The world's an oppressive place to live through -yet with a little pride it's worth it
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September, 27
489: During the Ostrogothic Invasion of Italy, the Battle of Verona occurs. On the steep banks of the Adige River, an Ostrogothic army under Theodoric the Great, defeated Odoacer's army, to wrest Italy from him. The reward for this Ostrogothic victory, was the possession of the Italian province as far as the walls of Mediolanum (=Milan) where its inhabitants saluted their conqueror with loud acclamations of respect and fidelity.
Theodoric the Great
1331: During the Polish-Teutonic War, the Battle of Płowce occurs. The German army from the Teutonic Order of 7,000 men under the 19th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Dietrich von Altenburg, was defeated by the 5,000 Poles under their King Władysław I Łokietek (=Elbow-high) and his son Prince Casimir. Despite the Polish victory on the field, the battle is traditionally regarded as inconclusive given that the Teutonic Order was not destroyed.
King Ladislaus I the Short of Poland
1529: During the Ottoman Wars in Europe, the First Siege of Vienna opens. An Ottoman army of somewhere between 120 - 300,000 troops (including units of Sipahi, the elite mounted force of the Ottoman cavalry, and Jannisaries) under the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman I the Magnificent and his Grand Vizier, the Greek, Christian born and Muslim convert, Pargalı İbrahim Pasha, begins its first attempt to capture Vienna. The Siege ended 45 days later in an Ottoman failure.
1605: During the Polish-Swedish War, the Battle of Kircholm occurs. A 5,200-strong Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth army (1,040 pikemen and 260 musketeers, 2,600 horse, 1,300 Winged Hussars) under the most prominent nobleman of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, defeated a ca 11,000-strong Swedish army (nearly half of its force with German, Scottish and Dutch mercenaries) under the Swedish King Karl IX. The fighting lasted barely 20 to 30 minutes, yet the Swedish defeat was utter and complete. The Swedish army lost at least half, perhaps as much as two-thirds, of its original strength. The Polish-Lithuanian losses numbered only about 100 dead and 200 wounded, although the Hussars, lost a large part of their trained battle horses.
The conqueror of Kircholm, the Grand Hetman, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz
1939: Warsaw, besieged for more than two weeks, surrenders after continuous air and artillery bombardments. Near Grabowiec, 6 Polish Police Officers and 150 Polish Policemen among 5,000 taken prisoner, are executed by the Soviets.
1940: Germany, Italy and Japan sign 10-year pact in Berlin recognising the need for a Neue Ordnung (=New Order) in Europe and Far East. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0dL7SiosIE
1941: The National Liberation Front (EAM), the main movement of the Greek Resistance during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, is founded. At the KKE's (=Communist Party of Greece) 7th Plenum, EAM is founded by representatives of the major four Greek left-wing parties: Lephteres Apostolu for the KKE, Chrestos Khomenides for the Socialist Party of Greece (SΚΕ), Elias Tsirimokos for the Union for People's Democracy (ΕLD) and Apostolos Voiatzes for the Agricultural Party of Greece (ΑΚΕ). EAM's charter called for "...the liberation of the Nation from foreign yoke" and "...the guaranteeing of the Greek people's sovereign right to determine its form of government".
One of the first EAM propaganda leaflets to the Athenians; it reads: "National Unity - EAM - All called to arms"
1993: During the Abkhazia War, the Sukhumi massacre occurs. It was perpetrated against Georgian civilians of Sukhumi, mainly by militia forces of Abkhaz separatists. Intimitaded by massive human rights abuse, more than 250,000 refugees (mainly Georgians, also Greeks and others) were forced out from Abkhazia.
Ethnic Greeks of Abkhazia; photo taken in the first decades of 20th c.
The world's an oppressive place to live through -yet with a little pride it's worth it
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September, 28
351: The Battle of Mursa Major was fought between the Eastern Roman army led by Emperor Flavius Julius Constantius II and the Western forces supporting the usurper Flavius Magnus Magnentius at the valley of the Drava River, a Danube tributary in present day Croatia. Despite Magnentius' heroism, his troops were defeated and forced to retreat back to Gaul. According to the Byzantine historian, Ioannes Zonarás, Magnentius lost upwards of 2/3 of his troops, and Constantius about half of his army, for a total of over 50,000 casualties.
Constantius' era gold solidus
1066: The Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy begins. The Normans landed at Pevensey in Sussex, England and erected a wooden castle at Hastings, from which they raided the surrounding area. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtGoBZ4D4_E
1106: During the English invasion of Normandy, the Battle of Tinchebray occurs. An invading English force led by King Henry I of England, defeated a force under his older brother Robert Curthose, the Duke of Normandy. Henry's knights won a decisive victory, capturing Robert and imprisoning him in England and then Wales until Robert's death in Cardiff Castle. England and Normandy remained under a single ruler until 1204.
King Henry I, of England
1322: The Battle of Mühldorf was fought between the 1,800 knights and mercenaries from the Duchy of Upper Bavaria under the Romanorum Rex (=King of the Romans) Ludwig IV the Bavarian and an Austrian army comprised 1,400 knights, Cuman cavalry and mercenaries under Ludwig's cousin, Frederick the Handsome, Duke of Austria. The battle did not go well for the Austrians. Frederick's army was defeated by Ludwig's outnumbering forces with heavy losses on both sides and Frederick made prisoner.
1708: During the Great Northern War, the Battle of Lesnaya occurs. An 18,200-strong Russian army comprised Dragoons, Cossack and Kalmyk cavalry, 5,200 foot with 30 cannons, under Tsar Peter the Great, defeated the 13,000 Swedes (supported by 16 cannons) of General Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt. The Swedes lost 1,000 men dead and wounded and 4,000 missing in the battle. Russian casualties totaled 1,111 killed and 2,856 wounded.
The conqueror of Lesnaya, Peter the Great
1781: American forces under George Washington, backed by a French fleet, begin the siege of Yorktown, Virginia, during the American Revolutionary War. It proved to be a decisive Franco-American victory which led to the surrender of Lord Cornwallis' British army. The British government eventually negotiated an end to the conflict.
1922: The Armistice of Mudanya between Turkey, Italy, France and the UK is signed in the town of Mudanya, near İstanbul, Turkey, that ends the Greco-Turkish War of 1919 - 1922. Greece signed it two days later.
The building where the Armistice of Mudanya was signed
1939: German and Soviet troops meet at Brest-Litovsk and together stage a military review. An agreement is signed affirming their common border lines in eastern Poland. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESGactCIx_g
1943: German forces retake Split from Tito's partisans.
1944: The Germans begin to evacuate Albania.
1944: The Red Army begin an offensive towards the Yugoslav border from Romania.
1952: During the Korean War, the Battle of Hill Big Nori between the Greek troops of the GEF (=Greek Expeditionary Force) and the Chinese, opened on the night of 28 - 29 September. The battle is also known for a tragic incident; four USAF bombers pound the Greek positions by mistake.
The headline of a Greek Newspaper of the era; it reads: The Greek Battalion repels an intense Chinese attack
1987: The beginning of the Palestinian civil disobedience uprising, the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation.
2000: The second Palestinian civil disobedience uprising, the Al-Aqsa Intifada against the Israeli occupation, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, begins with Ariel Sharon's visit to the Al-Haram Al-Sharif mosque (Temple Mount) in Jerusalem.
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September, 29
480 BC: During the Second Persian invasion of Greece, the Naval Battle of Salamís occurs. A joint Greek fleet of ca 366 - 378 triremes from Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Megara, Croton (from S. Italy) and other Greek minor city-states, under the overall command of the Athenian Stratēgós (=Army leader, general) Themistocles, but nominally led by the Spartan Návarchos (=Ship leader, admiral), Eurybiades, defeated the Persian Achæmenid fleet of some 600 - 800 warships (triremes mostly) led by the eldest brother of Persian King Xerxes I, Ariabignes (or Ariamenes according to Plutarch). The Persian fleet sailed into the Straits of Salamís and tried to block both entrances. In the cramped conditions of the Straits the great Persian numbers were an active hindrance, as ships struggled to maneuver and became disorganised. Seizing the opportunity, the Greek fleet formed in line and scored a decisive victory, sinking or capturing at least 200 Persian ships. Ariabignes died in the battle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKxuAerW9YQ
480 BC: During the Greco-Punic Wars (a series of conflicts fought between the Carthaginians and the Greeks headed by Syracusans, over control of Sicily and western Mediterranean from 7th - 3rd c. BC), the Battle of Himéra occurs. A 50,000-strong, according to modern estimates, (according to Herodotus' account, 300,000) Carthaginian army comprised Iberians, Libyans, Carthaginians and Libyo-Phœnecians, with Gaullic and Sardinian cavalry, under General Hamilcar, the son of Hanno, invaded Sicily and marched along the coast in order to capture the city of Himéra. The Greeks fielded a few tens of thousands (Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus give 50,000) hoplites, mostly from the major Greek city in Sicily, Syracuse, but also hired mercenaries from Greece and local Sicels and Sikans, under the overall command of the Tyrant (=Ruler) of Syracuse, Gelo, acting together with the Tyrant of Acragas (today's Agrigento in Sicily), Theron. About half of the Carthaginian army and majority of the fleet was destroyed, numerous prisoners and rich booty had fallen into Greek hands. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus comments that "..the surviving Carthaginian ships were sunk in a storm on their return journey to Africa".
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On December 18, 2008 archeologists uncovered the mass graves of more than 10,000 soldiers holding the remains of 5th century B.C. soldiers near the site of the ancient Greek city of Himéra during the construction of a railway extension, on the island of Sicily: news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/12/081217-himera-mass-grave.html
1364: During the Hundred Years' War, the Battle of Auray occurs. A 3,500-strong Anglo-Breton army, comprised English and Bretons led by Jean V the Conqueror, Duc de Montfort, assisted by Sir John Chandos, Viscount of Saint-Sauveur, defeated a 4,000-strong Franco-Breton army, under Charles of Blois. In the battle, the troops of Charles of Blois broke and fled and he was killed.
1848: During the Hungarian Revolution (the revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary that grew into a war for independence from Habsburg rule) the Battle of Pákozd occurs. Lt. Gen. János Móga in command of 27,000 Hungarians with 82 cannon, fought and defeated the Habsburg army, numbering from 35 - 40,000 men under Croatian Ban (=Ruler), Count Josip Jelačić of Bužim. Although the Battle of Pákozd was one of the smaller of the Revolution, its consequences were very important. The battle became an icon for the Hungarian army because of its influence on politics and morale.
The victor, János Móga
1911: The claims of Italy over Ottoman Libya, lead Italy to formally Declare War against Ottoman Empire on 29 September, although the Italian fleet appeared off Tripoli, Libya, on the previous evening (28 September, 1911).
WWI-1918: Following the breach on the Salonika front occured on 15 September, Bulgaria capitulated and concluded armistice negotiations with the Allies. The Armistice with Bulgaria was signed at the Bulgaria Armistice Convention in Thessaloniki, Greece, between the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Allied Powers.
The Allied Military Cemetery in Thessaloniki, Greece. 21,000 allied soldiers killed in the Salonika Front (French, Italian, British and Russian) repose there; 7,000 of them are Serbs
1932: During the Chaco War (fought between Bolivia and Paraguay over control of the northern part of the Gran Chaco region from 1932 - 1935) the Battle of Boquerón ends (it opened on 7 September). A Bolivian army of ca 1,000 men, reinforced by a cavalry regiment and three infantry regiments as the battle progressed (totalling 4,000 troops), under Lt. Col. Manuel Marzana, was decisively defeated by the 14,000 Paraguayan troops under Col. José Félix Estigarribia Insaurralde. Bolivia suffered 1,000 dead or wounded, 800 made prisoners. Paraguay lost ca 1,500 - 2,000 dead or wounded.
1939: Poland formally surrenders. Polish Armed Forces suffered 66,000 dead, 133,700 wounded, 694,000 captured in their desparate 28-day, two-front struggle.
1941: The SS Einsatzgruppen operating in the Ukraine, massacre between 50,000 and 96,000 Ukranians (of which 33,771 are Jews), at Babi Yar, a ravine about 30 miles outside of Kiev.
The Babi Yar memorial in Kyiv, Ukraine
1941: During the night of 28 - 29 September, an insurrection against the Bulgarian occupation troops occured in the town of Doxáto, Drama Prefecture, Greece. The local police station in the town was attacked, leading to the death of 6 - 7 Bulgarian policemen. Although those who participated in the insurrection were killed or fled to the mountains, reprisals were harsh. The next day, Bulgarian forces rounded up all the men in town aged 14 and over, and after dividing them into groups of ten, executed them on the night of 29 September, 1941. 200 men were massacred.
The Memorial to the massacre in Doxáto
1990: The YF-22, which would later become the F-22 Raptor, flies for the first time.
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September, 30
1744: During the War of the Austrian Succession, the Battle of Cuneo, fought on the outskirts of Cuneo in Piedmont, occurs. A combined Hispano-French force of some 26,000 soldiers under Louis François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, defeated a Sardinian army under the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia, Charles Emmanuel III. Out of a total number of 25,000, the King of Sardinia lost 4,400 men, whilst the Bourbon losses were a little over half their enemies at 2,700 men killed or wounded.
The conqueror of Cuneo, Louis François de Bourbon
1938: The Munich Aggreement is signed by the UK, France, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It permitted Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CAAqfS8lUQ
1941: The German strategic offensive named Operation Typhoon begins, when Guderian's Panzergruppe 2 opens its offensive against Moscow, 2 days ahead of the rest of Heeresgruppe Mitte (=Army Group Centre) (von Bock) and makes 80 km (50 miles) in its advance towards Orel.
Generaloberst Heinz Guderian; USSR autumn 1941
1943: On the eve of the Jewish New Year, the Gestapo and Danish Nazis begin rounding up all Danish Jews. However, a large number of Danish Jews had been saved when the anti-nazi politician Hans Hedtoft got wind of the German plan and passed the details to the Danish resistance who, with the help of Danish fishermen ferried many Jews to neutral Sweden.
The Danish resistance movement as a collective effort, rather than as individuals, has been honoured at Yad Vashem in Israel as being part of the Righteous Among the Nations
1944: The 7,500 strong Calais garrison surrenders to the First Canadian Army (General H.D.G. Crerar). Rejoicing in the streets of Dover at the announcement that the last of the German cross-channel guns, which have pounded the southeast coast of Britain for three years, have been silenced.
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October, 1
331 BC: During Alexander the Great's Invasion of Persia, the Battle of Gaugamela (fought east of Mosul, in modern-day northern Iraq) occurs. It resulted in a massive victory for Alexander and led to the fall of the Achæmenid Empire. The Persian King Darius III Codomannus, fielded his enormous (numbering from 53 - 120,000) army comprised Arachosians (from ancient Arachosia which corresponds to the Iranian land of Harauti which is southeastern Afghanistan and southwestern Pakistan) under their Satrap (=Governor) Bersaentes and Persians under Darius' brother, Oxyathres; the right flank occupied the Syrian, Median, Mesopotamian, Parthian, Sacian, Tapurian, Hyrcanian, Albanian (=present-day's Azerbaijan and partially southern Dagestan), Sacesinian, Cappadocian, and Armenian cavalry under the Satrap of Babylon, Mazæus. The King occupied his army's center with his 10,000 Immortal (in Persian, ****iya, the companions) troops and his personal bodyguard the 10,000 Melophors (=apple-bearers), named likewise because instead of spike at the butt-end of a spear (by which it was stuck into the ground), they had a gold apple. The Scythians and Bactrians manned 50 scythed chariots (left flank) while 50 more manned by Armenians and Cappadocians, occupied the center and right flank. Alexander divided his 47,000-strong Army into two with the right side of the army (comprised Hetærœ - Companion cavalry, Pæonian and Macedonian light cavalry, Agrianian Psilœ - skirmishers) falling under the direct command of Alexander, and the left (comprised 500 infantry and 1,800 Thessalian Cavalry, the Macedonian Phalanx, Greek allied and mercenary hoplites, Cretan archers, Menidas' and Andromachus' cavalry), to Parmenion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFrg6Jo4gXw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIVojDEAsuY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xaf4gON8mQ
1787: During the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792, the Battle of Kinburn occurs. Kinburn was a Russian fortress that covered approaches to the Imperial Russian Kherson fleet base. An Ottoman fleet comprised three 60-gun ships of the line, four 34-gun frigates, four floating batteries, and 14 gunboats with 4 guns each conducted an amphibious landing of 6,000 troops near the fortress. The Kinburn's Russian garrison comprised 1,500 infantry, 19 bronze and 300 iron artillery pieces in the fortress and 2,500 infantry, 28 regimental and 10 field guns, and Cossack cavalry within 50 km (31 miles) from the fortress, under the overall command of Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov. Russian losses were 2 officers and 136 others killed and 17 officers and 300 others wounded. Ottomans suffered defeat losing about 4,000 killed or wounded.
The Russian Imperial Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. Imperatritsa (=Empress) Catherine II the Great awarded Suvorov for the Kinburn victory with the Order of St.Andrew and the highest praise, where she wrote: You deserved it by faith and by faithfulness
1795: With the French Law of 1 October 1795 (Loi sur la réunion de la Belgique, du pays de Liège à la République Française du 9 vendimaire an IV), the Austrian Southern Netherlands (modern day Belgium) are ultimately lost to the French Revolutionary armies, and annexed to France replacing all the old divisions such as the County of Flanders, the Duchy of Brabant, etc. with French Départements.
1827: During the Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828, Yerevan, Armenia's capital was captured by the Russians of General Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich, thus ending a millennium of Muslim domination in Armenia.
The conqueror of Yerevan, Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich; he was made Count of Erivan in 1828
1938: Germany annexes the Sudetenland.
1939: German troops enter the devastated city of Warsaw.
1943: US Fifth Army (Clark) captures Naples, in Italy, although the Germans thoroughly demolish its harbour facilities.
1944: The Red Army crosses the Danube into Yugoslavia.
1985: The Israeli Air Force launched Operation Wooden Leg, a strike on the PLO headquarters in L'Ariana, Tunisia near Tunis. The strike served as retaliation against an earlier event where PLO personnel murdered three civilians aboard a private yacht in the Mediterranean Sea. The strike was carried out by eight F-15 Eagles, including the primary attack planes, backup attack and escorts. The PLO headquarters were destroyed, although Yasser Arafat, the head of the organization, was not there at the time and escaped unharmed.
1992: During the NATO Exercise Display Determination 1992, the Turkish Destroyer-Minelayer TCG "Muavenet" (DM 357) was struck accidentally by two Sea Sparrow missiles negligently launched by US Aircraft Carrier USS "Saratoga" (CV/CVA/CVB-60). The missiles struck in the bridge, killing five of the ship's officers (including her CO, Cdr. Kudret Güngör) and injuring twenty-two. Muavenet was crippled and later broken up for scrap. The sailors who actually fired the missiles were not punished, but Saratoga's CO, Cpt. James M. Drager, four officers and three enlisted men received admiral's non-judicial punishment, an action that the New York Times stated would effectively end their US Navy careers. USS "Capodanno" (FF-1093) was given to Turkey by the United States Navy as part of the restitution for the accident and it was renamed TCG "Muavenet" (F-250) by Turkey.
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October, 2
1187: Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, commonly known as Saladin recaptures Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader rule, following Balian of Ibelin's surrender (Ibelin was a a castle in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem). The fall of Jerusalem, provoked the Third Crusade by providing it with its principal goal: The return of Jerusalem to Christendom a second time.
1263: During the Scottish-Norwegian War, the Battle of Largs (present day Largs in North Ayrshire, Scotland) occurs. It was the most important military engagement of the war. The Norwegian forces were led by King Håkon Håkonsson the Old and the Scottish forces by King Alaxandair III mac Alaxandair. The result was inconclusive, but in the long term favoured the Scots.
1552: During the War between Muscovite Russia and the Tatar Khanate of Kazan, the siege of Kazan, the final battle of the war occurs. The 150,000 Muscovite army under Ivan IV the Terrible besieged Kazan and on 2 October the Russians entered the city. The civil population as well as Kazan's army (totalling 80 - 85,000 men) opposed them. The city was totally sacked and burned. Dozens of thousands of Tatars killed, both civilians and garrison, and 60,000 - 100,000 Russians who had been kept captive in khanate were released.
The conqueror of Kazan, Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible
1814: During the Chilean War of Independence, the Battle of Rancagua occurs. A 1,200-strong Spanish Royalist army under the Seville born, Spanish General Mariano de Osorio, defeated the 600 Chilean Revolutionaries under the Chilean patriot Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme. The Chilean force retreated with heavy losses.
The victor, Don Mariano de Osorio
1835: During the Texas War of Independence, the Battle of Gonzales, the first military engagement of the Texas Revolution occurs. Up to 140 Texians under John Henry Moore, one of the Old Three Hundred (=the first Anglo settlers who received land grants along the rich bottomlands of the Brazos, Colorado, and San Bernard rivers) fought a Mexican force of ca 100 cavalry under Lt. Francisco de Castañeda. Castañeda was sent by Colonel Domingo de Ugartechea to retrieve a cannon lent to the citizens of Gonzales in 1831 for their defence. The citizens of Gonzales refused to relinquish the Gonzales cannon, and the battle of Gonzales resulted.
The Come and Take It flag flown by Texians
1939: The first Poles are imprisoned in Pawiak Prison in Warsaw. Some 100,000 people will undergo Nazi interrogations here, of whom 37,000 will be executed and 60,000 sent to concentration camps.
The infamous Pawiak Prison
1943: The British 2nd Special Service Brigade (Bgd. Ronald John Frederick "Ronnie" Tod) lands at Termoli on East coast of Italy and links up with troops moving North from Foggia.
1944: Warsaw falls to the Germans after 63-day siege, with the Polish Home Army surrendering only after all its food and ammunition had run out. The Germans recognise their valour and treat the survivors not as partisans, but as regular POW.
1950: During the Korean War, General MacArthur issues United Nations Command Operations Order 2 which is the plan to order for U.N. forces to cross into North Korea. ROKA troops are already 30 to 50 km (20 to 30 miles) north of the 38th Parallel on the east coast at this time.
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October, 3
52 BC: During the Gallic Wars, the Siege of Alesia (today's Alise-Sainte-Rein), a major town centre and fort of the confederation of Gaullic tribes, named Mandubii, who lived in the areas of modern-day Bourgogne and Jura in France, ended with the Gallic leader Vercingetorix surrendering to Gaius Julius Cæsar. The country was then subdued, becoming a Roman province. Vercingetorix was taken prisoner, exhibited at Cæsar's triumph and most likely executed.
Vercingetorix's statue in Alise-Sainte-Rein
42 BC: During the Wars of the Second Triumvirate (Roman Civil Wars fought by the forces of Marcus Antonius and Octavian against the forces of Cæsar's assassins Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus) the First Battle of Philippoi (today's Philippi, Eastern Macedonia, Greece) occurs. The Triumvirs' army of nineteen legions and 33,000 horse (total over 100,000 men) under Octavian and Marcus Antonius decisively defeated the forces of Cæsar's assassins numbering some 100,000 men (seventeen legions, 17,000 horse) under Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The battle ended in a draw: Cassius lost 9,000 men, while Octavian had about 18,000 casualties. Cassius believing that he had suffered a crushing defeat, committed suicide.
The battlefield, as seen from the Acropolis of Philippi
1935: Mussolini's Italy invades Ethiopia. The war resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW8px_dxCsk
1943: On the night of 3 October, Germans invade the Greek island of Kos in the Dodekanese, with the assistance of massive air support. German paratroopers landed in and around the airfield at Antimachia. The island was defended by the men of the 1st Durham Light Infantry (Colonel John Kirby) arrived on 16 September. The 1st DLI were almost wiped out on Kos with only some 60 men managing to escape.
The Athens Memorial stands within Phaleron War Cemetery and commemorates nearly 3,000 members of the land forces of the Commonwealth who lost their lives during the campaigns in Greece and Crete and the Dodecanese Islands including those of the 1st Durham Light Infantry who were killed on the island of Kos 1943
1951: During the Korean War, the First Battle of Maryang San occurs, pitting Australian and British forces against communist China. It ended 5 days later. The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (Lt. Col. Francis George "Frank" Hassett) dislodged a numerically superior Chinese force from the tactically important Kowang-San (Hill 355) and Maryang San (Hill 317) features, in conjunction with other units of the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade.
1952: Operation Hurricane was the test of the first British atomic device. A plutonium implosion device was detonated in the lagoon between the Montebello Islands, Western Australia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAlcMPti7EA
1990: German Unity Day: The German Democratic Republic ceases to exist and its territory becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVE6sjS2jGo
1993: During Operation Gothic Serpent (a military operation conducted by special operations forces of the United States with the primary mission of capturing Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in Mogadishu, Somalia), the Battle of Mogadishu occurs. It was fought on 3 and 4 October, 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia, by forces of the United States supported by UNOSOM II against Somali militia fighters loyal to warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, with support from armed civilian fighters. 18 US Soldiers and hundreds of Somalis were killed in heavy fighting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG6UaMmRq5k
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October, 4
1636: During the Thirty Years' War, the Battle of Wittstock occurs. A Protestant Swedish army under the Swedish Field Marshal Johan Banér, joined by Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, commanding an army comprised German, Scottish and English regiments (18,000 in total) defeated an 18,500-strong army of the alliance of the Holy Roman Empire and Saxony under Johann Georg I the Elector of Saxony. The Imperial forces, having lost ca 5,000 men, retreated under the cover of dusk in full rout. Wittstock was a resounding victory for the Swedes and their allies.
Johan Banér (left) and Alexander Leslie
1693: During the Nine Years' War (fought between King Louis XIV of France, and a European-wide coalition, the Grand Alliance, led by the Anglo-Dutch Stadtholder-King William III, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, King Charles II of Spain, Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, and the major and minor princes of the Holy Roman Empire) the Battle of Marsaglia occurs. A French army of some 35,000 men under Nicolas Catinat, defeated a 30,000-strong Hispano-Piedmontese army under the Prince of Piedmont and Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II. The Piedmontese and their allies lost ca 10,000 killed, wounded and prisoners, against Catinat's 1,800 losses.
The conqueror of Marsaglia, Nicolas Catinat
1777: During the American War of Independence, the Battle of Germantown occurs. A British-Hessian army of some 9,000 troops under William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe and the Hessian Wilhelm von Innhausen und Knyphausen, defeated the 11,000-strong American Revolutionary army under George Washington and Nathanael Greene. The British victory in this battle ensured that Philadelphia, the capital of the self-proclaimed United States of America, would remain in British hands throughout the winter of 1777 - 1778.
1853: The conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Duchy of Nassau, commonly known as the Crimean War, opens, when the Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia.
1943: A German column of 600 troops with five artillery pieces while passing through the mountainous area of Nestorion, Kastoria, Greece was struck by the ELAS' (=Greek People's Liberation Army) IV Division on 4 October. In the two-day battle that followed, the German spread-out column was assaulted frontally and from the flanks. The insurgents withdrew on 5 October with one killed, 7 wounded. The Germans suffered 8 killed, 17 wounded.
1944: The British launch Operation Manna, and intervene in Greece, with 2nd Airborne Brigade (Brig C.H.V Pritchard) landing at Patras to harass the anticipated German withdrawal from the Balkans. One company of the 4th Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, was dropped in high winds at Megara airfield 64 km (40 miles) from Athens. Other landings take on Crete and other Islands in the Aegean. The Soviet 46th Army is within 16 km (10 miles) of Belgrade.
1944: The 1,000 Italians of the 24ª Legione GNR "Carroccio'' (=24th Legion "Carroccio'' of the National Republican Guard) comprised the island of Samos' garrison, surrender to the CO of the Greek Sacred Band, Colonel Khristódulos Tsigántes.
1992: The Rome General Peace Accords ends a 16-year civil war in Mozambique. The war, fought between the Marxists-Leninists of FRELIMO and the anti-communists of RENAMO, claimed a million lives.
1993: The Russian Constitutional Crisis, the political stand-off between the Russian president Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin and the Russian parliament, culminates in the storming of the Russian White House, a government building that housed the Russian parliament, by Russian army and its shelling by tanks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P6uU5rmLT8
The world's an oppressive place to live through -yet with a little pride it's worth it
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October, 5
1910: The October Revolution in Portugal: Following the shelling of the royal palace by two warships, a republican coup d'état deposed King Manuel II and established the Portuguese First Republic with the writer Teófilo Braga as President.
The first President of the First Portuguese Republic, Joaquim Teófilo Braga
1915: The Greek National Schism: King Constantine I of the Hellenes, a committed Germanophile, forces Prime Minister Venizelos to resign. PM Eleutherios Venizelos, strongly wished to enter the Great War alongside the Entente forces. Anglo-French forces disembark at Salonika in order to force Greece to abandon neutrality and enter the Great War on their side.
The Brits in Salonika
1943: The French complete their take over of Corsica. Germans have completely evacuated the island of Corsica.
The emblem (right) of the 4e Division Marocaine de Montagne (=4th Moroccan Mountain Division); its units participated in the liberation of Corsica and Italy
1944: The Canadians enter Holland.
1944: Bands of armed civilians from the Greek island of Carpathos, capture the Italian and German garrison of the island. A revolutionary committe is formed that declares the island's liberation from the axis troops. The Italian and German prisoners are transported to Egypt.
The monument to the liberation of Carpathos
1944: The Soviet First Baltic Front (Marshal Bagramyan) begins an offensive South of Riga to cut off Heeresgruppe Nord (=Army Group North) (Generalfeldmarschall Schörner) in Lithuania.
The equestrian statue of Marshal of the Soviet Union, Hovhannes Khachaturi Bagramyan, in Yerevan, Armenia, the first non-Slavic military officer to become a commander of a Front
1951: During the Korean War, the 7-day battle of Hill 313 ("Scotch Hill") near the Imjin River, reaches its peak. The men of the Greek Battalion of GEF (Greek Expedionary Force) capture it and repel consecutive Chinese attacks aiming to retake it, at a cost of 28 KIA and 87 WIA. GEF received their first US Presidential Unit Citation in February 1952 for the capture of "Scotch Hill".
1974: The IRA planted two 6-pound gelignite "no warning" bombs at two pubs in Guildford, Surrey, England. The first bomb exploded in the "Horse and Groom" pub just before 20:30 pm local time, destroying the front of the building and killing four British soldiers and one civilian. A second bomb exploded half an hour later in the nearby "Seven Stars".
The Horse & Groom pub was popular with British Army personnel
1986: The Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu flew to London where he was invited to meet with reporters working for Sunday Times (UK). In these press briefings, Mordechai Vanunu revealed extensive details of the alleged Israeli nuclear weapons program.
2000: Mass demonstrations in Belgrade in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with one casualty, following the presidential elections, lead to the downfall of Slobodan Milošević's regime. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsewrTBCr_w
The world's an oppressive place to live through -yet with a little pride it's worth it
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October, 6
105 BC: During the Cimbrian War (fought between the Roman Republic and the Proto-Germanic tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutons from 113 - 101 BC), the Battle of Arausio occurs. 10 - 12 Roman Legions (ca 80,000 troops) with up to 40,000 auxiliaries and camp followers under Quintus Servilius Cæpio the Elder and Gnæus Mallius Maximus, were routed by the 200,000 Cimbri and Teutons commanded by the King of the Cimbri, Boiorix and the King of the Teutons, Theudobod. Though the actual casualty figure remains debated, historians claim that the total number of Roman casualties amounted to 80,000 Roman soldiers while half as many of the auxiliaries and camp-followers perished, almost all of the Roman participants in the battle. The Cimbri and Teutons lost ca 15,000 men.
69 BC: During the Third Mithridatic War (fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and his allies, and the Roman Republic) the Battle of Tigranocerta occurs. A Roman army of 40,000 men consisting of 24,000 Roman and Bithynian infantry, 3,300 Roman and 10,000 Gallic and Thracian cavalry, led by Lucius Licinius Lucullus, defeated the 80 - 90,000-strong Armenian army consisting of Adiabenians, Gordyenians, Iberians, Medians and 20 - 25,000 Armenians, under the King of Armenia, Tigranes the Great. The casualties reported for Tigranes' army were immense, with estimates given at least 10,000 men. Most of the lands in Tigranes' empire to the south of the Taurus, fell under the sway of Lucullus.
Coin of Tigranes the Great
68 BC: During the Third Mithridatic War, the Battle of Artaxata occurs. The Romans led by Lucius Licinius Lucullus were again victorious against the Armenians led by their King Tigranes the Great who was sheltering Mithridates VI of Pontus. Despite defeat, Mithridates continued to elude and antagonise Rome.
Coin of Mithridates of Pontus. The legend reads in Greek: Of King Mithridates the Eupator (=good father)
1762: During the Seven Years' War, the Battle of Manila, opened on 26 September, concludes. It was fought between the UK and Spain in and around Manila, the capital of the Philippines, a Spanish colony at that time. The British captured Manila and held it for 18 months until it was returned to Spain in April 1764 after the Treaty of Paris (signed in 1763).
Plan for the city of Manila in 1762
1939: The last resisting Polish troops (17,000 men) surrender to German forces at Kock and Lublin.
1944: A Soviet offensive launched with 64 divisions, 750 tanks and 1,100 aircraft commences near Arad in Hungary, with the aim of destroying Heeresgruppe Süd (=Army Group South) (Gen. Friessner).
2002: The French oil tanker Limburg, carrying 397,000 barrels of crude oil from Iran to Malaysia, and while sailing in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen, an explosives-laden dinghy rammed the starboard side of the tanker and detonated killing one crew member and wounding 12 more. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack. The Limburg was repaired in Dubai for US$45 million; in 2003 it was sold to Tanker Pacific and renamed Maritime Jewel.
Last edited by valtrex; 10-06-2010 at 04:50 AM.
Reason: typo
The world's an oppressive place to live through -yet with a little pride it's worth it
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October, 7
1513: During the War of the League of Cambrai (fought from 1508 to 1516, between France, the Papal States and the Republic of Venice, joined at various times by other European powers such as Spain, England, Scotland, Holy Roman Empire etc) the Battle of La Motta occurs. A Venetian army under the Condottiere (=contractor) Bartolomeo d'Alviano, attempted to prevent the Spanish under Ramón Folc de Cardona y Anglesola from withdrawing from the Veneto, but was defeated and scattered. Many prominent Venetian noblemen were cut down outside the city walls as they attempted to flee.
Family arms of Folc de Cardona y Anglesola
1571: During the Ottoman Wars in Europe, the Naval Battle of Lepanto (modern day, Náfpaktos, Greece) occurs. A fleet of the Sacra Liga (=Holy League), a coalition of Spain (including its territories of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia), the Republic of Venice, the Papacy, the Republic of Genoa, the Duchy of Savoy, the Knights Hospitaller and others, comprised 202 galleys and 6 galleasses, manned by 22,840 soldiers, under the overall command of Don Juan of Austria, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire consisted of 206 galleys and 45 galliots, manned by 31,490 soldiers and led by Müezzinzade Ali Pasha. The Holy League suffered around 7,500 soldiers, sailors and rowers dead, but freed about as many Christian prisoners. Turkish casualties were around 15,000, and at least 3,500 were captured. 17 Christian warships sunk. The Ottomans suffered 15 warships sunk and 177 taken. The famous Spanish writer, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, who himself was wounded in the Battle of Lepanto, serving in the Spanish infantry, and who had also been a captive of the Barbary pirates until ransomed, recounted many of his experiences in the novel Don Quixote. The Battle of Lepanto marked the end of Turkish naval supremacy and the beginning of the Ottoman Empire's decline on both land and sea. Perhaps the most important result of the battle was its effect on men's minds: The victory had ended the myth that the Turks could not be beaten.
-Each galley cost the Holy League ca 20,000 gold Ducats (~660,000 USD/476,000 €)
-Routine maintenance cost: 32,400 gold Ducats per month (~1,1 mil USD/794,000 €)
-Pay and allowances: 28,980 gold Ducats per month (~954,000 USD/688,000 €)
-1 out of 8 galleys on the Christian side was Greek (from Crete, Corfu, Mani, Chios, Macedonia, Epirus, Peloponnese, Minor Asia, Cephallonia and Zante).
-Thousands of Greeks fought on the Ottoman side too.
-The War cry of Greeks during the battle was Ai Yioryis (=St. George!).
-The War cry of the Genovese was Pe Zena e pe San Zorzo (=For Zena [Genoa] & St. George!).
-After the battle the Greeks of Venice cut their own commemorative coins with St. George, which they called The St. George's thaler. They were known in Europe as the Greek thalers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT8G17HQFpA
1777: During the American War of Independence, the Second Battle of Saratoga, the Battle of Bemis Heights occurs. 11,000 Americans under Benedict Arnold, defeat John Burgoyne's British grenadiers.
1780: During the American War of Independence, the Battle of Kings Mountain occurs. 900 Patriots (including John Crockett, the father of Davy Crockett) overwhelmed the Loyalist American militia led by British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Regiment of Foot. After an hour of combat, Loyalist casualties were heavy (ca 300 killed), including Ferguson. Seeing their leader fall, the Loyalists began to surrender. Thomas Jefferson called the victory at Kings Mountain, the turn of the tide of success.
The monument to the battle in Kings Mountain, SC
1800: French Corsair (=Privateer) Robert Surcouf, commander of the 18-gun ship La Confiance, captures the British 38-gun Kent inspiring the traditional French song Le Trente-et-un du mois d'août:
On the thirty-first of August On the thirty-first of August
We saw approaching under sail We saw approaching under sail
An English frigate
Cutting through the sea and the waves
In order to attack Bordeaux!
Chorus:
Let's drink a cup, la la, let's drink in two draughts,
To the health of truelovers;
To the health of the King of France,
And sh*t to the King of England,
Who has declared war on us.
The commander of the ship The commander of the ship
Summoned his lieutenant Summoned his lieutenant:
"Lieutenant, do you feel able,
Do you feel strong enough
To board and take the Englishman?"
Chorus:
Let's drink a cup, la la, let's drink in two draughts,
To the health of truelovers;
To the health of the King of France,
And sh*t to the King of England,
Who has declared war on us.
The proud and hardy lieutenant The proud and hardy lieutenant
Replied, "Yes, Captain; Replied, "Yes, Captain;
Call all hands to their stations:
I shall hoist our colours,
Which will stay aloft, we swear it."
Chorus:
Let's drink a cup, la la, let's drink in two draughts,
To the health of truelovers;
To the health of the King of France,
And sh*t to the King of England,
Who has declared war on us.
The master blew his whistle The master blew his whistle
To call all hands on deck To call all hands on deck:
All was made ready for the boarding,
Hardy topmen, proud sailors,
Brave gunners, wee cabinboys.
Chorus:
Let's drink a cup, la la, let's drink in two draughts,
To the health of truelovers;
To the health of the King of France,
And sh*t to the King of England,
Who has declared war on us.
Turning our back to the wind as we came up, Turning our back to the wind as we came up,
I boarded her at her forepart I boarded her at her forepart;
With hatchet and grenade,
With pike, sabre and musketoon,
Quick as a flash I had her all in order.
Chorus:
Let's drink a cup, la la, let's drink in two draughts,
To the health of truelovers;
To the health of the King of France,
And sh*t to the King of England,
Who has declared war on us.
What will they say of the great big tub, What will they say of the great big tub,
In Brest, in London, and in Bordeaux, In Brest, in London, and in Bordeaux
That let its crew be taken
By a privateer with six cannon,
When it had thirty-six good ones!
Chorus:
Let's drink a cup, la la, let's drink in two draughts,
To the health of truelovers;
To the health of the King of France,
And sh*t to the King of England,
Who has declared war on us. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGSfWSvNxac
1828: During the Greek War for Independence, the French expeditionary Corps under Nicolas Joseph Maison, liberate the city of Patras, in W. Peloponnese. The remainder of the Turkish garrison had withdrawn to the citadel, a 6th c. Justinian castle and surrendered to the French on 7 October.
The Patras' Castle and the Count of the Napoleonic Empire, Nicolas Joseph Maison
1879: Germany and Austria-Hungary sign the Twofold Covenant and create the Dual Alliance. The Dual Alliance persisted throughout the 19th c. and WWI and ended with their defeats in 1918.
Otto von Bismarck, the German chancellor, speaking to the conference for the creation of Dual Alliance
1942: The October Matanikau action on Guadalcanal begins. Two 5th Marine battalions attacked West from the Lunga perimeter towards the Matanikau. With direct-fire support from 75 mm guns mounted on halftracks, plus additional troops supplied by the 1st Raider Battalion, the Marines forced 200 soldiers from the Japanese 3rd Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry into a small pocket on the east side of the Matanikau about 400 yards (370 m) from the river mouth. The Japanese 2nd Company tried to come to the aid of their comrades in the 3rd Company but were unable to cross the Matanikau and took casualties from Marine gunfire.
A U.S. Marine patrol crosses the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal in 1942
1944: The British Eighth Army (Lt. Gen. Richard McCreery) resumes its attacks on the Gothic Line. The British reach Corinth, 9th Commando land at Nauplion and take the Greek island of Samos.
1944: Uprising at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. At about 15:00 hours, Jewish Sonderkommando (=prisoners who worked the death camps in return for special treatment and privileges) of Crematorium II, Polish in Crematorium I and Hungarians in Crematoria III and IV caught the SS guards by surprise, overpowered them and blew up the Crematorium IV, using explosives smuggled in from a weapons factory by female inmates. Hundreds of prisoners escaped, but were all soon captured and, along with an additional group who participated in the revolt, executed.
1985: Four gunmen of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) took control of the liner Achille Lauro off Egypt as she was sailing from Alexandria to Port Said. Holding the passengers and crew hostage, they directed the vessel to sail to Tartus, Syria, and demanded the release of 50 Palestinians then in Israeli prisons. The disagreement in resolving the crisis, led to the gravest diplomatic crisis between Italy and United States.
I remember my father singing bits of that Napoleonic sea shanty, usually at parties, with a drink or two in hand. Now I know where it comes from... That's pretty cool.
Thanks Valtrex, this thread rocks. It has become a daily read for me.
*lifts glass*
"Buvons un coup, buvons en deux!..."
The world's an oppressive place to live through -yet with a little pride it's worth it
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October, 8
314/316: Battle of Cibalæ: The opposing armies of Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus, commonly known as Constantine the Great, and Valerius Licini**** Licinius, met on the plain between the rivers Save and Drave near the town of Colonia Aurelia Cibalæ (now Vinkovci, Croatia) in 314 or 316 AD. As many as 20,000 of Licinius' troops were killed in the hard-fought battle. The surviving cavalry of the defeated army accompanied Licinius when he fled the field under the cover of darkness.
The statue of Constantine in York, England
1480: During the Tataro-Mongol raid against the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Ugorschina (=Standoff on the Ugra river) occurs. Ahmed Khan with his Great Horde army, planned to bypass the Oka river from the west and unite his Tataro-Mongols with his ally, King Casimir Jagellion's Polish-Lithuanian army. At the Ugra River, Ahmed Khan was met by the Russians and chose not to attack. Eventually, he retreated to the South. The Tataro-Mongol retreat was seen as victory in Muscovy. In popular memory, the Ugra Standoff is taken as the end of the Tatar Yoke in Russia.
Ivan III of Russia on the Monument Millennium of Russia in Veliky Novgorod; Ivan earned the privilige to bear the Byzantine two-headed eagle, after his marriage with Sophia Palæologina, niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Palæologus
1806: Royal Navy raids Boulogne-sur-Mer, the Northern French city used by Napoleon as his base to invade the United Kingdom. Commodore Edward Owen led a Royal Navy flotilla and attacked the French Grande Armée amassed in Boulogne. Captain William Jackson of HMS "Musquito" directed the boats firing 32 pound (14.5 kg) Congreve rockets. As night drew in on the Channel, 24 cutters fitted with rocket frames formed a line and fired some 2,000 rockets at Boulogne. The barrage took only 30 minutes. Apparently the attack set a number of fires but otherwise had limited effect.
1821: The Marina de Guerra del Perú (=Peruvian War Navy) is established by the Argentine Revolutionary, José Francisco de San Martín Matorras, commonly known as José de San Martín. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK9Bg9pXYBU
1828: During the Greek War for Independence, the Naval Battle of Navarino (off the Homeric - and modern - town of Pylus on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea), occurs (O.S.). A combined Franco-Russo-British fleet comprised 26 warships with 1,258 guns, under Admiral Edward Codrington, C-in-C of the allied force, Admiral Marie Henri Daniel Gauthier, comte de Rigny, commander of the French flotilla, and Admiral Login Petrovich Geiden, commander of the Russian flotilla, defeated the combined Turco-Egyptian fleet comprised 83 or 84 warships with 2,180 guns under Amir Tahir Pasha. Allied casualties were given by Codrington as 181 killed, 480 wounded (including Codrington's youngest son, midshipman H. Codrington). Several Allied ships were severely damaged. Ottoman casualties were 1,109 killed, 3,000 wounded. Of the entire Turco-Egyptian armada, just 8 remained seaworthy. Navarino signalled the beginning of the end of the Ottoman rule in Greece. The news of Navarino were accepted with enthusiasm in Paris and St. Petersburg. Unfortunately in London it was considered an untoward incident. Codrington spent much time in his later years defending his actions in Greece.
A 1977 issued Greek postage-stamp on the occassion of the 150 years from the Navarino Battle (1827-1977) with the three Admirals, Geiden, Codrington and de Rigny
Each year on 20 October (N.S.) representatives from the three allied navies take part in the celebrations for the outcome of the battle in Pylus
1856: Qing officials boarded the Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship that had been registered in Hong Kong and was suspected of piracy and smuggling and arrested twelve chinese crew members on suspicion of piracy. The British officials in Guangzhou demanded the release of the sailors, claiming that because the ship had recently been British-registered, it was protected under the Treaty of Nanking. They insisted that the Arrow had been flying a British ensign and that the Qing soldiers had insulted the British flag. The Arrow incident served as pretext for the Second Opium War.
1879: During the War of the Pacific, the Naval Battle of Angamos occurs. Two divisions of the Chilean Navy, consisted of two ironclads, three corvettes and one transport, under Cpt. Juan José Latorre Benavente, surrounded and captured the Peruvian ironclad Huáscar, under Rear Admiral Miguel María Grau Seminario. Admiral Grau was killed during the engagement. He is an iconic figure for the Peruvian Navy, and one of the most famous military leaders of the Americas. Huáscar is anchored at the port of Talcahuano, Chile as floating museum.
The Huáscar
1912: During the First Balkan War, the Greek fleet, placed under the newly-promoted Rear Admiral Pavlos Kunduriótes, sailed for the island of Lemnos on 5 October; three days later on 8 October occupied it (after a short firefight between a Greek detachment under Major Iulianós Kondarátos and the island's Turkish garrison) and established an anchorage at Moudros Bay. This move was of major strategic importance, as it provided the Greeks with a forward base in close distance to the Dardanelles, the Ottoman fleet's main anchorage and refuge.
1912: During the First Balkan War, the Battle of Kardzhali occurs. On the morning of 8 October, the Ottoman Kırcaali corps (c. 9,000 men with 8 artillery pieces) under Mehmet Yaver Pasha, defending the town of Kırcaali (modern-day Kardzhali, Bulgaria) were attacked by the 8,700 troops (with 42 artillery pieces) of the Bulgarian Haskovo Detachment under Colonel Vasil Delov. At 16:00 hours, the Bulgarians entered Kırcaali in triumph. Ottomans suffered 200 killed or wounded, 19 made prisoners. Bulgarians suffered 9 killed, 45 wounded. The battle of Kardzhali was the first action on the Bulgarian theatre of operations during the First Balkan War.
The monumet to the battle in Kardzhali, Bulgaria
1944: Units of the U.S. Ninth Army (Lt. Gen. Simpson) reach the outskirts of Aachen on the German border. Captain Robert Evan Brown Jr. receives a Medal of Honor for his heroics in the Battle of Crucifix Hill just outside Aachen.
Captain Robert "Bobbie" Brown Jr.
1968: Operation Sealords (SEALORDS is an acronym for Southeast Asia Lake, Ocean, River, and Delta Strategy), a determined effort by U.S. Navy, South Vietnamese Navy, and allied ground forces to cut enemy supply lines from Cambodia, and disrupt operations in enemy base areas deep in the Mekong Delta, begins. This strategy was developed by Commander Naval Forces Vietnam (COMNAVFORV), Vice Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., with the blessing of the new Commander US Military Assistance Command Vietnam (COMUSMACV), General Creighton Abrams. As a two-year operation, by 1971 all aspects of Sealords had been turned over to the South Vietnam Navy.
Vice Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr.
Last edited by valtrex; 10-08-2010 at 04:48 AM.
Reason: typo
September, 27
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Originally Posted by D-Mitch
