This Day In Military History...

[Admiral]

January 17

Born...

1463 Elector Frederick III the Wise of Saxony (1486-25)

1612 Thomas Fairfax, Lord Fairfax, English Parliamentary general

1732 Stanislaw II August Poniatowski, last King of Poland (1764-95)

1863 David Lloyd George, PM of Britain, WW I

Died...

395 Theodosius I the Great, Roman Emperor

1119 Count Baldwin VII of Flanders

1229 Bishop Albert of Riga, Founder of the Knights of the Sword

1893 Rutherford B Hayes, five times wounded Civil War veteran, at 70

1957 Humphrey Bogart, veteran, actor ("The Caine Mutiny")

1961 Patrice Lumumba, African revolutionary, murdered at 36

Event...

1377 Gregory XI returns the Holy Papal See to Rome, after 72 years at Avignon

1501 Cesare Borgia returns in triumph to Rome from the Romagna

1601 France gains Bresse, Bugey, Valromey, & Gex in treaty with Spain

1746 Battle of Falkirk: Edward I defeats and massacres the Scots

1773 Captain Cook in Resolution reaches the Antarctic Circle

1781 Dan Morgan annihilates a Tory force at the Cowpens

1821 Mexico grants Moses Austin extensive lands in Texas.

1832 USS Peacock conducts diplomatic mission to Vietnamese court

1862 USS Lexington bombards Ft Henry, TN (surrenders Jan 22)

1863 Civil War skirmish near Newtown, Virginia

1885 The Sudan: Egypto-British Army beats the Mahdists at Battle of Abu Klea

1893 Queen Liliuokalani deposed, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic

1900 CDR Taussig in USS Bennington takes formal possession of Wake Island

1911 Failed assassination attempt on premier Briand in the French Assembly

1915 Russia captures Bukovina & Western Ukraine

1942 British are under heavy pressure on the Muar River line in Malaya.

1942 Bataan: Heavy fighting continues.

1943 Papua: Allied forces begin a major offensive against Sanananda.

1943 Guadalcanal: Combined Army-Marine Div attacks west along the coast

1944 New Britain: Allies subdue last Japanese at Arawe, southern coast

1945 Raoul Wallenberg, having saved thousands of Jews, disappears in Hungary

1945 Luzon: Sixth Army steps up its drive on Manila.

1945 Soviets drive Germans out of Warsaw

1947 Ammunition plant at Muiden, Netherlands, factory explodes, 16 die

1948 Netherlands & Indonesia agree to a cease fire

1951 China refuses cease fire in Korea

1955 USS Nautilus underway on nuclear power

1961 Pres. Dwight Eisenhower speaks of a "military industrial complex"

1966 B-52 carrying four hydrogen bombs crashes off Spanish coast

1991 Operation Desert Storm: Coalition airstrikes against Iraq

1991 Jeffrey Zahn is the first US pilot shot down in the Persian Gulf War

1991 Iraq fires eight Scud missiles at Israel

[Cap. Teancum]

1893 - On the Hawaiian Islands, a group of American sugar planters under Sanford Ballard Dole overthrow Queen Liliuokalani, the Hawaiian monarch, and establish a new provincial government with Dole as president. The coup occurred with the foreknowledge of John L. Stevens, the U.S. minister to Hawaii, and 300 U.S. Marines from the U.S. cruiser Boston were called to Hawaii, allegedly to protect American lives.

The first known settlers of the Hawaiian Islands were Polynesian voyagers who arrived sometime in the eighth century, and in the early 18th century the first American traders came to Hawaii to exploit the islands' sandalwood, which was much valued in China at the time. In the 1830s, the sugar industry was introduced to Hawaii and by the mid-19th century had become well established. American missionaries and planters brought about great changes in Hawaiian political, cultural, economic, and religious life, and in 1840 a constitutional monarchy was established, stripping the Hawaiian monarch of much of his authority. Four years later, Sanford B. Dole was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to American parents.

During the next four decades, Hawaii entered into a number of political and economic treaties with the United States, and in 1887 a U.S. naval base was established at Pearl Harbor as part of a new Hawaiian constitution. Sugar exports to the United States expanded greatly during the next four years, and U.S. investors and American sugar planters on the islands broadened their domination over Hawaiian affairs. However, in 1891 Liliuokalani, the sister of the late King Kalakaua, ascended to the throne, refusing to recognize the constitution of 1887 and replacing it with a constitution increasing her personal authority.

In January 1893, a revolutionary "Committee of Safety," organized by Sanford B. Dole, staged a coup against Queen Liliuokalani with the tacit support of the United States. On February 1, Minister John Stevens recognized Dole's new government on his own authority and proclaimed Hawaii a U.S. protectorate. Dole submitted a treaty of annexation to the U.S. Senate, but most Democrats opposed it, especially after it was revealed that most Hawaiians did want annexation.

President Grover Cleveland sent a new U.S. minister to Hawaii to restore Queen Liliuokalani to the throne under the 1887 constitution, but Dole refused to step aside and instead proclaimed the independent Republic of Hawaii. Cleveland was unwilling to overthrow the government by force, and his successor, President William McKinley, negotiated a treaty with the Republic of Hawaii in 1897. In 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out, and the strategic use of the naval base at Pearl Harbor during the war convinced Congress to approve formal annexation. Two years later, Hawaii was organized into a formal U.S. territory and in 1959 entered the United States as the 50th state.

1966 - On this day, a B-52 bomber collides with KC-135 jet tanker over Spain's Mediterranean coast, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares and one in the sea. It was not the first or last accident involving American nuclear bombs.

As a means of maintaining first-strike capability during the Cold War, U.S. bombers laden with nuclear weapons circled the earth ceaselessly for decades. In a military operation of this magnitude, it was inevitable that accidents would occur. The Pentagon admits to more than three-dozen accidents in which bombers either crashed or caught fire on the runway, resulting in nuclear contamination from a damaged or destroyed bomb and/or the loss of a nuclear weapon. One of the only "Broken Arrows" to receive widespread publicity occurred on January 17, 1966, when a B-52 bomber crashed into a KC-135 jet tanker over Spain.

The bomber was returning to its North Carolina base following a routine airborne alert mission along the southern route of the Strategic Air Command when it attempted to refuel with a jet tanker. The B-52 collided with the fueling boom of the tanker, ripping the bomber open and igniting the fuel. The KC-135 exploded, killing all four of its crew members, but four members of the seven-man B-52 crew managed to parachute to safety. None of the bombs were armed, but explosive material in two of the bombs that fell to earth exploded upon impact, forming craters and scattering radioactive plutonium over the fields of Palomares. A third bomb landed in a dry riverbed and was recovered relatively intact. The fourth bomb fell into the sea at an unknown location.

Palomares, a remote fishing and farming community, was soon filled with nearly 2,000 U.S. military personnel and Spanish civil guards who rushed to clean up the debris and decontaminate the area. The U.S. personnel took precautions to prevent overexposure to the radiation, but the Spanish workers, who lived in a country that lacked experience with nuclear technology, did not. Eventually some 1,400 tons of radioactive soil and vegetation were shipped to the United States for disposal.

Meanwhile, at sea, 33 U.S. Navy vessels were involved in the search for the lost hydrogen bomb. Using an IBM computer, experts tried to calculate where the bomb might have landed, but the impact area was still too large for an effective search. Finally, an eyewitness account by a Spanish fisherman led the investigators to a one-mile area. On March 15, a submarine spotted the bomb, and on April 7 it was recovered. It was damaged but intact.

Studies on the effects of the nuclear accident on the people of Palomares was limited, but the United States eventually settled some 500 claims by residents whose health was adversely affected. Because the accident happened in a foreign country, it received far more publicity than did the dozen or so similar crashes that occurred within U.S. borders. As a security measure, U.S. authorities do not announce nuclear weapons accidents, and some American citizens may have unknowingly been exposed to radiation that resulted from aircraft crashes and emergency bomb jettisons. Today, two hydrogen bombs and a uranium core lie in yet undetermined locations in the Wassaw Sound off Georgia, in the Puget Sound off Washington, and in swamplands near Goldsboro, North Carolina.

1971 - Led by South Vietnamese Lt. Gen. Do Cao Tri, and with U.S. air support and advisers, some 300 paratroopers raid a communist prisoner of war camp near the town of Mimot in Cambodia on information that 20 U.S. prisoners were being held there. They found the camp empty, but captured 30 enemy soldiers and sustained no casualties.

1972 - President Richard Nixon warns South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu in a private letter that his refusal to sign any negotiated peace agreement would render it impossible for the United States to continue assistance to South Vietnam.

Nixon's National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger had been working behind the scenes in secret negotiations with North Vietnamese representatives in Paris to reach a settlement to end the war. However, Thieu stubbornly refused to even discuss any peace proposal that recognized the Viet Cong as a viable participant in the post-war political solution in South Vietnam. As it turned out, the secret negotiations were not close to reaching an agreement because the North Vietnamese launched a massive invasion of South Vietnam in March 1972. With the help of U.S. airpower and advisers on the ground, the South Vietnamese withstood the North Vietnamese attack, and by December, Kissinger and North Vietnamese representatives were back in Paris and close to an agreement.

Among Thieu's demands was the request that all North Vietnamese troops had to be withdrawn from South Vietnam before he would agree to any peace settlement. The North Vietnamese walked out of the negotiations in protest. In response, President Nixon initiated Operation Linebacker II, a massive bombing campaign against Hanoi, to force the North Vietnamese back to the negotiating table. After 11 days of intense bombing, Hanoi agreed to return to the talks in Paris. When Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, the main North Vietnamese negotiator, met again in early January, they quickly worked out a settlement. The Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 23 and a cease-fire went into effect five days later.

Again, President Thieu refused to sign the Accords, but Nixon promised to come to the aid of South Vietnam if the communists violated the terms of the peace treaty, and Thieu agreed to sign. Unfortunately for Thieu and the South Vietnamese, Nixon was forced from office by the Watergate scandal in August 1974, and no U.S. aid came when the North Vietnamese launched a general offensive in March 1975. South Vietnam succumbed in 55 days.

[Boonierat]

Good joob guys never heard of that B-52 accident before

[Admiral]

January 18

Born...

1657 Hendrik Casimir II, Dutch Fieldmarshal, Nassau

1752 Francesco Maria Caracciolo, Neapolitan Admiral, executed 1799

1809 Richard Caswell Gatlin, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1896

1813 Joseph Farwell Glidden, inventor of barbed wire

1815 James Chesnut Jr, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1885

1820 Abraham Buford, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1884

1831 Edward Ferrero, cowardly Brig. Gen., U.S., d. 1899

1835 Cesar Antonovich Cui, Russian composer and fortification engineer, d. 1918

1857 Otto von Below, German General, victor of Caporetto

1879 Henri-Honore Giraud, French general/member of parliament

1933 Vladimir Yevgrafovich Bugrov, Cosmonaut

1958 Jeffrey N Williams, Superior Wisconsin, Major Army/Astronaut

Died...

1367 King Pedro I of Portugal (1357-1367)

1479 Duke Louis IX the Rich of Bavaria

1862 John Tyler, militiaman, president (1841-1845), at 71

1890 Amadeo I, erstwhile king of Spain (1870-73)

1936 Rudyard Kipling, soldier's poet (Gunga Din)

1991 Hamilton Fish, World War I veteran, congressman, isolationist

Event...

1486 King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV

1520 Christian II of Denmark & Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Asunde

1671 Pirate Henry Morgan captures Panama from the Spanish,

1701 Frederick I crowned King of Prussia

1795 French Army enters Amsterdam unopposed

1813 A garrison of Canadian militia and Indians, occupying the Michigan settlement of Frenchtown (south of Detroit) are attacked by a force of 900 American infantry. The two sides exchange fire for several hours, but the Canadians eventually leave the field to their opponents.

1817 Jose de San Martin's revolutionary army begins to cross the Andes

1836 Marines reinforced Army to repulse Indians at Ft. Brook, Florida.

1850 British blockade Piraeus, Greece, to enforce mercantile claims

1854 Filibuster William Walker proclaims Republic of Sonora in NW Mexico

1862 Confederate Territory of Arizona is formed

1865 Battle of Ft Moultrie, SC

1871 Wilhelm I proclaimed German Emperor, at Versailles

1902 The famous "March Across Samar" ended during the Philippine Insurrection.

1911 Eugene Ely makes the 1st aircraft landing on a ship, Armed Cruiser USS Pennsylvania

1913 Graeco-Turkish sea battle

1915 The U.S. Revenue Marine is renamed the U.S. Coast Guard.

1919 The First Division of the Canadian Corps completes its relief from Germany and occupation duty.

1919 Versailles Conference opens

1940 British commence censorship of air mail passing through Bermuda; censor there removes through-bound mail for European destinations from Lisbon-bound Pan American Airways Boeing 314 American Clipper. A written protest is lodged and no assistance in the unloading process is offered.

1941 German Consul General in San Francisco, California, displays the prescribed German Reich flag from the consular office in recognition of German national holiday. At noon this day the flag is taken down in the presence of what is described as "a large shouting throng of people" and torn to pieces. German Chargé d'Affaires Hans Thomsen makes "most emphatic protest" over the incident

1942 British troops in Malaya heavily engaged on the Muar River Line.

1942 Germany, Italy, and Japan sign new military pact in Berlin.

1942 River gunboat Tutuila (PR-4), stranded at Chungking by Sino-Japanese hostilities since 1937, is decommissioned and her crew flown out of China.

1942 Submarine USS Plunger torpedoes and sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Eizan Maru (ex-Panamanian Aurora) off mouth of Kii Suido, Honshu, 33°30'N, 135°00'E.

1942 Unarmed U.S. freighter Frances Salman is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-552 off St. John's, Newfoundland. There are no survivors from the 28-man crew.

1942 Unarmed U.S. tanker Allan Jackson is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-66 about 50 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 35°57'N, 74°20'W; destroyer Roe rescues the 13 survivors from the 35-man crew.

1942 Unarmed U.S. tanker Malay is shelled and damaged by German submarine U-123 off Oregon Inlet, North Carolina, 35°25'N, 75°23'W. Freighter Scania provides fire-fighting assistance while the tanker's assailant pursues other game (Latvian freighter Ciltvaria). Although Malay is torpedoed by U-123 upon the U-boat's return and damaged further, the holed tanker reaches Hampton Roads safely the next day. One man perishes in the shelling; four drown when the ship is abandoned after she is torpedoed.

1943 Papua: Sanananda falls to Allies, who press the Japanese westwards.

1943 Siege of Leningrad lifted by a Soviet Offensive

1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising begins

1943 US bans sale of sliced bread to save metal parts in slicing machines

1943 Aleutians: U.S. surface force bombards Japanese held Attu.

1943 Submarine USS Greenling damages Japanese ammunition ship/survey vessel Soya in Queen Carola Channel, 02°04'S, 150°37'E.

1943 Submarine USS Silversidess sinks Japanese fleet tanker Genyo Maru about 90 miles southwest of Truk, 06°19'N, 150°15'E, but is damaged by depth charges from escorting warship and is forced to terminate her patrol.

1943 USAAF B-17s and P-39s sink Japanese cargo vessel Yamafuku Maru off Shortland Island.

1943 Japanese collier Tokachi Maru is sunk by Japanese mine west of Surubaya, Java, N.E.I., 06°50'S, 112°12'E.

1943 U.S. tanker Mobilube is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-21 off coast of New South Wales, Australia, 33°57'S, 157°20'E; Australian minesweeper HMAS Kapunda provides assistance as the tanker remains afloat. Other than three men killed in the initial explosion, no other members of the ship's complement (that includes an 11-man Armed Guard) perish. Mobilube is towed to Sydney by salvage tug St. Aristell, but is eventually declared a total loss.

1944 New Guinea: US reinforces the Saidor beachhead

1944 Tropical hurricane batters Noumea, New Caledonia, damaging high speed transport Noa (APD-24), district patrol vessel YP-239, district auxiliary (miscellaneous) YAG-25, and a crane barge.

1944 Submarine USS Bowfin sinks Japanese merchant tanker Shoyu Maru off west coast of Palawan, 00°18'N, 118°37'E.6

1944 Submarine USS Flasher sinks Japanese oiler Yoshida Maru about 140 miles west-southwest of Marcus Island, 23°50'N, 151°28'E.

1944 PB4Y-1 (VB 108), to simulate minelaying operations, sows unfuzed 100-pound bombs in Mellu, Gegibu and Onemak channels, Kwajalein.

1944 USAAF A-24s and P-40s bomb Japanese installations at Jaluit, sinking merchant tanker No.1 Nanyu Maru.

1945 Peleliu: Japanese stragglers raid U.S. ammo dumps and airbase.

1957 3 B-52s make round-the-world flight, 45 hr 19 min; one man backwards

1960 US & Japan sign joint defense treaty

1962 After a flash fire in the Persian Gulf on Danish tanker, Prima Maersk, burned a crewman, USS Duxbury Bay transfers a Navy doctor to help the Danish crewman and USS Soley took him to the nearest hospital at Bahrain Island.

1968 Operation Coronado X begins in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

1977 The Trident (C-4) missile development flight test program commenced when C4X-1 was launched from a flight pad at Cape Canaveral, FL

1991 U.S. acknowledges CIA and U.S. Army paid Noriega $320,000 over his career

1991 Iraq launches SCUD missiles against Israel

1991 USS Nicholas attacks and captures Iraqi oil platforms

[Cap. Teancum]

Originally Posted by Boonierat

Good joob guys never heard of that B-52 accident before

I too only learn about it yesterday. But I found out a few websites that might be usefull for those who are interested in it:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclop...lear_accidents

http://ono.ucsd.edu/neilson1/pages/curv/

http://www.submarinesonstamps.co.il/openhist.php?ID=127

Thanks for your positive post.

[Cap. Teancum]

1567 - Battle of Watrelots. First battle of the Netherlands War of Independence.

1826 - Following two-month bombardment, British capture city of Bhurtope ending the British-Mahratta War.

1857 - Battle of Bushire, Persia, 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry charged and broke a Persian square.

1943 - On this day, the deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the concentration camp at Treblinka is resumed-but not without much bloodshed and resistance along the way.

On July 18, 1942, Heinrich Himmler promoted Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Hess to SS major. He also ordered that the Warsaw ghetto, the Jewish quarter constructed by the Nazis upon the occupation of Poland and enclosed first by barbed wire and then by brick walls, be depopulated-a "total cleansing," as he described it. The inhabitants were to be transported to what became a second extermination camp constructed at the railway village of Treblinka, 62 miles northeast of Warsaw.

Within the first seven weeks of Himmler's order, more than 250,000 Jews were taken to Treblinka by rail and gassed to death, marking the largest single act of destruction of any population group, Jewish or non-Jewish, civilian or military, in the war. Upon arrival at "T. II," as this second camp at Treblinka was called, prisoners were separated by sex, stripped, and marched into what were described as "bathhouses," but were in fact gas chambers. T. II's first commandant was Dr. Irmfried Eberl, age 32, the man who had headed up the euthanasia program of 1940 and had much experience with the gassing of victims, especially children. He was assisted in his duties by several hundred Ukrainian and about 1,500 Jewish prisoners, who removed gold teeth from victims before hauling the bodies to mass graves.

In January 1943, after a four-month hiatus, the deportations started up again. A German SS unit entered the ghetto and began rounding up its denizens-but they did not go without a fight. Six hundred Jews were killed in the streets as they struggled with the Germans. Rebels with smuggled firearms opened fire on the SS troops. The Germans returned fire-machine-gun fire against the Jews' pistol shots. Nine Jewish rebels fell-as did several Germans. The fighting continued for days, with the Jews refusing to surrender and even taking arms from their Germans persecutors in surprise attacks.

Amazingly, the Germans withdrew from the ghetto in the face of the unexpected resistance. They likely did not realize how few armed resisters there were, but the fact that resistance was given at all intimidated them. But there was no happy ending. Before this new incursion into the ghetto was over, 6,000 more Jews were transported to their likely deaths at Treblinka.

1950 - People's Republic of China formally recognizes the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam and agrees to furnish it military assistance; the Soviet Union extended diplomatic recognition to Hanoi on January 30. China and the Soviet Union provided massive military and economic aid to North Vietnam, which enabled North Vietnam to fight first the French and then the Americans. Chinese aid to North Vietnam between 1950 and 1970 is estimated at $20 billion. It is thought that China provided approximately three-quarters of the total military aid given to Hanoi since 1949, with the Soviets providing most of the rest. It would have been impossible for the North Vietnamese to continue the war without the aid from both the Chinese and Soviets.

1971 - In a televised speech, Senator George S. McGovern (D-South Dakota) begins his antiwar campaign for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination by vowing to bring home all U.S. soldiers from Vietnam if he is elected. McGovern won his party's nomination, but was defeated in the general election by incumbent Richard Nixon.

With only 55 percent of the electorate voting--the lowest turnout since 1948--Nixon carried all states but Massachusetts, taking 97 percent of the electoral votes. During the campaign, Nixon pledged to secure "peace with honor" in Vietnam. Aided by the potential for a peace agreement in the ongoing Paris negotiations and the upswing in the American economy, Nixon easily defeated McGovern, an outspoken dove whose party was divided over several issues, including McGovern's extreme views on the war. McGovern said during the campaign, "If I were president, it would take me 24 hours and the stroke of a pen to terminate all military operations in Southeast Asia." He further stated that he would withdraw all American troops within 90 days of taking office, whether or not U.S. POWs were released. To many Americans, including a large number of Democrats, McGovern's position was tantamount to total capitulation in Southeast Asia. Given this alternative, most voters chose Nixon.

[Leatherneck]

United State Marine Corps History

January 19

1868
(Japan)
A Marine guard is posted at the residence of the American minister to Japan in Yokohama during a period of civil strife.

1928
(Nicaragua)
Four compaines of Marines and Guardias close in on and seize El Chipote, but the Sandinistas escape the net.

1929
(China)
The 3rd Brigade is disbanded, and its units (primarily the brigade headquarters and 6th Regiment) are withdrawn from Tientsin, China, over the remainder of the month.

1935
(Training)
FMF Marines (air and ground) participate in Fleet Landing Exercise I at Culebra and Vieques Islands in the Caribbean. This is the first of several annual FLEXs designed to train forces in the new amphibious doctrine. FLEX I continues through 13 March.

1953
(Force Structure)
The 1st Provisional Air-Ground Task Force is activated at Kaneohe Bay on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.

1968
(Khe Sanh)
A platoon patrolling toward Hill 881 North has to withdraw in the face of strong enemy opposition. This marks the beginning of the siege of the remote combat base.

1970
(Training, 18-25 January)
The 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion conducts Operation Snowfer in Camp Drum, New York, for environmental and cold weather tranining.

(Training)
Operation Springboard, a three-month exercise involving 110 ships and 260 aircraft from seven nations, begins in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It involves units from Brazil, Canada, Columbia, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela.

(Okinawa, 19-23 January)
The Okinawa Military Employees Labor Union's five-day strike is held without major confrontation. It does not seriously affect the continuation of essential Marine Corps activities.

1971
(Vietnam)
While in night defense position south of Hoi An, G Company 2/5 drives off a ground attack, killing 12 of the enemy.

1972
(Training, 17-27 January)
Elements of the 2nd Marine Division and 2nd MAW joined naval forces of the Atlantic Fleet in cold weather landing operations at Reid State Park on the coast of Maine in Excercise Snowy Beach.

1973
(Civil Support)
A Marine battalion from Camp Lejeune arrives at Naval Air Station Anacostia to proved assistance with riot control if needed during the upcoming presidential inaugural.

2002
(Operation Enduring Freedom)
US Army forces begin relieving Marine elements at Kandahar Airfield. 26th MEU (SOC) is back on board ships by 8 February. A CH-53E crashes, killing two Marines and injuring five.

(c) USMC: A Complete History by Marine Corps Association

(Staff Edit: As first posting for this date... "January 19" was enlarged to 7 from 3.)

[Admiral]

Born...

570 Mohammed, Islamic "prophet", Koran author

1544 King Francis II de Valois-Angoulême of France (1559-60)

1807 Robert Edward Lee, General-in-Chief, C.S.A.

1809 Edgar Allan Poe, West Point drop-out

1816 Henry Gray, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1892

1820 John Haskell King, Bvt Major General, Union Army, d. 1888

1830 George Blake Cosby, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1909

1869 Alfred R Zimmerman, mayor, Rotterdam 1906-22, /Director, League of Nations

1920 Javier Perez de Cuellar, Lima Peru, 5th Sec-Gen of United Nations, 1982-91

1946 Alexandr Vladimirovich Shchukin, Russian Cosmonaut

Died...

639 King Dagobert I of Austrasia, Soissons, Burgundy, and Neustria

1479 Johan II, King of Aragón/Navarra, at 81

1547 Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, army commander/poet, beheaded at 29

1629 Abbas I, Shah of Persia (1588-1629), at 57

1885 Fred Burnaby, English Colonel/balloon pioneer, KIA

1927 Charlotte MAAVCL, Princess of Belgium/Empress of Mexico (1864-67), at 86

1982 Leopold Trepper, Polish/Israeli spy (WW II), at 77

Event...

379 Theodosius installed as co-emperor of East Roman Empire

1419 French city of Rouen surrenders to Henry V in Hundred Years War

1493 Treaty of Barcelona: France cedes Roussillon & Cerdagne to Spain

1668 King Louis XIV and Emperor Leopold I sign treaty dividing Spain

1746 Bonnie Prince Charlies troops occupy Stirling

1770 Battle of Golden Hill, in New York City

1793 Revoutionary court sentenced "Citizen Capet" (Louis XVI) to death.

1795 Democratic revolution in Amsterdam ends oligarchy

1805 The Quebec Mercury praises the efforts of garrison troops in helping to fight a fire within the city walls.

1806 British take Cape of Good Hope from Netherlands, occupied by France

1808 Dutch King Louis Napoleon signs the first aviation law, for balloons

1812 Wellington's troops storm Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain, amid great slaughter

1833 Charles Darwin/HMS Beagle reaches Straits Ponsonby, Fireland

1839 Aden captured by the British East India Company

1861 Georgia becomes 5th state to secede

1861 Mississippi troops take Ft Massachusetts, on Ship Island

1862 Battle of Mill Springs/Fishing Creek/Logan's Crossroads, KY

1863 General Mieroslawski appointed dictator of Poland

1865 Union occupies Fort Anderson, NC

1885 Battle at Abu Klea Sudan: 800-1000 killed

1910 Germany and Bolivia ends commerce/friendship treaty

1915 First German zeppelin bombing raid on Great Britain, 4 die

1917 Silvertown ammunition factory in Essex, England, explodes; 300 die

1918 Soviets disallow a Constitution Assembly

1919 Bolshevik forces launch a strong attack against the Allied and White Russian troops defending Shenkurst. Major Walter Hyde, of the Canadian Field Artillery, commands several of the batteries being used to fend off the attack.

1920 The Senate rejects American membership in League of Nations

1921 Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador sign Pact of Union

1922 Geological Survey says U.S. oil supply would be depleted in 20 years (Har!)

1927 British government decides to send troops to China

1929 Brig Gen Smedley Butler's 3rd Marine Brigade was disbanded at Tientsin, China.

1940 Auxiliary Bear steams eastward to begin flight operations in the vicinity of Biscoe Bay; the ship's embarked Barkley-Grow floatplane (Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, navigator) reconnoiters Sulzberger Bay to determine leads in the ice to permit Bear's movement further to the east.

1941 British offensive in Eritrea

1941 British troops occupie Kassalaf Sudan

1942 Japanese forces invade Burma

1942 Malaya: British abandon the Muar River line, fall back on Johore Line.

1942 Joe Louis is drafted, on the day he defeated Buddy Baer in 20"56'

1942 Motor torpedo boat PT-31 is damaged when her engines fail because of what is believed to be sabotaged gasoline and she runs aground on reef north of Mayagao Point, Bataan, P.I.

1942 In attacks against unescorted coastal shipping, unarmed U.S. steamship City of Atlanta is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-123 off the North Carolina coast at 35°42'N, 75°21'W; railroad ferry Sebatrain Texas rescues the three survivors of the 46-man crew.

1942 German submarine U-66 torpedoes and sinks Canadian steamer Lady Hawkins at 35°00'N, 72°30'W

1943 US Joint Chiefs of Staff advise invasion in Sicily

1943 Papua: Fierce Japanese resistance on the Sanananda front.

1943 Guadalcanal: U.S. destroyers shell Japanese positions

1943 Guadalcanal: Combined Army-Marine Div presses westwards

1944 Northern Burma: Chinese New 38th Div and Japanese fight for Taro Plain.

1944 Submarine USS Haddock damages Japanese carrier IJN Unyo 140 miles east-southeast of Guam, 12°50'N, 146°23'E.

1944 USAAF B-24 (5th Air Force) sinks Japanese cargo vessel Kaishu Maru at Manus, Admiralty Islands.

1945 China: Japanese troops seize control of the Canton-Hankow rail line.

1950 Maiden flight by Canada's Avro Canada CF-100 military plane

1957 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test

1960 President Eisenhower and Premier Kishi sign US-Japanese Security pact

1975 4 mail truck assault on El Al B-747 in Paris, escape to Iraq

1977 President Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (Tokyo Rose)

1981 US and Iran sign agreement to release 52 American hostages

1983 Klaus Barbie, SS chief of Lyon in Nazi-France, arrested in Bolivia

1986 Spain recognizes Israel

1993 Israel recognizes PLO as no longer criminal

1/19

[Cap. Teancum]

1871 - Battle of Saint Quentin. French attempt to relieve besieged Paris failed.

http://uk.geocities.com/fpw1870/stquentinreport.html (In French)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_..._Quentin_(1871)

1918 - Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles between the Red Guards and the White Guard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Civil_War

1945 - World War II: Soviet forces liberate ghetto of Łódź. Out of 230,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived Nazi occupation.

1946 - General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.

1961 - Outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower cautions incoming President John F. Kennedy that Laos is "the key to the entire area of Southeast Asia," and might even require the direct intervention of U.S. combat troops.

Fearing that the fall of Laos to the communist Pathet Lao forces might have a domino effect in Southeast Asia, President Kennedy sent a carrier task force to the Gulf of Siam in April 1961. However, he decided not to intervene in Laos with U.S. troops and in June 1961, he sent representatives to Geneva to work out a solution to the crisis. In 1962, an agreement was signed that called for the neutrality of Laos and set up a coalition government to run the country. By this time, Kennedy had turned his attention to South Vietnam, where a growing insurgency threatened to topple the pro-western government of Ngo Dinh Diem.

Kennedy had already sent combat advisers to the South Vietnamese army and this commitment expanded over time. By the time Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, he had overseen the assignment of over 17,000 U.S. advisers to South Vietnam.

1968 - "Sky Soldiers" from the 173rd Airborne Brigade begin Operation McLain with a reconnaissance-in-force operation in the Central Highlands. The purpose of this operation was to find and destroy the communist base camps in the area in order to promote better security for the province. The operation ended on January 31, 1970, with 1,042 enemy casualties.
More on this operation can be checked at:

http://www.flyarmy.org/panel/battle/68060842.HTM

http://www.flyarmy.org/panel/battle/68012000.HTM

http://www.frontiernet.net/~flewhuey...y/192_68h1.htm

http://members.aol.com/e46piodet/fb173n.htm (with music)

[Leatherneck]

United States Marine Corps History


January 20

1902
(Samar)
Major Littleton W.T. Waller executes 11 Filipinos for alleged treachery associated with his failed expedition.

1918
(Force Structure)
The 1st Machine Gun Battalion is redesignated the 6th Machine Gun Battalion.

1942
(Commandants)
Legislation authorizes the promotion of Commandant Holcomb to lieutenant general, the first Marine of that rank.

1943
(Guadalcanal)
The 6th Marines and the 2nd Marine Division artillery are joined with Army elements to form the CAM (Composite Army-Marine) Division. This organization participates in attacks designed to destroy the remaining enemy forces in western Guadalcanal. The operation continues through 8 February, when American forces reach Tassafaronga Point.

(Force Structure)
MAG-24 departs California for Ewa Field.

1945
(Carrier Air)
Marine Lieutenant William McGill from (USS) Essex shoots down three Japanese aircraft as the U.S. fleet exits the South China Sea.

1960
(Training)
BLT 1/5 participates in SNOWFLEX II-60 at the Cold Weather Training Center, Bridgesport, California. The excerise lasts until 11 February.

1961
(Congo)
Elements of the Solant Amity task force assist in famine relief work at Matad, unloading supplies by helicopter from Hermitage (LSD-34).

(Civil Support)
400 Marines from Camp Pendleton help fight brush fires in Orange Country, California.

1962
(Vietnam)
CINCPAC authorizes MAAG advisors to accompany their Vietnamese units into combat. Soon after, President Kennedy authorizes the advisors to return fire if fired upon.

1966
(Force Structure)
President Johnson requests additional funds from Congress to add a fourth active-duty division to the Corps.

1968
(Khe Sanh)
Company I, 3/26 kills an estimated 100 NVA and loses seven killed and 35 wounded in an attempt to clear Hill 881 North. The company is withdrawn after an NVA lieutenant comes into the main perimeter and reveals plans for a major assault beginning in the next few days.

1981
(Iran)
The 52 American hostages held by Iran for 444 days are freed.

1991
(Operation Desert Storm)
I MEF begins conducting artillery raids againsts Iraqi forces in Kuwait.

Semper Fi!
(c) USMC: A Complete History by Marine Corps Association

[Admiral]

Born...

1716 King Charles III (Carlos III) of Naples (1732-1759) and of Spain (1759-88)

1732 Richard H Lee, U.S. farmer, politician, signed Declaration of Independence

1763 Theobald Wolfe Tone, Irish patriot

1812 Ralph Pomeroy Buckland, Bvt Major Gen Union volunteers, d 1892

1813 Jacon Gartner Lauman, Bvt Major General, Union volunteers, d 1867

1831 Pieter J Joubert, Boer General

1883 Bertram Home Ramsay, English Admiral/Commander Allied Naval Forces (WWII)

1930 Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, USAF/Astronaut, 2nd man to stand on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, also flew Gemini 12

1948 Jerry Ross, Indiana, Lt Col USAF/Astronaut, STS 61B, 27, 37, 55, 74,sk:88

1948 Anatoly Shcharansky, Soviet human rights activist/émigré

1951 Magomed Omarovich Tolboyev, Russian Cosmonaut

1955 Joe Doherty, Ireland, IRA

Died...

842 Theophilus, Byzantine Kaiser (Emperor) (829-42)

882 Louis II/III the Younger, King of Germany (876-82)

1479 King John II of Aragon and Navarra

1612 Rudolf II of Habsburg, German/Holy Roman Emperor (1576-1612)

1639 Sultan Mustafa I of Turkey (1622-23)

1666 Anna of Austria, Queen of France/daughter of Philip III, at 64

1745 Charles VII Albert, German/Holy Roman Emperor

1819 Carlos IV, desposed King of Spain (1788-1808), at 70

1862 Felix Zollicoffer, Brig Gen, C.S.A., KIA after mistakenly riding into Union lines

1891 David Kalakahua, Emperor of Hawaii

1936 King George V of Great Britain (1910-36), at 70

1948 Mahatma Gandhi, assassinated

1992 Muhammad Abd al-Khaliq Hassuna, Sec-Gen of Arab League (1952-72)

Event...

1265 1st English Parliament called into session by Earl of Leicester

1320 Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes King of Poland

1356 Scottish King Edward Baliol resigns

1513 Christian II succeeds Johan I as Danish/Norwegian King

1613 Peace of Knärod ends War of Kalmar between Denmark and Sweden

1667 Treaty of Andrussovo: ends 13 year war between Poland and Russia

1783 Great Britain and the United States sign an armistice ending fighting in the War of Independence.

1789 British troops under Lord Chelmsford set camp at Isandlwana

1798 Michele Pezza -- Fra Diavolo -- joins the Neapolitan Army, "or else."

1799 Three Days of Naples begin: Citizens fight French invaders

1800 Bonaparte's sister Carolina marries Joachim Murat

1840 Dutch King Willem II crowned

1841 China cedes Hong Kong to the British

1860 Dutch troops conquer Watampone in Celebes

1866 Prim's Insurrection in Spain ends

1887 US Senate approves the lease of Pearl Harbor as a naval base

1903 Theordore Roosevelt issues Executive Order placing Midway Islands under jurisdiction of the Navy Department.

1914 USN opens a school for aviators at Pensacola, Fla.

1921 Turkey declared in remnants of Ottoman Empire

1921 British submarine K5 leaves with man and mouse

1925 U.S.S.R. and Japan sign treaty of Peking, Seychelles back to U.S.S.R.

1936 Edward VIII succeeds British King George V

1939 Hitler proclaims to German parliament to exterminate all European Jews

1940 United States protests British treatment of American shipping in the Mediterranean.

1940 U.S. freighter Examelia is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities; passenger liner Washington, bound for Genoa, is detained only a few hours before being allowed to proceed.

1942 Second Marine Brigade arrives at Pago Pago, Samoa, in transports Lurline, Matsonia, and Monterey, along with cargo ship Jupiter and ammunition ship Lassen, to protect that portion of the important lifeline to Australia. Cover for the operation is provided by TF 8 formed around carrier USS Enterprise and TF 17 formed around carrier USS Yorktown. The two carrier task forces then set course for the Japanese-held Marshalls and Gilberts to carry out the initial raids on the enemy's defensive perimeter.

1942 Motor torpedo boat PT-31, damaged by grounding the day before, is burned by crew to prevent capture, 14°45'N, 120°13'E.

1942 Submarine S-36 is damaged when she runs aground on Taka Bakang Reef, Makassar Strait, Celebes, N.E.I., 04°57'N, 118°31'E.

1942 Destroyer USS Edsall and Australian minesweeper HMAS Deloraine sink Japanese submarine I-124 off Darwin, Australia.

1942 Japanese gunboat Aso Maru and auxiliary minesweeper No.52 Banshu Maru are sunk by mines, Subic Bay, Luzon, P.I., 14°45'N, 120°17'E.

1942 Japanese merchant storeship Sendai Maru is damaged by unknown cause off mouth of Davao Gulf.

1942 Japanese convoy is reported in Makassar Strait, bound for Balikpapan, Borneo

1942 Japanese 55th Div invades Burma from central Thailand.

1942 The Bismarcks: Japanese aircraft carriers raid Rabaul and Kavieng

1942 Nazi officials hold notorious Wannsee conference in Berlin deciding on "final solution" calling for extermination of Europe's Jews

1943 Submarine USS Silversidess encounters Section C of Japanese Solomons reinforcement convoy, and sinks army transport Meiu Maru and irreparably damages army transport Surabaya Maru, 286 miles from Truk, 03°52'N, 153°26'E. Submarine chaser Ch 11 and gunboat No.2 Choan Maru rescue survivors; destroyer IJN Asagumo arrives from Truk and scuttles Surabaya Maru

1943 First destroyer escort type ship, USS Brennan, is commissioned at Mare Island, California, Navy Yard.

1943 German planes attack United Kingdom-bound convoy MKS 6 off coast of Algeria; U.S. freighter Walt Whitman is torpedoed at 36°55'N, 03°07'E. Four sailors of the 17-man Armed Guard are blown overboard by the explosion but are recovered by an escort vessel within a quarter-hour. There are no casualties and the ship ultimately reaches Algiers under her own power.

1943 U.S. tanker Brilliant departs St. John's, Newfoundland, under tow, bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, but breaks up in storm

1943 Papua: Japanese resistance on the Sanananda front collapses.

1943 Guadalcanal: 25th Infantry Div tightens its hold on the Gifu.

1944 Submarine USS Batfish attacks Japanese convoy off southern Honshu, sinking transport Hidaka Maru south of Shiono Misaki, 31°28'N, 134°52'E.

1944 Submarine USS Gar attacks Japanese convoy on the New Guinea-to-Palau route, sinking army cargo ship K_y_ Maru about 50 miles south-southwest of Palau, 06°40'N, 134°17'E.

1944 Submarine USS Seadragon damages Japanese stores ship Irako northwest of Truk, 08°04'N, 152°40'E.

1944 Submarine USS Tinosa lands men and equipment in northeast Borneo.

1944 USAAF B-25s sink transport Ogashima Maru at Namu Atoll, Marshalls, 08°07'N, 168°00'E.

1944 USAAF planes sink Japanese dredge Jintsu Maru at 03°04'S, 142°10'E.

1944 Tank landing ship LST-228 sinks after running aground off the Azores, 38°39'N, 27°12'W.

1944 Burma: Allies prepare major offensive to open the "Burma Road".

1944 The Battle of Berlin is resumed by Bomber Command, and the RAF & No.6 Group, RCAF, join in the 759-bomber raid against the German capital The raid resulted in dropping 2300 ton of bombs.

1945 1st truck convoy on the re-opened Burma Road, still in need of repair.

1947 Brigadier General Edwin K Wright, USA, becomes deputy director of CIA

1948 Establishment of U.S. Persian Gulf Area Command (later changed to Middle East Force in August 1948).

1950 Suriname becomes independent part in Realm of Netherlands

1952 British army occupies Ismailiya, Suez Canal Zone

1955 1st nuclear submarine USS Nautilus launched at Groton, Conn.

1965 Generalissimo Francisco Franco meets with Jewish representatives to discuss legitimizing Jewish communities in Spain

1965 JPL proposes modified Apollo flight to fly around Mars and return

1977 George H W Bush, youngest WWII Naval aviator, ends term as 11th director of CIA, later becomes President & father of a President

1981 Admiral Stansfield Turner, USN (Ret), ends term as 12th director of CIA

1981 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days freed as Ronald Reagan becomes US President

1986 Miltary coup in Lesotho under Maj-Gen Lekhanya and PM Leabua Jonathan

1991 US Patriot missiles begin shooting down Iraqi Scud missiles

1991 Iraq pardes captured Allied airmen on TV

1993 Admiral Studeman, serves as acting director of CIA

1/20

[Cap. Teancum]

1777 - Battle of Millstone, New Jersey.

http://www.doublegv.com/ggv/battles/millstone.html

1863 - Mud March Begins.

http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/battle...630120-22.html

http://history.enotes.com/american-c...ides-mud-march

1918 - Goeben and Breslau battle the Allies in the Aegean.

http://www.worldwar1.com/sfgb.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Goeben

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Breslau

1944 - The Battle of Bloody (Rapido) River.

http://www.military.cibmedia.com/mai...ctcode=TX-8527

[Leatherneck]

United States Marine Corps History



January 21

1918
(Azores)
The 1st Marine Aeronautic Company arrives at the naval base at Ponta Delgado, Azores, and undertakes antisubmarine patrol with its 12 seaplanes and six flying boats.

1944
(Force Structure)The 5th Marine Division is officially activated at Camp Pendleton.

1949
(China)
VMF-211 departs China. The fighter squadron transfers to carrier Rendova (CVE-114) and remains in the western Pacific.

1951
(Korea)
The 1st Korean Marine Corps (KMC) Regiment is attached to the 1st Marine Division.

1954
(Mishap)
Twenty-seven Marines and two corpsmen of the 4th Marines drown when their landing craft is struck by a ship and sinks in icy waters off Inchon, Korea.

1958
(Venezuela)
When mob violence erupts in Caracas during the overthrow of dictator Perez Jimenez, a provisional company of Marine Barracks Guantanamo embarks on Des Moines (CA-134) and deploys off the coast to protect American interests. It remains offshore for a week.

1960
(Space)
Helicopters from MAG-26 are instrumental in recovering the nose cone of the fourth Project Mercury space shot, from Wallops Island, Virginia.

1968
(Vietnam)
General Westmoreland orders a temporary halt to work on the McNamara Line, the strongpoint barrier system along the DMZ. The 4th Marines begins Operation Lancaster II around Camp Carroll. The 3rd Marines begins Operation Osceola around the base at Quang Tri.

(Khe Sanh)
Company K, 3/26 defeats a Communist night attack on Hill 861. The NVA begins a bombardment of the combat base just before dawn. The Marines will receive incoming shells and rockets every day for the next 77 days. One shell sets of the main ammunition dump, raining exploding ordnance over much of the perimeter.

2003
(Operation Iraqi Freedom)
The remaining elements of 1 MEF and some reinforcing elements of II MEF begin flowing into Kuwait by air to marry up with material from the MPF squadrons.

Semper Fi!

(c) USMC: A Complete History by Marine Corps Association

[Admiral]

Born...

1338 King Charles V the Wise of France (1364-80)

1771 Arnold A Buyskes, Dutch Vice-Admiral/colonial director

1813 John C Fremont, soldier, [Pathfinder], map maker/explorer, western U.S., /Gov, AZ, U.S.

1821 John C. Breckinridge, 14th U.S. VP, (1857-61), Maj General, C.S.A.

1824 Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, Lt General 2nd Corps, ANV, C.S.A.

1829 King Oscar II Frederik of Sweden (1872-1907) and Norway (1872-1905)

1855 John M Browning, inventor of fine firearms

1867 Maxime Weygard, French General/Gov-Gen, Algeria

1885 Umberto Nobile, Italian General and Aeronaut

1930 Valentin Ignatyevich Filatyev, Russia, Cosmonaut

1950 Joseph R Tanner, Astronaut, STS 66, 82, sk: 97

Died...

879 Boudouin with the Iron Arm, Earl of Flanders

1774 Sultan Mustafa III of Turkey, at 56

1793 Citizen Capet (Louis XVI), beheaded by revolutionaries

1924 Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin, Russian leader, intellectually-inclined mass murderer, of a stroke at 53

1944 Heinrich zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, German Major/pilot, shot down

Event...

1189 Philip II, Henry II & Richard Lion-Hearted initiate 3rd Crusade

1604 Tsar Ivan IV defeats the False tsar Dmitri

1664 Count Miklos of Zrinyi sets out to battle Turkish invasion army

1705 The French launch a land assault against St. John's (Nfld.), following a forced march from their settlement at Placentia. The 450 attackers eventually withdraw, satisfying themselves with burning the town as they leave.

1732 Russia and Persia sign Treaty of Riascha

1793 Prussia and Russia sign partition treaty (Poland divided)

1824 Ashanti defeat British at Accra, West Africa

1900 The Canadian Postal Contingent leaves Halifax for service with Dominion troops in the South Africa War.

1903 Militia Act of 1903 creates the modern National Guard

1910 British-Russian military intervention in Persia

1918 New York Philharmonic refuses to play music by living German composers

1932 U.S.S.R. and Finland discard non-attack treaty

1940 Auxiliary USS Bear follows leads in the ice spotted on the 19th; the ship's Barkley-Grow floatplane flies over the northern limits of the Edsel Ford Mountains.

1940 Minesweeper USS Penguin transfers 24 survivors of Japanese fishing schooner No. 1 Seiho Maru, stranded off the southeast coast of Guam, M.I., on 15 January, to Japanese freighter Saipan Maru.

1940 British light cruiser HMS Liverpool stops Japanese passenger liner Asama Maru 35 miles off Nozaki, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and removes 21 Germans from the ship. All but nine are naval reservists, survivors of the scuttled passenger liner Columbus; the nine civilians are released. The incident further strains relations between Great Britain and Japan.

1940 U.S. freighter Nishmaha is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities

1941 British and Australian troops attack Tobruk

1942 In response to the movement of the Japanese convoy sighted the previous day in Makassar Strait, a U.S. task force, consisting of light cruisers USS Boise (flagship) and USS Marblehead and four destroyers sails from Koepang, Timor, to engage it. En route, however, USS Boise steams across an uncharted pinnacle in Sape Strait, N.E.I., and suffers sufficient damage to eliminate her from the force. Turbine trouble limits USS Marblehead (the ship to which Glassford transfers his flag) to only 15 knots, so the Admiral orders the destroyers ahead.

1942 Submarine S-36, damaged by grounding on 20 January, is scuttled by her crew in Makassar Strait.

1942 British CV HMS Indomitable & TF arrives at Addu Atoll, in the Indian Ocean

1942 Bataan: Heavy fighting continues

1942 Malaya: the Japanese begin to dislocate the Johore line.

1942 Rabaul and Kavieng bombed by Japanese aircraft.

1942 Tito's partisans occupy Foca

1943 Guadalcanal: U.S. troops pause to resupply.

1943 Rear Admiral Robert H. English, Commander Submarines, Pacific Fleet, is killed in the accidental crash of the Pan American Airways Martin 130 Philippine Clipper in California.

1943 Submarine USS Gato encounters Section B of Japanese Solomons reinforcement convoy and damages army transport Kenkon Maru just east of Kieta, Bougainville, 06°12'S, 155°51'E; escorts scuttle the ship to hasten her sinking.

1943 Submarine USS Pollack sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Asama Maru off Kushiro, Japan, 42°41'N, 145°37'E.

1943 USAAF B-24 damages Japanese light cruiser Natori off Ambon.

1943 Naval Base and Naval Auxiliary Air Facility, Corinto, Nicaragua, are established.

1943 Papua: Allied troops mop up Japanese remnants in the Sanananda area.

1943 Soviet forces recapture Worosjilowsk

1943 Soviet forces reconquer Gumrak airport near Stalingrad

1943 Vice-Admiral Cunningham appointed British Admiral of the Fleet

1944 Northern Burma: Chinese New 38th Division advances slowly.

1944 PBY-5As, flying from Attu, bomb and photograph Japanese installations in the Kurabu Zaki area, south Paramushiru, and in the Musashi Wan-Otomaye area, south coast of Paramushiru; PV-1s bomb and photograph enemy installations in the north Paramushiru area.

1944 Submarine USS Seahorse attacks Japanese convoy on the Palau-Hollandia track, sinking army transport Ikoma Maru and cargo ship Yasukuni Maru 280 miles east- southeast of Palau, 03°19'N, 137°02'E.

1944 British submarine HMS Tally Ho sinks Japanese cargo ship No.67 Daigen Maru at 03°15'N, 100°40'E.

1944 British troops land on Ramree, near coast of Burma

1944 447 German bombers attack London

1944 649 British bombers attack Magdeburg

1945 TF 38 attacks Japanese shipping and airfields on Formosa, and in the Pescadores, as well as in Sakashima Gunto and on Okinawa in the Ryukyus. Japanese planes make concerted counterattacks on the task force ships; kamikazes damage carrier USS Ticonderoga, 22°40'N, 122°57'E and destroyer USS Maddox, 23°06'N, 122°43'E; small carrier USS Langley is damaged by bomb, 22°40'N, 122°51'E. Accidental explosion of bombs carried by TBM (VT 7) damages carrier USS Hancock, 22°40'N, 122°30'E.

1945 TF 38 planes sink fleet tankers Eiho Maru and Manjo Maru; cargo ship Kuroshio Maru; army cargo ships Enoura Maru, Asaka Maru and 2 Nichiyo Maru and Teifu Maru; army tankers Shincho Maru and 3 Hoei Maru and 5 Hoei Maru, and Yamazawa Maru; fishing boat Brunei Maru; cargo vessels Daijo Maru and Yayoi Maru; and damage destroyers IJN Kashi and IJN Sugi, landing ships T.114 and T.143, merchant cargo ship Yulin Maru and water supply vessel Nikko Maru off Takao, Formosa; planes from carrier USS Yorktown and small carrier USS Cabot sink merchant tanker Munakata Maru at Keelung; TF 38 planes damage destroyer IJN Harukaze off Mako.

1945 USAAF B-24s (14th Air Force) sink Japanese salvage vessel Haruta Maru at Hong Kong, 22°20'N, 114°10'E.

1945 Submarine USS Tautog sinks Japanese merchant tanker Zuiun Maru, 33°33'N, 129°33'E;

1945 Japanese army cargo ship Shoshin Maru is sunk by gunfire, 23°48'N, 125°16'E.

1945 Landing craft LCT-253 founders and sinks in heavy weather en route to Tarawa.

1945 U.S. freighter George Hawley, in convoy TBC 43, is torpedoed and irreparably damaged by German submarine U-1199 off the Isle of Wight, 49°53'N, 05°44'W.

1945 Burma: British amphibious landing near Ramree

1945 TF 38 a/c raid Japanese on Okinawa and Formosa, downing 100 a/c

1947 The last of the Canadian troops to be re-patriated reach Halifax.

1960 Little Joe 4 suborbital Mercury test reaches 16 km

1961 USS George Washington completes first operational voyage of fleet ballistic missile submarine staying submerged 66 days

1961 Portuguese rebels seize cruise ship Santa Maria

1968 B-52 bomber with nuclear bomb crashes in Greenland

1977 President Jimmy Carter pardons almost all Vietnam War draft evaders

1985 Bomb attack on Borobudur temple in Java

1986 Bomb attack in East-Beirut, 27 killed

1988 US accepts immigration of 30,000 U.S. - Vietnamese children

1/21

[Cap. Teancum]

1506 - The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards entered the Vatican.

1720 - Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.

1738 - On this day 1738, Ethan Allen, future Revolutionary War hero and key founder of the Republic of Vermont, is born in Litchfield, Connecticut.

Allen’s father, Joseph, intended Ethan to attend Yale University, but his death in 1755 precluded that option. Instead, Ethan, the oldest of seven children, took over the family landholdings. Two years later, Ethan made his first visit to the New Hampshire Grants, land that is now within the state of Vermont, as part of the Litchfield County militia during the Seven Years’ War.

Having acquired land in the area, in 1770 Ethan Allen became the colonel-commandant of the Green Mountain Boys, a militia founded in what is now Bennington, Vermont, to defend the New Hampshire Grants. In an inter-colonial fracas, both New Englanders, like Allen, and colonial New Yorkers claimed land in the Green Mountains. Although Allen’s vigilantes took no lives, they were willing to use lesser forms of physical intimidation to scare New Yorkers into leaving the area.

Allen and his “boys” proposed political independence for their district between the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain before the American Revolution caused their attention to shift towards independence from Britain. In 1775, Allen and the Green Mountain Boys captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British in a joint effort with Colonel Benedict Arnold, who had been commissioned by Massachusetts and Connecticut to stage an attack to prevent British forces from marching on Boston. The same force took control of Crown Point, New York, the following day without facing any opposition. The two easy victories garnered for the Patriots much-needed cannon that they then used to drive the British from Boston. Later in the year, the British captured Allen during the botched Patriot attempt to seize Quebec.

In 1777, Vermonters formally declared their independence from Britain and their fellow colonies when they created the Republic of Vermont. After the war concluded, the independent Vermont could not join the new republic as a state, because New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut all claimed the territory as their own. In response, frustrated Vermonters, including Allen, went so far as to negotiate with the Canadian governor, Frederick Haldimand, about possibly rejoining the British empire.

Ethan Allen died on his farm along the Winooski River in the still independent Republic of Vermont on February 12, 1789. Two years later, Vermont finally managed to join the new republic as its 14th state.

1839 - Battle of Ghuzni. Without artillery, British blow up main gate and storm the fort.

1861 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.

1863 - Two Confederate ships drive away two Union ships as the Rebels recapture Sabine Pass, Texas, and open an important port for the Confederacy.

Sabine Pass lay at the mouth of the Sabine River along the gulf coast of Texas. The Confederates constructed a major fort there in 1861. In September 1862, a Union force captured the fort and, shortly after, the port of Galveston to the southwest. The Yankees now controlled much of the Texas coast. In November, General John Bankhead Magruder arrived to change Southern fortunes in the area. Magruder was an early Confederate hero in Virginia, and now he was assigned the difficult task of expelling the Federals from Sabine Pass and Galveston.

Magruder's efforts paid quick dividends. He recaptured Galveston and then turned his attention to Sabine Pass. The decks of two ships, the Bell and the Uncle Ben, were stacked with cotton bales. Sharpshooters were placed behind the bales and the ships steamed towards two Union ships, the Morning Light and the Velocity. Some of the sharpshooters became seasick and had to be removed, but the expedition continued. The Confederates chased the Yankee ships into open water, and the sharpshooters injured many Union gunners. After a one-hour battle, both Union ships surrendered. Magruder's victory reopened the Texas coast for Confederate shipping.

The Union tried to recapture Sabine Pass later in the year, but the effort was thwarted when less than 50 Confederates inside the fort at Sabine Pass held off a much larger Union force.

1864 - The Tauranga Campaign starts during the Maori Wars.

1954 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, then the First Lady of the United States.

1958 - The last Fokker C.X in military service, the FAF FK-111 target tower, crashed killing the pilot and winch-operator.

1968 - One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins at Khe Sanh, 14 miles below the DMZ and six miles from the Laotian border.

Seized and activated by the U.S. Marines a year earlier, the base, which had been an old French outpost, was used as a staging area for forward patrols and was a potential launch point for contemplated future operations to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. The battle began on this date with a brisk firefight involving the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines and a North Vietnamese battalion entrenched between two hills northwest of the base. The next day North Vietnamese forces overran the village of Khe Sanh and North Vietnamese long-range artillery opened fire on the base itself, hitting its main ammunition dump and detonating 1,500 tons of explosives.

An incessant barrage kept Khe Sanh's Marine defenders pinned down in their trenches and bunkers. Because the base had to be resupplied by air, the American high command was reluctant to put in any more troops and drafted a battle plan calling for massive artillery and air strikes. During the 66-day siege, U.S. planes, dropping 5,000 bombs daily, exploded the equivalent of five Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs in the area. The relief of Khe Sanh, called Operation Pegasus, began in early April as the 1st Cavalry (Airmobile) and a South Vietnamese battalion approached the base from the east and south, while the Marines pushed westward to re-open Route 9.

The siege was finally lifted on April 6 when the cavalrymen linked up with the 9th Marines south of the Khe Sanh airstrip. In a final clash a week later, the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines drove enemy forces from Hill 881 North. Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, contended that Khe Sanh played a vital blocking role at the western end of the DMZ, and asserted that if the base had fallen, North Vietnamese forces could have outflanked Marine defenses along the buffer zone. Various statements in the North Vietnamese Communist Party newspaper suggested that Hanoi saw the battle as an opportunity to re-enact its famous victory at Dien Bien Phu, when the communists had defeated the French in a climactic decisive battle that effectively ended the war between France and the Viet Minh.

There has been much controversy over the battle at Khe Sanh, as both sides claimed victory. The North Vietnamese, although they failed to take the base, claimed that they had tied down a lot of U.S. combat assets that could have been used elsewhere in South Vietnam. This is true, but the North Vietnamese failed to achieve the decisive victory at Khe Sanh that they had won against the French. For their part, the Americans claimed victory because they had held the base against the North Vietnamese onslaught. It was a costly battle for both sides. The official casualty count for the Battle of Khe Sanh was 205 Marines killed in action and over 1,600 wounded (this figure did not include the American and South Vietnamese soldiers killed in other battles in the region). The U.S. military headquarters in Saigon estimated that the North Vietnamese lost between 10,000 and 15,000 men in the fighting at Khe Sanh.