On this Day in Military History

[Woodmonkey]

11 January

Died

314 Pope St. Miltiades (c. 310-314)
705 Pope John VI (701-705)
1055 Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-1055), c. 54
1797 Francis "Lightfoot" Lee, Signer, at 62
1843 Francis Scott Key of "The Star Spangled Banner", at 63
1893 Benjamin F Butler, Maj Gen, U.S., at 74
1923 King Constantine I of Greece (1913-17, 20-22), at 54
1943 Carlo Tresca, anti-fascist, murdered in New York
1944 Galeazzo Ciano, Italian politician, executed by his father-in-law, Mussolini
1952 Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, Marshal of France, at 61
1953 Ernst H Ridder Rappard, Dutch Nazi, at 53
1954 Oscar Straus, Austrian composer ("Brave Soldier"), at 83
1955 Rodolfo Graziani, Italian general, at 72
1977 Princess Lelia of Sermoneta, at 64; last member of a 1000 year old family
1988 Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, of the “Black Sheep”, MoH, b. 1912


Events

29 -BC- Augustus closes the doors of the Temple of Janus; Rome is at peace, for the first time in three centuries.
49 -BC- "Alea iacta est!" - Caesar crosses the Rubicon
532 Nike Riots at Constantinople against Justinian and Theodora
1430 Duke Phillip the Good of Burgundy creates the Order of the Golden Fleece
1785 The Continental Congress convenes in New York
1861 Alabama becomes 4th state to secede
1861 Mexico City captured by Juaristas in the War of the Reform
1863 CSS Alabama sinks USS Hatteras off Galveston
1863 Union forces capture Arkansas Post/Ft Hindman
1865 Battle of Beverly, WVa
1879 The Great Anglo-Zulu War begins
1904 SW Africa's Herero revolt against German domination
1917 German agents blow up the Kingsland Munitions Plant, NJ
1919 Romania annexes Transylvania
1923 France & Belgium occupy the Ruhr to collect reparations from Germany
1942 American Samoa: Japanese submarine shells Pago Pago
1942 Bataan: Heavy fighting
1942 Carrier Saratoga torpedoed SW of Oahu
1942 Celebes: Japanese SNLF airborne & amphibious landings.
1942 Malaya: Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur
1943 Guadalcanal: 35th Inf succeeds in encircling the Gifu, against fierce resistance.
1943 New Guinea: Aus Kanga Force begins 3-day raid against Japanese at Mubo
1944 Krakow-Plaszow Concentration Camp established
1944 New Guinea: Allied airfield at Saidor becomes operational.
1945 Japanese decide to put remaining resources into suicide weapons.
1946 Enver Hoxha proclaims the People's Republic of Albania with himself dictator
1976 Military coup in Ecuador ousts Pres Guillermo Lara
1989 140 nations agree to ban chemical weapons
1991 Congress authorizes Pres G.W. Bush to order attack on Iraq

[Woodmonkey]

12 January

Died

1517 Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Conquistador, beheaded at 41
1519 Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I von Habsburg (1493-1519), at 59
1583 The Duke of Alva, who never lost a battle, at Lisbon
1789 Ethan Allen, accidentally drowned while drunk, 1789


Events

1258 Battle of Anbar: The Mongols defeat the Abbasids
1493 Last day for all Jews to leave Sicily
1500 Caesare Borgia invests Forli (falls 16th)
1559 Coronation of Elizabeth I "Gloriana" of England
1598 Pope Clement VIII seizes duchy of Ferrara
1779 Wargaom: Mahrattas defeat a British column
1807 Gunpowder ladened ship explodes at Leiden, Netherlands, 150 die
1809 British capture Cayenne from the French
1813 US Frigate Chesapeake captures British Volunteer
1816 Louis XVIII bars the Bonapartes from France forever
1836 Seminole Wars: Battle of Wetumka, Fla.
1848 Mexican forces attack US Sloop-of-War Lexington off San Blas
1861 Lt Adam Slemmer, USA, rejects demands by Florida state troops to surrender Ft Pickens
1863 President Davis delivers his "State of the Confederacy" address
1866 Royal Aeronautical Society founded
1942 Bataan: Heavy fighting
1942 Borneo: Dutch coast defense battery sinks two Japanese MSs off Tarankan
1942 British troops retake Sollum, Egypt
1942 Malaya: Japanese begin to advance on Malacca.
1942 National War Labor Board created
1942 North Africa: British troops capture Sollum
1943 Aleutians: DD Worden lost to the hazards of the sea
1944 Churchill and de Gaulle confer in Marrakech
1945 Battle of the South China Sea: TF 38 sinks 41 Japanese ships
1950 Swedish tanker rams British sub Truculent in the Thames, 64 die
1953 First landings on an American angled deck carrier, USS Antietam.
1964 Revolution overthrows Sultan of Zanzibar, one month after independence
1987 Prince Edward resigns from the Royal Marines

[Woodmonkey]

13 January

Died

86 -BC- Gaius Marius, two weeks into his seventh consulship, at c. 70
858 King Ethelwulf of Wessex (839-858), kia at c. 58
888 King Charles III "the Fat" of the Franks
1049 Count Derrick IV of Holland (1039-49), kia
1177 Duke Hendrik Jasomirgott Babenberg of Austria
1330 Duke Frederick "the Handsome" of Austria
1414 45 Lollard rebels, executed in England
1759 The Duke of Aveiro, Portuguese nobleman, executed for treason
1759 The Marquis of Tavora, Portuguese nobleman, executed for treason
1759 The Marquisa of Tavora, his wife, executed for treason
1759 Various servants of the preceding, executed for treason
1929 Wyatt Earp, at 80, in bed, in Hollywood
1934 Jean-Baptiste Marchand, soldier and explorer, at 70
1986 Pres Abdel Fattah Ismail of Yemen (1969-80), murdered
1988 Pres Chiang Ching-kuo of Taiwan (1978-88), at 81


Events

27 –BC- Octavian “Restores the Republic” – rules for 41 more years.
858 Battle of Aclea: Danes wax Wessex
888 Odo becomes king of the West Franks
1099 Crusaders burn Mara, Syria
1631 Treaty of Barwalde: France buys Swedish military support for five years.
1649 The Fronde rebels storm the Bastille
1689 Mary II and her husband William III ascend the throne of England
1830 Great fire in New Orleans, blamed on slave conspiracy
1842 Battle of Gandamak: Afghans overwhelm the British 44th Foot
1865 US Army/Navy begins Siege of Ft Fisher, NC; falls Jan 15
1874 Battle between jobless & police in NYC, 100s injured
1874 US troops land in Honolulu to protect the king
1881 Battle of Chorillos: Chileans defeat the Peruvians, begin an offensive against Lima (falls 17th)
1894 Revolution in Sicily crushed by government troops
1895 Battle of Coatit: Italians defeat the Abyssinians
1898 Emile Zola's defense of Dreyfus - J'Accuse! - published in Paris
1913 Delta Sigma Theta is formed
1942 Elms Br 18th Div reach Singapore, as Japanese close in
1942 Heavy fighting on Bataan, as Philippine troops counterattack.
1943 Guadalcanal: 25th Div, in a daring attack, occupies the Galloping Horse
1943 Guadalcanal: 2nd Marine Div attacks westward along the coast.
1943 Hitler declares "Total War"
1943 Submarine Guardfish torpedoes a Japanese patrol vessel off New Ireland.
1944 Northern Burma: Chinese forces secure the Tarung river line.
1945 Luzon: Heavy fighting
1953 Marshal Tito becomes president of Yugoslavia
1958 9,000 scientists from 43 nations petition UN for nuclear test ban
1967 Military coup in Togo
1968 Beginning of Tet Offensive in Vietnam
1986 Bloody coup overthrows government of South Yemen

[Woodmonkey]

14 Jsnusry

Died

936 King Rudolph of the Franks (923-926)
1163 King Ladislaus I Arpad of Hungary (1162-63)
1208 Papal Legate Pierre de Castelnau, murdered by the Albigensians
1301 King Andreas III Arpad of Hungary (1290-1301), at 50
1595 Archduke Ferdinand of Austria
1766 King Frederik V of Denmark & Norway (1746-66), at 42
1909 Adm Sinovi Rozhestvensky, who lost at Tsu-Shima, 60
1948 Ans Van Dike, Dutch Nazi-collaborator, executed
1972 King Frederick IX of Denmark (1947-1972), b. 1899
1977 Sir Anthony Eden, sometime PM of Britain (1955-1957)


Events

1478 Novgorod submits to Tsar Ivan III
1526 Treaty of Madrid: Francis I pretends to make peace with Charles V
1659 Battle of Elvas: Portuguese defeat Spanish
1724 King Philip V abdicates the Spanish throne
1784 Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War
1797 Battle of Rivoli Veronese: Massena's French defeat the Austrians.
1799 King of Naples flees to Sicily before invading French armies
1807 HMS Ajax (74) burns off the Dardanelles, 250 of 681 crewmembers die
1813 US Frigate Chesapeake captures British brig Hero
1814 The King of Denmark cedes Norway to the King of Sweden
1815 HMSs Endymion, Tenedos, and Pomone capture USS President
1847 Uprising in New Mexico against US domination
1858 Napoleon III escapes assassination by Felice Orsini
1859 France & Piedmont conclude an anti-Austrian alliance
1859 Lt. James Brooke, USN, claims French Frigate Shoal for the US
1863 US Navy GO No 4: Emancipation Proclamation is announced to the fleet
1864 Battle of Cosby Creek, Tn
1867 Alfred Nobel makes the first public demonstration of dynamite
1929 King Amanullah abdicates the Afghan throne
1942 Arcadia Conference ends.
1942 Bataan: Heavy fighting
1942 Borneo: Japanese troops land at Balikpapan
1942 Malaya: Japanese capture Malacca.
1943 Casablanca Conference: FDR, Churchill, & Chiang begin ten days of meetings
1943 Guadalcanal: "Tokyo Express" lands reinforcements and supplies
1945 Burma: Japanese counterattack British on the Irawaddy River.
1967 NY Times reports Army is conducting secret germ warfare experiments
1969 Fire aboard USS Enterprise, off Vietnam, 28 die, 344 injured
1972 Accession of Queen Margaret II of Denmark

[Woodmonkey]

15 January

Died

69 Roman Emperor Servius Sulpicius Galba (June 68-Jan 15, 69), murdered in the Forum
69 L. Calpurnius Piso, his heir, murdered in the Forum
1595 Sultan Murad III of the Turks (1574-1595)
1705 Earl Walraad "the Young" of Nassau-Ottweiler
1896 Matthew B Brady, photographer, c. 72
1919 Karl Liebknecht, revolutionary, murdered in Berlin
1919 Rosa Luxemburg, revolutionary, murdered in Berlin
1926 John Harling, the last of the "Light Brigade".
1988 Sean MacBride, sometime commander of the IRA, at 83
1996 King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (1966-90), 51


Events

69 Marcus Salvius Otho ousts Galba as Roman Emperor (Jan 15-Apr 16, 69)
708 Accession of Pope Sisinnius (15 Jan-4 Feb 708)
946 Caliph al-Mustaqfi is deposed and blinded
1495 French besiege Gaeta (to Feb 16), held for Ferrante II of Naples
1517 The Turks sack Cairo
1535 Henry VIII becomes head of the Church in England, to marry Anne Boylen
1552 Treaty of Chambord: Catholic France agrees to support German Protestants against the Empire
1582 Russia cedes Livonia & Estonia to Poland, losing access to the sea
1680 French explorer Sieur de la Salle builds Ft Crevecoeur
1762 Samuel Fraunces opens a tavern in New York City
1799 French & Polish troops plunder Itri, murdering 60
1851 Herrera ousted by Arista as President of Mexico
1865 Ft Fisher, NC falls to Union troops
1919 Great Molasses Flood in Boston, 21 die
1919 Pianist Ignace Paderewski named first premier of Poland
1942 Bataan: Japanese troops penetrate US/Philippine defenses
1942 Chinese halt a Japanese offensive near Changsha in Hunan Province.
1942 Japanese Southern Army invades Burma from Thailand.
1942 Malaya: Japanese "end run" landings dislocate the British left.
1943 Guadalcanal: US forces make only limited gains.
1943 Japanese superbattleship Musashi arrives at Truk.
1943 Papua: Allied forces make limited gains near Sanananda
1943 The Pentagon is completed
1944 European Advisory Commission decides to divide Germany
1944 New Guinea: Australians reach north coast of Huon Peninsula, near Sio.
1945 Japanese offensive in China advances on the U.S. airbase in Sichuan.
1945 Red Army liberates the Krakow-Plaszow concentration camp
1949 Mao's Red army conquers Tien-tsin
1951 German court gives Ilse Koch, “The ***** of Buchenwald", life (suicide in prison, 1967)
1962 Battle of Etna Bay, New Guinea: Dutch defeat the Indonesians
1962 Dutch ships defeat Indonesian navy at Etna Bay, New Guinea
1973 Pres Nixon suspends all US offensive action over North Vietnam
1997 Dr Jerry Lineger, Capt, USN, joins MIR via Space Shuttle Atlantis