This day in military history..

March 21st

1945: In Hungary, the Red Army captures Stuhlweissenburg. In the West, units of the US First Army advance from the Remagen bridgehead toward Siegburg. The US 8th Air Force launches a major attack (650 bombers) against Hamburg.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1942: Air battle for Port Moresby begins - 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.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1918: Germany begins major offensive on the Western Front - Near the Somme River in France, the German army launches its first major offensive on the Western Front in two years. At the beginning of 1918, Germany’s position on the battlefields of Europe looked extremely strong. German armies occupied virtually all of Belgium and much of northern France. With Romania, Russia and Serbia out of the war by the end of 1917, conflict in the east was drawing to a close, leaving the Central Powers free to focus on combating the British and French in the west. Indeed, by March 21, 1918, Russia’s exit had allowed Germany to shift no fewer than 44 divisions of men to the Western Front.
1967: North Vietnam rejects Johnson overture - The North Vietnamese press agency reports that an exchange of notes took place in February between President Lyndon B. Johnson and Ho Chi Minh. The agency said that Ho rejected a proposal made by Johnson for direct talks between the United States and North Vietnam on ending the war. The North Vietnamese demanded that the United States "stop definitely and unconditionally its bombing raids and all other acts of war against North Vietnam."
1972: Khmer Rouge shell Phnom Penh - In Cambodia, more than 100 civilians are killed and 280 wounded as communist artillery and rockets strike Phnom Penh and outlying areas in the heaviest attack since the beginning of the war in 1970. Following the shelling, a communist force of 500 troops attacked and entered Takh Mau, six miles southeast of Pnom Penh, killing at least 25 civilians.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?

1801 - The Battle of Alexandria is fought between British and French forces near the ruins of Nicopolis in Egypt.
1945 - World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_21

1917 - Loretta Walsh becomes first woman Navy petty officer when sworn in as Chief Yeoman.
1919 - Navy installs and tests Sperry gyrocompass, in first instance of test of aircraft gyrocompass
1945 - Bureau of Aeronautics initiates rocket-powered surface-to-air guided missile development by awarding contract to Fairchild
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

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March 22nd

1943: German troops of Heeresgruppe Mitte recapture Belgorod.
1945: Units of the US Third Army cross the Rhine at Oppenheim south of Mainz against minimal German resistance.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1942: Japanese aircraft bomb Katherine - This was the only air raid against Katherine in the Second World War, one man was killed.
1945: Corporal Rattey , 25th Battalion, originally from Barmedman, New South Wales, wins the Victoria Cross on Bougainville
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1915: Russians take Austrian garrison at Przemysl - After six months of battle, the Austrian garrison at Przemysl (now in Poland), the citadel guarding the northeastern-most point of the Austro-Hungarian empire, falls to the Russians. During the first weeks of World War I in August 1914, Russia had been able to mobilize more quickly than the Central Powers had expected, sending two armies into East Prussia and four into the Austrian province of Galicia, along the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains (now southeast Poland and western Ukraine). In Galicia, two armies moved in from the east and two from the west, both steadily advancing through the region, scoring victories over inferior numbers of Austrian troops, including at Lemberg (now Lvov) in early September.
1968: Westmoreland to depart South Vietnam - President Lyndon B. Johnson announces the appointment of Gen. William Westmoreland as Army Chief of Staff; Gen. Creighton Abrams replaced him as commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam. Westmoreland had first assumed command of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam in June 1964, and in that capacity was in charge of all American military forces in Vietnam. One of the war's most controversial figures, General Westmoreland was given many honors when the fighting was going well, but when the war turned sour, many Americans blamed him for problems in Vietnam. Negative feeling about Westmoreland grew particularly strong following the Tet Offensive of 1968.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?

1820 - Commodore Stephen Decatur dies after duel with Capt. James Barron
1915 - "Naval Aviator" replaces former "Navy Air Pilot" for officers qualified as aviators
1929 - Navy ships protect Americans and their property during Mexican revolution
1946 - USS Missouri departs U.S. to return body of deceased Turkish ambassador to the U.S. back to Turkey for burial. Missouri arrived in Istanbul on 5 April.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1942 - World War II: In the Mediterranean Sea, Britain's Royal Navy confronts Italy's Regia Marina in the Second Battle of Sirte.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_22

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March 23rd

1945: The Red Army reaches the outskirts of Danzig and Gotenhafen. The RAF launches a devastating raid (300 bombers) against Hildesheim near Hannover, a small city of little military and industrial importance.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1815 - USS Hornet captures HMS Penguin in battle lasting 22 minutes
1882 - SECNAV Hunt issues General Order No. 292 creating Office of Naval Intelligence.
1917 - Launching of USS New Mexico, first dreadnought with turboelectric drive
1945 - Carriers begin pre-assault strikes on Okinawa, kamikaze attacks follow
1958 - First launching of simulated Polaris missile from submerged tactical launcher facility off CA.
1965 - LCDR John W. Young, USN, Pilot of Gemini 3 completed 3 orbits in 4 hours., 53 minutes at an altitude of 224 km. Recovery was by helicopters from USS Intrepid (CVS-11).
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1945: Waitavolo and Tol plantations captured by Australians, New Britain - In 1942 the Tol plantation was the scene of the massacre of some 150 Australians as they attempted to flee Rabaul. The capture of the plantations in 1945 enabled the Australian 5th Division to establish a line across the Gazelle Peninsula from which they were able to conduct patrols against Japanese positions in the North of New Britain.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1862: Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson suffers a rare defeat when his attack on Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley fails. Jackson was trying to prevent Union General Nathaniel Banks from sending troops from the Shenandoah to General George McClellan's army near Washington. McClellan was preparing to send his massive army by water to the James Peninsular southeast of Richmond for a summer campaign against the Confederate capital. When Turner Ashby, Jackson's cavalry commander, detected that Yankee troops were moving out of the valley, Jackson decided to attack and keep the Union troops divided.
1918: At 7:20 in the morning on March 23, 1918, an explosion in the Place de la Republique in Paris announces the first attack of a new German gun. The Pariskanone, or Paris gun, as it came to be known, was manufactured by Krupps; it was 210mm, with a 118-foot-long barrel, which could fire a shell the impressive distance of some 130,000 feet, or 25 miles, into the air. Three of them fired on Paris that day from a gun site at CrÉpy-en-Laonnaise, 74 miles away.
1961: One of the first American casualties in Southeast Asia, an intelligence-gathering plane en route from Laos to Saigon is shot down over the Plain of Jars in central Laos. The mission was flown in an attempt to determine the extent of the Soviet support being provided to the communist Pathet Lao guerrillas in Laos. The guerrillas had been waging a war against the Royal Lao government since 1959. In a television news conference, President John F. Kennedy warned of communist expansion in Laos and said that a cease-fire must precede the start of negotiations to establish a neutral and independent nation.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?
1942 - World War II: In the Indian Ocean, Japanese forces capture the Andaman Islands.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_23

1945: Germany - Allies cross Rhine north of the Ruhr.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=23
 
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March 24th

1941: In Libya, the newly arrived Afrikakorps under Generaloberst Rommel begins an offensive and recaptures El Agheila, the farthest point reached by the British 8th Army (Wavell) in February.
1944: The Luftwaffe attacks London with 90 medium bombers (He-111s and Ju-88s), while the RAF bombs Berlin with 810 heavy Lancasters. In Italy, the US Fifth Army's (Clark) bridgehead at Anzio is bombarded by German heavy long-range guns (Screaming Mimies) and Luftwaffe aircraft using guided bombs, causing severe casualties in men, ships, and equipment. Persistent US and British attacks against the Gustav Line at Cassino are repulsed by the German defenders.
1945: In a major effort (Operation Plunder), units of the British Second Army (Dempsey) cross the lower Rhine at Wesel, followed by 40,000 US and British airborne troops (Operation Varsity). The US Third Army captures Speyer and Ludwigshafen on the upper Rhine. In the East, the 1st Ukrainian Front captures Neisse in Upper Silesia.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1901: Veldfontein - Australians capture Boer convoy and guns at Veldfontein
1942: Port Moresby bombed by Japanese - 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.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1918: German forces cross the Somme River, achieving their first goal of the major spring offensive begun three days earlier on the Western Front. Operation “Michael,” engineered by the German chief of the general staff, Erich von Ludendorff, aimed to decisively break through the Allied lines on the Western Front and destroy the British and French forces. The offensive began on the morning of March 21, 1918, with an aggressive bombardment.
1944: Wingate dies in Burma - Maj. Gen. Orde Wingate, leader of the 77th Indian Brigade, also called the Chindits, dies in a transport plane crash. He was 41 years old.
1975: North Vietnamese launch "Ho Chi Minh Campaign" - The North Vietnamese "Ho Chi Minh Campaign" begins. Despite the 1973 Paris Peace Accords cease fire, the fighting had continued between South Vietnamese forces and the North Vietnamese troops in South Vietnam. In December 1974, the North Vietnamese launched a major attack against the lightly defended province of Phuoc Long, located north of Saigon along the Cambodian border. They successfully overran the provincial capital at Phuoc Binh on January 6, 1975. President Richard Nixon had repeatedly promised South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu that the United States would come to the aid of South Vietnam if the North Vietnamese committed a major violation of the Peace Accords. However, by the time the communists had taken Phuoc Long, Nixon had resigned from office and his successor, Gerald Ford, was unable to convince a hostile Congress to make good on Nixon's promises to Saigon.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do?

1765 - American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain passes the Quartering Act that requires the 13 American colonies to house British troops.
1944 - In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III.
1999 - Kosovo War: NATO commences air bombardment against Yugoslavia, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_24

1945: Netherlands - Canadian Corporal Fred Topham wins VC for bravery as Canadian paratroopers and air support help Canadian Army cross the Rhine in Operation Varsity; start of the liberation of the Netherlands.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Mar&day=24

1903 - George Dewey commissioned Admiral of the Navy with the date of rank, 2 March 1899. He was the only person to hold this rank.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

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March 25th

1941: Yugoslavia joins the Tripartite Pact.
1945: The British Second Army captures Wesel which has been nearly 100% destroyed by Allied bombing.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1945: Chowne, VC - Lieutenant Chowne, 2/2 Battalion AIF, originally from Sydney, New South Wales, wins the Victoria Cross posthumously at Dagua, New Guinea. source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1802 - The Treaty of Amiens is signed as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace" between France and United Kingdom.
1821 - Greece declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire, beginning the Greek War of Independence.
1865 - American Civil War: In Virginia, Confederate forces capture Fort Stedman from the Union in a bloody battle.
1971 - Bangladesh Liberation War: Beginning of Operation Searchlight of Pakistan Army against East Pakistani civilians.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_25

1968: Johnson meets with the "Wise Men" - After being told by Defense Secretary Clark Clifford that the Vietnam War is a "real loser," President Johnson, still uncertain about his course of action, decides to convene a nine-man panel of retired presidential advisors. The group, which became known as the "Wise Men," included the respected generals Omar Bradley and Matthew Ridgway, distinguished State Department figures like Dean Acheson and George Ball, and McGeorge Bundy, National Security advisor to both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. After two days of deliberation the group reached a consensus: they advised against any further troop increases and recommended that the administration seek a negotiated peace. Although Johnson was initially furious at their conclusions, he quickly came to believe that they were right. On March 31, Johnson announced on television that he was restricting the bombing of North Vietnam to the area just north of the Demilitarized Zone. Additionally, he committed the United States to discuss peace at any time or place. Then Johnson announced that he would not pursue reelection for the presidency. source: http://www.historychannel.com/

1942: US troops occupy the Society Islands.
1944: Manstein persuades Hitler to allow the First Panzer Army to break out to the west of Lvov, not south.
1945: The U.S. Navy begins the pre-invasion bombardment of Okinawa firing more than half a million shells and rockets in a week. Greek partisans temporarily take over Samos Island from the Italian garrison. The U.S. First Army breaks out of the Remagen bridgehead.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1813 - USS Essex takes Neryeda, first capture by U.S. Navy in Pacific
1898 - Assist. SECNAV Theodore Roosevelt proposes Navy investigate military application of Samuel Langley's flying machine, beginning naval aviation.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1994: American troops completed their withdrawal from Somalia.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20080325.html

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March 26th

1944: The Red Army recaptures Kamenets-Podolsk. in the Ukraine.
1945: The US Third Army captures Darmstadt. Reichsführer-SS Himmler is replaced by General Heinrici as C-i-C of Heeresgruppe Weichsel.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1917: Captain P.H. Cherry, VC - Captain P.H. Cherry, 26th Battalion AIF, originally from Drysdale, Victoria, wins the Victoria Cross at Lagnicourt. It was a posthumous award.
1917: First Battle of Gaza begins - This was the first Allied attempt to capture this major Turkish centre lying 32 kilometres inside the border of Palestine. The Allied strength included two Australian Light Horse Brigades and the ANZAC Mounted Division under Major General Harry Chauvel.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1942 - ADM King becomes both Chief of Naval Operations and Commander, U.S. Fleet
1943 - Battle of Komandorski Islands, prevents Japanese reinforcements from reaching Attu
1966 - Operation Jackstay in Navy's first amphibious assault in Vietnam's inland waters
1968 - Operation Bold Dragon III began in Mekong Delta
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1945: Canada - Commonwealth Air Training Program ends after graduating 131,500. Germany -Canadians part of five Allied armies now on the attack east of the Rhine.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=26

1913 - Balkan War: Bulgarian forces take Adrianople.
1945 - World War II: In Iwo Jima, US forces declare Iwo Jima "secure."
1958 - The United States Army launches Explorer 3.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_26

1864: General James B. McPherson assumes command of the Union Army of the Tennessee after William T. Sherman is elevated to commander of the Division of the Mississippi, the overall leader in the West.
1941: On this day, Italy attacks the British fleet at Suda Bay, Crete, using detachable warheads to sink a British cruiser. This was the first time manned torpedoes had been employed in naval warfare, adding a new weapon to the world's navies' arsenals.
1975: The city of Hue, in northernmost South Vietnam, falls to the North Vietnamese. Hue was the most recent major city in South Vietnam to fall to the communists during their new offensive. The offensive had started in December 1974, when the North Vietnamese had launched a major attack against the lightly defended province of Phuoc Long, located north of Saigon along the Cambodian border. The communists overran the provincial capital of Phuoc Binh on January 6, 1975.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?

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Last edited:
March 27th

1941: In Yugoslavia, a coup by General Simonic and other army officers overthrows the pro-German government.
1945: The US Third Army captures Aschaffenburg. On the Oder front, beginning of a German counterattack from the Frankfurt bridgehead toward Küstrin that bogs down after a few miles.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1944: First Victory Loan - Australian Government launches first Victory Loan aimed at raising £150 million for the war effort. Twelve major Government war loans were offered to the Australian public during the Second World War.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/mar.htm

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1814: At the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (Tohopeka, Alabama) in the Creek War, Andrew Jackson and his 3,000 troops defeated the Creek Indians, slaughtering more than 800 warriors and imprisoning 500 women and children.
source: http://www.britannica.com/eb/dailycontent?month=3&day=27&go_button.x=6&go_button.y=11

1794 - Congress authorizes construction of 6 frigates, including Constitution
1799 - USS Constitution recaptures American sloop Neutrality from France
1880 - USS Constellation departs New York with food for famine victims in Ireland
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1964: Cyprus -First Canadians start duties with UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=27

1965: Following several days of consultations with the Cambodian government, South Vietnamese troops, supported by artillery and air strikes, launch their first major military operation into Cambodia. The South Vietnamese encountered a 300-man Viet Cong force in the Kandal province and reported killing 53 communist soldiers. Two teams of U.S. helicopter gunships took part in the action. Three South Vietnamese soldiers were killed and seven wounded.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

1794 - The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.
1846 - Mexican-American War: Siege of Fort Texas.
1942 - World War II: United Kingdom forces raid the U-boat base at St. Nazaire, France.
1943 - World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands - In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
1945 - World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan's ports and waterways begins.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_27

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Last edited:
March 28th
1940: The British War Cabinet decides to lay mines in neutral Norwegian waters and to establish military bases on the coast of Norway.
1941: In the Mediterranean, the British Navy attacks Italian naval forces at Cape Matapan, Greece, and sinks three cruisers and one destroyer.
1942: Under the new tactical doctrine of area saturation bombing, introduced by Air Vice Marshal Harris, the RAF launches a heavy incendiary attack (234 bombers) against Lübeck on the Baltic that devastates 265 acres of the city.
1944: The Red Army recaptures Nikolaev on the Black Sea and enters Rumanian territory.
1945: Argentina declares war against Germany. The US Third Army captures Limburg on the Lahn. In the East, the 1st Belorussian Front captures Gotenhafen north of Danzig. Hitler replaces General Guderian with General Krebs as chief of the OKH.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1918: Sergeant S.R. McDougall, VC. - Sergeant S.R. McDougall, 47th Battalion, originally from Recherche, Tasmania, wins the Victoria Cross at Dernancourt.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1794 - Allies under the prince of Coburg defeated French forces at Le Cateau.
1809 - Peninsular War: In the Battle of Medelin the France defeats Spain.
1854 - Crimean War: France declares war on Russia.
1860 - First Taranaki War: The Battle of Waireka begins.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Glorieta Pass - In New Mexico, Union forces succeed in stopping the Confederate invasion of New Mexico territory. The battle begun on March 26.
1942: In occupied France, British naval forces raid the German-occupied port of St. Nazaire.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_28

1800 - Essex becomes first U.S. Navy vessel to pass Cape of Good Hope
1814 - HMS Phoebe and Cherub capture USS Essex off Valparaiso, Chile. Before capture, Essex had captured 24 British prizes during the War of 1812.
1848 - USS Supply reaches the Bay of Acre, anchoring under Mount Carmel near the village of Haifa, during expedition to explore the Dead Sea and the River Jordan.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1942: In response to General Stilwell's request for a British counter-attack to relieve the pressure on Chinese forces around Toungoo, Alexander orders the 1st Burma Corps to attack at Paungde and Prome in the Irrawaddy valley. Under the new tactical doctrine of area saturation bombing, introduced by Air Vice Marshal Harris, the RAF launches a heavy incendiary attack (234 bombers) against Lübeck on the Baltic that devastates 265 acres of the old city. The RAF lost 13 aircraft and from one of these the Germans were able to obtain their first specimen of the GEE equipment. In retaliation for the raid on Lübeck, Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to bomb historic British towns and cities.
1943: The British First Army goes onto the offensive in northern Tunisia.
1944: Merrill’s ‘Marauders’ begin a 10-day defensive action against 1,300 Japanese at Nhpum Ga Ridge. The Russians recapture Nikolaev on the Black Sea and enter Romanian territory.
1945: The 1st Belorussian Front captures Gotenhafen (Gdynia) north of Danzig, along with 9,000 prisoners, after a long struggle. Hitler replaces General Guderian with General Krebs as chief of OKH. The British Second Army begin its drive towards the Elbe as the U.S. First Army captures Marburg, 60 miles Northeast of Koblenz. The US Third Army captures Limburg on the Lahn.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1885: Toronto Ontario - General Frederick Dobson Middleton leaves for the west in command of 5,000 troops to fight the North West Rebellion; reaches the end of the CPR on April 2, and splits up; Middleton goes to Batoche, Otter sent to Battleford, Strange goes after Big Bear.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=28

1862: Union forces stop the Confederate invasion of New Mexico territory when they turn the Rebels back at Glorieta Pass. This action was part of the broader movement by the Confederates to capture New Mexico and other parts of the West. This would secure territory that the Rebels thought was rightfully theirs but had been denied them by political compromises made before the Civil War.
1941: Andrew Browne Cunningham, Admiral of the British Fleet, commands the British Royal Navy's destruction of three major Italian cruisers and two destroyers in the Battle of Cape Matapan in the Mediterranean. The destruction, following on the attack on the Italian Fleet at Taranto by the British in November 1940, effectively put an end to any threat the Italian navy posed to the British.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?

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Last edited:
March 29th

1945: The US Third Army (Patton) captures Frankfurt am Main. In Hungary, the Red Army seizes the oilfields south of Komorn, the last source of petroleum for the German war effort.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1885:New South Wales contingent arrive in Sudan - New South Wales' offer to send a contingent to the Sudan was a demonstration of the depth of imperial sentiment in colonial Australia.
1941:Battle of Matapan, Greece _ HMA ships Perth, Vendetta and Stuart were among 13 Allied ships involved in the battle which saw the loss of five Italian ships and 1,230 men. Victory at Matapan gave the Allies sea control of the Eastern Mediterranean until the end of the campaigns in Greece and Crete.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1461: Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become KingEdward IV of England.
1847: Mexican-American War: United States forces led by GeneralWinfield Scott take Veracruz after a siege.
1865: American Civil War: Battle of Appomattox Court House begins.
1879: Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
1973: Vietnam War: The last U.S. combat soldiers leave South Vietnam.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_29

1954 - Carrier aircraft began reconnaissance near Dien Bien Phu, Indochina
1960 - Launch of first fully integrated Fleet Ballistic Missile from USS Observation Island
1973 - Naval Advisory Group and Naval forces, Vietnam disestablished and last U.S. prisoners of war left Vietnam.
1975 - Evacuation of Danang by sea began.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1971: Army Lt. William L. Calley Jr. was convicted of murdering at least 22 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai massacre. (He spent three years under house arrest.)
1973, the last United States troops left South Vietnam, ending America's direct military involvement in the Vietnam War.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20080329.html

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March 30th

1941: In Libya, the Afrikakorps resumes its offensive against the British 8th Army.
1945: On the Oder front, German troops of Heeresgruppe Weichsel (Heinrici) evacuate their last remaining bridgehead at Wollin N of Stettin.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1944 - First use of torpedo squadrons from carriers to drop aerial mines (Palau Harbor)
1972 - Easter Offensive began in Vietnam
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1965: A bomb explodes in a car parked in front of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, virtually destroying the building and killing 19 Vietnamese, 2 Americans, and 1 Filipino; 183 others were injured. Congress quickly appropriated $1 million to reconstruct the embassy. Although some U.S. military leaders advocated special retaliatory raids on North Vietnam, President Lyndon B. Johnson refused.
source: http://www.history.com/

1939 - First flight of the AustralianC.A.C.CA-16 Wirraway.
1940 - Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking to be the capital of a new Chinesepuppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Ching-wei.
1945 - World War II: Soviet Unionforces invade Austria and take Vienna, Polish and Soviet forces liberate Gdańsk.
1945 - World War II: a defecting German pilot delivers a MesserschmittMe 262A-1 to Americans.
1972 - Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_March

1644: Montreal Quebec - Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve 1612-1676 defeats a large band of marauding Iroquois on the site of the Place d'Armes; aided by force of 30 settlers; they had massacred several habitant families.
1885: Battleford Saskatchewan - Cree chief Poundmaker [Pitikwahanapiwiyin] 1826-1886 attacks and surrounds Battleford with 200 warriors; local settlers forced to seek shelter in NWMP barracks for a month. A formidable soldier, Poundmaker had participated in the signing of Treaty 6, and in 1881 had guided the Marquis of Lorne from Battleford to Calgary. But he was distressed at the treatment given the Cree people, and had agitated for fulfillment of the promises made under Treaty.
1972: Halifax Nova Scotia - Last daily rum ration issued to Canadian naval personnel.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Mar&day=30

1942: The Allies formally divide the Pacific theatre into two commands. General MacArthur takes control of the South-West Pacific Command based in Australia and covering the Philippines, new Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Dutch East Indies. The second command covered the remainder of the Pacific and came under the control of Admiral Nimitz, who was based at Pearl Harbor. His Pacific Ocean Command was then sub divided in to three, which were the North, Central and South Pacific Areas. The 6th Chinese Army abandons Toungoo, and fails to destroy the bridge over the river Sittang as well. This leaves the way to the Chinese border wide open for the Japanese Army. The abandonment of Toungoo also exposed 1st Burma Corps left flank, whose attacks in the Prome area had been turned back by the Japanese. It was therefore forced to withdraw towards the Yenangyuang oilfields.
1942: The RAF make a second unsuccessful attempt to sink the Tirpitz while in port at Trondheim.
1943: Elements of the Eighth Army break through at the Gabes Pass, over 100 miles into Tunisia and heads North.
1944: The siege of Imphal begins, as the Japanese cut the road to the North. The RAF suffers its heaviest losses in single raid when 96 bombers (600 aircrew) out of 795 are shot down during a raid on Nuremberg. Kleist and Manstein are sacked by Hitler and replaced by Schorner and Model.
1945: Russians troops finally capture Danzig, along with 45 U-boats and 10,000 prisoners. Breslau and Glogau are surrounded, 180 miles South East of Berlin. Russian troops cross the Austrian border to the North of Koszeg. German troops of Army Group Weichsel evacuate their last remaining bridgehead at Wollin to the North of Stettin. The U.S. First Army begins a 3 day battle for Paderborn.

1918: British, Australian and Canadian troops mount a successful counter-attack against the German offensive at Moreuil Wood, recapturing most of the area and forcing a turn in the tide of the battle in favor of the Allies.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?

:salute:
 
March 31st

1945: In the Southeast, the Red Army enters German territory near Sopron in Hungary, while capturing Ratibor in Upper Silesia. In the West, the US Third Army reaches Siegen 20 miles east of the Rhine.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1921: Formation of the Royal Australian Air Force - The Australian Air Force became the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) on 31 August 1921.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/mar.htm

1854 - Commodore Matthew Perry negotiates Treaty of Kanagawa to open trade between U.S. and Japan
1971 - Poseidon (C-3) missile becomes operational when USS James Madison began her 3rd patrol carrying 16 tactical Poseidon missiles.
1992 - USS Missouri (BB-63), the last active American battleship is decommissioned.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmar.htm

1942 - In World War II, Japanese forces invadeChristmas Island, then a British possession.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_31

1865: Fighting at White Oak Road and Dinwiddie Court House

The final offensive of the Army of the Potomac gathers steam when Union General Phil Sheridan moves against the left flank of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The limited action set the stage for the Battle of Five Forks on April 1.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?

:m16:
 
April 1st

1945: In the East, bitter fighting rages in the western suburbs of the fortress city of Breslau. In the Southeast, the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front (Tolbukhin) reaches Wiener Neustadt in its advance toward Vienna. In the West, the US Ninth Army (Simpson) reaches Lippstadt, thus trapping 300,000 German troops of Heeresgruppe B (Model) in the socalled Ruhr pocket.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1921: First AIF disbanded - During the four years of the First World War the first AIF gained a reputation for military prowess remains very much in the consciousness of Australians to the present day.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/apr.htm

1893 - Navy General Order 409 of 25 February 1893 establishes the rate of Chief Petty Officer as of this date.
1942 - First Naval Air Transportation Service (NATS) squadron for Pacific operations commissioned
1966 - The command, US Naval Forces Vietnam established
1967 - Helicopter squadron HAL 3 activated at Vung Tau
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1572 - in the Eighty Years' War, the Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Spaniards, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.
1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Five Forks - In Siege of Petersburg, ConfederateGeneralRobert E. Lee begins his final offensive.
1924 - The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.
1945 - World War II: Operation Iceberg - United States troops land on Okinawa in the last campaign of the war.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_1

1865 : Richmond captured - The Rebel capital of Richmond falls to the Union, the most significant sign that the Confederacy is nearing its final days.
1918: the Allied Supreme War Council formally confers the post of commander in chief on the Western Front to General Ferdinand Foch.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do

1941: General Platt and his 'Northern Force' capture Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. A pro-axis coup, led by Raschid Ali seizes power in Iraq.
1942: Japanese begin landing in Dutch New Guinea. The Japanese force the Chinese out of Toungoo, north of Rangoon.
1945: The U.S. Tenth Army, with 1,457 ships in support, invades Okinawa which is 325 miles from Japan. 60,000 troops land unopposed and establish an 8-mile bridgehead. The 3rd Ukrainian Front capture Sopron in Hungary, a vital road junction between Budapest and Vienna and also reaches Wiener Neustadt as it continues its advance toward Vienna. The fighting in Breslau continues. The U.S. First and Ninth Armies link up at Lippstadt cutting off a third of a million German troops in the Ruhr area. The U.S. First Army enters Hamm, 40 miles Northeast of Essen.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1941: Peru -Canadian armed merchant cruiser Prince Henry intercepts two German ships off Peru; ships scuttled.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Apr&day=01

1918: The Royal Air Force was established in Britain.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20080401.html

:rambo:
 
April 2nd

1941: The German Afrikakorps captures Agedabia in Libya.
1942: Axis air forces begin a bombing campaign against La Valetta, the British naval base on Malta in the Mediterranean.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1917: Private J.C. Jensen, VCPrivate J.C. Jensen, 50th Battalion, originally from Loegstoer, Denmark, wins the Victoria Cross at Noreuil, France
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/apr.htm

1781 - Frigate Alliance captures 2 British privateers, Mars and Minerva
1827 - First Naval Hospital construction begun at Portsmouth, VA
1898 - Adoption of U.S. Naval Academy coat of arms
1947 - UN places former Japanese mandated islands under U.S. trusteeship
1951 - First Navy use of jet aircraft as a bomber, launched from a carrier, USS Princeton.
1960 - USS Glacier begins 12 days of relief operations, providing helicopter and boat transportation and emergency supplies to residents of Paramaribo, Suriname after floods.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1801 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Copenhagen - The British destroy the Danish fleet.
1865 - American Civil War: Siege of Petersburg broken - Union troops capture the trenches around Petersburg, Virginia, forcing Confederate General Robert E. Lee to retreat.
1917 - World War I: The Battle of Vimy Ridge commences when the Canada Corps launches an artillery bombardment of the Germantrenches. To that time, the biggest artillery bombardment in history.
1972 - Vietnam War: Easter Offensive begins - North Vietnamese soldiers of the 304th Division take the northern half of Quang Tri Province.
1975 - Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from the Quang Ngai Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
1982 - Falklands War: 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina. See also 1833 invasion of the Falkland Islands by United Kingdom
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2

1941: German Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel, "the Desert Fox," resumes his advance into Cyrenaica, modern-day Libya, signaling the beginning of what nine days later will become the recapture of Libya by the Axis forces. Early Italian successes in East Africa, which included occupying parts of Sudan, Kenya, and British Somaliland, were soon reversed after British offensives, led by British Field Marshall Archibald Wavell, resulted in heavy Italian casualties and forced the Italians to retreat into Libya. But Axis control of the area was salvaged by the appearance of Rommel and the Afrika Korps, sent to East Africa by the German High Command to bail their Italian ally out.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih

1940: Hitler gives orders that the invasion of Denmark and Norway is to begin on the 9th April 1940.
1941: The 5th Light Division recaptures Agedabia from the British and fans out into three columns, two of which race across the desert in an attempt to cut off the retreating British, while the third pushes up the coast road towards Benghazi. Rear Admiral Bonnetti, the commander of the Italian Red Sea Flotilla orders his seven destroyers out on 'do or die' missions. All the destroyers are sunk or captured without achieving any worthwhile results.
1942: British retreat from Prome, upper Burma.
1944: The Russians announce their entry into Romania and threaten to shoot one third of all German POWs if the 18 divisions of the trapped 1st Panzer Army do not surrender. The Russian army crosses the river Prut, East of Cernovcy and liberates the little city Gerca.
1945: The 3rd Ukrainian Front and Bulgarian forces take Nagykanizsa, thereby gaining control of the main Hungarian oil production region. 2nd Ukrainian front under Malinovsky conquers the industrial area of Mosonmagyarovar and reaches the Austrian border between Dounau and the Neusiedler lake. The British 7th Armoured Division enters Rhine on Dortmund-Ems canal, 60 miles Northeast of Essen.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

:m16:
 
April 3rd

1945: In the East, while the siege of Breslau in Silesia continues, the Red Army captures Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. In the West, units of the British Second Army (Dempsey) reach Münster; the US Ninth Army captures Recklinghausen in the Ruhr, while the US First Army (Hodges) takes Fulda and Kassel.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1885: Tamai was the largest and most significant engagement in which the 770 man New South Wales contingent to the Sudan were involved. In comparison with the British units involved in the battle, Australian involvement was minimal.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/apr.htm

1797 - CAPT Thomas Truxtun issued first known American signal book using numerary system
1942 - ADM Nimitz named Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, a joint command, and retained his other title, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet
1992 - First five coed recruit companies from Orlando, FL Naval Training Center granduate.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1865 - American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America.
1982 - Great Britain dispatched a naval task force to the south Atlantic to reclaim the disputed Falkland Islands from Argentina.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_3

1916: St. Eloi Belgium - Second Canadian Division troops see action at St. Eloi in Flanders; until April 20.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Apr&day=03

1942: Japanese aircraft bomb Mandalay in central Burma, killing 2,000. They met no opposition from the RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India. The final Japanese offensive on Bataan begins with a five hour artillery and air bombardment, after which the Japanese launch infantry attacks supported by some tanks, which allows them to make penetrations in to US-Filipino defensive positions.
1944: Forty-two Royal Navy, fleet Air Arm Barracuda torpedo-bombers hit the Battleship Tirpitz 14 times in a daring raid on the Alten Fjord, in Norway.
1945: MacArthur is appointed as C-in-C of land forces in the Pacific. Admiral Nimitz is appointed as C-in-C of all naval forces in the Pacific. The Austrian resistance leader Major Szokoll and Russian military authorities confer about co-operation on the Russian offensive against Vienna. The 2nd Ukrainian front advances close to Vienna. The Russians breach the German defensive lines between Wiener Neustadt and Neusiedler lake. Hard fighting continues as the Red Army advances towards Bratislava.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

:army:
 
April 4th

1945: The British Second Army captures Osnabrück, while the US Third Army (Patton) advancing toward Leipzig takes Suhl and Gotha. The US 8th Air Force launches its heaviest raid to date (700 bombers) against Kiel on the Baltic.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1918: First action at Villers-BretonneuxVillers Bretonneux, overlooking the Somme and within artillery range of Amiens, was a principal objective when the Germans renewed their March offensive in early April. They were repulsed by British units of the 5th Australian Division.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/apr.htm

1776 - Continental Navy frigate Columbus captures HM Tender Hawke, first American capture of British armed vessel
1854 - Sailors and Marines from sailing sloop, Plymouth, protect U.S. citizens at Shanghai
1898 - Appointment of first Civil Engineering Corps officer, Mordecai Endicott, as Chief, Bureau of Yards and Docks
1949 - Establishment of NATO
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Somme ends.
1945 - World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany.
1945 - World War II: Soviet Army takes control of Hungary.
1975 - Vietnam War: Operation Baby Lift - A United States Air ForceC-5A Galaxy crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, transporting orphans - 172 die.
2007 - 15 British Royal Navy personnel held in Iran are released by the Iranian President.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_4

1949: CANADA JOINS NATO - Canada signs the North Atlantic Treaty with Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the U.S.; becomes founding member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization; NATO members pledge to defend each other in event of Soviet attack.
1942: Sri Lanka - RCAF Squadron Leader L.J. Birchall spots Japanese fleet heading for Ceylon; alerts naval base and averts disaster for the British Fleet and a second Pearl Harbour.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Apr&day=04

1776: After the successful siege of Boston, General George Washington begins marching his unpaid soldiers from their headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, toward New York in anticipation of a British invasion.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do

1941: German and Italian troops enter Benghazi unopposed.
1944: The 17th Indian Division reaches the Imphal plain after a 20-day fighting retreat. Japanese forces begin five weeks of attacks to reach Imphal from the South and begin their attack on Kohima, Assam. Army Group Centre, under General Busch launches a counterattack which succeeds in reaching German units surrounded at Kovel in the Pripet swamps since the 19th March.
1945: The Russian 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian front complete the liberation of Hungary. Troops of the 2nd Ukrainian front capture Bratislava. The Germans forces counterattack in Moravska-Ostrava and Nitra. The US Third Army advancing toward Leipzig takes Suhl and Gotha and finally clears Kassel of German resistance. The British Second Army captures Osnabrück. The French First Army enters Karlsruhe.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

:salute:
 
9th. of april 1940 at 0400 in the morning, after being passed by heavy German Navy forces in the Oslofjord, the commander of Rauøy Fortress recieves a telephonecall that German troops has landed on the other side of the bay and are making inquiries about the location of the fortress.

At 0530 in the morning, battery commander of the northern 15 cm. battery, captain H.E. Sørlie discover 4 boats landing troops on a beach just 900 meters (1000 yards) from the battery.
4 machinegun crews are sendt out with the order to try and pin the enemy down and deny them access to the rest of the island.
Taking advantage of the time bought by the machineguns, the crew on the #2 cannon manages to clear away all the camoflague and other obstacles between the gun and the beach, they hack off the electrical wires blocking the path and hand-crank the 15 cm cannon in the right direction.
The breech is opened and captain Sørlie takes a rough aim through the barrell, the enemy is in cover behind a rock, and captain Sørlie decides to start shooting at it.
After some 45 shells is fired they recieve orders to surrender the fortress.

Two Norwegians fell in that fight, while the combined effort of the machineguns and the #2 cannon of the northern battery made sure that around 200 of the 300 Germans landing on the bach that morning would never see daylight again.

Bitteress spread among the crew on the fortress when it turned out that the order to surrender was a mistake and meant for another fort.
 
One day late, but I just had to post it anyway.. :cool:

In an act of irony, the German heavy cruiser Blücher was sunk in the Oslofjord April 9 1940 by 48-year-old German Krupp guns (named Moses and Aron, of 28 cm calibre, installed at Oscarsborg Fortress in May 1893) and equally ancient torpedoes:

* German ships sailed up the fjord leading to Oslo, reaching the Drøbak Narrows (Drøbaksundet). In the early morning of April 9, the gunners at Oscarsborg Fortress fired on the leading ship, the Blücher, which had been illuminated by spotlights at about 0515hrs. Within two hours, the ship, unable to maneuver in the narrow fjord, was sunk with about 600-1,000 men. The now obvious threat from the fortress delayed the rest of the naval invasion group long enough for the Royal family and Parliament to be evacuated, along with the national treasury. As a result, Norway never surrendered to the Germans, leaving the Quisling government illegitimate and permitting Norway to participate as an Ally in the war, rather than as a conquered nation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Weserübung
 
Redleg said:
One day late, but I just had to post it anyway.. :cool:

In an act of irony, the German heavy cruiser Blücher was sunk in the Oslofjord April 9 1940 by 48-year-old German Krupp guns (named Moses and Aron, of 28 cm calibre, installed at Oscarsborg Fortress in May 1893) and equally ancient torpedoes:
Click to expand...


One might add that the commander of Oscarsborg personally disregarded the ROE that called for warning shots fired with blanks, and ordered all the pieces to be loaded with live shells, and aimed for direct fire.
Due to a desperate lack of personell there was at least 2 cooks hauling grenades from the storage that morning, the entire kitchen staff were ordered to act as cannoneers, and the commander himself pre-aimed the guns.
He later explained that he didn't believe he had time to reload and fire another salvo under the present circumstances.

Also the commanding officer on the torpedobattery was called into duty some few days before, ha was actually retired at the time and was far older than the main battery on the fortress...
 
April 5th

1942: Hitler orders plans for the execution of Fall Blau (Operation Blue), the new summer offensive on the southern front in the East designed to reach the Volga, as well as to capture the Caucasus oilfields.
1944: German forces of Heeresgruppe Mitte (von Kluge) encircled in the Kowel pocket are relieved after bitter fighting.
1945: The Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front reaches the outskirts of Vienna which has minimal German forces to defend it. In the West, the French First Army (de Tassigny) captures Karlsruhe on the upper Rine. The US 8th Air Force carries out another heavy attack (450 bombers) against Kiel which causes severe damage to the cruisers Hipper and Emden.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1951: 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, involved in Operation Rugged, Korea - Operation Rugged involved United Nations' forces crossing the 38th Parallel and occupying strong defensive positions formed by a line of hills codenamed the Kansas Line and including Hills Salmon, Cod and Sardine, 45 kilometres north of Seoul.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1885: Winnipeg Manitoba - Two permanent artillery batteries arrive in Winnipeg.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Apr&day=05

1242 - During a battle on the ice of Chudskoye Lake, Russian forces rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
1654 - The Treaty of Westminster, ending the First Anglo-Dutch War, is signed.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Yorktown. The battle begins when Union forces under GeneralGeorge McClellan close in on the ConfederatecapitalRichmond, Virginia. (Editor's note: The first battle for Yorktown during the Revolutionary War was the one for which two World War II aircraft carriers were named for.)
1942 - Second World War: Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal NavyCruisersHMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
1972 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese forces invade Binh Long Province, launching a second front of the Nguyen Hue Offensive.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_5

1982: A British Naval Task Force leaves for the Falkland Islands, which have been invaded by Argentina
source: http://www.tnl.net/when/4/5

1946 - USS Missouri arrives in Turkey to return the body of Turkish ambassador to the U.S. and to show U.S. support and willingness to defend Turkey.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1918: First stage of German spring offensive ends - General Erich von Ludendorff formally ends “Operation Michael,” the first stage of the final major German offensive of World War I. Operation Michael had produced the biggest gains of territory on the Western Front by either side since 1914. The Germans had advanced almost 40 miles, inflicted some 200,000 casualties and captured 70,000 prisoners and more than 1,000 Allied guns. The costs of battle were high, however: Germans suffered nearly as many casualties as their enemies and lacked the fresh reserves and supplies the Allies enjoyed following the American entrance into the war.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1917: German forces finish their withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line.
1940: RAF launch attacks against ships at Wilhelmshaven. Norway and Sweden are both informed of the allied intention to mine Norwegian waters.
1942: Fuhrer Directive 41 rolls off the mimeograph machines in Rastenberg and the Wehrmacht has its marching orders for 1942. Leningrad is to finally be captured, but that's a secondary objective. The big plan is in the South, which involves 2nd Army and 4th Panzer Army breaking through to Voronezh on the Don. 6th Army will break out South of Kharkov and combine with the 4th Panzer Army to surround the enemy. After that, the 4th Panzer Army and 6th Army will drive East under the command of Army Group B and surround Stalingrad from the North, while Army Group A's 17th Army and 1st Panzer Army will do so from the South. Once Stalingrad is taken, the 6th Army will hold the flank defense line while Army Group A drives South into the Caucasus to seize the oilfields and become the northern punch of a grand pincer movement (the southern half being Rommel) to seize Suez, the Nile Delta, the Middle-East and its oilfields.
1944: The RAF and USAAF conduct the first of 24 round-the-clock raids on the Ploiesti oil refineries in Romania. A Jewish inmate, Siegfried Lederer, escapes from Auschwitz-Birkenau and makes it safely to Czechoslovakia. He then warns the Elders of the Council at Theresienstadt about Auschwitz.
1945: A U.S. military government is established on Okinawa. The US 8th Air Force carries out another heavy attack (450 bombers) against Kiel. The 3rd Ukrainian Front reaches the railway North West of Vienna, cutting rail link with Linz. Eighteen U.S. divisions begin the clearance of Ruhr Pocket.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1964: Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur died at age 84.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20080405.html

:salute:
 
April 6th

1941: German, Italian and Hungarian forces begin the invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece. The Luftwaffe carries out several devastating bombing raids against Belgrade.
1942: Axis bombers attack the port of Alexandria in Egypt.
1943: Units of Heeresgruppe A (von Weichs) begin an offensive against the Black Sea port of Novorossisk in the Caucasus. US and British forces in Tunisia launch an attack against 5.Panzerarmee (von Arnim).
1945: In the East, after eliminating the Heiligenbeil pocket, the Soviet 3rd Belorussian Front (Vassilevsky) reaches the Baltic coast in East Prussia, separating communications between 2.Armee (von Tippelkirch) defending besieged Königsberg and 4. Armee (Hossbach) holding the Vistula delta N of Marienbrg. In the Southeast, Tito partisans occupy Sarajevo in Bosnia.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1942: US 41st Division arrives in Australia - Between December 1941 and August 1945 some one million Americans were stationed in Australia.
1952: 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, arrives in Korea The Battalion remained in Korea until September 1953.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/apr.htm

1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh begins - In Tennessee, forces under UnionGeneralUlysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by GeneralAlbert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh.
1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Sayler's Creek - ConfederateGeneralRobert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia.
1917 - World War I: United States declares war on Germany
1941 - World War II: Operation Castigo begins; Germany invades Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Greece.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_6

1942: Aldershott England -General Andrew G.L. (Andy) McNaughton 1887-1966 forms the First Canadian Army in Britain with five divisions, two armored brigades, and 3 other divisions slated for home defence.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Apr&day=06

1776 - Sloop-of-war Ranger, frigate Queen of France and frigate Warren capture British Hibernia and 7 other vessels
1862 - Naval Gunfire from Tyler and Lexington help save Union Troops at Battle of Shiloh
1909 - Commander Robert E. Peary reports reaching the North Pole
1917 - U.S. declares war on Germany
1945 - First heavy kamikaze attack on ships at Okinawa.
1961 - USS Lake Champlain brings oxygen to aid stricken passenger of British liner Queen of Bermuda.
1968 - USS New Jersey recommissioned for shore bombardment duty in Vietnam
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

:army:
 
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