This day in military history..

Lots of different stuff!

February 15

1944: In Italy, bombers of the US 15th Air Force drop thousands of tons of bombs on the monastery located on the top of Monte Cassino. Subsequent attacks by British Commonwealth and Polish forces fail to capture its ruins now occupied and defended by paratroopers (the Green Devils) of 1.Fallschirmjäger-Division (Heidrich).
1945: On the Eastern front, the Red Army captures Sagan in Silesia. Also, Operation Sonnenwende is launched by all three Korps from the 11.SS-Panzer-Armee (XXXIX.Panzer, III.SS-Panzer, and X.SS). They were all to attack on this date but the only divisions ready were the from the III.SS.Panzer-Korps. They began to attack on the 15th with a Kampfgruppe from the 11.SS-PzGr.Div. "Nordland" & 27.SS-Grenadier-Div. "Langemarck", of III.SS.Pz.Korps attacking south towards Arnswalde (about 30-35 kms southeast of Stargard). The KG from the 11.SS followed up the initial penetrations by the infantry of the 27.SS.
Source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
1898 - Spanish-American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing more than 260. This event leads the United States to declare war on Spain.
1944 - World War II: Assault on Monte Cassino, Italy begins.
1989 - Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops had left Afghanistan.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_15

1941: Great Britain breaks off diplomatic relations with Romania as it is now clear that the Romanians are firmly allied to the Germans.
1942: Churchill broadcasts to the nation and says the Mediterranean will close to all allied shipping. Singapore surrenders to the Japanese, a decision prompted as much as anything by the plight of the 1,000,000 civilian inhabitants of the island. 9,000 British, Australian and Empire troops are killed and 130,000 captured, many of which will find themselves working as slaves on the notorious Burma-Thai Railway. The Japanese casualties amount to around 9,000 killed or wounded.
1944: The USAAF decimate a Japanese convoy off New Ireland. Hitler permits Field Marshal Models troops to withdraw to Panther Line and also allows the Korsun pocket defenders to break out towards the relieving forces.
1945: Japanese forces are now trapped in the Manila rectangle, which is just 5,000yds by 2,000yds.
Source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

1915: Mutiny breaks out among Indian soldiers in Singapore, the first large-scale mutiny of World War I. Some 800 soldiers in the Indian army’s 5th Light Infantry Brigade broke out of their barracks on the afternoon of February 15 and killed several British officers before moving on to other areas of the city. By the time the revolt was quashed, several days later, by British, French and Russian troops, the mutineers had killed 39 Europeans—both soldiers and civilians. British soldiers executed 37 of the mutiny’s ringleaders by gunfire.
1966: DeGaulle offers to help end Vietnam War - In response to a letter from Ho Chi Minh asking that French President Charles De Gaulle use his influence to "prevent perfidious new maneuvers" by the United States in Southeast Asia, De Gaulle states that France is willing to do all that it could to end the war. As outlined by De Gaulle, the French believed that the Geneva agreements should be enforced, that Vietnam's independence should be "guaranteed by the nonintervention of any outside powers," and that the Vietnamese government should pursue a "policy of strict neutrality."
Source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/
 
February 21

1945: On the Oder front, the Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev) captures Guben. The US 8th Air Force launches another heavy attack (over 1,000 bombers) against Nürnberg.

1862: Battle of Val Verde - Confederate troops under General Henry Hopkins Sibley attack Union troops commanded by Colonel Edward R. S. Canby near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory. The first major engagement of the war in the far West, the battle produces heavy casualties but no decisive result.
1916 Battle of Verdun begins - At 7:12 a.m. on the morning of February 21, a shot from a German Krupp 38-centimeter long-barreled gun—one of over 1,200 such weapons set to bombard French forces along a 20-kilometer front stretching across the Meuse River—strikes a cathedral in Verdun, France, beginning the Battle of Verdun, which would stretch on for 10 months and become the longest conflict of World War I.
1970 National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger begins secret peace talks with North Vietnamese representative Le Duc Tho, the fifth-ranking member of the Hanoi Politburo, at a villa outside Paris.

1943: Convoy ON-166 (60 ships) sailing from Britain to North America, is attacked in the North Atlantic by 19 U-boats from wolfpacks Ritter and Knappen between the 21st and 26th February. 14 allied ships are lost for 87,901 tons. 4 U-boats U-225, U-606, U-529, U623 were sunk during the battle. The 25th Anniversary of the creation of the Red Army is celebrated in all allied countries.
1944: U.S. Marines complete the capture of Eniwetok Atoll, suffering 339 dead.
1945: The British 2nd Division establishes another Irrawaddy bridgehead, while the British 36th Division breaks through at Myitson, in northern Burma. Meanwhile further British forces cross the Irrawaddy in central Burma.

1543 - Battle of Wayna Daga - A combined army of Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeated a Muslim army led by Ahmed Gragn.
1974 - The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal in carrying out a truce with Egypt.


1956: Australian and British aircraft bomb Kluang, Malaya - The raid was staged against the jungle base of the 7th Independent Platoon, Malayan Races Liberation Army in Central Johore and was carried out by Lincolns of No. 1 Squadron RAAF and Canberra of No. 12 Squadron RAF. It wiped out the camp and was regarded as the most successful of the 4,000 sorties flown by the Australians in Malaya.
 
February 24

1945: In the East, the Red Army breaks through the German defenses of the Pommerstellung in Pommerania. Off the northern coast of Norway, German U-boats sink 8 ships and 2 destroyers of a convoy bound for the Soviet port of Murmansk. Egypt declares war on Germany.

1739 - Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nadir Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah.
1826 - The signing of the Treaty of Yandaboo marks the end of the First Burmese War.
1917 - World War I: The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if that country declares war on the United States.
1968 - Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Hué.

1971 -Smith, MM & Bar - Captain J.J. Smith, Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, wins a Bar to his Military Cross

1942: Reconnaissance elements of the German 5th Light Division clash with British forces for the first time in Africa, at Nofilia near El Agheila.
1945: U.S. Marines capture a second airfield on Iwo Jima.German U-boats sink 8 ships and 2 destroyers from a convoy bound for the Russian port of Murmansk.A German counter attack wipes out the Russian Hron bridgehead over the Danube to the northwest of Budapest.
 
February 25

1945: 400 RAF bombers carry out attacks against Dortmund and Rheine. Turkey declares war against Germany.

1951: Hill 614, Korea - 12 Platoon, D Company, 3rd battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, captured this important piece of high ground at the second attempt, enabling the United Nations' forces northward advance to the Albany Line to continue.

1991 - Gulf War: An Iraqi Scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 28 US Marines.

1779: British surrender Fort Sackville, marking the beginning of the end of British domination in America’s western frontier. Eighteen days earlier, George Rogers Clark departed Kaskaskia on the Mississippi River with a force of approximately 170 men, including Kentucky militia and French volunteers. The party traveled over 200 miles of land covered by deep and icy flood water until they reached Fort Sackville at Vincennes (Indiana) on February 23, 1779. After brutally killing five captive British-allied Indians within view of the fort, Clark secured the surrender of the British garrison under Lieutenant-Governor Henry Hamilton at 10 a.m. on February 25.
1915: German troops capture Fort Douaumont (Verdun), the most formidable of the forts guarding the walled city of Verdun, France, four days after launching their initial attack. The Battle of Verdun will become the longest and bloodiest conflict of World War I, lasting 10 months and resulting in over 700,000 total casualties.
1971: In both houses of Congress, legislation is initiated to forbid U.S. military support of any South Vietnamese invasion of North Vietnam without congressional approval. This legislation was a result of the controversy that arose after the invasion of Laos by South Vietnamese forces in Operation Lam Son 719. On February 8, South Vietnamese forces had launched a major cross-border operation into Laos to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail and destroy the North Vietnamese supply dumps in the area.

1941: British Nigerian troops of the 11th African Division occupy Mogadishu, the capital of Italian Somaliland, having advanced up the coast. Meanwhile the 12th African Division pushes up the river Juba in Italian Somaliland towards the Abyssinian border town of Dolo. The British submarine, HMS Upholder, sinks the Italian Cruiser Armando Diaz to the southwest of Malta. British Commando's land on the Italian held Island of Castelorizzo in the Dodecanese.
1942: After the withdrawal of ABDA HQ from Java, Wavell himself now leaves for Australia.
1943: The RAF begins a round the clock bombing campaign in Tunisia, with 2,000 raids in the next 48 hours.
1944: Convoy JW-57 (43 ships and 19 escorts) sailing the Loch Ewe to the Kola Peninsula, is attacked on 25 February off Norway. One destroyer, HMS Mahratta, is sunk by U-990 for 1,920 tons.

 
tomtom22 said:
February 25

1945: 400 RAF bombers carry out attacks against Dortmund and Rheine. Turkey declares war against Germany.
Click to expand...

lol, in the final year of the war???? they must have been drinking too much coffee :coffee: :cheers:
 
February 26

1945: Heeresgruppe Kurland repulses heavy Soviet attacks in the area of Prekuln. In the West, the attacks by the US Ninth Army into the Hürtgen Forest make little progress.

1266 - Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by KingManfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.

1943: End of fighting at Wau - The Japanese recognised that Allied possession of Wau posed a significant threat to important Japanese bases at Lae and nearby Salamaua and sought to take the town. They were defeated after weeks of heavy fighting
Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1941: Franco, in response to Hitler's appeal to enter the war, says ‘I stand today already at your side, entirely and decidedly at your disposal,' but refuses to enter the war.
1942: Churchill exhorts General Auchinleck to launch an offensive against the German and Italian forces that are gathering in front of the Gazala line. He reminds Auchinleck that the longer he waits, the more time Rommel will have to rebuild his strength. To this General Auchinleck reply's that his intention is to first build up an armoured striking force as quickly as possible and strengthen the defenses of the Gazala line. Only then would he mount a major offensive, which he advised Churchill would be in early June. The RAF launch an attack against the battleship Gneisenau, which is being repaired at Kiel's floating dock. The damage caused is severe and the battleship is never again put to sea under her own power.
1943: Von Arnim launches a five-day counter attack in northern Tunisia, gaining some ground. Montgomery issues the plan Operation 'Pugilist', which is to smash the Mareth defensive Line in southern Tunisia.
1944: Bad weather ends ‘Big Week’, during which 26 German aircraft production related factories are hit putting German monthly production down by 20%.
1945: U.S. Marines land on Verde Island, to the Southeast of Manila. Army Group Courland repulses heavy Red Army attacks in the area of Prekuln. The attacks by the US Ninth Army into the Hürtgen Forest make little progress.
Source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines

1917: President Wilson learns of Zimmermann Telegram - In a crucial step toward U.S. entry into World War I, President Woodrow Wilson learns of the so-called Zimmermann Telegram, a message from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German ambassador to Mexico proposing a Mexican-German alliance in the event of a war between the U.S. and Germany.
1945: Corregidor's last gasp - An ammunition dump on the Philippine island of Corregidor is blown up by a remnant of the Japanese garrison, causing more American casualties on the eve of U.S. victory there.
1968: Mass graves discovered in Hue - Allied troops who had recaptured the imperial capital of Hue from the North Vietnamese during the Tet Offensive discover the first mass graves in Hue. It was discovered that communist troops who had held the city for 25 days had massacred about 2,800 civilians whom they had identified as sympathizers with the government in Saigon. One authority estimated that communists might have killed as many as 5,700 people in Hue.
 
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February 27

1945: Under Soviet pressure, Rumanian King Michael I is forced to appoint a Communist government. The US 8th Air Force launches another heavy attack against Berlin which devastates the center of the city.

1560 - The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland.
1617 - Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.
1900 - Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders receive an unconditional notice of surrender from BoerGeneralPiet Cronje at the Battle of Paardeberg.
1991 - Gulf War: U.S.PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated."

1991: Coalition under US General Norman Schwarzkopf proclaims victory over Iraq in the six-week Gulf War; Canadian troops start to return home after combat operations cease; Canada sent a total of 2,400 troops, 26 fighter planes, 3 warships and a field hospital. Source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Feb&day=27

1942: Battle of Java Sea - In two separate actions off the coast of Surabaya involving heavy losses in Allied shipping. HMAS Perth was involved in the battle and was one of the few allied ships to survive. The action delayed Japanese landings in Java by only one day. Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp
1942: The Battle of the Java Sea begins and continues for three days, during which the Allies, under the command of the Dutch Admiral, Karel Doorman lose five cruisers and six destroyers, while the Japanese lose just 4 transports. Japanese troops land at Pemangkat on the west coast of Dutch Borneo.
1944: About 60,000 Japanese are reported to be trapped in New Britain and New Ireland, in the South West Pacific.
1945: SHAEF reports that spectacular gains by the U.S. First and Ninth Armies on the Cologne Plain have been made.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

1776: Patriots score early victory at Moores Creek, North Carolina - In the early-morning hours, Commander Richard Caswell leads 1,000 Patriot troops in the successful Battle of Moores Creek over 1,600 British Loyalists. It would go down in history as the first American victory in the first organized campaign of the Revolutionary War.
1916: Austrians occupy Durazzo in Albania - After completing their conquest of Serbia and Montenegro, the Austro-Hungarian army turns its attentions toward Albania, occupying the coastal city of Durazzo on the Adriatic Sea.
1942: U.S. aircraft carrier Langley is sunk - The U.S. Navy's first aircraft carrier, the Langley, is sunk by Japanese warplanes (with a little help from U.S. destroyers), and all of its 32 aircraft are lost.
1962: South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem survives another coup attempt when Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots Lieutenants Pham Phu Quoc and Nguyen Van Cu try to kill him and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu by bombing and strafing the presidential palace.
1965 United States assails North Vietnamese "aggression" - The U.S. State Department releases a 14,000-word report entitled "Aggression from the North--The Record of North Vietnam's Campaign to Conquer South Vietnam." Citing "massive evidence," including testimony of North Vietnamese soldiers who had defected or been captured in South Vietnam, the document claimed that nearly 20,000 Viet Cong military and technical personnel had entered South Vietnam through the "infiltration pipeline" from the North.
1969: Communist offensive continues - Communist forces shell 30 military installations and nine towns in South Vietnam, in what becomes known as the "Post-Tet Offensive." U.S. sources in Saigon put American losses in this latest offensive at between 250 and 300, compared with enemy casualties totaling 5,300. South Vietnamese officials report 200 civilians killed and 12,700 made homeless.
Source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

 
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February 28


1945: In the East, the Red Army suspends all offensive operations against the lines of Heeresgruppe Kurland. In the West, the US Ninth Army achieves a breakthrough near Erkelenz 30 miles W of Cologne, but losing 100 tanks in the process.

1900 - The Second Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" is lifted.
1998 - Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive againt the KLA in Kosovo. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_28

1942: Java Indonesia - Japanese Navy sinks two more Allied ships on the second day of the Battle of Java Sea; Japanese land on the island of Java, the last Allied bastion in the Dutch East Indies.
1994: Bosnia - NATO jets shot down four Serbian warplanes violating Bosnia's no-fly zone.
Source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Feb&day=28

1864: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid begins - A major Union cavalry raid begins when General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick leads 3,500 troopers south from Stevensburg, Virginia. Aimed at Richmond, the raid sought to free Federal prisoners and spread word of President Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in hopes of convincing Confederates to lay down their arms.
1916: German Cameroons surrenders to Allied forces - Allied forces complete their conquest of the Cameroons, a German protectorate on the coast of western Africa.
1968: Wheeler says Westmoreland will need more troops - Gen. Earle Wheeler, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, returns from his recent round of talks with Gen. William Westmoreland in Saigon and immediately delivers a written report to President Lyndon B. Johnson.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1941: British Commando's, having been left to hold Castelorizzo without out Naval support or reinforcement, are forced to evacuate when the Italians land troops on the Island. Vichy France reduces bread ration from 350g to 280g.
1942: Japanese land on Java. Japanese are only 50 miles north of Rangoon. A combined services parachute operation to destroy the radar station at Bruneval in North France succeeds.
1943: Nine Norwegian commandos successfully climb down the steep gorge on one side of the German ‘heavy water’ plant at Telemark and work their way up a 500 foot, almost sheer rock face to reach the plant on the other side of the gorge. Undetected, they gain entrance and successfully set and detonate their explosives, ruining the plant. All the commandos escaped safely, without taking or inflicting any casualties.
1945: U.S. Marines take Motoyama on Iwo Jima after a bloody battle. Corregidor is reported as clear of Japanese troops. The British Indian 4th Corps take Meiktila airfield in central Burma after an eight-day push from the Irrawaddy. The 2nd Belorussian Front captures Neustettin. The Red Army suspends all further offensive operations against the lines of Army Group Courland.
Source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/
 
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Lots of different stuff!

March 1st

1941: Bulgaria joins the Tripartite Pact of Germany, Italy and Japan, following Slovakia, Rumania and Hungary.
1943: On the central front in the East, German troops begin the evacuation of the Rshev area.
1945: In the West, the US Ninth Army (Simpson) captures München-Gladbach and Rheydt west of the Rhine. In the East, units of Heeresgruppe Mitte (Schörner) recapture Lauban in Lower Silesia.

1901:Naval and military forces of the States transferred to Commonwealth control - With Federation state and federal authorities began planning for the establishment of federal military forces.1 March
1942:HMAS Perth sunk in Sunda Strait - Having survived the Battle of the Java Sea HMAS Perth and the United States Cruiser Houston were sunk in a battle against overwhelming Japanese forces off the western tip of Java. 353 of Perth's 680 crew were killed in the battle.
Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1864: Grant nominated for lieutenant general - President Lincoln nominates Ulysses S. Grant for the newly revived rank of lieutenant general. At the time, George Washington was the only other man to have held that rank. Winfield Scott also attained the title but by brevet only; he did not actually command with it. The promotion carried Grant to the supreme command of Union forces and capped one of the most remarkable success stories of the war.
1917: Zimmermann Telegram published in United States - The text of the so-called Zimmermann Telegram, a message from the German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, to the German ambassador to Mexico proposing a Mexican-German alliance in the case of war between the United States and Germany, is published on the front pages of newspapers across America.
1941: Bulgaria joins the Axis - The southeastern European nation of Bulgaria joins the Axis powers by signing the Tripartite Pact, after the discovery of a planned pro-British coup. When the Second World War broke out, Bulgaria declared its neutrality. But Bulgaria's King Boris was eager to expand his country's borders, and Germany had already coerced Romania to restore south Dobruja--which had been lost in World War I--to Bulgaria.
1965: U.S. informs South Vietnam of intent to send Marines - Ambassador Maxwell Taylor informs South Vietnamese Premier Phan Huy Quat that the United States is preparing to send 3,500 U.S. Marines to Vietnam to protect the U.S. airbase at Da Nang.
1968: Clark Clifford replaces Robert McNamara as Secretary of Defense. McNamara, who had first taken office under President John F. Kennedy, left amid a debate over Vietnam policy precipitated by the Tet Offensive. In the summer of 1967, McNamara had become convinced that the United States should seek an end to the war through a negotiated settlement. In a memorandum submitted to President Johnson, he recommended that the U.S. freeze its troop levels, cease the bombing of North Vietnam, and turn over responsibility for the ground war to South Vietnam. Johnson rejected these proposals outright.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/


86 BC - Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army, enters in Athens, removing the tyrantAristion who was supported by troops of Mithridates VI of Pontus.
1896 - Battle of Adowa, an Ethiopian army defeats an outnumbered Italian force, ending the First Italo-Abyssinian War.
1918 - German submarine Unterseeboot 19 (U-19) sinks HMS Calgarian off Rathlin Island.
2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1

1940: The Soviet Unions peace ultimatum to Finland expires.
1941: The 11th African Division begins a lightning pursuit of the retreating Italian forces north from Mogadishu, towards the Ogaden Plateau. Italian civilian rations are halved in order to allow food exports to Germany.
1942: The heavy cruiser USS Houston and light cruiser HMAS Perth, along with 1 British, 1 Dutch and 2 US destroyers, fleeing from the debacle at the Battle of Java Sea, surprise an IJN landing force at Bantam Bay near the Sundra Strait, and are sunk by torpedoes and gunfire. The Japanese force, comprising 2 heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, 9 destroyers, and various transports, manage to sink a minesweeper and a transport of their own, and seriously damage 3 more transports, through the unprecedented firing of 87 torpedoes. A US Hudson of squadron VP-82 which is based at Argentia, Newfoundland sinks U-656 off Cape Race. Both German and Russian forces in the Baltic region go on the defensive.
1943: The Russians announce that new offensive to the South of Leningrad and led by Timoshenko, 'has made considerable gains'. German troops begin the evacuation of the Rzhev area.
1944: The 'Chindits' cross the Chindwin in Burma. Wing Commander John Cunningham, now on 20 ‘kills’, gets the 2nd bar to his DSO, the first pilot to receive this triple honour.
1945: Units of Army Group Centre recapture Lauban in lower Silesia.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/
 
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March 2nd

1941: Great Britain breaks off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.
1945: Armored spearheads of the US Ninth Army reach the Rhine near Neuss.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1943:Battle of Bismarck Sea begins -A Japanese convoy of 8 transport ships and 8 escorting destroyers was almost annihilated by Allied air attacks as they attempted to reinforce the garrison at Lae. Of the 6,000 Japanese troops bound for Lae only 2,890 survived. It was an utter disaster for the Japanese--the U.S. 5th Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force dropped a total of 213 tons of bombs on the Japanese convoy.
1972: Last RAAF flight out of Vietnam - Australia's involvement in Vietnam was among the most divisive issues in Australia during the second half of the twentieth century, leaving a legacy of bitterness that continued long after the conclusion of the war.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1865 - Second Taranaki War: The Volkner Incident in New Zealand.
1896 - Ethiopia defeats Italy in the Battle of Adwa, marking the first
victory of an African nation over a colonial power.
1991 - Battle at Rumaila Oil Field brings end to the 1991 Gulf War.
2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, (ending on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities).
2004 - War in Iraq: Al Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500. War in Iraq: A United Nations report from the weapons inspection teams states that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction of any significance after 1994, despite PresidentBush's objection to the contrary before the invasion.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_2

1801: Spain - Spain attacks Portugal with the help of France; the War of the Oranges fought when Portugal refuses Napoleon's demand to cede much of the country.
1962: Myanmar - Burmese army led by Ne Win seizes power in a coup, ousting U Nu. (Who knew?)
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=02

1776: The Siege of Boston - In advance of the Continental Army’s occupation of Dorchester Heights, Massachusetts, General George Washington orders American artillery forces to begin bombarding Boston from their positions at Lechmere Point, northwest of the city center.
1865: Battle of Waynesboro, Virginia - Union General George Custer's troops rout Confederate General Jubal Early's force, bringing an end to fighting in the Shenandoah Valley. The Shenandoah Valley was the scene of many battles and skirmishes during the Civil War. It was located directly in the path of armies invading from the south--as Confederate General Robert E. Lee did during the 1863 Gettysburg campaign-and the north.
1965: Operation Rolling Thunder begins with more than 100 United States Air Force jet bombers striking an ammunition depot at Xom Bang, 10 miles inside North Vietnam. Simultaneously, 60 South Vietnamese Air Force propeller planes bombed the Quang Khe naval base, 65 miles north of the 17th parallel. Six U.S. planes were downed, but only one U.S. pilot was lost. Capt. Hayden J. Lockhart, flying an F-100, was shot down and became the first Air Force pilot to be taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese.
1969: Soviet Union and Chinese armed forces clash - In a dramatic confirmation of the growing rift between the two most powerful communist nations in the world, troops from the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China fire on each other at a border outpost on the Ussuri River in the eastern region of the USSR, north of Vladivostok. In the years following this incident, the United States used the Soviet-Chinese schism to its advantage in its Cold War diplomacy.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih

1940: British India liner Domala bombed in English Channel, killing 100 people.
1941: The RAF launches a heavy raid against Cologne.
1942: General Wavell reassumes post as C-in-C India and Burma. Burma is now cut off from the Southwest Pacific. The Dutch take supreme command of all allied forces in Southwest Pacific. Churchill declares that the Tirpitz is 'the most important naval vessel in the situation today' and believes her destruction would 'profoundly affect the course of the war'. The German Twelfth Army moves into Bulgaria. Great Britain breaks off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.
1943: The battle of the Bismarck Sea opens Northeast of New Guinea. A Japanese convoy is attacked by USAAF B25 bombers, which sink 12 ships.
1945: The RAF launches a heavy attack (300 bombers) against Mannheim, causing a devastating firestorm. Armoured spearheads of the US Ninth Army reach the Rhine near Neuss. The U.S. Third Army captures Trier on the Moselle.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/
 
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A busy day for WW II

March 3rd

1942: RAF Bomber Command, under its new C-i-C, Air Vice Marshal Harris (Bomber Harris), attacks the Renault plant in the Paris suburb of Bilancourt, causing serious damage to production facilities and killing many French workers.
1945: Units of the Canadian First Army (Crerar) capture Xanten on the lower Rhine in the battle of the Reichswald. The US First Army (Hodges) captures Krefeld.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1885: Sudan contingent departed Sydney - New South Wales' offer to send a contingent to the Sudan was a demonstration of the depth of imperial sentiment in colonial Australia.
1942: Broome and Wyndham bombed - The Japanese air raid on Broome came when the port was crowded with refugees fleeing the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies. About 70 people, including many civilians are thought to have been killed in the raid. Japanese Attacks on Wyndham focused on the town's aerodrome.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1857 - France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.
1918 - Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in World War I, and leading to the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
1943 - World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Greentube station.
1945 - World War II: Previously neutral Finland declares war on the Axis powers.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_3

1886: Bucharest Romania - Bulgaria and Serbia sign Treaty of Bucharest, ending conflict between the two states.
1878: San Stefano Italy - Russians and Turks sign Treaty of San Stefano, ending Russo-Turkish War; Serbia gains independence.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Mar&day=03

1971: The U.S. Army's 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) departs South Vietnam. The Special Forces were formed to organize and train guerrilla bands behind enemy lines. The 5th Group was sent to Vietnam in October 1964 to assume control of all Special Forces operations in Vietnam. Prior to this time, Green Berets had been assigned to Vietnam only on temporary duty. The primary function of the Green Berets in Vietnam was to organize the Civilian Irregular Defense Groups (CIDG) among South Vietnam's Montagnard population.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih

1940: The Russians launch a massive offensive and bring Viipuri under direct attack. This brings home to the Finns the fact that they cannot resist for must longer against the overwhelming force that the Russians are now deploying.
1942: General Chiang Kai-shek meets General Wavell in Burma. Vichy announces that 'official' German figures put the number of French arrested in 1941 at 5,390 and executions at more than 250.
1943: Russians take Rzhev, over 100 miles to the west of Moscow. Italy protests to Britain over proposed ban on Italian imports of German coal.
1944: Japanese counter-attacks on Los Negros fail. The allies announce that Russia is to get a third of Italian fleet, or equivalent in British and American warships. Under pressure from the Western Allies to withdraw all remaining Spanish troops from the Eastern front, the Franco government orders members of the so-called “Blue Legion,” attached to the German 121st Infantry Division, to return home and outlaws service by Spanish citizens with the Axis forces. Nevertheless, a handful of fanatically anti-Communist Spaniards defy orders and volunteer for service with the Waffen SS, some of them fighting suicidally to the end in the ruins of Berlin. German attacks cease at Anzio after loss of 3,500 men and 30 Panzer's in four days.
1945: Japanese resistance ends in Meiktila. 100 Luftwaffe night-fighters attack 27 RAF airfields, in what is the last night intrusion raid of the war. 22 RAF aircraft were destroyed for 6 German.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/
 
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The U.S. Army Air Force View of WW II

1943: B-17's bomb docks and shipping at Tunis and shipping and power plant at La Goulette harbor. Ftrs and MBs of NATAF hit ground forces in areas around Bedja, Bou Arada, and Mateur. Fighting around Bedja subsides but enemy forces take Sedjenane. B-24's dispatched against Naples fail to reach primary tgt. Several bomb secondary tgt, Messina, while 3 bomb bridges at Banco and Siderno Marina. P-40's fly FB missions along Mareth Line as probing attack against British 51st Div positions near Mareth is driven back. German Afrika Korps issues plan for counterattack from Mareth Line. 13 B-24's bomb Mahlwagon M/Y and dock area at Rangoon. 9 others attack Pazundaung railroad bridge but fail to knock it out. 6 B-25's bomb railroad sheds at Maymyo. Battle of Bismarck Sea continues as HBs are joined by MBs, LBs, and ftr aircraft (US and Australian) in pounding convoy as it moves into Huon Gulf. PT boats of US Seventh Fleet also close with the enemy. By the end of the day all 8 transports have been sunk and Allied aircraft have destroyed 4 of the 8 destroyers and a large number of ftr aircraft covering the convoy." 4 P-40's sweep Kiska dropping demolition and fragmentation bombs. Adm Kinkaid, CO Alaska Def Cmd tables Kiska invasion plan and substitutes an Attu invasion plan."
1944: Thick clouds cause abandonment of mission to bomb industry at Erkner, Germendorf, Annahof and Berlin. Of more than 750 HBs dispatched, 79 manage to bomb T/Os, including Wilhelmshaven and Helgoland. 11 HBs are lost on mission. 218 B-26's bomb A/Fs at Laon/Couvron, Beauvais/Tille, Rosieres-en-Santerre, Roye/Amy, and Montdidier, and military installations at Juvincourt-et-Damary and Berneval-le-Grand. B-25's bomb Rome/Ostiense and railroad stations at San Benedetto de Marsi. Weather cancels LB and other MB operations. P-40's hit gun positions in N Anzio beachhead area while A-36's attack train and tented area between Magliano Romano and Rome. Other P-40's fly patrol over Anzio beachhead area." Around 200 B-17's and B-24's, with over 50 P-47's as escort, bomb M/Ys in Rome area and A/Fs and landing grounds at Viterbo, Canino, and Fabrica di Roma. More than 80 B-24's and over 100 P-38's abort because of bad weather. 22 B-25's, some supported by Spitfires and Hurricanes, bomb Ft White area; 10 B-25's and 4 P-51's pound A/Fs at Katha, MawIu, and Shwebo. 12 B-25's and 8 P-51's hit railroad tgts and a warehouse at Kyaikthin and Kyunhla. 14 B-24's covered by 22 P-40's, hit A/Fs at Lashio, Hsenwi, and Loiwing. 70-plus P-40's, A-36's, P-51's, and B-26's hit fuel storage, supply areas, roads, and other tgts over widespread areas of Burma, including Shingban, Myitkyina, Zigyun, Mogaung, Manywet, and Washawng. 6 P-38's attack Okshitpin bridge but tgt is not damaged." P-40's damage coal grading building at Campha Port. More than 30 B-24's hit Hansa Bay and Alexishafen areas while 20 P-39's attack Madang and Bogadjim and 22 A-20's pound Erima. 14 A-20's and B-25's hit enemy positions on Los Negros I. P-40's and Navy ftrs cover Navy dive bmr strike on Rabaul and Simpson Harbor. 24 B-25's follow with attack on Rabaul, which later in the day is bombed by 20 B-24's. 5 P-38's bomb radar installations at Cape Saint George while 10 bomb Buka A/F. P-39's hit T/Os on E part of Shortland I and W part of Buka I. B-24's out of Makin bomb Ponape. B-25's from Tarawa hit Maloelap. This date marks beginning of Operation FORAGER, the capture of the S Marianas (Saipan, Tinian, and Guam) for bases for B-29 strikes against Japan. Seventh AF aircraft maintain neutralization strikes against A/Fs in the Carolines and continue hitting Wake and the bypassed Marshalls. 9 B-24's take off from Shemya to search for enemy shipping, but return due to heavy icing and squalls. 6 P-40's fly a search mission between Shemya and halfway to Attu."
1945: 1,048 HBs operating in 6 forces bomb 10 primary tgts (6 oil refineries, an oil plant equipment works, motor transport factory, tank plant, and a rail bridge) in NC and E Germany along with several secondaries, last resort tgts, and T/Os including M/Ys, casting plant, tank plant, and industrial and city areas. 657 effective ftr sorties are flown in spt. Ftrs also strafe ground tgts. 9th Bomb Div hits Wiesbaden, Giessen, Bergisch Born, and Nahbollenbach ordnance and storage depots, rail bridges at Remagen and Simmern, comm center at Heimersheim, motor transport concentration at Schwelm, Rheinbach ammo dump, Kirn M/Y and town, and several T/Os. Ftrs fly bmr escort, hit special tgts, fly patrols and armed rcn, and spt US 9th Inf Div, 3d Armd Div, and VII Corps astride Erft R W of Euskirchen and area near Roggendorf W of the Rhine R, XIII, XVI, and XIX Corps E of Sevelen, NE of Krefeld, and W of the Rhine in Dusseldorf area, and VIII, XII, and XX Corps in the area between the Prum and Kyll R and along the Mosel in Trier area. Overcast skies and turbulent winds hamper MB missions against comm in Brenner area, allowing only limited success against tgts. Crema and Fidenza bridges in Po Valley are damaged. XXII TAC FBs, destroy a sugar refinery at Verona and achieve good results against comm and dumps in C Po Valley and Brenner area. Other ftrs and FBs spt US Fifth Army S of Bologna. A-20's during 2/3 Mar hit roads, ammo supplies, and vehicles at several points in Po Valley, particularly in Bologna-Modena regions, and bomb Legnano M/Y. Rapidly deteriorating weather cancels bombing operations. P-51's strafe rail traffic between Leibuitz and SW of Spittal an der Drau and attack A/F S of Graz. P-38's fly rcn and rcn escort. 1 B-24, of 6 dispatched, drops supplies in N Yugoslavia. 24 P-38's and P-47's spt forces of Chinese 50th Div near Mansam. 16 spt British 36th Div in Mogok area. 10 P-47's knock out Nalang bridge while 2 B-25's drop delay-action bombs in good pattern around Loi-leng bridge. 10 B-25's join 80-plus FBs in attack on troops, supplies, tanks, trucks, gun positions, and transport elephants behind enemy lines. 29 of the FBs concentrate on Kankang area. 643 air supply sorties are completed. 4 B-24's over Gulf of Tonkin and S China Sea attack shipping T/Os, claiming 1 vessel sunk and 3 damaged. 3 B-25's hit Kep, damaging several locomotives and boxcars and hit a bridge. 12 P-51's over Indochina hit T/Os between Vinh and Nam Dinh (2 direct hits are scored on bridge at Minh Koi) while 2 others blast HQ building in Hanoi. B-24's pound Tainan area and Kiirun while ftrs sweeping over Formosa hit numerous T/Os. FBs bomb Koshun A F. B-25's bomb San Roque A/F. B-24's and B-25's attack Zettle Field. Echague, Ternate, and Caballo I areas are bombed by A-20's. B-25's, aborting strike against Formosa, bomb airstrip at Basco. 10 B-24's from Guam pound Susaki A/F in afternoon strike, and 4 more, flying individual strikes, hit same tat during 3/4 Mar.
source: https://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/PopTopics/chron/contents.htm
 
Lots of different stuff!

March 4th

1941: The British Eighth Army (Wavell) transfers some of its units from Egypt to Greece. On the northern Norwegian coast, British light naval units and commandos carry out a raid on the Lofoten islands near Narvik, destroying port and oil storage facilities.
1944: In the East, the Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front (Konev) begins an offensive against Heeresgruppe Süd (von Manstein).
1945: Units of the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov) establish a new bridgehead across the Oder south of Frankfurt.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/march.html

1461 - Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI is deposed by his Yorkist cousin, who then becomes King Edward IV.
1665 - English king Charles II declares war on The Netherlands which marked the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
1804 - The Battle of Vinegar Hill, colony of New South Wales (Australia).
1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Thompson's Station in Tennessee.
1944 - First US bombing of Berlin and Anti-Germany strikes in northern Italy.
1945 - Lapland War: Finland declares war on nazi-Germany.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_4

1942HMAS Yarra sunk south of JavaYarra was escorting a convoy of three ships from the fighting in the Netherlands East Indies to Java to Fremantle when they were attacked by three Japanese heavy cruisers and two destroyers. All four ships were sunk and only 13 of Yarra's 151 crew survived.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1776: American forces occupy Dorchester Heights - Under the cover of constant bombing from American artillery, Brigadier General John Thomas slips 2,000 troops, cannons and artillery into position at Dorchester Heights, just south of Boston, on this day in 1776. Under orders from General George Washington, Thomas and his troops worked through the night digging trenches, positioning cannons and completing their occupation of Dorchester Heights.
1968: Task Force sends memo to the president - In a draft memorandum to the president, the Ad Hoc Task Force on Vietnam advises that the administration send 22,000 more troops to Vietnam, but make deployment of the additional 185,000 men previously requested by Gen. William Westmoreland (senior U.S. commander in Vietnam) contingent on future developments.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1941: The British start to transfer the first contingent of troops from Egypt to Greece. These are to be under the command of General Maitland Wilson. Hitler increases the pressure on Yugoslavia to join the Tripartite pact by inviting Prince Paul, the regent, to Berchtesgaden. Hitler demands that he allows German troops to pass through Yugoslavia for an attack on Greece. In return, the port of Salonika and part of Macedonia will be ceded to Yugoslavia.
1944: Merrill’s ‘Marauders’ fight their first major action in Burma. Convoy RA-57 (31 ships) sailing the Arctic route from the Kola Peninsula to Loch Ewe, is attacked off Norway. The steam merchant Empire Tourist is sunk by U-703 for 7,062 gross tons lost. However, the convoys escorts sink 3 U-boats en-route. The USAAF launch, but then cancel the first daylight heavy bomber raid on Berlin. However 29 aircraft fail to receive the counter-order and bomb the capital. Zhukov renews his attacks against the forces of Manstein's Army Group South in the Ukraine.
1945: The First Belorussian Front breaks through at Stargard and drives towards Stettin and also establishes a new bridgehead across the Oder to the South of Frankfurt.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

 
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