Today in Military History 1 Aug - 30 Sep

I am starting a daily (hopefully) "today in military history"
I will be locking the post every day- so the only posts will
be the chronicle dates.
However, feel free to start a new thread if an item is of interest to you

 

1 Aug


1945 B-29s raid Toyama, Japan
1945 The Yangtze: U.S. air dropped mines sink or damage 47 Japanese ships.
1946 Office of Naval Research is established
1958 USS 'Nautilus' (SSN 571) passes beneath the Arctic ice-pack [See Aug 3]
1961 East Germany limits traffic to West Berlin, Cold War intensifies

 

2 Aug

1945 B-29s drop 6,600 tons of bombs on five Japanese cities.
1950 The 1st Marine Provisional Bde lands at Pusan
1964 Gulf of Tonkin: North Vietnamese patrol boats attack USS Maddox, escorting CIA gun runners
1990 Iraq invades & occupies Kuwait, initiating the First Gulf War, "Desert Shield/Desert Storm"

 

On 3 Aug

1917 The N.Y. Guard is activated for duty on the home front in WW I
1919 Romanians capture Budapest, to oust the
1942 Japanese Army begins forming armored divisions in Manchuria.
1942 Mildred McAffee becomes the first woman officer in the Naval Reserve.
1943 Patton slaps Pvt Charles H. Kuhl, 1st Infantry Division, at the 15th Evac Hospital, near Nicosia, Sicily
1944 Auschwitz-Birkenau: 4,000 Gypsies murdered
1958 US submarine 'Nautilus' (SS 571) passes under the ice at the North Pole
1990 US announces commitment of naval forces to the Persian Gulf

 

5 Aug

1832 1st Royal visit to a U.S. warship; USS 'Potomac' hosts King Kamehameha III of Hawaii
1857 HMS 'Agamemnon' & USS 'Niagara' commence laying the first Atlantic cable, at Valentia, Ireland
1858 After many vicissitudes, HMS 'Agamemnon' & USS 'Niagara' complete laying the first Atlantic cable, which fails in about three weeks
1861 US Army abolishes flogging
1862 Battle of Baton Rouge, LA
1884 Work begins at Ft. Wood, in New York harbor, for the erection of the Statue of Liberty
1898 US and Spanish troops skirmish outside Manila
1898 US naval landing party goes ashore at Cape San Juan, Puerto Rico
1936 Berlin Olympics: Jesse Owens wins his third medal
1942 Blockade running Japanese submarine 'I-30' arrives at L'Orient, France.
1944 TF 58 raids Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima.
1963 Britain, US, & USSR sign a limited nuclear test ban treaty
1964 US begins bombing of North Vietnam

 

6 Aug

1777 Battle of Oriskany: American militiamen defeat British, Tories, and Indians
(Note: Some Indian tribes fought with the Americians)
1780 Battle of Hanging Rock: Tarleton's dragoons annihilate an American column - Andrew Jackson (13) becomes a P/W
1862 CSS 'Arkansas' is blown up in the Mississippi to prevent capture by US forces
1864 Rebels evacuate Ft Powell, Mobile Bay1870
1914 First British Offensive of WW I: Advancing about three miles from the Gold Coast, British troops capture Lome, capital of German Togoland
1914 The first air raid of WWI: German Zeppelins bomb Antwerp.
1927 Bombs explode in two NYC subway stations, one dead, many injured.
1942 MacArthur creates the New Guinea Force, under Aussie Gen Thomas Blamey.
1944 German counter attack at Avranches fails to halt Patton's Third Army
1944 US aircraft begin raiding the Philippines from bases in New Guinea.
1945 A-Bomb destroys Hiroshima, over 75,000 die.
2001 A note on the threat of Al-Qaeda air hijackings is included in one of several briefings of potential dangers to US security for Pres. GW Bush
2002 The Marquis de La Fayette, already an honorary citizen of several states, is made an honorary U.S. citizen

 

7 Aug

1864 Battle of Moorefield, WVa: Brig. Gen. William W. Averell's Union troopers defeat Brig. Gen. John McCausland's Confederates
1940 Churchill recognizes de Gaulle as head of the Free French
1942 Guadalcanal: 1st Marine Div lands against light resistance, though some Japanese units on outlying islets fight to the death
1942 Tulagi: 1st Marine Div captures the island against fierce resistance
1943 U.S. troops on New Georgia break Japanese resistance.
1944 USS 'Croaker' (SS 246) sinks the light cruiser 'Nagara' off Japan
1964 US Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
1990 Operation Desert Shield: First American troops reach Saudi Arabia
1998 Islamists bomb US embassies in Nairobi & Dar es Salaam, 224 die, c. 5,500 wounded

 

8 Aug

1942 Guadalcanal: Marines capture the unfinished airstrip.
1942 Japanese air raids on Guadalcanal
1943 Fighting continues around Munda, New Georgia
1945 Harry S Truman signs UN Charter
1945 USSR declares war on Japan.
1988 Cease fire ends the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988)
1988 Russian troops begin pulling out of Afghanistan after 9 year war
1990 Iraq annexes Kuwait
2000 Confederate submarine 'Hunley' raised after 136 years on the bottom

 

9 Aug

1865 USNA returns to Annapolis after four years at Newport
1919 Construction of US airship 'Shenandoah' (ZR-1) authorized.
1936 Jesse Owens wins a 4th gold medal at the Berlin Olympics
1942 Battle of Savo Island: Japanese cruisers smash Allied ships north of Guadalcanal
1945 Second Atomic Bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, c. 30,000 die
1945 Third Fleet aircraft raid northern Honshu and Hokkaido.
1974 Richard Nixon resigns the presidency, VP Gerald Ford becomes 38th pres
1985 Former naval officer Arthur J. Walker convicted of spying for the USSR
2001 USMC Commandant James L. Jones promotes Pfc Gomer Pyle to honorary lance corporal

 

10 Aug


1861 Battle of Wilson's Creek/Springfield, Mo: Confederate Victory
1918 Alvin York captures "the whole German Army" -- Learn More
1921 Franklin D. Roosevelt is diagnosed with polio [More probably Guillain-Barré syndrome, unknown at the time, and often confused with polio]
1942 Guadalcanal: Marines go on 2/3rds rations.
1942 USS 'S-44' (SS-155) sinks Japanese heavy cruiser 'Kako' off Rabaul.
1943 New Georgia: surviving Japanese troops flee into the interior.
1943 Patton slaps Pvt Paul G. Bennett, 17th Field Artillery Battalion, at the 90th Evac Hospital, Santo Stefano, Sicily
1945 Japan says it will surrender if the status of the emperor is unchanged
1945 Japan's War Minister urges officers to obey Imperial orders.
1945 Third Fleet aircraft raid northern Honshu and Hokkaido
1988 Japanese-Americans interned during WW II are awarded $20,000 each

 

11 August

1804 Abdication of the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II
1909 First use of the "SOS"; SS 'Arapahoe', off Cape Hatteras
1919 Germany adopts the "Weimar Constitution", establishing a federal republic
1942 Japanese Combined Fleet sails for Truk, to support operations on Guadalcanal.
2003 NATO assumes command of 5,000 peacekeepers in Afghanistan

BORN

1902 Christian Marie Ferdinand de la Croix de Castries, French general, who lost at Dien Bien Phu, d. 1991
1921 Alex Haley, Coastguardsman, author ("Roots"), d. 1992

DIED

1975 Anthony C. McAuliffe, 77, American soldier, who had occasion to say "Nuts!" in 1944

 

12 August

1645 The Massachusetts Council orders a third of the men in each militia company "be ready on half an hour's warning for any service" - the first "Minute Men"
1805 the Lewis & Clark Expedition crossed the Continental Divide
1812 USS 'Constitution' captures and destroys British brig 'Adeona'
1862 John Hunt Morgan's Confederate raiders capture Gallatin, Tn
1898 US Navy raids Manzanillo, Cuba
1898 US ships and Spanish batteries exchange fire at Santiago
1943 The alleged "Philadelphia Experiment": The US Navy supposedly successfully "cloaks" the USS "USS Eldridge" (DE 173) -- or maybe in October.
1945 Leaflets call for Japan to surrender or face "utter devastation."
1972 Last American ground troops leave Vietnam

DIED

1982 Henry Fonda, sometime naval officer, actor ("Mr. Roberts," etc.), at 77
1990 USAF SSGT John Campisi, struck by a truck - the first American to die in the Gulf War
2012 Joe Kubert, 86, sometme soldier, American cartoonist ("Sgt. Rock", "Hawkman", etc.)

 

13 Aug

1846 CDR Robert Stockton leads an Army-Navy-Marine party to seize Los Angeles

1898 Ambush at Las Marias, P.R.: US force inflicts heavy casualties on Spanish troops

1898 Spanish-American War: Armistice declared (noon, EST) -- Learn More
1941 Walter Short, US Army Commanding General at Hawaii, said "an attack upon these islands is not impossible and . . . might not be improbable." -- Learn More
1943 US scouts report few Japanese left on Vella Lavella.
1944 Fourteenth Air Force reconnoiters Manila from Chinese bases
1945 Air raids on Tokyo.
1945 Okinawa: USS 'LaGrange' (APA-124) is the last US ship hit by a kamikaze in WW II
1953 Gen of the Army Omar Bradley becomes Chairman of the JCS
1961 East German Communists began construction of the Berlin Wall

BORN

1927 Fidel Castro, sometime Hollywood bit player, lousy baseballer, Dictator of Cuba (1959-2008), d. 2016
1958 Randy Shughart, American soldier, kia 1993 in Mogadisciu, earning the Medal of Honor

DIED

1946 H. G. Wells, author ("The Land Ironclads"), pacifist, wargamer, at 79
1991 James "Jimmy" Roosevelt, 83, presidential son, sometime U.S. Marine Raider, politician -- Learn More
2004 Julia Child, master chef, OSS staffer, at 91.

 

14 Aug

Today is National Navajo Code Talkers Day


1756 French capture Fort Oswego, NY
'
1842 Second Florida War (1835-1842) ends: some Seminoles are removed to Oklahoma, after enormous loss of life and money

1886 Washington Navy Yard's Naval Gun Factory established
1915 German 'UB-14' sinks British transport 'Royal Edward' in the Aegean, c. 1,000 die
1931 The Air Corps fails to sink the target ship 'Mt. Shasta,' so the Coast Guard helps out.
1942 The first American air victory in the ETO: Flying a P-38 Lt Ezra Shahan gets a Luftwaffe Condor patrol bomber off Iceland
1943 Quadrant Conference - Quebec: FDR & Churchill agree to "Operation Overlord" -- Learn More
1945 Japan agrees to surrender; the real V-J Day (celebrated on Sept 2)
1949 Colonel Sami Hinnawi stages a coup in Syria


BORN

1774 Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, d. 1809
1814 Henry Hayes Lockwood, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1899
1821 Clement Hoffman "Rock" Stevens, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d/w 1864
1824 William Terry, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1888

DIED

1870 David Glasgow Farragut, the USN's First Admiral, at 69

 

15 August

VJ-Day


1824 Lafayette lands at New York, to begin a triumphal tour of the US to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the American Revolution
1864 CSS 'Tallahassee' captures 6 U.S. schooners off New England
1895 Second class battleship 'Texas' commissioned; sunk as target, 1911
1940 Hitler's first "D-Day" for Operation Sea Lion
1945 Hirohito's surrender message is broadcast to the Japanese people.
1945 Japanese a/c raid TF 38, 12 hours after Hirohito's surrender order
1945 Soviet aircraft sink 860 ton frigate 'Kenju' off Hokkaido; last Japanese warship lost during World War II
1945 US ends wartime rationing of gasoline & fuel oil

BORN

1769 Napoleone Bounaparte, Corsican adventurer, d. 1821 -- Learn More
1845 U.S. Naval Academy is established at Ft Severn, Annapolis

DIED

1935 William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers, 55, Cherokee-American humorist, journalist, actor, and aviator Wiley Post, 36, airplane accident, Point Barrow
1989 Minoru Genda, one day short of 89, Japanese airman who planned the Pearl Harbor attack

 

16 August

National Airborne Day in the United States


1777 Battle of Bennington, Vt: Americans defeat British
1780 Battle of Camden: British decisively defeat the Americans
1918 US troops capture Archangelsk
1934 US ends occupation of Haiti, begun in 1915


BORN

1828 Joseph Bradford Carr, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1895
brigade commander in the III Corps, General Carr participated in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville

1831 Edward Payson Chapin, Brig Gen, U.S., kia 1863
Chapin was appointed commander of the 116th, with the rank of colonel.[

1904 Minoru Genda, Japanese airman who planned the Pearl Harbor attack, d. 1989, one day short of 85
1943 4th Marine Div, at Camp Pendleton


DIED

1959 Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, 76
CDR - US Third Fleet - As a 5 star - he never retired

1977 Elvis Aaron Presley, 42, Sergeant, 3rd Armored Division

 

17 Aug

This day in Military History

1812 US frigate 'President' captures British schooner 'L'Adeline'
1843 Herman Melville enlists in the USS 'United States'
1846 CDR Robert F Stockton declares California annexed to the US
1862 The "Great Sioux Uprising" begins in Minnesota
1940 FDR & Canadian PM William McKenzie King agree to create a joint defense commission
1942 First independent US bomber raid in Europe, against Rouen
1942 Marine 2nd Raider Bn lands on Makin Island, Gilbert I. [withdraws 18th]
1943 Japanese reinforcements land on Vella Lavella, DDs beat off U.S. DDs
1943 US troops under Maj Gen George S. Patton capture Messina
1943 Wewak, New Guinea: U.S./Aussie air raid, 100 Japanese a/c destroyed
1944 Surviving Japanese complete withdrawal from India
1945 B-32 bombers attacked by Japanese a/c over Tokyo, without casualties.
1959 Arleigh Burke is appointed to an unprecedented 3rd term as CNO
1960 Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow, on his birthday

BORN

1786 David Crockett, frontiersman, k. 1836
1819 James Henry Van Alen, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1886
1914 Franklin D Roosevelt, Jr., naval officer, d. this date in 1998
1929 Francis Gary Powers, U-2 pilot, d. 1977

DIED

1962 Peter Fechter, 18, shot by East German border guards at the Berlin Wall
1987 Rudolph Hess, Nazi, suicide at 93, after 46 years in Allied custody
1988 FDR Jr, sometime naval officer, on his 74th birthday -- Learn More
1988 Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, 64, and US Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Raphel, 45, plane crash

 

18 August

1838 U.S. Exploring Expedition under Lt Charles Wilkes begins world cruise
1846 Maj. Gen. Stephen Watts Kearney captures Santa Fe
1864 Petersburg Campaign: Battle of Weldon Railroad begins
1911 Esther Voorhees Hasson is appointed the first Sup't of the Navy Nurse Corps
1914 Pres Wilson issues a Proclamation of Neutrality
1943 Baanga: US forces capture Japanese guns shelling Munda
1944 USS 'Rasher' (SS-269) sinks Japanese CVE 'Taiyo' off Luzon
1945 Three days after the Armistice, B-32s patrolling over Tokyo are damaged by Japanese a/c, but down three attackers.
1947 Naval arsenal explosion at Cadiz, Spain, 300 die
1961 Construction on Berlin Wall completed


BORN
1587 Virginia Dare, first English child born in the Americas, who will disappear with the Roanoke Colony
1813 Benjamin Alvord, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1884
Benjamin Alvord (mathematician) - Wikipedia
1818 William Farquhar Barry, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1879
William Farquhar Barry - Wikipedia
1913 The Veterans of Foreign Wars
1917 Casper Weinberger, sometime soldier, budget cutter who then became SecDef (1981-87) and complained about the "hollow" armed forces, d. 2006

DIED

 

19 Aug 21



National Aviation Day in the United States


1812 USS 'Constitution' takes HMS 'Guerriere' in a celebrated fight
1818 Capt James Biddle, USN, claims the Oregon Territory for the US
1854 The Grattan 'Massacre': Lt. John Grattan gets himself and 30 US troops killed attempting to bully some peaceful Sioux
1861 Combat at Charlestown/Bird's Town, Mo
1934 Hitler becomes Fuhrer by 95.7% of voters, in a one-man election
1942 Guadalcanal: 5th Marines skirmish with Ichiki Detachment.
1942 Japanese convoys land reinforcements at Buna, NE New Guinea.
1942 Japanese dispatch 1500 troops from Rabaul by convoy for Guadalcanal.
1943 Japanese sub 'I-17' sunk by U.S. a/c and N.Z. corvette 'Moa', Espiritu Santo
1944 FDR sends envoy to China to reconcile Nationalists & Communists
1944 The Liberation of Paris: The Resistance rose against the Germans as the French 2nd Arm Div approaches
1960 U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers convicted of spying by USSR
1981 The First Gulf of Sidra Incident: USS 'Nimitz' (CVN 68) a/c down Libyan a/c that attacked over international waters
1986 Car bomb explosion in Tehran, 20 die

BORN

1871 Orville Wright, aviation pioneer, d.1912
1921 Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry, sometime B-17 pilot and creator of "Star Trek", d. 1991

DIED
el
1936 Federico Garcia Lorca, 38, Spanish poet, murdered
1944 Generalfeldmarschall Günther "Clever Hans" von Kluge, 61, suicide rather than surrender
1974 Rodger P. Davies, 53, US Amb to Cyprus, shot in the Embassy during an anti-American demonstration