ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY

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.

February 24

WW11, 1942

SEA WAR, FAR EAST

Under the command of the Dutch Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, five cruisers and nine destroyers from four Allied nations engage a Japanese force of four cruisers and 13 destroyers in the Java Sea. Following an inconclusive opening engagement, the Japanese inflict severe losses using their faster “Long Lance” torpedoes. Five Allied cruisers and give destroyers are sunk. Doorman is killed. Japan loses two transports, one cruiser is sunk, and six destroyers are damaged.

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.

Civil War, 1862, Tennessee, 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 Legal 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 bonds 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.

February 24

WW11, 1942, SEA WAR, PACIFIC

The US aircraft carrier Enterprise leads a task force to attack the Japanese on Wake Island.

February 23

WW11, 1942,  POLITICS, ALLIES

Britain, Australia, the United States, and New Zealand ratify the Mutual Aid Agreement.

February 19-23

WW11, 1941, Politics, Allies

A meeting of Political and military leaders in Cairo, 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.

February 18 – 23

WW11, 1942 FAR EAST, BURMA

Japanese forces are in constant pursuit of the British forces. At the battle of the Sittang River, the British are withdrawing across a single bridge over the river when Japanese troops make a sudden crossing elsewhere. The British quickly blow up the bridge, losing much of their equipment with their forces only partially across; those left behind have to use boats. The Sittang River is the only major physical obstacle in the path of the Japanese forces moving toward Rangoon, the capital.

February 17

WWII, 1945
Pacific, Iwo Jima

Under the command of Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith, the US 4th and 5th Marine Divisions land. Resistance is at first light, but then the attackers are hit by intense artillery and small-arms fire from the 21,000-man Japanese garrison. However, despite casualties, the Americans have 30,000 men on the island by the end of the day.

February 16

Civil War, 1862, Tennessee, Land War: On February 12 Ulysses 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 suffered 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.

February 14

WW11, 1941, Politics, Soviet Union: General Georgi Zhukov is appointed chief 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, Politics, Bulgaria:   Bulgaria grants Germany access to its border with Greece. This move enables Germany to increase its power in the Balkans and provides a route for forces earmarked to invade Greece

WW11, 1941, Africa, Libya: In response to Adolf Hitler’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.

February 11 – 12

WW11, SEA WAR, NORTH SEA

The German battle cruisers Gneisenau and Scharnborst, and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, supported by destroyers and air cover, leave Brest and sail through the English Channel. RAG and Royal Navy strikes against the German ships are total failures, and 42 aircraft are downed. During the “Channel Dash” to the North Sea, both battle cruisers hit mines and need repairs. British operations to contain the threat of these commerce-raiders are easier while the vessels are in port. Gneisenau subsequently has to be rebuilt after being hit during an air raid against Kiel on February 26, but the project is never completed before the war’s end.
February 10,

WWII, SEA WAR, ATLANTIC

Britain offers the United States 34 anti-submarine vessels with crews to battle the U-boats.
February 9

The Vietnam War, 1968
South Vietnam, Ground War
Units of III Marine Amphibious Force succeed in beating back the 2nd North Vietnamese Army division’s offensive at Da Nang, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Forward, (MACVF) under General Creighton W. Abrams, General Westmoreland’s Deputy Commander and soon-to-be successor, is established in I Corps Tactical Zone in order for MACV to better assess and react to the enemy’s offensive operations.

WWII, 1945
Eastern Front, Poland
The Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front launches an offensive in the region of Grudziadz and Sepolno but runs into determined resistance from the German Second Army. Soviet Progress is very slow.

February 8 – 14,1942

WWII, FAR EAST, SINGAPORE

Two Japanese divisions, supported by artillery and air bombardment, land on the northwest of the island, quickly followed by a third. Repairs to the Johore causeway enable tanks and 30,000 troops to advance, while in the air the Japanese achieve supremacy. Confused orders often result in the defenders making unnecessary withdrawals and much equipment is lost. Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, the Singapore commander, is forced to surrender on February 14 as the water supply for Singapore’s residents and the 85,000-strong garrison is cut. Japan has fewer than 10,000 casualties in Malaya. British and Commonwealth forces have lost 138,000 men, and thousands more will die in captivity. The campaign is one of Britain’s greatest defeats.

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.

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.

February 4- 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

February 3
WW11, 1934, Nazi Party, SA: In a clear attempt to strengthen his hold of veteran membership, Captain Ernst Röhm 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 receive 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 receives 9900. Rohm states "The SA and SS will not tolerate the German revolution going to sleep or betrayal at the halfway stage by non-combatants." 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.

January 28

January 27

The Third Reich, 1945 Eastern Front, Poland
The soviets liberate Auschwitz, the Third Reich’s main death camp. The centre of a rail network, the first camp, Auschwitz I, was reserved throughout its history for political prisoners. In October 1941, work began on Auschwitz II, or Birkenau, located outside the nearby village of Brzezinka. There the SS later developed a huge concentration camp and extermination complex that included some 300 prison barracks; four large Badeanstalten (Bathhouses), in which prisoners were gassed to death; Leichenkeller (corpse cellars), in which their bodies were stored; and Einascherungsofen (Cremating ovens). Another camp (Buna-Monowitz), near the village of Dwory, later called Auschwitz III, became a slave-labour camp in May 1942.

Newly arrived prisoners at the death camp were divided in a process known as Selektion. The young and the able-bodied were sent to work; young children and their mothers and the old and infirm were sent directly to the gas chambers. Thousands of prisoners were also selected by the camp doctor, Josef Mengele, for medical experiments, which were mostly sadistic. Experiments involving the killing of twins, for example, were meant to provide information that would supposedly lead to the rapid expansion of the “Aryan race”. Subject to harsh conditions – including inadequate shelter and sanitation – given minimal food, and worked to exhaustion, those who could no longer work faced transport back to Birkenau for gassing. Between 1.1 and 1.5 million people died at Auschwitz; 90 percent of them were Jews, though other victims included a large number of Gypsies. Russian army groups, both north and south of Warsaw, break through and take the city crossing the river Oder within 160km (100 miles) of berlin. They reach the Baltic at Danzig and overrun industrial Silesia, seizing the last possible coal supplies of the Third Reich. The Soviet offensive in the East causes  Hitler to move armored forces from the west, including “Sepp” Dietrich’s sixth SS Panzer Army.

Western Front, France
German losses in France since D-Day amount to 1.5 million, over half of whom are prisoners of war.

WW11, 1945 Eastern Front, Poland
The Red Army liberates the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. The SS has evacuated the camp nine days previously, taking 20,000 weak inmates with them. Those left number a few hundred disease-ridden inmates in the camps hospital block

Far East, Burma
Units of the Allied Y Force, pushing across the Shweli River at wanting, reopen the Burma Road supply route into china.

Vietnam War, 1967 South Vietnam, Social Policies
The III MAF will take over the bulk of fighting the NVA, since the 2nd ARVN Division will now concentrate on the revolutionary Development programme, otherwise known as pacification.

South Vietnam, Ground War Operation
Desoto begins along South Vietnam’s coast near Nui Dang and Vinh Binh. Operation Desoto would last nearly three months and would be assisted by the Seventh Fleet’s Special Landing Force, a special task-organized Marine amphibious reaction force which was airlifted into battle off South Vietnam’s coast, and provided III MAF commanders with a manoeuvrable on-call force of US Marines to execute special landing missions.

January 25

January 23

WW11, 1945

Eastern Front, Poland
The Soviet Second Guards Tank Army, part of the 1^st Belorussian Front, storms the fortified town of Bromberg, an important strongpoint in the German Poznan line.

Eastern Front, East Prussia
The Soviet 2^nd Belorussian Front cuts all road and rail crossings across the Vistula River, Isolating German units on the east bank.

D-Day Preparations, 1944

Planning, Resources
Eisenhower and Bedell Smith draft a long telegram to the Combined Chiefs of Staff in Washington, DC, informing them the conclusions of the 21 January commanders’ conference. It explains Montgomery’s revised invasion plan and lists the additional landing craft and warships SHAEF needs to implement it. They include an extra 47 LSTs (Landing Ship, Tanks), 144 LCT’s (Landing Craft, Tanks), 72 LCI(L)s (Landing Craft, Infantry, Large), together with 24 more destroyers and an extra 5 cruisers. The telegram also advocates the new D-Day target date of 31 May and makes a plea to end what Eisenhower sees as the current under-resourcing of Overlord. He states bluntly that Overlord is the moment of crisis for the entire European war and that British and American governments must ensure the resources for success.

January 22

D-Day Preparations, 1944

German Defences, Europe
The Allies make a two-division amphibious assault on Anzio, south of Rome. It is the last large-scale seaborne attack of German-held territory before Overlord, and its progress is watched carefully by SHAEF planners in London. Initially, it is a remarkable success. An armada of 250 ships land 50,000 British and American troops and 5000 vehicles almost unopposed. The landings are a boost to SHEAF, because they reveal the appalling state of German military landings the OKW intelligence Section in Berlin confidently reported that “there are no indications that any major undertaking in the Mediterranean area is imminent.”
The Anzio operations also reduces the number of first-class German units, particularly panzergrenadier and falschirmjager (paratroop) divisions available to meet the invasion of France. OKW transfers movement orders for five divisions from the Channel coast to Italy within days. For months the British have advocated continued support for the Italian campaign for exactly this reason. Their faith now seems justified. By March there will be 24 German divisions fighting in Italy.

January 21

The Third Reich, 1942

North Africa, Libya
Rommel, having retreated, allowed the British Eighth Army into Libya again. Two Australian divisions are moved from Egypt to the Pacific theatre of war to hold Japanese advances, while Rommel receives reinforcements from Germany. Rommel then attacks and smashes the British armour. Benghazi falls by the 29^th.

WW11, 1945

Far East, Burma
The Island of Ramree is invaded by the British 71^st Brigade. Japanese resistance is virtually non-existent, although it stiffens as Allied troops push farther inland. The island is not cleared until the middle of February, by which time General William Slim has an invaluable base for future long-range operations against Rangoon.

D-Day Preparations, 1944

Reconnaissance, Coasts
The midget submarine X-20 returns successfully from its mission to survey the Normandy landing beaches. The two COPP swimmers involved, Bowden and Ogden Smith, bring back detailed information on beach geology, the position of rocks, and tidal ranges. Their findings are passed to the Inter-Services Topographical Department and Admiral Ramsay. Although they report firm beaches and few obstacles, Ramsay still has doubts as to the viability of some of the landing sites, and orders more survey missions.

January 20

The Third Reich, 1942

Germany, Anti-Semitism
Reinhard Heydrich hosts a conference of Nazi Party and government officials in the SS RHSA headquarters at Wannsee, a Berlin suburb. The meeting is chaired by Heydrich and attended by 15 SS and government officials, including Stukard, Heinrich, Muller, Adolf Eichmann, head of the “Jewish Evacuation Departments” of the Gestapo, and Freisler.
In July 1941, Heydrich has been appointed the officer in charge of planning the “final Solution” of the Jewish “problem”. In the early years of the Nazi regime, they promoted the idea of achieving Aryan racial purity. They decided that undesirables – Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, and the handicapped and mentally ill – were to be disposed of. But the chief target of the regime’s campaign was the Jewish population of Germany; later, of all Europe. A policy of consistent persecution was followed during the 1930s, but a more ambitious programme was crafted under the cover of the war. Hitler announced that about 11 million European Jews yet remained to be dealt with. He has decided that a “Final Solution” to the Jewish problem must be implemented while the war was going on.
The Wannsee Conference, as it was known, lasted only a few hours, and proposed the “Final Solution”. The idea of mass deportation was ruled out as impractical, considering the ongoing war. Forced sterilization was discussed but no decision was made at the conference. But as a result of it, directives were sent to move Jews to the East as part of the “territorial solution”. No doubt was left that this meant the physical destruction of all Jews, accelerating the process that has already started. The Einsatzgruppen had already been in action for six months and the first extermination camp, at Chelmno, was by then in operation. The conference decided that the best policy was to round up the Jews from all parts of Europe and send them eastward to work in labour gangs. Hard enough work, it was believed, would result in significant loss of life. Within a few weeks the first poison gas chambers in concentration camps were built in Poland.
Responsibility for carrying out the policy of extermination was given to Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler. The conference gave Eichmann the necessary authority for his actions in the various ministries, and 30 copies of the conference records were distributed to them. At no point was killing mentioned. Recipients were expected to understand the meaning of “final solution” and “ deportation to the east”. The policy of extermination went forward until the end of the war. Accurate numbers are impossible to obtains, but the estimates run as high as 15 million people, including six million Jews. They were liquidated in the camps or by mass executions in isolated places.

Civil War, 1863, January 20-22

Virginia, Land War
The Union Army of the Potomac begins its march to quickly cross the Rappahannock River above Lee’s left and attack that flank of the Confederate position. However, it begins to rain relentlessly, turning the whole area into a sea of mug. The “Mug March” ends with Burnside ordering his army to return to their camps across the river from Fredericksburg.

January 19

WW11, 1945

Eastern Front, Poland
Following heavy fighting, units of the 1^st Ukrainian Front liberate Cracow, the former capital of Poland. The German Third and Fourth Panzer Armies are not isolated in East Prussia, and the German front is falling apart in the face of immense pressure.

D-Day Preparations, 1944

French Resistance, Resources

The Committee for National Liberation today formerly appeals to the Combined Chiefs of Staff for a large increase in the amount of arms and supplies being send to Resistance groups. The Germans have been very successful in finding arms caches in recent months. There is also a request by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), the secret organization responsible for sabotage and subversion, for an increase in airlift capacity. At present there are only 23 Halifax bombers available to drop agents and supplies into the whole northern and northwest Europe. SOE wants a substantial increase in aircraft if its agents and the Resistance groups it supports are to play a full role in the coming invasion.

The Civil War, 1865

South Carolina, Land War
Union General William T. Sherman, having completed his infamous March to the Sea, during which his army has stormed from Atlanta to Savannah in just five weeks, destroying everything in its path, vows to push on through the Carolinas into Virginia. Today, he orders a northward march into South Carolina. The state is considered to be the “cradle of secession,” and many Union troops want to make it pay for being the cause of so much suffering. The 60,000 Union troops are opposed by the Confederate Army of Tennessee, led by Joseph E. Johnston from February and numbering fewer than 10,000.

January 18

WW11, 1945, January 18-27

Eastern Front, Hungary
The German IV SS Panzer Corps launches an offensive to relieve Budapest. In the face of soviet resistance, it reaches the Vali River on the 22^nd, only 15 miles (24 km) southwest of the city. However the momentum of the attack had been halted by the 25^th, and two days later the Red Army counterattacks with 12 rifle divisions and strong armored support, effectively ending the German Budapest relief operation.

WW11, 1945, January 18-February 3

Far East, Burma
A vicious battle develops at Namhpakka between the Japanese 56^th division, which is retreating to Lashio, and the American Mars Brigade.

D-Day Preparations, 1944

Commanders, Eisenhower
After the public announcement of Eisenhower’s arrival in Britain as Allied Supreme Commander, the general meets the press for a photo session. Winston Churchill arrives back in London from Marrakech, Morocco, after convalescing from a bout of pneumonia. The prime minister has been out of the country since he left for Cairo and Tehran conferences the previous November. He is now extremely keen to be brought up to speed with all current invasion plans and preparations

Order of Battle, US Forces
Eighteen thousand men of the US 4^th Infantry Division, under the command of Major-General Raymond O. Barton, set sail from New York for England.

January 17

D-Day Preparations, 1944

Reconnaissance, Coasts
As part of the increased reconnaissance by COPP of proposed landing beaches along the Calvados coast, Royal Navy midget submarine X-20, under Lieutenant-Commander Wilmott, begins a secret mission. On board are two COPP swimmers, Major Scott Bowden and Sergeant Ogden Smith, who completed a similar mission 17 days previously. Tonight Wilmott surfaces the X-20 just 350m (380yds) from the shore of occupied France, and Bowden and Ogden swim ashore to take the first of a series of geological samples. The mission will go on for the next three days

Order of Battle, US Forces
Eisenhower appoints General Omar N. Bradley, commander US First Army, as the future commanding officer of all US armies in the field. The appointment will take effect after the invasion, and only when the battle of Normandy has been won and US forces are in a position to strike towards Germany. Before this time US forces will operate under the control of Montgomery’s 21^st Army Group.

January 16

WW11, 1945

Far East, Burma
In the north of the country, General Daniel Sultan’s Chinese New First Army occupies Namhkan. The last Japanese positions threatening the Burma Road have been eradicated.

D-Day Preparations, 1944

Commanders, Eisenhower
It is announced by BBC radio that General Eisenhower is now the Allied Supreme Commander in Europe. SHAEF holds a press conference to give details to the newspapers of the free world.

January 15

D-Day Preparations, 1944

Order of Battle, Command
Today is the formal end of COSSAC. Most of its staff will be absorbed into Supreme Headquarters, Allied expeditionary Force (SHAEF) in the coming four weeks. The former head of COSSAC, General Frederick Morgan, will not become one of the deputies to SHAEF’s chief of staff, Bedell Smith. General Eisenhower will fill other key appointments with officers who have served his earlier commands in North Africa and the Mediterranean. These will include RAF Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, who was former Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Allied Air Forces. He is to be appointed as Deputy Allied Supreme Commander.

WW11, 1945, January 15-26

Western Front, Germany
After the containment of the German Ardennes offensive, the Allies launch a large counterattack against the Germans.  In the north, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s British 21^st Army Group presses into the Roermond area, while farther south General Omar Bradley’s US 12^th Army Group approaches the upper Roer River

The Civil War, 1865

North Carolina, Naval War
The only Major Confederate port is still open, Wilmington, is sealed off. The Confederacy has lost its last significant access to the outside world.

January 14

WW11, 1945

Far East, Burma
The 19^th Division, part of Lieutenant General William Slim’s British Fourteenth Army, crosses the Irrawaddy River at Kyaukmyaung but is then violently attacked by Japanese troops holding the line of the waterway. Forced back by hordes of infantry with fixed bayonets, the division manages to hold the bridgehead in the face of the fierce onslaught.

D-Day Preparations, 1944

Commanders, Allies
Eisenhower makes his visit to Norfolk House where SHAEF HQ is to be established initially. In the coming weeks the Supreme Commander will divide his time between here and his personal office at 20 Grosvenor Square.
General Montgomery leaves London on his own specially converted HQ train to visit and address units of V and VII Corps, US First Army. As he is not officially in command of the US Army troops, this is a morale-boosting public relations exercise, and the first of several such tours in which Monty will speak to groups of up to 5000 men at a time.

Air Campaign, Target Strategy
As part of the campaign to reduce the threat German fighters pose to the invasion, Air Chief Marshal Arthur Harris, head of RAF Bomber Command is ordered by Combined Chiefs of Staff to concentrate his raids on fighter production plants and ballbearing factories. He agrees reluctantly, but voices the opinion that his bombers would be better employed attacking German cities, particularly Berlin.

January 13

The Civil War, January 13-15, 1865

North Carolina, Land/Naval War
The Fall of Fort Fisher. Fort Fisher is finally taken by a large combined-forces Union operation. The Union can now attack Wilmington, the South’s last open seaport on the Atlantic coast.

D-Day Preparations, 1944

German Defences, France
General Jodl continues his inspection of coastal defences in France. He finds preparations in Cherbourg – one of the largest ports on the Atlantic coast and an obvious Allied invasion objective – to be in a state of chaos. As a result of Jodl’s findings, Cherbourg and other major ports on the coast are fortified on the landward side and their port facilities wired for demolition.

Planning, Army
Montgomery convenes a meeting of senior British and American army corps and divisional officers at 21^st Army Group HQ. With the imminent arrival from the United States of the Allied Supreme Commander, Eisenhower, Monty describes the organizational structure of the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) and his own role within it. The general also describes how he intends to run the coming land battle and what he expects of his chief subordinate officers. He places particular emphasis on integrating the work of the various command staffs within 21^st Army Group and the importance of Allied air superiority to the land campaign.

Commanders, Allies
General Eisenhower flies into Great Britain from Washington, DC. He arrives late at night in secret, and without any ceremony is driven straight to London and his quarters near Berkeley Square.

January 12

The Vietnam War, 1972

Laos, Ground War
The Communist forces in Laos capture the city of Long Chen, using Soviet supplied armour and artillery.

WW11, 1945, January 12-17

Eastern Font, Poland
The Red Army begins its Vistula-Oder offensive. Soviet forces total over two million men: Marshal Georgi Zhukov’s 1^st Belorussian Front, Marshal Ivan Knoev’s 1^st Ukrainian front, and General Ivan Petrov’s 4^th Ukrainian Front. In addition, Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky’s 2^nd Belorussian Front and General Ivan Chernyakhovsky’s  3^rd Belorussian front are providing tactical and strategic cooperation. The soviets make excellent progress, and by the 17^th, Zhukov’s Second Guards Tank Army has reached Sochaczew. To the north, the 1^st Baltic, 2^nd Belorussian, and 3^rd Belorussian  Fronts launch an offensive into East Prussia on the 13^th.

Training, Amphibious Assault
US V Corps headquarters issues a critique of Exercise Duck I, completed last week. Although the exercise was the first amphibious operation undertaken on a large scale by American troops, V Corps’ report is highly critical. Embarkation of troops was slow and the organization of supplies needs improving. During the assault the landing craft became disorganized and landed out of order. Once on the beach, the troops were overloaded with equipment, and were too slow and bunched together under simulated fire. Corps commander General Gerow goes so far as to wonder whether any of them would have made it off the beach alive. Support units come in for equal criticism. Vehicles were landed and not unloaded, troops and vehicles used the same roads resulting in traffic jams inland, there was a lack of radio equipment, security was very bad and camouflage was poor.
V Corps HQ concludes that a lot of work needs to be done and much improvement shown, at all levels.

January 11

Vietnam War, 19767

South Vietnam, US AID
After an inspection tour of Marine forces in South Vietnam, the commandant of the Marine Corps, General Wallace M. Greene, tells the press that nearly one-fourth or 22 percent of the US Marine corps is now in Vietnam.

D-Day Preparations, 1944

Order of Battle, US Forces
The headquarters units of the US 4^th Armored Division arrive in Great Britain by ship from Boston. This is the first American armoured division to arrive in Great Britain, and will be organized into General Omar C. Bradley’s US First Army. The division will not land in France until July

Air Campaign, Factory Bombing
As part of the strategy to seriously reduce the numbers of German fighter aircraft available to meet the invasion, bombers of the US Eighth Army Air Force attack three fighter production plants in central German

January 10

WW11, 1945, January 10-February 10

Eastern Front, Czechoslovakia
With the Red Army on their soil, Czech partisans begin to attack German units and supply lines.

D-Day Preparations, 1944

Air Campaign, Target Planning
The Allied Expeditionary Air Forces sets up its Bombing Committee, to agree on the targets on the continent to be raided in support of the invasion. SHAEF and the Supreme Commander, however, have no control over the strategic bombers commanded by Air Marshal Harris and General Spaatz. Until there is a chance in the Allied chain of command these two bomber chiefs will answer to the Combined Chiefs of staff only. The consequences of this is that the bomber chiefs will regard SHAEF’s targeting requests as a low priority.

January 9

WW11, 1945

Pacific, Philippines
Preceded by a heavy bombardment, units of the US Sixth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, make unopposed amphibious landings on Luzon.

Civil War, 1863, January 9-11

Missouri, Land War
The Battle of Hartville, Elements of John S. Marmaduke’s Confederates raid into Missouri and drive Union troops out of Hartville on two occasions, the second time as Union forces attempt to surround the Confederates.

Arkansas, Land War
The Battle of Arkansas Post/Fort Hindman. A union combined force envelops and captures Fort Hindman, a major hindrance to Union shipping on the Mississippi. Union losses are 1,047. Over 5,000 Confederates surrender

January 8

Vietnam War, 1967

South Vietnam, Ground War
The US Army launches Operation Cedar Falls, which has been planned with the objective of destroying the Viet Cong’s headquarters as well as interdicting the movement of enemy forces into the major war zones in III Corps Tactical Zone, and defeating Viet Cong units encamped there.
Like Operation Attleboro preceding it, Cedar Falls tapped the manpower and resources of nearly every US Army unit in the corps area. A serious of preliminary manoeuvres brought army units into position, while several air assaults sealed off the area known as the Iron Triangle exploiting the natural barriers of the rivers that formed two of its boundaries. Then American units began a series of sweeps to push the enemy towards the blocking forces. At the village of Ben Suc, long under the sway of the Viet Cong, 60 helicopters descended into seven landing zones in less than a minute. Ben Suc was surrounded and its entire population evacuated, before the village and tunnel complex were destroyed. But the Viet Cong had fled before the heliborne assault. As Cedar Falls progressed throughout January and into February, US troops destroyed hundreds of enemy fortifications, captured large quantities of supplies and food, and evacuated the hamlets. But contact with the enemy was fleeting. Most of the Viet Cong, including the high-level cadre of the regional command, had escaped by infiltrating through Allied lines.

Civil War, 1863

Missouri, Land War
The Battle of Springfield. Union troops occupying the major supply depot at Springfield repel large-scale Confederate attacks, inflicting 240 casualties on the Rebels.

January 7

D-Day Preparations, 1944

German Defences, France
General Alfred Jodl, the chief of operations for the German Army High Command, the OKW, is on tour of inspection of the Western defences. He is deeply concerned by their poor state of readiness. He identifies several major problems. These including the transfer of experienced combat units and officers to the Eastern Front and the use of the Western theatre of operations as an area for re-equipping and reorganizing units after tours of duty in Russia. He notes in his diary: “The best people have been removed. The officers are good and the men are good, but they cannot act. Re-equipment is producing chaos.” Despite the current lack of combat-ready divisions in the West, Jodl puts his faith in the construction of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall.

WW11, 1945

Eastern Font, Hungary
German forces capture Esztergom, northwest of Budapest, a Nazi National Redoubt, in their attempt to relieve the garrison in the capital.

January 6

Vietnam War, 1967

South Vietnam, Naval War
The US Marine’s Special Landing Force (Battalion Landing Team, 1^st Battalion, 9^th Marines, 3^rd Marine Division), along with some elements of the 3^rd and 4^th Marine Battalions, launches Deckhouse V from the USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2), which assaults an area of suspected Viet Cong concentrations along the coast between the Co Chien and Ham Luong reaches of the Mekong Delta. The Marines manage to kill only 21 Viet Cong, destroy two small-arms workshops and capture 44 weapons and 42.6 tonnes (42 tons) of rice. Seven US Marines are killed in action, while one South Vietnamese Marine dies in a combat-related accident.

January 5

WW11, 1945

Air War, Belgium/Holland
The Luftwaffe launches Operation Bodenplatte in support of the Ardennes offensive with 1035 fighters and bombers attacking Allied airfields in Belgium and southern Holland. The Germans destroy 156 Allied aircraft but lose 227 of their own, losses the Luftwaffe cannot make good. It is the last major German air attack.

D-Day Preparations, 1944

Order of Battle, US Forces
The US Strategic Air Forces in Europe are established in the UK under the command of Lieutenant-General Carl Spaatz. He is to coordinate operations of the US Eighth and Ninth Army Air Forces in Great Britain and the US Fifteenth Army Air Force in Italy. Although he is independent of Eisenhower’s command of Overlord, his cooperation will be essential for the success of the invasion, particularly because he has operational control of the B-17 and B-24 squadrons of VIII Bomber Command.

Planning, Strategy
This is the final day of Montgomery’s review of the COSSAC invasion plan. These meetings are later recalled by one of the COSSAC’s senior planning officers, Major-General K.G. McLean:
“On the third day we reduced his demand to extending to ‘Sword’ beach [on the left flank]… and to the Cotentin. He didn’t believe in the Mulberry [harbours], stressed Cherbourg heavily, which we didn’t. this is particularly why he wanted the Cotentin. On the third day Monty took the line we must have more [landing] craft. He said it must be a five division front – or no show, ‘Give me this or get someone else …’.”
Finally, the planners are told to go away and draft a wholly new invasion plan, to involve a five-division assault flanked by two airborne landings. The assault area is to be on the 30km (50mile) front, stretching from the River Orne to the east coast of the Cotentin.
The conclusions reached at this first Overlord conference will form the basis of all the invasion plans agreed upon in the coming months. One decision, however, will prove to have far-reaching implications for the battle of Normandy later in the year. The capture of Caen, the region’s biggest town and communications hub, will no longer be guaranteed as a D-Day objective.
In three days Montgomery has galvanized the planning operation and injected a much-needed sense of urgency. He has also identified the fact that so far Overlord has not been given the resources it needs, and that if an invasion is to go ahead at all it must have first call on one of the most important Allied strategic resources: landing craft.

January 4

WW11, 1945

Far East, Burma
Units of General William Slim’s British Fourteenth Army make an unopposed landing on the island of Akyab, securing the port and the airfield.

WW11, 1945, January 4-6

Pacific, Philippines
Prior to the landings on Luzon, the Japanese launch a series of Kamikaze attacks on ships of the US 7^th Fleet. Over 1000 Americans and Australians are killed in the suicide attacks, a minesweeper is sunk, and more than 30 other vessels are damaged.

D-Day Preparations, 1944

Planning, Overall Strategy
Montgomery holds his first meeting with Allied naval commander Admiral Ramsay at Norfolk House. Later in the day, at 21^st Army Group HQ, the general meets with COSSAC planners once again. The officers have worked overnight and studied the feasibility of an extension of the assault front on both flanks. They conclude that extending the initial assault into Brittany and towards Dieppe would be impractical, and Montgomery agrees; but the COSSAC staff concur with the general that a landing on the east coast of the Cotentin Peninsula is essential to secure Cherbourg. The conference will conclude tomorrow.

Training, Amphibious Assault
The first major amphibious exercise for American troops begins at Slapton Sand, Devon. Exercise Duck I involves headquarters units of US V Corps and 29^th Infantry Division, together with elements of the 175^th Regimental Landing Team and 1^st Engineer Special Brigade. About 16,000 assault troops are involves, embarking on landing craft from ports along the south coasts of Cornwall and Devon. Duck I has been in preparation since November 1943
A Convoy including 14 LCT (Landing Craft, Tanks), 57 LCM (Landing Craft, Mechanized), escorted by four British destroyers, simulate an opposed landing. The assault troops overcome “enemy” coastal defences, including pillboxes and (stimulated) minefields and then move inland to establish a defensive perimeter against attack by armour. While the assault teams practice combat, support units are refining their own tasks. Quartermaster units experiment with loading and unloading equipment on newly designed pallets, while engineers try our new techniques for laying beach roads. Despite the months of planning and the thousands of troops involved, the US Ninth Army Air Force cannot supply aircraft on the opening day because of other priorities.

January 3

WW11, 1945, January 3-16

Western Front, Ardennes
The last German attack against Bastogne is defeated. The Allied counterattack begins: on the northern flank the US First Army attacks the northern sector of the “Bulge,” while the southern sector is assaulted by the US third Army. In the “bulge” itself, Hitler orders a German withdrawal to Houffalize on the 8^th. However, in the face of overwhelming Allied superiority in men and hardware the Germans are forced to retreat farther east, and the US First and Third Armies link up at Houffalize on the 16^th.

WW11, 1945, January 3-4

Pacific, Ryukyus
The US 3^rd Fleet attacks Japanese targets on Formosa, destroying 100 enemy aircraft.

The Third Reich, 1945

Western Front, Ardennes
The final German attack against Bastogne is defeated. Hitler’s last offensive in the West has been stopped. The Allies regroup and launch a counterattack. By the 16^th the US First and Third Armies have linked up at Houffalize.

Vietnam War, 1967

South Vietnam, Ground War
Republic of Korea troops begin operation Maeng Ho 8, a 60-day search and destroy operation in Phu Yen and Binh Dinh Provinces in II Corps Tactical Zone. Korean troops kill 211 Viet Cong Soldiers and capture 403/

January 2

WW11, 1945

Technology, United States
An American Sikorsky helicopter is used in convoy escort duties for the first time.

D-Day Preparations, 1944

Commanders, Allies
General Montgomery arrives in London to take up his post as commander 21^st Army Group. Admiral Ramsay, who has been working on naval invasion plans for the past five months, airs a rather pessimistic view to Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, that Monty’s arrival has come “two months too late”.
General Eisenhower arrives in Washington, DC, from North Africa, for a short visit to his family before he flies to London to take up his post as Supreme Commander. While in Washington, “Ike” will hold several meetings with General Marshall and President Roosevelt. Of Particular concern to Marshall is the British attitude to operation Anvil, the proposed invasion of southern France, earmarked to coincide with Operation Overlord. Marshall is worried that the British seem more concerned with keeping forces in Italy than using them is an assault on France’s Mediterranean coast.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
December 30

D-Day, 1943

Reconnaissance, Coast
Steps are already being taken by the Allies to identify and chart potential landing beaches in Normandy. This secret work is undertaken by the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP), based in Portsmouth. These units include Royal Navy and British Army personnel who specialize in covert reconnaissance. They operate from canoes or miniature submarines and have already worked successfully on the coasts of Sicily and mainland Italy.

Quoted:  “Two of the COPP’s swimmers, Major Scott Bowden and Sergeant Ogden Smith, are on a mission tonight to survey an area of beach opposite the village of La Riviere. They are dropped by launch to swim 365m (400 yds.) to shore. Once there, they use augers to take samples of beach sand to bring back. This is vital work. Planners must be told whether potential landing beaches are stable enough to hold the weight of vehicles and armour.”

German Defences, France
There are proposed changed to the German chain of command in France. So far Rommel’s task here has been as advisor to Hitler and OKW regarding defence preparations; he has no control over field units within OB West. Both von Rundstedt and Rommel realize that this situation is a waste of Rommel’s experience, so von Rundstedt recommends to Hitler that a new army group be established in northern France and the Netherlands, under OB West control but commanded by Rommel – in effect, putting Rommel in charge of defence preparations.

December 29

The Civil War, 1863

Tennessee, Land War
The Battle of Mossy Creek. A cavalry engagement in the Vicinity of Dandridge, Jefferson County, sees rebel forces eventually pushed back and the Union in control of Mossy Creek.

December 28

World War 1, 1915

28th December

Allied troops evacuate the Gallipoli Peninsula following the failure of the August Offensive of the Gallipoli Campaign.  British General Ian Hamilton first brought up the suggestion of retreat and evacuation October 11, 1915.  He though was dismissed right after this and was replaced with Lieutenant General Charles Monro who continued on with the war objectives.  After substantial reinforcement of the Ottoman forces in late November the Allies were forced to address the issue of evacuation again and in early December agreed to evacuate.

Full evacuation of Gallipoli was completed on January 8, 1916.

December 27

D-Day, 1943

Commanders, Allies
Montgomery flies to Algiers to meet Eisenhower. It is their first discussion about the organization of the Allied armies for Overlord and Montgomery will establish a forward tactical 21^st Army Group HQ in France to control the battle. In effect, he will be Overlord’s land forces commander until there are sufficient US Army forces in France to create their own army groups.

December 26

The Civil War, December 26-29, 1862

Mississippi, Land War
The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou/Walnut Hills. The Union assault towards Vicksburg is stopped and suffers 1,776 casualties when it turns into Confederate defenses in the Walnut Hills.

December 24

D-Day, 1943

Commanders, Allies.
British General Bernard L. Montgomery, of the Eighth Army in Italy, is appointed commander of the 21^st Army Group. Its headquarters (HQ), based in Great Britain, will be charged with planning and executing the amphibious assault and initial stages of the land battle in France. General Montgomery will report directly to General Eisenhower, who will retain overall command of all the Allied forces in Europe.

December 23

Italy, WW11, 1943

The Ciano Diaries are released.

The son-in-law of Mussolini, Count Galeazzo Ciano who was had been the Foreign Minister of Italy had already been imprisoned for a year as of December 1943.

Ciano was not a proponent of Mussolini’s war plans and eventually turned against the war and Mussolini.  He pushed for the war to end, including leaking information and aided in Mussolini’s removal.  After fleeing from Italy he was returned by the German to Mussolini who had been re-instated in the North of Italy who then charged him with treason.  Tried and found guilty Ciano was to face a firing squad.

Ciano had kept a diary for most of the war with daily writings about his meetings with Hitler, Mussolini and other major WW11 players, including many personal insights into these people his diaries were quite threatening to the Germans and fascists.

On December 23 Ciano manage to get a large portion of his diaries snuck out of the prison.  These became quite important historical documents still used today.

December 22

WW11, 1943

Canadians confront Fallschirmjager in Ortona.

On the 19^th of December the Canadian First Infantry Division who had just survived some brutal fighting were given some much needed rest. Not long after they were back on the attack in the town of Ortona joining the Second Brigade.  The Canadians were in a stalemate with the German Paratroopers.  Fighting a house to house battle with the Germans became very brutal and the Canadians had to battle furiously for every gain.

December 21

World War 1, 1914

Western Front

During the Battle of Givenchy the British troops come to the aid of the Indians to help push the Germans further north.

December 20

1861, VIRGINIA, LAND WAR: The Battle of Dranesville. As part of McClellan’s continuing operations in northern Virginia, Union troops inflict a sharp local defeat on Confederate cavalry around Dranesville.

December 19

D-Day, 1943

German Defences, France
In Paris, Rommel meets with Field Marshal  Gerd von Rundstedy, the commander of Oberbefehlshaber West (OB West), which controls the German Army in France and the Low Countries. Although Rommel has no role within the OB West chain of command, his recommendations for the defence of France go direct to Hitler, so von Rundstedt must take them into consideration. The field marshals agree that the Pas de Calais in the most likely invasion point and that is unlikely that the Atlantic wall will be strong enough to hold the Allies on the beaches. A counterattack by armoured divisions will be needed, but the two men disagree on how to organize it. Von Rundstedt wants to counterattack inland, away from any navy bombardment, using a large armoured reserve. Rommel knows that such a reserve will come under concentrated Allied air attack. He wants a mobile reserve to hit the Allies near the beachhead. In order to hold the Allies long enough to give the reserve time to move in, coastal defences will have to be improved rapidly.

December 18

1940, POLITICS, GERMANY: Adolf Hitler issues his plan for invading the Soviet Union, code-named Operation Barbarossa. His Directive No.21 retains a three-pronged offensive but the weight of the invasion plan has now shifted northward to Leningrad and the Baltic area, where Army Groups North and Center are to annihilate the enemy forces, before attacking and occupying Moscow.

1965, SOUTH VIETNAM, GROUND WAR: During Smash II Lieutenant-General Jonathon O. Seaman’s 2^nd Brigade of the 1^st Infantry Division encounters no Viet Cong forces, but the soldiers do find an enemy base camp, as well as a large quantity of ammunition; the brigade destroys it. What the effects of Operations Smash I and Smash II will have on the enemy’s plans cannot be immediately determined. Meanwhile, US commanders believe that they have prevented a probable enemy holiday offensive. More importantly, the presence of the American units at this short notice to the Viet Cong and NVA that the Americans are now here to stay in III Corps Tactical Zone (IIICTZ).

December 17

1939, SEA WAR, ATLANTIC

The Battle of the River Plate

After sinking several merchant ships in the Atlantic, the Admiral Graf Spee was sighted on December 13, 1939, off the Rio de la Plata estuary by a British search group consisting of the cruisers Exeter, Ajax and Achilles, commanded by Commodore H. Harwood. At 06:14 hours Harwood’s three ships attacked, but in a little more than an hour the Admiral Graf Spee had damaged the Exeter and driven off the other two cruisers. The Admiral Graf Spee then made for Montevideo, Uruguay, where its commander, Captain Hans Langsdorff, obtained permission to stay for four days to repair damage. The British devoted the period to intense diplomatic and intelligence activity in order to keep the Admiral Graf Spee in harbor while they brought up heavy reinforcements. On December 17, however, when the Admiral Graf Spee put to sea again, only the Cumberland had arrived to reinforce the Ajax and Achilles. The fight that the British had anticipated never took place: Captain Langsdorff, believing that a superior force awaited him, had his crew scuttle their ship; three days later Langsdorff shot himself.

1861, KENTUCKY, LAND WAR: The Battle of Rowlett’s Station/Woodsonville/Green River, Union troops engage with Confederate units in the Woodsonville woodlands. Neither side wins, but the Unionists secure the flow of logistics along the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.

December 16

The Civil War, 1862

North Carolina, Land War
The Battle of White Hall/Whitehall/White Hall Ferry. Federal troops of the Goldsborough expedition, led by General J.G. Foster, fix Confederate forces on the Neuse River while the mass Union troops continue their march.

December 15

1939, SEA WAR, ATLANTIC:  The damaged Leipzig is torpedoed again, this time by HMS Ursula.

1965, NORTH VIETNAM, AIR WAR: US Air Force aircraft bomb and destroy a  North Vietnamese thermal power plant at Uongbi in the first American air raid on a major North Vietnamese industrial target.

December 14

The Third Reich, 1941

Sea War, Atlantic
A dramatic and very significant convoy battle takes place in the Atlantic Ocean. Swordfish aircraft from the British escort carrier Audacity succeed in keeping U-boats away from convoy HX76. U-751, commanded by Korvettenkapitan Gerhard Bigalk, manages to sink the Audacity after a ferocious battle. However, Donitz records in his war diary: “The risk of being sunk is greater than the possible success. The presence of aircraft makes ‘wolf pack’ tactics impossible.” U-boat High Command now uses standing directives to U-boat commanders telling them to make the location and destruction of aircraft carriers their prime objective.

The Civil War, December 14-15, 1863

Tennessee, Land War
The Battle of Bean’s Station. General Longstreet pushes Union Brigadier General J.M Shackelford’s 4,000 infantry and cavalry out of Bean’s Station in a two-day engagement. This battle ends the confederacy’s failed Knoxville Campaign.

December 13

1939, SEA WAR, ATLANTIC: The British submarine HMS Salmon scores torpedo hits on the cruisers Leipzig and Nurnberg.

1861, WEST VIRGINIA, LAND WAR:  The Battle of Camp Allegheny/Allegheny Mountain. Federal troops fail to displace Confederates from Allegheny Mountain.

December 12
D-Day, 1943

German Defences, France
Field Marshall Erwin Rommel arrives in France to review defence preparations. He is on an inspection tour of the western coast, from Denmark to the Spanish border, ordered by Hitler and the Army High command, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) in November. Rommel will review the progress of the fixed defences of the “Atlantic Wall” and the preparedness of German Army units. He sets up his headquarters at Fontainebleu, southeast of Paris, and begins work north of the River Seine. This coastal sector of the Pas de Calais, from Le Havre to Ostend, is held by the Fifteenth Army, commanded by General Hans von Salmuth. This stretch of the French coast is closest to Great Britain and is the most likely target for an allied invasion.

December 11
The Third Reich, 1941

Germany and Italy, Treaties
Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, an absurd gesture of solidarity with Japan which is to have significant consequences for Germany.

December 10
The Vietnam War, 1970

USA, Military Strategy
President Richard M. Nixon warns that in North Vietnamese forces increase the level of fighting in South Vietnam as the American forces withdraw, he will resume bombing targets within North Vietnam.

December 8
World War 1, 1918

Western Front

The Allies have a busy day on the Western Front as the Belgians occupy Urdingen, Germany at the Rhine River and the Third American Army arrives at Koblenze, Germany.

British 1st Cavalry Division reaches Germany after passing Namur and secured the crossings of the Rhine at Cologne.

December 7
WWII, Pacific War, 1941

Pacific, Pearl Harbor The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and part of the US Pacific Fleet is destroyed.

December 6

1940, POLITICS, ITALY: Marshal Pietro Badoglio, Italy’s commander-in-chief, resigns.

December 5

The Third Reich, 1941

Eastern Front, Soviet Union
To the surprise of the German General staff and the bewilderment of the frontline troops, Russian counterattacks come through the snow using reserves fresh from training in Siberia and signalling the commencement of the Soviet Union’s effort to drive the German Army from the outskirts of Moscow. In the days that were to follow, the Siberians distinguished themselves. Kept warm by sheepskin coats, as well as quilted pants, fur hats and felt boots, they could travel almost silently over the snow and wait patiently for hours in snow before launching an attack at night.

The Siberians broke through on December 14 near Klin, a transportation centre north of Moscow, littering the road to the west for 40km (25 miles) with the charred and frozen remnants of tanks and men from two panzer divisions. On that day the Siberians killed 3000 German soldiers. South of Moscow, the Red Army’s cavalry corps crossed frozen rivers. Tanks pulled armoured sleds packed with more infantry. Soldiers fought on the run, carrying sacks of dry bread crusts and raw vegetables, and feeding their horses with straw stripped from thatched roofs. The Red Army forced the Germans back 160-240km (100-150 miles) before stabilizing the line.

Stalin, gambling that Japan would not attack Russian in the East, moved the Siberians across to Asia to the European theatre. In the south Rundstedt was forced to evacuate Rostov, which he has just taken. Shocked by the news of his first major military setback ever, Hitler dismissed Brauchitsch and assumes his role. Other army commanders are dismissed including Rundstedt and Guderian.

December 4

World War 1, 1917

Western Front

The Canadians flush out the Germans at Bourlon Wood, France during the Hundred Days Offensive (Canada’s Hundred Days)

West Verdun:   German attempts to reach Avocourt and Forges is stopped by the French during the battle of West Verdum (February 21 to December 18)

December 3

The Vietnam War, 1970

South Vietnam, US Armed Forces
American strength in Vietnam is down to 349,700, the lowest number since October 29, 1966.

December 2-5

1965, SOUTH VIETNAM, GROUND WAR

Colonel William D. Brodbeck’s 3^rd Brigade of the 1^st Infantry Division’s task force searches towards the southeast of Landing Zone Dallas in rectangle-sized area of heavy undergrowth that extends for about 13km (8 miles) west to east and 20km (12 miles) to the south. Two infantry battalions maneuver methodically over several days from phase line to phase line in search of the elusive enemy, but fail to find the Viet Cong.

November 30

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.

 

November 29

1863, The Civil War

Tennessee, Land War
The Battle of Fort Sanders/Fort Loudon. A Confederate move to take Knoxville is defeated by a vigorous Union defense of nearby Ford sanders/Ford Loudon.

 

November 28 

1941, Pacific Sea

Admiral “Bull” Halsey sets his carrier group, the USS Enterprise, off to sea in preparation for war after General Georg C Marshall, the US Army Chief of Staff issued this war warning:

“Japanese future action unpredictable but hostile action possible at any moment. If hostilities cannot, repeat cannot be avoided, the United States desires that Japan commit the first overt act. This policy should not, repeat not, be construed as restricting you to a course of action that might jeopardize your defense….Should hostilities occur you will carry out the tasks assigned in Rainbow Five so far as they pertain to Japan “

 

November 26

1940, FINAL SOLUTION, POLAND

The Nazis begin creating a ghetto in Warsaw for the Jews, who will eventually be kept there in intolerable conditions.

 

November 25

1863,  The Civil War

Tennessee, Land War
The Battle of Chattanooga. In one of the war’s most stunning victories, Union troops under George H. Thomas storm Missionary Ridge and defeat the Confederates. With no safe positions left, Bragg retreats south along the rail line to Atlanta in order to protect that key supply artery.

The battles for Chattanooga are over. In six months Union armies have taken control of the “Gateway to the South” and changed the course of the war. Union forces under William T. Sherman now have the supply base and jumping-off point they need to initiate a campaign against Atlanta. For the confederacy the loss of Chattanooga completes the South’s loss of the rail networks, food supplies, and manpower of central Tennessee.

 

November 24

1863, The Civil War

Tennessee, Land War
The Battle of Chattanooga. Grant’s Union army fights what becomes known as the Battle above the Clouds, which forces Bragg out of a key position above Chattanooga. Following defeat at Lookout Mountain, Bragg entrenches on Missionary Ridge, a strong position stretching south from the Tennessee River. Bragg’s generals place their men in poor position however.

 

November 23

1970, The Vietnam War

North Vietnam, Ground War
US Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird reports that a joint American force has conducted an unsuccessful helicopter raid on the empty Son Toy Prisoner of War camp, 32km (20 miles) west of Hanoi, on November 19.

1863,  The Civil War

Tennessee, Land War
The Battle of Chattanooga. Chattanooga in southeastern Tennessee lies at the rail junction linking Virginia with Tennessee, Georgia, and points west. Without this vital rail terminus confederate troops moving between different theaters of war would have to use a roundabout series of railroads in the Deep South. For the Union, Chattanooga is an objective because it could serve as a base for an attempt to capture Atlanta.
As the war has gone on, it has become clear that whoever controls Chattanooga controls Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. Between June and August 1863, Union General William S. Rosecrans and his Army of the Cumberland have opened up central and eastern Tennessee and driven Confederate General Braxton Bragg and his Army of Tennessee out of Chattanooga. The Confederates checked the Union advance at the Battle of Chickamauga (September 19-20), forcing the Army of the Cumberland back to Chattanooga. Bragg then laid siege to the city.
The outlook for the Union forces was grim, as their supplies quickly begin to run out. The Confederate were unable to muster the strength to attack, though, and Lincoln reinforced the city with additional troops. In October Ulysses S. Grant arrived to resolve the situation. Today, the Union Army crosses the Tennessee River at several points in an attempt to break the Confederates siege. The offensive succeeds. Elements of Grant’s army scale Lookout Mountain.

 

November 22

1941,  The Third Reich

Sea War, Atlantic
The German Auxiliary cruiser Atlantis, after being at sea for 622 days and sailing over 160,000 km (100,000 miles), is intercepted and sunk by HMS Devonshire.

 

November 21

1970, The Vietnam War

South Vietnam, US Armed Forces
Task Group 79.4 is predesignated the 31^st Marine Amphibious Unit (31^st MAU). US Marines will no longer designate their amphibious ready units as the “Special Landing Force Alpha”.

 

November 20

1939, SEA WAR, GREAT BRITAIN

First mines are dropped in British waters by the German aircraft.

1940, POLITICS, HUNGARY

Hungary joins the Axis powers. Since the Italian invasion of Greece, the Germans have been attempting to secure their food and oil supplies from the Balkans by pressing the countries of the region to join the Tripartite Pact.

 

November 19

1941, The Third Reich

Sea War, Pacific
The German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran, after a successful career in the south Atlantic and the Indian Ocean that lasted 350 days at sea, falls in with the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney. Apparently the cruiser was taken in by the disguised raider’s pretence of being an innocent Dutch Freighter and come too close. The concealed guns quickly inflicted serious damage and a torpedo hit damaged the Sydney seriously. The cruiser replied effectively with her guns, but both ships caught fire and were heavily damaged. The Sydney drifted away and was never seen again, and the Kormoran sank. Nothing was known about the action until months later, when a few of the Kormoran’s survivors were found on a South Pacific island. It was the only case of a mercantile auxiliary cruiser sinking a regular warship of any size during the war.

1970, The Vietnam War

North Vietnam, Ground War
US Special Forces conduct a joint raid aimed at the Son Toy Prisoner of War Camp, 32km (20 miles) west of Hanoi, in order to liberate Americans held by the North Vietnamese. Apparently, the NVA had been alerted beforehand and had moved the prisoners.

1863, The Civil War

Virginia, Politics
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln makes his famous “Gettysburg Address.”

 

November 18

1940, TECHNOLOGY, BRITAIN

British “Air-to-Surface-Vessel” radar fitted to a Sunderland flying boat locates its first U-boat during a patrol in the Atlantic.

 

November 17

1965, SOUTH VIETNAM, GROUND WAR

The 1^st Viet Cong Regiment with all three of its battalions – the 50^th, 80^th, and 90^th – overruns the small Regional Forces garrison located at Hiep Duc, west of Tam Ky. The enemy units are indentified from some captured documents and by the interrogation of an enemy defector. Hiep Duc District leaders report 174 of the 433 defenders missing and 315 weapons lost to the enemy.

Shortly after the fall of Hiep Duc, Marine F-4B Phantom jets from Marine Air Group 11 and A-4 Skyhawks from Marine Air Group 12 arrive over the outpost and conduct strikes against enemy positions in the surrounding hills. At the same time, two Marine helicopter groups (MAG-16 and MAG-36) prepare to helilift two ARVN battalions into the battle area.

 

November 16

1863, The Civil War

Tennessee, Land War
The Battle of Campbell’s Station. Burnside’s union Department of the Ohio troops beat Longstreet’s confederate forces in East Tennessee in a race to Knoxville, and conduct a successful defensive action.

 

November 15

1941, Third Reich

Sea War, German Navy
U-459, the first purpose-built supply submarine, is commissioned by Korvettenkapitan Georg von Wilamowitz-Mollendorf.

 

November 14

1915, WW1

Western Front

The losses are severe when the German stage a violent attack in “Labyrinth” Artois which is repelled by the French.

Naval and Overseas Operations

The British war submarine, HMS-E-20 under the helm of Lt. Commander Clyfford Warrne, is torpedoed and lost in the Sea of Marmora.

 

November 13

1941, The Third Reich

Mediterranean Sea,

During an engagement to reinforce Malta the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal was sunk.The HMS Ark Royal had survived many near misses prior to November 14, and also a bombing attack during the Battle of Cap Spartivento.  She had even been reported sunk many times by Germany.  Within sight of Gibraltar upon her return there she was torpedoed by the U-Boat 81.  All of the crew on board were evacuated prior to her sinking on November 15.

 

November 12

1941, Russian Front

During the long advance of the German Army from  Barbarossa to Moscow Hans Roth and the German Army experienced many hazards and hardships and they were exhausted.  The weather impeded their process and they were forced to take shelter and forcing a well needed rest so that the road could freeze over before proceeding.

 

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.

 

November 10

1940, POLITICS, ITALY

General Ubaldo Soddu replaces General Sabasiano Visconti-Prasca as the Italian commander-in-chief in Albania.

 

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.

 

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.

 

November 7

1863,  The Civil War

Virginia, Land War
The Battle of Rappahannock Station. Over 1,600 Confederate soldiers are captured at Rappahannock Station as the Union forces forge two crossings of the Rappahannock River.

 

November 6

1863, The Civil War

West Virginia, Land War
The Battle of Droop Mountain. A Confederate brigade is defeated during a Union action into Virginia against the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad.

 

November 5

1940, SEA WAR, ATLANTIC

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.

1940, POLITICS, UNITED STATES

President Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected for an unprecedented third term.

 

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.

 

November 3

1863, The Civil War

Tennessee, Land War
The Battle of Collierville. The Union 3^rd Cavalry Brigade (850 men) stops a Confederate attempt by 2,500 cavalrymen under Brigadier General James R. Chalmers to cut the Memphis & Charleston Railroad behind the Union XV Army Corps, which is heading to relieve Chattanooga.

 

November 2

1940, The Second Sinking of U-Boat U-31

In March 1940 this UBoat was sunk for the first time when a Blenheim bomber attacked her with four

Armour piercing bombs.  Two of these bombs hit the U-Boat damaging the air tanks which caused the death of the entire crew of 58.  After this bombing the U-boat was recovered and repaired and sent back out to sea.

When she was out on war patrol from Wilhemshaven to Lorient she was attacked by the destroyer HMS Antelope.  Although the U-Boat dived the HMS Antelope during the course of 4 separate attacks the U-Boat was damaged to the point of being pushed under and sank.  Only 2 of the 45 crew were casualties as the remaining were rescued.

 

October 30
WWII Warsaw, 1944

The Pianist survives alone in burnt out Warsaw

As outlined in the movie the Pianist, Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Jewish Pianist who was played on Polish radio, escaped deportation and continued to live in Warsaw after the uprising by hiding in the city.

When he and his family were being sent to be murdered at Treblinka, he was luckily pulled out of the line by a Jewish Policeman and his family continued to their deaths.   His luck continued throughout the years as he was saved numerous times by Poles who helped.

October 29
WWII Japan, 1943

Japanese execute troublesome Hong Kong internees.

During the previous year the Japanese discovered group of “resistance civilians”.  Though this group was only interested in getting food and listening to world news on a radio anyone in or associated with this group were arrested.  Of these arrested 33 Chinese residents were included and after a thorough interrogation they decides to execute them.  On October 29 they were beheaded on a Japanese beach.

October 28
The Civil War, October 28-29, 1863

Tennessee, Land War
The Battle of Wauhatchie/Brown’s Ferry. In a night action aimed at preventing relief forces reaching Chattanooga, Confederate forces attack Union defenses at Wauhatchie, but without success. Union losses are 420; Confederate 408.

October 27
The Civil War, 1863

The Union, Armed Forces
The first Sanitary Fair is held in Chicago (many Northern cities will hold Sanitary Fairs to raise funds to buy medical supplies for wounded soldiers and other types of relief). The organizers – Mary Livermore and Jane Hoge of the U.S Sanitary Commission – encourage people to donate items of interest that they can sell to raise funds.  The Chicago fair will run for two weeks and draw 5,000 visitors. The entrance price is 75 cents, and the items on sale include artwork, musical instruments, toys, and clothes. President Lincoln donates the original draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, which is the fair’s main attraction and sells at auction for $3,000. The Chicago fair will raise a total of $100,000.
Following its success, other major Northern cities held fairs. The largest sanitary fair was held in New York in April 1864. Visitors could buy trinkets made by Confederate prisoners of war of even bid for a tame bear or a shipload of coal.

October 26
WWII Afrika, 1942

After General Georg Stumme died of a heart attack the day before General Rommel returns to the El Alamein.  He had been in Germany and was to now resume his command in North Africa.  . His position was that of a Field Marshal.

October 25
The Civil War, 1863

Arkansas, Land War
The Battle of Pine Bluff. A company of Union cavalry heading for Princeton are forced back by Confederate troops to Pine Bluff, which the Union troops successfully defend. The confederates themselves then retreat.

October 23
WWII, Afrika

The British Guns open up at El Alamein.  The British Eighth Army – including Australian, New Zealand, South African, Indian, Polish and Free French forces – was poised for action. A frontal assault on the German lines was about to be launched.

October 22
The Vietnam War, 1970

South Vietnam, Ground War
Employing the 51^st ARVN Regiment, the 1^st Ranger Ground, the 2^nd and 3^rd Troops of the US Army`s 17<sup>th</sup> Armored Cavalry Squadron, over 300 Regional Forces and Popular Force platoons, the People`s Self Defense Force, and the national police in a province-wide offensive against the Viet Cong, Lieutenant General Lam launches Operation Hoang Dien. This is one of the most ambitious, essentially South Vietnamese pacification operations to date.

October 21
Western Front, Germany,   1944
The city of Aachen surrenders to US forces following a 1-day siege.

October 20
Balkans, Yugoslavia,1944
The 1^st Proletarian Division of Marshals Tito’s Army of Liberation captures Belgrade.

Pacific, Philippines
As the US Sixth Army lands on Leyte Island, General Douglas MacArthur wades ashore and keeps a promise he made two years earlier: “I shall return.” By the evening 10,000 US troops are dug in around Leyte’s capital, Tacloban.

October 19
The Civil War, 1863

Virginia, Land War
The Battle of Buckland Hills/Buckland Races/Chestnut Hill. Confederate troops ambush Union cavalry that were pursuing Lee’s retreating army, following its defeat at Bristoe Station and an aborted advance on Centreville. The Union forces are chased for 5 miles (8km), hence the action is sometimes called the “Buckland Races.”

October 18
1940,WW11,  Politics, Vichy France

The puppet Vichy regime put its first  anti-Semitic laws in place.

October 17
WWII, Atlantic, 1941

The USS Kearney torpedoed in mid Atlantic

Though in 1941 the American’s were not at war with Germany their Navy did escort convoys in the Atlantic Ocean.  On October 17 the Kearney was struck by a German torpedo.  Another 2 torpedos missed their target.

Eleven men died in the attack, it was one more incident hardening the attitude of the American people. Ten days later President Roosevelt was to address the nation stating that Hitler’s objective was to scare the American people.  The American reaction was just the opposite.

October 16
The Civil War, October 16-18, 1863

Florida, Coastal War
The Battle of Fort Brooke. Union gunboats bombard  Fort Brooke in Tampa while a Union raiding party is landed and then attacks Confederate shipping on the Hillsborough River.

October 15
The Civil War, 1863

South Carolina, Naval War
The Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley sinks for a second time during training exercises, killing seven crew members.

The Vietnam War, 1970

South Vietnam, US Armed Forces
The last US Marines leave their base at An Hoa and turn it over to the ARVN.

October 13
The Civil War, 1863

Virginia, Land War
The Battle of Auburns/Catlett’s Station/St. Stephen’s church. Confederate troops under General “Jeb” Stuart skirmish with the Union’s III Corps near Auburn.

October 12
South Vietnam, US Ground Forces, October 12-18, 1966

The US Army’s 1^st Battalion, 40^th Field Artillery Regiment, which consists of 105mm self-propelled howitzers, arrives at Da Nang, and the next day the US Army’s 2^nd Battalion, 94^th Artillery Regiment, consisting of Self Propelled 175mm guns, also arrives.

October 11
The Third Reich, 1941

SS, Waffen-SS
Dutch volunteers join in the SS parade in The Hague before leaving for training in eastern Prussia. German stupidity, broken promises and contempt for the nationals of countries they had defeated has adversely affected recruitment, though, and many volunteers return home disillusioned. This is an inauspicious beginning for Himmler’s brotherhood of “Nordic” nations.

October 9
Western Front, Belgium, , 1944

Although the Allies captured Antwerp on September 4, they have not been able to use the great port because there are German units on both sides of the Scheldt Estuary. Therefore, the Canadian First Army commences operations to eradicate the enemy presence in this area.

Pacific, Iwo Jima
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander of all Allied forces in the Central Pacific, informs Lieutenant General Holland M. “Howling Mad” Smith, one of the leading exponents of amphibious warfare and commander of all US Marines in the Pacific, that the island of Iwo Jima will be his next target and that Smith will lead the invasion with three US Marine divisions. The island is within bombing range of the Japanese mainland.

The Third Reich, 1940

Sea War, Atlantic: The start of one of the most important and critical convoy battles: 21 ships are sunk from convoy SC7 and another 12 from convoy HX79, making this also one of the most successful U-boat “wolf pack” attacks.

October 8
South Vietnam, US AID, , 1966
The 4^th Battalion, 503^rd Airborne Infantry, 173^rd Airborne Brigade, arrives at Da Nang.

Civil War, 1862

Kentucky, Land War:  The Battle of Perryville. As part of the South’s fight for Kentucky, in September Generals Braxton Bragg and Kirby Smith launched an invasion from Tennessee. By October 4 Bragg secured the state capital of Frankfort and set up a new Confederate state government. It was short-lived, though. Today, the Union Army of the Ohio leg by Don Carlos Buell meets Bragg’s Army of the Mississippi. After a morning assault by divisions hits the Union left flank and forces it back. More Rebel divisions join the battle, eventually forcing back the Union line. Union troops on the left flank, reinforced by two brigades stabilize the line. A Confederate attack against a Union division on the Springfield Puke is repulsed, the attackers retreating back to Perryville. Union troops pursue into the town. With his left flank threatened, Bragg withdraws and retreats into East Tennessee. Union losses are 4,211; Confederate 3,196.

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.

October 6
The Civil War, 1863

Kansas, Land War
The Battle of Baxter Springs. Lieutenant Colonel William Quantrill massacres 103 Union troops around the Union post of Baxter Springs.

October 5
The Civil War, 1863

South Carolina, Naval War
The CSS David, a confederate torpedo boat, explodes a spar torpedo against the side of the USS New Ironsides in Charleston harbor, causing significant damage to the union vessel.

October 4
Mediterranean, Greece, 1944
Determined to prevent a communist takeover in Greece, Winston Churchill launches Operation Manna. British troops land at Patrai in the Peloponnese as German forces pull back.

Civil War, 1862

Texas, Naval War.  The Battle of Galveston. The port of Galveston is forced to surrender by U.S. gunboats and tough Union diplomacy after a lengthy period of blockade.

October 2
South Vietnam, Ground War, October 2-24, 1966
Operation Irving, lasting 23 days, is carried out by the sky soldiers on the 1^st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), ARVN, and Republic of Korea troops against the NVA 610^th Division in Binh Dinh Province with 681 enemy casualties.

South Vietnam, US Ground Forces, 1966
Equipped with 175mm guns, Battery C, 6^th Battalion, 27^th Field Artillery Regiment, comes under control Task Force Delta in I Corps Tactical Zone.

Eastern Front, Poland, 1944
After  a bitter two-month battle, the last poles in Warsaw surrender. The Germans evacuate the entire remaining population and begin the systematic destruction of anything left standing. Polish deaths number 150,000 while the German commander, SS General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, claims he lost 26,000 men.

October 1
The Third Reich, 1941

Eastern Front, Soviet Union
The German Army begins Operation Typhoon, the offensive against Moscow. Meanwhile, Hitler in Berlin speaks to the German public and describes the extent of his victory: 2.5 million prisoners, 22,000 guns captured, 18,000 tanks destroyed and 145,000 Russian aircraft eliminated. After such losses he may wonder why the Red Army is still in existence.

The Vietnam War, 1970

South Vietnam, US Armed Forces
In a ceremony which is attended by Lieutenant-General Keith B. McCutcheon, Commanding General, III Marine Amphibious Force, Lieutenant-General Sutherland of XXIV Corps, Lieutenant-General Lam of I Corps, and Major-General Widdecke, Commanding General of the 1^st Marine Division, the regimental colors of the 7^th Marines are “troops” for the very last time in Vietnam. On the same day, the regimental command group leaves Vietnam and heads for its home base, located at Camp Pendleton in California.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
September 30
WWII, 1944 Warsaw Uprising

The Polish Resistance Home Army timed the Warsaw uprising to coincide with the Soviet’s Red Army approach, so combined forces could drive the German Army out of Warsaw. The Soviets advanced feel short and the Polish were left to fight the Germans on their own.  At first the Polish were able to gain control over most of central Warsaw however intense fighting between the Polish and Germans continued.  Without the Red Armies air support, nor the bulk of the Red Army aid the Germans were able to gain back control and demolish the city in 63 days.

The Warsaw uprising was the single largest military effort by a resistance movement from Europe in WWII.  An estimated 16,000 Polish Resistance were killed, as high as 200,000 Polish civilians were killed and 8000 German soldiers.

 

September 29
The Civil War, 1863

Louisiana, Land War The Battle of Stirling’s Plantation/Fordoche Bridge. Confederate troops act against a Union thrust toward Texas, defeating a 1,000-strong force at Stirling’s Plantation/Fordoche Bridge. Total battle casualties are 575.

 

September 26
WWII, 1944, Japan

Operation Jaywick

An attack by Australian Special forces with the Allied Z Special Unit and comprised of  14 commandos and sailors paddling into the Japanese waters to raid the Singapore Harbour.  They successfully sunk or incapacitated 7 ships using limpet mines.  Only after the ensuing commotion subsided did the commandos return to the Krait, a captured Japanese fishing boat.  The Japanese were taken completely by surprise.

 

September 25
WWII, 1942 Gestapo Headquarters Oslo

Once British officials learnt of the Nazi Gestapo meeting at its Headquarters at the Victoria Terrasse building in Oslo the planned a raid.

Four de Havilland Mosquito aircraft from the RAF 105 Squadron crossed the North Sea armed with 4 500 lb bombs of which 3 crashed into a back wall before exploding and one failed to detonate altogether the building was not destroyed.

 

September 23
WWII, 1944

Air War, Germany The RAF makes a night precision raid on the Dortmund to Ems Canal, the inland waterway that links the Ruhr with other industrial centers. A total of 141 aircraft are involved, the canal is breached, and a section drained. The RAF loses 14 bombers.

WWII, September 23-30, 1944

Western Front, France The Canadian 3^rd Division invests the port of Calais, which is defended by 7500 men. Following heavy artillery and bomber attacks, and the use of specialized armor, Calais surrenders on the 30^th.

 

September 22
WWII, 1944

Western Front, France Boulogne surrenders to the Canadian II Corps; its garrison of 20,000 men is taken into captivity.

WWII, September 22-25, 1944

Western Front, Holland Outside Arnhem, the British XXX Corps Advance is slowed by German resistance. The Polish Brigade drops south of the Neder Rijn near Driel. On the 23^rd, attempts by the Poles and advance troops of XXX Corps to cross the river are driven back, and so the evacuation of the surviving paratroopers begins two days later, leaving 2500 of their dead comrades behind.

The Civil War, 1863

Tennessee, Land War The Battle of Blountsville. During Burnside’s moves into Tennessee, Union forces overcome the 1^st Tennessee Cavalry Regiment at Blountsville.

 

September 21
WWII, 1944

Italy, Adriatic Sector The Eighth Army takes Rimini after a week of heavy fighting. Since the beginning of its offensive against the Gothic Line, it has lost 14,000 men killed, wounded, and missing, plus 200 tanks. The Italian campaign has not lived up to being the “soft underbelly of Europe” a more accurate description would be “tough old gut.”

Politics, Yugoslavia The Partisan Chief Marshal Tito meets the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. They reach agreement on the “temporary entry of the Red Army into Yugoslavia”

The Vietnam War, 1969

South Vietnam, US Troop Withdrawals Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces the deactivation of the 5^th Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, California. The 25^th Marines, still in Vietnam, would not be deactivated with the remained of the division.

 

September 20
The Civil War, 1863

Tennessee, Land War The Battle of Chickamauga. Initial Rebel attacks begin four hours late due to poor staff work and make little headway against Thomas’ well-situated defensive line on the Union left. At 11:00 hours, Rosecrans pulls Thomas Wood’s division out of the right of his line to plug what he thinks is a gap farther north. Fortunately for the Confederates, three of their divisions under Longstreet launch an attack into the gap left by Wood at precisely the same time.

The Union’s defensive position is shattered as Longstreet’s men come close to cutting his line of communication with Chattanooga, Rosecrans orders a retreat. Not all Union forces are through fighting. Troops under George H. Thomas make a stand on Snodgrass Hill, A wooded ridge on the northern end of the Union line. Thomas and his force succeed in holding Bragg at bay as Rosecrans and the bulk of the Union army withdraw into Chattanooga. For his efforts Thomas earns the Medal of Honor and is thereafter known as the “Rock of Chickamauga.” In stark contrast to Thomas, Rosecrans is inconsolable as he is carried along into Chattanooga by the wreckage of his army,

Chickamauga is a hollow victory for the Confederates: Bragg is unable to follow is up with the final defeat of the Army of the of the Cumberland. At a cost of over 18,000 casualties, Bragg can only push Rosecrans back to Chattanooga – he is unable to destroy him or force the surrender of his army by siege.

 

September 19
WWII, September 19-21, 1944

Western Front, Holland Forward elements of the British XXX Corps reach US paratroopers at Eindhoven, but at Arnhem all attempts to break through to the troops fail. On the 20^th, the bridge at Nijmegen is captured by a combined force drawn from the US 82^nd Airborne Division and the British XXX Corps. The next day, the British troops at Arnhem are overwhelmed. The remainder form a defensive perimeter on the northern bank of the Neder Rijn, around the village of Oosterbeek.

The Third Reich, 1941

Eastern Front, Ukraine German troops take Kiev, having already occupied most of the Ukraine and begin siege of Leningrad. The Shah of Iran is forced to abdicate and two zones of control, Soviet and British, are established in Iran. The specially equipped and trained 90^th Light Division reinforces the Afrika Korps. U-boats experienced difficulties in finding and attacking enemy convoys.

 

September 18
WWII, 1963

Tennessee, Land War The Battle of Chickamauga. General Rosecrans, Commander of the Union Army of the Cumberland (62,000 men), orders George H. Thomas to position his corps north of Thomas L. Crittenden’s corps to prevent Confederate General Braxton Bragg and his 65,000 men from cutting off the Union army from Chattanooga, a key rail junction on the main Confederate east-west railroad. Not realizing that Thomas now forms the left flank of the Union army, Bragg crosses his forces over Chickamauga Creek and makes camp after some skirmishing with two Union cavalry brigades. The opposing battle lines are set, but due to the thickly wooded terrain along the creek, neither side is aware of it.

 

September 17
WWII, 1944

Western Front, Holland Operation Market Garden, General Bernard Montgomery’s plan for an armored and airborne thrust across Holland to outflank the German defenses, begins. The British 1^st Airborne Division lands near Arnhem, the US 101^st Airborne Division near Eindhoven, the US 82^nd Airborne Division near Grave and Nijmegen, while the British XXX Corps advances from the Dutch border. The 82^nd lands without difficulty and takes the Maas and Maas-Waal Canal bridges, but then encounters heavy resistance at Nijmegen. The 101^st Division also takes its bridges, but British paratroopers discover their way to Arnhem is blocked by German units. Only one battalion, under Lieutenant Colonel John Frost, manages to reach the bridge, where it is quickly cut off.

 

September 16
The Vietnam War, 1969

South Vietnam, US Troop Withdrawals.  President Nixon announces another troop withdrawal. Of a total reduction of 40,500, more that 18,400 would be US Marines, most of whom will come from the 3^rd Marine Division.

 

September 15
WWII, 1944

Air War, Norway Lancaster’s from 9 and 617 Squadrons of the RAF attack Germany’s only remaining battleship – the Tirpitz – in Altenfiord. However, little damage is done, chiefly due to the effectiveness of the German smokescreens.

Eastern Front, Poland Units of the Soviet-raised First Polish Army cross the Vistula River and seize bridgeheads in Warsaw.

 

September 13
Prisoner of War Camps

Prisoners from Russia began to be moved to Austria after thousands of them died in German Prisoner of War camps.   Some of these prisoners went to POW camps but others were sent to concentration camps.  Russians were treated separate from other POW’s.  Russians were treated horribly and continued to have a high death rate

 

September 12
WW11 Naval The Laconia Order

When the German U boat U-156 torpedoed a passenger ship, RMS Laconia, off the coast of Africa, they did not know that it carried Italian Prisoners of War.   The commander of the U-boat, Hartenstein, Hartenstein, immediately commenced rescue operations, broadcasting their humanitarian intent on open radio channels to all Allied forces in the area, broadcast that rescue operations had begun however the Allies’ believed it to be a false signal.  Even though the U-Boat now displayed a Red Cross, a U.S. Liberator bomber attacked and the U-156 was force to submerge to avoid being sunk.  Eventually a French ship arrived to save over 1500 men.

This caused the Germans to order that U-Boats were no longer allowed to rescue survivors – The Laconia Order.

 

September 10
WWII, September 10-14, 1944

Eastern Front, Poland Despite Stalin’s refusal to aid the hard-pressed Warsaw insurgents, units of Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky’s 1^st Belorussian Front attack Praga, the east bank quarter of the city. Fighting is savage, and it is not until the 14^th that the area is freed from German control.

The Civil War, 1863

Arkansas, Land War The Battle of Bayou Fourche/Little Rock. Union troops take Bayou Fourche and Little Rock, consolidating Union control in the Trans-Mississippi area.

 

September 8
WWII, 1944

Air War, Manchuria China-based B-29 Superfortress bombers make their first daylight raid against Japanese industrial targets at Anshan.

Politics, Bulgaria Bulgaria declares war on Germany

WWII, September 8-13, 1944

Western Front, Belgium/Holland The British 50^th Division crosses the Albert Canal at Gheel. On the 10^th, the British Guards Armored Divisions advances to De Groot. Three days later, the British 15^th Division crosses the Meuse-Escaut Canal.

WWII, September 8-25, 1944

Eastern Front, Slovakia The Soviet 1^st and 4^th Ukrainian Fronts begin their attacks on the Dukla Pass, the key to the Carpathian Mountain barrier separating the Red Army from eastern Slovakia. It will take the Soviets until the end of November to clear the Carpathians.

The Civil War, 1863

Texas, Land War The Battle of Sabine Pass/Fort Griffin. A Union flotilla of four gunboats and 18 troop transports, carrying 6,000 troops, steams into Sabine Pass and up the Sabine River with the intention of reducing Fort Griffin and landing troops to begin occupying Texas. However, the Davis Guards (49 men and six cannon in Fort Griffin) sinks two of the gunboats, kill or wound more than 100 Union troops, and take 300 prisoners, successfully turning back the invasion. The Confederates suffer no losses.

 

September 6
The Civil War, September 6-8, 1863

South Caroline, Coastal War The Battle of Charleston Harbor. Confederate forces around Charleston lose for Wagner and Battery Gregg to Union forces, but manage to fend off a combined marine/infantry assault against Fort Sumter.

 

September 5
WWII, 1944

Western Front, France US Third Army spearheads cross the Meuse River. General Karl von Rundstedt is made Commander-in-Chief West by Hitler with orders to counterattack the Allies and split their armies apart. However, his resources for such an undertaking are scant.

Eastern Front, Bulgaria After declaring war on the country, Red Army units invade rapidly and reach Turnu Severin. The Soviet Union’s leadership is planning to occupy the entire Balkans.

 

September 4
WWII, 1944

Italy, Adriatic Sector The British Eighth Army fails to breach the Gemmano-Coriano Ridge on the Gothic line. The ridge is the pivot point of the German Tenth Army’s second line of defense, and as such it is strongly held, particularly by anti-tank weapons. An attack by the British 2^nd Armored Brigade, for example, is defeated easily, with the British losing over half their tanks.

Western Front, Belgium The British Second Army liberates the port of Antwerp.

 

September 3
WWII,  1944

Western Front, France/Belgium The US First army takes Tournai and three German corps are crushed. The British Second Army liberates Brussels.

The Third Reich, 1941

Nazi Party, Personalities Heydrich, perhaps in reward for his efforts, certainly in recognition of his considerable talents, is appointed to succeed Neurath as Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. His administration of the territory is masterful. It begins in Brutality, but within months adroitly combines stick and carrot. Czech industrial production began to rise. Fuelled with this, Heydrich issued additional ration cards on productivity basis. The message was unequivocal: collaborate and prosper, or resist and perish. Heydrich was shown the crown Jewels of Czechoslovakia by President Hacha, who told him of an intriguing legend that surrounded them. It is said that any person not the true heir who put the crown on his head is sure to die. It is said that he laughed and tried it on.

The Vietnam War, 1969

North Vietnam, Politics The President of North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, dies having inspired thousands of insurgents.

 

September 2
WWII, 1944

Eastern Front, Bulgaria The Red Army reaches the Bulgarian border.

Politics, Finland Finland accepts the preliminary conditions for a peace treaty with the Soviet Union and breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany. The Soviet Union then agrees to an armistice.

 

September 1
WW11, September 1-3, 1944

Western Front, France/Belgium The British Guards and 11^th Armored Divisions, both part of the British XXX Corps, reach Arras and Aubigny.  The Canadian II Corps, part of the Canadian first Army, liberates Dieppe. On the 2^nd, XXX Corps is instructed to slow its advance and await a projected paratroop drop. With the cancellation of the drop, the advance resumes again. The 32^nd and 5^th Brigades of the Guards Armored Division begin a race for Brussels, which is won by the 32^nd Brigade on the 3^rd. On the same day, the British XXI Corps is bogged down in fighting around the town of Bethune.

The Third Reich, 1941

Germany, Legal Yellow star becomes compulsory attire for Jews living in Germany. The general deportation of German Jews to concentration camps starts.

The Civil War, 1963

Arkansas, Land War The Battle of Devil’s Backbone/Backbone Mountain. Confederate forces temporarily check a Union pursuit of Rebels from Fort Smith, but are eventually forced to retreat in disorder to Waldron.

The Vietnam War, 1969

USA, Race Riots Racial tensions again flare in the United States and in Vietnam as the African American Marines protest over what they perceive as excessive force by guards at the Camp Pendleton brig. Tensions are also evident in Vietnam as well, though are not present in any of the frontline companies.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
August 31
WWII, 1944

Western Front, France The US Third Army spearheads an advance toward the Meuse River as the British XXX Corps secures all the main bridges over the Somme near Amiens.

 

August 30
WWII, 1944

Eastern Front, Slovakia Elements of the armed forces and partisans in the Nazi puppet state stages an uprising against their German over-lords as the Red Army approaches the country’s eastern border.

The Vietnam War, 1970

South Vietnam, Politics In elections held throughout South Vietnam, 30 South Vietnamese senators are elected in voting that is characterized by terrorist attacks by Viet Congsappers and charges of fraud. Forty-two civilians are killed.

 

August 28
WWII, 1944

Eastern Front, Poland The Polish Home Army continues to fight in Warsaw, but German air attacks and artillery fire are so heavy that the Poles have been forced into the sewers. Soviet leader Stalin has refused to help the freedom fighters, and so the Red Army awaits the outcome on the far side of the Vistula River.

The Third Reich, 1941

Sea War, Atlantic British forces capture the U-571 which later becomes HMS Graph.

 

August 27
WWII, 1944

Far East, Burma The last of the Chindits are evacuated to India. Chidits were a special forces, that were developed to operate deep behind Japanese enemy lines using guerilla warfare and long-range penetration.  They operated in Burma and India in 1943-44.

 

August 25
WWII, 1944

Italy, Adriatic Sector The Allied assault on the Gothic Line begins. The German defense line is 200 miles (320 km) long and runs from the valley of the Magra River, south of La Spezia on the west coast, through the Apuan Mountains and the Apennines, ending in the valley of the Foglia River, and reaching the east coast between Pesaro and Cattolica. The assault is conducted by three corps – the British V, Canadian 1, and Polish – of the Eighth Army. The plan is to seize the Gemman-Coriano Ridge complex, thereby unlocking the coastal “gate” and allowing Allied armor to break out to the plains of the Po Valley. However, German resistance is fierce.

Western Front, France The British XII and XXX Corps cross the Seine River.
The Civil War, 1863

Missouri, Home Front General Order No. 11 is issued by Union Brigadier General Thomas Ewing, forcing the evacuation of people from four counties in western Missouri.

 

August 24
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.

 

August 21
The Civil War, 1863

Tennessee, Land War The Battle of Chattanooga. Union forces conduct a bombardment of Chattanooga, causing much damage and diverting attention from major Union crossings of the Tennessee River.

Kansas, Land War The Battle of Lawrence/Lawrence  Massacre. Quantrill,  attack Lawrence, well known as a hotbed of antislavery sentiment. On Quantrill’s order they burn the town and murder every adult male they encounter, as well as a small garrison of Union soldiers. In all, over 150 people are killed and 200 dwellings destroyed. Quantrill has been declared an outlaw by the Union but holds a captaincy in the Confederate army. Among those who fight in his band are Frank and Jesse James “Bloody Bill” Anderson. Quantrill and his men have a policy of “no quarter” with regard to Jayhawkers and Union soldiers.

 

August 20
The Vietnam War, 1970

South Vietnam, US Armed Forces A US Department of Defense study reports on the use of illegal drugs by US servicemen during the Vietnam war, and concludes that about three out of every ten US servicemen who are interviewed have either smoked marijuana or taken other illegal drugs during their time in Vietnam.

 

August 19
1944, WW11

Western Front, France Allied units have closed the Falaise pocket two weeks after the Canadian First Army launched Operation Totalize to cut off the encircled German troops. Some 30,000 German soldiers escape from the pocket across the Seine River, but an estimated 50,000 are captured and another 10,000 killed. In the pocket, which has been continually strafed and bombed by Allied aircraft, are hundreds of destroyed and abandoned German vehicles. Canadian, British and Polish forces coming from the north link up with the US First Army driving from Argentan.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
July 30
1944, WWII, Normandy  Operation Bluecoat

An attack by the British Second Army from 30 July – 7 August meant to secure the key road of Vire and the high ground of Mont Pincon.

The attack was successful in diverting the German 2nd Panzer Division forces away from the American offensive in Brittany. made to support the American exploitation of their break-out on the western flank of the Normandy beachhead and tactically, to exploit the German depletion of the defenses of what had been a quiet area, by withdrawing the Successful British diversion of forces away from the US offensive in Brittany.

 

July 29
1942, WWII, Battle of the Kokoda:

The Kokoda Track campaign consisted of a series of battles between the Japanese and the Allies mostly Australian.

After the Japanese landed near Gona, New Guinea they attempted to advance the Owen Stanley Mountains to seize Port Moresby, forcing the Australians back and isolating them from the American forces. . Port Moresby was vital to the defense of Australia, launched from Port Moresby. This campaign became one of the most desperate and bloody battles of the whole war.

The Australian defense began at Kokoda, about half way along the mountain trail. In the early morning of 29th July the Australian force of 80 hastily assembled men sought to beat off the Japanese invasion force of over 400. With their commander mortally wounded, shot through the head, and the Japanese outflanking them in the jungle, they were forced to withdraw.  The Australians attempted to recapture Kokoda on 8 August without success which resulted in heavy casualties on both sides.

May 6
The Vietnam War, 1969

South Vietnam, US Armed Forces III Marine Amphibious Force, composed of the 1^st and 3^rd Marine Divisions, 1^st Marine Aircraft Wing, Force logistics Command, and the US Army’s XXIV Corps, Americal Division, the 101^st Airborne Division (Airmobile), and the 1^st Brigade, 5^th Infantry Division (Mechanized), begins its fifth year in Vietnam.

 

May 4
The Civil War, 1863

Virginia, Land War The Battle of Chancellorsville. The Union troops are facing total defeat. However, at Fredericksburg yesterday the remaining Union troops under Sedgwick attacked and drove away Early’s troops. Sedgwick now advances west to come to Hooker’s aid. With Hooker in retreat, Lee returns to attack Sedgwick. At Salem Church the Confederates half the Union Advance. Hooker withdrew across the river on the night of May  5. His defeat by an army half his size has cost more than 17,000 casualties. Lee’s losses are 12,800, including the irreplaceable Jackson, who dies a few days later.

May 3
The Vietnam War, 1969 US Defense Secretary Melvin Laird says that the United States can begin troops withdrawals if any one of the following three basic conditions are met by Hanoi: (1) Agreement of mutual withdrawals; (2) sufficient improvements of the South Vietnamese Armed Forces; (3) A substantial reduction of VC/NVA activity in South Vietnam.

WWII, 1944

Politics, Japan Admiral Soemu Toyoda is appointed commander-in-chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet. He replaces Admiral Mineichi Koga, who has been killed in a plane crash on March 31.

 

May 2
The Civil War, 1863

Virginia, Land War The Battle of Chancellorsville. Lee now has the initiative. In one of the war’s boldest moves he divides his army once again. He sends Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and 28,000 men on a 12-mile (19km) march to strike Hooker’s right flank, while his remaining troops face three Union corps. The march takes all day, but at 18:00 hours Jackson attacks the Union XI Corps, which is routed. Only nightfall saves Hooker’s army. During the evening Jackson is shot by his own men who mistake his party for Union Cavalry.

 

May 1
The Civil War, 1863

Virginia, Land War The Battle of Chancellorsville. Joseph Hooker, commander of the Army of the Potomac, devised a new plan as the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia faced one another across the Rappahannock River as Fredericksburg. Instead of attempting a frontal attack on the Confederate positions overlooking Fredericksburg. Hookers divided his army and took half of it – three corps totally 75,000 men – to cross the river at fords upstream and come around in a wide sweep to hit Lee from behind. John Sedgwick stayed at Fredericksburg with 40,000 men to pin the Confederates. By April 30 the Union troops had crossed the river and were in a dense area of woodland called the Wilderness. The center of their position was a crossroads at Chancellorsville, Virginia. Hooker’s plan has worked smoothly so far, but now things started to go wrong. Lee realized that Hooker was trying a flanking march. On April 29 he sent two brigades toward Chancellorsville to discover the size of the threat. Once they confirmed the Union army was at Chancellorsville, he went on the attack.

Like Hooker, Lee divided his forces, leaving 10,000 men under Jubal A. Early to hold Fredericksburg and marching his remaining 50,000 men west to meet Hooker. Hooker is taken by surprise today when the Confederates start an attack on his lead divisions at noon. The Union commander begins to lose his nerve. In midafternoon he halts the advance and orders his forces back to Chancellorsville to take up defensive positions.

Mississippi, Land War The Battle of Port Gibson/Thompson’s Hill. Having crossed the Mississippi, Grant’s forces moving against Vicksburg defeat a Confederate attempt to hold the river line at Port Gibson.

 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
April 17
WWII, 1942

Air War, Germany The RAF launch one of the war’s most hazardous bomber raids, attacking a diesel engine factory in Augsburg.  Seven of the 12 Lancaster bombers assigned to the daylight attack are lost and the other five sustain damage.

The Vietnam War, 1969

South Vietnam, US Armed Forces Us Marine firepower increases with the introduction of the first 175mm guns, scheduled to replace the 155mm guns, of the US Army’s 1^st, 3^rd, and 5^th 155mm Gun Batteries.

The Civil War, 1863

Mississippi, Land War Union Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson leads the 2^nd Iowa, 6^th Illinois, and 7^th Illinois Cavalry, and several artillery batteries, out of La Grange, Tennessee south into Mississippi. This raid is part of General Ulysses S. Grant’s plan for the cavalry raiders to divert the attention of Confederate forces protecting Vicksburg so that he can move his army south of the vital river city. If the Cavalry does its job, Grant will be able to cross the Mississippi River and attack Vicksburg. Grierson’s men soon encounter Southern militia. Although the confederate cavalry try to intercept the Union raiders, Grierson manages to deceive and confuse them repeatedly. On three occasions he ignores conventional military tactics and divides his 1,700-man force, even though he is deep in enemy territory. Reports of Grierson’s elusive movements tricks General John C. Pemberton, commander of Confederate forces at Vicksburg, into moving troops away from the Mississippi River to trap the Union raiders. At one time 20,000 Confederate troops are committed to stopping Grierson – men who were therefore unable to oppose Grant’s river crossing. Grierson’s men also succeed in doing much damage to bridges and railroads behind Vicksburg. They tear the only rail link between the eastern and western parts of the Confederacy. Southern troops never caught Grierson’s men. After ravaging 600 miles (960km) of Confederate territory, Grierson once more did the unexpected: He escaped back behind Union lines by riding south to Union-held baton Rouge, Louisiana, rather than north.

Louisiana, Land War The Battle of Vermillion Bayou. Confederate forces retreating from defeats at fort Bisland and Irish Bend are defeated in an artillery duel action on the Vermillion Bayou, and retreat toward Opelousas.

 

April 15
The Vietnam War, 1969

South Vietnam, US Armed forces Major-General William K. Jones replaces Major-General Raymond G. Davis as commanding General, 3^rd Marine Division.

 

April 14
The Civil War, 1863

Louisiana, Land War The Battle of Irish Bend/Nerson’s Woods/Franklin. Union forces, attempting to cut off Confederate retreat from Fort Bisland, defeat Rebel troops at Nerson’s Woods, about 1.5 miles (2.2 km) from Franklin.

 

April 13
The Civil War, April 13-15, 1863

Virginia, Land/Naval War The Battle of Suffolk/Norfleet House Battery. An inconclusive Confederate siege of Suffolk, Virginia, costs a total of 1,160 casualties.

 

April 12
The Civil War, April 12-13, 1863

Louisiana, Land War The Battle of Fort Bisland/Bethel Place. The Confederate strongpoint at Fort Bisland falls to a Union expedition up Bayou Teche in western Louisiana. The expedition’s ultimate objective is Alexandria, which is now vulnerable.

 

April 11
The Civil War, 1863

Alabama, Land War Union Colonel Abel Streight raids into Alabama and Georgia in an attempt to cut the Western and Atlantic Railroad. He fights a rearguard action at Day’s Gaps, Cullman County, against the Confederates led by Nathan B. Forrest. Streight’s entire command of 1,500 men will be captured on May 3

The Civil War, April 11-May 4, 1863

The Battle of Suffolk/Fort Huger/Hill’s Point. A union force takes Fort Huger on the Nansemond River but is repulsed when moving against fort Fix.

The Vietnam War, April 11-12, 1969

South Vietnam, Ground War US Soldiers in IV Corps Tactical Zone engage in Viet Cong Battalion in Kien Tuong Province, resulting in 97 enemy dead.

 

April 10
WWII, April 10-23, 1942

Far East, Burma Japan begins an offensive after reinforcements arrive. Lieutenant General William Slim fails to prevent the Japanese advancing on the oil fields at Yenangyaung in the south and sets large amounts of crude oil ablaze. The Chinese Sixty-fifth Army enters Burma to bolster the faltering defense against the Japanese. Around the central towns to Loikaw and Taunggyi, the Japanese 56^th Division overwhelms the Chinese Sixth Army by the 23^rd.

The Civil War, 1863

Tennessee, Land War The Battle of Franklin. A Reconnaissance by Confederate Cavalry of Major General Earl Van Dorn turns into a defeat and withdrawal after an major engagement around Franklin

The Vietnam War, 1969

South Vietnam, US Armed Forces Four AH-1G Cobra gunships arrive in Da Nang to begin air operations with Marine observation squadron 2.

South Vietnam, Ground War Elements of ARVN units in IV Corps Tactical Zone engage a company sized force of Viet Cong in Chuong Thien Province. They kill 80 enemy soldiers.

 

February 13
WWII, 1945, February 13-14

Air War, Germany. The RAF Mounts a night raid on Dresden. The 805 bombers inflict massive damage on the city’s old town and inner suburbs. The bombing triggers the worst firestorm of the war, in which at least 50,000 people are killed. The raid is controversial, as the city has negligible strategic value, is virtually undefended, and is crammed with refugees. The next morning, the city is bombed again by 400 aircraft of the US 8^th Army Air Force.

The Vietnam War, 1968

South Vietnam, Ground War The Forward command elements and major combat units of the elite 101^st Airborne Division arrive in I Corps Tactical Zone.

 

February 12
WWII North Africa

Rommel takes command in North Africa .  Hitler had no particular strategic interest in North Africa but he could not see Mussolini totally humiliated. Erwin Rommel had demonstrated his zeal for aggressive independent leadership during the invasion of France and was regarded as the ideal man to lead the relatively small Panzer force that would become known as the Afrika Corps.

 

February 11
WWII, 1942

Sea War, English Channel. The start of the “Channel Dash”. The Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen sail through the English channel from Brest in France to Germany and Norway. This is a major embarrassment for the royal Navy and Royal Air Force (RAF), and a great propaganda victory for the Kreigsmarine.

WWII, 1945

Eastern Front, Hungary The Trapped Axis Garrison in Budapest attempts to break through the Soviet lines. However, of the nearly 30,000 Germans and Hungarians, fewer than 700 are able to escape.

 

February 10
Preparations for D-Day

Logistics, Landing Craft In a move to find SHEAF (Supreme Headquarters Expeditionary Allied Force)  all the landing craft it has requested, the Combined Chiefs of Staff signal the headquarters, Mediterranean, Theatre of Operations, that all LST’s (Landing Ship, Tanks) no longer required in theatre are to be returned to Great Britain. To finalize landing craft numbers, General Marshall has sent two of his senior planners to London.

 

February 9
The Vietnam War, 1968

South Vietnam, Ground War Units of III Marine Amphibious Force succeed in beating back the 2^nd North Vietnamese Army division’s offensive at Da Nang, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, Forward, (MACVF) under General Creighton W. Abrams, General Westmoreland’s Deputy Commander and soon-to-be successor, is established in I Corps Tactical Zone in order for MACV to better assess and react to the enemy’s offensive operations.

World War II, 1945

Eastern Front, Poland The Soviet 2^nd Belorussian Front launches an offensive in the region of Grudziadz and Sepolno but runs into determined resistance from the German Second Army. Soviet Progress is very slow.

 

February 8
WWII, 1945, February 8-24

Eastern Front, Germany Marshal Ivan Konev’s 1^st Ukrainian Front begins its offensive to disrupt German plans and establish an impregnable defense line along the southern Oder. By the 24^th his forces have advanced 75 miles (120 km) and seized Lower Silesia, in addition to freeing 91, 300 Soviet citizens and 22,500 other foreigners from German imprisonment.

February 7
The Vietnam War, 1968

South Vietnam, Ground War NVA units overrun the US Army’s Special Forces base at Lang Vei, west of the Marine base at Khe Sanh. Meanwhile, elements of the 3^rd Marines, 5^th Marines, and the US Army’s Americal Division engage the 2^nd North Vietnamese Division in fighting around Da Nag, which Marines have given the ominous nickname “the rocket belt” due to heavy shelling of North Vietnamese artillery units.

February 6
WW11 Afrika, 1943

Lt. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, command to date was limited to the U.S. forces in North Africa is now named the commander of all Allied armies in the African theater of operations

WW11 Europe, 1943

When a Nazi officer was shot and wounded in the Netherlands by 00s student the occupying German forces arrested 600 students.  These students were deported to the Herzongenbush Concentration Camp.

Just a few days later another 1200 were arrested and deported.

February 5
WWII, 1945

Western Front, France The German bridgehead on the west bank of the Rhine, south Strasbourg around to town of Colmar – the Colmar Pocket – is split by units of the French First Army attacking from the south and elements of the US Seventh Army advancing from the north. The elimination of the pocket is essential to the crossing of the Rhine.

The Vietnam War, 1968

South Vietnam, Ground War US Marines from the 26^th Marines at the Khe Sanh Marine Corps Fire Base repel a battalion-sized attack and kill a reported 109 NVA soldiers, with 7 Marines killed and 15 wounded.

 

February 4
WW11, 1942

North Africa, Libya Rommel again nears Tobruk, though his lines of communications are stretched.

WWII, 1945, February 4-11

Politics, Allies Marshal Joseph Stalin, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet at the Yalta Conference in the Crimea to discuss postwar Europe. The “Big Three” decide that Germany will be divided into four zones, administered by Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union. An allied Control Commission will be set up in Berlin, and Austria will also be divided into four zones. The capital, Vienna, will be in the Soviet zone and will also have a four-power administration. The Soviet Union will declare war on Japan two months after the war in Europe has ended, while changes to Poland’s borders will allow the Soviet Union to annex former Polish areas.

February 3
WWII 1945,  February 3-March 3

Pacific, Philippines The US XIV Corps begins its attack against Manila, which is defended by 17,000 Japanese troops under Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabucki. The garrison, after destroying the city (the “Rape of Manila”), is wiped out. US casualties total 1000 dead and 5500 wounded; 100,000 Filipino citizens are killed.

 

February 1
Vietnam War, 1968

South Vietnam, Ground War The 1^st Brigade, 1^st Air Cavalry Division (Airmobile), together with ARVN forces successfully defend the city of Quang Tri. The enemy reportedly suffers 900 confirmed casualties and 100 captured. Also, in what will be some of the heaviest fighting of the Vietnam War, units of the 1^st and 5^th Marines begin combat operation within the ancient Imperial capital, Hue City, in order to drive out the NVA.

WWII, 1945

Eastern Front, East Prussia The trapped German Fourth Army attempts to reach German-held Elbing but is halted by a Soviet counterattack.

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY

January 31
Vietnam War, 1967 South Vietnam Ground War Operation Prairie I ends. At its height, the operation has involves six US Marine infantry battalions, accounting for the largest number of enemy casual...ties in a single Marine operation to date: 1397 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers killed and 27 captured. The Marine casualties include 239 killed and 1214 wounded in action.
WWII, 1945 January 31-February 21 Far East, Burma The British 36th Division effects a crossing of the Shweli River at Myitson following a savage battle against the Japanese. The division’s success threatens the Japanese northern approaches to the Mandalay Plain.

January 30
WWII, 1945 Eastern Front, Germany

The left wing of the 1st Ukrainian Front has reached the Oder River and some of its units have set up bridgeheads on the west bank. This ends one of the greatest ...strategic operations of the whole war. The Red Army has advanced 355 miles (568 km), liberated all of Poland and a large part of Czechoslovakia, reached the Oder on a broad front, and is only 100 miles (160 km) from Berlin. In its offensive, it has inflicted losses of 500,000 dead, wounded, or captured on the Germans, and captured 1300 aircraft, 1400 tanks, and over 14,000 guns of all calibers.

 

January 29
WWII, 1945 Pacific, Philippines

Major General Charles Hall’s US XI Corps lands unopposed on the west coast of Luzon just to the north of the Bataan Peninsula.... Civil War, 1863 Idaho, Indian Wars The Battle of Bear River/Massacre at Bao Ogoi. Union retaliation against the Shoshoni Tribe kills over 380 Native Americans at their Boa Ogoi Camp.

 

January 28
WWII, 1945

Western Front, Ardennes The last vestiges of the German “bulge” in the Ardennes are wiped out. The total cost of the Germans in manpower for their Ardennes offensive had been 100,000 killed, wounded, and captured. The Americans had lost 81,000 killed, wounded, or captured, and the British 1400. Both sides had lost heavily in hardware – up to 800 tanks on each side. The Germans also lost around 1000 aircraft. Whereas  the Americans can make good their losses in just a few weeks, for the Germans the military losses are irreplaceable.

 

January 27
WWII, 1945

Eastern Front, Poland The Red Army liberates the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. The SS has evacuated the camp nine days previously, taking 20,000 weak inmates with them. Those left number a few hundred disease-ridden inmates in the camps hospital block

Far East, Burma Units of the Allied Y Force, pushing across the Shweli River at wanting, reopen the Burma Road supply route into china.

January 26
Vietnam War, 1967

South Vietnam, Fortifications.

United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), headquarters completes its Practice Nine Requirements Plan for constructing a strong point obstacle system (SPOS) south of Demilitarized zone. This is the beginning of the McNamara Line.

 

January 23
WWII, 1945

Eastern Front, East Prussia The Soviet 2^nd Belorussian Front cuts all road and rail crossings across the Vistula River, Isolating German units on the east bank.

Eastern Front, Poland The Soviet Second Guards Tank Army, part of the 1^st Belorussian Front, storms the fortified town of Bromberg, an important strongpoint in the German Poznan line.

 

January 21
WWII,  1942

North Africa, Libya Rommel, having retreated, allowed the British Eighth Army into Libya again. Two Australian divisions are moved from Egypt to the Pacific theatre of war to hold Japanese advances, while Rommel receives reinforcements from Germany. Rommel then attacks and smashes the British armour. Benghazi falls by the 29^th.

WWII, 1945

Far East, Burma The Island of Ramree is invaded by the British 71^st Brigade. Japanese resistance is virtually non-existent, although it stiffens as Allied troops push farther inland. The island is not cleared until the middle of February, by which time General William Slim has an invaluable base for future long-range operations against Rangoon.

 

January 20

Civil War, 1863, January 20-22

Virginia, Land War The Union Army of the Potomac begins its march to quickly cross the Rappahannock River above Lee’s left and attack that flank of the Confederate position for an attempt at a winter offensive.  However, it begins to rain relentlessly, turning the whole area into a sea of mud. The “Mug March” ends with Burnside ordering his army to return to their camps across the river from Fredericksburg.

 

January 19

WWII, 1945

Eastern Front, Poland Following heavy fighting, units of the 1^st Ukrainian Front liberate Cracow, the former capital of Poland. The German Third and Fourth Panzer Armies are not isolated in East Prussia, and the German front is falling apart in the face of immense pressure.

 

January 18

WWII, 1945, January 18-27

Eastern Front, Hungary The German IV SS Panzer Corps launches an offensive to relieve Budapest. In the face of soviet resistance, it reaches the Vali River on the 22^nd, only 15 miles (24 km) southwest of the city. However the momentum of the attack had been halted by the 25^th, and two days later the Red Army counterattacks with 12 rifle divisions and strong armored support, effectively ending the German Budapest relief operation.

 

January 16

WWII, 1945

Far East, Burma In the north of the country, General Daniel Sultan’s Chinese New First Army occupies Namhkan. The last Japanese positions threatening the Burma Road have been eradicated.

 

January 15

WWII, 1945

Western Front, Germany After the containment of the German Ardennes offensive, the Allies launch a large counterattack against the Germans.  In the north, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s British 21^st Army Group presses into the Roermond area, while farther south General Omar Bradley’s US 12^th Army Group approaches the upper Roer River.

 

January 14

WW II, 1945

Far East, Burma The 19^th Division, part of Lieutenant General William Slim’s British Fourteenth Army, crosses the Irrawaddy River at Kyaukmyaung but is then violently attacked by Japanese troops holding the line of the waterway. Forced back by hordes of infantry with fixed bayonets, the division manages to hold the bridgehead in the face of the fierce onslaught.

 

January 13

D-Day, 1944

German Defences, France General Jodl continues his inspection of coastal defences in France. He finds preparations in Cherbourg – one of the largest ports on the Atlantic coast and an obvious Allied invasion objective – to be in a state of chaos. As a result of Jodl’s findings, Cherbourg and other major ports on the coast are fortified on the landward side and their port facilities wired for demolition.

 

January 12

WWII, 1945

Eastern Font, Poland The Red Army begins its Vistula-Oder offensive. Soviet forces total over two million men: Marshal Georgi Zhukov’s 1^st Belorussian Front, Marshal Ivan Knoev’s 1^st Ukrainian front, and General Ivan Petrov’s 4^th Ukrainian Front. In addition, Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky’s 2^nd Belorussian Front and General Ivan Chernyakhovsky’s  3^rd Belorussian front are providing tactical and strategic cooperation. The soviets make excellent progress, and by the 17^th, Zhukov’s Second Guards Tank Army has reached Sochaczew. To the north, the 1^st Baltic, 2^nd Belorussian, and 3^rd Belorussian  Fronts launch an offensive into East Prussia on the 13^th

 

January 11

D-Day, 1944

Preparations for D-Day.

Air Campaign, Factory Bombing As Part of the strategy to seriously reduce the numbers of German fighter aircraft available to meet the invasion, bombers of the US Eighth Army Air Force attack three fighter production plants in central Germany.

The headquarters units of the US 4^th Armored Division arrive in Great Britain by ship from Boston. This is the first American armoured division to arrive in Great Britain, and will be organized into General Omar C. Bradley’s US First Army. The division will not land in France until July.

 

January 10

Stalingrad, 1943

Operation Koltso (Operation Ring) was the last part of the Battle of Stalingrad. It resulted in the capitulation of the remaining German forces encircled in the city.After a 55-minute bombardment by thousands of guns and rocket-launchers, and employing seven armies, the Red Army begins Operation Ring, the final annihilation of the tattered remnants of 6.Armee defending themselves desperately against all odds in the ruins of Stalingrad.

 

January 9

Civil War, 1863

 

Battle of Arkansas Post Gen. John McClernand and Adm. David D. Porter led a 30,000 man army and gunboats up the Arkansas River to confront Gen. T.J. Churchill’s 5,000 Confederates a...t Arkansas Post. Arkansas Post was a cause of  troubles to the Union shipping on the Mississippi River.  Gunboats started bombarded Fort Hindman Jan 10 with the army joining in and culminating Jan 11 in the surrender of the Confederates.  The union losses are 1047.

 

January 8

Vietnam War, 1967

The US Army launches Operation Cedar Falls, which has been planned with the objective of destroying the Viet Cong’s headquarters as well as interdicting the movement of enemy forces into the major war zones in III Corps Tactical Zone, and defeating Viet Cong units encamped there. Like Operation Attleboro preceding it, Cedar Falls tapped the manpower and resources of nearly every US Army unit in the corps area. A serious of preliminary manoeuvres brought army units into position, while several air assaults sealed off the area known as the Iron Triangle exploiting the natural barriers of the rivers that formed two of its boundaries. Then American units began a series of sweeps to push the enemy towards the blocking forces. At the village of Ben Suc, long under the sway of the Viet Cong, 60 helicopters descended into seven landing zones in less than a minute. Ben Suc was surrounded and its entire population evacuated, before the village and tunnel complex were destroyed. But the Viet Cong had fled before the heliborne assault. As Cedar Falls progressed throughout January and into February, US troops destroyed hundreds of enemy fortifications, captured large quantities of supplies and food, and evacuated the hamlets. But contact with the enemy was fleeting. Most of the Viet Cong, including the high-level cadre of the regional command, had escaped by infiltrating through Allied lines.

 

January 7

WWII, 1945

Eastern Font, Hungary In an attempt to relieve the garrison in the capital German forces capture Esztergom, 29 miles northwest of Budapest, a Nazi National Redoubt.  Two of the Hungarian forced labor units, whose members were mainly Esztergom Jews, were executed en masse near Ágfalva, on the Austrian border in January, 1945.

 

January 6

Vietnam War, Naval War,  1967

The US Marine’s Special Landing Force (Battalion Landing Team, 1^st Battalion, 9^th Marines, 3^rd Marine Division), along with some elements of the 3^rd and 4^th Marine Battalions, launches Deckhouse V from the USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2), which assaults an area of suspected Viet Cong concentrations along the coast between the Co Chien and Ham Luong reaches of the Mekong Delta. The Marines manage to kill only 21 Viet Cong, destroy two small-arms workshops and capture 44 weapons and 42.6 tonnes (42 tons) of rice. Seven US Marines are killed in action, while one South Vietnamese Marine dies in a combat-related accident.

 

January 5

World War II, 1945

Air War, Belgium/Holland The Luftwaffe launches Operation Bodenplatte in support of the Ardennes offensive with 1035 fighters and bombers attacking Allied airfields in Belgium and southern Holland. The Germans destroy 156 Allied aircraft but lose 227 of their own, losses the Luftwaffe cannot make good. It is the last major German air attack.

 

January 4

WW11 II, 1945, January 4-6

Pacific, Philippines Prior to the landings on Luzon, the Japanese launch a series of Kamikaze attacks on ships of the US 7^th Fleet. Over 1000 Americans and Australians are killed in the suicide attacks, a minesweeper is sunk, and more than 30 other vessels are damaged.

WW II, 1945

Far East, Burma Units of General William Slim’s British Fourteenth Army make an unopposed landing on the island of Akyab, securing the port and the airfield.

 

January 3

Vietnam War, 1967

South Vietnam, Ground War Republic of Korea troops begin operation Maeng Ho 8, a 60-day search and destroy operation in Phu Yen and Binh Dinh Provinces in II Corps Tactical Zone. Korean troops kill 211 Viet Cong Soldiers and capture 403

WWII, 1945, January 3-4

Pacific, Ryukyus The US 3^rd Fleet attacks Japanese targets on Formosa, destroying 100 enemy aircraft.

 

January 2

WWII 1945

Technology, United States An American Sikorsky helicopter is used in convoy escort duties for the first time.

WWII  1944

Commanders, Allies General Montgomery arrives in London to take up his post as commander 21^st Army Group. Admiral Ramsay, who has been working on naval invasion plans for the past five months, airs a rather pessimistic view to Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, that Monty’s arrival has come “two months too late”.

General Eisenhower arrives in Washington, DC, from North Africa, for a short visit to his family before he flies to London to take up his post as Supreme Commander. While in Washington, “Ike” will hold several meetings with General Marshall and President Roosevelt. Of Particular concern to Marshall is the British attitude to operation Anvil, the proposed invasion of southern France, earmarked to coincide with Operation Overlord. Marshall is worried that the British seem more concerned with keeping forces in Italy than using them is an assault on France’s Mediterranean coast.

 

January 1
The Vietnam War, 1967

Two brigades of the US Army’s 2th Infantry Division, with contingents of the 25^th Infantry Division attached, launch Operation Sam Houston in Pleiku and Kontum Provinces, aimed at the destruction of the regiments of the North Vietnamese 1^st Division now operating in the two provinces from bases inside Cambodia. In a total of 95 days of sustained combat operations, the NVA loses 733 killed in action. As 1967 began, the 3^rd Marine Division, part of III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF), was fighting two wars: a convention one along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where it confronted the regular North Vietnamese forces, and a counter guerrilla war throughout the rest of Quant Tri and Thua Thien Provinces. Although committed to both campaigns, the threat posed by NVA forces forced the Marines to concentrate on the larger, conventional war along the DMZ. At that point, US marine strength in I Corps Tactical Zone (ICTZ) stood at a total 65, 789 officers and men.

Civil War, 1863

Texas, Land War The Battle of Galveston. Galveston, garrisoned by three companies of the Union 42^nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Isaac S. Burrell, is recaptured by a combined land/sea assault by the Confederates. But the Union blockade remains in place.

World War II, 1945

Eastern Front, Czechoslovakia The Soviet 2^nd and 4rd Ukrainian Fronts begin an offensive against the German Army Group Center in Czechoslovakia. The German-held area contains last foreign industrial resources under the control of the Third Reich. The soviet fronts between them have 853,000 men, 9986 guns, 590 tanks, and 1400 combat aircraft. German forces total 550,000 men, 5000 guns, and 700 combat aircraft. Despite German fortification and resistance, the Red Army makes good progress.

 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY

December 31

The Civil War, 1862

Tennessee, Land War The Battle of Parker’s Cross Roads. A Union attempt to cut off Nathan Forrest’s men from retreating across the Tennessee River fails, despite having caught Forrest in a pincer attack.

Tennessee, Land War The Battle of Murfreesboro/Stones River. From December 31 to January 2, 1962/63 Rosecrans ordered his Union Army of Cumberland out of its winter quarters near Nashville to advance south to Murfreesboro, where Braxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee was assembled. By December 30 the two armies faced each other near Stones River. Each general planned to attack the other’s right flank, hoping a successful assault would lead to the rout of the opposing army. The Confederate struck at dawn the next day, and enjoyed considerable success as seven brigades fell on two Union brigades guarding Rosecrans’ flank. But the spirited attack did not lead to a rout; instead, the Union army conducted a fighting retreat.
Throughout today the Army of Tennessee repeatedly assaulted the Union forces, while Rosecrans and his staff desperately try to hold their ground. By the time darkness falls, the Confederates have succeeded in driving their opponents back more than 2 miles (3.2km). Briggs wires to Rickmond that the Union army is in retreat. But to Braggs surprise the dawn’s light reveals Rosecrans’ army waiting to renew the fight. Little happened on New Year’s Day, but fighting resumed on January 2, when Bragg ordered a Frontal assault on an isolated Union position. An initial success turned into the repulse of the Confederate. Bragg ordered a retreat on the morning of January 3, although his decision was swayed by the false impression that the Union army had been reinforced.
The battle was among the hardest fought of the Civil War. Of Bragg’s 35,000 troops, 27 percent were killed or wounded. The Union forces lost 23 percent of their 41,400 men. The battle was strategic victory for the Union forces, which secured control of Kentucky while increasing their hold on Tennessee. It also boosted morale after the disaster at Fredericksburg. Lincoln telegraphed his battered his battered but unyielding troops a heartfelt “God bless You.”

The Vietnam War, 1966

South Vietnam, US Ground Forces The total strength of III Marine Amphibious Forces in I Corps Tactical Zone now stands at 65,789 US Marines, sailors, soldiers and ARVN, as well as other Free World Forces.

 

December 30

Reconnaissance, France, 1943 Steps are already being taken by the Allies to identify and chart potential landing beaches in Normandy. This secret work is undertaken by the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP), based in Portsmouth. These units include Royal Navy and British Army personnel who specialize in covert reconnaissance. They operate from canoes or miniature submarines and have already worked successfully on the coasts of Sicily and mainland Italy.

Two of the COPP’s swimmers, Major Scott Bowden and Sergeant Ogden Smith, are on a mission to survey an area of beach opposite the village of La Riviere. They are dropped by launch to swim 365m (400 yds) to shore. Once there, they use augers to take samples of beach sand to bring back. This is vital work. Planners must be told whether potential landing beaches are stable enough to hold the weight of vehicles and armour.

German Defences, France, 1943 There are proposed changes to the German chain of command in France. So far Rommel’s task here has been as advisor to Hitler and OKW regarding defence preparations; he has no control over field units within OB West. Both von Rundstedt and Rommel realize that this situation is a waste of Rommel’s experience, so von Rundstedt recommends to Hitler that a new army group be established in northern France and the Netherlands, under OB West control but commanded by Rommel – in effect, putting Rommel in charge of defence preparations.

December 29

London, 1940

St. Paul’s Cathedral, London,  safe from the heaviest  night of  air raid bombing in the city.  Over 1500 fires were started in London after serious incendiary bombs were dropped which affected all parts of the city. Though many building surrounding the Cathedral were rubble St. Paul’s was saved.

 

December 27

D-Day, 1943

Commanders, Allies Montgomery flies to Algiers to meet Eisenhower. It is their first discussion about the organization of the Allied armies for Overlord and Montgomery will establish a forward tactical 21^st Army Group HQ in France to control the battle. In effect, he will be Overlord’s land forces commander until there are sufficient US Army forces in France to create their own army groups.

 

December 26

The Civil War, 1862

Mississippi, Land War The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou/Walnut Hills. The Union assault towards Vicksburg is stopped and suffers 1,776 casualties when it turns into Confederate defenses in the Walnut Hills.

December 24

D-Day, 1943

Commanders, Allies. British General Bernard L. Montgomery, of the Eighth Army in Italy, is appointed commander of the 21^st Army Group. Its headquarters (HQ), based in Great Britain, will be charged with planning and executing the amphibious assault and initial stages of the land battle in France. General Montgomery will report directly to General Eisenhower, who will retain overall command of all the Allied forces in Europe.

 

December 23

Italy, 1943

Benito Mussolini had his son-in-law, the politician Galeazzo Ciano, executed  for treason outside the gates of Verona along with four other fascists who had abandoned Mussolini.  In his last words he stated:  “There was no reason whatever, in my opinion, for us to be bound in life and death to the destiny of Nazi Germany.”

 

December 22

WW11 Italy, 1943

Canadians confront Fallschirmjager in Ortona

The Canadian 1st Infantry Division under Major General Chris Vokes assault  the German Fallschirmjäger  1st Parachute Division under Generalleutnant Richard Heidrich. The culmination of the fighting at the Adriatic front in Italy was dubbed “Little Stalingrad” due to its close-quarters combat.   Canadians, forced to advance one house at a time through only one centre due to German tactics of filing narrow streets with rubble, had only advanced 600 yards after two days.

 

December 20

WW11 Pacific, 1942

Japanese aircraft dropped the first bomb on Calcutta. hitting docks, shipping and airfields in the area  Later the city and its port were bombed several times by the Japanese with the last on 24 December 1944.

 

December 19

German Defences, France, 1943 In Paris, Rommel meets with Field Marshal  Gerd von Rundstedy, the commander of Oberbefehlshaber West (OB West), which controls the German Army in France and the Low Countries. Although Rommel has no role within the OB West chain of command, his recommendations for the defence of France go direct to Hitler, so von Rundstedt must take them into consideration.

The Field Marshals agree that the Pas de Calais in the most likely invasion point, and that is unlikely that the Atlantic wall will be strong enough to hold the Allies on the beaches. A counterattack by armoured divisions will be needed, but the two men disagree on how to organize it. Von Rundstedt wants to counterattack inland, away from any navy bombardment, using a large armoured reserve. Rommel knows that such a reserve will come under concentrated Allied air attack. He wants a mobile reserve to hit the Allies near the beachhead. In order to hold the Allies long enough to give the reserve time to move in, coastal defences will have to be improved rapidly.

Civil War, 1862

Tennessee, Land War The Battle of Jackson. General Nathan Bedford Forrest attacks Union railroad supply lines near Jackson.

 

December 18

The Third Reich, 1940

Eastern Front, Soviet Union Directive No 21 calling for an invasion on or about May 15, 1941, is issued on December 18, 1940.

Operation Barbarossa (named after a medieval German emperor nicknamed “Redbeard”) mapped out a lightning attack by three million troops organized in 186 divisions equipped with 2500 tanks, 28,800 aircraft and 6000 artillery pieces. The assault would be three-pronged. Army Group North under Field Marshal von Leeb would strike through the Baltic States to Leningrad where it would link up with Finnish forces allied with Hitler. Army Group Centre under Field Marshal von Bock, including Panzer Groups under Generals Guderian and Hoth, would strike through central Poland and Belorussia all the way to Moscow itself. Army Group South under Field Marshal von Rundstedt, including two Romanian Armies and one Hungarian Corps, would smash into the Ukraine and beyond into the Crimea and Caucasus to conquer the USSR’s vast agriculture lands and it’s richest oilfields.

December 17

The Civil War, 1862

North Carolina, Land War The Battle of Goldsborough Bridge. Brigadier General John G. Foster’s Goldsborough expedition reaches its destination, destroying railroad track and the Goldsborough bridge.

 

December 16

WW11 Naval War, 1939

Captain Langsdorf of the Admiral Graf Spee, a German Heavy Cruiser,  believed he was trapped in Montevideo Harbour,  Uruguay by a strong Royal Naval task force after it had been forced into Montevideo with the British success of the Battle of River Plate.  The Battle was the first major naval action of WW11.

Langsdorf telegraphs Germany:   ‘If a break-through would result in certain destruction of Graf Spee, without opportunity of damaging enemy, request decision on whether the ship should be scuttled in spite of insufficient depth in the estuary of the La Plata, or whether internment is to be preferred’.

The Civil War, 1862

North Carolina, Land War The Battle of White Hall/Whitehall/White Hall Ferry. Federal troops of the Goldsborough expedition fix Confederate forces on the Neuse River while the mass Union troops continue their march.

 

December 15

Asia, 1943

Lord Louis Mountbatten was  appointed Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia.  He was in charge of land forces in Burma, Malaya, Sumatra, India and Ceylong.  Mountbatten was also  in charge of Offensive Operations in Siam and French Indochina as well as Air and Sea Forces.ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY

December 14 The Civil War, 1862

Virginia, The Battle of Fredericksburg/Marye’s Heights.

Major General Ambrose Burnside ordered renewed attacks, but was persuaded by his officers that it was futile. He ordered his troops back across the river. His losses were great. Over 12,000 were killed or wounded. Confederate losses were  4,700. The battle proves to be one of the South’s most overwhelming victories. Once again the Unions army’s advance to Richmond had failed. The defeat lowers morale in the Army of the Potomac and throughout the North

North Carolina, Land War The Battle of Kinston. A Union expedition towards the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad at Goldsborough pushes aside tough Confederate opposition at Kinston Bridge.

 

December 13

The Civil War, 1862  
Virginia, The Battle of Fredericksburg/Marye’s Heights.   Eager to prove his aggressiveness as the commander of the Army of the Potomac, Major General Ambrose Burnside plann...ed a winter offensive toward Richmond, Virginia, aiming to cross the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg.   Not until December 11 was Burnside able to bridge the river. His forces built six pontoon bridges under fire from Confederates in the city. By nightfall they occupied Fredericksburg. On December 12 Edwin V. Sumner’s Union Right Grand Division formed up among Fredericksburg’s streets, while William B. Franklin’s Left Grand Division marched downstream to cross. Franklin made an assault with the aim of taking Prospect Hill. By 09:00 hours just two small divisions had advanced, only to be pinned down by Confederate fire. By the afternoon they were still at the foot of the ridge. A counterattack drove the Federals back. Franklin’s assault was over for no gain.
Burnside’s second attack was toward Longstreet. From 12:00 hours brigade after brigade of Summer Grand Divisions advanced out of the city, trying to cover the 800 yards (730m) of open ground to the Confederate guns on Marye’s Heights positioned behind a stone wall. There were 14 successive charges, but not one Union Soldier got within 100 feet (30m) of the wall. By evening 6,500 Union troops were dead and dying.

 

December 12

German Defences, France, 1943

Field Marshall Erwin Rommel arrives in France to review defence preparations. He is on an inspection tour of the western coast, from Denmark to the Spanish border, ordered by Hitler and the Army High command, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) in November. Rommel will review the progress of the fixed defences of the “Atlantic Wall” and the preparedness of German Army units. He sets up his headquarters at Fontainebleu, southeast of Paris, and begins work north of the River Seine. This coastal sector of the Pas de Calais, from Le Havre to Ostend, is held by the Fifteenth Army, commanded by General Hans von Salmuth. It is the stretch of French coast closest to great Britain, and the most likely target for an allied invasion. http://www.militarytour.com

 

December 11

WW11 Egypt, 1940

Sidi Barrani a small town on the Egyptian coast was the first of the main Italian positions to fall during the British ‘Operation Compass‘. A few days earlier they had successfully overcome the series of Italian desert fortified camps that ran south from their main base in Sidi Barrani. Then the coast road running back to Libya was cut west of the town leaving the garrison of some 20,000 to fight it out.

Eventually the Italians surrendered and the British found themselves struggling to deal with unexpected numbers of prisoners. It was all welcome news back in Britain, the first substantial British success since the start of the Blit.

 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY December 10

WWII Great Britian, 1940: The first executions under the Treason Act took place when German spies were executed at Pentonville Prison.   Jose Waldberg, 25, a German national, and Karl Heinrich Meier, 24, a Dutchman of German origin, were hung at Pentonville Prison following their conviction at the Old Bailey in November.
  December 9

WWII , 1941 Eastern Front: The Soviet drive against Guderian's forces reaches and captures Elets. In the north, under General Meretskov, the Red Army retakes Tikhvin but cannot relieve the siege at Leningrad. The situation inside the city is desperate, rations are below the starvation level. ... Pacific: Japanese troops continue to land at Kota Bharu, Singora and Patani. Japanese forces occupy Bangkok. Gilbert Islands, Tarawa and Makin are occupied by the Japanese.

 

December 8

WW11, 1942 Tunisia: German forces, led by General Gause capture Bizerta capture 4 French destroyers, 9 submarines and 3 other warships. ... New Guinea In yet another bloody engagement, the Japanese positions at Gona are attacked by the Australian 21st Brigade.

December 7

WW11 Pearl Harbour Raid:

Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy's battl...eship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire's southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.

The Civil War, 1862 Tennessee, Land War The Battle of Hartville. Union troops guarding the Hartsville Crossing on the Cumberland River are over-whelmed by a large-scale Confederate attack. The Union defeat allows more extensive Confederate raiding into West Tennessee and Kentucky. Arkansas, Land War

The Battle of Prairie Grove/Fayetteville. Confederate forces are forced to retreat after a bloody engagement in Washington County, giving the Federal forces control over northwest Arkansas.

 

December 6

The Vietnam War, 1966

USA, Financial Strategy The Johnson Administration discloses that it will need an additional $9 to $10 billion US in supplemental funding in order to pay for the war in Vietnam during the current fiscal year.

 

December 5

World War II, 1941
Politics:  Great Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania.

Battle of Moscow:   In the Battle of Moscow Georgy Zhukov launches a massive Soviet counter-attack against the German army, with the biggest offensive launched against Army Group Centre.

 

 

December 3

South Vietnam, 1966

US Ground Forces: The 4^th Battalion, 503^rd Infantry Regiment, of the US Army departs I corps Tactical Zone, and is now heading for III Corps Tactical Zone. From now on, the 4^th Battalion will be replaced in I Corps Tactical Zone by the 3^rd Battalion, 9^th Marines.

 

December 2

1942:  Physicists achieve the first nuclear chain reaction, a breakthrough that will make atomic weaponry a reality.

 

December 1

1942:  The United States institutes a gasoline-rationing program across the nation.

 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY

November 28

The Civil War, 1862, Arkansas, Land War The Battle of Cane Hill/Boston Mountains. Federal forces defeat the rebels at Cane Hill, thus extending Union control in the Trans-Mississippi region.

 

November 27

1965, SOUTH VIETNAM, GROUND WAR: The South Vietnamese Army suffers a major defeat as the ARVN 7th Regiment operating in the Michelin Rubber Plantation northwest of Saigon engages the Viet Cong’s ...271st Regiment in battle. While the ARVN troops inflict a major blow against the Viet Cong, heavy casualties, including the death of the regimental commander, render the force ineffective.

 

November 26

1940, FINAL SOLUTION, POLAND: The Nazis begin creating a ghetto inWarsaw for the Jews, who will eventually be kept there in intolerable conditions.

November 23

1940, POLITICS, ROMANIA: Prime Minister General Ion Antonescu leads Romania into the Axis alliance.

VIETNAM, 1966, U.S. SOCIAL POLICIES: The Office of Civil Operations is established in South Vietnam. This is a US Embassy activity which has been founded in order to direct US civilian support of revolutionary development.

 

November 20

 1939, SEA WAR, GREAT BRITAIN: First mines are dropped in British waters by the German aircraft.

1940, POLITICS, HUNGARY: Hungary joins the Axis powers. Since the Italian invasion ofGreece, the Germans have been attempting to secure their food and oil supplies from the Balkans by pressing the countries of the region to join the Tripartite Pact.

November 19

1861, OKLAHOMA, INDIAN WARS: TheBattle ofRoundMountain. Unionist Creek and Seminole Indians under Chief Opothleyahola are defeated when their camp is attacked by Confederate troops commanded by Colonel Douglas H. Cooper.

1965, SOUTH VIETNAM, GROUND WAR: By the end of November 19, South Vietnamese forces reoccupy Hiep Duc but the 1^st Viet Cong Regiment still controls the terrain to the northwest of the village. Two ARVN battalions kill 141 Viet Cong and capture 87 weapons while suffering 33 killed in action and 73 wounded. American military advisors working with the ARVN estimate that Marine Corps air support has accounted for an additional 300 Viet Cong killed.

 

November 18

The Third Reich, 1940

Sea War, Atlantic The first U-boat located, but not sunk, by radar fitted in a Sunderland flying boat.

 

November 12

World War II, 1944

Air War, Norway. RAF Lancaster bombers from 9 and 617 Squadrons sink the German battleship Tirpitz in Altenfiord killing 1100 of its screw when the ship capsizes.

 

November 11

World War II, November 11-12, 1944

Pacific, Iwo Jima The Us Navy Bombards the Japanese-held island for the first time.

WW1 PARIS, 1918

Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the end of hostilities of World War I on that date in 1918. Hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month", in accordance with the armistice signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente between 5:12 and 5:20 that morning. ("At the 11th hour" refers to the passing of the 11th hour, or 11:00 am.) The First World War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919.

 

November 9, 1944

Western Front, France

General  George Patton’s US Third Army (500,000 men and 500 tanks) crosses the Moselle River on broad front toward the heart of the Reich.

 

November 8

World War II, 1944

Western Front, Belgium The Canadian First Army competes the clearing of the Scheldt estuary. It takes 41,000 prisoners during the operation at a cost of 12,873 men killed, wounded, and missing.

November 7

Espionage, Japan, 1944 The Japanese hang the spy of Richard Sorge at Sugamo Prison, Tokyo. He has been working for eight years as the Tokyo correspondent for a German newspaper, and during this time has sent the Soviet Union detailed information concerning German and Japanese plans, including the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941

The Civil War, 1862

The Union, Armed Forces President Abraham Lincoln appoints Ambrose E. Burnside commander of the Union Army of the Potomac in place of George B McClellan, who he felt was not aggressive enough

Missouri, Land War The Battle of Clark’s Mill/Vera Cruz. A Union force of 100 men occupying Clark’s Mill Douglas County, surrenders after battling 1,000 Confederate troops.

 

November

The Third Reich, 1940

Germany, Treaties. Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, a puppet state taken from the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, sign treaties with Germany. The resettlement treaty between Germany and the soviet Union in regard to ethnic Germans living in Soviet-annexed Bassarabia and northern Bukovina has to be completed by November 1940. Throughout October, some 45,000 settlers make the long and so-called “final trek” to reception camps in Pomerania, Eastern Prussia and Warthegau before leaving for permanent settlement in the newly incorporated Polish territory. Each family was limited to 50kg (110lb) of personal possessions or two wagonloads. On arrival at the reception camp at Galatz, settlers are screened and processed before proceeding by train. Types of ethnic Germans from Bessarabia were given identity tags, but many families become separated. This policy was part of the grand Nazi scheme to colonize the conquered Eastern territories with “Nordic” blood.

 

ON THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY

October 31

Eastern Front, Baltic, 1944

The Soviet 1^st Baltic Front isolates the remnants of Army Group North in the Courland Peninsula.

The Third Reich, 1940

Sea War, Atlantic:  The German auxiliary cruiser Widder arrives in Brest after a cruise in American waters.

October 28

Balkans, Greece Hitler did not want conflict on his southern flank in the Balkans, and had restrained his Axis partner Mussolini on several occasions during the spring and summer of 1940 from initiating plans for an Italian invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece. Mussolini reluctantly accepted Hitler’s wishes as he was dependent on Germany for raw materials needed for armaments. On this morning, though, Italian forces based in Albania crossed the Frontier into Greece to initiate one of the most surprising campaigns of World War II. To understand why the Italian dictator finally ignored Hitler’s directives and drew Germany into the conflict it is necessary to view the situation through Mussolini’s eyes. Benito Mussolini proclaimed the birth of a “New Roman Empire” that was to take shape under his direction and would recreate the ancient glories of Roman history, celebrated in the rhetoric of the Fascist poet D’Annunzio. He was a man obsessed with thoughts of person greatness and this proclamation was to satisfy his belief that he was indeed a genius. He has no master plan, unlike Hitler, to make his dream a reality. His decisions were frequently colored by the prevailing condition of his health, which was affected by the aftermath of syphilis contracted in his youth, as well as a duodenal ulcer. His arbitrary behaviour added to his intensely vain and theatrical nature. On occasions he exercised great shrewdness, on others he acted on impulse. Under Mussolini’s rule Italy had already overrun two weak states: Abyssinia in 1936 and Albania in March 1939. Mussolini was a realist and recognised that he did not possess the raw materials to wage war on a grand scale. This realization did not, however, prevent him before the outbreak of World War II from uttering bellicose sentiments illuminating the fact that Italy was ready to fight by Germany’s side. Privately he considered it folly to wage war at this time, and he attempted unsuccessfully to persuade Hitler not to attack Poland. In March 1940, an official German communique roundly presenting Germany’s military achievements, after only six months of war, brought Mussolini’s grudging admiration and deep envy. He has nothing to show in comparison to Hitler’s territorial gains. He felt his prestige as Europe’s first Fascist dictator demanded that he should occupy the stage and bask in the limelight the Fuhrer now enjoyed. In May 1940, Mussolini’s frustration was further heightened when the German armies drove the British forced off the continent and brought France to her knees. It not seemed certain to him that Germany would win the war. He has an understanding with Hitler that in the “New Europe” Italy would be rewarded with pickings from the French Empire. To reinforce this right and give Italy these spoils by force arms, Mussolini announced on June 10, 1940, her declaration of war on Great Britain and France. Unfortunately, II Duce was caught in what was his Foreign Minister Ciano ironically called “an outbreak of peace”.

 

October 27

Civil War, 1962

Louisiana, Land War The Battle of Georgia Landing/Labadieville/Texana. A Union expedition to take control of the Bayou Lafourche leads to a decisive defeat of Confederate troops around Labadieville.

 

October 25

South Vietnam, Ground War, October 25-Febuary 12, 1966-1967

Operation Thayer I begins. This is an operation in Binh Dinh Province conducted by elements of the 1^st Cavalry Divisions (Airmobile). It is followed by Operation Thayer II and in turn by Operation Pershing in the rich northern coastal plain and Kim Son and Loi Ci Valley to the west. There is a total of 1757 confirmed enemy casualties and the operation takes place over 111 days.

October 24

The Vietnam War, October 24-25, 1966

USA Diplomacy At a conference in Manila, President Johnson holds a meeting with leaders from six other nations; South Vietnam, New Zealand, Australia, Korea, Thailand and the Philippines. The conferees issue a four-point statement called the Declaration of Peace, which demands the peaceful settlement of the Vietnam War.

 

October 21

Western Front, Germany,   1944 The city of Aachen surrenders to US forces following a 1-day siege.

 

 

October 20

Balkans, Yugoslavia,1944 The 1^st Proletarian Division of Marshals Tito’s Army of Liberation captures Belgrade.

Pacific, Philippines As the US Sixth Army lands on Leyte Island, General Douglas MacArthur wades ashore and keeps a promise he made two years earlier: “I shall return.” By the evening 10,000 US troops are dug in around Leyte’s capital, Tacloban.

 

October 18

South Vietnam, Ground War, October 18-December 30, 1966

Operation Paul Revere IV, a continuing operation, sees the soldiers of the US Army’s recently arrived 4^th Infantry Divisions – along with elements of the 25^th Infantry Division and the 1^st Air Cavalry Division – conduct in Pleiku Province. The US soldiers inflict a total of 809 casualties on the enemy, and the operation takes place over 74 days altogether.

 

October 14

Politics, Germany, 1944 Field Marshal Erwin Rommel commits suicide with poison. Implicated in the July assassination plot against Hitler, he has killed himself, under pressure, to save his family from arrest. He is to be given a state funeral as part of the charade to maintain the illusion that he was an uncompromising Nazi.

 

October 12

South Vietnam, US Ground Forces, October 12-18, 1966

The US Army’s 1^st Battalion, 40^th Field Artillery Regiment, which consists of 105mm self-propelled howitzers, arrives at Da Nang, and the next day the US Army’s 2^nd Battalion, 94^th Artillery Regiment, consisting of Self Propelled 175mm guns, also arrives.

 

 

October 11

Balkans, Yugoslavia,  October 11-19, 1944

The Red Army joins with the Yugoslavian First Army in the drive to Belgrade, which is abandoned by the Germans on the 19^th.

 

 

October 10

World War II, October 10-29, 1944

Eastern Front, Hungary: A massive tank battles ranges around Drebrecan between two panzer divisions of Germany’s Army Group Southern Ukraine, commanded by General Johannes Friessneer. The German forces have cut off three Soviet tank corps of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky’s 2^nd Ukrainian Front. The Soviet lose many tanks in the initial German attacks, but fresh Soviet units tip the scales against the Germans, who do not have the forces to fight attritional battles. Farther south, the German Army Group E leaves Greece.

South Vietnam, US Ground Forces, 1966 The US 3^rd Marine Division is ordered to deploy to Thua Thien and Quang Tri Provinces in the north of South Vietnam in order to conduct offensive operations as directed, and continue current offensive operations in Phu Bai TAOR Task Force Delta is ordered deactivated; Task Force X-Ray is activated at Chu Lai under the 1^st Marine Division. The 1^st Marine Division is now responsible for all three southern provinces around Chu Lai against an enemy growing in numbers.

 

October 9

Western Front, Belgium, , 1944. Although the Allies captured Antwerp on September 4, they have not been able to use the great port because there are German units on both sides of the Scheldt Estuary. Therefore, the Canadian First Army commences operations to eradicate the enemy presence in this area.

Pacific, Iwo Jima Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander of all Allied forces in the Central Pacific, informs Lieutenant General Holland M. “Howling Mad” Smith, one of the leading exponents of amphibious warfare and commander of all US Marines in the Pacific, that the island of Iwo Jima will be his next target and that Smith will lead the invasion with three US Marine divisions. The island is within bombing range of the Japanese mainland.
The Third Reich, 1940

Sea War, Atlantic: The start of one of the most important and critical convoy battles: 21 ships are sunk from convoy SC7 and another 12 from convoy HX79, making this also one of the most successful U-boat “wolf pack” attacks.

 

October 8

Civil War, 1862

Kentucky, Land War:  The Battle of Perryville. As part of the South’s fight for Kentucky, in September Generals Braxton Bragg and Kirby Smith launched an invasion from Tennessee. By October 4 Bragg secured the state capital of Frankfort and set up a new Confederate state government. It was short-lived, though. Today, the Union Army of the Ohio leg by Don Carlos Buell meets Bragg’s Army of the Mississippi. After a morning assault by divisions hits the Union left flank and forces it back. More Rebel divisions join the battle, eventually forcing back the Union line. Union troops on the left flank, reinforced by two brigades stabilize the line. A Confederate attack against a Union division on the Springfield Puke is repulsed, the attackers retreating back to Perryville. Union troops pursue into the town. With his left flank threatened, Bragg withdraws and retreats into East Tennessee. Union losses are 4,211; Confederate 3,196.
South Vietnam, US AID, , 1966 The 4^th Battalion, 503^rd Airborne Infantry, 173^rd Airborne Brigade, arrives at Da Nang.

 

October 7

The Third Reich, 1940

Deportations of “non-Germans” from Alsace-Lorraine, Saar and Baden take place.

Eastern Front, Romania Germany invades Romania, seizing the vital oilfields at Ploesti. The pretext is the training of the Fascist Iron Guard.

 

October 5

Civil War, 1862

Tennessee, Land War.  The Battle of Hatchie’s Bridge/Davis Bridge/Matamora. Following their defeat at Corinth, elements of Major General Earl Van Dorn’s Confederate Army of West Tennessee are pushed back across the Davis Bridge over the Hatchie River.

 

October 4

Mediterranean, Greece, 1944 Determined to prevent a communist takeover in Greece, Winston Churchill launches Operation Manna. British troops land at Patrai in the Peloponnese as German forces pull back.

Civil War, 1862

Texas, Naval War.  The Battle of Galveston. The port of Galveston is forced to surrender by U.S. gunboats and tough Union diplomacy after a lengthy period of blockade.

 

October 3

Air War, Britain, 1944 The German bombardment of Britain with V2 long-range heavy rockets has resumed from new launch sites dotted across Holland.

Civil War, October 3-4, 1862 Mississippi, Land War The Battle of Corinth. A combined Confederate army of 22,000 men is defeated attempting to crush heavily defended Corinth, spoiling plans for a Confederate drive into mid-Tennessee.

 

October 2

Eastern Front, Poland, 1944

After a bitter two-month battle, the last poles in Warsaw surrender. The Germans evacuate the entire remaining population and begin the systematic destruction of anything left standing. Polish deaths number 150,000 while the German commander, SS General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, claims he lost 26,000 men.

South Vietnam, US Ground Forces, 1966 Equipped with 175mm guns, Battery C, 6^th Battalion, 27^th Field Artillery Regiment, comes under control Task Force Delta in I Corps Tactical Zone.

South Vietnam, Ground War, October 2-24, 1966 Operation Irving, lasting 23 days, is carried out by the sky soldiers on the 1^st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), ARVN, and Republic of Korea troops against the NVA 610^th Division in Binh Dinh Province with 681 enemy casualties.

October 1

The Vietnam War, 1966

South Vietnam, US Ground Forces General Herman Nickerson, Jr, replaces Major-General Lewis J. Fields as the Commanding General of the 1^st Marine Divisions.

Civil War, 1862, October 1-3

Florida, River War The Battle of St. Johns Bluff. Confederate coastal batteries on the St. John’s River near Jacksonville are abandoned after a Union amphibious operation.

 

THIS DAY IN MILITARY HISTORY

September 29, 1863

CIVIL WAR, Louisiana, Land War

The Battle of Stirling’s Plantation/Fordoche Bridge. Confederate troops act against act against a Union thrust towardTexas, defeating a 1,000-strong force atStirling’s Plantation/Fordoche Bridge. Total battle casualties are 575.

 

September 25, 1966

South Vietnam, US Aid.

Marine Air Group 13 arrives at the Marine Air Facility at Chu Lai, having come from its base in Iwakuni, Japan.

 

September 23

Air War, Germany.

The RAF makes a night precision raid of theDortmundtoEmscanal, the inland waterway that links theRuhrwith other industrial centers. A total of 141 aircraft are involved, the canal is breached, and a section drained. The RAF loses 14 bombers

Western Front, France, September 23-30

The Canadian 3^rd Division invests the port of Calais, which is defended by 7500 men. Following heavy artillery and bomber attacks and the use of specialized armor Calais surrenders on the 30^th.

South Vietnam, Ground War, September 23-November 9, 1966

Operation Maeng Ho is conducted by the elite republic of Korea Capital Division which is operating in Binh Dinh Province. It is later reported that in this operation, which continues over a period of 48 days, theROKsoldiers kill more than 1161 enemy soldiers.

 

September 22

Western Front, France, 1944.

Boulognesurrenders to the Canadian II Corps; its garrison of 20,000 men is taken into captivity.

Western Front, Holland, September 22-25

Outside Arnhem, the British XXX Corps’advance is slowed by German resistance. The Polish Brigade drops south of the Neder Rijn near Driel. On the 23^rd, attempts by by poles and advance troops of XXX corps to cross the river are driven back, and so the evacuation of the surviving paratroopers begin two days later, leaving 2500 of their dead comrades behind.

Tennessee, Land War, 1863

The Battleof Blountsville. During Burnside’s moves into east Tennessee, Unions forces overcome the 1^st Tennessee Cavalry Regiment at Blountsville.

 

September 21

Politics, Yugoslavia,1944

The partisan chief Marshal Tito meets the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. They reach agreement on the “Temporary entry of the Red Army intoYugoslavia

Italy, Adriatic Sector, 1944

The Eighth Army takes Timmini after a week of heavy fighting. Since the beginning of the offensive against the Gothic Line, it has lost 14,000 men killed, wounded and missing plus 200 tanks. The Italian campaign has not lived up to being the “soft underbelly of Europe.” A more accurate description would be “touch old gut.”

 

September 20, 1863

Tennessee, Land War

TheBattleofChickamauga. Initial Rebel attacks begin four hours late due to poor staff work and make little headway against Thomas’ well-situated defensive line on theUnionleft. At11:00hours, Rosecrans pulls Thomas Wood’s divisions out of the right of his line to plug what he thinks is a gap farther north. Fortunately for the Confederates, three of their divisions under Longstreet launch an attack into the gap left by wood at precisely the same time. TheUnion’s defensive position is shattered. As Longstreet’s men come close to cutting his line of communication withChattanooga, Rosecrans orders a retreat.

Not all Union forces are through fighting. Troops under George H. Thomas make a stand on Snodgrass Hill, a wooded ridge on the northern end of the Union line. Thomas and his force succeed in holding Braggs at bat as Rosecrans and the bulk of the Union army withdraw intoChattanooga. For his efforts Thomas earns the Medal of Honor and is thereafter known as the “Rock of Chickamauga.” In stark contrast to Thomas, Rosecrans is inconsolable as he carried along intoChattanoogaby the wreckage of his army.

Chickamaugais a hollow victory for the Confederates: Bragg is unable to follow it up with the final defeat of the Army of theCumberland. At a cost of over 18,000 casualties, Bragg can only push Rosecrans back to Chattanooga- he is unable to destroy him or force the surrender of his army by a siege.

 

September 19

Western Front, Holland, September 19-21, 1944

Forward elements of the British XXX corps reach US paratroopers at the Eindhoven, but at Arnhem all attempts to break through to the troops fail. On the 20^th, the bridge at Nijmegen is captured by a combined force drawn from the US 82^nd Airborne Divisions and the British XXX Corps. The next day, the British troops at Arnhem are overwhelmed. The remainder form a defensive perimeter on the northern bank of the Neder Rijn, around the village of Oosterbeck.

South Vietnam, South Korean Forces, 1966

The 2^nd Battalion of the 2^nd Brigade,Republic ofKorea Marine Corps, arrives at Chu Lai from Cam Ranh Bay, where they were stationed to Operate as a security force.

Civil War, 1863

Tennessee, Land War:  The Battle of Chickamauga. A single Union divisions initiates the battle this morning. It advances believing that is has trapped a small Confederate force west of Chickamauga Creek. The fighting is inconclusive, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. A late afternoon attack by John Bell Hood’s Confederates threaten to split the Union line, but reinforcements plug the gap at the last moment. Rosecrans plans to fight on the defensive tomorrow and has his men dig trenches for their protection.

 

September 18, 1863

Tennessee, Land War.

TheBattleofChickamauga. General Rosecrans, commander of the Unions Army of theCumberland(62,000 men), orders George H. Thomas to position his corps north of Thomas L. Crittenden’s corps to prevent Confederate General Braxton Bragg and his 65,000 men from cutting off the Union army from Chattanooga, a key rail junction on the main Confederate east-west railroad. Not realizing that Thomas now forms the left flank of the Union army, Braggs crosses his forces over Chickamauga Creek and makes camp after some skirmishing with two Union cavalry brigades. The opposing battle lines are set, but due to the thickly wooden terrain along the creek, neither side is aware of it.

 

September 17

Western Front, Holland, 1944

Operation Market Garden, General Bernard Montgomery’s plan for an armored and airborne thrust across Hollandto outflank the German defenses, begins. The British 1^st Airborne Divisions lands near Arnhem the US 101^st Airborne Divisions near Einghoven, the US 82^nd Airborne Division near Grave and Nijmegen, while the British XXX Corps advances from the Dutch border. The 82^nd lands without difficulty and takes the Maas and Maas-Waal Canal bridges, but then encounters heavy resistance as Nijmegen. The 101^st Division also takes its bridges, but the British paratroopers discover their way to Arnhem is blocked by German units. Only one battalion, under Lieutenant Colonel John Frost, manages to reach the bridge, where it is quickly cut off.

The Third Reich, 1944

Western Front, Holland:  Operation Market Garden, Montgomery’s plan for an armored and airborne thrust through Holland, begins. General Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces, has taken over from Montgomery as commander of the Allied ground forces and decides to advance on a broad front towards the Rhine, notwithstanding Market Garden. Field Marshal von Rundstedt is given back command in the West. Allied forces now have a complete front from the Channel to Switzerland and move towards the German West Wall, the “Siegfried” line. France is almost totally liberated.

 

September 15

Eastern Front, Poland, 1944

Units of the soviet-raised First Polish Army cross theVistulaRiverand seize bridgeheads isWarsaw.

Air War, Norway, 1944

Lancastersfrom 9 and 617 Squadrons of the RAF attackGermany’s only remaining battleship – the Tirpitz – in Altenfiord. However, little damage is done, chiefly due to the effectiveness of the German smokescreens.

September 14- November 24, 1966

South Vietnam, Ground War

Operation Attleboroin War Zone C, TayNinhProvince, takes place over a 72-day period and is initiated by the 196^th Light Infantry Brigade. There is no significant contact with the enemy until October 19 when a sizeable enemy base area is uncovered. By November, the 1^st Infantry Division, and several ARVN battalions are involves.

A Major action takes place opn November 3, involving the US1^st and 25^th Infantry Divisions, 196^th Light Infantry Brigade, 173^rd Airborne Brigade and two South Vietnamese Battalions.

As it ends, US MACV reports that there are 1106 confirmed enemy casualties. This figure is the largest number of enemy casualties recorded to date as the result of aUSmilitary operation.

 

September 13-18, 1966

South Vietnam, Ground War

The US Marines Conduct Deckhouse IV, an amphibious search and destroy operation in conjunction with the ongoing Prairie I Operation, 12.8km (8 miles) northeast of Dong Ha in I Corps Tactical Zone.

 

September 11

South Vietnam, Politics, 1966

Of the 718,024 eligible voters in I Corps Tactical Zone 87.4 percent vote in South Vietnam’s Constituent Assembly election. Over 80 percent of those who register vote throughout polling places inSouth Vietnam.