This day in military history..

January 23
1943: Panzerarmee Afrika evacuates Tripoli in Libya.
1945: The Kriegsmarine begins the evacuation by sea of hundreds of thousands of civilian refugees from East Prussia and the Danzig area, the Red Army having cut all land communications with the rest of the Reich.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1942: Japanese capture Rabaul, New Guinea - Rabaul possessed a number of airfields and one of the best natural harbours in the south-west Pacific. Its capture gave Japan a base from which to launch air attacks towards New Guinea and north-eastern Australia as well as a strong south-eastern corner to its defensive perimeter in the Pacific.
1944: 7th Division defeat Japanese at Shaggy Ridge, New Guinea - Australian troops cut the main Japanese routes through the Finisterre ranges with the capture of Shaggy Ridge, north west of Lae, after days of heavy fighting. source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1960 - Bathyscaph Trieste descends to deepest part of the ocean, Marianas Trench
1968 - USS Pueblo seized by North Korean forces in Sea of Japan
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1995: Ottawa Ontario - Defence Minister David Collenette disbands the Canadian Airborne Regiment; after some of its soldiers were found to be involved in the death of a Somali boy during a UN mission, and revelations of illegal hazing rituals.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=23

1943 - World War II: Australian and American forces finally defeat the Japanese army in Papua. This turning point in the Pacific War marks the beginning of the end of Japanese aggression.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_23

1941: The British 4th Armoured Brigade reaches Mechili, but cannot attack as its garrison is stronger than first thought and so has to bring the rest of the 7th Armoured Division up.
1942: Japanese troops make landings at Rabaul on New Britain and at Kavieng on New Ireland. They also make a simultaneous landing on Bougainville Island in the Solomons. In the Dutch East Indies, the Japanese land at Kendari in Celebes. Australia appeals to Britain and the US for immediate reinforcements. General Cavallero, C in C, Italian High Command and Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, German C in C, South, fly to Rommel's advanced HQ. The Italians want Rommel to stop his offensive and withdraw to his start line, but Rommel rejects this demand. The Italians therefore refuse to allow their troops to advance any further east, but undeterred, Rommel presses on with just the Afrika Korps.
1943: The Eighth Army triumphantly enters Tripoli. The Vice-Governor of Libya and prefect of Tripolitania offer a formal surrender. The last German airfield in the Stalingrad pocket falls.
1944: A Royal Navy destroyer, Janus is lost as the fighting rages around the Anzio beachhead.
1945: The 5th Guards Tank Army enters Elbing on Baltic and Koniev reaches the river Oder in Silesia. The Kriegsmarine begins the evacuation by sea of hundreds of thousands of civilian refugees from East Prussia and the Danzig area, the Red Army having cut all land communications with the rest of Germany.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
January 24

1942: German troops of Heeresgruppe Mitte recapture Suchinitshe near Kaluga.
1943: The offensive by the Soviet Trans-Caucasian Front toward the Kuban bridgehead is stopped at Novorossiisk and Krasnodar.
1945: German forces evacuate Slovakia. The Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev) captures Oppeln and Gleiwitz in Upper Silesia. Heinrich Himmler is appointed C-in-C of the newly formed Heeresgruppe Weichsel (Vistula).
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1781: Patriot commanders Lieutenant Colonel “Light Horse” Henry Lee and Brigadier General Francis “Swamp Fox” Marion of the South Carolina militia combine forces and conduct a raid on Georgetown, South Carolina, which is defended by 200 British soldiers. Marion won fame and the “Swamp Fox” moniker for his ability to strike and then quickly retreat into the South Carolina swamps without a trace. His military strategy is considered an 18th-century example of guerilla warfare and served as partial inspiration for the film The Patriot, starring Mel Gibson.
1915: German naval forces under Admiral Franz von Hipper, encouraged by the success of a surprise attack on the British coastal towns of Hartlepool and Scarborough the previous month, set off toward Britain once again, only to be intercepted by a squadron of British cruisers led by Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty on the morning of January 24, 1915, near the Dogger Bank in the North Sea.
1943: German Gen. Friedrich von Paulus, commander in chief of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad, urgently requests permission from Adolf Hitler to surrender his position there, but Hitler refuses. The Battle of Stalingrad began in the summer of 1942, as German forces assaulted the city, a major industrial center and a prized strategic coup. But despite repeated attempts and having pushed the Soviets almost to the Volga River in mid-October and encircling Stalingrad, the 6th Army, under Paulus, and part of the 4th Panzer Army could not break past the adamantine defense of the Soviet 62nd Army. By January 24, the Soviets had overrun Paulus' last airfield. His position was untenable and surrender was the only hope for survival. Hitler wouldn't hear of it: "The 6th Army will hold its positions to the last man and the last round."
1966: In the largest search-and-destroy operation to date--Operation Masher/White Wing/Thang Phong II--the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), South Vietnamese, and Korean forces sweep through Binh Dinh Province in the central lowlands along the coast. The purpose of the operation was to drive the North Vietnamese out of the province and destroy enemy supply areas. In late January, it became the first large unit operation conducted across corps boundaries when the cavalrymen linked up with Double Eagle, a U.S. Marine Corps operation intended to destroy the North Vietnamese 325A Division. Altogether, there were reported enemy casualties of 2,389 by the time the operation ended.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do?

1967: First contact at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam - Fighting at Bien Hoa involved a series of contacts between units of the 1st Australian Task Force and communist forces in the area of the Bien Hoa - Long Binh complex near Saigon. Australian and American units sought to dominate the area and prevent enemy rocket attacks on nearby military bases and installations.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1972 - Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been in hiding since 1944, when U.S. forces liberated the island during World War II.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_24

1941: General Cunningham's 'Southern Force' invades Italian Somaliland from Garissa and Bura in Kenya.
1942: Four US destroyers and some submarines attack a Japanese convoy in the Macassar Strait between Borneo and Celebes, sinking 1 destroyer and four transports, while only suffering damage to one of their destroyers. This action delays the impending Japanese invasion of Java. Japanese troops land at Balikpapan in Dutch Borneo. More reinforcements arrive at Singapore to boost its defenses as the British 18th Division is landed. General Cunningham's 'Southern Force' invades Italian Somaliland from Garissa and Bura in Kenya.
1943: Fighting in Papua is officially reported as over. Russians take Starobelskiy, near the Donets River in the eastern Ukraine, more than 250 miles to the West of Stalingrad.
1944: Chinese forces make further advances in the Hukawng Valley. Hitler orders that German troops in Italy hold the ‘Gustav Line’ at all costs. The French attack to the North of Cassino. Allied patrols from Anzio beachhead are halted but the Germans.
1945: The Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm carrier planes destroy the Japanese oil refinery near Palembang, on Sumatra. U.S. troops capture Clark Field, the main Japanese airbase on Luzon.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1942 - Battle of Makassar Strait, destroyer attack on Japanese convoy in first surface action in the Pacific during World War II
1991 - Helos from USS Leftwich and USS Nicholas recapture first Kuwaiti territory from Iraqis
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm
 
January 25

1941: The British 8th Army recaptures Tobruk in Cyrenaica.
1943: At Stalingrad, the Red Army succeeds in splitting the remnants of 6.Armee into a northern and a southern pocket. German forces evacuate Armavir and Voronesh. President Roosevelt and Prime Miniter Churchill end the Caablanca Conference with their announcement of the demand for the unconditional surrender of Germany and Italy.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1963 - 1st Seabee Technical Assistance Team arrives in Vietnam
1968 - Operation Windsong I in Mekong Delta, Vietnam
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1942: Japanese land at Lae - Japanese forces sought to capture Lae in order to build a forward air base for the defence of Rabaul and for attacks on northern Australia and New Guinea.
1942: Full mobilisation ordered in Australia - The threat of a Japanese invasion and the proximity of Japanese forces to Australia demanded an increased commitment from the Government and public.1952: Last day of HMAS Sydney's service in the Korean war - HMAS Sydney had served in Korean waters since August 1951. The carrier had operated Firefly and Sea Fury aircraft (both types can be seen in the Memorial's Aircraft Hall).
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1942 - World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
1945 - World War II: Battle of the Bulge ends.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_25

1942: German troops capture Msus, which threatens the 4th Indian Divisions position at Benghazi. Lieutenant General Ritchie, orders the 4th Indian Division to withdraw to a line running from Derna to Mechili, but this order is countermanded by General Auchinleck who wanted the 8th Army to counter-attack. However, the 8th Army was to widely dispersed and Rommels forces were advancing too quickly.
1944: Australian advances in New Guinea are announced, with the Japanese cleared from the ‘Shaggy Line’. Night-fighter ace, Major Prinz zu SaynWittgenstein who claimed 83 victories is killed.
1945: Zhukov cuts off the Fortress city of Posen which holds 66,000 Germans and continues his 50-mile a day advance.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
January 26

1942: The first US troops begin arriving in North Africa.
1945: The Red Army captures Kattowitz in Upper Silesia.
source:
http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1945: Beginning of Sandakan death march, Borneo - Sandakan prisoner of war camp had been established by the Japanese in July 1942. Following Australian landings at Tarakan in May 1945 the prisoners were marched inland to Ranau. Many died of malnutrition, exhaustion, disease and ill-treatment and the survivors were shot when they reached their destination. Only six out of 2,500 Australians survived.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1911 - 1st hydroaeroplane flight is witnessed by naval aviator
1913 - The body of John Paul Jones is laid in its final resting place in the Chapel of Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD
1949 - USS Norton Sound, first guided-missile ship, launches first guided missile, Loon.
1960 - USS John S. McCain rescues the entire 41-man crew of the sinking Japanese freighter, Shinwa Maru, in the East China Sea.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1565: - The Battle of Talikota, fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Islamic sultanates of the Deccan, leads to the subjugation, and eventual destruction of the last Hindu kingdom in India, and the consolidation of Islamic rule over much of the Indian subcontinent
1788 - The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Sydney Harbour to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent. Commemorated as Australia Day.
1863 - American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He was replaced by Joseph Hooker.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_26
 
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January 27

1944: The Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front launches an offensive against Luzk and Rovno.
1945: German forces evacuate the vital coal mining and industrial district of Upper Silesia, a heavy loss for the remaining German war effort.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1941: Fighting at Derna, Libya, begins - Following the capture of Tobruk two brigades of the 6th Australian Division under Major General Iven Mackay pursued the Italians westwards and encountered an Italian rear guard at Derna.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/jan.htm

1942 - USS Gudgeon is first US sub to sink enemy submarine in action, Japanese I-173.
1945 - Commissioning of USS Higbee (DD-806), first U.S. Navy ship named after women member of U.S. Navy.
1967 - Fire in Command Module at Cape Kennedy during simulation countdown. Lunar Module Pilot LCDR Roger B. Chaffee and two other crew members died.
1973 - Paris Peace Accords signed, ending U.S. participation in the Vietnam War
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1944 - World War II: The two-year Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
1945 - World War II: The Red Army arrives at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_27
 
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January 28

1941: In Cyrenaica, the Afrikakorps recaptures Benghazi.
1944: In the Ukraine, the Red Army succeeds in encircling several German divisions in the area of Tcherkassy.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1991: RAN Clearance Diving Team departs Perth for Kuwait - As part of Australia's commitment to the Gulf War a Royal Australian Navy Clearance Diving Team was dispatched to the Gulf for explosive ordnance demolition tasks.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/jan.htm

1778 - Second New Providence Expedition raised the flag with thirteen stripes over Fort Nassau.
1960 - Navy demonstrates value of moon communication relay, used in fleet broadcasts.
1962 - USS Cook (APD-130) rescues 25 survivors from after section of Panamanian tanker, SS Stanvac Sumatra, which broke in two in the South China Sea
1986 - Space shuttle Challenger explodes killing CDR Michael Smith, USN, and 6 other astronauts
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1846 - Battle of Aliwal, India won by British troops commanded by Sir Harry Smith.
1909 - United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish-American War.
1915 - An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard.
1918 - Finnish Civil War: Rebels seized control of the capital, Helsinki, and members of the Senate of Finland go underground.
1980 - USCGC Blackthorn (WLB-391) collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa Florida and capsizes killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_28

1885: Khartoum Sudan - Frederick Charles Denison 1846-1896 reaches Khartoum with his Canadian Nile Voyageurs too late to rescue General Charles Gordon, who had been killed; 16 Canadians lost their lives in this, Canada's first overseas military expedition.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=28
 
January 29

1941: In Washington, US and British military leaders begin secret staff talks regarding coordination of a common war policy against Germany.
1944: 800 bombers of the US 8th Air Force launch heavy attacks against Frankfurt am Main and Ludwigshafen.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1941: Italians evacuate Derna, Libya - The Italians having been defeated at Derna by units of the 6th Australian Division continued their westward retreat across North Africa in the face of an Allied advance.
1943: Battle of Wau, New Guinea, begins - The Japanese recognised that Allied possession of Wau posed a significant threat to important Japanese bases at Lae and nearby Salamaua and sought to take the town. They were defeated after weeks of heavy fighting.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/jan.htm

1856: London England - Alexander Dunn 1833-1868 awarded Victoria Cross for gallantry at the charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimea in 1854; first Canadian; awarded by Queen Victoria, the VC is Britain's highest military honour
1973: Saigon Vietnam - Canadian Ambassador to South Vietnam Michel Gauvin 1919- leads first 130 members of projected Canadian complement of 230 in ICCS on arrival at Saigon.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=29

1914 - U.S. Marines land in Haiti to protect U.S. consulate
1943 - Beginning of 2 day battle of Rennell Island after which U.S. transports reached Guadalcanal
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1916 - World War I: Paris is first bombed by German zeppelins.
1943 - The first day of the Battle of Rennell Island, U.S. cruiser Chicago is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers.
1944 - USS Missouri the last battleship commissioned by the US Navy is launched.
1944 - World War II: The Battle of Cisterna takes place in central Italy.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_29

1777: Facing a surprise British counterassault in the bitter cold and with a snowstorm approaching, American commander Major General William Heath and his army of 6,000 abandon their siege on Fort Independence, in Bronx County, New York, on this day in 1777.
1915: in the Argonne region of France, German lieutenant Erwin Rommel leads his company in the daring capture of four French block-houses, the structures used on the front to house artillery positions.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do
 
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January 30

1941: THe British 8th Army (Wavell) captures Derna in Egypt from the Italians.
1945: In its relentless drive for Berlin, the Red Army reaches the Oder river at Küstrin and establishes several bridgeheads. On the twelfth anniversary of his coming to power Hitler, in his last speech to the country, calls for fanatical resistance by soldiers and civilians and predicts that "...in this struggle for survival it will not be inner Asia that will conquer, but the people that has defended Europe for centuries against the onslaughts from the East, the German nation..." Also on this date, the Wilhelm Gustloff, an ex-Kraft Durch Freude ship (Strength Through Joy) in the service of the German Kriegsmarine, is sunk in the Baltic Sea by a Soviet sub with the loss of over 9,343 lives - the largest single naval disaster in history (The Goya, another German ship similar to the Gustloff, would be sunk on April 16th, 1945, taking with it another 6,000 lives, making these two ships the worst naval disasters of all time.)
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1942: Japanese attack Ambon, Netherlands East Indies. - Australia's 'Gull Force' along with some 2,600 Netherlands East Indies troops fought in defence of Ambon but were unable to defeat the Japanese invasion of the island.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/jan.htm

1862 - Launching of first turreted warship, USS Monitor
1968 - Tet Offensive begins in Vietnam
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1911 - The destroyer USS Terry (DD-25) makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of James McCurdy 10 miles from Havana, Cuba.
1911 - The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy.
1944 - World War II: United States troops land on Majuro.
1945 - World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: 126 American Rangers and Filipino resistance liberate 500 prisoners from the Cabanatuan POW camp.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_30

1991: US Marines killed at Al Khafji - Iraqi troops have seized control of a town inside the Saudi Arabian border after a fierce battle in which both sides suffered casualties. The Allies destroyed at least 24 Iraqi tanks in the fight for control of Al Khafji. Twelve American marines lost their lives - the first Allied casualties on land since Desert Storm began 14 days ago.
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/30/newsid_2506000/2506001.stm

1971: Operation Dewey Canyon II begins as the initial phase of Lam Son 719, the South Vietnamese invasion of Laos that would commence on February 8. The purpose of the South Vietnamese operation was to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail, advance to Tchepone in Laos, and destroy the North Vietnamese supply dumps in the area.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do
 
January 31
1943: At Stalingrad, the exhausted troops of 6.Armee in the southern pocket of the Kessel, with newly promoted Field Marshal von Paulus, have spent their last rounds and surrender to the Red Army.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1917, Germany announces the renewal of unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic as German torpedo-armed submarines prepare to attack any and all ships, including civilian passenger carriers, said to be sighted in war-zone waters.
1968, as part of the Tet Offensive, a squad of Viet Cong guerillas attacks the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. The soldiers seized the embassy and held it for six hours until an assault force of U.S. paratroopers landed by helicopter on the building's roof and routed the Viet Cong.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do

1942: British forces withdraw to Singapore - Having been driven from the Malayan peninsula, Allied forces retreated to what was believed to be the impregnable fortress of Singapore.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/jan.htm

1944 - American amphibious landing on Kwajalein, Marshall Islands
1961 - Lieutenant Commander Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr. becomes first African-American to command a combat ship, USS Falgout
1981 - Era of Enlisted Naval Aviators ends when last pilot retired
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1918 - A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
1944 - World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
1944 - World War II: During Anzio campaign 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) was destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
1945 - US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed, the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_31
 
February 1

1942: In the East, the Red army begins an offensive toward Vjasma.
1943: German troops of Heeresgruppe Mitte (von Kluge) evacuate Demjansk.
1945: In its drive toward the Oder, the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov) reaches the river NW of Küstrin. Since the beginning of the Soviet offensive in East Prussia that started on Jan 20, the Kriegsmarine has evacuated by sea 140,000 cvilian refugees and 18,000 wounded soldiers.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1964: U.S. and South Vietnamese naval forces initiate Operation Plan (Oplan) 34A, which calls for raids by South Vietnamese commandos, operating under American orders, against North Vietnamese coastal and island installations.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=1646

1943: Last Australian forces sail for home from the Middle East - Japan's entry into the war forced the Australian Government to decline British requests to concentrate on the war in North Africa and Europe. Australia began to 'look to America' for support and concentrated the bulk of her forces against the Japanese.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/feb.htm

1941 - United States Fleet reorganized, reviving Atlantic and Pacific Fleets
1942 - USS Enterprise and Yorktown make first WW II air strike, Japanese Marshall Islands
1955 - Operation Deep Freeze, a research task force, established in Antarctic
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1968 - Canada's three military services of Canada, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, are unified into the Canadian Forces.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_1
 
February 2

1943: At Stalingrad, the remnants of 6.Armee under General Strecker in the northern pocket of the Kessel cease fighting and surrender to the Red Army. In all, over 96,000 survivors of the once 300,000-strong Armee are captured; of these, only about 5,000 will ever return to Germany after the war. At Moscow, the victory over the Germans is celebrated with a salute of several hundred guns.
1944: In the Ukraine, the Red Army recaptures Luzk and Rovno.
1945: The Soviet 1st Belorussian Front reaches the Oder south of Frankfurt. Ecuador declares war on Germany.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1916: Zeppelin crashes into North Sea - Two days after nine German zeppelins dropped close to 400 bombs throughout the English Midlands, the crew of the British fishing trawler King Stephen comes across the crashed remains of one of the giant airships floating in the North Sea.
1962: First U.S. Air Force plane crashes in South Vietnam. - The first U.S. Air Force plane is lost in South Vietnam. The C-123 aircraft crashed while spraying defoliant on a Viet Cong ambush site. The aircraft was part of Operation Ranch Hand, a technological area-denial technique designed to expose the roads and trails used by the Viet Cong. U.S. personnel dumped an estimated 19 million gallons of defoliating herbicides over 10-20 percent of Vietnam and parts of Laos from 1962 to 1971. Agent Orange--so named from the color of its metal containers--was the most frequently used.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do

1942: First Japanese air attack on Port Moresby - The Japanese had hoped to occupy Port Moresby as a base from which to cut off shipping to Eastern Australia. Their defeat in the Battle of the Coral Sea thwarted the planned naval attack and invasion against Port Moresby.
1968: Baria recaptured - The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, recaptured Baria after the Tet offensive. The effects of the Tet Offensive were felt most acutely by the Australians when the Viet Cong attacked targets around Phuoc Tuy's provincial capital, Baria. The attacks were repulsed with few Australian casualties, though the Communists suffered heavy losses.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/feb.htm

1800 - USS Constellation (CAPT Thomas Truxtun) defeats la Vengeance
1862 - USS Hartford, Capt David G. Farragut, departs Hampton Roads for Mississippi River campaign
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1974 - The F-16 Fighting Falcon flies for the first time.
1989 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul, ending nine years of military occupation.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_2
 
February 3
1942: German forces of Heeresgruppe Mitte launch a counterattack at Vjasma, cutting off and encircling several Soviet divisions.
1944: In the East, the beginning of renewed defensive battles against Soviet forces in the area of Vitebsk.
1945: The US 8th Air Force, with 937 bombers and 613 fighters, carries out the heaviest attack to date against Berlin which levels large areas of the city and kills more than 25,000 civilians.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1941: Ottawa Ontario - Government extends compulsory military training from one month to four.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Feb&day=03

1944: U.S. troops capture the Marshall Islands - American forces invade and take control of the Marshall Islands, long occupied by the Japanese and used by them as a base for military operations.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6700

1915: Turkish forces attack the Suez canal - Turkish attempts to capture the Suez canal, vital to Allied shipping, were repulsed largely by Indian troops. Australians of the 7th and 8th Infantry Battalions temporarily garrisoned the trenches after the fight.
1943: Australians counter-attack at Wau - Having failed to take Wau the Japanese were forced into retreat. At the end of the fighting some 1,200 Japanese had been killed as had some 300 Australians.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/feb.htm

1945 - World War II: The Soviet Union agrees to enter the Pacific Theatre conflict against Japan.
1945 - World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17's of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_3
 
February 4 (tomtom22's 66th birthday, yahoo!!)

1942: The Afrikakorps recaptures Derna in Libya.
1943: Soviet army troops and marines achieve a landing neart the Black Sea port of Novorossisk.
1945: Beginning of the Yalta Conference in the Crimea between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin to discuss plans for the treatment of postwar Germany, its division into zones of occupation, the question of reparations, and the future Polish western border.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1962: The first U.S. helicopter is shot down in Vietnam. It was one of 15 helicopters ferrying South Vietnamese Army troops into battle near the village of Hong My in the Mekong Delta. The first U.S. helicopter unit had arrived in South Vietnam aboard the ferry carrier USNS Core on December 11, 1961. This contingent included 33 Vertol H-21C Shawnee helicopters and 400 air and ground crewmen to operate and maintain them. Their assignment was to airlift South Vietnamese Army troops into combat.
1972: A force of 824 soldiers, the last of Thailand's 12,000 troops serving in South Vietnam, departs. The Thai contingent, which had first arrived in country in the fall of 1967, had been part of the Free World Military Forces, an effort by President Lyndon B. Johnson to enlist allies for the United States and South Vietnam. By securing support from other nations, Johnson hoped to build an international consensus behind his policies in Vietnam. The effort was also known as the "many flags" program. In all, 44 countries responded to Johnson plea for military aid to South Vietnam, but only Australia, New Zealand, Korea, and Thailand provided combat troops. In the end, the program never achieved the widespread international support that Johnson sought.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=1654

1779 - John Paul Jones takes command of Bonhomme Richard
1959 - Keel laying of USS Enterprise, first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, Newport News, VA
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1945: France - First Canadian Corps ordered to rejoin First Canadian Army on western front.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Feb&day=04

1941 - World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_4
 
February 5

1945: On the Eastern front, the Red Army approaches Elbing and Marienburg in East Prussia.
Source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1782 - Spanish defeat British forces and capture Minorca.
1945 - World War II: GeneralDouglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
1968 - The Battle of Khe Sanh of the Vietnam War begins.
2003 - U.S. plan to invade Iraq: Colin Powell addresses the UN Security Council on Iraq.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_5

1951: Ottawa Ontario - Government starts three-year, $5 million rearmament program for Canadian armed forces.
1980 - THE MAN CALLED INTREPID IS HONORED Hamilton Bermuda - Sir William Stephenson is awarded the Order of Canada; the ailing Winnipeg-born engineer pioneered digital wireless photo transmission. He worked for British intelligence during World War II under the code name Intrepid, and was the personal contact man between Churchill and Roosevelt.
Source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Feb&day=05

1917 - Murray, VC - Captain H.W. Murray, 4th Division, originally from Launceston, Tasmania, wins the Victoria Cross at Stormy Trench north-east of Gueudecourt, France.
Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1865 - Battle of Dabney's Mill (Hatcher's Run) - Union and Confederate forces around Petersburg, Virginia, begin a three-day battle that produces 3,000 casualties but ends with no significant advantage for either side.
1918 - U.S. steamship Tuscania is torpedoed and sinks - Anchor line steamship Tuscania, traveling as part of a British convoy and transporting over 2,000 American soldiers bound for Europe, is torpedoed and sinks off the coast of Ireland by the German submarine U-77.
1941 - Hitler to Mussolini: Fight harder! - Adolf Hitler scolds his Axis partner, Benito Mussolini, for his troops' retreat in the face of British advances in Libya, demanding that the Duce command his forces to resist.
1960 - South Vietnam requests more support - The South Vietnamese government requests that Washington double U.S. Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG-Vietnam) strength from 342 to 685. The advisory group was formed on November 1, 1955 to provide military assistance to South Vietnam. It had replaced U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group Indochina (MAAG-Indochina), which had been providing military assistance to "the forces of France and the Associated States in Indochina"
(Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) in accordance with President Harry S. Truman's order of June 27, 1950.
1975 - North Vietnamese begin preparations for offensive - North Vietnamese Gen. Van Tien Dung departs for South Vietnam to take command of communist forces in preparation for a new offensive. In December 1974, the North Vietnamese 7th Division and the newly formed 3rd Division attacked Phuoc Long Province, north of Saigon. This attack represented an escalation in the "cease-fire war" that started shortly after the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973.
1989 - The last Soviet troops leave Kabul - In an important move signaling the close of the nearly decade-long Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan, the last Russian troops withdraw from the capital city of Kabul. Less than two weeks later, all Soviet troops departed Afghanistan entirely, ending what many observers referred to as Russia's "Vietnam."
Source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1854 - Dedication of first chapel built on Navy property, Annapolis, MD
1941 - Chief Nurse Marion B. Olds and Nurse Leona Jackson, Navy, arrive on Guam.
1971 - Moonwalk by CAPT Alan B. Shepherd, Jr. USN, Commander of Apollo 14 and CDR Edgar D. Mitchell, USN Lunar Module Pilot. During the 9 day mission, 94 lbs of lunar material was collected and Shepard became the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon. Recovery was by helicopter from USS New Orleans (LPH-11).
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm
 
February 6

1941: The British 8th Army (Wavell) captures Benghasi in Cyrenaica from the Italians.
1945: The Soviet 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov) makes further advances to reach the Oder between Küstrin and Frankfurt.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1941: 6th Division enters Benghazi, Libya - Benghazi changed hands five times as fighting, first against the Italians and later the German Afrika Korps, ebbed and flowed across Libya's Mediterranean coast.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/feb.htm

1813: Brockville Ontario - US Capt. Benjamin Forsyth crosses frozen St. Lawrence with 52 riflemen and attacks Brockville the next day; takes 52 hostages in War of 1812 skirmish.
1943: Mediterranean - German U-boat torpedoes Canadian corvette Louisbourg in the Mediterranean.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Feb&day=06

1862 - Union gunboat squadron captures Fort Henry, Tennessee River
1922 - World powers sign the Washington Naval Treaty providing for limitation of naval armament
1973 - In accordance with the agreement at the Paris Peace Talks, Navy Task Force 78 begins Operation End Sweep, the mine clearance of North Vietnamese waters of mines laid in 1972.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1940: The Finnish 9th Division finally manages to encircle the Russian 54th Division in Kuhmo.
1941: The Bishops of Norway start the Church’s struggle against the occupying German forces.
1943: The Americans outflank the retreating Japanese on Guadalcanal. Russians cut off Army Group A by reaching Yeysk on the Sea of Rostov.
1944: The Japanese pressure in Arakan forces the British to retreat.
1945: The 1st Belorussian Front makes further advances to reach the Oder between Küstrin and Frankfurt.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/
 
February 7

1942: The drive of the Afrikakorps toward Egypt and the Suez Canal comes to a halt before Tobruk.
1945: In East Prussia, Soviet attacks north of Königsberg are blocked with the help of naval gunfire by the cruisers Scheer and Lützow.
Source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1807 - Napoléon's French Empire begin fighting against Russian and Prussian forces of the Fourth Coalition at the Battle of Eylau in Eylau, Poland.
1842 - Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien.
1944 - World War II: In Anzio, ItalyNazi forces launch a counteroffensive.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_7

1945: Black Sea talks plan defeat of Germany - Plans are being drawn up by London, Washington and Moscow for the final phase of the war against Germany.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/d...es/february/7/

1862: Confederates order reinforcements to Fort Donelson - One day after the fall of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of Rebel forces in the west, orders 15,000 reinforcements to Fort Donelson. This fort lay on the Cumberland River just a few miles from Fort Henry. Johnston's decision turned out to be a mistake, as many of the troops were captured when the Fort Donelson fell to the Yankees on February 16.
1915: Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes begins - In a blinding snowstorm, General Fritz von Below and Germany’s Eighth Army launch a surprise attack against the Russian lines just north of the Masurian Lakes on the Eastern Front, beginning the Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes (also known as the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes).
1965: U.S. jets conduct retaliatory raids - As part of Operation Flaming Dart, 49 U.S. Navy jets from the 7th Fleet carriers Coral Sea and Hancock drop bombs and rockets on the barracks and staging areas at Dong Hoi, a guerrilla training camp in North Vietnam. Escorted by U.S. jets, a follow-up raid by South Vietnamese planes bombed a North Vietnamese military communications center.
1971: Operation Dewey Canyon II ends but U.S. units continue to provide support for South Vietnamese army operations in Laos. Operation Dewey Canyon II began on January 30 as the initial phase of Lam Son 719, the South Vietnamese invasion of Laos that was to commence on February 8. The purpose of the South Vietnamese operation was to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail, advance to Tchepone in Laos, and destroy the North Vietnamese supply dumps in the area.
Source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1800 - USS Essex becomes first U.S. Navy vessel to cross the Equator.
1815 - The Board of Naval Commissioners, a group of senior officers, is established to oversee the operation and maintenance of the Navy, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy.
1955 - Seventh Fleet ships begin evacuation of Chinese nationalists from Tachen Islands
1965 - In response to a Viet Cong attack on barracks area at Pleiku, South Vietnam, aircraft from carriers, USS Coral Sea, USS Hancock, and USS Ranger attack North Vietnamese area near Donghoi.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm




:rambo:​
 
February 8

1941: The first convoy of the newly formed Afrikakorps under the command of Generaloberst Rommel leaves Naples for Tripoli in Libya.
1943: The Red Army recaptures Kursk.
1944: German roops evacuate Nikopol in the Ukraine.
1945: In the West, the Canadian First Army (Crerar) begins an offensive in the area of Nijmegen in Holland. Paraguay declares war on Germany. In the East, Soviet attacks in East Prussia, Pommerania and on the Oder front opposite Berlin continue with unabated ferocity.
Source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1942:Japanese invade Singapore - Singapore was believed to be an impregnable fortress but the Japanese advance from the Malayan Peninsula proved the falsity of this belief.
Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1807 - Battle of Eylau - Napoleon defeats Russians under GeneralBenigssen.
1900 - British troops are defeated by Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.
1904 - Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China starts the Russo-Japanese War.
1943 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal - United States forces defeat Japanese troops.
Source: [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_8"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_8[/URL]

1777: Former POW Timothy Bigelow is named colonel - Just six months after his release as a prisoner-of-war, Major Timothy Bigelow becomes colonel of the 15th Massachusetts Colonial Line of the Continental Army.
1862: Battle of Roanoke Island - Union General Ambrose Burnside scores a major victory when he captures Roanoke Island in North Carolina. The victory was one of the first major Union victories of the war and it gave the Yankees control of the mouth of Albemarle Sound, a key Confederate bay that allowed the Union to threaten the Rebel capital of Richmond from the south.
1918: U.S. Army resumes publication of Stars and Stripes - The United States Army resumes publication of the military newsletter Stars and Stripes. Begun as a newsletter for Union soldiers during the American Civil War, Stars and Stripes was published weekly during World War I from February 8, 1918, until June 13, 1919. The newspaper was distributed to American soldiers dispersed across the Western Front to keep them unified and informed about the overall war effort and America’s part in it, as well as supply them with news from the home front.
1943: Britain's Indian Brigade begins guerrilla operations in Burma - Under the command of Major General Orde Wingate, the 77th Indian Brigade, also called the Chindits, launch guerrilla raids behind Japanese lines in Burma.
1962: MACV established - The Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), headed by Gen. Paul D. Harkins, former U.S. Army Deputy Commander-in-Chief in the Pacific, is installed in Saigon as the United States reorganizes its military command in South Vietnam.
1971: Operation Lam Son 719 begins - South Vietnamese army forces invade southern Laos. Dubbed Operation Lam Son 719, the mission goal was to disrupt the communist supply and infiltration network along Route 9 in Laos, adjacent to the two northern provinces of South Vietnam.
Source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1862 - Joint amphibious force capture Roanoke Island, key to Albemarle Sound
1890 - USS Omaha sailors and marines assist Hodogary, Japan in subduing large fire
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1894: Air Vice-Marshal William Avery 'Billy' Bishop VC, DSO 1938-1956,
fighter ace, father of the RCAF, born at Owen Sound, Ontario in 1894; dies Sept 11, 1956 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Bishop shot down 72 German aircraft during World War I, 25 in one ten-day period in 1918. In August 1918 he joined the British Air Ministry and formed the Royal Canadian Air Force as a separate brigade.
1945: Reichswald Germany - First Canadian Army attacks German positions in the Reichswald; part of Allied offensive into Germany; west of Rhine, north of Ruhr Valley.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Feb&day=08
 
February 9

1941: Great Britain breaks off diplomatic relations with Rumania.
1943: The Red Army recaptures Belgorod.
1945: In the East, the Red Army encircles Elbing and Posen.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1965: A U.S. Marine Corps Hawk air defense missile battalion is deployed to Da Nang. President Johnson had ordered this deployment to provide protection for the key U.S. airbase there. This was the first commitment of American combat troops in South Vietnam and there was considerable reaction around the world to the new stage of U.S. involvement in the war.
1972: The aircraft carrier USS Constellation joins aircraft carriers Coral Sea and Hancock off the coast of Vietnam. From 1964 to 1975, there were usually three U.S. carriers stationed in the water near Vietnam at any given time. Carrier aircraft participated in the bombing of North Vietnam and also provided close air support for U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam. In 1972, the number of U.S. carriers off Vietnam increased to seven as part of the U.S. reaction to the North Vietnamese Eastertide Offensive that was launched on March 30--carrier aircraft played a major role in the air operations that helped the South Vietnamese defeat the communist invasion.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do

1943: Japanese defeat on Guadalcanal - After the ill-fated Philippines campaign, Guadalcanal was the first test of land strength between Japan and the United States in the Second World War. Japanese reverses at Guadalcanal contributed to their having to withdraw from the Kokoda Trail in 1942 when they were almost within sight of Port Moresby.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/feb.htm

1799 - USS Constellation (CAPT Truxtun) captures French l'Insurgente
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1945 - The Battle of the Atlantic the HMS Venturer sinking U-Boat 864 off the coast of Norway.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_9

1942: By dawn the Japanese 5th and 18th Divisions have firmly established themselves on the island and begin to advance south-east towards Singapore city.
1944: The Germans capture Aprilia in the Anzio beachhead.
1945: British and Canadians troops smash the first of the main Siegfried Line defence zones. The last Rhine bridge is blown in the Colmar Pocket. Half the German Nineteenth Army were evacuated, but General De Lattre's forces have taken 22,000 German prisoners since the 20th January.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/
 
February 10

1945: In the East, the attack by 2nd Belorussian Front (Rokossovsky) against the Pommernstellung is blocked by the German defenders. In Silesia, Liegnitz is captured by the 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev). In Hungary, the remnants of the defenders of Budapest give up and surrender.
Source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1962: Russia frees US spy plane pilot - American spy plane pilot Captain Francis "Gary" Powers has been freed from prison in the Soviet Union in exchange for a Russian spy jailed in the US.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/d...00/2731827.stm

1258 - Battle of Baghdad - Mongols overrun Baghdad, burning it to the ground and killing large numbers of citizens (estimates range from 10,000 to 800,000).
1763 - French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Canada to Great Britain.
1814 - Battle of Champaubert occurs.
1846 - Battle of Sobraon - British defeat Sikhs in final battle of 1st Anglo-Sikh War
Source: [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_8"][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_10"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_10[/URL][/URL]

1944: End of Japanese resistance on the Houn Peninsula - Fighting in the Huon Peninsula lasted from August 1943 until mid-February 1944 and involved heavy fighting at such places as Lae, Finschhafen, Sattelberg, Shaggy Ridge and the Ramu Valley.
Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1779: The Battle of Carr’s Fort - A force of more than 340 men from the South Carolina and Georgia militias, led by Colonel Andrew Pickens of South Carolina with Colonel John Dooly and Lt Colonel Elijah Clarke of Georgia, attack a group of approximately 200 Loyalists under the command of Colonel John Hamilton at Robert Carr’s Fort, in Wilkes County, Georgia.
1942: Japanese sub bombards Midway - A Japanese submarine launches a brutal attack on Midway, a coral atoll used as a U.S. Navy base. It was the fourth bombing of the atoll by Japanese ships since December 7.
1965: Viet Cong guerrillas blow up the U.S. barracks at Qui Nhon, 75 miles east of Pleiku on the central coast, with a 100-pound explosive charge under the building. A total of 23 U.S. personnel were killed, as well as two Viet Cong. In response to the attack, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a retaliatory air strike operation on North Vietnam called Flaming Dart II.
Source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1862 - Union gunboats destroy Confederate ships at Elizabeth City, NC
1900 - Appointment of first naval governor of Guam, Commodore Seaton Schroder
1960 - USS Sargo (SSN-583) surfaces at North Pole
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1942: Atlantic - German U-boat torpedoes Canadian corvette Spikenard.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Feb&day=10

:rock:
 
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