Military History Anniversaries
• Jan 01 1945 – WWII: In Operation Bodenplatte, German planes attack American forward air bases in Europe. This is the last major offensive of the Luftwaffe.
• Jan 02 1904 - Latin America Interventions: U.S. Marines are sent to Santo Domingo to aid the government against rebel forces.
• Jan 02 1942 - WWII: In the Philippines, the city of Manila and the U.S. Naval base at Cavite fall to Japanese forces.
• Jan 02 1966 - American forces move into the Mekong Delta for the first time (Vietnam War)
• Jan 03 1920 - WWI: The last of the U.S. troops depart France.
• Jan 04 1951 - Korea: Chinese communist forces recapture Seoul from United Nations troops
• Jan 05 1781 - American Revolution: Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
• Jan 05 1904 - American Marines arrive in Seoul, Korea, to guard the U.S. legation there.
• Jan 05 1942 - WWII: U.S. and Filipino troops complete their withdrawal to a new defensive line along the base of the Bataan peninsula.
• Jan 05 1951 - Korea: Inchon, South Korea, the sight of General Douglas MacArthur’s amphibious flanking maneuver, is abandoned by U.N. force to the advancing Chinese Army.
• Jan 06 1941 - WWII: President Franklin D. Roosevelt asks Congress to support the Lend-lease Bill to help supply the Allies.
• Jan 06 1967 - Vietnam: Operation Cedar. Over 16,000 U.S. and 14,000 Vietnamese troops start their biggest attack on the Iron Triangle, northwest of Saigon.
• Jan 07 1944 - WWII: The U.S. Air Force announces the production of the first jet-fighter, Bell P-59 Airacomet.
• Jan 07 1975 - Vietnam: Vietnamese troops take Phuoc Binh in new full-scale offensive.
• Jan 08 1815 - War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans - A rag-tag army under Andrew Jackson defeats the British on the fields of Chalmette in the Battle of New Orleans.
• Jan 08 1863 - Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield ends with a Confederate withdrawal.
• Jan 08 1877 - Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain (Montana Territory).
• Jan 09 1861 – Civil War: The “Star of the West” incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina. It is considered by some historians to be the “First Shots of the War”.
• Jan 09 1945 - WWII: U.S. troops land on Luzon, in the Philippines, 107 miles from Manila.
• Jan 10 1847 - Mexican War: General Stephen Kearny and Commodore Robert Stockton retake Los Angeles in the last California battle of the war.
• Jan 10 1923 - WWI: The United States withdraws its last troops from Germany.
• Jan 11 1863 - Civil War: The Battle of Fort Hindman Arkansas ends with a Union victory.
• Jan 11 1940 - Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., becomes the U.S. Army’s first black general, his son would later become a general as well.
• Jan 11 1967 – Vietnam: Operation Deckhouse Five”, a combined USMC and ARVN troop effort in the Mekong River delta ends in failure.
• Jan 12 1991 - Persian Gulf War: The U.S. Congress gives the green light to military action against Iraq in the Gulf Crisis.
• Jan 12 1846 - Mexican War: President James Polk dispatches General Zachary Taylor and 4,000 troops to the Texas Border as war with Mexico looms.
• Jan 13 1968 - Vietnam: U.S. reports shifting most air targets from North Vietnam to Laos.
• Jan 14 1911 - The USS Arkansas, the largest U.S. battleship, is launched from the yards of the New York Shipbuilding Company.
• Jan 14 1943 – WWII: Operation Ke, the successful Japanese operation to evacuate their forces from Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal campaign, begins.
• Jan 14 1943 – WWII: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill begin the Casablanca Conference to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war.
• Jan 15 1865 - Civil War: Union troops capture Fort Fisher, North Carolina.
• Jan 15 1944 - WWII: The U.S. Fifth Army successfully breaks the German Winter Line in Italy with the capture of Mount Trocchio.
[Source: Various Dec 09 ++]
