This day in military history..

May 12th

1940: In the West, French forces withdraw behind the Meuse river between Dinant and Sedan.
1942: The first aircraft of the US 8th Air Force arrive in Britain.
1943: Surrender of all German and Italian forces in Tunisia (130,000 German and 120,000 Italian prisoners), marking the end of the three-year North African campaign.
1944: In Italy, fierce German counter-attacks along the Gustav Line at Cassino. The US 8th Air Force (800 bombers) carries out attacks against the synthetic fuel plants at Leuna-Merseburg, Lützkendorf, Zeitz and Brüx.
1945: General Vlasov, commander of the anti-Bolshevist Russian Liberation Army (ROA) is handed over by the Americans to the Soviets to be tortured and executed for treason in August, 1946.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1917:Lieutenant R.V. Moon, VC - Lieutenant R.V. Moon, 58th Battalion, of Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, wins the Victoria Cross at Bullecourt
1945: Corporal J.B. Mackey, VC - Corporal J.B. Mackey, 2/3rd Pioneer Battalion, originally from Leichhardt, Sydney, wins the Victoria Cross on Tarakan. (Posthumous award)
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1264 - The Battle of Lewes, between King Henry III of England and the rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, begins.
1588 - French Wars of Religion: Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry of Guise enters the city.
1689 - King William's War: William III of England joins the League of Augsburg starting a war with France.
1780 - American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
1862 - U.S. federal troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1864 - Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: Thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die in "the Bloody Angle".
1942 - Second Battle of Kharkov – In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates a major offensive. During the battle the Soviets will capture the city of Kharkov from the German Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_12

1082 : Battle at Mailberg: Vratislav II of Bohemia beats Leopold II of Austria
source: http://www.thisdaythatyear.com/may/events12.htm

1940: French forces withdraw behind the Meuse river between Dinant and Sedan as advance German panzer columns push out from the Ardennes. Germans troops continue their advance through Holland, crossing the Yssel and Meuse rivers at several points. Massive German artillery bombardments are maintained on western front, the Luftwaffe continues to reek havoc across Northern France and Belgium, causing refugees to stream west, clogging the roads for allied forces. Internment of Germans begins in Britain.
1942: A British convoy, codenamed 'Tiger', arrives at Alexandria with much needed tanks and aircraft. Timoshenko’s offensive grinds forward into Army Group South with two pincer attacks, one Northwest out of the Izyum bulge by the 6th Red Army and the other West then Southwest by the 28th Red Army from the Volchansk area, designed to converge west of Kharkov. The Red Army falls back towards Kerch in the Crimea.
1944: The Japanese attacks to the South East of Imphal are broken off. 800 bombers of the US 8th Air Force carry out attacks against the synthetic fuel plants at Leuna-Merseburg, Lützkendorf, Zeitz and Brüx. The remains of German Seventeenth Army in Crimea are destroyed, with the Russians taking 36,000 Axis troops prisoner. Fierce German counter-attacks are put in by the German defenders at Monte Cassino.
1945: Very heavy fighting continues on Okinawa, with 125 Japanese aircraft being reported as shot down. The German garrison in Crete under Major General Bentach surrenders.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
May 15th

1940: In the West, the German XX.Panzerkorps (Hoth) repels a counter-attack by French armored forces, destroying 125 out of 175 tanks. An attack by 6.Armee (von Reichenau) against the Dyle line in Belgium is repulsed. After the fall of Rotterdam the Dutch Army surrenders (10,000 casualties). In Paris, panic breaks out over reports of a German breakthrough at Sedan; thousands of civilians leave the city for the west and south of the country, clogging the roads for Allied military traffic which is attacked by Luftwaffe bombers and fighter bombers. RAF Bomber Command (Peirse) begins a strategic air offensive against targets inside Germany by attacking industrial installations in the Ruhr, but with minimal effect.
1941: In Libya, the British Eighth Army begins an offensive against the German Afrikakorps, recapturing Halfaya Pass and Sollum.
1942: In the East, the German 11.Armee (von Manstein) captures Kerch in the eastern Crimea, forcing the Soviet forces to withdraw across the straits to the Taman peninsula. At Charkov, the German 6.Armee (von Paulus) repulses heavy Soviet attacks.
1943: German, Italian and Croatian forces begin an offensive against Tito's partisan army in Montenegro.
1944: In Italy, German troops begin withdrawing from the Gustav Line to new positions, the Adolf Hitler or Dora Line, 30 miles S of Rome.
1945: The Axis-allied Croation forces that surrendered to British troops in Austria are handed over to Tito's partisans who without delay proceed to massacre them; they kill a total of 110,000, including women and children.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1915:Major General W.T. Bridges wounded at Gallipoli - Bridges commander of the First Division, AIF, died on 18 May while being taken to Egypt for treatment. His body was returned to Australia and buried overlooking the Royal Military College, Duntroon.
1942:Prisoners of Japanese transported to begin work on Burma-Thailand railway - Movement of prisoners of war (A Force) to Thailand from Singapore begins for work on the Burma–Thailand railway
1945:Private E. Kenna, VC - Private E. Kenna, 2/4th Battalion, originally from Hamilton, Victoria, wins the Victoria Cross near Wewak.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1525 - The battle of Frankenhausen ends the Peasants' War.
1701 - The War of the Spanish Succession begins.
1756 - The Seven Years' War begins when England declares war on France.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca, Georgia ends.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia – Students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1897 - The Greek army retreats with heavy losses in Greco-Turkish War
1918 - Finnish Civil War ends.
1919 - Greek invasion of Izmir, resulting in the massacre of hundreds of Turks by the Greek army. Hasan Tahsin fired the first gun of the Turkish War of Independence.
1948 - Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack Israel.
1988 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_15

1781: A 352-man-strong Loyalist force commanded by Major Andrew Maxwell surrenders a fortified frame building, named “Fort Granby,” to a Patriot force in South Carolina.
1916 The Austrian army launches a major offensive operation against their Italian enemies on the Trentino front, in northern Italy.
1967: U.S. forces just south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) come under heavy fire as Marine positions between Dong Ha and Con Thien are pounded by North Vietnamese artillery. On May 18, a force of 5,500 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops invaded the southeastern section of the DMZ to smash a communist build up in the area and to deny the use of the zone as an infiltration route into South Vietnam.
1970: At the White House, President Richard Nixon presents Sgt. John L. Levitow with the Medal of Honor for heroic action performed on February 24, 1969, over Long Binh Army Post in South Vietnam. Then an Airman 1st Class, Levitow was the loadmaster on a Douglas AC-47 gunship. His aircraft had been supporting several Army units that were engaged in battle with North Vietnamese troops when an enemy mortar hit the aircraft's right wing, exploding in the wing frame. Thousands of pieces of shrapnel ripped through the plane's thin skin, wounding four of the crew. Levitow was struck forty times in his right side; although bleeding heavily from these wounds, he threw himself on an activated, smoking magnesium flare, dragged himself and the flare to the open cargo door, and tossed the flare out of the aircraft just before it ignited. For saving his fellow crewmembers and the gunship, Airman Levitow was nominated for the nation's highest award for valor in combat. He was the only enlisted airman to win the Medal of Honor in Vietnam and was one of only four enlisted airmen ever to win the medal, the first since World War II.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?

1940: RAF Bomber Command (Peirse) begins a strategic air offensive against targets inside Germany by attacking industrial installations in the Ruhr, but with minimal effect. After the fall of Rotterdam, Holland surrenders. The German 20th Panzer Korps (Hoth) repels a counter-attack by French armoured forces, destroying 125 out of 175 tanks. An attack by 6th Army (von Reichenau) against the Dyle line in Belgium is repulsed.
1941: The British Army under Auchinleck, launch an offensive, operation 'Brevity' against the Afrika Korps and manage to recapture Halfaya Pass, Sollum and Capuzzo. RAF night raids on Hanover, Berlin and Cuxhaven. The Luftwaffe begin preparatory attacks against Crete.
1942: British forces retreating from Burma reach the Indian frontier. General Stilwell crosses the border in to Assam in India.
1944: A Japanese attack on Hunter’s Hill, North of Kohima is repulsed.
1945: The U.S. Tenth Army is now within 2,000 yds of Naha docks.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
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Lots of action

May 18th

1940: In the West, XIX.Panzerkorps (Guderian) in its rapid advance toward the Channel coast reaches Peronne. German troops occupy Antwerp.
1942: The RAF launches a major attack against Mannheim.
1944: In Italy, the US Fifth Army (Clark) captres Gaeta S of Rome.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1885:Sudan contingent departs Suakin - New South Wales troops of the Sudan contingent depart Suakin for Sydney having a little over two months in the Sudan without seeing any serious action.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1268 - The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch; Baibars' destruction of the city of Antioch was so great as to permanently negate the city's importance.
1803 - Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
1811 - Las Piedras Battle first great military triumph of the liberating revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay leaded by Jose Artigas.
1863 - American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins, ending on July 4.
1917 - World War I: The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress giving the President the power of conscription.
1944 - World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino - Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.
1944 - World War II: SS troops burn down six villages in the Brkini hills in south western Slovenia.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_18

1943: Hitler gives the order for Operation Alaric - Adolf Hitler launches Operation Alaric, the German occupation of Italy in the event its Axis partner either surrendered or switched its allegiance.
1969: Communists attack Xuan Loc - More than 1,500 communist troops attack U.S. and South Vietnamese camps near Xuan Loc, located 38 miles east of Saigon. After five hours of intense fighting, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces were driven off. At the U.S. camp, 14 Americans were killed and 39 wounded; 24 enemy soldiers were killed in the action. At the South Vietnamese camp, 4 South Vietnamese were killed and 14 wounded, with 54 communist soldiers reported killed and 9 captured.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp

1940: Germans take Antwerp, Belgium’s second city. Allied forces are seriously split as German tanks of 19th Panzer Korps (Guderian) reach Peronne and Rommels 7th Panzer Division reaches Cambrai during their rapid advance toward the Channel coast. Amiens is occupied. Regions ceded to Belgium in Treaty of Versailles (1919) re-incorporated into Germany.
1941: General Dentz tells the French Army in Syria to "match force with force". The 5th Indian Division captures the Italian fortress of Amba Alagi after 18 days of fighting. The British column from Palastine (Habforce), arrives at Habbaniyah and relieves its garrison. Italy annexes the Yugoslavian territory of Dalmatia.
1942: The Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm attacks and hits the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen off Norway, but she makes it back to Kiel. Despite increasing losses, Churchill remains determined to continue the Artic convoys to Russia. The New York Times reports on an inside page that Nazis have machine-gunned over 100,000 Jews in the Baltic states, 100,000 in Poland and twice as many in western Russia. The RAF launches a major attack against Mannheim. German forces finally halt the Russian summer offensive just short of Kharkov and let loose Group von Kleist’s with a strength of 15 Divisions (1st Panzer Army and 17th Army), of which two are Panzer and one Motorised. The Germans aim for Izyum to the South of Kharkov in order to pinch off the Russian salient. The Germans attack with their usual skill, technology, and ferocity and drive through the Russian defenses. The Germans have a 4.4-1 edge in tanks, 1.7-1 edge in artillery, and 1.3-1 edge in infantry on the battlefield. Russian co-ordination is poor and the Germans quickly gain local air superiority. Russian officers lack adequate combat experience to handle the fast pace of the German blitzkrieg, and their divisions literally come apart.
1943: The Japanese launch a new offensive along the Yangtze river, 250 miles north east of the Nationalist capital of Chunking.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
Lots of different stuff in ancient times!

May 20th

1940: In the West, units of XIX. Panzerkorps (Guderian) capture Amiens and advance to the Channel coast at Abbeville, separating the British Expeditionary Force (Gort) and the Belgian Army from the French forces to the south.
1941: Taking off from airfields in Greece, German paraptroops of the 7.Fliegerdivision (Süssmann) carried in 490 Ju-52 transports of XI.Fliegerkorps (Trettner) and supported by Stuka dive-bombers of VIII.Fliegerkorps (von Richthofen) begin Operation Mercury, the capture of the island of Crete in the Mediterranean. Encountering heavy ground fire from British Commonwealth troops (total of 30,000 men under New Zealand Gen. Freyberg) in prepared positions, casualties are high: of 8,000 men landed nearly 6.000 are killed, and 151 Ju-52s destroyed before air and sea-borne mountain troops arrive to turn near disaster into victory.
1943: The US Tenth Fleet is formed for anti-submarine operations in the Atlantic.
1944: Nearly 5,000 Allied aircraft attack airfields and rail communications in France and Belgium.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1915:Lance Corporal Albert Jacka, VC - Lance Corporal Albert Jacka, 14th Battalion, 4th Brigade, New Zealand and Australian Division, of Winchelsea, Victoria, wins the Victoria Cross at Courtney's Post, Gallipoli. Jacka's was the first VC to be awarded to an Australian in the First World War. Jacka also went on to win the Military Cross and bar.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

685 - The Battle of Dunnichen or Nechtansmere is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.
1217 - The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
1521 - Battle of Pampeluna: Ignatius Loyola seriously wounded in the battle.
1631 - The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.
1813 - Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church - In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_20

1778: Battle of Barren Hill, Pennsylvania - British forces from Philadelphia attempt to trap 2,200 Continentals defending Valley Forge led by Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette, through skillful maneuvering, avoids the entrapment and the destruction of his forces. The encounter takes place at Barren Hill, now known as Lafayette Hill, just northwest of Philadelphia.
1915: British renew attacks in Battle of Festubert - British, Canadian and Indian troops launch a new round of attacks against a reinforced German line around the village of Festubert, located in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front.
1953: French see "light at the end of the tunnel" in Vietnam - Using a phrase that will haunt Americans in later years--"Now we can see [success in Vietnam] clearly, like light at the end of a tunnel"--Gen. Henri Navarre assumes command of Frennch Union Forces in Vietnam. The French had been fighting a bloody war against communist insurgents in Vietnam since 1946. The insurgents, the Viet Minh, were fighting for independence and the French were trying to reassert their colonial rule in Indochina.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp

1941: Churchill announces the end of Abyssinian campaign as the Duke of Aosta signs the formal Italian surrender. The British took just 94 days to win the East African campaign. The Royal Navy Minesweeper Widnes is sunk by Luftwaffe planes near Suda Bay in Crete.
1942:The rearguards of the 1st Burma Corps cross the border from Burma into India. Once this is complete, the 1st Burma Corps is disbanded. Admiral Yamamoto issues his orders for Operation 'Mi'. 2nd Carrier Striking Force under Admiral Hosogaya (2 small aircraft carriers, 2 cruisers and 3 destroyers) was to mount an air-strike on Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians on the 3rd June, this was designed to decoy part of the American force northwards. If this happened then they would be met by a Guard Force of 4 battleships, 2 cruisers and 12 destroyers, which would position themselves between Pearl Harbor and the Aleutians. Then on the 5th June, the transports carrying the Japanese assault force would land on Attu and Kiska Islands on the 5th June. Meanwhile the 1st Carrier Striking Force under Admiral Nagumo, which included the Carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu, plus 2 battleships, 2 cruisers and 11 destroyers, would sail from Japan for Midway on the 4th June. Following this would be Transport Force which was commanded by Admiral Kondo with the invasion troops, additionally protected by 3 cruisers from Guam. Finally the Main Support force, commanded by Admiral Yamamoto onboard the super battleship Yamato and including a further 3 battleships, 4 cruisers and escorting destroyers would be ready to move up to engage the American Fleet if required. In order to be sure of the position of the American Fleet, 3 cordons of submarines were positioned north and west of Hawaii and 2 flying boats were stationed at French Frigate Shoal, about 500 miles north-west of Hawaii. The Crimea is finally cleared of the Red Army. 170,000 Russians taken prisoner. Manstein's gaze now turns fully towards Sevastopol.
1943: The Chinese launch a counter offensive on Yangtze River.
1944: The U.S. Fifth Army captures Gaeta to the South of Rome. The first orders from Eisenhower are broadcast to European underground armies.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
May 21st

1863: The Siege of Port Hudson begins.

1911: Second Moroccan Crisis.

1940: In the West, an attack by a French armored brigade under General de Gaulle against 7.Panzer-Division (Rommel) at Arras fails after initial success. The French Ninth Army is surrounded and destroyed, its commander, General Giraud, taken prisoner.

1940: Nazis kill "unfit" people in East Prussia.

1941: In the battle for Crete, 80 Ju-52s crash-land a regiment of 5.Gebirgsjäger-Division (Ringel) to support the hard-pressed paratroopers at Maleme airfield. In the south Atlantic, against strict orders not to attack American vessels, the US merchant ship Robin Moor is sunk by U-69 (Kptlt. Metzler). This sinking of a neutral American vessel is publicly denounced by President Roosevelt and becomes yet another argument for him in his secret desire for bringing the United States into war against Germany.

1943: The Luftwaffe carries out a raid by FW-190 fighter bombers against Malta.

1956: The U.S. conducts the first airdrop of a hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

1969: Military spokesman defends "Hamburger Hill."

1988: Gorbachev consolidates power.
 
May 22nd

1940: In the West, XIX.Panzerkorps (Guderian) strikes from Abbeville toward Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk along the Channel coast. British cipher experts at Bletchley Park break the Luftwaffe Enigma code.
1941: Off Crete, Stuka dive-bombers of Luftflotte 4 (Lühr) sink the British cruiser Gloucester and the destroyer Greyhound, damaging the battleship Warspite and the cruiser Fiji. On the island, fierce fighting continues for Maleme airfield.
1942: In the East, the Soviet forces (two armies) attacking toward Charkov are stopped and destroyed by the German 6.Armee (von Paulus); 241,000 prisoners are taken.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1940: Decision to form 8th Division made - Most of the 8th Division was lost in the fall of Singapore in February 1942. The Division never took the field as a complete Division because the battalions of the 23rd Brigade were sent to Ambon, Timor and Rabaul.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1455 - Wars of the Roses: At the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.
1762 - Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg.
1939 - World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
1942 - Mexico enters World War II on the side of the Allies.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_22


1940: British cipher experts at Bletchley Park break the Luftwaffe Enigma code.
The 19th Panzer Korps (Guderian) strikes from Abbeville toward Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk along the Channel coast.
1941: British forces capture the last Italian stronghold in southern Abyssinia. Heavy German air attacks on Crete sink the cruisers Fiji, Gloucester and York and the destroyer Greyhound. The Battleships HMS Warspite and HMS Valiant are damaged, but the Royal Navy manages to break up a German supply convoy. British blockade of Vichy France made complete. Himmler establishes Norwegian SS on German lines. Fierce fighting continues in Crete as British troops begin to pull back from Maleme airfield towards Suda Bay in order to regroup and protect their main point of supply.
1942: The 6th Army and Kleist's Panzer’s meets thereby pinching of the Russian salient Southeast of Kharkov.
1945: Sugar Loaf Hill on Okinawa is finally taken by U.S. troops after changing hands 11 times in the last few days. Montgomery is appointed as C-in-C of the British force of occupation in Germany and a British member of the allied control commission.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
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May 23rd...
1430
Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians and subsequently sold to the English.

1873
The North West Mounted Police force was formed in Canada. It would later be known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

1934
Bonnie (Parker) and Clyde (Barrow) were killed in a police shootout.

1945
Heinrich Himmler, head of Adolf Hitler’s Gestapo, committed suicide while in prison.

1949
The German Federal Republic came into existence.

1997
Moderate Mohammad Khatami was elected president of Iran.
 
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May 27th
1941: In the Atlantic, the crippled German battleship Bismarck is relentlessly bombarded by dozens of British warships, including the battleships Rodney and King George V. After all her guns are silenced, she is sunk by torpedos from the cruiser Dorsetshire; there are only 14 survivors out of a crew of 2,200. In Libya, the Afrikakorps recaptures Halfaya Pass.
1942: Off the northern coat of Norway, Luftwaffe bombers sink 5 ships of Convoy PQ-16.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1965:HMAS Sydney's first voyage to Vietnam - HMAS Sydney departs on first voyage to Vietnam with 1RAR embarked.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1813 - War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.
1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima begins.
1940 - World War II: 97 out of 99 members of a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are massacred while trying to surrender at Dunkirk. The German commander, Captain Fritz Knoechlein, is eventually hanged for war crimes.
1941 - World War II: U.S.President Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency".
1942 - World War II: Operation Anthropoid - assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague.
1965 - Vietnam War: United States warships begin bombardments of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam for the first time.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_27

1940: British position in Flander’s worsens as King Leopold of Belgium surrenders the remnants of his Army.
1941: Having been reinforced by the 15th Panzer Division, Rommel retakes the Halfaya Pass on Egyptian border. The 10th Indian Division begins to advance north from Basra towards Baghdad. 400 miles west of Brest, the crippled Bismarck is relentlessly bombarded by dozens of British warships, including the battleships Rodney and King George V. After all her guns are silenced, she is sunk by torpedo's from the cruiser Dorsetshire. There are only 110 survivors out of a crew of 2,300. The convoy HX129, becomes the first to have continuous escort protection across the Atlantic. Germans paratroopers take Canea and with it the main British supply point of Suda Bay. This convinces Major General Freyberg VC, that the situation has gone against the British and that he must withdraw from Crete to save what he can.
1942: Japanese Combined Fleet lifts anchor and sets sail for Midway. On the same day, Admiral Nimitz, having been for warned of the impending Japanese attack against Midway by US intelligence who were intercepting Japanese naval signals, issues orders for Task Force 16 (Admiral Spruance) with the carriers Enterprise and Hornet, plus 6 cruisers, 11 destroyers, 2 tankers and 19 submarines, to sail for Midway the next day. The Afrika Korps, having pushed round the British defenses, move northeast. They are engaged by elements of the British 1st and 7th Armoured Divisions. Many tank losses were taken by both sides, although as the battle went on the British armour became increasingly scattered. The Italian Ariete Armoured Division continued to meet stiff resistance from the Free French at Bir Hacheim, while the Italian Trieste Motorised Division further north, found itself grinding through minefields under heavy fire as a result of a navigation error. The siege of Sevastopol rages on, becoming the only incident of a formal siege of a modern fortress being pushed through to final reduction. Sevastopol is the premier port on the Black Sea, and its defenses include three zones of trenches, pillboxes, and batteries. The strongest defenses lie in the middle zone, which includes the heights and the south bank of the Belbek River. Among these hills are "Fort Stalin" on the East and the massive western anchor of "Fort Maxim Gorki I," with its turret of twin 305 mm (12-inch) guns sweeping the length of the Belbek valley. 105,000 men defend this port. Against this the Germans and Romanians range 203,000 men and some of the most powerful siege artillery ever disposed by any army in World War II. Field Marshal Erich von Manstein aims 305 mm, 350 mm, and 420 mm howitzers at the Russians, along with two of the new, stubby "Karl" and "Thor" 600 mm mortars. Also on hand is the 800 mm (31.5-inch) "Big Dora" from Krupp, which has to be transported to position by 60 railway wagons. "Big Dora" is commanded by a major general and a colonel, protected by two flak regiments and periodically fed with a 10,500 lb. shell. Czech patriots shoot Reinhard Heydrich in the suburbs of Prague. His condition is described as critical.
1943: The first British ‘liaison’ team is dropped into Yugoslavia to join up with Tito’s partisans.
1944: Start of the monsoon season bogs down operations in Burma. 12,000 U.S. troops land on Biak in the Schouten Island Group, 350 miles West of Hollandia. MacArthur says, 'this marks the strategic end of the New Guinea campaign'.
1945: Chinese troops are now 25 miles North of Foochow and take Loyaun. The U.S. Sixth Army takes Santa Fe on Luzon.
 
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1358Saint-Leu begins the "Jackquerie," a French peasant uprising1731Papal States orders confiscation of all Hebrew books 1754George Washington defeats the French and Indians near Ft Duquesne 1774First Continental Congress convenes1813US Frigate Essex and prize capture five British whalers in the Pacific1830Congress authorizes Indian removal to the west from the Eastern states 1849Spanish troops land at Gaeta, to help overthrow the Roman Republic1900Britain annexes the Orange Free State 1917Tenth Battle of the Isonzo ends (from May 12)1926Portugal: Military coup by Gen Manuel Gomes da Costa 1937Neville Chamberlain becomes PM of Great Britain1940Norway: Anglo-French forces capture Narvik1940King Leopold III surrenders Belgium to the Germans 1945Okinawa: c. 100 kamikaze raid Allied fleet, one U.S. DD sunk1971USSR Mars 3 launched, first spacecraft to make a soft landing on Mars1980First 55 women graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy1987German Mathias Rust, 19, lands a light rplane in Red Square1991Ethiopian rebels seize Addis Ababa
 
May 30th

1941: Collapse of the anti-British revolt in Iraq.
1942: The RAF launches its first "Thousand Bomber Raid" against Cologne: 1,046 heavy bombers drop 1,455 tons of bombs, destroying 600 acres of built-up area, killing 486 civilians and making 59,000 people homeless.
1944: German forces of Heeresgruppe Südukraine begin a counter-attack near Jassy on the lower Dnestr river.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1434 - Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great were defeated and almost annihilated in the Battle of Lipany, effectively ending the Hussite Wars.
1913 - First Balkan War: A peace treaty is signed in London ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.
1941 - World War II: Germany captures Crete.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_30

1862: Confederates evacuate Corinth, Mississippi - After the epic struggle at Shiloh in April 1862, the Confederate army, under the command of P.T. Beauregard, concentrated at Corinth, while the Union army, under Henry Halleck, began a slow advance from the Shiloh battlefield toward the rail center at Corinth. Halleck had no intention of taking on Beauregard's army directly; he was more concerned with controlling the railroad junction.
1966: U.S. aircraft carry out new raids -In the largest raids since air attacks on North Vietnam began in February 1965, U.S. planes destroy five bridges, 17 railroad cars, and 20 buildings in the Thanh Hoa and Vinh areas (100 and 200 miles south of Hanoi, respectively). Others planes hit Highway 12 in four places north of the Mugia Pass and inflicted heavy damage on the Yen Bay arsenal and munitions storage area, which was located 75 miles northeast of Hanoi.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?

1940: Mussolini tells Hitler he intends to enter the war. 53,823 British and French troops are evacuated from Dunkirk, bringing total landed in England since May 27th to 126,606.
1942: Admiral Nimitz orders for Task Force 17 (Admiral Fletcher) consisting of the carrier Yorktown, 2 cruisers and 6 destroyers, which had been refitting at Pearl Harbor after operations in the Coral Sea, to set sail for Midway and meet Admiral Spruance there. The Afrika Korps take up defensive positions in the 'Cauldron' in readiness for their attempt to punch through the Gazala line.
1944: The Eighth Army captures Arce, 15 miles Northwest of Cassino, en route to Rome.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
D-Day!

June 6th


1940: In the West, 7. Panzerdivision (Rommel). advancing W of Amiens, penetratees 20 miles into French territory. U-46 (Kptlt. Sohler) sinks the British armed merchant cruiser Carinthia off the west coast of Ireland.
1941: Hittler issues a directive for the implementation of the Kommissarbefehl (Commissar Order) which calls for the summary execution of all Soviet political commissars attached to the Red Army; this order is tacitly disobeyed by most German army and corps commanders who deem it contrary to German military custom and tradition.
1944: D-DAY. - In the early morning hours, the Allied Expeditionary Force of American, British, Canadian, Polish, and Free French troops begins Operation Overlord, the long-awaited invasion of 'Fortress Europe', as the Germans call it. After an intensive naval and aerial bombardment, the first wave of 5 divisions (156,115 men) are landed at designated beaches in Normandy named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword, preceded by some 12,000 paratroopers of the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions behind the German lines on the Cotentin peninsula and the British 6th Airborne Division near Caen. These forces are supported by 1,213 warships, including 7 battleships and 23 cruisers, 1,600 auliary ships, and 4,126 landing craft, as well as several Allied air forces flying 14,674 sorties. Opposing them in their bunkers on the beaches are 5 lowgrade German infantry divisions with about 50,000 men and 100 tanks and assault guns. Despite some heavy casualties, especially at Omaha Beach, the German defenders, stunned and surprised by the massive onslaught, are progressively overwhelmed, and most of the Allied objectives are reached and secured by nightfall. There is little opposition from the Luftwaffe or Kriegsmarine.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/june.html

1942:Battle of Midway ends - The battle of Midway was the first decisive defeat inflicted on Japan by America in the Second World War. The battle shifted the balance of sea power in the Pacific towards the Allies and forced Japan to abandon plans for advances on New Caledonia, Fiji and Samoa and delayed their offensive in New Guinea.
1969:Battle of Binh Ba, South Vietnam - Binh Ba, located five kilometres north of the Australian base at Nui Dat was the site of a battle between a combined force of Viet Cong guerillas and North Vietnamese Army troops after they occupied the village. They were driven off after more than a day's fighting. This was the last large-scale clash in Phouc Tuy.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1513 - Italian Wars: Battle of Novara. Swiss troops defeat the French under Louis de la Tremoille, forcing the French to abandon Milan. Duke Massimiliano Sforza is restored.
1813 - War of 1812: Battle of Stoney Creek - A British force of 700 under John Vincent defeat an American force three times its size under William Winder and John Chandler.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Memphis - Union forces capture Memphis, Tennessee, from the Confederates.
1918 - Battle of Belleau Wood begins .
1982 - 1982 Lebanon War begins: Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.
1984 - The Indian Army attacks the Golden Temple in Amritsar in an effort to flush out terrorists, following an order from Indira Gandhi. Official casualities are 576 combatants killed and 335 wounded; independent observers estimate that thousands of unarmed Sikh civilians are also killed in the crossfire.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June 6

Normandy France - D-DAY: Operation Overlord's 60-mile front opens a new campaign in western Europe as about 14,000 Canadian soldiers join in the landing on Juno beach between Courseulles and St-Aubin-sur-Mer. RCN minesweepers help clear the lanes in, and RCAF bombers and fighters help soften up the German defenses. The main task of the Canadian Army is to push through the gap between Bayeux and Caen. The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion red berets were part of the advance landing during the night, capturing a bridge near Caen with the British. At about 7:40 am, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and 2nd and 3rd Armoured, under Major-General R. F. L. Keller, start landing in rough seas. The 8th Brigade capture Bernières-sur-Mer [in the picture] by 9:30 am but mines and German anti-tank guns hold up the advance inland, creating a traffic jam in the village streets; they take Bény by evening. The 7th Brigade captures Courseulles, Ste-Croix and Banville, with heavy losses. The 9th Brigade make it through Bény to Villons-les-Buissons, less than four miles from Caen, and nearly at their goal - Carpiquet airport. Canadian casualties that day are less than expected - 715 wounded, 359 dead.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jun&day=06
 
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D-day + 1

June 7th

1942: In the East, 11. Armee (von Manstein) begins the final assault on the Soviet fortress of Sevastopol in the Crimea.
1944: In the West, US forces landed in Normandy link up with elements of the British 6th Airborne Division South of Caen.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/june.html

1917:Captain R.C. Grieve, VC - Captain R.C. Grieve, 37th Battalion, originally from Melbourne, wins the Victoria Cross at Messines.
1951:3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment - 3RAR patrols sent across the Imjin River and they begin to win control of the north bank.
1968:Prime Minister visits Vietnam - Prime Minister Gorton begins two-day visit to Vietnam against a background of both a growing Australian military commitment to the war and steadily increasing, though not yet overwhelming, domestic opposition. 1917:Private J. Carroll, VC - Private J. Carroll, 33rd Battalion, originally from Brisbane, wins the Victoria Cross at St Yves (battle of Messines)..
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1917: Battle of Messines Ridge - The British 2nd Army, led by Herbert Plumer, scores a crushing victory over the Germans at Messines Ridge in northern France, marking the successful prelude to an Allied offensive designed to break the grinding stalemate on the Western Front in World War I.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?

1863 - Mexico City is captured by French troops.
1917 - World War I: Allied ammonal mines underneath German trenches in Mesen Ridge are detonated, killing 10,000 German troops.
1967 - The Israeli forces occupy Jerusalem during the Six-Day War.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June 6

Normandy France - D-DAY + 1; the 3rd Canadian Division, 9th Canadian Brigade, North Novas with the Sherbrooke tanks for support, and some Cameron Highlander machine-gunners, push through Buron and Authie toward Capriquet airport, 3 miles west of Caen; lose naval gunfire support, pass out of range of Canadian artillery, and lose contact with a British brigade ordered elsewhere; Lt Col Petch decides to withdraw to higher ground, but C company attacked by the German 12th SS Panzer at Authie, just North of Caen-Bayeux road; 250 North Nova Scotia Highlanders and 60 Sherbrooke Fusilier tankmen are killed or captured; 23 Canadian POWs are executed that night by the Panzers.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jun&day=07

1940: The French bomb Berlin. King Haakon VII and the Norwegian government leave Tromsö for England. Allied troops fall back on Bresles front, 60 miles north of Paris.
1941: The first of five heavy night raids by the RAF begins on Brest as Prinz Eugen shelters there.
1942: The Japanese make landings on Attu and Kiska Islands in the Aleutian Islands. The US carrier Yorktown, having been damaged on the 4th June, is torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine whilst enroute to Pearl Harbor for repairs. General Erich von Manstein hurls his troops in the grand assault on the besieged port of Sevastopol in a two-pronged assault. The Soviets resist fanatically in excellent fortifications. The Germans gain ground but take heavy casualties, and have to bring in reinforcements to take the city. However, the continuous German attacks wear down the defenders ammunition supplies, which must be brought in by sea through a tight German blockade maintained by the Luftwaffe, E-boats, and Italian midget submarines.
1944: The British 2nd Division is now only 55 miles from Imphal. Mokmer airfield on Biak is captured by U.S. troops. The Americans take Civitavecchia on the western coast of Italy. British troops liberate Bayeux, five miles inland from the Normandy coast. All beachheads are reported as established.
1945: The first allied cargo ship for three years enters Wewak harbour, in New Guinea. King Haakon VII returns to Norway, on the fifth anniversary of his leaving the country.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
June 12th

1940: On orders from General Weygand, C-in-C of the French Army, the French forces opposing the advance of Heeresgruppe A withdraw to the south, offering little resistance. The Soviet Union issues an ultimatum to Lithuania which is soon followed by the occupation of the country by the Red Army.
1941: The German pocket battleship Lützow (formerly Deutschland) is attacked and damaged by RAF aircraft off the southern coast of Norway.
1942: The British convoys Harpoon and Vigorous bound for Malta and Alexandria from Gibraltar are attacked by Axis aircraft which sink 6 merchant ships and 6 escort vessels. The Italian cruiser Trento is sunk by British naval aircraft.
1943: The RAF launches a heavy raid on Bochum in the Ruhr, while the Luftwaffe carries out a night attack against Plymouth.
1944: The five Allied beachheads in Normandy link up together; thus far, 326,000 men and 54,000 vehicles have been landed.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/june.html


1901: Williamsrust, South Africa - Victorians trapped in a surprise attack at Williamsrust; 18 were killed and 42 wounded in a five-minute-long engagement.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1429 - Hundred Years' War: Joan of Arc leads the French army in their capture of the city and the English commander, William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk in the second day of the Battle of Jargeau.
1653 - First Anglo-Dutch War: Battle of the Gabbard – lasted until June 13.
1758 - French and Indian War: Siege of Louisbourg – James Wolfe's attack at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia commences.
1775 - American Revolution: British general Thomas Gage declares martial law in Massachusetts. The British offered a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms. There would be only two exceptions to the amnesty: Samuel Adams and John Hancock, if captured, were to be hanged.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor – General Ulysses S. Grant pulls his troops from their positions at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south.
1922 - In Windsor Castle, King George V receives the colours of the six Irish regiments that are to be disbanded - the Royal Irish Regiment, the Connaught Rangers, the South Irish Horse, the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment, the Royal Munster Fusiliers and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
1940 - World War II: 13,000 British and French troops surrender to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux.
1999 - Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins – NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force KFor enters the province of Kosovo in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June 12


1758: Louisbourg Nova Scotia - James Wolfe takes possession of the Light-House Point, destroyed and abandoned by Governor Drucour after the British landing on June 8; at 2 am, Major Scott marches with 500 Light Infantry and Rangers, making a sweep through the woods, in order to take the Light-House battery; Wolfe follows at 5 am, with four companies of Grenadiers, and 1200 men detached from the line; he will secure the area, bring in artillery by sea, and open fire on Louisbourg's Island battery on the night of the 19th.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jun&day=12


:salute:
 
June 16th

1940: In the West, German forces, supported by heavy artillery and Stuka dive bombers, continue their assault on the Maginot Line on a broad front. Units of IXX.Panzerkorps (Guderian) reach Besancon on the Swiss border. The French government of Paul Reynaud resigns and is replaced by one led by Marshal Petain. 57,000 British troops are evacuated from Nantes and St. Nazaire. U-101 (Kptlt. Frauenheim) sinks the British merchant ship Wellington Star in the Bay of Biscay. In the Baltic, the Red Army occupies Latvia and Estonia. Tens of thousands of "hostile' natives and their families are rounded up and deported separated from one another to NKVD prison camps in the Soviet Union.
1941: The US State Department orders the closing by July 10 of all German consular offices and tourist agencies in the United States.
1942: The British light cruiser Hermione is sunk by U-205 (Kptlt. Reschke) South of Crete in the Mediterranean.
1944: Another 244 V-1s are launched against London. In Italy, the British Eighth Army (Alexander) approaches Perugia.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/june.html

1942: HMAS Nestor sunk - The HMAS Nestor was in the Mediterranean, north of Tobruk, when she was bombed and sunk.
1948: Malayan Emergency declared - Lasting 13 years, involvement in the Malayan Emergency was the longest continuing military commitment in Australia's history. Fifty-one Australian servicemen died in Malaya (although only 15 of these deaths occurred as a result of operations) and 27 were wounded, the majority of whom were in the army.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1487 - Battle of Stoke Field, the last dying breath of the Wars of the Roses.
1745 - British troops take Cape Breton Island, which is now part of Nova Scotia, Canada.
1745 - Sir William Pepperell captures the French Fortress Louisbourg in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia during the War of the Austrian Succession.
1746 - War of Austrian Succession: Austria and Sardinia defeat a Franco-Spanish army at the Battle of Piacenza.
1755 - French and Indian War: French surrender Fort Beauséjour to the British, leading to the expulsion of the Acadians.
1779 - Spain declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the siege of Gibraltar begins.
1815 - Battle of Ligny and Battle of Quatre Bras, two days before Waterloo.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June 16

1862: Battle of Secessionville - A Union attempt to capture Charleston, South Carolina, is thwarted when the Confederates turn back an attack at Secessionville, just south of the city on James Island. In November 1861, Union ships captured Port Royal, which lay about halfway between Charleston and Savannah. This gave the Federals an important base from which to mount operations along the southern coast.
1918: Battle of the Piave River rages on the Italian front, marking the last major attack by the Austro-Hungarian army in Italy of World War I.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?

1940: The British submarine Grampus is sunk by four Italian torpedo boats off Syracuse, Sicily. U-101 sinks the British merchant ship Wellington Star in the Bay of Biscay. The Red Army occupies Latvia. Tens of thousands of "hostile' natives and their families are rounded up and deported to NKVD prison camps around the Soviet Union. Estonia is also occupied by the Soviet Union. French front cracking as the Germans break through in Champagne to Dijon, with units of 19th Panzer Korps reaching Besancon on the Swiss border. German forces, supported by heavy artillery and Stuka dive bombers, continue their assault against the Maginot Line on a broad front. The French government of Paul Reynaud resigns and is replaced by one led by Marshal Petain who immediately appoints Weygand as Minister of National Defence. 57,000 British troops are evacuated from Nantes and St. Nazaire.
1941: The British attempt to continue their offensive to relieve Australian held Tobruk, but suffer heavy tank losses to German 88mm Flak guns.
1942: Lieutenant General Ritchie gives General Norrie permission to withdraw XXX Corps past Tobruk and as far as Mersa Matruh to re-equip. General Gott's XIII is ordered to take up defensive positions on the Egyptian frontier. This left the city exposed to another siege, for which its defenses were inadequate, having been allowed to deteriorate during the winter.
1943: 93 out of 94 Japanese planes are destroyed during a massive attack on allied shipping round Guadalcanal.
1944: U.S. Marines repulse the Japanese counter-attacks on Saipan. The real flying bomb offensive on Britain begins as 95 V1's cross the coast before 6am and a total of 244 reaching England that day. The German press calls it the ‘beginning of the day of vengeance’. The Eighth Army captures Foligno and Spoleto, east of Orvieto and approach Perugia.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
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June 18th

1940: In the West, German troops capture Le Mans and Cherbourg; the garrisons of Belfort, Metz and Dijon surrender. General de Gaulle forms the French National Committee at London and vows to continue the war on the side of Britain.
1941: Germany and Turkey sign a ten-year nonaggression pact. Free French troops occupy Damascus in Syria.
1942: In the East, infantry units of 11. Armee (von Manstein) break into the outer defenses of the fortress of Sevastopol in the Crimea. In Libya, the British Eighth Army evacuates Sidi Rezegh and El Adem.
1944: In Normandy, the US First Army (Bradley) cuts off and isolates the German forces defending Cherbourg. In Italy, the US Fifth Army (Clark) captures Prugia.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/june.html

1943:Australian government announces that Australia is no longer threatened with invasionBy 1943 it was clear that the Japanese no longer had the capacity to threaten Australia with invasion, though it seems that such an invasion was never planned by the Japanese.
1953:Australian prisoners of war of the Korean War released at Panmunjon Twenty-nine Australians were taken prisoner in Korea. One prisoner died while in captivity.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp


1429 - French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc crush the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay. This turns the tide of the Hundred Years' War.
1778 - American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1812 - War of 1812: The U.S. Congress declares war on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1815 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Waterloo leads to Napoleon Bonaparte abdicating the throne of France for a second and final time.
 
June 19th

1940: German troops capture Brest, Toul and Strassburg.
1943: The RAF carries out a raid on the Schneider armaments works at Le Creusot.
1944: A violent storm in the English Channel wrecks the Allied artificial 'Mulberry' harbors at Omaha Beach and Arromanches.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/june.html

1952:Jamestown Line, Korea - The 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, relieved the 1st Battalion, the Leicestershire Regiment on the Jamestown line, Korea.
19 June - 6 July 1941:Lieutenant A.R. Cutler, VC - Lieutenant A.R. Cutler, 2/5th Field Regiment, 7th Division, originally of Manly, New South Wales, wins the Victoria Cross for a series of actions at Merdjayoun and in the Damour area, Lebanon.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1179 - The NorwegianBattle of Kalvskinnet outside Nidaros. EarlErling Skakke is killed, and the battle changes the tide of the civil wars.
1306 - The Earl of Pembroke's defeat Bruce's Scottish army at the Battle of Methven.
1807 - AdmiralDmitry Senyavin destroys the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos.
1816 - Battle of Seven Oaks between Northwest Company and Hudson Bay Company, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
1821 - Decisive defeat of the Philikí Etaireía by the Ottomans at Drăgăşani (in Wallachia).
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_19

1864: CSS ALABAMA SUNK OFF FRANCE - Off the coast of Cherbourg, France, the Confederate raider CSS Alabama loses a ship-to-ship duel with the USS Kearsarge and sinks to the floor of the Atlantic, ending an illustrious career that saw some 68 Union merchant vessels destroyed or captured by the Confederate raider.
1944: United States scores major victory against Japanese in Battle of the Philippine Sea - in what would become known as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," U.S. carrier-based fighters decimate the Japanese Fleet with only a minimum of losses in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
The security of the Marianas Islands, in the western Pacific, were vital to Japan, which had air bases on Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. U.S. troops were already battling the Japanese on Saipan, having landed there on the 15th. Any further intrusion would leave the Philippine Islands, and Japan itself, vulnerable to U.S. attack. The U.S. Fifth Fleet, commanded by Admiral Raymond Spruance, was on its way west from the Marshall Islands as backup for the invasion of Saipan and the rest of the Marianas. But Japanese Admiral Ozawa Jisaburo decided to challenge the American fleet, ordering 430 of his planes, launched from aircraft carriers, to attack. In what became the greatest carrier battle of the war, the United States, having already picked up the Japanese craft on radar, proceeded to shoot down more than 300 aircraft and sink two Japanese aircraft carriers, losing only 29 of their own planes in the process. It was a described in the aftermath as a "turkey shoot."
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp

1940: More than 100 German bombers make raids over Britain. The Germans invite the French to send a representative to discuss armistice terms as their troops reach River Loire, advance on Lyons, capture Strasbourg, Brest and Tours. Rommel takes Cherbourg.
1941: The Russians order a black-out of all major cities and towns near the border. However, they still do not allow their troops to take up battle positions, in spite of information given by two German deserters of an imminent attack.
1942: Rommel launches a surprise attack from the southeast against Tobruk. This throw's the garrison into confusion which allows German troops to breach the outer defenses. Plans for the offensive in to the Caucasus are captured by the Russians when a staff officer from the 23rd Panzer Division is shot down. Against all order, he was carrying the plans on his person. 40th Panzer Corps commander, General Stumme and his chief of staff are immediately sacked and imprisoned on Hitlers express orders. No changes were made to the plan as although the Russians considered them authentic, they believed that it was only a subsidiary thrust and that the main objective was still Moscow, which suited the Germans.
1943: RAF carries out a raid on the Schneider armaments works at Le Creusot.
1944: The Air Ministry release the first official details of the V1's (range 150 miles, speed 300-350 mph, 2,000lb bomb) as AA gunners start calling them ‘Doodlebugs’. 20 allied divisions now oppose 16 German in Normandy.
1945: The Australians are now in control of both sides of the Brunei Bay entrance.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
A slow day.

June 20th

1940: German troops capture Lyons. The German heavy cruiser Gneisenau is damaged by a torpedo from the British submarine Clyde.
1941: President Roosevelt, in a message to Congress, denounces the sinking of the American merchant ship Robin Moor by U-69 (Kptlt. Metzler) as 'an act of piracy'.
1944: In the East, the Red Army captures Viipuri on the Soviet-Finnish border.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/june.html

1864:Australians in action at Te Ranga, New Zealand - More than 2,500 men from the Australian colonies crossed the Tasman to fight in the New Zealand Wars. Most joined the Waikato militia regiments and became involved in patrolling and garrison duties.
1943: Darwin bombed - Darwin was bombed by Japanese aircraft 64 times during the Second World War.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

451 - According to some sources, this was the date of the Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius' victory over Attila the Hun.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_20

1402 Battle of Angora (Ankara)-Tatars defeat Turkish Army
1779 Battle of Stone Ferry
source: http://academiccalendar.info/june/20.html

1964: Westmoreland becomes Commander of MACV - Gen. William Westmoreland succeeds Gen. Paul Harkins as head of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV). Westmoreland had previously been Harkins' deputy. Westmoreland's initial task was to provide military advice and assistance to the government of South Vietnam. However, he soon found himself in command of American armed forces in combat as the war rapidly escalated and U.S. combat forces were committed to the war.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp

1940: The RAF bomb Rouen airfield. German troops capture Lyons and the vital port of Brest in Brittany. French envoys drive behind German lines to receive armistice terms. Italian forces begins an offensive along the Riviera coast into France.
1942: Fort Lenin in Sevastopol falls to the Germans.
1943: The British announce a five-day U-boat attack on the Atlantic convoys and claim that 97% of ships survived. The RAF institutes ‘shuttle bombing’ runs, with planes leaving England, bombing Germany, reloading in North Africa, bombing Italy and the returning to England begin, with 60 RAF bombers attacking the radar works at Friedrichshafen.
1944: The Japanese retreat from Imphal in Manipur towards the Burmese frontier. Eighth Army take Perugia as its advance North continues. U.S. troops attack the outer defenses of Cherbourg.
1945: Australians troops land at Lutong on Sarawak and gain 25 miles to the Seria oilfields.
 
June 21st

1940: Franco-German armistice negotiations begin at Compiegne in the same railroad car of Marshal Foch where the German delegates received the Allied armistice terms in November, 1918. Hitler issues a proclamation announcing the end of the war in the West, and orders flags to be flown throughout Germany for ten days.
1941: General Auchinleck replaces General Wavell as C-in-C of the British Eighth Army in Libya.
1942: The Afrikakorps captures Tobruk, taking 33,000 British prisoners. In the East, German infantry and combat engineers of 11. Armee (von Manstein) are gaining ground in their assault on Sevastopol. The Luftwaffe carries out a night raid on Southampton.
1943: The RAF launches a heavy raid on Krefeld in the Ruhr (44 aircraft lost).
1944: The US 8th Air Force carries out raids on Berlin and the synthetic fuel plants at Leuna-Merseburg.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/june.html

1941: Damascus occupied - Damascus was a secondary objective for the Allies during the five-week Syrian campaign, in which the capture of coastal towns of Damour and Beirut and the inland town of Merdjayoun were more important to the outcome.
1951: 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, awarded United States Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation - United States Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation awarded to 3RAR for "extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance" at the battle of Kapyong, Korea.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vezerone.
1798 - Irish Rebellion of 1798: The British Army defeats Irish rebels at Battle of Vinegar Hill
1813 - Peninsular War: Battle of Vitoria
1813 - Laura Secord sets out to warn British forces of an impending U.S. attack on Queenston, Ontario during the War of 1812.
1824 - Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea.
1826 - Maniots defeat Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha in the Battle of Vergas
1854 - First Victoria Cross won during bombardment of Bomarsund in the Aland Islands.
1864 - Maori Wars: The Tauranga Campaign ends.
1942 - World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at nearby Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by the Japanese against the U.S. mainland.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_21

1916: U.S. soldiers attacked by Mexican government troops - With World War I entering its third year, a controversial U.S. military expedition against Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa brings the neutral United States closer to war itself, when Mexican government troops attack U.S. Brigadier General John J. Pershing's force at Carrizal, Mexico.
1969: Communists storm U.S. base near Tay Ninh - Approximately 600 communist soldiers storm a U.S. base near Tay Ninh, 50 miles northwest of Saigon and 12 miles from the Cambodian border. The North Vietnamese had been shelling the base for two days, followed by six attacks on the city itself and the surrounding villages. Ten Americans were killed and 32 were wounded. Total communist losses around Tay Ninh during the two-day battle were put at 194 killed.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?

1940: The isolated German troops at Narvik are now close to exhaustion and will be unable to hold out for very much longer. Franco-German armistice negotiations begin at Compiegne, during which Hitler informs the French representatives of his terms in the same railway carriage as the German surrender was signed in 1918. Hitler issues a proclamation announcing the end of the war in the West and orders flags to be flown throughout Germany for ten days.
1942: The Luftwaffe carries out a night raid against Southampton. German infantry and combat engineers of 11th Army are gaining ground slowly in their assault on Sevastopol, but the ferocious Russian defense at Sevastopol forces Adolf Hitler to do something he doesn't like to do, namely delay the German Summer offensive.
1944: A further Russians assault against the Finns opens in eastern Karelia. The Red Army begins an offensive between lakes Ladoga and Onega on the northern front.
1945: Organised resistance on Okinawa ends after 82 days of the bloodiest fighting in the Pacific, during which 98,654 Japanese have been killed and 6,922 captured. U.S. loses were 6,990 killed and 29,598 wounded.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
Last edited:
Operation Barbarossa

June 22 1941 Operation Barbarossa is underway. The German Blitzkreig has
stunned Russian front. Nearly 665,000 Red Army troops were either captured
or killed. Or about one third of the Red Army.
 
Really busy day!

June 24th

1940: An armistice is signed between France and Italy at Villa Indusa near Rome.
1941: In the East, German troops of Heeresgruppe Nord capture Kaunas and Vilna in Lithuania. Hungary breaks off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
1942: In Yugoslavia, beginning of an offensive by German, Italian and Croatian forces against Tito's partisan army.
1943: The RAF launches a heavy raid on Elberfeld in the Ruhr.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/june.html

1927:Opening of the Menin Gate Memorial Ypres, Belgium - The Menin Gate Memorial to the missing records the names of over 56,000 Allied soldiers, among them 6,176 Australians missing in the battles near Ypres in the First World War.
1942: Afrika Korps attacks Egypt - Afrika Korps attacks Egypt, forcing Allied forces back to El Alamein, where one of the pivotal battles of the war was fought later in the year.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

972 - Battle of Cedynia, near Cedynia. Polish forces have had their first documented victory.
1128 - Battle of São Mamede, near Guimarães. Portuguese forces led by Alfonso I defeat his mother D.Teresa and D.Fernão Peres de Trava. After this battle, the future king calls himself "Prince of Portugal", the first step towards "official independence" in 1143.
1314 - End of the Battle of Bannockburn. Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce defeat Edward II of England. Scotland regains its independence.
1340 - Edward III of England personally leads the navy of the Kingdom of England in its practically complete destruction of the fleet of the Kingdom of France at the Battle of Sluys. The French fleet was under the command of admiral Hue Quiéret and treasurer Nicholas Béhuchet, assisted by Genoese mercenary galleys serving under Egidio Bocanegra. Although both Hue Quiéret and Béhuchet were among the casualties, the mercenaries manage to escape.
1812 - Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon's Grande Armée crosses the Neman River beginning his invasion of Russia.
1813 - Battle of Beaver Dams : A British, and Indian joint force defeat the U.S Army.
1821 - Battle of Carabobo : Venezuela gains total independence from Spain.
1859 - Battle of Solferino: (Battle of the Three Sovereigns). Sardinia and France defeat Austria in Solferino, northern Italy.
1910 - Japan invades Korea.
1932 - A military coup ends the absolute power of the king of Siam (Thailand).
1940 - France and Italy sign an armistice.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_24

1915: First operational flight of new German fighter plane - Young Oswald Boelcke, one of the earliest and best German fighter pilots of World War I, makes the first operational flight of the Fokker Eindecker plane. The years of the First World War, saw a staggering improvement not only in aircraft production, but also in technology, on both sides of the conflict. The war began just a decade after Orville and Wilbur Wright made their historic 12-second flight at Kittyhawk, Maryland; by 1918, fighter airplanes had been developed that could serve purposes of observation and reconnaissance, tactical and strategic bombing, direct attack on ground and air targets and use in naval warfare.
1945: British bombers destroy the "Bridge Over the River Kwai." Thousands of British and Allied prisoners of war, forced into slave labor by their Japanese captors, had built a bridge, under the most grueling conditions, over the River Kwai, linking parts of the Burma-Siam (now Thailand) railway and enabling the Japanese to transport soldiers and supplies through this area. British aircraft bombed the bridge to prevent this link between Bangkok and Moulein, Burma.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?

1940: British commandos make their first raid against France at Le Touquet, although this is aborted without casualties.
1941: Army Group North sweeps into Lithuania and White Russia, taking Vilna and Kaunas. Hungary breaks off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.
1942: The Germans advance into Egypt as the British retreat continues. Sollum and Sidi Barrani are evacuated by the Eighth Army. The Luftwaffe launches the first in a series of night raids against Birmingham. Major General Eisenhower is appointed commander of all US troops in Europe.
1944: The Russians report major advances against Army Group Centre. Hitler orders all but one of the five German divisions of the 53rd Korps that are encircled at Vitebsk to fight their way out.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
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