This day in military history..

April 21st

1945: The Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front captures Bautzen and Cottbus 70 miles SE of Berlin. In East Prussia, remnants of AOK Ostpreussen (von Saucken) are still resisting in the port of Pillau, the Frische Nehrung and the Vistula delta between Danzig and Marienburg. In the West, continued German resistance around Elbingerode in the Harz Mountains. In Italy, heavy fighting near Bologna and along the Po river.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1917: Foundation of the Imperial War Graves Commission - The Imperial War Graves Commission was later renamed the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It is responsible for erecting and maintaining war memorials and cemeteries.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1861 - USS Saratoga captures slaver, Nightingale.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1836 - Texas Revolution: Battle of San Jacinto – Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under MexicanGeneralAntonio López de Santa Anna.
1894 - Norway formally adopts the Krag-Jørgensen rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.
1898 - Spanish-American War: The U.S. Congress, on April 25, recognizes that a state of war exists between the United States and Spain as of this date.
1945 - World War II: Soviet Union forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the GermanHigh Command headquarters.
41975 - Vietnam War: President of South VietnamNguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_21

1961: French army revolts in Algeria
source: http://www.tnl.net/when/4/21

1918: Bertangles France - German air ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen 1881-1918 shot down and killed over the Western Front during a dogfight with Captain Roy Brown a flight leader in the 209th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. It is likely that Australian ground fire downed the Red Baron, victor over 80 Allied planes.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Apr&day=21

1777: British troops under the command of General William Tryon attack the town of Danbury, Connecticut, and begin destroying everything in sight. Facing little, if any, opposition from Patriot forces, the British went on a rampage, setting fire to homes, farmhouse, storehouses and more than 1,500 tents.
1863: Union Colonel Abel Streight begins a raid into northern Alabama and Georgia with the goal of cutting the Western and Atlantic Railroad between Chattanooga and Atlanta. The raid ended when Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest captured Streight's entire command near Rome, Georgia.
1945: British Guardsman Edward Charlton wins the last Victoria Cross of the war for saving the lives of several men trapped in their tank during a battle in the German village of Wistedt. He is so badly wounded during his act of heroism that he dies shortly after being taken prisoner. A total of 182 Victoria Crosses--Britain's highest honor for valor--were finally awarded for World War II.
1965: The Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency report a "most ominous" development: a regiment of the People's Army of Vietnam--the regular army of North Vietnam--division is now operating with the Viet Cong in South Vietnam.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih

:tank:
 
April 22nd

1945: In the battle for Berlin, units of the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front (now Sokolovsky) have penetrated into the northern and eastern suburbs of the city. Hitler, ignoring the entreaties of his entourage whom he orders to leave for Berchtesgaden, and realizing that the war is lost, decides to stay in his bunker at Berlin to await the inevitable end.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1941: Evacuation of Greece begins - The evacuation marked the end of the ill-conceived Greek campaign which lasted only three weeks and saw the Allies retreat ever southwards in the face of the German advance until they were evacuated at the end of April.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1778 - Captain John Paul Jones of Ranger led landing party raid on Whitehaven, England
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1836 - Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto forces under TexasGeneralSam Houston capture MexicanGeneralAntonio López de Santa Anna.
1863 - American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins – troops under UnionColonelBenjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports and the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.
1944 - World War II: Operation Persecution initiated – Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea.
2006 - Four Canadian soldiers are killed 75 kilometers north of Kandahar, Afghanistan by a roadside bomb planted by Taliban militants, the worst single day combat loss for the Canadian army since the Korean War.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_22

1915: Ypres Belgium - Germans release poisonous chlorine (mustard) gas across the fields of Flanders towards French Algerian troops at Ypres; opens up 6.5 km gap; Canadian 13th Battalion stands firm under heavy shelling; many Canadians gassed.
1945: Netherlands - Canadian Army halts front operations in western Holland due to the need to feed the starving Dutch people, their fields flooded and their barns looted by the retreating Germans.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Apr&day=22

1778 : John Paul Jones leads American raid on Whitehaven, England - At 11 p.m., Commander John Paul Jones leads a small detachment of two boats from his ship, the USS Ranger, to raid the shallow port at Whitehaven, England, where, by his own account, 400 British merchant ships are anchored. Jones was hoping to reach the port at midnight, when ebb tide would leave the shops at their most vulnerable.
source: http://www.history.com/

:salute:
 
April 23rd

1945: In the West, units of the British Second Army reach Harburg across the Elbe from Hamburg. Reichsführer-SS Himmler begins secret negotiations for a separate peace in the West with Count Bernadotte, head of the Swedish Red Cross. In the battle for Berlin, the attacking Soviet armies have now completely surrounded the city and are systematically decimating the motley ranks, consisting of various Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS units (including numbers of Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Latvian and French volunteers) as well as Volkssturm and Hitler Youth, of the exhausted and badly outmanned and outgunned defenders who are now under the command of General Weidling, CO of LVI. Panzerkorps.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1918: Ostend and Zeebruge, Belgium, raided. Eleven volunteers from HMAS Australia took part in a raid that aimed to close of the Belgian Port of Bruges for use as a base for German submarines.
1951: Battle of Kapyong, Korea - The most well-known Australian action of the Korean war, Kapyong involved the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. The fighting at Kapyong blunted the Chinese advance during the 1951 Spring Offensive and prevented a Communist breakthrough on the United Nations central front. The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment was awarded a United States Presidential citation for their part in the battle.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1918 - USS Stewart destroys German submarine off France
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1915: St. Julien, Belgium - Canadian 13th Battalion Quebec Regiment (Royal Highlanders of Canada) moves up reserves to plug a gap in the line at Ypres. Lance-Corporal Frederick Fisher goes forward with his company machine-gun under heavy fire, and covers the retreat of a battery, losing four of his gun team. He then obtains four more men, and moves forward again to the firing line, but is killed while bringing his machine-gun into action under very heavy fire. For his bravery, Fisher is awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously on June 23, the first Canadian-born man to win the VC while serving in the Canadian Army.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Apr&day=23

1942: In retaliation for the British raid on Lubeck, German bombers strike Exeter and later Bath, Norwick, York, and other "medieval-city centres." Almost 1,000 English civilians are killed in the bombing attacks nicknamed "Baedeker Raids."
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do?actio...yId=worldwarii

1014 - Battle of Clontarf: Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
1521 - Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_23

:m16shoot:
 
April 24th

1941: German forces in Greece break through British positions at Thermopylae. The British expeditionary force begins the evacuation of its troops to Egypt and Crete.
1945: In the West, the US Seventh Army (Patch) crosses the Danube at Dillingen and captures Ulm. In the battle of Berlin, the Soviet armies are tightening their grip and are slowly advancing toward the center of the city.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1918: Second battle of Villers-Bretonneux, Western Front - When the Germans captured the town that had been the centre of fighting just three weeks previously Australian and British troops drove them out in a daring night time attack at a cost of 1,469 casualties.
1918:Lieutenant C.W.K. Sadlier, VC - Lieutenant C.W.K. Sadlier, 51st Battalion, originally from Camberwell, Vic, wins the Victoria Cross at Villers Bretonneux.
1998: Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum opened - The Memorial Museum, honouring Australian prisoners who worked on the Burma-Thailand railway, was opened by the Australian Prime Minister, the Hon. John Howard.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1778 - Continental Navy sloop Ranger captures HMS Drake
1862 - Battle of New Orleans; Union Navy under David Farragut runs past forts into Mississippi River
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1877 - Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878: Russia declares war on Ottoman Empire.
1941 - World War II: Operation Demon – The United Kingdom begins evacuating Greece.
1980 - Eight U.S. servicemen died in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempted to end the Iran hostage crisis.
1991 - Freddie Stowers is awarded the posthumousMedal of Honor for which he had been recommended in 1918.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_24

1915: Ypres Belgium - Germans pour shells and mustard gas against Canadian troops, but their attack is repelled. Canadians win two Victoria Crosses during this day in Flanders:
At St-Julien, Company Sergeant-Major William Hall (1885-1915) of the 8th Battalion, 90th Winnipeg Rifles, makes a second attempt to help a wounded man lying 15 yards from the trench, in the face of very heavy enfilade fire by the enemy, when he is killed by a bullet in the head [awarded posthumously 23 June]. Near Kerselaere, Lieutenant Edward Donald Bellew (1892-1961) of the 7th Battalion, British Columbia Regiment, is in action as battalion machine-gun officer, with two guns in action on high ground, when the enemy's attack breaks in full force. With no reinforcements in sight, Lt. Bellew and his Sergeant Peerless decide to fight it out; Peerless is killed and Bellew wounded, yet he keeps up his fire until his ammunition fails, and he is taken prisoner. [awarded on his release from POW camp, May 15 1919].
1951: Kapyong Korea - Canadian troops defend Kapyong Valley in Korea against two-day Chinese attack; 10 dead, 23 wounded.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Apr&day=24

1781: British General William Phillips lands on the banks of the James River at City Port, Virginia. Once there, he combined forces with British General Benedict Arnold, the former American general and notorious traitor, to launch an attack on the town of Petersburg, Virginia, located about 12 miles away.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih

:2guns:
 
April 25th

1945: Units of the US Ninth Army (Simpson) and the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev) meet on the Elbe at Torgau, 100 miles SW of Berlin. In Berlin, the battle continues with unabated ferocity, both sides suffering heavy casualties in bitter house-to-house fighting. The relief attack by III.Panzerkorps (Steiner) from the area of Eberswalde 50 miles NE of Berlin fails for lack of forces. The isolated fortress of Breslau is still holding out. In Italy, US and British forces cross the Po river and capture Parma and Mantua. German U-boats sink 5 Allied supply ships in the English Channel. Beginning of the San Francisco Conference convened to discuss the founding of the United Nations.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1901: Naval contingent return to Sydney from China - Sailors from New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria were sent to China to assist in quelling an anti-western rebellion by Chinese secret societies. They arrived too late to see any significant fighting. The Australian colonial force suffered only six fatalities, none from combat.
1915: Landings at Gallipoli - British, French and Australian troops were involved in the landings. Although the Gallipoli campaign was a military failure, the anniversary of the landing has become a national day of commemoration in Australia.
1916: First commemoration of ANZAC Day - The first anniversary of the Gallipoli landings was widely observed in Australia. Large crowds attended church services and public ceremonies . The day was also commemorated by Australian and New Zealand servicemen in Egypt and London.
1918: Fighting around Villers-Bretonneux - When the Germans captured the town that had been the centre of fighting just three weeks previously Australian and British troops drove them out in a daring night time attack at a cost of 1,469 casualties.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/apr.htm

1862 - Union naval forces occupy New Orleans, LA
1898 - Congress declares war existed with Spain since 21 April
1914 - First combat observation mission by Navy plane, at Veracruz, Mexico.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1781: British General Lord Charles Cornwallis retreats to Wilmington, North Carolina, after being defeated at Guilford Courthouse by 4,500 Continental Army soldiers and militia under the command of American Major General Nathanael Greene.
1862: Admiral David Farragut captures New Orleans a day after his fleet successfully sailed past two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River the day before, and the Confederates lose a major city early in the war.
1945: Russian armies completely encircle Berlin, linking up with the U.S. First Army patrol, first on the western bank of the Elbe, then later at Torgau. Germany is, for all intents and purposes, Allied territory.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih

1940: Scotland - Two Canadian battalions held back in Scotland; on the way to join British force bound for Norway.
1945: Germany - RCAF's No. 6 Group makes its last bombing raid over Germany.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Apr&day=25

1607 - Eighty Years' War: Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
1707 - The Habsburg army is defeated by Bourbon army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
1972 - Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_25

:salute:
 
April 26th

1945: The British Second Army (Dempsey) enters Bremen. In the East, the Soviet 3rd Belorussian Front (Vassilevsky) captures the port of Pillau 20 miles W of Königsberg, while the 2nd Belorussian Front (Rokossovsky) occupies Stettin at the mouth of the Oder. The remnants of 9.Armee (Busse) are cut off and surrounded in the Halbe pocket 30 miles SW of Frankfurt.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1921 - U.S. Naval Detachment left Yugoslavia after administering area around Spalato for 2 years to guarantee transfer of area from Austria to new country
1952 - USS Hobson sinks after colliding with USS Wasp; 176 lives lost
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.h1944:Alexishafen occupied - Alexishafen, New Guinea, was occupied by Australian troops.

1953:Cease Fire talks resume in Panmunjong. Warring sides try to bring an end to the fighting in Korea.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/apr.htm

1805 - United States Marines captured Derne, Tripoli under the command of First LieutenantPresley O'Bannon.
1945 - World War II: Battle of Bautzen - last successful German tank-offensive of the war.
2005 - Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_26

1860: Toronto Ontario - Founding of the Second Battalion Volunteer Militia Rifles of Canada from six independent militia units; later the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, oldest regiment in the Canadian Armed Forces.
1944: Atlantic -Canadian warships sink German destroyer off France.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Apr&day=26

:army:
 
April 27th

1941: German troops enter Athens, the Greek capital.
1944: German planes spot an Allied convoy west of Start Point along the Channel Coast. The convoy is actually making a practice run for the planned invasion of Normandy on a stretch of coast very much alike to that found in the Normandy region of France. The 5.Schnellbootflottille and 9.Schnellbootflottille are directed to attack at night, which they do with the following boats: S100, S130, S138, S138, S140, S142, S143, S145, S150. They engaged the convoy, consisting of 8 landing craft (LSTs or Landing Ship Tank), and protected only by the English Korvette Azeala, at Lyme Bay. The result: LST 507, on fire, had to be given up, LST 531 was sunk, and LST 289 received a torpedo hit which killed many soldiers. Total Allied losses were 197 seaman and 441 soldiers lost. The event was largely covered up by the Allies during and after WWII and is not well known.
1945: The US First Army (Hodges) captures Straubing and Kempten in Bavaria, while in Italy the US Fifth Army (Clark) enters Genoa. In the battle of Berlin, Red Army units reach the government center, close to the Reichstag and Hitler's bunker beneath the Reich Chancellery. The German 12. Armee (Wenck) defending against US forces on the Elbe is ordered to launch a relief attack east toward Potsdam and Berlin. The Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front captures Prenzlau and Tangermnde 70 NW of Berlin.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1942: Darwin bombed by Japanese aircraftDarwin was bombed 64 times during the Second World War.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/apr.htm

1813: Toronto Ontario - Invasion force of 1,700 US troops under Zebulon Pike and Henry Dearborn assaults the town of York; Sheaffe and 600 defenders withdraw to Kingston; Americans torch Upper Canada's parliament buildings, and depart May 8 after burning and looting the town. Britain retaliates a year later by raiding Washington, and setting fire to the White House.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Apr&day=27

1296 - Battle of Dunbar: The Scots are defeated by Edward I of England.
1650 - The Battle of Carbisdale: A Royalist army invades mainland Scotland from Orkney Island but is defeated by a Covenanter army.
1945 - World War II: Last German troops are expelled from Finnish Lapland (the last day of World War II going on in Finland). The day is the national war veteran day in Finland.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_27

1805 - Naval forces capture Derne, Tripoli; raise U.S. flag over foreign soil
1813 - U.S. Navy and Army forces capture York (now Toronto), Canada
1861 - President Lincoln extended blockade of Confederacy to VA and NC ports
1865 - Body of John Wilkes Booth brought to Washington Navy Yard.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1916: Three British officers, including the famous Captain T.E. Lawrence (known as “Lawrence of Arabia”), attempt to engineer the escape of thousands of British troops under siege at the city of Kut-al-Amara in Mesopotamia through a secret negotiation with the Turkish command.
1941: German army enters the Greek capital, signaling the end of Greek resistance. All mainland Greece and all the Greek Aegean islands except Crete are under German occupation by May 11. In fending off the Axis invaders, the Greeks suffer the loss of 15,700 men. Greece will not be liberated until 1944, by British troops from the Mediterranean theater.
1972: North Vietnamese troops shatter defenses north of Quang Tri and move to within 2.5 miles of the city. Using Russian-built tanks, they took Dong Ha, 7 miles north of Quang Tri, the next day and continued to tighten their ring around Quang Tri, shelling it heavily. South Vietnamese troops suffered their highest casualties for any week in the war in the bitter fighting.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?

:m16:
 
April 28th

1940: British and French forces that were landed on the coast of Norway are evacuated by the Royal Navy.
1945: The Canadian First Army (Crerar) captures Emden and Wilhelmshaven, while the US Seventh Army (Patch) occupies Augsburg, Regensburg and Ingolstadt. In the battle of Berlin, the Red Army reaches the Anhalt Station and is within half a mile of the Führerbunker. Hitler marries his mistress, Eva Braun, and dictates his political testament in which he justifies the political and military actions of his 12-year-rule, blaming the war on international Jewry and exhorting the German people even after defeat to adhere to the principles of National Socialism, especially its racial laws; he appoints Grossadmiral Dönitz as his successor. In the English Channel, German U-boats have sunk 8 Allied ships, 3 destroyers and 2 corvettes.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1952: Australia ratifies peace treaty with Japan and official ending of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) - From the end of 1948 Australia had taken on the largest role in BCOF. When the state of occupation ended the Commonwealth organisation in Japan was redesignated British Commonwealth Forces Korea and continued supplying and administering Commonwealth forces then fighting in Korea.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1789 - Mutiny on the HMS Bounty. CaptainWilliam Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island.
1796 - The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, the King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.
1862 - American Civil War: AdmiralDavid Farragut captures New Orleans, Louisiana.
1970 - Vietnam War: U.S. PresidentRichard M. Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_28

1972: North Vietnamese press South Vietnamese at Hue and Kontum - The North Vietnamese offensive continues as Fire Base Bastogne, 20 miles west of Hue, falls to the communists. Fire Base Birmingham, 4 miles to the east, was also under heavy attack. As fighting intensified all across the northern province of South Vietnam, much of Hue's civilian population tried to escape south to Da Nang. Farther south in the Central Highlands, 20,000 North Vietnamese troops converged on Kontum, encircling it and cutting it off. Only 65 miles north of Saigon, An Loc lay under siege and continued to take a pummeling from North Vietnamese artillery, rockets, and ground attacks. To the American command in Saigon, it appeared that South Vietnam was on the verge of total defeat by the North Vietnamese, but the South Vietnamese were able to hold out.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1940: Allied reinforcements arrive in Aandalesnes, Norway.
1941: The British evacuation of Greece is completed.
1942: At what turns out to be its last meeting, the puppet Nazi Reichstag passes legislation proclaiming Hitler "Supreme Judge of the German People," formalising the Fuhrer's position as being above the reach of the law. Coastal "dimouts" go into effect along a fifteen-mile strip on the Eastern Seaboard, in response to German U-boat activity of the U.S. Atlantic coast.
1943: British forces repulse a last, desperate Panzer counter blow in Tunisia.
1944: Chinese forces retreat in central China.
1945: Russian forces are fighting in the Wilhelmstrasse and reach the Anhalt Station which is just half a mile of the Führerbunker. The U.S. Fifth Army take Brescia, 30 miles East of Milan. The British Eighth Army reaches Venice. Italian Partisans capture Mussolini, his mistress Clara Petacci and 12 of his cabinet members in a German convoy trying to reach Switzerland. All are shot in nearby village. The Canadian First Army captures Emden and Wilhelmshaven, while the U.S. Seventh Army takes Augsburg and reaches the Austrian border to the South.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1862 - Naval forces capture Forts Jackson and St. Philip, LA
1965 - Dominican Republic intervention began
1944 - U.S. LSTs attacked during Operation Tiger
1993 - SECDEF memo orders Armed Forces to train and assign women on combat aircraft and most combat ships, but not to ground combat positions.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1760: Ste-Foy Quebec - François, Duc de Lévis, with 5,000 soldiers and Indians, defeats James Murray's 3,900 British troops at the Battle of Ste-Foy; Murray, leader of the British after Wolfe's death, wisely retreats behind the walls of Quebec to wait for reinforcements by ship.
1945: Netherlands - Truce arranged between Canadian and German forces in Holland.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Apr&day=28
 
April 29th

1945: The British Second Army crosses the Elbe at Lauenburg, 20 miles E of Hamburg, and advances toward Schwerin and Wismar in Mecklenburg. In the battle of Berlin, the Red Army has now captured most of the city except for the area around the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichskanzlei and the Reichstag which is still fiercely defended by isolated units of the Waffen-SS.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1915: HMA Submarine AE2 sunk in the Sea of Marmara - AE2 was the first submarine to penetrate the Dardanelles. For five days the AE2 carried out orders to disrupt Turkish shipping. When her torpedoes were exhausted and she was attacked by Turkish gunboats the submarine was scuttled and her crew captured.
1965: Prime Minister Menzies announces the commitment of an infantry battalion to Vietnam - Australia's involvement in Vietnam was a gradual process of commitment. By April 1965 there were 100 members of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam in Vietnam. The commitment of a battalion represented a major step in Australia's involvement and precipitated further increases in the number of Australians serving in Vietnam until reductions in their number began in 1970.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1429 - Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans.
1672 - Franco-Dutch War: Louis XIV of France invades the Netherlands.
1862 - American Civil War: New Orleans falls to Union forces under AdmiralDavid Farragut.
1945 - World War II: The GermanArmy in Italy unconditionally surrenders to the Allies. 1945 - World War II: Start of Operation Manna, supply drops into Holland.
1970 - Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_29

1776: Nathanael Greene takes command of Long Island - Shortly after the American victory at Boston, Massachusetts, General George Washington orders Brigadier General Nathanael Greene to take command of Long Island and set up defensive positions against a possible British attack on New York City.
1916: British forces surrender at Kut, Mesopotamia - In the single largest surrender of troops in British history to that time, some 13,000 soldiers under the command of Sir Charles Townshend give in on April 29, 1916, after withstanding nearly five months under siege by Turkish and German forces at the town of Kut-al-Amara, in the Basra province of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do?

1917: Chemin des Dames Offensive ends. A month long series of mutinies break out amongst the French army.
1940: King Haakon VII and his government are evacuated from Molde and taken to Tromso in northern Norway, from where they can continue the fight.
1941: Another Brigade from the British 10th Indian Division lands at Basra, ignoring Iraqi's protests. The Iraqi Army lays siege to The RAF base at Habbaniyh, although RAF planes fly numerous air strikes against them. British intelligence 'Ultra', intercept numerous messages giving a positive indication that the Germans plan to attack Crete.
1942: Japanese troops capture Lashio, thereby cutting the vital 'Burma Road' supply route into China. The Japanese continue to land reinforcements on Mindanao Island as they step up attacks against the Filipino garrison. The shelling of Corregidor increases as the Japanese prepare to invade the Island. Another sixteen Spitfires are delivered to Malta by Force H. The Belgian resistance destroys Tenderloo chemical works, killing more that 250. Executions by the Germans reported to be running at 25-30 a month in Belgium.
1943: U-boats begin a six-day attack on Convoy ONS5, during which 13 allied ships are finally sunk for the loss of six U-boats. A series of minor attacks by the Red Army near Novorossiysk, drives the Germans back slowly.
1944: The US Navy pounds the Japanese base at Truk, destroying 120 planes.
1945: Convoy RA-66 sailing from the Kola Peninsula to Loch Ewe is attacked by at least 2 U-boats north of Kola. The British destroyer HMS Goodall, which was lend-leased by the US in 1943 is sunk by U-286 (Oblt.z.S. Willi Dietrich), for 1,150 tons, marking this as the last convoy to come under attack in the war. The U.S. 7th Army liberates Dachau Concentration Camp. The 2nd Belorussian front advances fast in the Stralsund direction and seizes Anklam. In Berlin furious fighting takes place around the Reichstag, Chancellery and along Potsdamer Strasse. In Cottbus, South of Berlin, German troops are still holding the Russians back. The German armies in Italy sign surrender terms at The Royal Palace, Caserta, but German officers do not guarantee acceptance, the ceremony takes only 17 minutes. The British Eighth Army secures Venice and advances towards Trieste. The U.S. Fifth Army enters Milan and makes contact with the Eighth Army at Padua. The British Second Army crosses the Elbe near Hamburg, less than 100 miles west of the Russian forces in Mecklenburg. The U.S. Seventh Army reaches Munich. The French First Army captures Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance.

1814 - USS Peacock captures HMS Epervier
1898 - U.S. warships engage Spanish gunboats and shore batteries at Cienfuegos, Cuba
1944 - Fast carrier task force (12 carriers) commence 2 day bombing of Truk
1975 - Operation Frequent Wind evacuation from Vietnam begins
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1944: Atlantic - German U-Boats sink Royal Canadian Navy destroyer HMCS Athabaskan off the coast of France. HMCS Haida drives flaming German warship aground.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Apr&day=29

1859: As the French army races to support them and the Austrian army mobilizes to oppose them, 150,000 Piedmontese troops invade Piedmontese territory.
1862: Forts Philip and Jackson surrender to Admiral Farragut outside New Orleans.
1918: America’s WWI Ace of Aces, Eddie Rickenbacker, scores his first victory with the help of Captain James Norman Hall.
source: http://www.historynet.com/today_in_history?tihMonth=4&tihDay=29&tdih=GO


:rambo:
 
April 30th

1941: After the surrender of the Greek Army (Mussolini insists on a separate surrender to the Italian forces), the German occupation of Greece is now complete, the Wehrmacht having taken 223,000 Greek and 22,000 British prisoners. In Cyrenaica, the Afrikakorps' second attempt to capture Tobruk fails.
1942: Hitler and Mussolini meet at Berchtesgaden to discuss future Axis strategy in North Africa and the Mediterranean, the main objectives being the reduction of Malta and the seizure of the Suez Canal.
1945: The battle of Berlin is reaching its bloody climax. Isolated pockets of German resistance throughout the city are overpowered and systematically destroyed. With Red Army infantry only a few hundred yards away, Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide at about 3:00 p.m., their bodies being immediately incinerated with gasoline by SS bodyguards. The US Seventh Army (Patch) enters Munich. The defenders of Breslau, decimated by relentless Soviet attacks, are still holding out.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1941: Australian and New Zealand troops fought alongside soldiers from Greece and Britain in the ill-fated Greek campaign. General Blamey conducted a skillful evacuation of the ANZAC Corps from southern Greece at the end of the campaign.
1967: 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, arrives in South Vietnam
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/apr.htm

1941: Atlantic - German U-boat torpedoes Canadian passenger ship Nerissa off Ireland; 73 Canadian Army personnel lost.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Apr&day=30

1943 - World War II: Operation Mincemeat – The submarine HMS Seraph surfaces in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain to deposit a dead man planted with false invasion plans and dressed as a British military intelligence officer.
1975 - Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gains control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South VietnamesepresidentDuong Van Minh.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_30

1798 - Congress establishes Department of the Navy
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1968: U.S. Marines attack a division of North Vietnamese troops in the village of Dai Do.
1970: U.S. troops invade Cambodia to disrupt North Vietnamese Army base areas.
1972: The North Vietnamese launch an invasion of South Vietnam.
source: http://www.historynet.com/today_in_history?tihMonth=4&tihDay=30&tdih=GO

:army:
 
May 1st

1941: The Luftwaffe begins a series of 8 consecutive night raids against Liverpool.
1942: In the East, the siege of the Crimean fortress of Sevastopol by 11.Armee (von Manstein) continues with a ceaseless bombardment by batteries of heavy guns (up to 800mm: Big Dora) and hundreds of bombers (up to 1,000 sorties a day) of Luftflotte 7 (von Richthofen). Heavy fighting also continues on the front around besieged Leningrad whose inhabitants are suffering from bombing, disease and starvation.
1945: Cessation of hostilities and surrender of all German forces in Italy as a result of unauthorized secret negotiations with the Allies by the German C-in-C, General von Vietinghoff. and SS General Wolff. Grossadmiral Dönitz, following the death of Hitler, assumes his duties as the new German head of state. He orders utmost resistance on all fronts, especially in the East where tens of thousands of German civilians are still trying to escape from the stampeding Red Army. In the battle of Berlin, the remaining pockets of German resistance in the center of the city are crumbling. General Krebs, head of the OKH after Guderian's dismissal on March 26, begins negotiations with General Chuikov, CO of Eighth Guards Army, about the Soviet terms for a surrender. Goebbels and his wife, after poisoning their six children, commit suicide in the Führerbunker.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1898 - Battle of Manila Bay, Adm Dewey defeats Spanish at Manila, Philippines
1934 - LT Akers demonstrates blind landing system at College Park, MD in OJ-2 aircraft
1945 - VADM Barbey lands Australian troops on Tarakan Island, Borneo, supported by naval gunfire
1951 - USS Princeton aircraft attack Hwachon Dam using aerial torpedoes, only use of this weapon in Korean War
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmay.htm

1941: Allied evacuation of Greece complete - The Greek campaign, involving forces from Greece, Britain, New Zealand and Australia, resulted in heavy losses to the 6th Australian Division and ultimately an evacuation of Allied forces from beaches in southern Greece.
1942: Townsville put on invasion alert - We now know that Japan did not intend to invade Australia. In 1942, however, fear of such an invasion was almost universal, particularly after their early successes in the war.1945: 26 Brigade troops invade Tarakan - General MacArthur instructed Lieutenant-General Sir Leslie Morshead to seize and hold Tarakan Island and destroy the enemy forces there. The Netherlands East Indies Government was to be re-established, Tarakan's oil producing capacity was to be conserved and the island's airfields put into use. The operation was codenamed Oboe 1.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/may.htm

1951: Korea - 25th Canadian Infantry Brigade Group sent to join United Nations forces in Korea.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=May&day=01

1328 - Wars of Scottish Independence end: Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton – England recognises Scotland as an independent nation.
1778 - American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
1941 - World War II: German forces launch Operation Mercury the largest airborne invasion to date in their bid to capture Crete. German forces launch a major attack on Tobruk.
1945 - Soviet troops raise the Soviet Flag over the Reichstag, in Berlin.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1

1898: The U.S. Navy under Dewey defeats the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines.
1944: The Messerschmitt Me 262, the first combat jet, makes its first flight.
source: http://www.historynet.com/today_in_history

:2guns:
 
May 2nd
1945: General Chuikov, defender of Stalingrad, meets with General Weidling and accepts the unconditional surrender of the surviving defenders of Berlin. Some units refuse to quit and try to break out to the West, but are annihilated in the attempt. Stalin announces the fall of Berlin in his Order of the Day No. 359.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1863 - American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering for the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia 8 days later.
1982 - Falklands War: The Britishnuclear submarineHMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2

1945: Approximately 1 million German soldiers lay down their arms as the terms of the German unconditional surrender, signed at Caserta, Italy on April 29, come into effect. Many Germans surrender to Japanese soldiers-Japanese Americans. Among the American tank crews that entered the northern Italian town of Biella was an all-Nisei (second-generation) infantry battalion, composed of Japanese Americans from Hawaii.
Early that same day, Russian Marshal Georgi K. Zhukov accepts the surrender of the German capital. The Red Army takes 134,000 German soldiers prisoner.
1964: An explosion of a charge assumed to have been placed by Viet Cong terrorists sinks the USNS Card at its dock in Saigon. No one was injured and the ship was eventually raised and repaired. The Card, an escort carrier being used as an aircraft and helicopter ferry, had arrived in Saigon on April 30.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih

1975 - US Navy departs Vietnamese waters at end of evacuation.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmay.htm

:rambo:
 
Last edited:
May 3rd
1942: Off the northern coast of Norway, German destroyers sink the British cruiser Edinburgh escorting Convoy PQ-15.
1945: The British Second Army (Dempsey) occupies Hamburg.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1861 - USS Surprise captures Confederate privateer Savannah
1898 - Marines land at Cavite, Philippines, and raise U.S. flag
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmay.htm

1917: Second attack on Bullecourt - Operations against the Hindenburg line at Bullecourt were aimed at protecting the British flank during operations at Arras. After an unsuccessful first attempt, a second involving the 2nd Australian Division was made. Once again the attack was unsuccessful costing about 7,000 allied casualties
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/may.htm

1945: Wismar Germany - First Canadian Army takes Oldenburg, and Canadian paratroopers link up with Russians in Wismar.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=May&day=03

1808 - Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
1808 - Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are fired upon near Príncipe Pío hill.
1942 - Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that resulted in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.
1945 - World War II: Sinking of the floating-jails Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the RAF in Lübeck Bay.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_3

1915: During a 10-day-long stretch of fighting in the Carpathian Mountains on the Galician front in Austria-Hungary, a combined Austro-German force succeeds in defeating the Russian army near the Dunajec River (a tributary of the Vistula River that runs through modern-day northern Slovakia and southern Poland). The Austro-German counterattack in Galicia in early May 1915 decisively ended nine months of victorious Russian advances in the region since August 1914. Struggling, Austria-Hungary had appealed to its more powerful ally, and the German army had stepped in, moving large amounts of troops into the region in an attempt to break through the Russian lines between the crest of the Carpathians and the mid-section of the Dunajec. On May 1, 1915, the German commander General August von Mackensen led the combined troops into battle behind an artillery bombardment by 610 guns, the largest yet on the Eastern Front, against Russian positions stretching along a 40-kilometer front.
1942: The first day of the first modern naval engagement in history, called the Battle of the Coral Sea, a Japanese invasion force succeeds in occupying Tulagi of the Solomon Islands in an expansion of Japan's defensive perimeter. The United States, having broken Japan's secret war code and forewarned of an impending invasion of Tulagi and Port Moresby, attempted to intercept the Japanese armada. Four days of battles between Japanese and American aircraft carriers resulted in 70 Japanese and 66 Americans warplanes destroyed. This confrontation, called the Battle of the Coral Sea, marked the first air-naval battle in history, as none of the carriers fired at each other, allowing the planes taking off from their decks to do the battling. Among the casualties was the American carrier Lexington; "the Blue Ghost" (so-called because it was not camouflaged like other carriers) suffered such extensive aerial damage that it had to be sunk by its own crew. Two hundred sixteen Lexington crewmen died as a result of the Japanese aerial bombardment.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do?

1926: U.S. Marines land in Nicaragua.
1968: After three days of battle, the U.S. Marines retake Dai Do complex in Vietnam, only to find the North Vietnamese have evacuated the area.
1982: A British submarine sinks Argentina’s only cruiser during the Falkland Islands War.
source: http://www.historynet.com/today_in_history

:rambo:
 
Last edited:
May 4th

1943: Hitler postpones Operation Zitadelle, the powerful German counter-attack against the large Soviet bulge between Kursk and Belgorod, from May 9 to mid-June.
1944: The RAF carries out a night raid against Budapest.
1945: The German forces in northwestern Germany, Holland and Denmark surrender to the Allied 21st Army Group whose C-in-C, FM Montgomery, meets with a German delegation headed by Generaladmiral von Friedeburg at his HQ on Luneburg Heath 30 miles S of Hamburg. The British Second Army occupies Kiel. In the East, fierce fighting continues in Moravia, the Vistula delta and in Kurland.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1915:Australian attack on Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli - The attack on Gaba Tepe by men of the 11th Battalion was an ill-conceived venture to deny the Turks a vantage point from which they could observe operations around ANZAC Cove. The venture ended in failure.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1471 - Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Tewkesbury – Edward IV defeats a Lancastrian Army and kills Edward, Prince of Wales.
1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Chancellorsville – The battle ends with a Union retreat.
1869 - The Naval Battle of Hakodate takes place in Japan.
1910 - The Royal Canadian Navy is created.
1945 - World War II: Liberation of the Neuengammeconcentration camp near Hamburg by the British Army.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_4

1864: Army of the Potomac moved out of its winter encampments and crossed the Rapidan River to the tangled woods of the Wilderness. Grant had with him four corps and over 100,000 men.
1916: Germany responds to a demand by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson by agreeing to limit its submarine warfare in order to avert a diplomatic break with the United States.
1945: Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov informs U.S. Secretary of State Stettinius that the Red Army has arrested 16 Polish peace negotiators who had met with a Soviet army colonel near Warsaw back in March. When British Prime Minister Winston Churchill learns of the Soviet double-cross, he reacts in alarm, stating, "There is no doubt that the publication in detail of this event...would produce a primary change in the entire structure of world forces."
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1942: Akyab on the Burmese coast is abandoned by the British. The Japanese Port Moresby invasion force leaves Rabaul, in New Britain. With its naval support stripped away, the Japanese invasion fleet at Tulagi is attacked by aircraft from the American carrier Yorktown. 1 destroyer is disabled, while 3 minesweepers and 4 landing barges are sunk for the loss of just 3 US aircraft. Admiral Fletcher, now doubled back to meet up with the Lexington in the Coral Sea.
1943: Hitler decides to postpone Operation 'Citadel' in order that more Tiger and Panther tanks can be deployed in the offensive. This is against the advice of a number of leading Generals who fear that the Russian defenses will become too strong if the offensive is delayed any further.
1944: The British counter-attacks at Kohima, are repulsed by the Japanese. The RAF carries out a night raid against Budapest.
1945: SEAC announces that Rangoon was taken so quickly that the Japanese had no time to destroy the installations there. Kamikaze flyers sink 17 U.S. ships in 24 hours off Okinawa. Grand Admiral Dönitz, now the newly designated leader of the Reich, orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases (to go into effect fully at 0800 on 5th May) The U.S. Fifth Army reaches the Brenner Pass. Admiral von Friedeburg arrives at Montgomery’s HQ on Lüneburg Heath with German plenipotentiaries. At 8.15pm SHAEF announce that ‘Field Marshal Montgomery has reported to the supreme allied command that all enemy forces in Holland, Northwest Germany and Denmark, have surrendered. The U.S. Ninth Army breaks up the German Ninth and Twelfth Armies. The U.S. Seventh Army takes Innsbruck, Salzburg and Berchtesgarten, which is still smoking after an RAF raid. Field-Marshal von Kleist gives himself up to the U.S. Third Army near Straubing.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1917 - First Navy ships, Destroyer Division 8, arrive at Queenstown, Ireland, to provide convoy escorts against German U-boats
1942 - Battle of Coral Sea, first carrier vs. carrier battle, begins
1945 - Japanese attempt to land on Okinawa repulsed; kamikaze attacks damage 6 U.S. Navy ships
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmay.htm

1945: Europe - Fighting stops in the Canadian sector near Wilhelmshaven, Aurich, and Emden; German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany agreed to surrender to Canadian commanders.
1951: Europe - National Defence forms 27th Canadian Infantry Brigade Group for service in Europe with NATO forces.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=May&day=04

1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on anti-war protesters at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20080504.html

:army:
 
May 5th

1943: British forces break through the defenses of 5.Panzerarmee (von Arnim) S of Tunis.
1945: Beginning of a civilian uprising in Prague which is aided by defecting units of the anti-Bolshevist Vlasov Army.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1915: Australians and New Zealanders on Cape Helles - The 2nd Australian Brigade and the New Zealand Brigade were redeployed from ANZAC Cove to Cape Helles to assist British and French troops in their attempts to capture the dominating heights known as Achi Baba.
1945: Germans surrender in Norway - Hitler's successor, Grand Admiral Dönitz, attempted, by piecemeal surrenders to the British and Americans, to give German forces on the Eastern Front time to escape westwards, away from the Russians.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/may.htm

1944 - USS Comfort is commissioned in San Pedro, CA; first ship to be manned jointly by Army and Navy personnel
1948 - VF-17A becomes first carrier qualified jet squadron (USS Saipan)
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmay.htm

1813: Fort Meigs Ohio - Major General Henry Proctor attacks 1,200 US reinforcements coming up to end 5 day siege of Americans under William Henry Harrison at Fort Meigs; 400 US soldiers killed, British losses number only 15 in this War of 1812 battle.
1814: Oswego New York - Commodore James Yeo leads a fleet with 1,100 men from Kingston against 500 US defenders of Fort Ontario; captures valuable supplies; destroys the American naval base and firmly fixes British control of Lake Ontario until the close of the War of 1812.
1945: Germany - German commanders surrender in Canadian sector near Wilhelmshaven, Aurich, and Emden.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=May&day=05

1862 - Cinco de Mayo in Mexico: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a Frenchinvasion in the Battle of Puebla.
1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_5

1970 : In Cambodia, a U.S. force captures Snoul, 20 miles from the tip of the "Fishhook" area (across the border from South Vietnam, 70 miles from Saigon). A squadron of nearly 100 tanks from the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and jet planes virtually leveled the village that had been held by the North Vietnamese. No dead North Vietnamese soldiers were found, only the bodies of four Cambodian civilians. This action was part of the Cambodian "incursion" that had been launched by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces on April 29.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih

1945: In the only fatal attack of its kind during World War II, a Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing the pregnant wife of a minister and five children.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20080505.html

1916: U.S. Marines invade the Dominican Republic.
1942: General Joseph Stilwell learns that the Japanese have cut his railway out of China and is forced to lead his troops into India.
1968: U.S. Air Force planes hit Nhi Ha, South Vietnam in support of attacking infantrymen.
source: http://www.historynet.com/today_in_history


:salute:
 
Last edited:
May 6th

1945: The US Third Army (Patton) occupies Pilsen in Bohemia and halts all further advances. After an 82-day siege, the remaining defenders of Breslau finally surrender to Soviet forces.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1909 - Great White Fleet anchors in San Francisco
1916 - First ship-to-shore radio telephone voice conversation from USS New Hampshire off Virginia Capes to SECNAV Josephus Daniels in Washington, DC
1942 - CAPT Milton Miles arrives in Chungking, China, to begin building an intelligence and guerilla training organization, Naval Group China
1945 - Naval landing force evacuates 500 Marshallese from Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmay.htm

1917: Corporal G.J. Howell, VC - Corporal G.J. Howell, 1st Battalion, originally of Enfield, NSW, wins the Victoria Cross near Bullecourt.
1945: Tarakan town and airstrip captured - General MacArthur instructed Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead to seize and hold Tarakan Island and destroy the enemy forces there. The Netherlands East Indies Government was to be re-established, Tarakan's oil producing capacity was to be conserved and the island's airfields put into use. The operation was codenamed Oboe 1.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/may.htm

1777: Quebec Quebec - British General John (Gentleman Johnny) Burgoyne arrives in Quebec as field commander of the British forces against the American rebels; his plan is to march down the Hudson River via the Richelieu River and Lake Champlain through Albany, with a secondary advance through the Mohawk Valley, and divide the rebels at New York.
1877: Wood Mountain Saskatchewan - Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads 1,500 of his followers into Canada to ask protection from the Queen; after defeating General George Custer and the US 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=May&day=06

1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. 147 Swiss Guards, including their commander, died fighting the forces of Charles V during the Sack of Rome in order to allow Pope Clement VII to escape into Castel Sant'Angelo.
1757 - Battle of Prague - A Prussian army fought an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years' War.
1942 - On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
1945 - Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (first was on December 11, 1941).
1945 - The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_6

1915: After a first attempt to capture the village of Krithia, on the Gallipoli Peninsula, failed on April 28, 1915, a second is initiated on May 6 by Allied troops under the British commander Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston. Fortified by 105 pieces of heavy artillery, the Allied force advanced on Krithia, located at the base of the flat-topped hill of Achi Baba, starting at noon on May 6. The attack was launched from a beach head on Cape Helles, where troops had landed on April 25 to begin the large-scale land invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula after a naval attack on the Dardanelles failed miserably in mid-March. Since the first failed attempt on the village, Hunter-Weston’s original force had been joined by two brigades of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) to bring the total number of men to 25,000. They were still outnumbered, however, by the Turkish forces guarding Krithia, which were under the direct command of the German Major-General Erich Weber. Weber had been promoted from the rank of colonel after supervising the closure and mining of the Dardanelles six months earlier.
source:http://www.history.com/tdih.do?actio...ryId=worldwari
 
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May 7th

1941: The Luftwaffe launches the first of two consecutive night raids against the British port of Hull.
1943: 5.Panzerarmee evacuates Tunis and Bizerta.
1944: The US 8th Air Force (Doolittle) launches a 1,500-bomber raid against Berlin. In the East, the Red Army recaptures Sevastopol in the Crimea.
1945: This day marks the end of hostilities between the Wehrmacht and the Allied armies in Europe. At 2:41 a.m. CET, Generaloberst Jodl signs the instrument of unconditional surrender of all German forces in a schoolroom at Rheims, France, to be effective at noon the following day. Off the Firth of Forth, U-236 sinks the last Allied ships of the war, the coastal vessels Sneland and Avondale Park, while an RAF Catalina sinks U-320, the last German submarine destroyed in WWII, near Bergen off the coast of Norway.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1429 - Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning wounded to lead the final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years' War.
1937 - Spanish Civil War: The GermanCondor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrive in Spain to assist Franco's forces.
1954 - Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_7

1915: German submarine sinks Lusitania - The earlier German attacks on merchant ships off the south coast of Ireland prompted the British Admiralty to warn the Lusitania to avoid the area or take simple evasive action, such as zigzagging to confuse U-boats plotting the vessel's course. The captain of the Lusitania ignored these recommendations, and at 2:12 p.m. on May 7, in the waters of the Celtic Sea, the 32,000-ton ship was hit by an exploding torpedo on its starboard side. The torpedo blast was followed by a larger explosion, probably of the ship's boilers. The Lusitania sank within 20 minutes.
1944: Atlantic - German U-boats sink RCN frigate HMCS Valleyfield.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=May&day=07

1779 - Continental Navy sloop Providence captures British brig Diligent off Cape Charles
1934 - USS Constitution completes tour of principal U.S. ports
1940 - FDR orders Pacific Fleet to remain in Hawaiian waters indefinitely
1942 - Carrier aircraft sink Japanese carrier Shoho during Battle of Coral Sea
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmay.htm

1941: The Luftwaffe launches the first of two consecutive night raids against the British port of Hull.
1942: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins, as the Japanese Striking Force (Admiral Inouye), which consists of the carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, 2 cruisers and 6 destroyers make the first strike. This is against the oiler Neosho and her escorting destroyer, which are on their way to rendezvous with Admiral Fletchers Task Force 17, which includes the carriers Yorktown and Lexington, 8 cruisers and 11 destroyers. The Neosho takes serious damage and eventually has to be scuttled. Admiral Fletcher then orders a cruiser squadron consisting of HMAS Australia, Hobart, USN Chicago and 2 destroyers to attack the Port Moresby invasion force, but this soon comes under Japanese air attack, although it did divert Japanese attention away from the American carriers. At the same time, Admiral Inouye orders the Invasion Force to turn away from the Jomard Passage until the American carriers have been dealt with. Admiral Fletcher now launched a strike from the Yorktown against what he thought was a major Japanese task force, but which turned out to be only 2 light cruisers and 2 gunboats. However, aircraft from the Lexington spotted the Japanese carrier Shoho and sank her. Later that afternoon the Japanese launched 27 aircraft against the US carrier Task Force, but they failed to locate their targets and only 6 returned safely. At midnight, Admiral Inouye decided to postpone the invasion of Port Moresby for two days. Vichy French resistance ends in Madagascar.
1943: Tunis falls to British First Army. In a speech to Nazi Party Reichsleiters and Gauleiters in Berlin, Hitler says tht U-boat warfare will be stepped up as the surest way to "cut the arteries of the enemy." Even as the Fuhrer speaks, however, the calamity of "Black May" for the U-boat force is unfolding in the Atlantic.
1944: 300,000 Japanese troops begin their preliminary moves prior to an offensive from the Canton and Hankow area in eastern China, with the aim of capturing allied airfields. The US 8th Air Force launches a 1,500-bomber raid against Berlin.
1945: General Böhne announces the unconditional surrender of German troops in Norway. The British Eighth Army crosses the Italian/Austrian border. British troops enter Utrecht to a tumultuous reception.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

:salute2:
 
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