOUTH VIETNAM, GROUND WAR: As the 1^st Cavalry Division begins the second stage of General Westmoreland’s search and destroy mission, enemy forces begin to move out of their bases in the Chu Pong Massif, a mountain near the Cambodian border. Units of the 1^st Cavalry Division advance to establish artillery or fire support bases and landing zones at the base of the Chu Pong MassifLanding.

Fighting begins on November 14, pitting three US Army battalions against elements of two NVA regiments. Withstanding repeated mortar attacks and infantry assaults, the American troops use all means of firepower at their disposal, including the division’s own gunships, massive artillery bombardments, hundreds of bombing and strafing attacks by tactical aircraft, and the earth-shattering “arc light” strikes by B-52 Stratofortress bombers based on Guam, and eventually turn back the determined enemy. The Communists lose an estimated 600 troops while the Americans suffer 79 killed in action.

Although badly mauled, the NVA does not retreat. Elements of the 66^th North Vietnamese Regiment move east towards Plei Mei and encounter an American battalion on November 17, a few miles north of Landing Zone X-Ray. The fight that results is a stark reminder of the North Vietnamese mastery of the ambush. The Communists quickly trap three US Army infantry battalions. As the trapped units struggle to fight their way out, nearly all semblance of organized combat disappears in confusion. Neither reinforcements nor firepower can be brought in; combat is reduced to hand-to-hand and small-unit fighting in order to avert total annihilation. When the fighting ends, 60 percent of the Americans are casualties, with one of every three soldiers in the battalions engaged are killed or wounded.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - November 11-12

1940, SEA WAR, MEDITERRANEAN: At the Battle of Taranto British torpedo aircraft from the carrier Illustrious destroy three Italian battleships and damage two vessels during the raid on the Italian base. Illustrious loses only two aircraft. When the fleet leaves for Naples and Genoa, three British cruisers sink four vessels in the Strait of Otranto. This air attack on a fleet in harbor is closely studied by other navies, especially the Japanese.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - November 10

1940, POLITICS, ITALY: General Ubaldo Soddu replaces General Sabasiano Visconti-Prasca as the Italian commander-in-chief in Albania.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - November 9

1939, GERMANY RESISTANCE: A bomb explodes in the Burgerbraukeller in Munich shortly after Hitler leaves the hall on the 16^th anniversary of the Munich Putsch.

WESTERN FRONT, FRANCE: There is little military activity on the Western Front. This is the period of the “Sitzkrieg” or phony war.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - November 7

1861, MISSOURI, LAND/RIVER WAR: The Battle of Belmont. A Union force under Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant ejects Confederate forces at Belmont near the Mississippi River, but withdraws after a determined Confederate counterattack.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - November 8-9

1861, KENTUCKY, LAND WAR: The Battle of Ivy Mountain/Ivy Creek/ Ivy Narrows. A Union pursuit force fights an intense engagement after being ambushed around Ivy Mountain, Floyd County, and pushes the Confederates back into Virginia.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - November 5

1940, POLITICS, UNITED STATES: President Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected for an unprecedented third term.

SEA WAR, ATLANTIC: The German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer attacks a British convoy of 37 ships escorted by the armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay, which fights to save the convoy. The battleship rams and sinks Jervis Bay, but only five other vessels are lost. Eastbound convoys are suspended until the 17^th while the Allies search for the Admiral Scheer.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - November 4
 

1965, SOUTH VIETNAM, GROUND WAR: The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) attacks a Special Forces camp near Plei Mei. When this attack is repulsed, General Westmoreland directs the 1^st Cavalry Division to launch an offensive to find and destroy enemy regiments that have been identified in the vicinity of the US Special Forces camp. The result of this action will be the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley, named after the small river that flowed through the area of operation. For 35 days the division pursued and fought the North Vietnamese 32^nd, 33^rd and 66^th Regiments until the enemy, suffering heavy casualties, returned to base in Cambodia. With scout platoons of the air cavalry, each battalion of the division’s 1^st Brigade established company-size bases from which patrols searched for enemy ground forces. For several days the scouts of the 1^st Brigade failed to spot the enemy, until November 4, when they uncovered an enemy force at what appeared to be a regimental aid station several miles west of Plei Mei. Platoons of quick-reacting air cavalry-men converged on the site, while UH-1B helicopter gunships attacked the North Vietnamese forces. Operating beyond the range of artillery support, the air cavalrymen engaged the enemy in an intense firefight. Once again the North Vietnamese troops attempted to “hug” American forces and then broke contact as soon as the US reinforcements arrived.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 27

1940, POLITICS, AXIS: Germany, Italy, and Japan agree to a military, political, and economic alliance that pledges each country to fight any state that declares war on an Axis nation. The Tripartite Pact specifically aims to deter intervention by the United States in Europe or Asia.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 25

1940, POLITICS, NORWAY: Nazi sympathizer Vidkun Quisling, who proclaimed himself Norway’s leader following the German invasion, becomes head of the government. In reality Quisling remains a German puppet with limited authority.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 24

1940, AIR WAR, MEDITERRANEAN: Vichy France launches ineffective air raids on Gibraltar in retaliation for the British attack on Dakar.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 23

1940, SEA WAR, AFRICA: A British and Free French expedition, code-named Menace, attempts to occupy Dakar, French West Africa, with naval forces, including the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal, and 7900 troops. The Free French commander Charles de Gaulle fails to reach any agreement with the Vichy authorities, whose warships open fire. The Vichy French lose a destroyer and two submarines. Prime Minister Winston Churchill cancels Operation Menace after a Free French landing fails and British vessels suffer damage from Vichy French forces.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 22

1940, FAR EAST, INDOCHINA: Japanese forces enter the French colony after the powerless Vichy French authorities finally agree to the occupation. Some Vichy French resist the Japanese, who aim to prevent China obtaining supplies through the country.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 21

1940, POLITICS, AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister Robert Menzies wins another general election for the United Australia Party, although Labor remains the largest individual party.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 20

1939, SEA WAR, GERMANY: The heavy cruiser Blucher is commissioned.

1940, SEA WAR, ATLANTIC: German U-boats launch their first successful “Wolf Pack” operation, sinking 12 ships. In this tactic some 15-20 U-boats are deployed across the approaches to Britain. When a U-boat finds a convoy, it tracks the vessels and awaits the gathering of the entire “Wolf Pack” for a combined attack.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 19

1861, KENTUCKY, LAND WAR: The Battle of Barbourville. Some 800 Confederates raid the (largely empty) Union guerrilla training base at Camp Andrew Johnson in Barbourville.

1965, USA, CASUALTIES: The Defense Department reports that 561 Americans have been killed, 3024 have been wounded and 44 missing in action in Vietnam between January 1 and August 16, 1965.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 18

1965, SOUTH VIETNAM, US AID: The US Senate approves a $1.7 billion US supplementary appropriation for military operations in Vietnam.

SOUTH VIETNAM, GROUND WAR: A battalion from the 1^st Brigade, 101^st Airborne Division, begins operations in the rugged Son Con Valley, 29km (18 miles) northeast of An Khe, and runs into heavy enemy fire in a treeline around the landing zone. Four helicopters are lost and their company commanders killed. Reinforcements cannot land because of the intensity of the enemy fire. With this fight at close quarters, the Americans are unable to call in close air support, armed gunships and artillery fire except without endangering their own lives. But as the enemy presses them back, supporting artillery fire is placed on top of the enemy. By dusk the fighting subsides as the paratroopers prepare for a night attack. The Viet Cong, hard hit by about 100 air strikes and 11,000 rounds of artillery, begin to slip away. Inspection of the battlefield the next day reveals that the Americans had landed in the midst of a heavily bunkered enemy base. The fight at Son Con Valley was significant in that it had many of the hallmarks of the highland battles that were to come. Americans had little intelligence on either the enemy or on the area of operation; the Viet Cong employed for the first time the “hugging” tactics that prevented Americans from employing either close-in air support or artillery fire without endangering themselves. The Viet Cong, for their part, underestimated the accuracy of such fires and the willingness of US commanders to call in air or artillery support when fighting at close quarters. The Viet Cong forces, pressed too hard, fled the battlefield. Pursuit was impossible.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 17

1861, MISSOURI, LAND WAR: The Battle of Liberty/Blue Mills Landing. Confederate forces score another victory in their Missouri campaign after defeating 600 Union troops around Liberty, Clay County.

1939, SEA WAR, ATLANTIC: The British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous is sunk by U-29, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Otto Schuhart.

1940, POLITICS, GERMANY: Adolf Hitler decides to suspend Operation Sealion after Germany’s failure to achieve aerial supremacy over southern England, while the General Staff inspects further plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union. General Friedrich von Paulus, deputy chief of the Army General Staff, suggests offensives toward Leningrad, Kiev, and Moscow, with the latter being the main thrust.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY -  September 15

1940, POLITICS, CANADA: Men aged between 21 and 24 are to be conscripted.

1940, POLITICS, SOVIET UNION: Men aged between 19 and 20 are to be conscripted.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 16

1939, SEA WAR, ATLANTIC: U-31, commanded Kapitanleutant Hans Habekost, is the first U-boat to attack a British convoy.

1940, SEA WAR, MEDITERRANEAN: The British Carrier Illustrious and battleship Valiant sink two Italian destroyers and two cargo ships at Benghazi, Libya,

HOME FRONT, BRITAIN: The Selective Service Bill permits the conscription of men aged between 21 and 35.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 12-15

 1861, WEST VIRGINIA, LAND WAR: The Battle of Cheat Mountain Summit. General Robert E. Lee is defeated by a trenchant Union defence on Cheat Mountain and in the Tygart Valley, despite the Confederates being in greater strength. Union losses are 80 men; Confederate losses are 90.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 13

 1940, AFRICA, EGYPT: An Italian force of 250,000 men under Marshal Rodolfo Graziani advances from Libya into neighboring Egypt against the British Western Desert Force of two divisions under General Sir Richard O’Connor. Graziani establishes fortified camps along a 50-mile (75-km) front, while the British remains 75 miles (120km) to the east. British plans to attack Graziani are delayed as units are redirected to Crete and Greece, where an Italian invasion is feared.

1861, MISSOURI, LAND WAR: The Battle of Lexington/the Battle of the Hemp Bales. Some 12,000 Missouri State Guards under Major General Sterling Price force the eventual surrender of 3500 U.S. troops in Lexington.

 ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY September 7

1940, AIR WAR, BRITAIN: Full-scale bombing raids on London – the “Blitz” – begin with 500 bombers and 600 fighters. The RAF is initially surprised by the new German tactics, but adapts and concentrates its weakened forces against this threat. The bombing reaches its greatest intensity on the 15^th, but the Luftwaffe is now suffering heavy losses, especially during its daylight raids on English cities, which are largely abandoned by the 30^th. Bomber Command raids in France and the Low Counties destroy a tenth of the Nazi invasion barges on the 14-15^th.

1965, SOUTH VIETNAM, GROUND WAR: The US Marines launch a near-simultaneous operation on the heels of Starlite, called Operation Piranha. The target this time is the Batangan Peninsula, 13km (8 miles) southwest of Van Tuong, where a buildup from among the battered remnants of the 1^st Viet Cong Regiment is reported to be taking place. The Batangan Peninsula is like-wise reported to be a place of entry for the seaborne infiltration of supplies for the Viet Cong forces in the area. Operation Piranha was a coordinated operation with sizable elements of the 2^nd ARVN Division and the Vietnamese Marine Corps.   The operation took longer than Starlite as the intelligence was not quite as good, nor were the results as good as for Starlite. Nevertheless, during the days Piranha took place, the Marines managed to kill over 183 Viet Cong in action; this total included 66 men found in a single cave. The South Vietnamese forces killed an additional 66 Viet Cong.

1939, SEA WAR, BALTIC: Operational submarines are withdrawn from the Baltic Sea.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY – September 3

1939, SEA WAR, NORTH SEA: German ships start laying mines in the North Sea, concentrating on the defence of the German bight. Such mining operations continue through out the year, and become one of the navy’s most important contributions to the war during its first winter.

EUROPE, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Great Britain and France declare war on Germany. The Soviet Union invades Poland.

GERMANY, LEGAL: Jews are forbidden to be out of doors after 20:00 hours in winter or 21:00 hours in summer. Confiscation of all radios from Jews is carried out.

1940, POLITICS, GERMANY: The Operation Sealion landings are postponed from September 15 to the 21^st. Two airborne divisions will be used to establish three bridgeheads on the south coast of England for an invasion force of nine divisions and 250 tanks.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY – September 2

1861, MISSOURI, LAND WAR: The Battle of Dry Wood Creek/ Battle of the Mules. A US cavalry force of 600 men under Colonel J.H. Lane clashes with 6,000 Confederate soldiers at Dry Wood Creek, Vernon County, and are forced into retreat. The Federals are being compelled to abandon south-western Missouri and to concentrate on holding the Missouri Valley.

Sept 2-11,1939, NAZI PARTY, RALLIES: Party Rally of Peace is held at Nuremberg without any sense of irony.

1940, POLITICS, BRITAIN: Britain and the United States ratify a deal whereby 50 old destroyers, needed for convoy duties, are handed to Britain in exchange for bases in the Caribbean and the Bermuda. Such exchanges will accustom the US public to aiding the Allied war effort.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY – September 1

1939, POLAND, GERMAN AGGRESSION: The incident at Gleiwitz is reported by the Volkischer Beobachter as being “clearly the signal for a general attack on German territory by Polish guerrillas”. Feigning outraged indignation regarding the attack on the radio station, Hitler sends a message to the German armed forces the same day: “The Polish Government, unwilling to establish good neighborly relations as aimed at by me, wants to force the issue by way of arms. The Germans in Poland are being persecuted with bloody terror and driven from their homes. Several acts of frontier violations which cannot be tolerated by a great power shows that Poland is no longer prepared to respect the Reich’s frontiers. To put an end to these mad acts, I can see no other way but from now onwards to meet force with force.” Hitler solemnly mounts the rostrum in the Kroll Opera House that morning and announces to a hushed Reichstag that Germany is at war with Poland, declaring towards the end of his speech: “From now on I am just the first soldier of the German Reich. I have once more put on the coat that was the most sacred and dear to me. I will not take it off again until victory is secured, or I will not survive the outcome.” Those in the audience noticed that Hitler had discarded his customary brown party jacket for a field-grey uniform blouse resembling that of a junior office in the Waffen-SS.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - August 30

1939, POLAND, ARMED FORCES: The Polish mobilization is officially announced. Hitler can wait no longer and on the next day he gives the order to invade Poland at 04:45 hours.

The time has come to undertake the deception Hitler perceived was necessary to legitimize the invasion. SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Alfred Naujocks was chosen by SS-Obergruppenfuhrer to lead a simulated attack on the Gleiwitz radio stations to give the impression that the German radio station was under attack by a large Polish insurgent force. The German radio staff were not aware of this plan to fake an attack and they surrendered to the “Polish” insurgence.

This then permitted Naujocks’ team to interrupt the programme in progress, allowing Polish-speaking announcers to broadcast anti-German statements, to the background accompaniment of shots fired by other SS men for the next five minutes. Having decided they had convinced the listeners that the radio station was under attack by armed Poles, SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Naujocks and his men withdrew.

A successful mock attack on the German customs station at Hochlinden was also made by Heydrich’s SS detachment.

Hitler now had his justification for invading Poland. In fact, his soldiers and tanks were on the movie before the SS men had returned to their bases.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY-  August 21

1939, ARMED FORCES, NAVY

The pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee sails from Wilhelmshaven.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - August 18-24

1965, SOUTH VIETNAM, GROUND WAR US Marines launch Operation Starlite against the 1^st Viet Cong Regiment south of Chu Lai in Quang Ngai Province. It is a converging operation using a river crossing in LVTP-5s (Landing Vehicle Tank, Personnel) from the north and a helicopter-borne assault in the west or inland side, and an amphibious landing with naval lift provided by Task Force-76 on the southeast beach of the Van Tuong Peninsula. By August 24, at least 964 Viet Cong have been killed, frustrating a possible enemy attack against the Marine base at Chu Lai, and also rendering the 1^st Viet Cong Regiment ineffective. A more permanent result was that the Viet Cong discovered that they could not defeat the Marines in a stand-up battle. This offence likewise forced the Viet Cong away from their bases along the coastline, where they had previously found sanctuary from their enemies. This operation took place over six days.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - March  22-23

WWII 1942, Sea War, Mediterranean: A superior Italian force engages a British convoy sailing from Alexandria to Malta. A relatively small escort of five light cruisers and 17 destroyers initially resists an attack led by the battleship LITTORIA at the Battle of Sirte. A storm, however results in the loss of two Italian destroyers. the convoy subsequently faces air attacks and only 5000 of the original 25,000 tons (25,400 metric tonnes) of supplies arrive. British naval losses and commitments in the Mediterranean have reduced the number of ships available for convoy escorts.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  20-28

WWII 1943, Africa, Tunisia: Allied forces under General Bernard Montgomery launch a carefully-planned attack against the Mareth Line. the line's principal defenses along the banks of the Wadi Zigzaou are penetrated on the 21st - 22nd but the 15th Panzer Division successfully counterattacks. Montgomery, however, develops an outflanking move into a major offensive, and by the 26th the Axis forces have retreated northward to the El Hamma Plain. The weakened German forces fall back to Wadi Akarit by the 28th, while many of their Italians allies surrender.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - March  20

WWII 1940, Politics Franc4: Prime Minister Edouard Daladier resigns after criticism resigns after criticism of his failure to take the initiative to support Finland and thereby redirect the war away from France. Paul Reynaud succeeds Daladier on March 21.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - March  20

1965 North Vietnam, US, Strategy: General Harold K. Johnson submits his report to President Johnson on his finding while in Saigon. In his Report on the Survey of the Military Situation in Vietnam, Johnson concurs with General Westmoreland's and the Joint Chiefs of Staff's estimates that additional US Marines should be sent to Vietnam and a US Army division to the Central Highlands, as well as the sending of a South Korean Army division, if obtainable. General Johnson likewise reports that if the US intervenes militarily, the objective should be the destruction of the enemy.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  20

1954, Vietnam, Ground War: The US ponders intervention as General Vo Nguyen Giap's forces surround the French paratroopers at Dien Bien Phu. Chairman of the US Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Arthur Radford proposes to use tactical nuclear weapons to prevent a French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. After further discussions, Admiral Radford modifies his proposal by suggesting the use of carrier- based air strikes in what is called Operation Vulture.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - March  20-28

1966 South Vietnam, Ground War: Major-General Wood B. Kyle assumes command of the 3rd Marine Division from General Walt. General Walt continues as Commanding General, III Marine Amphibious Force. Also the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, arrives in the Republic of Vietnam. F Company, 9th Marines, under Captain Carl H. Reckwell, conducts a routine search-and -cle...ar mission along the northern bank of the Tre-Ha-Tho River, east of the railroad. At 16:30 hours the Marines come under 81 mm and 60 mm mortar fire. After the mortar bombardment, a Viet Cong company launches three ground assaults against the Marines. Captain Reckwell's men repulse each of the enemy's attacks and later find 10 enemy bodies nearby.

THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  19

TheThird Reich 1944, Politics, Hungary: As Soviet forces reach the Carpathians, Hitler orders the occupation of Hungary.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  19

TheThird Reich 1945, Germany, Economy: Hitler issues the so-called "Nero Decee", ordering the destruction of Germany's bridges, industrial plants and railway lines. The order is ignored by Albert Speer, who is now thinking of post-war Germany.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - March  19

1966 South Vietnam, Gound War: For the next three days, Task Group Foxtrot and tow Marine infantry battalions, reinforced on March 22 by tow South Vietnamese Ranger Battalions, stay in the Oregon objective are. The 2nd Battalion operates as the southwest battalion and advances to the southwest as originally planned., towards blocking positions established b...y the South Vietnamese battalion. Encountering only stragglers, neither battalion returns to Phu Bai, while Sullivan's unit remain in the Oregon sector for a few days. In the four-day operation the Marines sustain casualties of 11 dead and 45 wounded, while killing at least 48 of the enemy and taking 8 prisoner. Estimates of enemy casualties are 100 dead. Supporting arms (artillery, air and mortars) account for most of them.

In his assessment of the operation, US Marine Lieutenant-Colonel Sullivan grudgingly compliments the North Vietnamese, declaring that they "were a seasoned, well-trained adversary, and the tactics they utilize were not uncommon to good soldiering."

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - March  19

WWII 1944, Politics, Hungary: With the Red Army rapidly approaching the Balkans, Hitler has sent troops to occupy the country. Admiral Miklos Horthy, the regent, has been ordered to appoint a pro-Nazi premier, allow the German Army to take over the transport system, and give the SS a free hand in deporting Hungarian Jews to concentrations camps.

Italy, Cassino: A German counterattack against Peak 193 is unsuccessful by has loosened the Allied stranglehold. A New Zealand armored assault against the monastery is destroyed.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  19

Civil War 1865, North Carolina, Land War: The Battle of Bentonville/Bentonsville. By early March Sherman's army had crossed into North Carolina. Joseph E. Johnston tries to stop its progress at Bentonville. Johnston attacks in the afternoon, crushing the line of the Union XIV Corps. Only strong Union counterattacks south of Goldsborough Road blunt the Confederate offensive. Elements of the Union XX Corps join the battle as they arrive on the field. Five confederate attacks fail to dislodge the Union defenders as darkness ends the fighting.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  18

1967 South Vietnam, US Ground Forces: The first woman US Marine is assigned to United States Military Assistance Command Headquarters in Saigon. Master Sergeant Barbara J. Dulinsky will serve at General Westmoreland's headquarters in the combat operation centre.

 

At 24:00 hours Operation Prairie II ends. The Marines have inflicted 694 battle dead and 20 captures on the NVA. Marine casualties are 93 killed and 483 wounded. Of the Marine combat deaths, one-third of those killed in action and two-thirds wounded in action have been caused by enemy mortar rounds.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  17

The Third Reich 1941, Sea War, Atlantic: HMS Vanoc locates U-100 on the surface with radar, the first success with the Type 286 radar, which leads to the sinking of U-100, commanded by Joachim Schepke, and U-99, commanded by Otto Kretschmer.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  16

Civil War 1865, North Carolina, Land War: The Battle of Averasborough/Smiths Ferry/Black River. Union cavalry fight a day-long engagement with Lieutenant General William Hardee's Confederate corps, deployed across the Raleigh Road near Smithville. The Confederates eventually retreat after inflicting heavy casualties. Hardee is the author of the military manual Rifle and Infantry Tactics, first published in 1855.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  16

The Third Reich 1943, Sea War, Atlantic: The start of the largest convoy battle of World War II, with U-boats attacking convoys HX229 and SC122.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  15

1965 North Vietnam, Air War: US Navy jets enter Operation Rolling Thunder as the aircraft carriers USS Hancock and USS Ranger launch their squadrons for an attack on the Phu Qui ammunition depot, which is located halfway between Vinh and Than Hoa. At a United States National Security Council meeting, President Johnson relaxes some of the restrictions of "Rol...ling Thunder" so that it becomes militarily more effective.
This reflected a key shift in US strategic policy towards the war in Southeast Asia. It was no longer necessary that each air strike be a joint US-South Vietnamese air strike; that under no circumstances were actions to be taken that might result in air-to-air combat with North Vietnamese MiG fighters; that air operation were restricted below the 20th Parallel; or that Washington had final approval for alternate targets as local situation demanded it.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  15-31

WWII 1943, Eastern Front, Ukraine: Germany's Army Group Don recaptures Kharkov, and Belgorod three days later. By the end of the month the Soviet Voronezh Front is back on the east bank of the northern Donets. The final phase of Mansteins's offensive - a combined attack with Army Group Center's Second Panzer Army heading south from Orel toward Kursk - is... halted by the spring thaw.
This victory encourages the German high command to launch Operation Citadel, an ambitious plan to destroy the Soviet Central and Voronezh Fronts in the Kursk salient to the north of Kharkov. Over 500,000 Red Army troops occupy Kursk and a budge of land stretching 100 miles (160 Km) westward from the Soviet line.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - March  15

1965 North Vietnam, Air War: US Navy jets enter Operation Rolling Thunder as the aircraft carriers USS Hancock and USS Ranger launch their squadrons for an attack on the Phu Qui ammunition depot, which is located halfway between Vinh and Than Hoa. At a United States National Security Council meeting, President Johnson relaxes some of the restrictions of "Rol...ling Thunder" so that it becomes militarily more effective.
This reflected a key shift in US strategic policy towards the war in Southeast Asia. It was no longer necessary that each air strike be a joint US-South Vietnamese air strike; that under no circumstances were actions to be taken that might result in air-to-air combat with North Vietnamese MiG fighters; that air operation were restricted below the 20th Parallel; or that Washington had final approval for alternate targets as local situation demanded it.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  15-31

WWII 1943, Eastern Front, Ukraine: Germany's Army Group Don recaptures Kharkov, and Belgorod three days later. By the end of the month the Soviet Voronezh Front is back on the east bank of the northern Donets. The final phase of Mansteins's offensive - a combined attack with Army Group Center's Second Panzer Army heading south from Orel toward Kursk - is... halted by the spring thaw.
This victory encourages the German high command to launch Operation Citadel, an ambitious plan to destroy the Soviet Central and Voronezh Fronts in the Kursk salient to the north of Kharkov. Over 500,000 Red Army troops occupy Kursk and a budge of land stretching 100 miles (160 Km) westward from the Soviet line.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  14

1965 South Vietnam, US Armed Forces: Lieutenant-Colonel Bain's 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, relieves the ARVN force guarding the perimeter around the Da Nang Air Base.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  14

WWII 1942, Politics, Australia: Large numbers of US troops begin arriving in Australia.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - March  14

The Third Reich 1943, Eastern Front, Khardkov: German tanks and infantry enter Kharkov. After two months of bitter fighting, the SS Panzer Corps manages to hold the German line, recapture Kharkov and encircle and destroy part of the Soviet First Guards Army and an army group. But in doing so it has lost 11,500 dead, wounded and missing.

Two of the young Waffen-SS officers that were instrumental in the fighting were Joachim Peiper and Fritz Witt; the latter was to become the youngest general in the German Army. Prisoners of war and the inhabitants of the city were immediately put to work cleaning up the mess and restoring vital services. To commemorate the recapture of the city of Kharkov the Red Square was renamed "Platz der Leibstandarte" in honour of the SS Panzer Corp's exploits.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  14

Civil War 1864, Louisiana, Land War: The Battle of Fort DeRussy, Advancing into the Rebel Trans-Mississippi Department, Union troops take Fort DeRussy, opening the way to Alexandria.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - March  13-30

WWII 1942, Far East, Burma: Lieutenant General Sir Harold Alexander forms an Allied line below the central towns of Prome, Toungoo, and Loikaw near the Salween River and then eastward. Major General William Slim assumes command of the Burma Corps, the main elements of the British forces there on March 19. Japanese attacks begin on the 21st, directed at Chinese forces at Toungoo and the British as Prome.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  13

Civil War 1865, The Confederacy, Armed Forces: In the Confederate states it has been almost a point of faith that blacks could never be made into soldiers. Some Confederate officers, more concerned with winning the war, disagreed. In January 1864,  Patrick Cleburne and 12 other senior officers of the Army of Tennessee signed a petition to Jefferson Davis urging him to recruit slaves. They recognized the Confederacy's need for more men to fight, even if tit meant freeing the slaves. "As between the loss of independence and the loss of slavery," they wrote, "we assume that every patriot will freely give the latter - give up the negro slaves rather then become a slave himself."

 

Today, the Confederate Congress passes a law authorizing the use of black troops. On April 1, 1865, Colonel Otey of the 11th Virginia Infantry was ordered to recruit and train black units for the Confederate army, but it was too little, too late. the end of the war and the end of the Confederacy came within a month.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  13

The Third Reich 1943, Germany, Resistance: The Smolensk Plot, an attempt to assassinate Hitler, was organized by General von Tresckow, a Prussian officer who fought with distinction in Poland and France, but who became convinced that Germany would face ruin in the war with Soviet Russia. the plan, involving Gordeler, Tresckow, General Friedrich Olbricht and ...Fabian von Schlabrendorff, was for Hitler to be enticed to army headquarters in the Smolensk area, where Tresckow was serving, and there murdered. In the event it was decided to place tow bombs, disguised in a parcel to look like bottles of brandy, on the Fuhrer's plane. But technical problems with the bombs meant that the conspirators waited in vain for news of the explosion. When Hitler landed safely at Rastenburg the bombs were removed by Schlabrendorff and a new date was fixed, a week later, for another attempt, this time at the memorial day for World War I heroes at the Zeughaus in Berlin.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  8

Civil War 1863, Maryland, Land War: Confederate partisan leader John Mosby and 29 of his men mount a raid behind enemy lines to Fairfax Court House, only a few miles from the Union capital, Washington, D.C. Mosby finds and captures Union General Edwin Stoughton, commander of the division garrisoning the Fairfax area. Mosby plus his him, the general, 33 other prisoners, and 58 captures horses are safely back in Warrenton by dawn.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  7

WWII, 1945, Politics, Yugoslvia: Marshall Tito forms a provisional government in which he accepts representatives of the former royalist government-in-exile. This is a temporary measure, as he intends to retain full control of the government for the Communist Party, which he believes the population will accept without question as a result of partisan successes during the war.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  7

THE Vietnam War 1965 South Vietnam, US Aid: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk tells a national television and radio audience that the "Marines would shoot back if shot at", and that he mission of the Marines is to tighten the security belt around Da Nang and to free the ARVN to go after the Viet Cong. Two batteries of the 1st Light Antiaircraft Missile Battalion (LAAM) fly into Da Nang in order set up an air defence of the perimeter there.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   -   March  7-10

Civil War 1865, NORTH CAROLINA, Land War: The Battle of Wyse Fork/Wilcox's Bridge/Second Southwest Creek. Advancing Union forces in the Carolinas are initially stopped by General Bragg at Southwest Creek. However, Union attacks steadily push Bragg into retreat.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - March  6-9

WWII, 1943, Africa, Tunisia: The Germans attempt to disrupt General Bernard Montgomery's preparations for a final offensive at Mede-nine, south of the Mareth Line. They attack across a broad front but fail to concentrate and are decisively thrown back. Field Marshall Rommel, whose morale and health are both deteriorating, leaves North Africa.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY   - March  5-7

WWII, 1942, Far East, Burma: Lieutenant General Sir Harold Alexander replaces Lieutenant General Thomas Hutton as British commander in Burma. Two British divisions have been trying to resist Japanese advances toward Rangoon. Its port is the main point of entry for British supplies and troops. Alexander, however, evacuates Rangoon after realizing his dispersed forces cannot hold it l He himself narrowly escapes before the Japanese seize it on the7th.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY- February 28-April 8

Civil War, 1862, Missouri, Land War: The Battle of New Madrid/Island no.10. Union forces place New Madrid and nearby Island No.10 on the Mississippi River under siege. New Madrid, having been abandoned by the Confederates, falls on March 14, and Island No.10 on April 8.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 25

Civil War, 1862, Tennesse, Land War: Having lost the protective Forts Donelson and Henry, Nashville becomes the first Confederate state capital to fall to Union forces. It is surrendered by the town's mayor.


Civil War, 1862, The Union, Finances: The Federal Government in Washington introduces the Lefal Tender Act. It issues $150 million in Treasury notes, popularly known as greenbacks. These notes are not directly backed by gold reserves. The act compels people to accept the notes for all depts, public of private, with two exceptions: customs duties and interest on government bonds. The system made government bonds a very attractive investment. The bons sold briskly, and not just to banks and wealthy investors. Ordinary citizens could buy a bond in notes as low as $50, and a large-scale advertising campaign worked overtime to make sure that they did.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 25

WW11, 1941, Africa, Italian Somaliland: British-led East and West Africa troops advance into Mogadishu, the capital. The defeated Italians begin evacuating the colony.



ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 20-21

Civil War, 1862, New Mexico, Land War: The Battle of Valverde. Confederate Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley makes a successful start to his New Mexico campaign, defeating Union troops that had attempted to prevent his crossing of the Rio Grande River.



ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 20

WW11, 1934, Nazi Party, SA: Rohm gives a speech in which he claims that the SA is the true army of National Socialism, that the regular army should be relegated to a training organization and that the Ministry of Defense should be reorganized. The inferences are unequivocal; this is a treasonable statement aimed at the Nazi Party and the German Army. Rohm holds the allegiance of over three million SA members. Things are moving to a head between Rohm and the Nazi hierarchy.



ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 19-23

WW11, 1941, Politics, Allies: A meeting of Political and military leaders in Ciaro, Egypt, decides to deploy forces to Greece. The Greek and British authorities subsequently agree to send 100,000 British troops to bolster the country's defenses.


ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 16

Civil War, 1862, Tenessee, Land War: On February 12 Grant's forces marched from Fort Henry toward Fort Donelson. Within two days they surrounded Fort Donelson. Foote's gunboats bombarded the fort on the 14th but suffereed damage from its well-sited cannons. Grant then waited for reinforcements before attempting to take the fort. Confederate leadership was poor. The fort's commander, John B. Floyd, vetoed a breakout from the fort at a time when most of the garrison could easily have escaped. Then, when a surprise attack yesterday punched a hole in the Union line, his second-in-command, Gideon J. Pillow, threw away the chance to escape by trying to destroy Grant's army. Pillow's action gave Grant time to order counter-attacks that forced the Confederates back into the fort. Floyd, fearing that as a former U.S secretary of war he might be tried for treason, resolves to join part of the garrison that plans to escape from the fort under cover of night. He turns command over to Pillow, who immediately passes it to his subordinate the fort's third-ranking office, Simon Bolivar Buckner. Floyd, Pillow and about 15,000 Southerners capitulate.


ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 14

WW11, 1941, Politics, Bulgaria: Bulgaria grants Germany access to its border with Greece. This move engables Germany to increase its power in the Balkans and provides a route for forces earnmarked to invade Greece


WW11, 1941, Politics, Soviet Union: General Georgi Zhukov is appointed cheif of the General Staff and deputy commissar for defense. He has previously commanded the Red Army forces fighting against the Japanese in Mongolia in the summer of 1939


WW11, 1941, Africa, Libya: In response to Adolt Hilter's offer to send an armored division to ensure that the Italians will not withdraw in Libya, the first detachments of General Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps disembark at Tripoli.


ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 7-8

Civil War, 1861, North Carolina, Land War: The Battle of Roanoke Island/Fort Huger. A union amphibious landing of 7,500 men under Brigadier General Burnside captures Confederate forts on Roadnoke Island, tightening the Union's Atlantic blockade.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 6

Civil War, 1862, Tennessee, Land War: General Ultsses S. Grant, with 17,000 men, supported by ironclad gunboats under Andrew H.Foote, captures Fort Genry. The fort was poorly sited, unfinished, and half-flooded. Confederate commander Lloyd Tilghman thus sent most of his 3,000-man force to Fort Donelson. He remained with an 80-man artillery battery to conduct a delaying action. As Grant's infantryment make their way towards the fort, Foote's gunboards renew the attack. Tilghman strikes his colors, and Foote accepts his surrender. The Tennesse River is suddenly a Union highway as far South as Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The loss of Fort Henry unhinged the Confederacy's western line. The overall Southern commander, Albert S. Johnston, thus evacuated his forces from Columbus and Bowling Green, Kentucky. He reinforces the Garrison at Fort Donelson, however, so that within days 21,000 troops occupy the fort and its surrounding earthworks.


ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 5-7

WW11, 1941, Africa, Libya: The Italians fail in their final attempt to escape encirclement at Beda Fomm, south of Benghazi, and surrender to the British 7th Armored Division. Meanwhile, the Australian 6th Division, advancing along the coastal roads, forces troops in Benghazi to surrender on the 7th. This ends a two-month campaign in which the British have inflicted a complete defeat on a stronger enemy by executing a carefully-planned offensive using highly trained troops backed by air naval support.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 3- March 22

WW11, 1941, Sea War, Atlantic: The German battlecruisers Scharnborst and Gneisenau embark on commerce-destroying raids in the Atlantic. They succeed in dispersing numerous convoys and sink 22 ships before returning to the safety of French waters on March 22



ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 3

WW11, 1934, Nazi Party, SA: In a clear attampt to strengthen his hold of veteran membership, Rohm issues an order authorizing all SA as well as SS leaders and subordinates who were members prior to December 31, 1931, and still members, to recieve and wear a specially inscribed Honour Dagger. Rohm's dedication is inscribed on the reverse of the blade. The inscription In herzlicher fruendschaft Ernst Rohm, "in cordial comradeship Ernst Rohm", was acid etched onto the blade from a template bearing Rohm's own handwriting. A total of 135,860 daggers are awarded, of which the SS recieves 9900. Rohm states "The SA and SS will not tolerate the German revolution going to sleep of betrayed at the halfway stage by non-bombatant." He further assures his SA: "You won't make a revolutionary army out of the old Prussians NCOs ...You only get the opportunity once to make something new and big and that'll help us lift the world off its hinges." Rohm once again begins to make plans to merge the SA with the Reichswehr to form a "people's army" and also continues talking about second National Socialist revolution. The party leadership clearly does not approve of these ideas, not least due to the fact that Hitler needs the support of Reichswehr.



ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - February 1

WW11, 1941, Politics, United States: Major organizational changes to the US Navy lead to it being divided into three fleets: Atlantic, Asiatic, and Pactific. Admiral Ernest King is to lead the new Atlantic Fleet, and US naval forces will be strengthened in this vital war theater.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - January 24

WW11, 1941, Africa, Libya: The British 4th Armored Brigade engages Italian tanks near Mechili. The Italian forces in Libya are now divided with units inland positioned around Mechili, and other forces on the coast around Derna. They do not support each other and both face encirclement.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - January 19

Civil War, 1862, Kentucky, Land War: The Battle of Mill Springs/Logan's Crossroads/Fishing Creek. Union Brigadier General George Thomas' forces, having arrived at Logan's Crossroads on January 17, is attacked by Confederates under Major General George Crittenden at Dawn. The Confederate attack is initially successful but then runs into stiff resistance. A second Confederate attack is repulsed. Union counterattacks on the Confederate right and left push the enemy backs to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Union losses are 232, Confederate 439. This Battle breaks the eastern end of the Confederacy's defensive line in the West.


WW11, 1941, Africa, Eritrea: British forces in the Sudan, led by General William Platt, begin attacking Italian forces, heralding the start of General Sir Archibald Wavell's campaign against Italian East Africa.



ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - January 18

Civil War, 1862, Arizona, Politics: The Confederate Territory of Arizona is formed. It is created out of the southern half of what was the old Territory of New Mexico.


ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - January 10

Civil War, 1862, Kentucky, Land War: The Battle of Middle Creek. Union units commanded by Colonel James Garfield stop the Confederates' 1861 Kentucky offensive after defeating Brigadier General Humphrey Marshall's troops at Middle Creek, Eastern Kentucky.



ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - January 8

Civil War, 1862, Missouri, Land War: The Battle of Roan's Tan Yard/Silver Creek. After days of reconnaissance, Union forces attack and rout a Confederate camp at Silver Creek in Randolf County.



ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - January 7-22

WW11, 1941, Africa, Libya: After British 7th Armoured Brigade encircles Tobruk, the Australian 6th Division leads the assault against the Italian defenders of the port, who eventually capitulate on the 22nd. Some 30,000 Italians, as well as port facilities, and vital supplies of fuel, food, and water, are seized. Major General Sir Richard O'Connor immediately sends forces farther west along the coast to capture the port of Benghazi.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - January 5-6

Civil War, 1862, Maryland, Land War: The Battle of Hancock/Romney Campaign. Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, moving forces against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Bombards the town of Hancock from across the Potomac, but is unable to force the town's surrender.

 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - January 3-15

WW11, 1941, Africa, Libya: General Sir Archibald Wavell's Middle East Force, renamed X111 Corls, with air and naval support, resumes its offensive into Cyrenaica. In Australia's first land action of the war, the Australian 6th Division leads the attack to capture Bardia, just across Libya's border with Egypt, on the 15th. Some 70,000 Italians, plus large amounts of equipment, are captured.

 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - January 2

WW11, 1941, Politics, United States: President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces a program to produce 200 freighters, called "Liberty" ships, to support the Allied Atlantic convoys.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - October 25

1861, Civil War,  Missouri, Land War: The battle of Springfield/Zagonyi's Charge. Major Charles Zagonyi repulses Confederate forces from Springfield, but abandons the town during the night.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - October 24
 
1954, Vietnam,  South Vietnam, Politics: In order to emphasize the need to create a more broad-based government in South Vietnam and an adherence to democratic principles, President Eisenhower send President Diem a letter that assures continued US support only if democratic reforms continue uninterupted. In the later years, President Lyndon B. Johnson will cite this letter as being the starting point of the US commitment to South Vietnam.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - October 18

1940, WW11,  Politics, Vichy France: The puppet Vichy regime introduces anti-Semitic laws.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - October 7

1940, WW11, Balkans, Romania: German forces enter Romania on the pretext of helping to train the army of the fascist
Iron guard government. Germany's principal motive is to occupy the Ploesti oil fields.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - October 3

1861, Civil War, West Virginia, Land War: The Battle of Greenbrier River/Camp Bartow. Brigadier General Joseph Reynolds leads two Federal Brigades in a raid on Confederate positions at Camp Bartow on the Greenbrier River, but is unable to take the camp.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - October 1

1933, WW11,  Germany, Legal: Reich Entailed Law stabilizes small firms. 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - September 27

1940,  WW11, Politics, Axis: Germany, Italy, and Japan agree a military, political, and economic alliance that pledges each country to fight any state that declares war on an Axis nation. The Tripartite Pact specifically aims to deter intervention by the United States in Europe or Asia.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 25

1940, WW11,  politics, Norway: Nazi sympathizer Vidkun Quisling, who proclaimed himself Norway's leader following the German Invasion, becomes head of the government. In reality Quisling remains a German puppet with limited authority.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY -  September 23-25

1940, WW11,  Sea War, Africa: A British and Free French expedition code-named Menace, attempts to occupy Dakar, French West Africa, with naval forces, including the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal, and 7900 troops. The Free French Commander Charles de Gaulle fails to reach any agreement with the Vichy authorities, whose warships open fire. The Vichy French lose a destroyer and two submarines. Prime Minister Winston Churchill cancels Operation Menace after Free French landings fails and British vessels suffer damage from Vichy French forces. 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 22

1940,  WW11, Far East, Indochina: Japanese forces enter the French colony after the powerless Vichy  French authorities finally agree to the occupation. some Vichy French resist the Japanese, who aim to prevent China obtaining supplies through the country. 

1933, WW11,  Germany Culture: The tightening of control on the arts begins with a law that establishes a National Chamber of Culture or Reichskulturkammer, which is a nationwide organization embracing all those whose professional remuneration comes from art, music, the theatre, press, radio, literature or the cinema. Its purpose is to act as a coordinating point for the various cultural and culturally related arts, with the ultimate control of the chamber vesting in the minister of propaganda, Dr Joseph Goebbels. The Chamber consists of seven sub-elements: architecture and sculpting arts, music, theatre, literature, press, film, and radio, with a president at the head of each element. Each chamber president has the power to regulate his respective field. Membership is compulsory for any person engaged in these fields.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 21

1940, WW11,  Politics, Australia: Prime Minister Robert Menzies wins another general election for the United Australia Party, although Labor remains the largest individual party.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 20-22

1940,  WW11, Sea War, Atlantic: German U-boats launch their first successful "Wolf Pack" operation. sinking 12 ships. In this tactic some 15-20 U-boats are deployed across the approaches to Britain. when a U-boat finds a convoy, it tracks the vessels and awaits the gathering of the entire "Wolf Pack" for a combined attack.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 15

1940, WWII,  Politics, Canada: Men aged between 21 and 24 are to be conscripted

1940, WWII, Politics, Soviet Union: Men aged between 19 and 20 are to be conscripted.

 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 13-18

1940, WWII, Africa, Egypt: An Italian force of 250, 000 men under Marshal Rodolfo Graziani advances from Libya into neighboring Egypt against the British Western Desert Force of two divisions under General Sir Richard O’Connor. Graziani establishes fortified camps along a 50-mile (75-km) front, while the British remain 75 miles (120 km) to the east. British plans to attack Graziani are delayed as units are redirected to Crete and Greece, where an Italian invasion is feared.



ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 13

1933, WWII,  Germany, Legal: Law on Reich Food Costs. The Reich Food Estate will guarantee profitable prices for German farmers in an effort to make Germany self-sufficient in agricultural production.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - September 7-30

1940, WWII,  Air War, Britain: Full-scale bombing raids on London – the “Blitz” – begin with 500 bombers and 600 fighters.
The RAF is initially surprised by the new German tactics, but adapts and concentrates its weakened forces against this threat.
The bombing reaching its greatest intensity on the 15th, but the Luftwaffe is not suffering heavy losses, especially during its daylight
 raids on English cities which are largely abandoned by the 30th. Bomber Command raids in France and the
Low Countries destroy a tenth of the Nazi invasion barges on the 14th-15th.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY- September 2

1940, WW11,  Politics, Britian: Britain and the United States ratify a deal whereby 50 old destroyers. needed for convoy duties, are handed to Britain in exchange for bases in the Caribbean and Bermuda. Such exchanges will accustom the US public to aiding the allied war effort.

1861, Civil War, Missouri, Land War: The Battle of Dry Wood Creek/Battle of the Mules. A US cavalry force of 600 men under Colonel J.H. Lane clashes with 6,000 Confederate Soldiers at Dry Wood Creek, Vernon County, and are forced into retreat. The Federals are being compelled to abandon southwestern Missouri and to concentrate on holding the Missouri Valley.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - September 1

1933, WWII, Germany, Relief Agencies: First Winterhilfe Campaign; the Help for the Winter campaign. It is an enormous charity for the better-off to help their poorer national and racial comrades. Collections are made by SA men on the streets, and though most people give voluntarily and a great deal of work is carried out, the threat of violence is used to back up donations.

 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - August 28-29

1861, Civil War,  North Carolina, Land War: The Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries/Fort Clark/Fort Hatteras. Two thousand Union troops make an amphibious raid against shore batteries around Hatteras Inlet. The Confederate garrison of 670 men surrenders on the 29th.

 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - August 26-29

1940,  WWII, Air War, Germany: The RAF launches a night of raid with 81 aircraft on Berlin following a similar raid on London. Raids also take places against Dusseldorf, Essen, and other cities. The raids contribute toward a critical change in Germany’s strategy, as aircraft are directed to make retaliatory raids on London. This move relieves the pressure on Fighter Command’s air bases.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - August 26

1861,  Civil War, West Virginia, Land War: The Battle of Kessler’s Cross Lanes. Confederate forces under Brigadier General John Floyd cross over the Gauley River and attack Colonel Erastus Tyler’s 7th Ohio Regiment at Kessler’s Cross Lanes. The Union troops are thrown into retreat, losing 245 men. Confederate losses are 40.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - August 24-25

WWII, 1940, Air War, Britain: The Luftwaffe inflicts serious losses on the RAF during attacks on its main air bases in southeast England, straining the resources of Fighter Command to breaking point in a few days. London has also been Bombed.


ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - August 17-18

1940,  WWII, Sear war, Mediterranean: British naval vessels bombard Bardia and Fort Capuzzo, Libya, and shoot down
12 Italian bombers sent to attack them.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - August 17 

1940, WWII, Politics, Germany: A total blockade of British Isles is declared. Any allied or neutral vessels found in
British water will be attacked on sight.

 ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - August 15

1940, WWII, Politics, Germany: General Franz Halder, the Chief-of-Staff, inspects the first plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union. He proposes a two-pronged offensive, principally directed against Moscow, and a secondary attack on Kiev.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  - August 3-19

1940, WW11, Africa, British Somaliland: Italian forces, superior in the manpower are artillery, attack the 1475-strong garrison in British Somaliland from neighboring Ethiopia.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY  -  August 2

1940, WWII,  Sea War, Mediterranean: A British naval force attacks the Italian naval base on the island of Sardinia.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - August 1

1933, WWII, Nazi Party, Internal Politics: Rohm had always regarded the SA as his personal revolutionary army. But the power of the SA, conjoined with the ambitions of its leaders were to consume it. Rohm’s quest for personal power was not to Hitler’s liking, and his concern over Rohm was fuelled by the whisperings of Goring and Himmler. Himmler’s objective was to eliminate the power of the SA, which had grown to be the largest of the Nazi formations, gathering considerable strength in the process. Hitler was looking to the future and decided to cast his lot with the generals of the army. Rohm had been aware of what was happening when he declared: “Anyone who thinks that the days of the SA are over must make up his mind that we are here and that we will remain.”

1940, WWII Politics, Germany: Hitler issues Directive No. 17, which states that preparations for the invasion of England are to be complete by September 15, ready for an invasion between the 19th and 26th.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 25

1940, WWII, Politics, United States: The United States introduces licensing to restrict the export of oil and metal products outside the Americas and to Britain. This measure is particularly directed toward Japan, which is heavily dependent upon imports of these resources. As a consequence, Japanese strategic planning devotes great attention to the resources of the Dutch Easy Indies and Malaysia to relieve their raw material shortages.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 22

1940, WWII, Espionage, Britain: Britain establishes the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to secretly give support to resistance groups across Nazi-occupied Europe.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 21

1940, WWII, Politics, Soviet Union: The authorities formally annex Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.


1861, Civil War, Virginia, Land War: The Battle of First Manassas/First Bull Run.

General Irvin McDowell, commander of the main Union force of 35, 000, engages the main Confederate army of 20, 000, commanded by Pierre G.T Beauregard at Manassas Junction, only 30 miles (48km) from Washington, along a small stream called Bull Run Creek. In the Shenandoah Valley, meanwhile, Union General Robert Patterson with 18,000 troops, has orders to prevent Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston moving his 12,000 men to support Beauregard.

McDowell’s army has the advantage of numbers and by late morning has pushed the Confederates back to their final defensive position on Henry Hill. By afternoon the Confederates are on the verge of defeat. The timely arrival of reinforcements, many from Johnston’s Shenandoah Valley force, turns the tide. The Confederates are rallied by Jackson’s Virginia Brigade. It makes a counterattack on the slopes of Henry Hill that earns Jackson his famous nickname of the “Stonewall.” Other Confederate brigades attack and push back McDowell’s forces, who are exhausted by marching and fighting on a brutally hot day. By evening Union troops are full retreat toward Washington. The retreat, initially reasonably orderly, descends into confusion as troops become entangled with the wagons of the many civilian spectators who had traveled from Washington, expecting to watch a Union victory. When the Confederates begin to shell the road, the confusion develops into panic, and the disorderly retreat becomes a rout.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 18

1940, WWII, Politics, Britain: British Prime Minister Winton Churchill agrees to close the Burma Road to disrupt supplies to the Chinese in order to avoid a confrontation with the Japanese. The onset of the monsoon season means that the supply line would be disrupted anyway. The British will reopen the aid route in October.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 16-22

1940, WWII, Politics, Germany: Adolf Hitler Directive No. 16 reveals his military plan to invade Britain, code-named Operation Sealion. This requires control of the English Channel for transporting the invasion force and the destruction of Britain’s fighter capability to ensure a safe crossing. The air force is made responsible for destroying the strength of the RAF and Royal Navy. Hitler’s plans are further advanced after his final peace offer is rejected by the British on the 22nd.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 15

1933, WWII, Germany, Legal: Reich Regulations for the Corporate Reorganization of Agriculture. German agriculture is in dire straits, and under Minister of Agriculture Walter Darre, the Nazis are making genuine efforts to improve a lot of German farmers.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 14

1933, WWII, Germany, Legal: Law against the Establishment of Parties is introduced.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 11
1861, Civil War, West Virginia, Land War: The Battle of Rich Mountain. General George B. McClellan’s troops force Confederates out of defensive positions at Rich Mountain Pass and Laurel Hill – points within striking distance of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway. Union Brigadier General William S. Rosecrans leads a brigade (1,800 men) along the mountain path to seize a turnpike against the 900 Confederates under Lieutenant Colonel John Pegram. A sharp two-hour fight ensues, which ends in a Union victory. Union casualties are 46, whereas the Confederates suffer losses of 300.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 9-19

1940, WWII, Sea War, Mediterranean: At the Battle of Punta Stilo, the British Mediterranean Fleet tries to separate the Italian Fleet from its base at Taranto in southern Italy. An Italian battleship and cruiser suffer damage, and Italian aircraft hit a British cruiser. On the 19th, the Australian light cruiser Sydney and four destroyers engage two Italian light cruisers. The Italians lose a cruiser and the Sydney is damaged.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 10

1940, WWII, Air War, Britain: The Battle of Britain begins. Hermann Goering, the Nazi air force chief, orders attacks on shipping and ports in the English Channel. The movement of Allied vessels in the Channel is soon restricted as a result of British naval and aircraft losses.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 8

1933, WWII, Germany, Treaties: Concordat between Germany and the Vatican. Negotiated by the Catholic Franz von Papen, it conferred a certain legitimacy on the Nazi regime. Hitler sought to end Vatican support for the Catholic Centre Party while he proceeded to subordinate the churches and to corrupt Christianity into a state-centered form of neo-paganism. Pope Pius XI, like every other European statesmen after him, thought that he could appease and moderate the Nazis.

The Concordat gives Germans the right to practice religion and allows the church to administer itself. In return, Catholic priests are not to take part in politics. Some have charged that the Vatican, lured by guarantees for its schools and other institutions, has secured the Concordat by sacrificing the Centre Party, which has fought the Kulturkampf (Culture Battle). In fact Pius XI does not believe that Catholic political action anywhere should serve as the primary means of defending church interests. Furthermore, it is clear from the beginning of July that Hitler does not need the Concordat to remove the clergy from German politics.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 6

1861, Civil War, Cuba, Sea War: Following raiding actions the CSS Sumter releases seven captured Union vessels in Cuban Waters.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 3-7

1940, WWII, Sea War, Mediterranean: Britain, fearing that France’s navy will be seized by Germany, sends two battleships, a battlecruiser, and a carrier (Force H) to neutralize French vessels at Oran and Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria. After negotiations fail, the British sink one battleship and damage two. In Britain, two French battleships, nine destroyers, and other craft are acquired with minimal force. French naval forces in Alexandria, Egypt, and disarmed on the 7th.

     
ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 5

1933, WWII, Germany, Legal: Decrees dissolving political parties: the Centre Party.

1861, Civil War, Missouri, Land War: The Battle of Carthage. Missouri State Guard divisions under Governor Claiborne Jackson force a Union brigade into retreat around Carthage, although the Confederates lose a total of 200 men to the Union’s 44 casualties.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - July 4

1933, WWII, Germany, Legal: Decrees dissolving political parties: DVP and Bavarian Party.

 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY – July 2

1861,  Civil War, Wisconsin, Land War: The Battle of Hoke’s Run/Falling Waters/Hainesville. Union Major General Robert Patterson’s division, having crossed the Potomac River near Williamsport, marches on the main road to Martinsburg, near Hoke’s run. Thomas’ and Abercrombie’s Union brigades encounter the Confederate Regiments of Brigadier General Thomas J. Jackson’s brigade, driving them back slowly. Jackson’s orders are to delay the Federal advance only, which he does withdrawing before Patterson’s larger force.

On July 3, Patterson occupied Martinsburg but then was inactive until July 15, when he marches to Bunker Hill. Instead of moving on Winchester, however, he turned east to Charles Town and then withdrew to Harpers Ferry. This took pressure off Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley and allowed Johnston’s Army to march to support General Beauregard at Bull Run.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY – July 1

1940, WW11,  Sea War, Atlantic: The “Happy Time” begins for U-boat crews as their operational range is increased now that they have bases in French ports. This lasts until October. U-boat crews inflict serious losses on Allied convoys.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 30

WWII, 1940, Western Front, Channel Islands: Germany invades the Channel Islands. This is the only British territory occupied during hostilities.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 28

WWII, 1933, Germany, Legal: Decrees dissolving political parties: State Party. Theodor Eicke becomes Commandant of Dachau. He is brutal and dedicated to ensuring that the “enemies of Germany” are securely held in the camp.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 27

WWII, 1933, Germany Legal: Decrees dissolving political parties: DNVP.


ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 26

WWII, 1940, Politics, Romania: The government agrees to the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, although Romanian troops attempt to halt the Red Army when it enters the country.


0N THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 22

WWII, 1933, Germany, Legal: Decree dissolving political parties: the Social Democrats.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 20-21

WWII, 1940, Western Front, France: Benito Mussolini launches attacks along the south coast. Offensives are also made along the Franco-Italian border. Italy also bombs the strategically-important island of Malta.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 20

Civil War, 1861, West Virginia, Politics: West Virginia, it’s political leaders opposed to Virginia’s decision to leave the Union, breaks away from the Confederacy and is admitted to the Union as a separate state.


WWII, 1940, Politics, Union States: Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt appoints two anti-isolationist Republicans to his cabinet. Henry Stimson becomes secretary of war and Frank Knox is appointed secretary of the navy.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 17

Civil War, 1861, Missouri, Land War: The Battle of Boonville. Some 1, 700 Federals attack Missouri State Guard troops Boonville, forcing them out of the town and establishing Union control over a stretch of the Missouri River.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 16-24

WWII, 1940, Politics France: Prime Minister Reynaud fails to motivate his government to continue fighting and releases France from it’s agreement with Britain not to make any separate peace. France rejects a British idea to create union between countries.

Reynaud, after losing support, resigns and Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain replaces him. Petain requests Germany’s armistice terms on the 17th, and the signing takes place at Compiegne, site of the World War 1 armistice agreement on the 22nd. Under the terms Germany occupies two-thirds of France, including the Channel and Atlantic coastlines. The south, which becomes known as Vichy France, will have nominal French administration and keeps its colonies.

After Italy’s armistice with France on the 14th, a cease-fire occurs on all fronts. French casualties since May 10 total more then 85, 000 men, the British lose 3475 men, and German losses reach 27, 074.

While Petain’s regime will collaborate with Nazi Germany, the French Army officer Brigadier General Charles de Gaulle begins broadcasting his opposition from London on the 18th with pledges to liberate and country.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 15-25

WWII, 1940, Western Front, France: The evacuation of the remaining Allied troops in northwest France begins. Operation Ariel extends this to the Biscay ports from the 16th. Some 214,000 troops are saved during the evacuation, although 300 perish when the liner Lancastria is sunk on the 17th.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 14

WWII, 1933, Germany, Legal: Law of the New Formation of the German Peasantry.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 13-25

WWII, 1940, Western Front, France: Paris is declared an “open city” in order to save it from destruction and all French forces withdraw south of the capital, leaving the Maginot Line isolated. German troops enter Paris on June 14 as thousands flee the capital. Germany’s Army Group C, deployed from the Maginot Line to the Swiss border, breaks through French defenses. German forces advance in all directions, crossing the Rhine and Loire Rivers. All of the coastal ports between Cherbourg and St. Nazaire are soon captured.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 13

WWII, 1940, Politics, United States: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a $1.3 billion navy bill to improve the service. Shipments of arms also leave the country in response to Winston Churchill’s request to Roosevelt for surplus weapons.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 12-14

WWII, 1940, Sear War. Mediterranean: Britain launches a naval bombardment against the Italian vase of Tobruk, Libya, on the 12th. The French Navy bombards the ports of Genoa and Vado on the 14th. British air raids are also made on Turin and Genoa. Libyan and East African airfields are raided.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 12

WWII, 1933, Germany, Legal: Law on Betraying the Germany Economy; notification of assets abroad.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 10-11

WWII, 1940, Politics, Italy: Italy declares war on France and Britain. Benito Mussolini, Eager to capitalize on France’s collapse, enters the war despite previous assertions that his nation will not have the capability to fight alongside Germany until 1942. Canada declares war on Italy on the 10th, as do Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa the following day.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 10

WWII, 1940, Western Front, France: Some 11,000 British and other French troops begin to evacuate from St. Valery and Le Havre Britain.


Civil War, 1861, Virginia, Land War: The Battle of Big Bethel/Bethel Church. Major General Benjamin F. Butler sends converging columns from Hampton and Newport News against advanced Confederate outposts at Little and Big Bethel. The 1, 2000 Confederates abandon Little Bethel and fall back to their entrenchments behind Brick Kiln Creek, near Big Bethel Church. The Federals, 3, 500 men under the command of Brigadier General Ebenezer Pierce, attack but are repulsed. Crossing downstream, the 5th New York Zouaves attempts to turn the Confederate left flank, but is also repulsed. Being disorganized, Union forces then retire and return to Hampton and Newport News. Confederate losses are one killed and seven wounded. Union forces suffer losses of 79.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 9

WWII, 1933, Germany, Legal: Law on Payments Abroad.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 8

WWII, 1940, Sea War, North Sea: The German battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sink three empty vessels while hunting for convoys from Norway. They then sink the British carrier Glorious and two destroyers. These losses are blamed on the British failure to provide sufficient naval escorts for the Norway Convoys.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 5-12

WWII, 1940, Western Front, France: A German force of 119 divisions opens Operation Red, the conquest of France, with General Fedor von Bock’s Army Group B attacking along the Somme River to reach the Seine River west of Paris by June 9. General Gerd von Rundstedt’s Army Group A, moving toward the Moselle River in front of Maginot Line, launches an offensive east of Paris. Rundstedt’s tanks, reinforced by Army Group B panzers overcome resistance from the French Fourth Army to break through at Chalons-sur-Marne on the 12th.

France’s response, the Weygand Line, stretching along the Somme and Aisne Rivers, aims to protect Paris and the interior. Some of France’s 65 divisions fight determined actions, but many units lack manpower and equipment. Air attacks and logistical problems also undermine General Maxime Weygand’s vulnerable forces.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 3-4

WWII, 1940, Western Front, France: Operation Dynamo ends. The remarkable operation his rescued 338,266 men – two-thirds of them British – from the beaches of Dunkirk, although 243 vessels and 106 aircraft have been destroyed. General Lord Gort, the British Expeditionary Force’s commander, leaves Lieutenant General Sir Harold Alexander in command after being evacuated on May 31, The Germans occupy Dunkirk on June 4 and capture 40,000 French troops.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 3

Civil War, 1861, Virginia, Land War: The Battle of Philippi/Philippi Races. A Union force makes a two-pronged attack against a small Confederate unit at Philippi in Barbour County. The Confederates are forced to retreat, suffering 26 casualties.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 1-9

WWII, 1940, Western Front, Norway: After Britain and France reveal to the Norwegians that they are to begin an evacuation; troops begin to withdraw on June 4. King Haakon and his government leave for Britain on the 7th, and 24, 500 troops are evacuated. The king finally orders the Norwegians to stop fighting on June 9, after losing 1335 men in the campaign. Entire Allied losses included 5600 men, one carrier, two cruisers, nine destroyers plus other small craft, and 100 aircraft. German loses total 3692 men, 19 warships and 242 aircraft.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - June 1

WWII, 1933, Germany, Legal: First Law for the reduction of Unemployment.
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - May 2

WWII 1933, Germany, Industrial Relations: All German Free Trade unions are dissolved, and their 5.5 million members incorporated into the newly formed German Labor Front, an affiliated organization of the NSDAP with virtually a parallel organizational structure. It is headed by Dr Robert Ley.

To weld German labor into a solid organization backing Hitler, Ley abolished the democratic trade unions and built up a powerful labor organization designed to facilitate German militarization and war preparations.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY -  APRIL 20-30

1940, WWII, Western Front, Norway: German troops defend Trondheim and wait for the arrival of more forces.
German aircraft launch determined attacks against the allies. British and French troops eventually evacuate Namsos and Andalsnes on May 1-2.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY -  APRIL  27

1861, Civil War, Washington, D.C., Politics:  President Lincoln withdraws the right of habeas corpus.
This cornerstone of civil and constitutional law will not be reinstated until 1866.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 26

1933, WWII, Germany Police:   A decree on the establishment of the Geheime staats Polizeiamt (Gestapo), which later renamed Geheime staats Polizeiamt (Gestapo), as new department of the Prussian state police affiliated with the Minister of the Interior, to be headed by Diels. Goring is persuaded by his friend Diels that a secret police force was necessary to monitor the activities of the communist. The Gestapo becomes the political police of Nazi Germany.

The Gestapo ruthlessly eliminated opposition to the Nazis within Germany and its occupied territories and was responsibly for the roundup of Jews throughout Europe for deportation to extermination camps. Hermann Goring, Prussian Minister of the Interior, detached the political and espionage units from the regular Prussian police, filled their rants with thousands of Nazis, and, on April 26, 1933, reorganized them under his personal command as the Gestapo. Simultaneously. Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, together with his aide Reinhard Heydrich, similarly reorganized the police of Bavaria and the remaining German States.

The Gestapo operated without restraints. It had the authority of “preventative arrest”, and its actions were not subject to judicial appeal. Thousands of leftists, intellectuals, Jews, trade unionists, political clergy, and homosexuals simply disappeared into concentration camps after being arrested by the Gestapo. The political section could order prisoners to be murdered, tortured, or released. Together with the SS, the Gestapo managed the treatment of “inferior races,” such as Jews and Gypsies. The Gestapo suppressed partisan activities in the occupied territories and carried out reprisals against civilians. Gestapo members were included in the Einsatzgruppen (Special Action Squads), which were mobile death squads that followed the German army into Poland and Russian to kill Jews and other “undesirables” . The Gestapo, under Adolf Eichmann, organized the deportation of millions of Jews from other occupied countries to death camps.

 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 25

1861, Civil War, Tennessee, Politics:  Isham Harris delivers his second message to the Tennessee Assembly, recommending that the state break from the Union and ally itself with the Confederacy
 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL  24

1940, WWI, Western Front, Norway:   An Allied offensive on Narvik begins with a naval bombardment. Allied coordination with the Norwegian forces is poor, but the Germans in the area eventually withdraw at the end of April.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 23

1861, Civil War, Arkansas, Land War: Fort Smith a Federal supply post is captured by Arkansas state troops. It will not return to Union hands until 1863

Virginia, Armed Forces:  Major General Robert E. Lee becomes the commander of land and naval forces in the state of Virginia.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL  22

1861, Civil War, Arkansas, Politics: U.S secretary of war, Simon Cameron, sends a telegram to Henry M. Rector, the state governor, requesting a regiment of 780 men. Rector refuses.

Arkansas has a population of 435,450, approximately one-quarter of them slaves. Much of the state’s wealth has been built on slave labor, and therefore the government of Arkansas favors the right to own slaves.


 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 21

1861, Civil War, North Carolina, Land War: State militia forces in North Carolina seize the mint in the city of Charlotte.

Texas, Armed Forces: General Earl Van Dorn, a veteran of the Mexican and Indian Wars, assumes command of Confederate forces in Texas.



ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 15

1861, Civil War, The Union Armed Forces: Having had his request approved by Congress, Lincoln publicly calls for the raising of 75,000 soldiers from the Northern states. The response from the states themselves is mixed.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY -  APRIL 17

 1861, Civil War, Virginia, Politics: The Virginia secession convention votes 88 to 55 secede. Virginia is crucial to the South’s fortunes. It is the most popular Southern state, it is located in a critical position across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., and it has the greatest industrial capacity of any Southern state.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 14-19

1940, WWII,  Western Front, Norway:  An allied expeditionary force of over 10,000 British, French and Polish troops first formed to assist Finland, lands at Namsos, Alesund, and Narvik. Its objective is to recapture Trondheim to secure a base in Norway, but its units are ill-prepared for the campaign. There has been little liaison with the Norwegians. The various Allied units lack cohesion, training in arctic warfare, key supplies, air cover, and anti-aircraft weaponry.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 20-30

1940, WWII, Western Front, Norway: German troops defend Trondheim and wait for the arrival of more forces. German aircraft launch determined attacks against the allies. British and French troops eventually evacuate Namsos and Andalsnes on May 1-2.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - April 27

1861, Civil War, Washington, D.C., Politics:  President Lincoln withdraws the right of habeas corpus. This cornerstone of civil and constitutional law will not be reinstated until 1866.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 13
 

 1861, Civil War, Minnesota, Politics: Governor Alexander Ramsey, hearing of the attack on Fort Sumter, immediately offers Secretary of War Simon Cameron 1,000 Minnesota men for the Union cause.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 12
 

1861, Civil War, South Carolina, Land War:  At 03:20 hour Confederate Colonel James Chesnut and Captain Stephen D. Lee row out to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor to make a final demand for surrender. Major Robert Anderson refuses, believing that the arrival of backup troops and supplies are imminent. The confederates warn him that shelling will start within the hour, and at 04:30 hours the first shell is fired.

Anderson gives the honor of the Union’s first shot to his second-in-command, Captain Abner Doubleday, who fires it at around 07:00 hours. The Union troops are short of ammunition and so fire only occasional rounds from a few of their guns – without much effect. The fort has only 66 cannons, several of which are unmounted because the fort is only half-finished; it has been either re-supplied nor reinforced since December 26, 1860.

Meanwhile, the Confederates subject the fort to a heavy barrage from their battery at Point Cummings on Morris Island to the south. By the time they cease firing at dawn; several fires have broken out inside the fort. The Union supply ship, The Star of the West, arrives at Charleston in the afternoon but is kept outside the harbor by Confederate artillery.

Confederate batteries resume heavy shelling at dawn on April 13. The barracks inside the fort cause fire, and Anderson’s men lay on the ground to escape the smoke. At 12:48 hours a Confederate shell dislodged Fort Sumter’s flagstaff. When confederate Colonel Louis T. Wigfall saw the flag go down, he rowed out to the fort to demand its surrender. This time Anderson conceded defeat. Fort Sumter will remain in Confederate hands for most of the war.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 10-13
 

1940, WWII,  Sea War, Norway: Five British destroyers launch a surprise attack on 10 German destroyers and shore batteries to the west of Narvik. During short and confused engagements each side loses two destroyers, while eight German merchant vessels and an ammunition carrier are also sunk. The cruiser Konigsberg becomes the first vessel to be sunk by dive-bombing during a British air attach of Bergen.

Subsequent air attacks on the Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, and Admiral Hipper by the British on the 12^th fail. A British battleship and nine destroyers succeed in sinking eight German destroyers plus a U-boat, by aerial attack in the Second Battle of Narvik on April 13.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 9

1940, WWII,  Western Front, Norway/Denmark:  A German invasion force, including surface ships, U-boats, and 1000 aircraft, attacks Denmark and Norway. Denmark is overrun immediately. The first ever airborne assault is made on Oslo and Stavanger airports in Norway, while ships land troops at six locations. Norway’s six divisions have no tanks or effective artillery, while its coastal defenses and navy are generally inferior.

However, in Oslo Fiord, shore guns sink the German cruiser Blucher, claiming 1600 lives. This enables King Haakon to escape northward with his government. The British battle cruiser Rodney engages the battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, damaging the latter. The cruiser Karlsrube is later sunk off Kristiansand by a British submarine.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 8

 1933, WWII, Germany, Legal: Law on the Reconstruction of the Professional Civil Service is introduced, making no distinction between Reich, state or local cadres, giving transferability between each.

 1940, WWII, North Sea: The British destroyer Glowworm intercepts part of the German invasion fleet bound for Norway. It is sunk after ramming the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, but a British submarine then sinks the transport Rio de Janiero. However, Royal Navy vessels deployed in the North Sea have not received sufficient information about the German invading force and are unable to intercept it.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 7

1933, WWII, Germany, Legal:  Second Coordination Law appoints state governors.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - APRIL 1

1933, WWII, Germany Politics:  Official boycott of Jewish shops and professional men begins. The Nazi Party has pledged to create a Germany in which Jews will be set apart from their fellow Germans and denied their place in German life and culture. Jews have been expelled from a number of smaller towns and forced to move to larger towns or cities, or emigrate. All but Nazi-controlled publications have been effectively suppressed.  All unqualified, disloyal or Jewish staff are to be dismissed (in the event, however 90 percent of the civil service remained). Himmler is made Commander of the Bavarian Political Police.

1933, WWII, Navy: The pocket battleships Deutschland was commissioned and the Admiral Scheer launched. Deutschland was one of the three armored ships – the so-called “pocked battleships” – laid down between 1928 and 1931. She was originally used as a seagoing training ship, to familiarize crews with new technology.

Designed as long-range commerce raiders, powerful enough to sink anything they could not outrun and fast enough to outrun anything they could not sink – except for the Royal Navy ships HMS Hood, Renown and Repulse – and they often classed as  “pocket battles”. Officially listed as Panzerchiffe (“armored ships”), in reality they were raiding cruisers built to light cruisers standards and equipped with an exceptionally heavy main battery. They were built under a clause in the Treaty of Versailles that allowed Germany to build ships up to 10,605 tonnes with guns of up to 11 in:  this was intended to allow coast-defense battleships. Two further ships of this class were redesigned to become the “Scharnhorst” class in response to the French “Dunkerque” class.

Deutschland varied in the style and arrangement of the superstructure. The Washington Treaty of 1921 left Germany quite limited in the amounts of ships that she could construct. Admiral Raeder has a vision of a fleet of ships that would tie up the Royal Navy and disrupt the sea line of communication for France and England, but this was not possible with the tonnage permitted by this treaty. There was only one solution to the problem – Germany would have to underreport the weights of her ships. Lying or not, in 1933 the Deutschland was commissioned. She was underreported in her weight by at least 20 percent.  The French and British, the enforcers of this treaty, were not worried because they knew that the new French “Dunkerque” class and British ships like the HMS Hood could outgun and outrun this new class of German ship.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - MARCH 31

1933, WW11:  Germany, Politics: First Coordination Law of States and Reich establishes new state and local assemblies, with membership in the same proportions as the Reichstag parties, i.e. a Nazi majority.  Thousands are rounded up and put into camps by police and the “auxiliary police”,
the SA.
 

Dachau concentration camp is opened.  SA troops in all states force state government resignations; the Bavarian state government is suppressed. 
Epp is appointed new Nazi Governor in Bavaria with Himmler as State Police President.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - MARCH 28

1940 , WW11: Politics Allies:  Britain and France agree not to make any separate peace treaties.  From April 5 they plan to mine Norwegian waters to force Nazi ships carrying Swedish iron ore into the open seas and expose them to naval attack.  The mine laying is deferred to April 8.  This is too late to prevent the Nazi invasion planned for the 9^th of April.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - MARCH 23

1933, WW11:  Germany, Politics:  The surviving deputies of the Reichstag attend the Kroll Opera House to sanction an Enabling Bill to give Hitler supreme, untrammeled power.  To make sure that all deputies have a rough grasp of the way they are expected to vote,  the building has been surrounded and packed inside and out with ranks of SA and SS, who keep up a menacing chant demanding blood if the bill does not go through.  With amazing courage, Otto Wels, leader of the Social Democratic Party, rises to oppose the bill, although he is alone and defenseless and the baying of the stormtroopers could be clearly heard in the chamber. The last pretences are abandoned, as Hitler leaps to his feet and screams at Wels that his death-knell had sounded.  The bill is then hurriedly passed by an enormous majority.  From this moment on Germany is a dictatorship.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - MARCH 22

1933, WW11:  Germany, Politics: Enabling Law is passed, giving special powers to Chancellor Hitler for four years.  In essence the law provides the constitutional foundation for dictatorship.  It gives the Nazis the right to pass laws without the consent of the Reichstag, to deviate from the constitution, to conclude treaties with foreign powers and to place the right of issuing a law into the hands of the Chancellor.  Hitler said in 1932:  “Once we have power, we will never surrender it unless we are carried out of our offices as corpses.”  It appears he means to honour his chilling pledge.  The fact that the communists have already been eliminated from the Reichstage means the passing of the law is a mere formality.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - MARCH 21

1933, WW11:  Germany, Politics: The new National Socialist Reichstage opens in the Kroll Opera House after the Reichstag building itself had been burnt down.  The German people still did not give Hitler a majority in the elections, which took place the first week of March.  By then the Nazis were beyond any constitutional refinement and any communist and social democrat deputies who turned up for duty at the Opera House were simply arrested.  Once they were out of the way, the Nazis and their allies had the necessary 2/3 majority to effect major constitutional change. 

1933, WW11:  Germany, Politics:  The Nazi-controlled Reichstag opens.  Decrees are passed on a general amnesty for all Nazis who committed offences during the so-called “struggle”.  On the other hand, punitive measures are introduced again malicious gossip.  Finally the setting up of a special court, the “People’s Court", is approved.  This is set up in Berlin to deliver quick verdicts for accused traitors of the Third Reich, though impartiality appears well down the list.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - MARCH 20

1940, WW11:  France:  Prime Minister Edouard Daladier resigns after criticism of his failure to take the initiative to support Finland and thereby redirect the war away from France.  Paul Reynaud succeeded Daladier on March 21.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - MARCH 17

1933, WW11:  Germany, Politics:  With Hitler’s coming to power in January, 1933, he decided that he was in need of a Praetorian Guard.  The state protection rendered by the Reichswehr or police elements cannot, in his eyes, be entirely relied upon.  Europe is a hotbed of plot and coup which he himself had been party to, so the Fatherland itself must be seen as suspect.  Without delay Hitler decrees that there be formed a new full-time armed SS unit whose primary role would be exclusively to escort him wherever he was in Germany.  “Sepp” Dietrich, one of Hitler’s closest associates, is entrusted with the formation of the unit.  Dietrich undertakes the task with zeal.  By March 17, 1933, the embryo of a new Headquarters Guard named the SS Stabswache Berlin was founded.  It comprised 120 hand-picked volunteers, of whom some were former members of the Strosstrupp Adolph Hitler and whose loyalty to the Fuhrer was unswerving.  They were lightly armed with rifles, bayonets and pistols.  This was the beginning of a unit that would become one of the greatest fighting formations in the German armed forces:  the Leibstandarte.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - MARCH 12

1933, WW11:  Germany, Politics:  Hitler speaks on Gleichschaltung, “The Coordination of the Political Will”.  Hitler is determined to fuse every element of German national life into the Nazi social machine.  This will have two consequences:  first, the consolidation of his dictatorship; second, the eradication of organizations with differing political views.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - MARCH 11

1940, WW11:  Eastern Front, Finland:  The Treaty of Moscow between Finland and the Soviet Union is agreed after the Red Army makes hard-won gains.  Although Allied help to the nation is negligible, the Finnish Army has not capitulated.  Finland retains its independence but has to surrender the Karelian Isthmus and Hango – 10 % of its territory.  Campaign losses:  200,000 Soviet troops and 25,000 Finns.

1861, Civil War:  Alabama:  The Confederate congress adopts the Constitution of the Confederate States of America.  Article 1’s opening statements asserts:  “All legislative powers herein delegated shall be vested in a Congress of the Confederate States.”

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY - MARCH 9

1861, Civil War:  Texas:  George Williamson, Commissioner from Louisiana to the Texas Secession Convention,

urges the Texan people to secede from the Union.

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