This Day In Military History...

[Leatherneck]

United States Marine Corps History



January 22

1836
(Seminole War)
Marines from Constellation and sloop St. Louis reinforce Fort Brooke, against expected Seminole attack.

1848
(Mexico)
The Marines in the San Jose mission are besieged by Mexican soliders, but hold on until relieved by naval forces on 15 February.

1925
(China)
Three ships deliver 140 Marines from the Philippines to reinforce those already at Shanghai. The Marines remain until February.

1928
(Nicaragua)
The Eastern Area is established to cover the sparsely inhabited eastern two-thirds of Nicaragua. Its forces come in the following weeks from the Marine detachments of the Special Service Squadron.

1944
(New Britain)
The 1st Marine Division begins aggressive patrolling of the interior of western New Britain.

(European Theater)
U.S. and British army forces make an amphibious assault at Anzio to outflank strong German defenses sout of Rome. They fail to expolit an initial advangtage and become trapped against the coast by enemy counterattcks.

1946
(Force Structure)
Commandant Vandegrift orders the organization of a special infantry brigade at Quantico to stand in readiness for possible expeditionary service in troubled parts of the Caribbean.

1951
(Korea)
VMF(N)-513 begins operating from K-9 in place of grounded VMF-311. China makes its own peace offer, which is rejected by the United States.

1968
(Khe Sanh)
1/9 arrives to reinforce the 26th Marines.

1969
(Operation Dewey Canyon)
The 9th Marines and supporting artillery units are helicoptered into the A Shau Valley for a search and destroy mission.

2003
(Mishap)
Four Marine Corps aviators of HMLA-775 die when their two AH-1W Cobra helicopters collide during night operations in Texas in supposrt of Joint Task Force 6, which provides military assistance to counter-drug efforts along the southern border.

Semper Fi!

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

[Admiral]

Born...

1440 Tsar Ivan III the Great of Russia (1462-1505), conqueror of Lithuania

1655 Geleyn Evertsen, Lt.-Admiral, Zealand

1788 Lord Byron, Volunteer for Greek Liberty

1800 Nat Turner, leader of the "Great Southampton Slave Rebellion"

1826 [Merriwether] Jeff Thompson, Partisan Confederate Army, d. 1876

1858 Frederick Lugard, British Captain/Baron, Congo

1892 Marcel Dassault, [Bloch], French airplane builder

1909 [Sithu] U Thant, Burma, 3rd United Nations Sec-Gen, 1962-72

Died...

1336 Louis III, last Earl of Loon

1552 Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, beheaded for treason

1581 Seerp Galama, Dutch nobleman/military/politician, at 52

1798 Lewis Morris, farmer, signed Declaration of Independence, at 71

1879 Anthony Durnford, British Colonel, KIA

1879 George Shepstone, British political affiliate, KIA

1901 Victoria, [Alexandrine], Britain's Queen (1837-1901), at 81

1973 Lyndon B Johnson, sometime naval officer in 42', VP/President, at 64

1979 Ali Hassan Salameh, [Abu Hassan], killed by car bomb; believed to have helped mastermind massacre of 72' Munich Olympics athletes

1988 Georgi M Malenkov, Russian Premier (1953-55), at 86

1996 Edward Thomas, historian/intelligence expert, dies at 77

Event...

871 Battle at Basing: Danish invasion army defeats Ethelred of Wessex

1371 King Robert II Stuart of Scotland crowned

1510 Jews are expelled from Colmar Germany

1517 Turks conquer Cairo

1528 England & France declare war on Emperor Charles V

1689 Prince Willem III calls English Parliament together, Lord Halifax becomes Speaker of English House of Lords

1690 Iroquois tribes renew allegiance to British against French

1758 Russian troops occupy Königsberg, East Prussia

1760 Battle at Wandewash India: British troops beat French

1771 Spain cedes the Falkland Islands to Britain

1775 Marshal Oscar von Lubomirski expels Jews from Warsaw Poland

1798 Coup of Midderigh

1800 Captain Thomas Tingey ordered to duty as first Superintendent of the Washington Navy Yard

1813 A British force of 560 regulars and Canadian militia (and 28 Newfoundlanders in the Provincial Marine), supported by 600 native allies, defeats an American column of 700 troops at Brownstown (Michigan).

1813 Americans capture Frenchtown, Canada.

1849 British capture Sikh fortress of Multan, along with £5 million in loot

1862 Confederate government raises premium for volunteers from $10 to $20

1863 Union General Ambrose Burnside's "Mud March"

1879 Zulus attack British Army camp in Isandhlwana South Africa

1905 St. Petersburg: "Bloody Sunday" -- Tsarist troops shoot peaceful demonstrators

1918 Ukraine proclaimed a free republic (German puppet)

1924 Baldwin government resigns in England

1925 Albania Republic proclaimed under President Achmed Zogu

1926 Belgian Chief of Staff General Maglinse resigns

1939 Uranium atom 1st split at Columbia University

1940 Joint amphibious exercise concludes in the Monterey, California, area, having afforded the Fleet profitable experience in joint planning. It also demonstrates interservice cooperation.

1940 Light cruiser USS Helena arrives at Buenos Aires, Argentina, on her shakedown cruise.

1940 Rear Admiral Adolphus E. Watson becomes Commandant Fourth Naval District and Commandant Philadelphia Navy Yard in the wake of the death of Rear Admiral Julius C. Townsend on 28 December 1939.

1940 U.S. freighter Excellency is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities; freighter Nishmaha, detained there the previous day, is released.

1941 1st mass killing of Jews in Romania

1941 Heavy cruiser USS Louisville arrives at New York, with $148,342,212.55 in British gold brought from Simonstown, South Africa, to be deposited in American banks.

1941 British and Australian troops capture Tobruk from Italians

1942 Japanese reinforcements land in Subic Bay area.

1942 Japanese airstrikes on & Allied forces evacuate Lae and Salamaua, New Guinea, Rabaul, New Britain

1942 TF 11, formed around carrier USS Lexington, departs Oahu to raid Wake Island.

1942 Destroyers USS Gridley and USS Fanning are damaged in collision 150 miles northwest of American Samoa as TF 8 proceeds toward the Marshalls and Gilberts.

1942 Survey vessel USS Sumner arrives at Bora Bora, Society Islands, and commences survey work at that place

1942 Unarmed U.S. freighter Norvana is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-123 south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. There are no survivors, and pieces of wreckage from the ship when she explodes hit her attacker.

1942 Chiang Kai-shek and Joseph Stilwell order Chinese troops into Burma

1942 Malaya: Heavy fighting on the Johore Line.

1942 Japanese troops begin landings on New Ireland and New Britain

1942 Task Force 6814 (Americal Division) sails from New York for the South Pacific

1943 Joint Chiefs of Staff determine invasion in Sicily for July 10th

1943 Papua: last organized Japanese resistance ends.

1943 Guadalcanal: CAM Division makes sweeping gains on the western coast.

1943 Guadalcanal: 25th Inf Division beats off a nocturnal "Banzai" attack.

1943 Submarine USS Tautog sinks Japanese army cargo ship Yashima Maru (ex-Dutch passenger-cargo ship Mijer), five miles east of Salier Strait, off southern tip of Celebes, N.E.I., 05°40'S, 120°30'E.

1943 USAAF B-17s (5th Air Force) sink Japanese merchant cargo ship Tetsuzan Maru in Rabaul harbor; 30 landing craft on board are lost, 04°15'S, 152°10'E.

1943 U.S. freighter Peter H. Burnett is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-21 about 500 miles east of Newcastle, Australia, 32°54'S, 159°32'E, and abandoned; other than one sailor of the 26-man Armed Guard who dies of injuries received in the explosion, there are no casualties. When I-21 withdraws, the freighter is reboarded

1944 At Midway, efforts to refloat submarine USS Flier succeed, and she is taken in tow by submarine rescue vessel USS Florikan submarine rescue vessel USS Macaw however, remains stranded.

1944 Oiler Cache is torpedoed by Japanese submarine RO-37 about 155 miles southeast of San Cristobal, Solomons, 12°08'S, 164°33'E. Destroyer USS Buchanan then sinks RO 37 about 130 miles east-southeast of San Cristobal, 11°47'S, 164°17'E.

1944 Submarine USS Tinosa attacks Japanese convoy, sinking merchant tankers Seinan Maru and Koshin Maru about 120 miles north of Labuan, Borneo, 07°22'N, 115°05'E.

1944 USAAF B-25s and P-38s attack Japanese shipping in Lorengau harbor, Manus, Admiralties, sinking auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 40, 01°50'S, 147°20'E, and damaging cargo vessel No.3 Kurebame Maru.

1944 Tank landing craft LCT-582 sinks after running aground, Azores.

1944 Elements of the British First Army and U.S. Third Army land on the Italian coast at Anzio, in Operation SHINGLE; naval commander is Rear Admiral Frank K. Lowry. Initial landings progress as scheduled with little opposition, and the troops are landed with small loss. Enemy opposition, however, will mount over the ensuing weeks, and naval gunfire support will prove crucial to troops holding the beachhead. Off Anzio, minesweeper USS Portent (AM-106) is sunk by mine, 41°24'N, 12°44'E; infantry landing craft LCI-20 is sunk by aircraft.

1944 Heavy US air raids on the Admiralty Islands.

1945 TF 38 pounds Japanese shipping, airfields and other installations in the Ryukyus; TF 38 planes sink motor sailships No.1 Iroha Maru and Myooei Maru, and fishing boat No.1 Waei Maru. TF 38 planes also sink cargo vessel Suma Maru in Gima harbor, Kume Island; merchant tankers No.2 Nanko Maru and No.2 Nanshin Maru off Miyako Jima; and merchant cargo ship Hikosan Maru in Toguchi harbor, Okinawa, 26°39'N, 127°53'E. Guardboat No.6 Chitose Maru is sunk, probably by aircraft in Nansei Shoto.

1945 Heavy U.S. air raid on Okinawa

1945 Japanese submarine chaser Ch 42 is damaged by mine off Chichi Jima.

1945 Japanese river gunboat Saga is sunk by aircraft at Hong Kong.

1945 British submarine HMS Spirit sinks Japanese ship Ryushin Maru in Java Sea, 06°02'S, 110°41'E.

1945 US aircraft attack Corregidor Island

1945 Burma highway reopens

1946 US President Truman sets up CIA, Central Intelligence Agency

1951 Fidel Castro ejected from a Winter League game after beaning a batter

1957 Israeli forces withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula

1959 USAF concludes less than 1% of UFO's are unknown objects

1960 French President De Gaulle escaped attempt on life by General Massu

1965 U.S. launches TIROS 9 weather satellite

1968 Apollo 5 launched to Moon; unmanned lunar module tests were conducted on this mission

1969 Orbiting Solar Observatory 5 launched into earth orbit

1973 US, North and South Vietnam and Vietcong sign boundary accord

1975 Landsat 2, an Earth Resources Technology Satellite, launched

1980 Dissidents Andrei Sacharov and Jelena Bonner banished to Gorki

1989 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk U.S.S.R.

1991 The Canadian government announces that it will be sending the First Canadian Field Hospital from its base in Petawawa, Ont., to Saudi Arabia in support of United Nations' efforts against Iraq.

1995 Palestinian bomb attack in Beit Lid Israel, 21-22 killed

[Cap. Teancum]

1506 - The Swiss Guard is founded.

1779 - Famed Tory outlaw Claudius Smith meets his end on the gallows on this day in 1779 in Goshen, New York. In the wake of his death, Patriot civilians hope for relief from guerilla warfare in upstate New York.

Born in Brookhaven, New York, in 1736, Smith moved with his family to Orange County, New York, in 1741. Thought to have fought with Mohawk leader Joseph Brandt as a Tory defender of the crown during the New York campaign of 1777, Smith earned the label “Cowboy of the Ramapos” for his use of guerrilla tactics against Patriot civilians. Smith and his cohorts stole livestock and ambushed travelers on the Orange Turnpike between Canada and New York from the cave now memorialized as “Claudius Smith’s Den” in Orange County’s Harriman State Park.

Smith managed to escape justice until his gang murdered Patriot Major Nathaniel Strong in the course of a robbery. Patriot Governor George Clinton then issued a warrant for his arrest, offering a $1,200 reward for the capture of Smith, who was described as “7 feet tall” in his wanted poster. Captured on British-controlled Long Island by vigilantes in October, he and other members of his gang, including one of his sons, were returned to Patriot territory and hung near their home turf in Goshen.

Despite his less than savory exploits, Smith earned a reputation as a “robin hood” because he targeted the wealthy but was said to be generous with the poor. Because his mother reputedly warned him that, unless he reformed, he would “die with his boots on,” Smith removed his footwear before he was hanged. Two of Smith’s three sons belonged to his gang--one was hanged with his father; another took over the gang upon his death.

Legend has it that Claudius Smith’s skull was filled with mortar and included in the edifice of the Goshen Court House.

1824 - Ashantis crush British forces in the Gold Coast.

1879 - Battle of Rorke's Drift in the Zulu War begins. 137 British hold off several thousand Zulus. The garrison was awarded eleven Victoria Crosses and nine Distinguished Conduct Medals.

1917 - World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.

1927 - Confederate General John A. McCausland dies in Mason, West Virginia. He lived for over 50 years after the war and remained an unreconstructed rebel at the time of his death.

Nicknamed "Tiger John," McCausland was born to Irish immigrants in St. Louis and moved to Virginia as an adolescent. He attended the Virginia Military Institute and graduated in 1857. When the war began, he organized an artillery regiment and formed the 36th Virginia from the western part of the state. Now a colonel, McCausland spent most of the war in the mountainous region of western Virginia. On May 9, 1864, McCausland distinguished himself at the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain. For the victory, he was promoted to brigadier general.

Two bold actions defined McCausland's career. First, in June 1864, he drove a larger Union force commanded by General David Hunter from Lynchburg, Virginia, earning him the undying gratitude of the city. He then joined General Jubal Early's invasion of Maryland in July. Early dispatched McCausland and his cavalry to Hagerstown to exact a $200,000 ransom from city officials. McCausland rode into Hagerstown and delivered his hand-written note to authorities. Unfortunately, he accidentally omitted a zero--only $20,000 was secured. McCausland then moved on to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and pulled his second notorious feat--he tried to extort more than $500,000 from Chambersburg, and he burned the city when he did not receive the money.

McCausland joined General Robert E. Lee for the Confederates' last desperate attempt to escape in early 1865. He broke through the Union lines near Appomattox and surrendered later at Charleston, West Virginia, after many Rebels had laid down their arms. After the war, McCausland, facing an indictment for the burning of Chambersburg, fled to Canada, Britain, and then Mexico. He returned to the U.S. in 1868 after he was told that he would not be prosecuted for his war crimes. He settled on a farm in West Virginia and lived as a recluse for the rest of his life. He stubbornly defended the Confederate cause until his death. He died 13 months before Felix Robertson, the last surviving Confederate general.

1964 - The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff inform Defense Secretary Robert McNamara that they "are wholly in favor of executing the covert actions against North Vietnam."

President Johnson had recently approved Oplan 34A, provocative operations to be conducted by South Vietnamese forces (supported by the United States) to gather intelligence and conduct sabotage to destabilize the North Vietnamese regime. Actual operations would begin in February and involve raids by South Vietnamese commandos operating under American orders against North Vietnamese coastal and island installations. Although American forces were not directly involved in the actual raids, U.S. Navy ships were on station to conduct electronic surveillance and monitor North Vietnamese defense responses under another program called Operation De Soto.

Although the Joint Chiefs agreed with the president's decision on these operations, they further advocated even stronger measures, advising McNamara: "... We believe, however, that it would be idle to conclude that these efforts will have a decisive effect on the communist determination to support the insurgency, and it is our view that we must therefore be prepared fully to undertake a much higher level of activity." Among their recommendations were "aerial bombing of key North Vietnamese targets," and "commit[ment of] additional U.S. forces, as necessary, in support of the combat actions within South Vietnam."

President Johnson at first resisted this advice, but in less than a year, U.S. airplanes were bombing North Vietnam, and shortly thereafter the first U.S. combat troops began arriving in South Vietnam.

1968 - Operating in the two northernmost military regions, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) launches two major operations. In the first operation, conducted by the 1st Cavalry Division in Quang Tri and Thua Thien provinces, south of the Demilitarized Zone, "First Team" units launched Operation Jeb Stuart. This operation was a large-scale reinforcement of the Marines in the area and focused on clearing enemy Base Areas 101 and 114. Jeb Stuart was terminated on March 31 with enemy casualties listed at 3,268; U.S. casualties were 291 killed in action and 1,735 wounded. On the same day that Jeb Stuart was launched, other 1st Cavalry units launched Operation Pershing II in the coastal lowlands in Binh Dinh Province. This operation, designed to clear enemy forces from the area, lasted until February 29.

1982 - In a revival of the diplomacy "linkages" that were made famous by Henry Kissinger during the Nixon years, the administration of President Ronald Reagan announces that further progress on arms talks will be linked to a reduction of Soviet oppression in Poland. The U.S. ploy was but one more piece of the increasingly complex jigsaw puzzle of nuclear arms reduction.

Faced with a growing anti-nuke movement in the United States and abroad, and having drawn criticism for some off-the-cuff remarks about "winning" a nuclear war, President Reagan called for negotiations on reducing intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) in Europe. These talks began in November 1981 but quickly bogged down as both the U.S. and Soviet negotiators charged each other with acting in bad faith. Almost immediately, both nations began to increase their nuclear arsenals in Europe. Some speculated that neither side was truly seeking arms control, and the reaction of building up arms as a result caused a firestorm of protest in several western European nations.

Perhaps in an effort to divert attention from the failed talks, the Reagan administration in January 1982 linked further arms negotiations to Soviet actions in Poland, indicating that the U.S. would not engage in further talks until Soviet repression in Poland was eased. In that nation, the Soviet-backed communist government imposed martial law in late 1981 in an effort to destroy the growing Solidarity movement among Poland's labor unions. Claiming that arms reduction talks could not be "insulated from other events," the Reagan administration declared, "The continuing repression of the Polish people-in which Soviet responsibility is clear-obviously constitutes a major setback to the prospects for constructive East-West relations."

It was unclear whether the U.S. stance had any direct impact on the ongoing INF talks. Domestic U.S. political opposition to any arms control agreement with the Soviets, combined with intense mutual distrust between the Soviet Union and the United States during much of the Reagan administration, were much more important factors in the delay in finally securing an agreement. The INF agreement did eventually get signed in 1987, when new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev broke the ice for more fruitful talks.

1991 - The famous SAS patrol, codenamed Bravo Two Zero, begins its mission in Iraq.

1992 - Rebel forces occupy Zaire's national radio station in Kinshasa and broadcast a demand for the government's resignation.

[Admiral]

January 23

Born...

1730 Joseph Hewes, US merchant, signed Declaration of Independence

1828 Calvin Edward Pratt, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1896

1832 Edouard Manet, French impressionist ("The Kearsarge vs. The Alabama")

1833 John Randolph Chambliss Jr, Brigadier General, CSA, d. 1864

1899 Humphrey Bogart, steersman, USS Leviathan, WW I, actor (Casablanca)

1914 Napoleon L Bonaparte French pretender to the throne

1930 William Reid Pogue, Colonel USAF/Astronaut (Skylab 4)

1942 Ivan Ivanovich Bachurin, Cosmonaut

Died...

1002 Otto III, German King/Emperor 983/996-1002, at 21

1356 Margaretha of Bavaria, Empress of Germany

1516 King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Sicily

1800 Edward Rutledge, US attorney, signed Declaration of Independence, at 50

1806 William Pitt, the Younger, British PM (1783-1806), at 46

1813 George Clymer, US merchant signed Declaration of Independence, at 73

1838 Arnold A Buyskes, Dutch Vice-Admiral/colonial director, at 67

1913 Nazim Pasha, PM of Turkey, assassinated

1945 Helmuth von Moltke, politician, anti-Nazi conspirator ("July 20th Plot"), executed

1976 Aleksey Vasilyevich Sorokin, Russian Cosmonaut, at 44

Event...

63 Arabs capture Pella (Jordan) from the Byzantines

638 Start of Islamic calendar

1570 Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland, assassinated; civil war breaks out

1579 Union of Utrecht signed, forming the Dutch Republic

1631 France & Sweden sign anti-German Treaty of Bärwald

1643 Sir Thomas Fairfax takes Leeds for the Parliamentarians

1647 Scottish Presbyterians sell captured Charles I to English parliament

1663 King Louis XIV affirms covenant with Rÿnstaten

1668 England, Netherlands & Sweden signs Triple Alliance against French

1719 Principality of Liechtenstein created within Holy Roman Empire

1793 Second partition of Poland, between Prussia & Russia

1813 Colonel Bruyeres of the Royal Engineers writes to Sir George Prevost, commanding British forces in Canada, about the need to build a small flotilla of gunboats for Lake Huron.

1865 Battle of City Point/James River/Trent's Reach, Va. (ends Jan 25)

1865 General Robert E Lee named Commander-in-Chief of Confederate Armies

1870 Montana: 173 Blackfoot Indians killed by US Army

1899 During the Yukon Gold Rush, the detachment of Canadian troops from the Yukon Field Force at Ft. Selkirk has settled into the routine of winter garrison life.

1907 Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes 1st Native American US senator

1913 Coup by Enver Pasha restores the "Young Turk" regime

1920 Dutch gov't refuses to turn over ex-kaiser of Germany to the allies

1928 "Adventures of Good Soldier Schveik" premiers in Berlin

1932 El Salvador army kills 4,000 protesting farmers

1940 Pianist Ignaz Paderewski becomes Premier of Polish government in exile

1940 Great Britain and France announce they will attack any German vessels encountered in Pan-American Safety Zone.

1940 Destroyer USS J. Fred Talbott arrives at Wreck Bay, Galapagos Islands, to assist U.S. tuna boat City of San Diego.

1940 U.S. freighter Excambion, detained at Gibraltar by British authorities since 17 January, is released to proceed on her voyage to Genoa, Italy, but not before 470 sacks of mail (bound for Germany and Italy) are seized; freighter Excellency, detained at Gibraltar the previous day, is released.

1942 Roberts Commission, whose work had begun on 18 December 1941, concludes its investigation to "ascertain and report the facts relating to the attack made by the Japanese armed forces upon the Territory of Hawaii on December 7, 1941..." The exhibits gathered amount to 2,173 printed pages.

1942 U.S DDs and a Dutch sub attack shipping off Balikpapan, Borneo, N.E.I.

1942 Tank battle at Adzjedabia, African corps vs British army

1942 Japanese occupy Rabaul, New Britain, and land at Kieta, Bougainville, Solomons.

1942 Japanese force lands on southwest coast of Bataan peninsula; US/Philipine troops fall back to secondary defensive positions. Local Army commander inserts naval battalion of sailors and Marines into the battle as a stopgap. It blocks enemy progress. Motor torpedo boat PT-34 is damaged in action with Japanese armed launch while on patrol off Bataan Peninsula. Japanese land at Quinauan and Longoskayan Points in the rear on Bataan.

1942 Oiler USS Neches is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-72, off Hawaiian Islands, 21°01'N, 160°06'W. The loss of the oiler supporting TF 11 forces cancellation of the projected raid on Wake.

1942 Destroyer USS Edsall is damaged by explosion of own depth charges during attack on submarine contact in Howard Channel, Clarence Strait, one of the approaches to Darwin, Australia.

1942 Submarine USS Seadragon damages Japanese merchant cargo ship Fukuyo Maru off the northern coast of French Indochina, 12°00'N, 109°00'E.

1942 Unarmed U.S. collier Venore is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-66 about 20 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 35°50'N, 75°20'W

1942 British reinforce Singapore with an additional new Indian brigade.

1942 Japanese take the Sittang River, Burma, as green 17th Ind Div collapses

1942 In Malaya the Johore line crumbles.

1943 Casablanca (SYMBOL) Conference ends. Major accomplishments of the talks include the American decision to invade Sicily, and to delay a cross-channel invasion of the European continent until 1944. With German U-boats taking an increasing toll of Allied shipping in the Battle of the Atlantic, U.S. and Britain agree to accord priority to building antisubmarine weapons. President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill declare that the Allies will pursue a policy of "Unconditional Surrender" of the Axis.

1943 District patrol craft YP-577 is destroyed by explosion of undetermined origin, Great Lakes, Illinois.

1943 Submarine USS Guardfish sinks Japanese destroyer IJN Hakaze south of Steffen Strait, between New Ireland and New Hanover, 02°47'S, 156°38'E.

1943 Japanese submarine I-8 bombards Canton Island.

1943 Japanese planes bomb U.S. shipping in Milne Bay, New Guinea; fragments from near-misses damage freighter Stephen Johnson Field. One Armed Guard sailor and one merchant crewman are injured; there are no other casualties among the 23-man Armed Guard and 43 merchant seamen.

1943 German submarine U-175 torpedoes and sinks U.S. freighter Benjamin Smith off Cape Palmas, Liberia, 04°05'N, 07°50'W. The 23-man Armed Guard detachment (as well as the 43-man merchant complement) survives intact; all hands reach Sassandra, French Ivory Coast, the next day.

1943 British Eighth Army captures Tripoli

1943 USN bombards Japanese positions on Guadalcanal, The CAM Division overruns Kokumbona, Mount Austen captured

1944 PBY-5As and PV-1s, flying from Attu, bomb Japanese installations on the west and south coasts of Paramushiro.

1944 Submarine USS Gar, in attack on Japanese convoy, sinks transport Taian Maru about 75 miles south of Palau, 05°45'N, 134°45'E.

1944 Submarine USS Snook sinks Japanese gunboat Magane Maru about 175 miles north-northwest of Chichi Jima, 29°49'N, 140°08'E.

1944 USAAF B-25s (14th Air Force) attack Japanese convoy off Foochow, China, sinking army cargo ship Panama Maru, 27°15'N, 120°45'E.

1944 USAAF B-24s (10th Air Force) sink Japanese cargo ship Seikai Maru in Mergui harbor, 12°26'N, 98°36'E.

1944 Americans insist Chinese commit strategic reserve to Burma

1945 President Roosevelt embarks in heavy cruiser USS Quincy at Newport News, Virginia, on the beginning of the trip that will include his participation in ARGONAUT Conferences at Malta and Yalta.

1945 Destroyer escort USS Conklin, supported by sisterships USS Corbesier and USS Raby sinks Japanese submarine I 48 (fresh from her unsuccessful kaiten mission to Ulithi), 25 miles off Yap, 09°45'N, 138°20'E.

1945 Dutch Premier Gerbrandy, exiled in London, offers his resignation

1945 Submarine USS Barb enters Namkwan harbor, China, and despite her claim that she sinks three ships, "probably" sinks a fourth, and damages two more, she actually destroys only a single vessel, merchant cargo ship Taikyo Maru, 27°04'N, 120°27'E.

1945 Submarine USS Nautilus delivers supplies to east coast of Mindanao.

1945 Submarine USS Sennet sinks Japanese guardboat No.7 Kainan Maru in Hangchow Bay, China, 30°00'N, 120°16'E.

1945 Mines laid by RAF Liberators the previous day sink Japanese merchant tanker No.1 Hozan Maru and cargo ship Nikkaku Maru south of Sembilan Island Sumatra, 04°08'N, 98°15'E.

1946 Rear Admiral Sidney W Souers, USNR, becomes 1st director of CIA

1950 Israeli Knesset resolves that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel

1950 Rebel army of Cap. Raymond Westerner occupies Bandung

1958 Dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez flees Venezuela, Larrazábal takes power

1960 Bathyscaph Trieste reaches the bottom of the Marianas Trench at 10,900 m

1962 British spy Kim Philby defects to USSR

1968 North Koreans capture USS Pueblo & 83 crew in Sea of Japan

1970 Oscar 5, Australia's 1st amateur radio satellite launched from California

1970 US launches 2nd generation weather satellite, ITOS 1

1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1972 Entire population of Istanbul under 24 hour house arrest

1973 President Nixon announces an accord has been reach to end the Vietnam War

1987 Japan 1st exceeds military spending cap of 1% of GNP ($23 billion)

1991 World's largest oil spill, caused by embattled Iraqi forces in Kuwait

[Leatherneck]

United States Marine Corps History

1942
(Samoa)
The 2nd Marine Brigade reaches American Samoa and joins with the 7th Defense Battalion in protecting that territory.

(New Britain)
Japanese forces land on the island and take the harbor of Rabaul from its small Australian garrison.

1951
(Korea)
MAG-33 and VMF-312 move to newly rebuilt Bofu airfield in Japan, which places them in reasonable range of Korea. 1st MAW and VMF-214 and 323 arrive the next day.

1968
(Korea)
North Korean naval forces seize the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo (AGER-2) in international waters off their coast.

1973
(Vietnam)
President Nixon announces that the United States has reached an agreement in Paris, "to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam." Under terms of the accord, all U.S. prisoners of war will released and the remaining 23,700 American personnel in South Vietnam will be withdrawn within 60 days.

Semper Fi!

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

[Cap. Teancum]

1775 - On this day in 1775, London merchants petition Parliament for relief from the financial hardship put upon them by the curtailment of trade with the North American colonies.

In the petition, the merchants provided their own history of the dispute between the colonies and Parliament, beginning with the Stamp Act of 1765. Most critical to the merchants’ concerns were the £2 million sterling in outstanding debts owed to them by their North American counterparts.

The merchants claimed that, “a total stop is now put to the export trade with the greatest and most important part of North America, the public revenue is threatened with a large and fatal diminution, the petitioners with grievous distress, and thousands of industrious artificers and manufacturers with utter ruin.” The petitioners begged Parliament to consider re-implementing the system of mercantile trade between Britain and the American colonies, which had served the interests of all parties in the empire prior to 1764.

Following the Coercive Acts of 1774, the colonies had quickly agreed to reinstate the non-importation agreements first devised in response to the Stamp Act in the autumn of 1765. They threatened to enter non-exportation agreements if Britain failed to meet their demands by August 1775. Because debts the colonies owed British merchants were generally paid in exports, not currency, such an action would indeed have caused tremendous financial loss to the British economy. Non-importation had a comparatively minor impact, because British merchants could and did find other markets. However, no one else would pay the vast debts owed to the merchants by tobacco planters like Thomas Jefferson or New England shipping magnates like John Hancock.

1863 - Confederate General John Bell Hood is officially removed as commander of the Army of Tennessee. He had requested the removal a few weeks before; the action closed a sad chapter in the history of the Army of Tennessee.

A Kentucky native, Hood attended West Point and graduated in 1853. He served in the frontier army until the outbreak of the Civil War. Hood resigned his commission and became a colonel commanding the 4th Texas Infantry. Hood's unit was sent to the Army of Northern Virginia, where it fought during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. Hood, now a brigadier general, built a reputation as an aggressive field commander. He distinguished himself during the Seven Days' battle in June, and was given command of a division. His counterattack at Antietam in September may have saved Robert E. Lee's army from total destruction.

After being severely wounded at Gettysburg in July 1863, Hood was transferred to the Army of Tennessee. He was soon wounded again, losing a leg at Chickamauga in September. Hood was promoted to corps commander for the Atlanta campaign of 1864, and was elevated to commander of the army upon the removal of Joseph Johnston in July. Over the next five months, Hood presided over the near destruction of that great Confederate army. He unsuccessfully attacked General William T. Sherman's army three times near Atlanta, relinquished the city after a month-long siege, then took his army back to Tennessee in the fall to draw Sherman away from the deep South. Sherman dispatched part of his army to Tennessee, and Hood lost two disastrous battles at Franklin and Nashville in November and December 1864.

There were about 65,000 soldiers in the Army of Tennessee when Hood assumed command in July. On January 1, a generous assessment would count 18,000 men in the army. The Confederate Army of Tennessee was no longer a viable fighting force.

1879 - Second day of the Battle of Rorke's Drift in the Zulu War. 45 British hold off several thousand Zulus.

1941 - On this day, Charles A. Lindbergh, a national hero since his nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic, testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Lend-Lease policy-and suggests that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Hitler.

Lindbergh was born in 1902 in Detroit. His father was a member of the House of Representatives. Lindbergh's interest in aviation led him to flying school in Lincoln, Nebraska, and later brought him work running stunt-flying tours and as an airmail pilot. While regularly flying a route from St. Louis to Chicago, he decided to try to become the first pilot to fly alone nonstop from New York to Paris. He obtained the necessary financial backing from a group of businessmen, and on May 21, 1927, after a flight that lasted slightly over 33 hours, Lindbergh landed his plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, in Paris. He won worldwide fame along with his $25,000 prize.

In March 1932, Lindbergh made headlines again, but this time because of the kidnapping of his two-year-old son. The baby was later found dead, and the man convicted of the crime, Bruno Hauptmann, was executed. To flee unwanted publicity, Lindbergh and his wife, Anne Morrow, daughter of U.S. ambassador Dwight Morrow, moved to Europe. During the mid-1930s, Lindbergh became familiar with German advances in aviation and warned his U.S. counterparts of Germany's growing air superiority. But Lindbergh also became enamored of much of the German national "revitalization" he encountered, and allowed himself to be decorated by Hitler's government, which drew tremendous criticism back home.

Upon Lindbergh's return to the States, he agitated for neutrality with Germany, and testified before Congress in opposition to the Lend-Lease policy, which offered cash and military aid to countries friendly to the United States in their war effort against the Axis powers. His public denunciation of "the British, the Jewish, and the Roosevelt Administration" as instigators of American intervention in the war, as well as comments that smacked of anti-Semitism, lost him the support of other isolationists. When, in 1941, President Roosevelt denounced Lindbergh publicly, the aviator resigned from the Air Corps Reserve. He eventually contributed to the war effort, though, flying 50 combat missions over the Pacific. His participation in the war, along with his promotion to brigadier general of the Air Force Reserve in 1954 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a popular Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Spirit of St. Louis,, and a movie based on his exploits all worked to redeem him in the public's eyes.

1943 - Combined Australian and American forces capture Sanananda, ending the Battle of the Kokoda Trail. Over the course of the battle, outnumbered 2:1, Australians killed 16,000 Japanese.

[Leatherneck]

United States Marine Corps History



January 24

1942
(Borneo)
Four destroyers score the first surface victory of the U.S. Navy since 1898, sinking four transports and a patrol vessel during a night attack on a Japanese force invading Borneo at Bakilpapan Bay.

1944
(Gilberts)
The 23 Corsairs of VMF-422 fly out of Hawkins Field on Betio bound four Funafuti, 700 miles distant. Due to bad weather, 22 of the planes land in the water and six pilots died.

(Force Structure)
The 1st Raider Regiment arrives on Guadalcanal from New Caledonia. The 2nd Raider Regiment and its battalions are recombined with the 1st.

1945
(Carrier Air)
Planes of VMF-451 on board Bunker Hill.

1951
(Korea)
The most substantial fighting of the Pohang guerrilla hunt occurs after North Koreans attack the 7th Marine command post on the night of the 24th and the regiment pursues them over the next two days. The 7th Marine kills or captures 168 enemy.

1970
(Training)
Recruit training increases from eight to nine weeks in length.

Semper Fi!

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

[Admiral]

Born...

76 Hadrian (Publius A Hadrianus), 14th Roman Emperor (117-138)

1712 King Frederick II "the Great" of Prussia (1740-86)

1732 Pierre de Beaumarchais, American agent, author ("The Barber of Seville")

1746 Gustav III, King during Swedish Enlightenment, 1771-92

1820 John Milton Thayer, Brig Gen, U.S., , d. 1906

1828 Adam Jacoby Slemmer, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1868

1832 John Pegram, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1865

1888 Ernst Heinrich Heinkel, German inventor, 1st rocket-powered aircraft

1891 Walter Model, German Field Marshal, Nazi

1948 Elliott Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State/supplied arms to the Contras

1952 William F Readdy, Astronaut, STS 42, 51, 79

1961 Krasimir Mikhailov Stoyanov, Bulgaria, Cosmonaut

Died...

41 Caligula (G C Germanicus), Roman Emperor (37-41), assassinated at 28

661 Ali ibn Abu Talib, Kalief of Islam (656-61), murdered

1336 King Alfonso IV, the Benignant, of Aragon (1327-36), at 36

1547 Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, executed for treason

1639 George Jenatsch, leader of the Grisons, assassinated

1862 James McIntosh, US - Confederate Brig-General, KIA at about 33

1864 Stephen Gardner Champlin, Brig-General (Union), at about 36

1953 [Karl R] Gerd von Rundstedt, Nazi Field Marshal, at 77

1965 Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, PM of Britain, "Former Naval Person," 1/2 American

Event...

1458 Matthias I Corvinus chosen King of Hungary

1568 Netherlands: the Duke of Alva declares William of Orange an outlaw

1634 Emperor Ferdinand II declares Albrecht von Wallenstein a traitor

1644 Battle at Nantwich Cheshire: Parliamentary armies win

1652 Duke of Orleans joins Fronde rebels

1679 King Charles II disbands English parliament

1722 Czar Peter the Great begins civil system

1742 Charles VII Albert elected German/Holy Roman Emperor

1792 Lady Simcoe, wintering at Quebec with her husband before he assumes the Lt.-Governor's post in Upper Canada, hosts a modest evening of dinner and dance for 12 members of the 7th Fusiliers.

1847 1,500 New Mexican Indians & Mexicans defeated by US Col. Price

1861 Arsenal at Augusta, Ga. seized by Confederacy

1861 Federal troops from Ft Monroe are sent to Ft Pickens

1862 Romania principality arises under King Alexander Cuza

1874 General J van Swieten conquerors Kraton Atjeh, after 1000's die

1892 Battle at Mengo, Uganda: French missionaries attack British missionaries

1899 The detachment of Canadian troops at Ft. Selkirk, part of the Yukon Field Force, is enduring the rigours of winter garrison life. Today the temperature dips below -50 degrees Ferenheit.

1900 Battle at Tugela-Spionkop, South Africa (Boers vs British army)

1902 Denmark sells Virgin Islands to USA

1908 General Robert Baden Powell founds the Boy Scouts

1915 Royal Navy defeats Germans in the Battle of Dogger Bank, off Helgoland

1924 Mussolini disallows non-fascists work union

1924 Russian city of St. Petersburg renamed Leningrad

1939 Spanish Republican government flees to Figueras

1940 Interior Department motorship North Star (U.S. Antarctic Service) departs Bay of Whales, Antarctica for Valparaiso, Chile, for additional supplies and equipment to establish East Base. Construction of West Base commences immediately at the site chosen that lies at 78°29'06"S, 163°50'10"W, two miles from the edge of the ice barrier and five miles northeast of the site of Little America I and Little America II, the previous Byrd expedition bases. Until the main building is completed for habitation, the men live in regulation army tents.

1940 Gunboat Erie joins destroyer USS J. Fred Talbott at Wreck Bay, Galapagos Islands, to assist U.S. tuna boat City of San Diego. The gunboat takes on board the craft's chief engineer (pneumonia) and sails the following day for Balboa, where the man will be transferred ashore for medical attention.

1941 Interior Department motorship North Star arrives at Bay of Whales, Antarctica, to take part in evacuating West Base of U.S. Antarctic Service.

1941 British troops invade Italian East Africa, march into Abyssinia

1942 Australian resistance at Rabaul ends.

1942 Malaya: British plan a withdrawal to Singapore.

1942 Battle off Balikpapan (Battle of Makassar Strait) occurs when four U.S. destroyers (DesDiv 59) attack Japanese Borneo invasion convoy. Destroyer USS John D. Ford is damaged by gunfire (01°20'N, 117°01'E) but sinks transport Tsuruga Maru; destroyer USS Parrott sinks transport Sumanoura Maru; destroyers USS Paul Jones and USS Pope sink transport Tatsukami Maru; USS Paul Jones sinks cargo ship Kuretaki Maru; USS Parrott sinks Patrol Boat No.37, 00°10'N, 118°00'E. USAAF B-17s and Dutch Martin 139s and Brewster 339s bomb invasion shipping, sinking transports Nana Maru and Jukka Maru, 00°10'N, 118°00'E.

1942 Naval battalion drives Japanese troops back to Longoskawayan and Quinauan Points on Bataan Peninsula.

1942 Japanese land at Kendari, Celebes; Kavieng, New Ireland; and Subic Bay.

1942 Submarine tender USS Canopus is damaged by bombs, Lilimbom Cove, Mariveles.

1942 Submarine USS Swordfish sinks Japanese gunboat Myoken Maru north of Kema, Celebes, 01°26'N, 125°08'E.

1942 Submarine S-26 is accidentally rammed and sunk by submarine chaser PC-460 in Gulf of Panama, 08°13'N, 79°21'E. PC-460 rescues three survivors. Despite a search by the patrol craft and the other three submarines in company, S-21, S-29 and S-44, no other survivors are found; 46 men lose their lives in the mishap.

1942 Bougainville: Japanese forces begin landing at Keita

1943 Hitler orders nazi troops at Stalingrad to fight to death

1943 Aleutians: Japanese begin a series of air raids from Attu on Amchitka.

1943 Bombardment group of destroyers bombards Japanese fuel and munitions dumps in the Stanmore area, Kolombangara, Solomons. Later that same day, TBFs, SBDs and F4Fs from carrier USS Saratoga air group bomb the same objectives.

1943 Submarine USS Wahoo damages Japanese destroyer IJN Harusame eleven miles west of Wewak, New Guinea, 03°23'S, 143°34'E.

1943 High speed minesweeper USS Zane recovers one boatload of crewmen from torpedoed freighter Peter H. Burnett and then proceeds to aid the stricken merchantman. USS Zane then tows the freighter to Sydney, Australia, for repairs.

1943 Japanese light cruiser IJN Nagara is damaged by marine casualty off Anatahan Island.

1943 Submarine chaser PC-576 rescues one Armed Guard sailor (Seaman First Class Basil D. Izzi, USNR) and two Dutch seamen from Dutch motorship Zaandam at 08°39'N, 58°46'W. Zaandam had been sunk by German submarine U-174 on 2 November 1942. The three survivors have spent 83 days on the small raft, subsisting on raw fish, fowl, and rainwater.

1943 Survivors of U.S. tanker Brilliant, which had broken in two on 20 January, are rescued by Canadian minesweeper from the after portion of the ship. Of the 54 men on board, 31 merchant seamen are saved; 13 of the Armed Guard survive.

1943 Guadalcanal: U.S. offensive to gain ground.

1944 Allied troops occupy Nettuno Italy

1944 USMC TBFs, supported by large concentration of USN, USMC, USAAF and RNZAF fighters, attack Japanese shipping at Rabaul, sinking water tanker Koan Maru, aircraft transport Lyon Maru (previously rendered unnavigable on 17 January) and army cargo ships Taisho Maru and Yamayuri Maru, 04°13'S, 152°11'E.

1944 PB4Ys damage cargo ship Ogashima Maru south of Kwajalein, 08°14'N, 168°02'E; deemed beyond salvage, Ogashima Maru is scuttled by auxiliary minesweeper No.5 Tama Maru. PB4Ys also sink auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 14 70 miles east-southeast of Eniwetok, 11°10'N, 163°25'E.

1944 USAAF B-25s bomb Japanese shipping and harbor installations at Manus, sinking transport Heiwa Maru and auxiliary minelayer Tatsu Maru, and damaging auxiliary minelayer Matsu Maru.

1944 USAAF B-25s (14th Air Force) sink Japanese ship Liu Hsing in Lishen Bay, China, 26°58'N, 120°04'E.

1944 Submarine USS Sturgeon attacks Japanese convoy in eastern approaches to Bungo Suido, sinking army cargo ship Chosen Maru, 32°28'N, 132°23'E.

1944 Japanese planes bomb U.S. shipping in Dreger Bay, New Guinea, damaging freighter John Muir at 06°32'08"N, 147°53'05"E, with one direct hit and at least four near-misses that injure 2 of 42 merchant sailors, one of the 28-man Armed Guard and 13 of the 40 Construction Battalion stevedores embarked to work cargo.

1944 Tank landing craft LCT-185 founders and sinks in heavy weather off Bizerte, Tunisia.

1944 German planes attack invasion shipping off the Anzio beachhead: bombs damage destroyer USS Plunkett, 41°15'N, 12°37'E, and minesweeper USS Prevail, 41°00'N, 12°00'E; aerial torpedo damages destroyer USS Mayo, 41°24'N, 12°43'E;

1944 During German air raid on Allied shipping at Naples, Italy, U.S. freighter F.A.C. Muhlenberg is damaged by bomb and by near-miss of bomb; ship's crew and port firefighting crews extinguish the fires thus started. Of the ship's complement, 6 of 46 merchant sailors die; 1 of the 31-man Armed Guard perishes in the blaze.

1944 German submarines attack Murmansk-bound convoy JW 56A. U.S. freighter Penelope Barker is torpedoed and sunk by U-278 about 115 miles from North Cape, Norway, 72°23'N, 23°10'E; 10 merchant sailors and 5 Armed Guard men (of the 43-man merchant complement and the 28-man Armed Guard, respectively) perish in the explosions. British destroyer HMS Savage rescues the survivors

1944 US a/c conduct long range recon over the Marshalls, from the Gilberts.

1945 China: Advancing Japanese troops cause evacuation of U.S. airbase at Sichuan.

1945 Preceded in their approach by a barrier patrol of PB4Ys, TG 94.9, consisting of battleship USS Indiana, three heavy cruisers, seven destroyers and a light minelayer, bombards Iwo Jima, together with USAAF B-24s (escorted by P-38s). Northeast of Iwo, destroyers USS Dunlap and USS Fanning sink transport I-Go Yoneyama Maru and auxiliary minesweepers Keinan Maru and No.7 Showa Maru, 24°50'N, 141°22'E, a small Japanese three-ship convoy that had just arrived that morning.

1945 Navy land-based planes flying from the Philippines bomb Japanese shipping at Keelung, Formosa, sinking merchant cargo ship Beiju Maru and damaging cargo ship Taizatsu Maru, 25°09'N, 121°45'E.

1945 Dock landing ship Shadwell is damaged by aerial torpedo, P.I., 09°01'N, 123°45'E.

1945 Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Shunyo Maru is sunk by aircraft off Corregidor.

1945 Submarine USS Atule sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship No.1 Taiman Maru in the central Yellow Sea, 36°47'N, 123°59'E.

1945 Submarine USS Blackfin sinks Japanese destroyer IJN Shigure 160 miles east of Khota Baru, Malaya, 06°00'N, 103°48'E, and teams with USS Besugo to damage merchant tanker Sarawak Maru off east coast of Malay Peninsula, 06°00'N, 103°45'E.

1945 Submarine USS Guardfish mistakenly sinks salvage vessel Extractor in Philippine Sea, 15°44'N, 133°29'E.

1945 German planes bomb Antwerp, Belgium, damaging U.S. freighter Alcoa Banner; she is later written off as a total loss.

1945 Scottish 52nd Lowland division occupies Heinsberg

1958 After warming to 100,000,000 degrees, 2 light atoms are bashed together to create a heavier atom, resulting in 1st man-made nuclear fusion

1960 Algeria uprises against French President De Gaulle

1962 28 refugees escape from East to West Germany

1969 Spanish General Franco announces state of emergency

1978 Jimmy Carters Executive Order on Intelligence. (Makes G W Bushes look mighty harmless in comparison.)

1979 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1986 Voyager 2 makes 1st fly-by of Uranus (81,593 km), finds new moons

1990 Japanese MUSES-A (Hiten) launched towards moon

1991 USN helos capture Kuwaiti offshore oil rigs. It is the first Kuwaiti territory retaken from Iraqis.

1993 Soyuz TM-16 launches

1/24

[Cap. Teancum]

1781 - On this day in 1781, Patriot commanders Lieutenant Colonel “Light Horse” Henry Lee and Brigadier General Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion of the South Carolina militia combine forces and conduct a raid on Georgetown, South Carolina, which is defended by 200 British soldiers.

Marion won fame and the “Swamp Fox” moniker for his ability to strike and then quickly retreat into the South Carolina swamps without a trace. His military strategy is considered an 18th-century example of guerilla warfare and served as partial inspiration for the film The Patriot, starring Mel Gibson.

Marion took over the South Carolina militia force first assembled by Thomas Sumter in 1780. Sumter, the other inspiration for Mel Gibson’s character in the film, returned Carolina Loyalists’ terror tactics in kind after Loyalists burned his plantation. When Sumter withdrew from active fighting to care for a wound, Marion replaced him and strategized with Major General Nathaniel Greene, who had recently arrived in the Carolinas to lead the Continental forces. On January 24, the Patriots under Marion and Lee managed to arrive at Georgetown undetected and captured at least three officers, including the British commander.

The following month, Lee’s cavalry was able to defeat a band of Loyalist cavalry at Haw River, North Carolina, by taking advantage of the extreme similarity of Patriot uniforms to those of British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s troops. British Colonel John Pyle’s men at Haw River were surprised to discover that the horsemen approaching them were not friends, as they appeared from a distance, but foes. Losing three fingers and blinding one eye in the course of combat, Colonel Pyle, a doctor by profession, survived by hiding in what is now known as “Pyle’s Pond.”

1865 - The Confederate Congress agrees to continue prisoner exchanges, opening a process that had operated only sporadically for three years.

In the first year of the war, prisoner exchanges were conducted primarily between field generals on an ad hoc basis. The Union was reluctant to enter any formal agreements, fearing that it would legitimize the Confederate government. But the issue became more important as the campaigns escalated in 1862. On July 2, 1862, Union General John Dix and Confederate General Daniel H. Hill reached an agreement. Under the Dix-Hill cartel, each soldier was assigned a value according to rank. For example, privates were worth another private, corporals and sergeants were worth two privates, lieutenants were worth three privates, etc. A commanding general was worth 60 privates. Under this system, thousands of soldiers were exchanged rather than languishing in prisons like those in Andersonville, Georgia, or Elmira, New York.

The system was really a gentlemen's agreement, relying on the trust of each side. The system broke down in 1862 when Confederates refused to exchange black Union soldiers. From 1862 to 1865, prisoner exchanges were rare. When they did happen, it was usually because two local commanders came to a workable agreement. The result of the breakdown was the swelling of prisoner-of-war camps in both North and South. The most notorious of all the camps was Andersonville, where one-third of the 46,000 Union troops incarcerated died of disease, exposure, or starvation.

Though the prisoner exchanges resumed, the end of the war was so close that it did not make much difference.

1943 - On this day, German Gen. Friedrich von Paulus, commander in chief of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad, urgently requests permission from Adolf Hitler to surrender his position there, but Hitler refuses.

The Battle of Stalingrad began in the summer of 1942, as German forces assaulted the city, a major industrial center and a prized strategic coup. But despite repeated attempts and having pushed the Soviets almost to the Volga River in mid-October and encircling Stalingrad, the 6th Army, under Paulus, and part of the 4th Panzer Army could not break past the adamantine defense of the Soviet 62nd Army.

Diminishing resources, partisan guerilla attacks, and the cruelty of the Russian winter began to take their toll on the Germans. On November 19, the Soviets made their move, launching a counteroffensive that began with a massive artillery bombardment of the German position. The Soviets then assaulted the weakest link in the German force-inexperienced Romanian troops. Sixty-five thousand were ultimately taken prisoner by the Soviets.

The Soviets then made a bold strategic move, encircling the enemy, and launching pincer movements from north and south simultaneously, even as the Germans encircled Stalingrad. The Germans should have withdrawn, but Hitler wouldn't allow it. He wanted his armies to hold out until they could be reinforced. By the time those fresh troops arrived in December, it was too late. The Soviet position was too strong, and the Germans were exhausted.

By January 24, the Soviets had overrun Paulus' last airfield. His position was untenable and surrender was the only hope for survival. Hitler wouldn't hear of it: "The 6th Army will hold its positions to the last man and the last round." Paulus held out until January 31, when he finally surrendered. Of more than 280,000 men under Paulus' command, half were already dead or dying, about 35,000 had been evacuated from the front, and the remaining 91,000 were hauled off to Soviet POW camps. Paulus eventually sold out to the Soviets altogether, joining the National Committee for Free Germany and urging German troops to surrender. Testifying at Nuremberg for the Soviets, he was released and spent the rest of his life in East Germany.

1966- In the largest search-and-destroy operation to date--Operation Masher/White Wing/Thang Phong II--the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), South Vietnamese, and Korean forces ssweep through Binh Dinh Province in the central lowlands along the coast.

The purpose of the operation was to drive the North Vietnamese out of the province and destroy enemy supply areas. In late January, it became the first large unit operation conducted across corps boundaries when the cavalrymen linked up with Double Eagle, a U.S. Marine Corps operation intended to destroy the North Vietnamese 325A Division. Altogether, there were reported enemy casualties of 2,389 by the time the operation ended.

Also on this day: Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, in a memorandum to President Johnson, recommends raising the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam to more than 400,000 by the end of the year. However, he warned that planned deployments and increased bombing would not ensure military success. Ultimately, McNamara was correct and the war raged on even as total U.S. troop strength in country went over 500,000 soldiers in 1969.

1972 - After 28 years of hiding in the jungles of Guam, local farmers discover Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese sergeant who was unaware that World War II had ended.

Guam, a 200-square-mile island in the western Pacific, became a U.S. possession in 1898 after the Spanish-American War. In 1941, the Japanese attacked and captured it, and in 1944, after three years of Japanese occupation, U.S. forces retook Guam. It was at this time that Yokoi, left behind by the retreating Japanese forces, went into hiding rather than surrender to the Americans. In the jungles of Guam, he carved survival tools and for the next three decades waited for the return of the Japanese and his next orders. After he was discovered in 1972, he was finally discharged and sent home to Japan, where he was hailed as a national hero. He subsequently married and returned to Guam for his honeymoon. His handcrafted survival tools and threadbare uniform are on display in the Guam Museum in Agana.

1973 - National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger announces that a truce is also expected in Laos and Cambodia. Kissinger had been meeting privately with Le Duc Tho and other North Vietnamese and Viet Cong representatives in Paris since early January. They had worked out a peace agreement that was initialled in Paris on January 23 "to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and Southeast Asia." Under the provisions of the agreement, a cease-fire would begin in Vietnam at 8 a.m., January 28, Saigon time (7 p.m., January 27, Eastern Standard Time). Kissinger said that the terms of the agreement would be extended to Cambodia and Laos, where government troops had been locked in deadly combat with the local communist forces (Khmer Rouge and Pathet Lao, respectively) and their North Vietnamese allies.

1980 - In an action obviously designed as another in a series of very strong reactions to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, U.S. officials announce that America is ready to sell military equipment (excluding weapons) to communist China. The surprise statement was part of the U.S. effort to build a closer relationship with the People's Republic of China for use as leverage against possible Soviet aggression.

The announcement concerning military equipment sales was one of many actions on the U.S-China front taken in the wake of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in December 1979. The U.S. Congress, on the same day, approved most-favored-nation trading status for China. In addition, an agreement was signed for the construction of a station in China that would be able to receive information from an American satellite; such information would aid China in such fields as agriculture and mining. The proposed sale of military equipment, however, was the most dramatic and controversial move made by the administration of President Jimmy Carter. Though such equipment would be limited to non-weapon materiel related to such areas as transportation and communications, the step was a significant one in terms of the developing U.S.-China relationship. The fact that the announcement occurred so soon after the Soviet action in Afghanistan was no coincidence--as one U.S. official noted, that action "sped up or catalyzed the process."

The Carter administration's decision to sell military equipment to communist China barely a year after establishing diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China was an indication of just how seriously the United States government viewed the Soviet attack on Afghanistan. The U.S. response to the Soviet Union was multi-faceted and vigorous, including diplomatic broadsides, economic sanctions, and even boycotting the 1980 Olympic games in Moscow. Many political analysts believed that the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan was a grievous diplomatic error, as it virtually ended any talk of dýtente with the United States.

[Leatherneck]

United States Marine Corps History



January 25th

1922 - (Nicaragua)

Folowing growing political unrest in Nicaragua (including a bloody fight between Marines of the Legation Guard and Managua policemen), the Marine detachment of cruiser Galveston (C-17) goes ashore at Corinto and proceeds to to the capital.

1945 - (Philippines)
The first planes of VMSB-133 and 241 arrive at newly built Mangalden Airfield on Luzon. They are the lead echelon of MAG-24 and 32, which are title Marine Air Groupd Dagupan. Within six days, seven squadrons are present.

1951 - (Korea)
Eighth Army launches an offensive on the left flank of the U.N. line that gains ground. By the 28th, all Marine squadrons in Korea and Japan are supporting the advance.

1958 - (Bases)
The Marine Corps breaks grounds for the construction of Camp Futema, which will house MAG-16, presently stationed in Oppama, Japan.

Semper Fi!

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

[Admiral]

Born...

749 Leo IV, the Khazar, Byzantine Emperor (775-80)

1839 Seldon Connor, Brig General, U.S., d. 1917

1741 Benedict Arnold, General/traitor, US revolution

1928 Eduard Shevardnadze, Soviet Georgia, FM of U.S.S.R., President of Georgia

Died...

1139 Godfried I the Bearded, Duke of Brabant, Earl of Leuven

1494 King Ferdinand I of Naples (A cruel individual)

1733 Reinier V van Hompech, Dutch Maj. General cavalry

1906 Joseph Wheeler, Maj. General, C.S.A, & Brig. Gen., U.S., at 70

1947 Al Capone, Chicago gangster, dies of syphilis at 48

1992 Mahmoud Riad, Sec-Gen of Arab League (1972-79)

Event...

1327 King Edward III accedes to British throne

1494 Alfonso II replaces his father as King of Naples

1554 Sir Thomas Wyatt leads revolt against Queen Mary in Kent

1565 Battle at Talikota India: Moslems destroy Vijayanagar's army

1579 Treaty of Utrecht signed, marks beginning of Dutch Republic

1787 Shays' Rebellion suffers a setback when debt-ridden farmers, led by Capt Daniel Shays, fail to capture an arsenal at Springfield, Mass

1802 Napoleon Bonaparte elected president of the Italian Cisalpine Republic

1856 Battle of Seattle, between settlers & Indians

1863 Battle of Kinston, NC

1863 Joseph Hooker assumes command of the Army of Potomac

1865 CSS Shenandoah arrives in Melbourne, Australia

1915 The fisheries patrol vessel Canada is commissioned for naval service in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

1916 Montenegro surrenders to Austria-Hungary

1918 Russia declared a republic of Soviets

1919 Founding of League of Nations, 1st meeting 1 year later

1940 Auxiliary Bear (U.S. Antarctic Service) reaches 77°43'S, 143°52'W; it marks the deepest penetration by any ship into the Antarctic region.

1940 Nazis decree the establishment of Jewish ghetto in Lodz Poland

1941 Keel of battleship USS Wisconsin is laid at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She will be the last battleship ever built by the U.S. Navy.

1942 Bataan: Fil-American troops complete withdrawal to secondary positions

1942 U.S. carriers USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown raid the Mandates

1942 Lt General Rommels African corps reaches Msus

1943 Japanese submarine I-73 shells Midway Island.

1943 Japanese destroyer IJN Hatsuharu is damaged by U.S. aircraft east of Kendari, Celebes.

1943 German submarine U-125 attacks unarmed U.S. tanker Olney, forcing the latter aground off Cape Lookout, North Carolina, 37°55'N, 74°56'W. Olney is subsequently removed from her predicament, however, repaired, and returned to service.

1943 U.S. steamer Tennessee rescues one boatload of 21 survivors from U.S. collier Venore, torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-66 on 25 January; two survivors reach port in a second boat. U.S. motor tanker Australia rescues the only other surviving sailor the same day. Seventeen men of Venore's crew perish.

1943 Papua: 41st Div relieves the 32nd and the 7th Australian Divs.

1943 Italian blockade runner Orseolo departs Kobe for Bordeaux.

1943 Guadalcanal: Japanese in full retreat, closely pursued by U.S. forces.

1943 Submarine USS Shad torpedoes German blockade runner (ore transport) Nordfels in Bay of Biscay, 43°28'N, 02°59'W.

1943 German submarine U-575 torpedoes and sinks U.S. freighter City of Flint, straggling from Casablanca-bound convoy UGS 4, about 300 miles south of the Azores, 34°47'N, 31°40'W; 4 of 24 Armed Guard sailors are lost

1944 Escort carrier USS Sangamon is damaged by fire following a TBM (VC 37) barrier crash, en route to the Marshalls.

1944 Japanese cargo ship Nanshin Maru sinks after running aground on a shoal off Miyagiken peninsula, 35°31'N, 133°09'E.

1944 Off Anzio, motor minesweeper YMS-30 is sunk by mine, 41°23'N, 12°45'E; submarine chaser PC-676 is damaged by near-miss of bomb.

1944 Burma: bulk of Chinese New 22nd Div begins supporting the New 38th Div.

1944 Allied air raid on Japanese at Rabaul, destruction of 83 enemy aircraft.

1945 Submarine USS Greenling is damaged by depth charges off Nansei Shoto, 29°27'N, 130°09'E, and is forced to terminate her patrol.

1945 Submarine USS Silversides, despite presence of auxiliary submarine chasers Cha 90 and Cha 168, sinks Japanese army cargo ship Malay Maru, 31°18'N, 130°08'E.

1945 Destroyer USS McLanahan shells German command post and then silences shore battery on the Italian Riviera.

1945 B-29s begin mining off Singapore, Saigon, Camranh Bay, and Penang.

1945 Burma: British 82nd West African Division occupies Myohaung

1945 Japanese occupiers of Batavia arrest Indo-European youths

1951 HMCS Nootka, newly arrived in Korean waters, and HNCS Cayuga are passing the island of Walmi-Do when Chinese shore batteries fire on them.

1951 UN begins counter offensive in Korea

1955 Russia ends state of war with Germany

1955 United States and Panamá sign canal treaty

1961 Military coup in El Salvador

1963 1st Seabee Technical Assistance Team arrives in Vietnam

1968 Operation Windsong I in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

1969 US-North Vietnamese peace talks begin in Paris

1971 Military coup in Uganda under Gen Idi Amin Dada

1980 Highest speed attained by a warship, 167 kph, USN hovercraft

1981 Mao's widow Jiang Qing sentenced to death

1981 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived back in US

1983 Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie arrested in Bolivia

1983 Infrared telescope satellite launched into polar orbit

1986 General Tito Okello's government flees Kampala Uganda

1990 Former Panamanian leader Gen Manuel Noriega is transferred to a Miami jail

1991 Panamanian Gen Manuel Noriega is given access to assets frozen by U.S. government

1994 U.S. space probe Clementine launched

1/25

[Cap. Teancum]

41 - After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate.

1401 - Tammerlane captured Damascus through treachery by some of the garrison.

1776 - On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress authorizes the first national Revolutionary War memorial in honor of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, who had been killed during an assault on Quebec on December 31, 1775.

Montgomery, along with Benedict Arnold, led a two-pronged invasion of Canada in late 1775. Before joining Arnold at Quebec, Montgomery successfully took Montreal. But the Patriot assault on Quebec failed, and Montgomery became one of the first generals of the American Revolution to lose his life on the battlefield.

When word of his death reached Philadelphia, Congress voted to create a monument to Montgomery's memory and entrusted Benjamin Franklin to secure one of France’s best artists to craft it. Franklin hired King Louis XV’s personal sculptor, Jean Jacques Caffieri, to design and build the monument.

Upon its completion in 1778, the Montgomery memorial was shipped to America and arrived at Edenton, North Carolina, where it remained for several years. Although originally intended for Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Congress eventually decided to place the memorial in New York City. In 1788, it was installed under the direction of Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant beneath the portico of St. Paul's Chapel, which served as George Washington’s church during his time in New York as the United States’ first president in 1789, and where it remains to this day. Montgomery’s body, which was originally interred on the site of his death in Quebec, was moved to St. Paul’s in 1818.

Caffieri also completed a bust of Franklin. Franklin gave seven copies of the bust to friends in the new United States; the original remains in Paris at the Bibliotheque Mazarine.

1863 - After two months, General Ambrose Burnside is removed as commander of the Army of the Potomac.

Burnside assumed command of the army after President Lincoln removed General George B. McClellan from command in November 1862. Lincoln had a difficult relationship with McClellan, who built the army admirably but was a sluggish and overly cautious field commander.

Lincoln wanted an attack on the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, which was commanded by Robert E. Lee. Burnside drafted a plan to move south towards Richmond. The plan was sound, but delays in its execution alerted Lee to the danger. Lee headed Burnside off at Fredericksburg, Virginia, on December 13. Burnside attacked repeatedly against entrenched Confederates along Marye's Heights above Fredericksburg with tragic results. More than 13,000 Yankees fell; Lee lost just 5,000. Northern morale sunk in the winter of 1862-1863.

Lincoln allowed Burnside one more chance. In January, Burnside attempted another campaign against Lee. Four days of rain turned the Union offensive into the ignominious "Mud March," during which the Yankees floundered on mud roads while the Lee's men jeered at them from across the Rappahannock River. Lincoln had seen enough--General Joe Hooker took over command of the army.

1942 - On this day, Thailand, a Japanese puppet state, declares war on the Allies.

When war broke out in Europe in September 1939, Thailand declared its neutrality, much to the distress of France and England. Both European nations had colonies surrounding Thailand and hoped Thailand would support the Allied effort and prevent Japanese encroachment on their Pacific territory. But Thailand began moving in the opposite direction, creating a "friendship" with Japan and adding to its school textbooks a futuristic map of Thailand with a "Greater Thailand" encroaching on Chinese territory.

Thailand's first real conflict with the Allies came after the fall of France to the Germans and the creation of the puppet government at Vichy. Thailand saw this as an opportunity to redraw the borders of French Indochina. The Vichy government refused to accommodate the Thais, so Thai troops crossed into French Indochina and battled French troops. Japan interceded in the conflict on the side of the Thais, and used its political alliance with Germany to force Vichy France to cede 21,000 square miles to Thailand.

On December 8, 1941, the Japanese made an amphibious landing on the coast of Thailand, part of the comprehensive sweep of South Pacific islands that followed the bombing raid at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Japanese had assistance, though: Thailand's prime minister, Lang Pipul, collaborated with the Japanese, embracing the Axis power's war goal of usurping territory in China and ruling over the South Pacific. Pipul wanted to partake in the spoils; toward that end, he declared war on the United States and England. In October, he took dictatorial control of Thailand and became a loyal puppet of the Japanese.

1949 - The first Israeli election -- David Ben-Gurion becomes Prime Minister.

1956 - In a long interview with visiting American attorney Marshall MacDuffie, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev adopts a friendly attitude toward the United States and indicates that he believes President Dwight Eisenhower is sincere in his desire for peace. The interview was the precursor to Khrushchev's announcement later that same year that he wanted "peaceful coexistence" between the United States and the Soviet Union.

MacDuffie, a long-time acquaintance of the Soviet leader and a proponent of closer relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, spent three hours conducting the interview. During the discussion, Khrushchev indicated that it was his desire that "We should have disarmament and we should think how to avoid a new war." He was critical of some U.S. officials that he accused of making belligerent statements towards the Soviet Union, but he was also quick to point out that he did not hold Eisenhower responsible for those statements. In fact, the Soviet leader praised the president's leadership, and apparently hoped that Eisenhower might negotiate seriously on a number of issues.

Later that year, Khrushchev announced that the goal of the Soviet Union was "peaceful coexistence" with the United States. Eisenhower and his secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, were cautiously optimistic about this new Soviet approach-an American response that was markedly different from the pessimistic vigilance assumed during the harsh confrontational Stalin era. Later in the year, however, much of the new optimism was shattered when Soviet troops brutally suppressed revolts in Hungary, as any talk of striving for peace was overshadowed by that use of armed force.

1969 - The first fully attended meeting of the formal Paris peace talks is held. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, the chief negotiator for the United States, urged an immediate restoration of a genuine DMZ as the first "practical move toward peace." Lodge also suggested a mutual withdrawal of "external" military forces and an early release of prisoners of war. Tran Buu Kiem and Xuan Thuy, heads of the National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese delegations respectively, refused Lodge's proposals and condemned American "aggression."

1972 - President Richard Nixon, in response to criticism that his administration has not made its best efforts to end the war, reveals that his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger has held 12 secret peace negotiating sessions between August 4, 1969, and August 16, 1971. The negotiations took place in Paris with Le Duc Tho, a member of Hanoi's Politburo, and/or with Xuan Thuy, Hanoi's chief delegate to the formal Paris peace talks.

Nixon also disclosed the text of an eight-point peace proposal presented privately to the North Vietnamese on October 11, 1971. The main features of the eight-point plan were: withdrawal of all U.S. and Allied troops and all communist troops from South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos within six months of an agreement; simultaneous release of all military and civilian prisoners of both sides; supervision of the cease-fire by an international commission; and presidential elections in South Vietnam organized and supervised by a coalition of factions including the Viet Cong, with President Nguyen Van Thieu and Vice President Tran Van Huong resigning one month after the voting.

The North Vietnamese rejected the U.S. peace proposal and presented a proposal of their own. While Washington wanted the withdrawal of all foreign forces from South Vietnam with the condition of an agreement in principle on a final solution, Hanoi insisted on the withdrawal of U.S. and Allied troops from all of Indochina without condition. Hanoi also wanted the immediate resignation of the Thieu regime. With the secret talks now public and at an impasse, the North Vietnamese leadership decided to order a massive invasion of South Vietnam, which was launched in March 1972.

1995 - Russia's early-warning defense radar detects an unexpected missile launch near Norway, and Russian military command estimates the missile to be only minutes from impact on Moscow. Moments later, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, his defense minister, and his chief of staff were informed of the missile launch. The nuclear command systems switched to combat mode, and the nuclear suitcases carried by Yeltsin and his top commander were activated for the first time in the history of the Soviet-made weapons system. Five minutes after the launch detection, Russian command determined that the missile's impact point would be outside Russia's borders. Three more minutes passed, and Yeltsin was informed that the launching was likely not part of a surprise nuclear strike by Western nuclear submarines.

These conclusions came minutes before Yeltsin and his commanders should have ordered a nuclear response based on standard launch on warning protocols. Later, it was revealed that the missile, launched from Spitzbergen, Norway, was actually carrying instruments for scientific measurements. Nine days before, Norway had notified 35 countries, including Russia, of the exact details of the planned launch. The Russian Defense Ministry had received Norway's announcement but had neglected to inform the on-duty personnel at the early-warning center of the imminent launch. The event raised serious concerns about the quality of the former Soviet Union's nuclear systems.

[Admiral]

January 26

Born...

1763 Bernadotte, Marshal of France, King Charles XIV of Sweden & Norway

1814 Rufus King, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1876

1816 Lloyd Tilghman, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1863

1819 Abner Doubleday, Maj Gen, U.S, , d. this day, 1893

1880 Douglas MacArthur, U.S., General of the Army. He did return!

1887 Marc A "Pete" Mitscher, U.S. Lt-Admiral, WW II-Task Force 58

1891 Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian war poet

1918 Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanian President/dictator (1967-90)

1925 Desmond Cassidi, British Admiral

1937 Joseph Saidu Momoh, General/President, Sierra Leone

1943 Sherian Grace Cadoria, Brig-General

1952 Mario Runco Jr, Lt-Commander USN/Astronaut (STS 44, 54, 77)

Died...

1885 Charles George Gordon, Slain with troops at age of 51 by Sudanese Mahdists in Khartoum

1893 Abner Doubleday, Maj Gen, U.S., did not invent baseball, on his 74th birthday

1939 Armand Calinescu, Romania's PM, assassinated by the Iron Guard

1947 Gustav Adolf Crown Prince of Sweden, in air crash

1993 Jan Gies, Dutch resistance fighter, who aided the Frank family

Event...

1340 English King Edward III proclaimed King of France

1654 Portuguese troops conquer last Dutch base on Recife

1666 France declares war on England & Munster

1699 Venice, Poland & Austria sign peace treaty with Turkey

1736 Stanislaw Lesczynski flees Polish throne

1748 England, Netherlands, Austria & Sardinia sign anti-French treaty

1784 Ben Franklin expresses unhappiness over the Eagle as America's symbol

1787 Daniel Shays & followers attack arsenal at Springfield, Mass

1797 Russia, Prussia & Austria sign treaty

1788 Captain Arthur Phillip hoists English flag on Botany Bay, New South Wales. It also marks the founding of a penal colony at Sydney, Australia colony

1799 French set-up puppet "Pathenopean Republic" in Naples, loot and rape at will

1841 Hong Kong proclaimed a sovereign territory of Britain

1859 Screw frigate USS Brooklyn commissioned under Captain David G. Farragut

1861 Louisiana becomes 6th state to secede

1862 Lincoln issues General War Order #1. The order calls for a Union offensive. George McClellan ignores the order.

1863 54th Massachusetts (black) Infantry is formed. War Department authority was granted the Massachussetts governor for the recruitment of black troops.

1870 Virginia rejoins US

1885 Muhammad Ahmed ("Mahdi") rebels conquer Khartoum, slay "Chinese" Gordon

1887 Battle of Dogali: Abyssinian Emperor John IV defeats Italians

1890 NY reporter Nellie Bly completes a 'round the world trip in 72 days

1897 Battle at Bida Gold Coast: British troops beat Nupe's army

1911 Glenn Curtiss pilots 1st successful hydroplane, San Diego

1913 The body of John Paul Jones is laid to final rest in the Chapel of Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD

1918 US: Herbert Hoover calls for "wheatless" & "meatless" days for war effort

1919 Allied forces, with gunners from the Canadian Field Artillery amongst them, make a 35 mile night retreat from Shenkurst to Kista (Soviet Union) in -35 degrees Farenheit weather.

1931 Hungary-Austria sign peace treaty

1932 British submarine M-2 sinks in Channel, 60 die

1934 Nazi Germany and Poland sign ten year non-aggression pact

1939 General Franco conquers Barcelona, Spain

1940 Nazi's forbid Polish Jews to travel on trains

1940 United States-Japanese Trade Treaty of 1911 expires.

1940 Minesweeper USS Quail arrives at Palmyra Island with first construction party to begin building a naval air station there.

1940 Franco's Spanish Nationalists capture Barcelona

1942 Italian supreme command demands dismissal of German Marshal Rommel

1942 First U.S. Expeditionary Force to Europe in World War II arrives in Northern Ireland.

1942 U.S. freighter West Ivis is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-125 off the eastern seaboard. There are no survivors from either the 36-man civilian crew or the 9-man Armed Guard.

1942 Malaya: Japanese make major inroads into the Johore Line.

1942 U.S./Philippine troops consolidate the Bagac-Orion line on Bataan.

1943 Submarine USS Flying Fish damages Japanese transport Tokai Maru at Port Apra, Guam, 13°27'N, 144°37'E.

1943 Submarine USS Grayling sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Ushio Maru in Verde Island Passage, north of Mindoro, P.I., 13°26'N, 121°16'E.

1943 Submarine USS Gudgeon is damaged by depth charges in the Banda Sea, 03°59'S, 127°54'E, but remains on patrol.

1943 Submarine USS Wahoo attacks Japanese convoy about 270 miles north of Dutch New Guinea and torpedoes and sinks army cargo ships Buyo Maru and No.2 Fukuei Maru, 02°00'N, 139°14'E. After dispatching the freighters, which are serving as transports, USS Wahoo surfaces to recharge her batteries and mans her guns. Firing her 4-inch gun at the largest of the craft draws Japanese return fire from automatic weapons. As Captain Morton later writes, "We then opened fire with everything we had." Subsequently, USS Wahoo pursues and torpedoes armed merchant cruiser Ukishima Maru, 02°37'N, 139°42'E, and army cargo ship Pacific Maru, 02°30'N, 139°44'E

1944 TG 74.2, consisting of two light cruisers and three destroyers, bombards Japanese installations in Madang-Alexischafen area of New Guinea.

1944 Motor torpedo boat PT-110 is sunk by depth charge explosion following collision with motor torpedo boat PT-114, Ablingi Harbor, New Britain, 06°17'S, 150°09'E; PT-114 is damaged.

1944 Escort carriers USS Suwanee and USS Sangamon are damaged in collision while en route to the Marshalls.

1944 Submarine USS Crevalle sinks Japanese gunboat Busho Maru in South China Sea, about 175 miles southeast of Cape St. Jacques, French Indochina, 08°30'N, 109°10'E.

1944 Submarine USS Hake sinks Japanese auxiliary netlayer Shuko Maru off Ambon, N.E.I., 05°50'N, 126°00'E.

1944 Submarine USS Skipjack sinks Japanese destroyer IJN Suzukaze 140 miles northwest of Ponape, Carolines, 09°00'N, 157°27'E, and transport Okitsu Maru 150 miles northwest of Ponape, 09°22'N, 157°26'E.

1944 British submarine HMS Templar damages Japanese light cruiser IJN Kitakami southwest of Penang, Malaya, 04°54'N, 98°28'E.

1944 Off Anzio, mines sink Infantry landing craft LCI-32 and damage tank landing ship LST-422. During German air raid on shipping off the invasion beaches, U.S. freighter John Banyard is damaged by near-miss of aerial bomb. While there are no casualties to those on board (including the 27-man Armed Guard), the ship will later be written off as a total loss. Off Nettuno, a German fighter plane crashes into freighter Hilary A. Herbert shortly before the freighter is further damaged by the near-miss of a bomb. Beached to prevent her loss, Hilary A. Herbert is later repaired and returned to service.

1944 German submarines continue attacks against Murmansk- bound convoy JW 56A. U.S. freighter Andrew G. Curtin is torpedoed and sunk by U-716, 73°25'N, 25°16'E; two of the merchant crew and one Armed Guard sailor (of the 43-man merchant complement and the 28-man Armed Guard, respectively) perish. British destroyer HMS Inconstant rescues the survivors.

1944 U.S. freighter Walter Camp is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-532 at 10°00'N, 71°40'E; all hands (40 merchant crew, 28 Armed Guards and one passenger) survive. British light cruiser HMS Danae rescues them four and a half days later.

1944 Argentina severs diplomatic relations with Germany and Japan.

1944 Liberia declares war on Germany and Japan

1944 US bombers raid the Marshalls.

1945 Soviet forces reach Auschwitz concentration camp

1945 Tank landing craft LCT-1151 is lost in amphibious operations, 01°00'N, 138°36'E.

1945 Submarine USS Tautog sinks Japanese merchant sail fishing boat No.11 Naga Maru, 30°00'N, 136°20'E.

1945 Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Hakko Maru is sunk by aircraft off Corregidor;

1945 Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser No.13 Kyo Maru is sunk by mine off Bengeri Point.

1945 Japanese merchant cargo ship No.1 Tamon Maru is sunk by mine [laid by submarine USS Dace on 16 December 1944] off Gambir Island French Indochina, 13°36'N, 109°18'E.

1945 Japanese government orders an end to offensives operations in China.

1945 Canadian and Polish troops begin Operation Elephant. Against the German bridgehead at Kapelsche Veer (south-east of Rotterdam) the Canadians advance across the frozen polder only to be driven back by a well-entrenched force of German paratroopers.

1948 Executive Order 9981: segregation in the Armed Forces must end

1949 USS Norton Sound, first guided-missile ship, launches first guided missile, Loon.

1950 India becomes a republic ceaseing to be a British dominion

1956 Porkkala military base returned to Finland by USSR

1957 India annexes Kashmir

1960 USS John S. McCain rescues the entire 41-man crew of the sinking Japanese freighter, Shinwa Maru, in the East China Sea.

1962 Canadian Marine Service renamed Coast Guard

1962 US launches Ranger 3, It misses the Moon by 22,000-mi (37,000-km)

1965 South Vietnam milt coup under General Nguyen Khanh

1967 USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan USSR

1968 Israeli submarine Dakar crashes in Mediterranean Sea, 69 die

1971 Dutch 2nd Chamber accept law against limitation of war crimes

1978 International Ultraviolet Explorer placed in Earth orbit

1980 Israel & Egypt establish diplomatic relations

1983 Dutch/British infrared satellite IRAS launched from California

1984 U.S. Navy exhibits Piasecki helistat. 4 helicopters and a blimp able to lift 26 tons-Lakehurst, NJ

1986 Yoweri Museveni's rebel army conquerors Kampala Uganda

1991 Alfaro Vive guerrilla group of Ecuador gives their arms to Catholic church

[Leatherneck]

United States Marine Corps History

January 26

• 1856 - (Seattle)

Sloop Decatur lands her Marines, some sailors, and a howitzer to protect American settlers in Seattle from hostile Indians. In a night-long battle, the naval force drives away the threatening marauders.

• 1955 - (Training)

The Navy and Marine Corps begin a series of amphibious exercises dubbed TRAEX 2-55 that will continue through 6 May. They take place at Camp Lejeune and the Caribbean and involve elements of the 2nd Marine Division and 2nd MAW. The operations simulate surprise raids to destroy guided missile launching sites.

• 1967 - (Operation DeSoto)

The 7th Marines conducts search and destroy operations against Viet Cong units in southern Quang Ngai Province. By the time it ends on 7 April, it accounts for 383 Communist troops killed at a cost of 69 dead and 556 wounded.

Semper Fidelis, Mac!

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

[Cap. Teancum]

1779 - On this day in 1779, after the British capture of Savannah, Georgia, a group of Patriots meets at the city’s Burke County Jail to determine how they will deal with any possible defections from the Patriot cause. They were worried by a recent British offer of immunity to those who would affirm their loyalty to the British king.

After the meeting, the Patriots attempted to apprehend some Loyalists in the area as proof of their determination. The ensuing skirmish, fought on the banks of McIntosh Creek between 400 men loyal to Britain and Patriots led by Major General John Twiggs and Lieutenant Colonel William Few, was indecisive.

William Few had a uniquely American upbringing. He was born in Maryland in 1748, but moved with his family to North Carolina at the age of 10. In the early 1770s, he, along with his father and brother, was involved in the extra-legal “Regulator” movement in the North Carolina backcountry. Unhappy with county officials with ties to the governor using backcountry farmers’ taxes to line their pockets, the Regulators attempted to instigate reform using various tactics, some of them violent. Few’s brother was one of seven men hung after the Regulators were defeated by the governor’s militia. William and his father fled to Georgia, where he became involved with the movement for American independence.

Later, John Twiggs and William Few would both become representatives of the Georgia Union Company in its attempt to buy 35 million acres of land in what is now Alabama and Mississippi in 1794 and 1795. The attempted purchase came as part of the fury of land speculation leading up to the Yazoo land fraud of 1802.

1863 - General Joseph Hooker assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following Ambrose Burnside's disastrous tenure.

Hooker was a West Point graduate and a veteran of the Seminole War and the Mexican War, and he had served in the American West in the 1850s. When the Civil War erupted, Hooker was named brigadier general in the Army of the Potomac. He quickly rose to division commander, and he distinguished himself during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. He also continued to build his reputation as a hard drinker and womanizer. He earned the nickname "Fighting Joe," and received command of the First Corps in time for the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862. His corps played a major role in the Battle of Antietam in September, and when Burnside failed as commander, Hooker had his chance.

The general first had to deal with the sagging morale of the army. He reorganized his command and instituted a badge system, where each division had their own unique insignia. This helped to build unit pride and identity, and Hooker led a reenergized army into Virginia in April 1862. Hooker's appointment was part of Lincoln's frustrating process of finding a winning general in the east. After Irwin McDowell, George McClellan, John Pope, McClellan again, and then Burnside, Lincoln hoped Hooker could defeat Confederate General Robert E. Lee. It was a tall order, though, and Hooker was not up to the challenge. In May 1863, Hooker clashed with Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the Union army suffered a decisive and stunning defeat. Lincoln's search for an effective commander continued, and he eventually replaced Hooker with George Meade.

1970 - U.S. Navy Lt. Everett Alvarez Jr. spends his 2,000th day in captivity in Southeast Asia. First taken prisoner when his plane was shot down on August 5, 1964, he became the longest-held POW in U.S. history. Alvarez was downed over Hon Gai during the first bombing raids against North Vietnam in retaliation for the disputed attack on U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964.

Alvarez was released in 1973 after spending over eight years in captivity, the first six months as the only American prisoner in North Vietnam. From the first day of his captivity, he was shackled, isolated, nearly starved, and brutally tortured. Although he was among the more junior-rank prisoners of war, his courageous conduct under horrendous conditions and treatment helped establish the model emulated by the many other POWs that later joined him. After retirement from the Navy, he served as deputy director of the Peace Corps and deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration during the Reagan administration, before founding his own military consulting firm.

1972 - Radio Hanoi announces North Vietnam's rejection of the latest U.S. peace proposal. Revealing more details of the secret Paris peace talks, Henry Kissinger responds publicly, condemning the North Vietnamese announcement and criticizing Hanoi's nine-point counter-proposal, which had been submitted during the secret talks.

Kissinger took exception with the communist insistence on the end of all U.S. support for the South Vietnamese government. The communists maintained that "withdrawal" meant not only withdrawal of U.S. troops, but also the removal of all U.S. equipment, aid, and arms in the possession of the South Vietnamese army. Kissinger asserted that the abrupt removal of all U.S. aid would guarantee the collapse of the Saigon regime. With the peace talks at a virtual impasse, the North Vietnamese leadership decided to launch a massive invasion of South Vietnam in March 1972.