Military History Anniversaries 16 Apr thru 15 May
Significant events in U.S. Military History for the next 30 days are:
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Apr 16 1862 - Civil War: The one hour Battle at Lee's Mills (part of the 29 day Siege of
Yorktown) in Virginia. Casualties and losses: US 165 - CSA 75.
Apr 16 1863 - Civil War: Union Admiral David Dixon Porter leads 12 ships past the heavy
barrage of Confederate artillery at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He lost only one ship, and the
operation speeded General Ulysses S. Grant's movement against Vicksburg.
Apr 16 1944 - WW2: Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people. This
bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter.
Apr 16 1945 - WW2: American troops enter Nuremberg Germany
Apr 16 1945 - The U.S Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp
Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz).
Apr 16 1945 - WW2: German refugee ship MV Goya carrying wounded and fleeing refugees
from the Soviet invasion is sunk by a Soviet submarine. One of the largest maritime losses of life
in history, with just 183 survivors among 7,000 passengers and crew.
Apr 16 1945 - WW2: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin,
with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights. Estimated casualties
and losses: Soviets 20 to 30,000 – Ger. 20,000
Apr 16 1947 - Cold War: Bernard Baruch, an American financier and presidential advisor,
delivered a speech saying we are today in the midst of a cold war using the term for the first to
describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although no official
dates are set it is generally acknowledged it did not end until 1991.
Apr 16 1953 - Korean War: Battle of Pork Chop Hill (Hill 255) begins.
Apr 17 1863 - Civil War: Grierson's 16 day Raid begins – 1700 horse troopers under Union Army
Colonel Benjamin Grierson successfully attack central Mississippi. Casualties and losses: US 24
– CSA 240 est.
Apr 17 1864 – Civil War: The 4 day Battle of Plymouth begins. Confederate forces attack
Plymouth, North Carolina resulting in a Confederate victory. Casualties and losses: US 2,000 CSA 800.
Apr 17 1941 - WW2: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
Apr 17 1961 - Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban refugees land at
the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro. Casualties and losses: Cuba 4,176 Cuban Exiles/US 1,320.
Apr 18 1775 - American Revolution: The British advancement by sea begins - American
revolutionaries Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott ride though the towns of
Massachusetts warning the countryside of the troop movements.
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Paul Revere, 1903
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William Dawes
Samuel Prescott
Apr 18 1848 – Mexican*American War: Battle of Cerro Gordo - Winfield Scott's U.S. troops
out-flanked and drove Santa Anna's larger Mexican army from a strong defensive position in the
Battle of Cerro Gordo. American victory opened the way for invasion of Mexico.
Apr 18 1942 - WW2: James H. Doolittle bombs Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya.
Apr 18 1943 - WW2: Operation Vengeance - The mastermind of the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor (Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto) is shot down by American P–38 fighters while traveling in
a bomber.
Apr 18 1944 - WW2: USS Gudgeon (SS–211) missing. Most likely sunk by Japanese naval
aircraft (901st Kokutai) southwest of Iwo Jima. 79 killed.
Apr 18 1945 - WW2: Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany.
Apr 18 1949 - The keel for the aircraft carrier USS United States is laid down at Newport News
Drydock and Shipbuilding. However, construction is canceled five days later, resulting in the
Revolt of the Admirals.
Apr 18 1988 – Iran*Iraq War: The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against
Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
Apr 19 1775 - American Revolution: The war begins with an American victory in Concord
during the battles of Lexington and Concord. Casualties and losses: Americans 93 - GB 300.
Apr 19 1861 - Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861 – a pro–Secession mob in Baltimore, Maryland,
attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.
Apr 19 1916 – WWI: U.S. President Wilson address to the U.S. Congress. He said that the U.S.
should break diplomatic relations with Germany if they did not stop attacking merchant ships
with its submarines.
Apr 19 1942 - WW2: In Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the
Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.
Apr 19 1943 - WW2: In Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter
the Warsaw ghetto to round up the remaining Jews.
Apr 19 1951 - Korean War: General Douglas MacArthur retires from the military.
Apr 19 1971 - Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans Against the War begin a five-day demonstration
in Washington, D.C.
Apr 19 1989 - A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
USS Iowa's Turret Two explodes
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Apr 20 1775 – Revolutionary War: the Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington
and Concord.
Apr 20 1861 – Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in
order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
Apr 20 1945 – WW2: US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the
Soviet Union.
Apr 20 1945 – WW2: Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron
Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
Apr 21 1836 - Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto - Republic of Texas forces under Sam
Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Casualties and
losses: Tex 39 – Mex 838.
Apr 21 1918 – WWI: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron",
is shot down and killed over Vaux sur Somme in France.
Richthofen wearing the Blue Max, Prussia’s highest military order
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Apr 21 1942 – WW2: The most famous (and first international) Aggie Muster is held on the
Philippine island of Corregidor, by Brigadier General George F. Moore (with 25 fellow Texas
A&M graduates who are under his command), while 1.8 million pounds of shells pounded the
island over a 5 hour attack.
Apr 22 1836 - Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas
General Sam Houston capture Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
Apr 22 1898 – Spanish*American War: The USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.
Apr 22 1863 – Civil War: Grierson's 15 day Raid begins - troops under Union Army Colonel
Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
Apr 22 1898 – Spanish*American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban
ports and the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship. When the U.S. Congress issued a
declaration of war on April 25, it declared that a state of war had existed from this date.
Apr 22 1915 – WWI: The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is
released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
Apr 22 1918 - WWI: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as "The Red
Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.
Apr 22 1943 – WW2: USS Grenadier (SS–210) scuttled after Japanese seaplane attacks (936
Kokutai) damaged the boat the previous day, off Penang, Malaysia. 76 POWs, 4 later died.
Apr 22 1944 – WW2: The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the
first use of helicopters in combat with CSAR operations in the China-Burma-India theater.
Apr 22 1944 – WW2: Operation Persecution - Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently
known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea. After the 3 months it took to defeat the enemy
casualties and losses totaled: US 527 – JP 12,811.
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Apr 22 1945 – WW2: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. 520 are killed and 80
escape. It was one of the largest concentration (extermination) camps in Europe credited with
killing 350 to 800,000 inmates over its 3 ½ years of operation.
Apr 22 1945 – WW2: Führerbunker: After learning that Soviet forces have taken Eberswalde
without a fight, Adolf Hitler admits defeat in his underground bunker and states that suicide is his
only recourse.
Apr 22 1945 – WW2: Soviet forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command
headquarters.
Apr 22 1951 - Korean War: The Chinese People's Volunteer Army begin assaulting positions
defended by the Royal Australian Regiment and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry at
the Battle of Kapyong.
Apr 22 1951 – Ticker–tape parade for General MacArthur in NYC.
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Apr 22 1972 - Vietnam War: Increased American bombing in Vietnam prompts anti-war protests in Los
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Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.
Apr 22 1975 - Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as Xuan Loc,
the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
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Apr 22 2008 – The United States Air Force retires the remaining F-117 Nighthawk aircraft in
service.
Apr 23 1899 – Quingua, Luzon, Philippine Islands — An American force consisting of four
battalions of infantry from Nebraska and Iowa plus a battery of guns from the Utah Light
Artillery, is fiercely engaged by Filipino insurgents about 20 miles north of the capital of Manila.
Apr 23 1941 – WW2: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the
invading Wehrmacht.
Apr 23 1942 – WW2: Baedeker Blitz - German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation
for the British raid on Lübeck.
Apr 23 1945 – WW2: Adolf Hitler's designated successor Hermann Göring sends him a telegram
asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich, which causes Hitler to replace him with
Joseph Goebbels and Karl Dönitz.
Apr 24 1805 – U.S. Marines attack and capture the town of Derna in Tripoli from the Barbary
pirates.
Apr 24 1918 – WWI: First tank–to–tank combat, at Villers–Bretonneux, France, when three
British Mark IVs met three German A7Vs.
Apr 24 1944 – WW2: 1st Boeing B–29 arrives in China "over the Hump"
Apr 24 1948 – Cold War: The Berlin airlift begins to relieve surrounded city. Ends 12 May 1949.
Fatalities: 40 Britons and 31 Americans
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Berliners watch a C-54 skymaster land at Tempelhof Airport, 1948
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Apr 24 1967 – Vietnam: American General William Westmoreland says that the enemy had
gained support in the U.S. States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he
cannot win militarily.
Apr 24 1980 – Operation Eagle Claw: A rescue attempt of the U.S. hostages held in Iran fails
when a plane collides with a helicopter in the Iranian desert. Eight U.S. servicemen die.
Apr 25 1846 – Mexican*American War: Thornton Affair – Open conflict begins over the
disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War.
Apr 25 1862 – Civil War: Forces under Union Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of
the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Apr 25 1864 – Civil War: The Battle of Marks' Mills. Casualties and losses: US 1,500 - CSA 293.
Result: Confederate victory.
Apr 25 1898 – Spanish*American War: The United States declares war on Spain.
Apr 25 1915 - WWI: The Battle of Gallipoli begins-The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli
Peninsula by Australian, British, French and New Zealand troops begins with landings at Anzac
Cove and Cape Helles.
Apr 25 1945 – WW2: Elbe Day – United States and Soviet troops meet in Torgau along the River
Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two, a milestone in the approaching end of
World War II in Europe.
Apr 25 1945 – WW2: The last German troops retreat from Finland's soil in Lapland, ending the
Lapland War. Military acts of Second World War end in Finland.
Apr 25 1945 – WW2: The Nazi occupation army surrenders and leaves Northern Italy after a
general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement; the puppet fascist regime
dissolves and Benito Mussolini tries to escape. This day is taken as symbolic of the Liberation of
Italy.
Apr 25 1951 - Korean War: Assaulting Chinese forces are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting
with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong.
Casualties and losses: UN 146 - CH/NK ~1,000.
Apr 25 1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first submerged
circumnavigation of the globe.
Apr 25 1972 - Vietnam: Nguyen Hue Offensive - The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces
5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
Apr 25 1975 – Vietnam: As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital
Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first
Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
Apr 26 1865 – Civil War: Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders his army to
General William Tecumseh Sherman at the Bennett Place near Durham, North Carolina. Also the
date of Confederate Memorial Day for most states.
Apr 26 1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of
President Lincoln, in Virginia.
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Apr 26 1933 - The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.
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Apr 26 1944 – WW2: General Heinrich Kreipe, Commander of the German 22nd Air
Landing Infantry Division, is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete.
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Apr 26 1945 – WW2: Filipino troops of the 66th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth
Army, USAFIP–NL and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division, United
States Army were liberated in Baguio City. All had fought against the Japanese forces under
General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
Apr 26 1945 – WW2: Battle of Bautzen – last successful German tank–offensive of the war and
last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht. Casualties and losses: Ger 6,500 – Soviets/Polish
18,232.
Apr 27 1777 – American Revolution: The Battle of Ridgefield: A British invasion force engages
and defeats Continental Army regulars and militia irregulars at Ridgefield, Connecticut.
Casualties and losses: US 100 - GB 194. Result: Tactical British victory; Strategic American
victory.
Apr 27 1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of
Derna
Apr 27 1813 – War of 1812: United States troops capture the capital of Upper Canada York
(present day Toronto, Canada).
Apr 27 1865 – The steamboat SS Sultana, carrying 2,400 passengers, explodes and sinks in the
Mississippi River, killing 1,700, most of whom are Union survivors of the Andersonville and
Cahaba Prisons.
Apr 27 1975 – Vietnam: Saigon is encircled by North Vietnamese troops.
Apr 28 1942 – As result of a Gallup Poll the war is titled WW2
Apr 28 1944 – WW2: During Exercise Tiger, a large-scale rehearsal for the invasion of
Normandy, 9 German E-boats attacked an Allied convoy, killing 946 American servicemen.
Apr 28 1945 – WW2: Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are executed by a firing
squad consisting of members of the Italian resistance movement.
Apr 28 1952 – Occupied Japan: The United States occupation of Japan ends as the Treaty of San
Francisco, ratified September 8, 1951, comes into force.
Apr 28 1965 – Latin America Interventions: United States occupation of the Dominican
Republic: U.S. Army and Marines land in the Dominican Republic to forestall establishment of a
Communist dictatorship and to evacuate U.S. Army troops. Troops stay until October 1966
Apr 28 1970 – Vietnam: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon formally authorizes American combat
troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.
Apr 28 1975 – Vietnam: General Cao Van Vien, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs
for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on victory.
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Apr 28 1986 – The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclearpowered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the
Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea.
Apr 29 1781 – American Revolution: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal
off the coast of Martinique resulting in a French tactical victory.
Apr 29 1862 – Civil War: New Orleans, Louisiana falls to Union forces under Admiral David
Farragut securing them access into the Mississippi River.
Apr 29 1916 - WWI: The British 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of
Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.
Apr 29 1944 – WWII: British agent Nancy Wake, a leading figure in the French Resistance and
the Gestapo's most wanted person, parachutes back into France to become a liaison between
London and the local maquis group.
Apr 29 1945 – WWI: Battle of the Lys – The 22 day battle which was part of the German spring
offensive ends. Casualties and losses: Allies 120,000 – Ger 120,000.
Apr 29 1945 – WW2: The German army in Italy unconditionally surrenders to the Allies.
Apr 29 1945 – WW2 - Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a
Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. Both Hitler and Braun
commit suicide the following day.
Apr 29 1945 – WW2: The Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.
Apr 29 1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former
Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders for war crimes.
Apr 29 1970 – Vietnam: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt
Viet Cong.
29 Apr 1975 – Vietnam: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens
from Saigon prior to an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes
to an end.
Apr 29 1990 – Cold War: Wrecking cranes began tearing down Berlin Wall at Brandenburg Gate
Apr 30 1943 – WW2: Operation Mincemeat – The submarine HMS Seraph surfaces in the
Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain to deposit a dead man planted with false invasion plans
and dressed as a British military intelligence officer.
Apr 30 1945 – WW2: Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his bunker. Karl Donitz becomes his
successor.
Apr 30 1972 – Vietnam: The North Vietnamese launch an invasion of the South.
Apr 30 1975 – Vietnam: Fall of Saigon. Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam
War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van
Minh.
Apr 30 2004 – U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually
humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
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May 01 1778 – American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro,
Pennsylvania. Results - British victory. Casualties and losses: PA Militia 92 - GB 7.
May 01 1862 - Civil War: The Union Army completes the Capture of New Orleans.
May 01 1863 – Civil War: First of 7 day Battle of Chancellorsville. Results - Confederate
victory. Casualties and losses: US 17,197 - CSA 13,303.
May 01 1898 – Spanish*American War: Battle of Manila Bay – The American Asiatic Squadron
under Commodore George Dewey destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first engagement of
the war.
May 01 1945 – WW2: Start of Operation Chowhound to help feed civilians in the Netherlands
via food airdrops who were in danger of starvation in the Dutch famine.
May 01 1945 - WW2: Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide in the Reich Garden
outside the Führerbunker. Their children are murdered by their mother by having cyanide pills
inserted into their mouths.
The Goebbels
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May 01 1960 – Cold War: U-2 incident – Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U–2 spyplane, is
shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
May 01 2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished"
speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George
W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".
May 02 1863 – Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to
camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight
days later.
May 02 1945 – WW2: Italian Campaign – General Heinrich von Vietinghoff signs the official
instrument of surrender of all Wehrmacht forces in Italy.
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May 02 1945 – WW2: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp
finding 1000 dead inmates, most starved to death.
May 02 1964 – Vietnam: An explosion sinks the USS Card while docked at Saigon. Viet Cong
forces are suspected of placing a bomb on the ship.
May 03 1926 – US marines land in Nicaragua (9mo after leaving) and stay until 1933.
May 03 1942 – Japanese naval troops during the first part of Operation Mo invade Tulagi and
nearby Islands in the Solomons enabling them to threaten/ interdict the supply/communication
routes between the U.S and Australia/New Zealand. Leads to the Battle of the Coral Sea
May 03 1945 – WW2: USS Lagarto (SS–371) sunk by Japanese minelayer Hatsutaka in Gulf of
Siam. 86 killed.
May 04 1942 – WW2: Battle of Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the United
States aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon
Islands. It was the 1st sea battle fought solely in air.
May 04 1942 – WW2: Civilians issued first ration books—War Ration Book Number One, or the
"Sugar Book through more than 100,000 schoolteachers, PTA groups, and other volunteers.
War Ration Book Number One front and back
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May 04 1956 – Cold War: Operation Redwing – Beginning ofr a 78 day period in which a series
of 17 second-generation thermonuclear and fission devices are detonated at bikini and Enewetak
Atolls.
Redwing Apache 1.9 MT Detonation July 1956
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May 05 1864 – Civil War: The inconclusive 3 day Battle of the Wilderness in Spotsylvania
County, Virginia kicks off Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in Virginia.
Casualties and losses: US 17,666 - CSA 11,125.
May 05 1916 – US marines invade Dominican Republic, stay until 1924.
May 05 1945 – WW2: Admiral Karl Dönitz, President of Germany after Hitler's death, orders all
German U–boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases.
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May 06 1863 – Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with a Union retreat. It is known
as Lee's "perfect battle" because of his risky decision to divide his army in the presence of a much
larger enemy force.
May 06 1937 – Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is
destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people
are killed.
May 06 1941 – At California's March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
May 06 1942 – WW2: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to
the Japanese.
May 06 1945 – WW2: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (first
was on December 11, 1941).
May 07 1763 - Indian Wars: Pontiac's Rebellion begins - Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy
of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit.
May 07 1864 - Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off
from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
May 07 1915 – WWI: German submarine U–20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people
including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many formerly pro–Germans in the
United States against the German Empire.
May 07 1917 – Fighter pilot Albert Ball, the United Kingdom’s leading flying ace with 44
victories, crashed to his death in a field in France on the Western Front.
May 07 1942 – WW2: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier
aircraft attack and sink the Japanese Imperial Navy light aircraft carrier Shoho. The battle marks
the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between
warring ships.
May 07 1945 – WW2: Germany signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending
Germany's participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day.
May 07 1954 – Vietnam: 55 day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese
insurgents overrunning French forces.
May 07 1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960 – Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that
his nation is holding American pilot Gary Powers, whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over the
Soviet Union six days earlier.
May 07 1984 – Vietnam: Agent Orange class–action suit brought by Vietnam veterans settled
out of court for $180 Million.
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May 08 1846 – Mexican*American War: The Battle of Palo Alto – Zachary Taylor defeats a
Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war. Casualties and losses:
UA 56- MEX 357.
May 08 1942 – WW2: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Japanese Imperial Navy
aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS
Lexington. The battle marked the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight
without visual contact between warring ships.
May 08 1945 – WW2: Combat in Europe ends [VE Day]. German forces agree in Rheims,
France, to an unconditional surrender.
May 08 1972 – Vietnam: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announces his order to place mines in
major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that
nation.
May 09 1945 – WW2: Operation Meetinghouse - 334 B-29’s raid Japan with 279 of them
dropping 1,665 tons of bombs on Tokyo. This firebombing was the single deadliest air raid of
WWII. Casualties and losses: US 14 B-29’s – JP 88,000 killed, 41,000 injured, and1 million
residents lost their homes.
May 09 1951 – Korean War: Air raid on Chinese positions at Yalu River.
May 10 1775 – American Revolution: A small Colonial militia led by Ethan Allen and Colonel
Benedict Arnold captures Fort Ticonderoga.
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Ethan Allen demanding the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga
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May 10 1797 – First Navy ship, the "United States," is launched.
USS United States
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May 10 1801 – First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United
States of America.
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May 10 1863 – Civil War: Confederate General Stonewall Jackson dies eight days after he is
accidentally shot by his own troops.
May 10 1864 – Civil War: Colonel Emory Upton leads a 10–regiment 'Attack–in–depth' assault
against the Confederate works at The Battle of Spotsylvania, which, though ultimately
unsuccessful, would provide the idea for the massive assault against the Bloody Angle on May
12. Upton, although slightly wounded, is immediately promoted to Brigadier general.
May 10 1865 – Civil War: Jefferson Davis is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.
May 10 1865 – Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate
raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.
May 10 1941 – WW2: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland in order to try and negotiate a peace
deal between the United Kingdom and Germany.
May 10 1946 – Cold War: First successful launch of an American V–2 rocket at White Sands
Proving Ground.
May 10 1960 – The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes Operation Sandblast, the first
underwater circumnavigation of the earth.
May 10 1969 – Vietnam: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will
ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.
May 11 1846 – Mexican*American War: President James K. Polk asked for and received a
Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican–American War.
May 11 1862 - Civil War: The ironclad CSS Virginia is scuttled in the James River northwest of
Norfolk, Virginia.
CSS Virginia
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May 11 1943 – WW2: American troops invade Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt
to expel occupying Japanese forces.
May 11 1944 – WW2: The Allies start a major offensive against the Axis Powers on the Gustav
Line.
May 11 1945 – WW2: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill, is hit by
two kamikazes, killing 346 of her crew. Although badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the
U.S. under her own power.
May 12 1780 – American Revolution: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
May 12 1863 – Civil War: Battle of Raymond: two divisions of James B. McPherson's XVII
Corps (ACW) turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on
Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the
Vicksburg Campaign.
May 12 1864 – Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: thousands of Union and
Confederate soldiers die in "the Bloody Angle".
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May 12 1865 – Civil War: The Battle of Palmito Ranch - The first day of the last major land
action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Confederate victory.
May 12 1949 – Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.
May 12 1962 – Douglas MacArthur delivers his famous "Duty, Honor, Country" valedictory
speech at the United States Military Academy.
May 13 1846 – Mexican*American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
May 13 1861 – Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of
neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
May 13 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Resaca - The 3 day battle begins with Union General
Sherman fighting toward Atlanta, Georgia.
May 13 1865 – Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch - in far south Texas, more than a month after
Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a
Confederate victor. Casualties and losses: US 117 - CSA 9.
May 13 1945 – WW2: US troops conquer Dakeshi Okinawa.
May 14 1863 – Civil War: The Battle of Jackson takes place. Casualties and losses: US 286 CSA 850.
May 14 1943 – WW2: Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur(I) was attacked and sunk by the
Japanese submarine I-177 off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Attacking a hospital ship was
considered a war crime under the 1907 Hague Convention. Of the 332 medical personnel and
civilian crew aboard, 268 died, including 11 of the 12 nurses present.
May 14 1955 – Cold War: Eight communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a
mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
May 14 2005 – The former USS America, a decommissioned supercarrier of the United States
Navy, is deliberately sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after four weeks of live–fire exercises. She is the
largest ship ever to be disposed of as a target in a military exercise.
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USS America 24 April 1983
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May 15 1776 - American Revolution: The Virginia Convention instructs its Continental
Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way
for the United States Declaration of Independence.
May 15 1850 - The Bloody Island Massacre takes place in Lake County, California, in which a
large number of Pomo Indians in Lake County are slaughtered by a regiment of the United States
Cavalry, led by Nathaniel Lyon.
May 15 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Resaca, Georgia ends. Casualties and losses: US ~4500 CSA 2800.
May 15 1864 – Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia – In a small engagement fought near
this central Shenandoah Valley town, a Union force composed of about 10,000 men from a
variety of states is opposed by a smaller Confederate force made up primarily of Virginians.
Among the troops on the southern side are cadets from the Virginia Military Institute. During the
climax of the battle, these boys, ages 12 to 16, charge across an open field, taking casualties but
capturing a battery of guns on a commanding hill. Ten cadets are killed and 50 are wounded.
Though the battle would end in a Confederate victory, in the long run, it would prove to be futile
due to the overwhelming numbers of Union forces which would quickly regroup and advance
again down the Valley, burning fields and barns as they moved.
May 15 1940 – WW2: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops
surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.
May 15 1941 – WW2: First flight of the Gloster E.28/39 the first British and Allied jet aircraft.
May 15 1942 – WW2: Lieutenant Ronald Reagan, a cavalry officer, applies for reassignment to
the Army Air Force, where he would eventually put his thespian background to use on World
War II propaganda films.
May 15 1942 – WW2: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps
(WAAC) is signed into law.
May 15 1945 – WW2: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje,
Slovenia. Casualties and losses: Axix 600 – Allies 100.
May 15 1962 – Vietnam: US marines arrive in Laos.
May 15 1972: The U.S. Army Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa) reverted to the full control of Japan but
the U.S retained its rights to nuclear free bases.
May 15 1988 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet
Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
May 15 1997 – The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in
Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
Laos Memorial in Fresno CA
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[Last Update: April 15, 2015 ++]
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