This Day In Military History...

[Cap. Teancum]

August 30

By Admiral:

Born...

1334 King Pedro the Cruel of Castille & Leon (1350-1369), k. 1369

1748 Jacques-Louis David, French neoclassical painter ("The Death of Marat")

1772 Henri Count de La Roche-Jacquelin, French, counter-revolutionary

1797 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, author ("Frankenstein")

1871 Ernest Lord Rutherford, English physicist; discovered atomic nucleus

1901 John Gunther, the "Inside" man

1918 Ted Williams, Marine, World War II and Korea, ball player

Died...

30 -BC- Cleopatra, 7th & most famously beautiful Queen of Egypt, commits suicide

536 Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths

1483 King Louis XI of France (1461-83), at 60

1580 Duke Emanuel Philibert of Savoy, viceroy, the Spanish Netherlands

1879 John B. Hood, Gen, C.S.A., who lost Atlanta, of yellow fever at 48

1918 Bertram T. Clayton, ranking West Pointer (1881) kia, World War I

1935 Henri Barbusse, leftist French WW I vet and author ("Under Fire")

1981 Mohammad Ali Rajai, President of Iran, assassinated by a bomb

1981 Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Prime Minister of Iran, assassinated by a bomb

Event...

31 -BC- Origin of Era of Augustus

1563 Jews expelled from Neutitschlin, Moravia

1645 New Netherlands & Indians sign peace treaty

1854 John Fremont issues proclamation freeing slaves of Missouri rebels

1856 John Brown raids Osawatomie, Kansas, 5 die

1862 Battle of Altamont: Confederates beat Union forces in Tennessee

1862 Battle of Richmond, Ky

1888 Lord Walsingham kills 1070 grouse in a single day

1913 US Navy tests Sperry gyroscopic stabilizer (automatic pilot)

1916 Wilhelm II makes Paul von Hindenburg Chief of the General Staff

1918 Czechoslovakia proclaims independence from Austria-Hungary

1918 Fanya Kaplan shoots Lenin, unfortunately not killing him

1918 Canadians launch a surprise attack during a lull in the Battle of Arras, capturing and holding a strong enemy position on the right flank

1929 Near New London, CT, 26 officers and men test Momsen lung to exit submerged S-4

1932 Hermann Goring elected chairman of the Reichstag

1939 Poland mobilizes as Germany invades

1940 The fighter pilots of No.242 (Canadian) Squadron of the RAF scramble to meet an incoming wave of German fighters and bombers. Led by the legendary Douglas Bader, No.242 shoots down 12 German bombers for no losses of their own

1941 Nazis begin Siege of Leningrad

1942 Egypt: Rommel begins the Battle of Alam Halfa

1942 Japanese a/c sink U.S. destroyer transport off Guadalcanal

1942 Japanese abandon their landing at Milne Bay, after a final unsuccesful attack

1942 Japanese forces press forward along the Kokoda Trail

1942 Nazi Germany annexes Luxembourg

1942 U.S. destroyers and fast transports land reinforcements on Guadalcanal

1942 U.S. troops land on unoccupied Adak Island, in the Aleutians

1944 6th Infantry Div completes movement from San Francisco to Hawaii

1944 Soviet troops enter Bucharest, Romania

1945 11th Airborne Div flies into at Atsugi Airfield, Japan

1945 Gen MacArthur lands in Japan

1945 Surface combatants of TF 38 enter Tokyo Bay

1945 Hong Kong liberated from Japan

1956 White rioters block enrollment of blacks at Mansfield HS, Texas

1961 Last Spanish troops leave Morocco

1961 Two Cuban frigates fire on a Naval Reserve aircraft on a training mission over international waters

1963 Hot Line communications link between Wash DC & Moscow went on line

1979 US President Carter attacked by a rabbit on a canoe trip in Plains Ga

By Cap. Teancum:

1748 - British lay siege to Pondicherry. Two months later with one third of their forces lost to sickness, the British raise the siege.

1757 - Battle of Gross Jagersdorf. Russian army defeated Prussians but a mutiny and supply problems caused the Russians to withdraw soon thereafter.

1781 - Battle of Chesapeake Capes. French fleet defeats British depriving Cornwallis of naval support at Yorktown.

1842 - Battle of Ghoaine. British smash through Afghan blocking force.

1870 - Battle of Beaumont, French surprise Prussians during the Franco-Prussian War.

1966 - China agrees to provide aid to North Vietnam.

1969 - Ho Chi Minh responds to Nixon letter.

1970 - Elections held in South Vietnam.

By Avalon:

Australian

1915 2nd Lieutenant Hugo. V. Throssell, VC. 2nd Lieutenant H.V. Throssell, 10th Light Horse Regiment, originally from Northam, Western Australia, wins the Victoria Cross at Hill 60, Gallipoli.

1942 Japanese advance halts at fighter airstrip. This was the furthest point south achieved by Japanese land forces. Diggers in battle of Alam el Kalfa, North Africa.

1968 Death of C.E.W. Bean. Bean did more than any other individual to establish the Australian War Memorial. He was also responsible for writing six volumes of the Official History of Australia in the war of 1914-1918 and editing the remaining volumes.

By De Gaulle:

30 August 1939

Poland.
Expecting a German attack ,the Polish armed forces are under maximum alert.

The Polish Navy is ordered to move all its ships to the UK. Staying in their Polish bases would have been a useless sacrifice.

30 August 1940

UK
New air attack of the Luftwaffe against the radars and RAF Fighter Command airstrips in Southern England: Biggin Hill, Kenley, radar stations of Dover, Rye, Pevensey, Foreness, Beachy Head, Forelight et Whitsable.

Biggin Hill, Kent, is bombed twice.
German aircraft losses:36
British: 25

30 August 1941

Eastern Front

North
Germans reached Mga and cut the last railway link between Leningrad and the Sovier Union

Centre
The Red Army launch another lost counter attack north of Gomel. The kampfgruppen Kleist and Guderian reached the Kiev battle theater, where the Boudienny Russians units fight with great courage.

30 August 1942

North Africa. 23:00h. FeldMarshall Rommel lauch his 2nd El Alamein offensive.

The first one took place from 21 June till 27 July 1942.

France
Monseigneur Saliage, Bishop of Toulouse, ask all the priests under his jurisdiction to read in their churches a letter toughly protesting against the deportationtation of Jews.

30 August 1943

General Keitel send instructions concerning the occupation of Italy by German units.

30 August 1944

Hong-Kong.
A British Royal Navy unit take control of the colony seized by the Japanese on 25 December 1941.

[Cap. Teancum]

Today's event:

1862 Battle of Richmond, Ky

Today's book:

The Richmond Campaign of 1862: The Peninsula and the Seven Days by Gary W. Gallagher (Editor)

Book Description:

The Richmond campaign of April-July 1862 ranks as one of the most important military operations of the first years of the American Civil War. Key political, diplomatic, social, and military issues were at stake as Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan faced off on the peninsula between the York and James Rivers. The climactic clash came on June 26-July 1 in what became known as the Seven Days battles, when Lee, newly appointed as commander of the Confederate forces, aggressively attacked the Union army. Casualties for the entire campaign exceeded 50,000, more than 35,000 of whom fell during the Seven Days.
This book offers nine essays in which well-known Civil War historians explore questions regarding high command, strategy and tactics, the effects of the fighting upon politics and society both North and South, and the ways in which emancipation figured in the campaign. The authors have consulted previously untapped manuscript sources and reinterpreted more familiar evidence, sometimes focusing closely on the fighting around Richmond and sometimes looking more broadly at the background and consequences of the campaign.

http://www.amazon.com/-Richmond-Camp...e=UTF8&s=books

[Cap. Teancum]

August 31

By Admiral:

Born...

12 Caligula, (Gaius Caesar) mad 3rd Roman emperor (37-41)

161 Commodus, mad Roman emperor (180-91)

1569 Shah Jahan, Great Mogul of India (1628-1658), d. 1666

1811 Goode Bryan, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1885

1822 Fitz John Porter, Maj Gen, U.S., aeronaut, d. 1901

1828 George Leonard Andrews, Brig Gen, U.S.

1879 Emperor Yoshihito of Japan (1912-26)

1880 Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (1898-1948), d. 1962

1945 Leonid I Popov, Russia, Cosmonaut (Soyuz 35, 40, T-7)

Died...

1057 Earl Leofric of Mercia, husband of Lady Godiva

1158 King Sancho III of Castille

1422 King Henry V of England, Victor of Agnciourt

1888 Mary Ann Nicholls, Jack the Ripper's first victim

1967 Ilia Ehrenburg, Soviet war poet

Event...

1535 Pope Paul II deposed & excommunicated King Henry VIII

1696 The English recapture Port Nelson on the shores of Hudson Bay. La Forest, commander of the post, surrenders to an overwhelming Royal Navy fleet of 5 ships

1778 British kill 17 Stockbridge Indians in the Bronx

1842 US Congress replaces the Board of Navy Commissioners, a group of senior officer who oversaw naval technical affairs, 5 Navy Bureaus created, the 1842 Bureau, the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, continues to serve under its original name -- "CNOs come and go, but the Bureaus go on forever"

1842 US Naval Observatory authorized by an act of Congress

1861 Skirmish at Munson's Hill, Va

1864 Atlanta Campaign: Battle of Jonesborough

1888 Jack the Ripper begins his work

1900 British troops capture Johannesburg

1907 England, Russia, & France form Triple Entente

1919 Petlyura's Ukranian Army kills 35 members of a Jewish defense group

1923 Italian troops occupy Corfu

1935 FDR signs an act prohibiting export of US arms to belligerents

1940 First edition of illegal resistance newspaper "Free Netherlands"

1940 German occupiers in Netherlands begin soap rationing

1942 Santa Cruz I.: USS Saratoga torpedoed by Japanese sub I-26

1943 Aussie 9th Div sails from Milne Bay for landing near Lae, NE New Guinea

1943 Japanse occupiers intern Jewish Congregation of Sorabaya

1943 U.S. troops occupy Baker I, Central Pacific

1944 Allied offensive against the Gothic Line in Italy. It is the second day of fighting along the enemy defensive line, which was strewn with anti-personnel mines and anti-tank guns

1944 Chinese forces in north Burma and south China approach linkup

1944 - Carrier task group begins 3-day attack on Iwo Jima and Bonin Islands

1944 Noemfoor is declared secured by US forces

1949 The 83rd -- and last - GAR encampment, 6 of 14 members attend

1957 Malaya (Malaysia) gains independence from Britain (National Day)

1962 Last flight of USN airship made at NAS Lakehurst, NJ

1962 Trinidad & Tobago gain independence from Britain (National Day)

1963 "Hot line" between Moscow-Washington, DC installed (dateline)

1971 Dave Scott becomes 1st person to drive a car on the Moon

By Cap. Teancum:

1591 - Sir Richard Grenville, captain of Revenge held off 53 Spanish galleons in 15 hour battle, sinking several before being overwhelmed.

1823 - Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne of Spain when invited French forces entered Cadiz. The event is known as the Battle of Trocadero.

1870 - Battle of Noisseville. Failed attempt by French to break out from the siege of Metz.

1923 - Ruanda-Urundi is made a Belgian protectorate.

1939 - "Polish" troops attack German radio station in Gleiwicz, prompting German invasion of Poland. In truth, the "polish" troops were German concentration camp prisoners dressed in Polish uniforms and shot by the SS.

1955 - A UN brokered cease-fire for the Gaza border dispute with Israel is accepted by Egypt.

1955 - Dulles supports Diem's decision not to hold national election.

1965 - Ky refuses to negotiate with the Communists.

1967 - Senate Committee calls for stepped-up bombing.

1970 - Thieu government maintains control of Senate.

1972 - U.S. weekly casualty figures hit new low.

1986 - The Admiral Nakhimov, a Soviet passenger ship, collided with a merchant vessel in the Black Sea. 448 people were killed when both ships sank.

1990 - East and West Germany signed a treaty that meant the harmonizing of political and legal systems.

1991 - Uzbekistan and Kirghiziz declared their independence from the Soviet Union. They were the 9th and 10th republics to announce their plans to secede.

1993 - Russia withdrew its last soldiers from Lithuania.

1994 - A cease-fire was declared by the Irish Republican Army after 25 years of bloodshed in Northern Ireland.

1994 - Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics after a half-century.

1998 - A ballistic missile was fired over Japan by North Korea. The missile landed in stages in the waters around Japan. There was no known target.

1998 - U.S. embassies in Ghana and Togo were closed indefinitely because of security threats.

1998 - An explosion in a market in Algiers, Algeria killed at least 17 and wounded approximately 60.

By Avalon:

Australian

1918 Pte George Cartwright, 33 Bn, awarded the VC for his actions at Rood Wood, France. Mont St Quentin, France, captured by allied forces.

1942 Australians begin offensive at Milne Bay.

1950 HMAS Sydney and Tobruk sail for Korea.

[Cap. Teancum]

Today's event:

1950 HMAS Sydney and Tobruk sail for Korea.

Today's book:

Bitter Victory: The Death of HMAS Sydney by Wesley Olson

Book Description:

On 11 November 1941, the cruiser HMAS Sydney sailed from the Australian port of Freemantle on a routine escort mission. Though scheduled to return on 20 November, it never arrived. Reports of a sea battle with a German cruiser whose survivors were rescued from rafts in the Sunda Straight added to the mystery that has continued to baffle government officials, historians, and the public for over fifty years. Author Wesley Owen re-opens the case in an attempt to answer the questions: Why did the Sydney sink? How did it disappear without a trace? And why were there no survivors? By examining every piece of available evidence and carefully reconstructing the event through eye-witness accounts, Olson has produced both a compelling narrative and the most persuasive explanation yet for the mystery and tragedy of the HMAS Sydney. 436 pages. Paperback. 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches.

http://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Victory...e=UTF8&s=books

[Cap. Teancum]

September 1

By Admiral:

Born...

1798 Richard Delafield, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1873

1824 Isaac Hardin Duval, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1902

1829 James Conner, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1883

1864 Sir Roger David Casement, Ireland, martyr (IRA)

1875 Edgar Rice Burroughs, war correspondent

1900 Andrei Vlasov, Russian general and traitor

1910 Jack Hawkins, actor ("The Cruel Sea")

1922 Melvin R Laird, Secretary of Defense (1969-73)

Died...

1067 Count Baldwin V of Flanders

1159 Adrian IV (Nicholas Breakspear), the only English pope (1154-1159)

1557 Jacques Cartier, French explorer

1680 Elector Johan Georg II of Saxon (1656-80), at 67

1715 Louis XIV "The Sun King" of France (1643-1715), at 76

1838 William Clark, of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, at 68

1862 Phil Kearny, "the bravest man in the Union Army," KIA, Chantilly

1864 Emmeran Bliemel, C.S.A., only Catholic chaplain KIA in the Civil War

1961 William Z Foster, Stalinist puppet, chairman CPUSA, 1945-57, at 80

1981 Albert Speer, Hitler's henchman and architect, con artist, did not carry out scorched earth as Hitler ordered when Germany retreated

Event...

312 -BC- Origin of Greek Era-Start of Indiction of Constantinople

69 Traditional date of destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Romans

891 Northmen defeated near Louvain, Flanders

1267 Ramban (Nachmanides) arrives in Jerusalem to establish Jewish community

1614 Jews expelled from Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany, by Vincent Fettmich

1739 35 sentenced to life in prison in Lisbon, for being Jews

1760 British troops enter Chambly, moving north on the Richelieu River and closing the ring around Montreal even tighter

1781 French Admiral De Grasse, under no specific orders, brought his fleet to General Washington & Americas aid, effectively trapping the British fleet off Yorktown, VA. Essentially & often overlooked, it was the locked door against which the Americans forced the British hand in the former colonies

1807 Former VP Aaron Burr acquitted of charges of plotting to set up an empire, innocent of treason

1814 A British armada of 11 ships and 10 transports carrying 2500 troops lands at Castine, Maine (Penobscot Bay). The British troops land without opposition and quickly occupy the town and its fort

1848 Royal troops begin bombardment of Messina, Sicily (surrenders the 7th)

1858 First Atlantic cable fails, after less than one month

1861 Grant assumes command of Federal forces at Cape Girardeau, MI

1861 Skirmish at Bennett's Mills, Mo

1862 Battle of Chantilly, Virginia

1866 Manuelito, last resisting Navaho chief, surrenders at Fort Wingate

1870 Napoleon III surrenders to the Prussians at Sedan

1916 Bulgaria declares war on Romania

1918 Canadians capture the Crow's Nest, an enemy stronghold located on a high point of land near Arras

1918 US troops land in Vladivostok, Siberia, stay until 1920

1925 CDR John Rodgers and crew of 4 in PN-9 run out of fuel on first San Francisco to Hawaii flight. Landing at sea, they rigged a sail and set sail for Hawaii

1928 Zog I proclaims himself king of Albania

1938 Mussolini cancels civil rights of Italian Jews

1939 Hitler orders "Close your hearts to pity" as Germany invades Poland, takes Danzig

1939 Hitler orders extermination of mentally ill

1941 U.S. assumes responsibility for trans-Atlantic convoys from Argentia, Canada to the meridian of Iceland

1942 "Tokyo Express" mission to Guadalcanal evades B-17s

1942 German troops land on the Taman Peninsula, USSR

1942 Federal judge upholds wartime detention of Japanese-Americans

1942 Establishment of Air Force, Pacific Fleet, VADM Aubrey W. Fitch, USN

1942 First USN Seabee unit to serve in a combat area, 6th Naval Construction Battalion, arrives on Guadalcanal

1943 Japanese sub I-182 is sunk by destroyer USS Wadsworth off Espiritu Santo

1943 USN raids Marcus I, west central Pacific, with air and gunnery attacks

1944 King George VI promotes Bernard Law Montgomery to Field Marshal

1945 USS Benevolence (AH-13) evacuates civilian internees from 2 internment camps near Tokyo, Japan

1945 Japan surrenders ending WW II (US date, 9/2 in Japan)

1948 Communists form the North China People's Republic

1950 13 North Korean divisions open assault on UN lines

1951 The Mossad, Israel's secret service, begins operations

1951 US, Australia, & New Zealand sign the ANZUS treaty

1961 USSR tests nuclear bombs in central Asia

1969 Libyan revolution, Col Moammar Gadhafi deposes King Idris in a military coup

1971 Qatar declares independence from Britain

1979 Pioneer 11 makes 1st fly-by of Saturn, discovers new moon, rings

1982 Palestinian Liberation Organization leaves Lebanon

1983 Soviets shoot down Korean Boeing 747 that strayed over Siberia

By Avalon:

Australian

1900 Trooper J.H. Bisdee, 1st Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen, originally from Hutton Park, Tasmania, wins the Victoria Cross at Warm Bad, South Africa.

1900 Lieutenant G.G. Wylly, 1st Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen, originally from Hobart, Tasmania, wins the Victoria Cross at Warm Bad, South Africa.

1918 Temporary Corporal A.H. Buckley, 54th Battalion, originally from Warren, New South Wales, wins the Victoria Cross at Peronne. (Posthumous award).

1918 Sergeant A.D. Lowerson, 21st battalion, originally from Myrtleford, Victoria, wins the Victoria Cross at Mont St. Quentin.

1918 Private R. Mactier, 23rd Battalion, AIF, originally from Tatura, Victoria, wins the Victoria Cross at Mont St. Quentin.

1918 Lieutenant E.T. Towner, 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, Blackall, Queensland, wins the Victoria Cross at Mont St. Quentin.

1918 Corporal A.C. Hall, 54th Battalion, originally from Nyngan New South Wales, wins the Victoria Cross at Peronne.

1918 Pte William Currey, 53 Bn, awarded the VC for his actions near Peronne, France.

1942 Japanese advance along the Owen Stanley Ranges, New Guinea.

By Cap. Teancum:

1632 - Battle of Castelnaudry. Louis XIII defeated rebel forces capturing their leader, the Duc de Montmorenci.

1695 - William III of England captured Namur from the French in one of the costliest sieges in history for an attacking army. William lost 18,000 men inflicting 9,000 on the French.

1823 - BolÃ*var arrives Lima and takes control of political and military authority.

1864 - With Union General William T. Sherman threatening to cut his only escape route, Confederate General John Bell Hood evacuates Atlanta, Georgia, at the climax of a four-month campaign by Sherman to capture the vital Rebel supply center.

1882 - General Ulises Heureaux starts his second presidencial mandate in Dominican Republic.

1941 - Italy and Germany invade Egypt.

1966 - De Gaulle urges the United States to get out of Vietnam.

1968 - Lt. Col. William A. Jones III leads a mission near Dong Hoi, North Vietnam, to rescue a downed pilot. Locating the pilot, who had activated his emergency locator beacon, Colonel Jones attacked a nearby gun emplacement. On his second pass, Colonel Jones' aircraft was hit and the cockpit of his Douglas A-1H Skyraider was set ablaze. He tried to eject, but the ejection system failed. He then returned to base and reported the exact position of the downed pilot before receiving medical treatment for his burns. The downed pilot was rescued by helicopter the next day. Colonel Jones was nominated for the Medal of Honor for his actions during the rescue attempt, but he died in an aircraft accident in the United States before he could be presented with the award.

1970 - McGovern-Hatfield amendment defeated in the Senate.

1991 - Libano and Siria sign a defense and security pact to any Israel atack.

[Cap. Teancum]

Today's event:

1695 - William III of England captured Namur from the French in one of the costliest sieges in history for an attacking army. William lost 18,000 men inflicting 9,000 on the French.

Today's book:

William III, The Stadholder-king: A Political Biography by Wout Troost, J. C. Grayson (Translator)

Book Description:

Few have tackled a biography of William III of England (1650-1702), says Dutch scholar Troost, probably because his aloof and reserved personality has not attracted much interest, and because such a work requires extensive knowledge about French and German as well as English history. He emphasizes his relationship with England, where the son of Mary Stuart I spent several months at the court of his English uncle Charles II before becoming Stadholder of five of the Dutch provinces in 1672, and thereafter constantly sought to bring England into his anti-French alliance. No publication information is provided for the original Stadhouder-koning Willem III, which was translated by J.C. Grayson.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...0/ai_n15334671

[Cap. Teancum]

September 2

By Admiral:

Born...

1837 James H. Wilson, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1925

1838 Lydia Kamekeha Liliuokalani, last queen of Hawaii (1891-93)

1856 Yang Hsiu-ch'ing commander in chief of the Taiping Rebellion

1878 Werner von Blomberg, German general and defense minister

1944 Claude Nicollier Vevey, Switzerland, Astronaut (STS 61-K, sk: 46)

1948 Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe, Teacher-Astronaut, killed in Challenger Space Shuttle accident

Died...

1384 Louis I, Duke of Anjou & King of Naples

1547 Hernan Cortes, lawyer, Spanish conquistador general defeated Aztec Indians

1953 Gen. Jonathan Wainwright (1883-1953)

Event...

490 -BC- Phidippides runs from Athens to Sparta seeking aid against Persia

31 -BC- Battle of Actium; Octavian defeats Antony, becomes Emperor Augustus

1414 Republic of Gaeta and Count Giacomo II of Fondi conclude an armistice

1649 Innocent X orders the city of Castro demolished

1666 Great Fire of London, ends the Great Plague of London

1732 Pope Clement XII renews anti-Jewish laws in Rome

1752 Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar, 170 years late, to screw up chronology

1777 Cooch's Bridge, NJ: First use of the "Stars and Stripes" in battle

1792 Paris mob butchers nobles and clergymen held in jails

1796 A French fleet lands at Bay Bulls, Nfld., where the town is looted and burned. The event marks the last French attack against an English settlement on the North American continent

1798 Karl Mack von Leiberich appointed commander of the Neapolitan Army

1843 Neapolitan squadron visits Rio de Janiero

1861 Skirmish at Bethel's Mills, Va

1861 Skirmish at Dallas, Mo

1861 Skirmish at Dry Wood/Ft. Scott, Mo

1864 Union General William T Sherman captures Atlanta

1898 Battle of Omdurman: Lord Kitchener retakes Sudan for Britain

1901 VP Theodore Roosevelt advises, "Speak softly & carry a big stick"

1914 As the Germans drive on Paris, the French government flees to Bordeaux

1918 USN ships and crews assist earthquake victims of Yokohama and Tokyo, Japan

1918 Canadian and British ground forces are ordered to capture the Drocourt-Queant line of the German trenches near Arras; an action that will see no fewer than six Canadians awarded the Victoria Cross

1940 Destroyer-for-Bases agreement between U.S. and United Kingdom

1943 Japanese patrol vessel is torpedoed near Turk by submarine USS Snapper

1943 Skorzeny and Waffen-SS team free Mussolini at Gran Sasso

1943 US a/c bomb Lae, in northeastern New Guinea, sinking a patrol vessel

1944 Anne Frank is sent to Auschwitz

1944 Elements of Third Fleet raid the Bonin Islands

1944 Finland concludes an armistice with the Soviet Union

1944 During WW II, George Herbert Walker Bush ejects from a burning plane, survives to later become President & father of President - so far

1944 Sub USS Finback rescues Avenger pilot Lt jg George Bush near Chichi Jima

1945 Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independent of France

1945 Japan signs surrender documents on board USS Missouri (BB-63) at anchor in Tokyo Bay. FADM Chester W. Nimitz signs for the US, MacArthur says "These proceedings are closed." In different ceremonies, Japanese forces on Palau Islands, Truk, and on Pagan Island and Rota in the Marianas surrender

1963 Alabama Gov George C Wallace prevents integration of Tuskegee HS

1987 West German pilot Mathias Rust, who flew a private plane from Helsinki Finland, to land it in Moscow's Red Square, goes on trial in Russia

1990 Canadian Army personnel begin to dismantle the barricades set up by native "Warriors" at Oka, Que. after a five month stand-off between natives and police

By Avalon:

Australian

1918 Cpl Maurice Buckley, 13 Bn (posthumously); Cpl Arthur Hall, 54 Bn; and Cpl Lawrence Weathers, 43 Bn; awarded VCs for their actions near Peronne, France.

By Cap. Teancum:

1191 - Battle of Arsouf, English Crusaders under Richard Coeur de Lion defeated Saladin's army.

1620 - The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth with 102 Pilgrims.

1644 - Battle of Lostwithiel. Charles I defeats infantry, but Roundhead cavalry escapes.

1862 - McClellan is restored to full command.

1885 - Whites massacre Chinese in Wyoming Territory.

1939 - Portugal declares it's neutral position in the imminent conflict.

1941 - General Sir Claude Auchenleck, who replaced General Sir Archibald Wavell as Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, appoints General Sir Alan Cunningham to command the Western Desert Force and to prepare a plan for the relief of Torbruk and the re-taking of Cyrenaica The operation is to be called 'Crusader'.

1942 - Rommel gives up on his quest to take the Suez Canal, having once again failed to take the Alam Halfa Ridge. He withdraws towards El Alamein.

1944 - Allies capture Pisa, Italy.

1962 - USSR accepts to send missiles to Cuba, this would lead to the Missile Crises in October.

1969 - Ho Chi Minh dies.

1972 - 47th North Vietnamese MiG shot down. Phuc Yen, 10 miles north of Hanoi, and one of the largest air bases in North Vietnam, is smashed by U.S. fighter-bombers. During the attack, a MiG was shot down, bringing the total to 47 enemy aircraft shot down since the beginning of the North Vietnamese offensive. At this point in the war, 18 U.S. planes had been shot down by MiGs.

[Cap. Teancum]

Today's event:

31 -BC- Battle of Actium; Octavian defeats Antony, becomes Emperor Augustus

Today's book:

The battle of Actium: The rise & triumph of Augustus Caesar by John M Carter

Book Description:

Althought this book was published in 1970, it's still a mandatory reference for Augustus's biographie.

[Cap. Teancum]

September 3

By Admiral:

Born...

1596 Nicolo Amati, Italy, violin maker (Stradivari & Guarneri)

1757 Charles X, Versailles France, Duke of Prussia

1825 Armistead Lindsay Long, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1891

1825 William Wallace Burns, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892

1831 States Rights Gist, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1864

1835 William Gaston Lewis, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1901

1860 General of the Armies John J. Pershing, d. 1948

1875 Ferdinand Porsche, German tank manufacturer

Died...

1189 Rabbi Jacob of Orleans, killed in anti-Jewish riot in London

1658 King James VI of Scotland (1567-1625) and I of England (1603-25)

1658 Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England (1653-58), mass murderer, at 59

1917 Fanya Kaplan, who almost killed Lenin, executed

1969 Ho Chi Minh, North Vietnamese president

1991 Frank Capra, WW I/WW II veteran, film maker ("Why We Fight")

Event...

590 St. Gregory I "the Great" becomes Pope (590-604)

1189 England's King Richard I the Lion Hearted crowned in Westminster

1260 Battle of Ain Jaluit, Egyptian Mamluks defeat the Mongols in Palestine

1632 Nuremburg: Sweden's Gustavus Adolphus and the Empire's Wallentsein draw

1651 Battle of Worcester: Oliver Cromwell destroys English royalists

1752 This day never happened, nor the next 10 as England adopts Gregorian Calendar. People riot thinking the govt stole 11 days of their lives

1782 As a token of gratitude for French aid during American Revolution, the U.S. gives USS America - its first ship-of-the-line built by the US - to France to replace a French ship lost in Boston

1783 Britain and the American Colonies sign the Treaty of Versailles, ending the War of Independence, aka American Revolution

1826 USS Vincennes leaves NY to become 1st warship to circumnavigate globe

1833 Frederick Douglass steals Frederick Douglass

1852 Anti-Jewish riots break out in Stockholm

1861 Confederate forces enter Kentucky, thus ending its neutrality

1864 Battle of Berryville, VA

1865 Army commander in SC orders Freedmen's Bureau to stop seizing land

1885 First class meets at the Naval War College

1900 British annex Natal (South Africa), troopers from Lord Strathcona's Horse, a unit of Canadian mounted infantry, are assigned to capture a strategic ridge to the front of the British line of march, east of Pretoria. Six men are killed in the action before the British commander calls off the attack

1916 Allies turned back Germans in Battle of Verdun

1917 First night bombing of London by German airplanes

1917 German troops capture Riga, Latvia

1918 5 black soldiers hanged for in Houston riot of 1917

1925 USN airship Shenandoah crashes near Caldwell, Ohio, 13 die

1929 Owen Thomas Edgar, last known veteran of the Mexican War, at 98

1934 Tunisia began its move for independence

1939 Britain declares war on Germany. France follows 6 hours later quickly joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa & Canada

1940 US gives Britain 50 destroyers in exchange for Newfoundland basing rights/lease

1943 Canadian troops take part in the Allied landings in southern Italy, crossing the straits of Messina to establish a beachhead

1943 Allies invade Italy & then agree to a cease-fire

1943 Japanese sub I-20 sunk off Spiritu Santo by USS Patterson & Ellet

1943 American landings on Lae and Salamaua

1944 Britain's Guards Armored Division liberates Brussels

By Cap. Teancum:

1777 - The Stars and Stripes flies.
The American flag is flown in battle for the first time, during a Revolutionary War skirmish at Cooch's Bridge, Maryland. Patriot General William Maxwell ordered the stars and strips banner raised as a detachment of his infantry and cavalry met an advance guard of British and Hessian troops. The rebels were defeated and forced to retreat to General George Washington's main force near Brandywine Creek in Pennsylvania.

Three months before, on June 14, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution stating that "the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white" and that "the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation." The national flag, which became known as the "Stars and Stripes," was based on the "Grand Union" flag, a banner carried by the Continental Army in 1776 that also consisted of 13 red and white stripes. According to legend, Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross designed the new canton for the Stars and Stripes, which consisted of a circle of 13 stars and a blue background, at the request of General George Washington. Historians have been unable to conclusively prove or disprove this legend.

With the entrance of new states into the United States after independence, new stripes and stars were added to represent new additions to the Union. In 1818, however, Congress enacted a law stipulating that the 13 original stripes be restored and that only stars be added to represent new states.

On June 14, 1877, the first Flag Day observance was held on the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes. As instructed by Congress, the U.S. flag was flown from all public buildings across the country. In the years after the first Flag Day, several states continued to observe the anniversary, and in 1949 Congress officially designated June 14 as Flag Day, a national day of observance.

1777 - Battle of Cooch's Bridge. Americans attempt to delay British advance on Philadelphia.

1796 - Battle of Würzburg. Retreating, the French were attacked again by the Austrians and continued retreating virtually ending the French invasion of Austria.

1855 - U.S. Army avenges the Grattan Massacre.

1914 - Russians capture Lemberg, Galacia.

1950 - U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group arrives in Saigon.

1944 U.S. Navy shells the Japanese on Wake Island

1944 First combat employment of a missile guided by radio and television takes place when Navy drone Liberator, controlled by Ensign James M. Simpson in a PV, flew to attack German submarine pens on Helgoland Island

1945 Japanese forces in the Philippines surrender to Allies

1945 Japanese surrender Wake Island in ceremony on board USS Levy (DE-162)

1954 Red China begins artillery bombardment of Quemoy & Amoy

1967 Nguyen Van Thieu elected president of Vietnam under a new constitution

1971 Qatar regains complete independence from Britain

1976 Viking 2 soft lands on Mars (Utopia), returns photos

1978 John Paul I (Albino Luciani), officially installed, died Sept. 28, after reigning 33 days

1978 Crew of Soyuz 31 returns to Earth aboard Soyuz 29

[Cap. Teancum]

Today's event:

1651 Battle of Worcester: Oliver Cromwell destroys English royalists

Today's book:

Cromwell's Crowning Mercy: The Battle of Worcester 1651 by Malcolm Atkin, Stephen Rigby (Illustrator)

Book Description:

In 1651, Cromwell led his soldiers into battle for the last time against the Royalists at Worcester. By the end, the Royalist cause was shattered, with 3,000 dead and up to 10,000 captured. The first detailed account of the last battle in the Civil War, described by Romwell as a "crowning mercy," uses original sources and first-hand accounts that include the fate of the thousands of Scottish prisoners. Extensive appendices make it a valuable resource for further study.

http://www.amazon.com/Cromwells-Crow...e=UTF8&s=books

[Cap. Teancum]

September 4

By Admiral:

Born...

1249 Count Amadeus V of Savoy (1285-1323), d. 1323

1383 Amadeo VIII of Savoy (1416-1434), antipope Felix v (1439-1449), d. 1451

1810 Donald McKay, fastest clipper ship designer, naval architect

Died...

1553 Cornelia da Nomatalcino, monk converted to Judaism, burned at stake

1965 Albert Schweitzer

1974 Creighton W Abrams, soldier, at 59

Event...

476 Romulus Augustulus, last Roman emperor in west, is deposed

883 Arab raiders sack the Monastery of Monte Cassino

1260 Battle at Montaperti: Guelfs vs. Ghibellines

1479 Treaty of Albacoas between Spain & Portugal

1609 Henry Hudson sights Manhattan sailing up his river (though quite possibly on 9/11)

1690 One hundred and fifty Anglo-Iroquois raiders strike at French settlements south of Montreal. Farms are burned, cattle killed, and 50 habitants are massacred

1804 USS Intrepid (LT Richard Somers) blew up in failed attack on Tripoli

1864 Bread riots in Mobile, Alabama

1870 3rd French Republic proclaimed as they overthrow their King

1886 Geronimo surrenders to Gen. Nelson A. Miles, ending last major Indian war

1916 Seventh Battle of the Isonzo begins (to Sep 17)

1918 Canadian forces are mopping up the last German defenders along the Drocourt-Queant Line of trenches after a three day engagement which has cost the young Dominion 5600 casualties

1918 US troops land in Archangel, Russia, stay 10 months

1936 Largo Caballero becomes Spanish Republican premier

1936 Nationalist troops capture Irun and Talavera de la Reina, Spain

1939 Netherlands & Belgium declare neutrality in World War II

1939 The Polish ghetto of Mir is exterminated

1941 German submarine, U-652, attacks USS Greer, which was tracking the submarine southeast of Iceland. Greer is not damaged, but drops depth charges, damaging U-652

1942 Off Lunga Point Japanese destroyers sink two U.S. destroyer transports

1944 1st Marine Div sails from the Solomon's for Palau

1944 British 2nd Armoured Division liberates Antwerp

1944 Finland breaks diplomatic relations with erstwhile ally Nazi Germany

1945 US regains Wake Island from Japan

1948 Dutch Queen Wilhemina (1890-1948) abdicates in favor of daughter Juliana

1950 1st helicopter rescue of American pilot behind enemy lines in Korea

1954 Icebreakers, USS Burton Island (AGB-1) and USCG Northwind, complete first transit of Northwest passage through McClure Strait

1954 P2V from VP-19 shot down by Soviet aircraft near Swatow, China

1957 Ark Gov Faubus uses Nat'l Gd to prevent integratoin of Central High School

1960 USS Bushnell and USS Penguin begin relief operations in Marathon, FL, after Hurricane Donna

1964 NASA launches its 1st Orbital Geophysical Observatory (OGO-1)

By Cap. Teancum:

1479 - Alcacovas Treaty is signed, D. Afonso V and the Catholic Kings, Isabel of Castela and Fernand of Aragon, putting and end to the Sucession War of Castela. The portuguese king aknowledged Isabel as queen of Castela.

1796 - Battle of Roverdo. Napoleon defeated Austrians and went on to occupy Trent.

1917 - The American expeditionary force in France suffered its first fatalities in World War I.

1941 - First German bomb dropped on Lenningrad kills only elephant in Lenningrad Zoo.

1967 - The U.S. 1st Marine Division launches Operation SWIFT, a search and destroy operation in Quang Nam and Quang Tin Provinces in I Corps Tactical Zone (the region south of the Demilitarized Zone). A fierce four-day battle ensued in the Que Son Valley, 25 miles south of Da Nang. During the course of the battle, 114 men of the U.S. 5th Marine Regiment were killed while the North Vietnamese forces suffered 376 casualties.

1999 - The United Nations announced that the residents of East Timor had overwhelmingly voted for independence from Indonesia in a referendum held on August 30. In Dili, pro-Indonesian militias attacked independence supporters, burned buildings, blew up bridges and destroyed telecommunication facilities.

[Cap. Teancum]

Today's event:

1886 Geronimo surrenders to Gen. Nelson A. Miles, ending last major Indian war.

Today's book:

Geronimo: His Own Story: The Autobiography of a Great Patriot Warrior by Geronimo, S. M. Barrett, Frederick W. Turner (Introduction)

Book Review:

Geronimo: His Own Story is an endlessly fascinating autobiography that belongs in the pantheon of other great American works of autobiography and memoir. This book should take its place alonside other great works of personal non-fiction such as The Autobiography of Malcom X, A Moveable Feast, The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and (arguably the best of the bunch) The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. This is a strong statement, but after reading this short autobiography it's at least an idea that should be entertained. I found things in this book that I was not expecting, and it ended up being a far more complex and intriguing portrait of Geronimo than I had previously entertained. The most fascinating side of Geronimo that comes across in these two-hundred pages is not Geronimo the warrior but Geronimo the diplomat.

S. M. Barrett's introduction tells us that after Geronimo finished what he wanted to say he would not take questions or add anything more, but merely stated "`Write what I have spoken.'" These are the actions of a man who has a very specific purpose he is pursuing. After reading Geronimo's story I believe his purpose in publishing his tale was to accomplish in peace what he was unable to in was-he wanted to deliver his people back to Arizona.

Geronimo dedicates his story to Theodore Roosevelt, because, in his words, he "knows I speak the truth;...he is fair minded and will cause my people to receive justice in the future; and because he is chief of a great people." Even before his story has started Geronimo strikes a cordial tone. Not only are Geronimo's words flowing with accolades, but they are also giving Roosevelt something to live up to. By stating that Roosevelt is "fair minded and will cause my people to receive justice in the future" he is almost challenging Roosevelt to live up to this description.

Much of the fighting in Geronimo occurs between the Apache's and the Mexicans. Geronimo doesn't try and hide his feelings about the Mexicans, stating not only that he as "no love for the Mexicans," but also that if he was younger, "and followed the warpath," he would "lead into Old Mexico." In fact, his battles with the Mexicans take up a slight majority of the book. He does not make any similarly broad statements when speaking about Americans. Whenever Geronimo criticizes American policy he makes certain that he focuses his criticism on the officer in charge rather than American policy as a whole. Geronimo realizes that merely lashing out at an unfair, but time honored, practice of breaking U.S. treaties would alienate his audience and hurt his cause.

The rhetorical technique Geronimo uses in telling his story is rather matter of fact. This is in stark contrast to some of the more melodramatic works that were popular around the turn of the century. Certainly this highlights a difference in two cultures, but it is also indicative of how Geronimo goes about trying to achieve his goal. Instead of histrionically telling his story he presents it in what seems to be an objective and reasonable voice. When Geronimo gave himself up to the U.S. Army one of the conditions was that his band of Apaches would be sent to Florida with the rest of their families. When the U.S. breaks this condition Geronimo flatly states that this "treatment was in direct violation of our treaty made at Skeleton Canon." He lets the action speak for itself. If he railed against the injustice committed then he would have turned off a mostly white audience. After all, it was their government who was responsible for breaking the treaty.

I won't make this into a thesis (although I probably could). Geronimo: His Own Story is a wonderful portrait of one of American History's most courageous heroes. In the book I was surprised to find out just as much about Geronimo the diplomat as I did about Geronimo the warrior. I'll end this with Geronimo's words: "There is no climate or soil which, to my mind, is equal to that of Arizona. We could have plenty of good cultivating land, plenty of grass, plenty of timber and plenty of minerals in that land which the Almighty created for the Apaches. It is my land, my home, my fathers' land, to which I now ask to be allowed to return. I want to spend my last days there, and be buried among those mountains. If this could be I might die in peace, feeling that my people , placed in their native homes, would increase in numbers, rather than diminish as at present, and that our name would not become extinct."

http://www.amazon.com/Geronimo-Story...e=UTF8&s=books

[Cap. Teancum]

September 5

By Admiral:

Born...

1187 King Louis VIII of France (1223-26)

1319 King Pedro IV of Aragon

1638 Louis XIV of France (1643-1715), who "loved war too much"

1771 Archduke Charles of Austria, Napoleon's greatest enemy

1815 Tyree Harris Bell, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1902

1847 Jesse James, Confederate raider, outlaw, killed 1882

1902 Darryl F Zanuck, film magnate ("The Longest Day")

1905 Arthur Koestler, novelist ("Darkness at Noon"), suicide, 1983

1929 Andrian G Nikolayev, USSR, Cosmonaut (Vostok III Soyuz 9)

Died...

1235 Duke Henry I of Brabant

1566 Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent of Turkey (1520-66)

1683 Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French Minister of Marine

1877 Crazy Horse, killed "trying to escape"

1981 Ayatollah Ali Qoddusi prosecutor-general of Iran, assassinated

Event...

1697 Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville engages an English squadron of 3 ships in Hudson Bay, sinking one ship and capturing another while the third escapes

1750 Paderborn orders annual search of Jewish homes for stolen goods

1774 First Continental Congress assembles, in Philadelphia

1775 Continental Navy issues uniform regulations for officers

1776 Adoption of first uniforms for (US) Continental Navy officers

1781 Battle of Virginia Capes: French defeat British, trapping Cornwallis at Yorktown

1795 US pays Algiers $1 million to ransom 100 sailors

1806 Fra Diavolo crushes a French column near Itri, Naples

1813 USS Enterprise captures brig HMS Boxer off Portland, Me

1814 The settlement at Port Dover (60 miles west of Ft. Erie) is plundered this day by American raiders

1836 Sam Houston elected president of Republic of Texas

1862 Antietam Campaign: Lee crosses the Potomac into Maryland

1900 Troopers from the Canadian Mounted Rifles defend their camp at Nooitegedacht, South Africa, against a concerted Boer attack. Outnumbered two to one, the Canadians fight off their attackers until British reinforcements arrive, forcing the Boers to withdraw

1900 France proclaims a protectorate over Chad

1905 Treaty of Portsmouth ends the Russo-Japanese War

1914 Britain, France, Belgium, and Russia ally against Germany

1914 First Battle of the Marne begins

1915 Anti-war conference in Zimmerwald, Switzerland

1918 Due to WW I, the World Series begins a month early

1918 USS Mount Vernon torpedoed by a German submarine off France

1923 U.S. Asiatic Fleet arrives at Yokohama, Japan, to provide medical assistance and supplies after Kondo Plain earthquake

1933 Fulgencio Batista replaces Cuban dictator Carlos de Cespedes in a coup

1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders Navy to form a Neutrality Patrol to report the presence of foreign warships within 300 miles of eastern United States

1939 US declares itself neutral in World War II

1942 British and American aircraft bomb Le Havre and Bremen

1943 US airborne troops land at Nadzab, New-Guinea

1944 Chinese establish land link to India at the Kaolingkung Pass in Burma

1944 Allies liberate Brussels

1946 USS Franklin Delano Roosevelt (CVB-42) and 4 escorts visit Greece to underscore U.S. support for the Greek Government which faced a Communist insurgency

1961 US resumes nuclear testing after a temporary ban

1968 21 killed by hijackers aboard a Pan Am jet in Karachi, Pakistan

1972 Palestinian terrorists kill 11 Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympics

1975 Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme tries to assassinate Pres Ford in Sacramento

1977 Voyager 1 (US) launched toward fly-by of Jupiter, Saturn

1978 Sadat, Begin, & Carter began a peace conference at Camp David, Md

1979 Earl of Mountbatten funeral held in Bruma

1983 8th Space Shuttle Mission-Challenger 3-lands at Edwards AFB

1984 Discovery completes 12th Space Shuttle mission

1986 NASA launches DOD-1

1990 USS Acadia (AD-42) departs San Diego for first war-time deployment of male-female crew on US combat vessel

1990 Iraqi Pres Saddam Hussein urges Arabs to rise against the West

1991 US trial of former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega begins

By Cap. Teancum:

1800 - French surrender Valetta on the island of Malta after a two-year siege.

1812 - First day of Battle of Borodino.

1863 - United States Foreign Minister to Great Britain, Charles Francis Adams, sends an angry letter to the British government warning that war between the two nations may erupt if it allows two powerful ironclad ships, designed to help the Confederates break the Union naval blockade, to set sail.

1969 - Lt. William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder in the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians at My Lai in March 1968. Calley, a platoon leader in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, 11th Infantry Brigade (Light) of the 23rd (Americal) Division had led his men in a massacre of Vietnamese civilians, including women and children, at My Lai 4, a cluster of hamlets that made up Son My village in Son Tinh District in Quang Ngai Province in the coastal lowlands of I Corps Tactical Zone on March 16, 1968. The company had been conducting a search and destroy mission as part of the yearlong Operation Muscatine* (19 December 1967 - 10 June 1968). In search of the 48th Viet Cong (VC) Local Force Battalion, the unit entered Son My village but found only women, children, and old men. Frustrated by unanswered losses due to snipers and mines, the soldiers took out their anger on the villagers, indiscriminately shooting people as they ran from their huts and systematically rounding up the survivors, allegedly leading them to nearby ditch where they were executed.

Reportedly, the killing was only stopped when Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, an aero-scout helicopter pilot landed his helicopter between the Americans and the fleeing South Vietnamese, confronting the soldiers and blocking them from further action against the villagers. The incident was subsequently covered up, but eventually came to light a year later. An Army board of inquiry, headed by Lt. Gen. William Peers, investigated the massacre and produced a list of 30 persons who knew of the atrocity, but only 14, including Calley and his company commander, Captain Ernest Medina, were charged with crimes. All eventually had their charges dismissed or were acquitted by courts-martial except Calley, whose platoon allegedly killed 200 innocents. He was found guilty of personally murdering 22 civilians and sentenced to life imprisonment, but his sentence was reduced to 20 years by the Court of Military Appeals and further reduced later to 10 years by the Secretary of the Army. Proclaimed by much of the public as a "scapegoat," Calley was paroled by President Richard Nixon in 1974 after having served about a third of his 10-year sentence.

1970 - U.S. forces launch last major American operation of the war. The 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile), in coordination with the South Vietnamese (ARVN) 1st Infantry Division, initiates Operation Jefferson Glenn in Thua Thien Province west of Hue. This operation lasted until October 1971, and was one of the last major large-scale military operations in which U.S. ground forces would take part.

President Nixon had begun his Vietnamization program in the summer of 1969; the objective was to increase the combat capability of the South Vietnamese forces so that they could assume responsibility for the war against the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese forces as U.S. combat units were withdrawn and sent home. Shortly after the completion of Jefferson Glenn, the 101st Airborne began preparations to depart South Vietnam and subsequently began redeployment to the United States in March 1972.

*The correct operation name and time frame was contributed by Boonie. Thanx mate.

[Cap. Teancum]

Today's event:

1905 Treaty of Portsmouth ends the Russo-Japanese War

Today's book:

There Are No Victors Here: A Local Perspective on the Treaty of Portsmouth by Peter E. Randall

Book Description:

For about a month in the late summer of 1905, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was at the center of international attention. In this unlikely location, Japan and Russia met to negotiate a settlement to a war that was the bloodiest known to date.
For eighteen months, Japan and Russia fought over territorial rights in Manchuria and Korea. Although President Theodore Roosevelt had supported Japan's claims against Russia, the president was concerned about the balance of power in the Far East as Japan won victory after victory.

After a prolonged diplomatic effort Roosevelt was able to convince the belligerents to settle their differences peacefully. When Russia and Japan agreed to meet in Washington, D. C., for the peace conference, Portsmouth was selected because it was cooler in the summer than Washington, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard provided security for discussions, and the Hotel Wentworth offered superb accommodations.

Although Roosevelt received the Nobel Prize for his efforts in bringing the participants to the peace table, many have forgotten the war and the treaty, but not the Japanese where the treaty is remembered as an event that signaled Japan's entry into the ranks of important and powerful nations.

This is only book devoted to the Russo-Japanese War and the treaty negotiations to deal with local events and to feature the many photographs taken during the conference period. In preparing this new edition, we have added several photographs, and provided a new introduction outlining various events and activities since the first edition was published in 1985. Plans are currently underway in Portsmouth to celebrate and remember the Portsmouth Peace Conference in 2005, the 100th anniversary of the treaty.

http://www.amazon.com/There-Are-Vict...e=UTF8&s=books

[Cap. Teancum]

September 6

By Admiral:

Born...

1757 Marquis de Lafayette, Continental General, American patriot, French revolutionary

1797 William "Extra Billy" Smith, Maj Gen, C.S.A.

1815 John Richardson Liddell, Brig Gen, C.S.A.

1819 William Starke Rosecrans, Maj Gen, U.S., attained "the edge of glory"

1827 John Morrison Oliver, Brig Gen, U.S.

1923 King Peter II Karadjordjevic of Yugoslavia (1934-45)

1944 Swoosie Kurtz, actress, named after her father's B-17

1946 Bryan D O'Connor, USMC, Astronaut

Died...

1701 James II, sometime King of England (1685-1688), in exile at 68

1901 Pres William McKinley, assassinated by Leon Czologosz in Buffalo

1966 South African PM Hendrik Verwoerd, stabbed by a deranged man

Event...

1620 Pilgrims set sail from Plymouth England to the New World

1628 Puritans land at Salem, from Mass Bay Colony, witches soon to settle1715 "The Fifteen" - The first Jacobite Rebellion begins

1775 At St. Jean (on the Richelieu River), an attempt by the Americans to effect a landing is repelled by a band of Mohawk warriors, led by Peter Johnson. Among the prisoners is Ethan Allan, who has recently brought fame to himself with the capture of Ticonderoga

1776 David Bushnell's Turtle attempts a submarine attack on HMS Eagle, NY

1808 Gioacchino Murat lands at Gaeta to assume the throne of Naples

1814 British raiders capture the American schooner USS Scorpion off of Ft. Michilimackinac (entrance to Lakes Michigan and Huron), effectively securing control of Lake Huron

1862 Stonewall Jackson occupies Fredrick, Maryland

1863 Confederates evacuate Ft Wagner, SC, ending 59 day Union siege

1886 Queen Victoria establishes Distinguished Service Order (DSO)

1901 Leon Czologosz shoots President McKinley in Buffalo, NY

1909 Word received, Admiral Peary discovers North Pole 5 months earlier

1910 HMCS Niobe is commissioned for service -- one of two ships to form the nucleus of a new Canadian Navy

1914 Battle of Marne; Germans prevented from occupying Paris

1918 Sailors fire first of the 5 railroad batteries at Tergnier, a German rail head in the Comeigne Forest. These 14"-50 caliber naval rifles were originally designed for US battleships

1924 Mussolini evades assassination attempt

1928 USSR signs Briand-Kellogg Pact, agrees war is naughty

1939 Navy begins formation of Neutrality Patrol for Atlantic Ocean

1939 First German air attack on Great Britain in WW II

1939 South Africa declares war on Germany

1940 First destroyers transferred to Great Britain at Halifax, Nova Scotia, under "Destroyers-for- Bases agreement

1940 Crown Prince Michael succeeds Carol II as King of Romania

1940 USS Charles F. Hughes (DD-428) commissioned (LtCdr. G. L. Menocal)

1941 All Jews over age 6 in German territories ordered to wear a star

1941 Nazis restrict Jews of Vilna, Poland, to a ghetto

1942 Japanese occupy Efogi on the Kokoda Trail, 50 miles from Port Moresby

1943 Japanese CA IJN Nachi survives torpedo from USS Halibut off Japan

1944 16 U.S. carriers strike Japanese held islands in the western Carolines

1944 USS Independence (CVL-22) begins use of specially trained air group for night work. First time that a fully equipped night carrier operates with fast carrier task force

1944 Netherlands: German Fifteenth Army evacuates Zealand

1945 U.S. troops begin returning to U.S. when Task Force 11 left Tokyo Bay for U.S., Operation Magic Carpet beginnings

1948 Juliana becomes queen of the Netherlands

1953 Exchange of prisoners of war from Korean War (Operation Big Switch) ends

1968 Swaziland gains independence from Britain

1976 Russian pilot defects to Japan in a Mig 25

1983 USSR admits to shooting down KAL 007 on 9/2

1988 Crippled Soviet Soyuz TM-5 lands safely with 2 Cosmonauts aboard

1991 USSR recognizes independence of the 3 Baltic republics

By Cap. Teancum:

1522 - Magellan's expedition circumnavigates globe.

1861 - Union General Ulysses S. Grant's forces capture Paducah, Kentucky, in a bloodless takeover—allowing the Federals to control the mouth of the Tennessee River, and greatly assisting in the Union campaign in Tennessee in 1862.

1944 - British intelligence receives word that, despite setbacks, Italian guerillas fighting the German occupiers of their country are continuing to widen their activity.

1951 - Portugal and the USA sign the first treaty to allow USA military to use the Lajes base in the Azores Islands. This is a key position in the middle of the Atlantic.

1969 - Ho Chi Minh to be succeeded by committee.

1972 - Thieu abolishes popular elections.