On this day in Military History

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April, 13

1821: During the Greek War of Independence, the two-day Battle of Levídi begins. A small contingent of Greek Revolutionaries of the town of Levídi, a rebel stronghold in central Peloponnese, consisted of Anagnóstes Striphóbolas' band of 280 fighters, resisted for two days to the siege laid by an Ottoman army of ca 8,000 foot and 2,000 horse under Abdul Bey Arnautoglu Pasha. Greek General Theódoros Kolokotrónes with a strong force came to the aid to the town's defenders on April 14, which resulted in Arnautoglu Pasha lifting the siege. Anagnóstes Striphóbolas was killed during the siege. General Demetrios Plapútas, who entered Levídi as an officer in the Kolokotrónes' force, remembers in his memoirs: "As we entered the town, I approached a burnt to the ground house and the site left me dumbfounded; a horse was burnt alive (the building was probably a stable) and was flash frozen in the rampant position"

The statue of Anagnóstes Striphóbolas, in Levídi, a mountain town in Arcadia Prefecture, central Peloponnese

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April, 15

1941: During Operation Marita, the Battle of Argos Orestikón occurs. The Greek XIII ID (Maj. Gen. Soterios Mutúses), a reduced strength Infantry Division is ordered to provide credible defence capability in a desperate attempt to stem the German advance following the collapse of TSDM (West Macedonia Army Group, under Lt. Gen. Georgios Tsolákoglu). After the battle of Clisura the units comprising the Greek TSDM Army Group dissolved in front of the rapid German advance; the Germans are now free to take Kastoria (a key town near the Greco-Albano-Yugoslav border) and thus, fast closing their pincers on the Greek Army still fighting the Italians in Albania.
The Greek XIII ID on April 15, 1941 consisted of the following elements:
- Division Headquarters Battalion
- 23rd Chios Infantry Rgt (Col. Aristoteles Bárbakos) with three Infantry Battalions (1/23, 2/23 and 3/23).

The Division tried to stop the advance of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler - LSSAH (SS-Oberstgruppenführer Josef "Sepp" Dietrich). As a result of the fierce battle that began at 0515 hours on April 15, the Greek 3/23 Battalion became disorganized suffering dozens of casualties mostly by effective German artillery fire while the men of 2/23 Battalion started a disorderly withdrawal at noon. Although XIII ID was eventually defeated, 1/23 Battalion's heroic stance must be noted: its men, resisted alone for further 14 hours after the 2/23 and 3/23 Battalions were routed. 1/23 Battalion (Col. Eustathios Lióses) sustained 160 casualties in the Battle of Argos Orestikón.


Colonel Lióses' official certificate for being a Greek War Cross 2nd Class recipient, for his actions n the Battle of Argos Orestikón



Greek WWII War Cross 2nd Class and ribbon

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April, 16

1178 BC: According to comparative archaeologists, Odysseus returns home to Ithaca 10 years after the fall of Troy.

Odysseus' Palace

1821: During the Greek War of Independence, the Hydran ship-owner Antonios Oeconomu raises the revolutionary flag and assumes the leadership of the uprising in his native island, Hydra. Hydra, Spetsæ and Psara formed a trislander fleet and contributed ships, men and material to the struggle.

Peter von Hess: Antonios Oeconomu starts the revolution in the island of Hydra


The revolutionary flag of Hydra...


...and the crest of HNS "Hydra" (F-452), a Meko-200HN Frigate

[Tyon]

45 minutes too late but ...


18th April 1947

From 1945 to 1952 the uninhabited Heligoland islands were used as a bombing range. On 18 April 1947, the Royal Navy detonated 6,700 tonnes of explosives ("Big Bang" or "British Bang"), creating one of the biggest single non-nuclear detonations in history.[18] While aiming at the fortifications, the island's total destruction would have been accepted[19]. The blow shook the main island several miles down to its base, changing its shape (the Mittelland was created).

In 1952, the islands were restored to the German authorities, who had to clear a huge amount of undetonated ammunition, landscape the main island, and rebuild the houses before it could be resettled.

[Dolph BG]

Salyut 1 (DOS-1) (Russian: Салют-1; English translation: Salute 1) was the first space station of any kind, launched by the USSR on April 19, 1971.

The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It would remain the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Benedict XVI was elected on 19 April 2005

19.04.2011 Fidel Castro resigns from the Communist Party of Cuba's central committee after 45 years of holding the title.

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April, 20

1453: During the Last Siege of Constantinople and the naval blockade of the Imperial City by the Ottoman Fleet, Byzantine Admiral Phlantanelás, with four Genoese ships, carrying food and material to the besieged city, broke the blockade of the Ottoman fleet and entered the harbour of Constantinople, the Golden Horn. In the short naval battle with the Ottoman naval contingent of Suleyiman Baltaoglu Pasha, Phlantanelás lost just 22 dead and wounded while the Ottomans suffered hundreds of casualties. According to the Byzantine historian Georgios Phrantzís who was an eyewitness to the battle, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II became furious about the defeat of Suleyiman's fleet; he relieved him from his duties and confiscated his property.


1918: Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, the German fighter pilot considered the ace-of-aces of the Great War, is credited with the last two (79th and 80th) air combat victories, one day before he was downed and fatally wounded (21st April 1918).

Red Baron wears the Blue Max

[LineDoggie]

April 20
20 April

1769 - Ottawa Chief Pontiac (b~1720) was murdered by an Indian in Cahokia.

1775 - British troops began the siege of Boston.

1777 - New York adopted a new constitution as an independent state.

1796 - Congress authorizes completion of 3 frigates.

1827 - John Gibbon (d.1896), Major General (Union volunteers), was born.

1861 - Colonel Robert E. Lee resigns from the United States army two days after he was offered command of the Union army and three days after his native state, Virginia, seceded from the Union.

1861 - Thaddeus Lowe's balloon landed in South Carolina only to be surrounded by a group of incredulous Carolinians who believed he was a spy. Lowe managed to persuade the crowd that his 500-mile trip from Cincinnati, Ohio, was merely an innocent aerial journey to test his strange craft. He later tried to convince the Union to use his skill as a balloonist.

1861 - Norfolk Navy Yard partially destroyed to prevent Yard facilities from falling into Confederate hands and abandoned by Union forces. U.S. S. Pennsylvania, Germantown', Raritan. Columbia, and Dolphin were burned to water's edge. U.S.S. Delaware, Columbus, Plymouth, and Merrimack (later C.S.S. Virginia) were burned and sunk. Old frigate U.S.S. United States was abandoned. U.S.S. Pawnee, Commodore Paulding, and tug Yankee. towing U.S.S. Cumberland, escaped; Pawnee returned to Washington to augment small defenses at the Capital. This major Yard was of prime importance to the South. The Confederacy had limited industrial capacity, and possession of the Norfolk Yard provided her with guns and other ordnance materiel, and, equally as important, gave her a drydock and an industrial plant in which to manufacture crucially needed items. In large measure, guns for the batteries and fortifications erected by the Confederates on the Atlantic coast and rivers during 1861 came from the Norfolk Yard.

1862 - U.S.S. Itasca, Lieutenant Caldwell, and U.S.S. Pinola, Lieutenant Crosby, under direction of Commander Bell, breached the obstructions below Forts Jackson and St. Philip under heavy fire, opening the way for Flag Officer Farragut's fleet.

1863 - A joint Army-Navy attack succeeded in capturing a strong Confederate position at Hill's Point on the Nansemond River, Virginia, taking 5 howitzers and some 160 prisoners, as well as denying the South the use of an effective position from which to shell the flotilla guarding the Union Army position near Suffolk. Later that night, 20 April, the Confederates evacuated their battery at Reed's Ferrys. Though there were intermittent skirmishes for almost 2 weeks following this action, the back of the planned Confederate offensive was broken.

1863 - U.S.S. Estrella, Lieutenant Commander Cooke, with U.S.S. Clifton, Arina, and Calhoun, engaged and received the surrender of Fort Burton, Butte a' la Rose, Louisiana.

1871 - With passage of the Third Force Act, popularly known as the Ku Klux Act, Congress authorizes President Ulysses S. Grant to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations, and use military force to suppress the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). enfranchisement of African-Americans. Former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was the KKK's first grand wizard and in 1869 unsuccessfully tried to disband it after he grew critical of the Klan's excessive violence.

1898 - President McKinley signed a congressional resolution recognizing Cuban independence from Spain. He signed the Joint Resolution for War with Spain that authorized U.S. military intervention to Cuban independence.
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1914 - In first call to action of naval aviators, detachment on USS Birmingham sailed to Tampico, Mexico.

1915 - First Navy contract for lighter-than-air craft awarded.

1945 - During World War II, Allied forces, the U.S. 7th army, took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart. The American flag is raised over the rostrum of the Nuremberg Stadium -- scene of Nazi Party rallies. In the Stuttgart area, the French 1st Army is advancing rapidly along the Neckar Valley, trapping German forces in the Black Forest in Bavaria.

1945 - American forces liberated Buchenwald. 350 Americans were imprisoned at Berga, a sub-camp of Buchenwald, following their Dec, 1944, capture at the Battle of the Bulge.

1945 - On Okinawa, US 3rd Amphibious Corps completes the capture of the Motobu Peninsula and the whole of the main northern part of the island. The US 24th Corps, on the Shuri Line, continue to attack but the limited gains made cannot be held against the Japanese counterattacks.

1947 - CAPT L.O. Fox, USN, supported by 80 Marines, accepted the surrender of LT Yamaguchi and 26 Japanese soldiers and sailors, two and one half years after the occupation of Peleliu and nearly 20 months after the surrender of Japan.

1953 - Operation Little Switch began in Korea, the exchange of sick and wounded prisoners of war.

1953 - USS New Jersey shells Wonsan, Korea from inside the harbor.

1964 - USS Henry Clay (SSBN-625) launches a Polaris A-2 missile from the surface in first demonstration that Polaris submarines could launch missiles from the surface as well as from beneath the ocean. 30 minutes later the submarine launched another Polaris missile while submerged.

1967 - U.S. planes bombed Haiphong for first time during the Vietnam War.

1970 - In a televised speech, President Nixon pledges to withdraw 150,000 more U.S. troops over the next year "based entirely on the progress" of the Vietnamization program.
1971
- The Pentagon releases figures confirming that fragging incidents are on the rise. In 1970, 209 such incidents caused the deaths of 34 men; in 1969, 96 such incidents cost 34 men their lives. Fragging was a slang term used to describe U.S. military personnel tossing of fragmentation hand grenades (hence the term "fragging") usually into sleeping areas to murder fellow soldiers. It was usually directed primarily against unit leaders, officers, and noncommissioned officers. Fragging was rare in the early days of U.S. involvement in ground combat, but it became increasingly common as the rapid turnover caused by the one-year rotation policy weakened unit cohesion. With leadership and morale already declining in the face of repetitive Vietnam tours.

1991 - US Marines landed in northern Iraq to begin building the first center for Kurdish refugees on Iraqi territory. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the US commander of Operation Desert Storm, left Saudi Arabia for home.

2002 - A US Navy F-4 crashed during an air show at Ventura, Ca., and its 2 crew members were killed.

2003 - U.S. Army forces took control of Baghdad from the Marines in a changing of the guard that thinned the military presence in the capital.

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April, 21

1918: Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, widely known as the Red Baron, the ace-of-aces of the Great War, while flying his Fokker Dr.I 425/17 plane, is downed and he is fatally wounded by either the Sopwith Camel D3326 piloted by Canadian Cpt. Arthur "Roy" Brown, or the Vickers AA gun manned by the Australian Sgt. Cedric Popkin (controversy continues to surround the identity of the person who fired the shot that actually killed Richthofen).

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April, 22

1944: During the Mutiny in the Royal Hellenic Navy (=in the ships and the naval shore establishments, Revolutionary Commissions had been formed since 4 April, by sailors, petty officers and - rarely - officers - and were circulating for signing among the staffs and crews, petitions asking for a reshuffling of the Greek Government-in-exile in Cairo, to include the Revolutionary Committee of National Liberation Front controlled by communists, known as EAM, from Greece), five Greek warships berthed in Alexandria that were taken by the mutineers, are stormed on 22 April, 1944, by 250 volunteers (naval officers, petty officers, sailors and army personnel). Seven were killed in action: three officers - among them Lt. Cdr Nikolaos Russén - one petty officer and three sailors. About 20 were wounded. Hundreds of mutineers were arrested, court martialed and the chief instigators were executed by firing squad. This incident is the most embarassing event in the history of the Greek Navy and is known as the Stasis (=an internal disturbance). The Stasis spread in the army also. As a result, the I and II Greek Mountain Brigades were disbanded and a new brigade of volunteers (III Mountain Brigade under Col. Thrasybulus Tsakalótos) was formed.


31-year old Lt. Cdr. Russén was awarded several decorations for his successful service as a submarine commander: the Greek War Cross 2nd Class on 5 January 1940 (as XO of the Greek submarine Y-1 "Katsones") and again on 25 February 1943; the Greek War Cross 1st Class on 30 January 1942 as Cpt. of the Greek submarine Y-2 "Papanikolis", and again posthumously on 23 April 1944, while on 1 September 1943 he was awarded the British Distinguished Service Cross. On 27 September 1945 he was posthumously awarded the Greek Outstanding Actions Medal for his war service

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYAwllZPzAU
The new Fast Attack Craft Missile (FACM), HNS "Russén" (P67), the lead ship of the Russén class, commissioned in December 2005 is named after him

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April, 23

303: Roman army officer -he was a Tribunus Militum- Georgius, son of the Cappadocian official, Gerontius and the Greek (from Syria Palæstina), Polychronia, is executed for his Christian faith. He is venerated as a Christian Martyr and Saint by the Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans and Oriental Orthodox.

Greek Army divisions, brigades, regiments and battalions have a single colour. This is blue, with a white cross and features St. George slaying the Dragon in the centre. Battle honours are sometimes embroidered on the flag; the unit's identity is inscribed on the flagstaff; campaign medals and awards are attached to the finial (which is a chrome-plated Greek cross). St. George's Day is the Day of the Greek Army


The Flag of England is the St George's Cross which appeared as an emblem of England in the Middle Ages

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPTz2HnJO1w#!
May 6th, St. George's Day -Гергьовден- is also the Day of the Bulgarian Army

971: During the Byzantino-Rus War of 970–971, the Byzantine Army of 30-40,000 men under Emperor Ioannes Tzimisces defeats the Kievan Rus of Svyatoslav in the Battle of Dorystolon (present day, Silistra, Bulgaria). The defeat of Svyatoslav's army of ca 60,000 men was so complete (they lost 38,000 men! Byzantine chronicler Leo the Deacon refers to just 22,000 Rus warriors receiving rations for their travel home after the truce) that Tzimisces became master of eastern Bulgaria and Dobruja.

The Greco-Armenian Byzantine Emperor Ioannes I Tzimisces (925 – 976)

[LineDoggie]

April 23
23 April

1778 - US Captain John Paul Jones attempted to kidnap the Earl of Selkirk, but he only got Lady Selkirk's silverware.

1789 - President-elect Washington and his wife moved into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House, in New York. George Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall and lived at 3 Cherry Street in New York City. In 1790, with construction on the new federal capital underway, the government was moved temporarily to Philadelphia, where Washington served out his two terms. He is the only president who never resided in the White House.

1790 - Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton asked Congress for authorization to build a "system of [10] cutters" for "securing the collection of the revenue."

1861 - Arkansas troops seized Fort Smith.

1861 - Battle of San Antonio, TX.

1864 - Battle of Cane River, LA (Red River Expedition, Monett's Ferry).

1865 - Union cavalry units continued to skirmish with Confederate forces in Henderson, North Carolina and Munsford Station, Alabama.

1908 - Congress passed legislation that created the Medical Reserve Corps, the Army's first federal reserve force. From this pool of trained medical professionals, the secretary of War was able to order Reserve officers to active duty during time of emergency. In June 1908, the first 160 Reserve medical officers received their commissions. This number grew to about 360 by 1909, to 1,900 by 1916, and to 9,223 by 1917. The concept of bringing civilian professionals into the Army in a disciplined and quickly-accessible manner soon expanded beyond the medical profession and beyond officers, becoming the modern US Army Reserve.

1914 - The 3rd Marine Regiment joined in a show of force at Vera Cruz, Mexico, after an insult to the American flag.

1918 - USS Stewart destroys German submarine off France.

1924 - The U.S. Senate passes Soldiers Bonus Bill.

1934 - In first Navy movement through Panama Canal over 100 ships transited.

1944 - Advancing US forces capture Hollandia, New Guinea, without a fight; Tadji airfield is also taken. The advance inland encounters resistance near the village of Sabron. There is congestion on the beachheads.

1945 - Advance units of both US 5th and British 8th Armies reach the Po River. US 5th Army units manage to cross the river south of Mantua.

1945 - On Okinawa, the attacks of US 24th Corps begin to achieve some gains, notably by US 96th Division.

1945 - Units of US 37th Division reach the outskirts of Baguio.

1945 - In only U.S. use of guided missiles in WW II, 2 BAT missiles release at Balikiapan, Borneo.

1951
- The Battle of Kapyong took place with the 27th British Commonwealth Infantry Brigade holding out against the brunt of the communist spring offensive. The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment; 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry; and A Company, 72nd U.S. Tank Battalion all received the U.S. Distinguished Unit Citation (today known as the Presidential Unit Citation) for Kapyong. North of Uijongbu, the 1st Battalion of the Gloucester Regiment and the 170th Heavy Mortar Battery, both of the British 29th Independent Brigade Group, earned the U.S. Distinguished Unit Citation for the action at "Gloucester Hill" were the battalion was virtually annihilated standing against the assault of 80,000 Chinese. A tank-infantry force including the Philippine Battalion suffered heavy casualties attempting to relieve the Gloucesters.

1975 - At a speech at Tulane University, President Gerald Ford says the Vietnam War is finished as far as America is concerned.

1997 - The military confirmed that two pieces of wreckage found on a snowy Rocky Mountain peak were from the Air Force warplane that vanished on a training mission over Arizona.

2001
- USS Greeneville Cmdr. Scott Waddle was given a letter of reprimand as punishment for the submarine collision that killed nine people aboard a Japanese fishing vessel off Hawaii.

2003 - US forces captured 4 more former Iraqi government officials, including 3 on the top wanted list: Muzahim Sa'b Hassan al-Tikriti (queen of diamonds), Gen. Zuhayr Talib Abd al-Sattar al-Naqib (7 of hearts), and Muhammad Mahdi al-Salih (6 of hearts).

2007 - The Intelligence Specialist (IS) rating was launched with a special ceremony at Coast Guard Headquarters. ADM Thad Allen, USCG Commandant, and Mr. James Sloan, Assistant Commandant for Intelligence and Criminal Investigations, presided over the ceremony.

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April, 24


1821: During the Greek War of Independence, the First Battle of Valtetsi occurs. A 4,000-strong Ottoman army of Albanians under the Ottoman with Albanian roots, Mustafa Kehayabey Pasha (also known as Mustafabey), attacked a few hundred Greek Revolutionaries based in Valtetsi, a village near Tripolis, in central Peloponnese. The Greeks offered stiff resistance but eventually were forced to abandon their positions. Kyriakúles Mavromicháles, with his Maniot warriors absorbed enormous pressure and his positions were almost routed, but were saved by Demetrios Plapútas who arrived with a few hundred men and struck the Ottomans in the rear. Taken by surprise, the Ottomans withdrew. 600-700 Ottomans were killed or wounded, 150 Greeks perished.

Maniot warlord Kyriakúles Mavromicháles; he was killed in 1822 during a clash with his 500 Maniots against 3,000 Ottoman Albanians under Mustafabey, in Epirus


General Demetrios Plapútas (1786 - 1864); the painting depicts him as senator in 1850's

1915: Red Sunday, the beginning of the Armenian Genocide orchestrated by the nationalist reform party of Young Turks, occurs, with the arrest of 235 to 270 prominent Armenians of Konstantiniyye (present day Istanbul) under direct orders of the Ottoman Minister of Interior, Mehmed Talaat Bey. 24 April, 1915 marks the beginning of the terrible ensuing events for the Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

[digrar]

The battle of Kapyong, April 1951

On the night of 22 April 1951, Chinese forces launched a major offensive against United Nations forces defending the South Korean capital, Seoul, and positions further east. Next morning the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade (including the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment) was ordered to the valley of the Kapyong River about 60 kilometres north-east of Seoul, where South Korean forces were being driven back.
During a night of fierce fighting and throughout the daylight hours of 24 April the Australians and a Canadian battalion, supported by a New Zealand artillery regiment, stalled the Chinese advance before eventually withdrawing after dark. At a cost of 32 men killed, 59 wounded and three missing (taken prisoner), the Australians had helped hold up the Chinese 60th Division and inflicted heavy casualties which totalled more than 500 killed alone. For their contribution to this action, 3 RAR was awarded a US Presidential Citation.

More... http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/kapyong/doc.asp

Citation.

HEADQUARTERS

EIGHTH UNITED STATES ARMY ( KOREA )

Office of the Commanding General

APO 301

GENERAL ORDER
number 453 23rd June 1951

Section 1

AWARD OF DISTINGUISHED UNIT CITATION

BATTLE HONOURS – By direction of the President, under the provisions of Executive Order 9396 (Sec I, WD Bul. 22, 1943) Superseding Executive Order 9075 (Sec III, WD Bul. 16, 1942) and pursuant to authority in AR 260-15, the following units are cited as public evidence of deserved honour and distinction.
3RD BATTALION, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN REGIMENT
2ND BATTALION, PRINCESS PATRICIA'S CANADIAN LIGHT INFANTRY COMPANY A
72ND HEAVY TANK BATTALION (UNITED STATES)
are cited for extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of combat duties in action against the armed enemy near Kapyong, Korea, on the 24 and 25 April 1951. The enemy had broken through the main line of resistance and penetrated to the area north of Kapyong. The units listed above were deployed to stem the assault. The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, moved to the right flank of the sector and took up defensive positions north of the Pukham River. The 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, defended in the vicinity of Hill 677 on the left flank. Company A, 72nd Heavy Tank Battalion, supported all units to the full extent of its capacity and, in addition, kept the main roads open and assisted in evacuating the wounded. Troops from a retreating division passed through the sector which enabled enemy troops to infiltrate with the withdrawing forces. The enemy attacked savagely under the clangor of bugles and trumpets. The forward elements were completely surrounded going through the first day and into the second. Again and again the enemy threw waves of troops at the gallant defenders, and many times succeeded in penetrating the outer defences, but each time the courageous, indomitable, and determined soldiers repulsed the fanatical attacks. Ammunition ran low and there was no time for food. Critical supplies were dropped by air to the encircled troops, and they stood their ground in resolute defiance of the enemy. With serene and indefatigable persistence, the gallant soldiers held their defensive positions and took heavy tolls of the enemy. In some instances when the enemy penetrated the defences, the commanders directed friendly artillery fire on their own positions in repelling the thrusts. Toward the close of 25 April, the enemy break-through had been stopped. The seriousness of the break-through on the central front had been changed from defeat to victory by the gallant stand of these heroic and courageous soldiers. The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment; 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry; and Company A, 72nd Heavy Tank Battalion, displayed such gallantry, determination, and espirit de corps in accomplishing their missions under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions as to set them apart and above other units participating in the campaign, and by their achievements they brought distinguished credit on themselves, their homelands, and all freedom-loving nations

BY COMMAND OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL VAN FLEET:
Leven C. Allen
Major General US Army
Chief of Staff

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April, 25

404 BC: Athenian Statesman Theramenes and Spartan General Lysander reach an agreement and Athens capitulates. The Peloponnesian War ends.

Lysander

1792: Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, a French Arillery Captain writes the lyrics and composes the melody for a patriotic song, originally titled Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin (=War Song for the Army of the Rhine). The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic's anthem in 1795 under the name La Marsellaise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K1q9Ntcr5g

WWI-1915:: The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by Anzac, French and British troops begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.

Men from the Australian 4th Battalion (1st Brigade) and Jacob's 26th Indian Mountain Battery are seen landing. The men in the foreground belong to the 1st Brigade staff. At the water's edge is the body of Sapper R. Reynolds, one of the first men to be killed at Gallipoli

1941: During Operation Mercury, 1st and 2nd year Cadets of the Hellenic Army Academy, 300-strong, steal the Academy Colour and board small ships and trawlers for Crete.

The 1941 Academy Colour at the Hellenic Army Academy Museum; in 1946 the Greek Medal for Valour in Gold was bestowed by the King on the Academy's Colour as a recognition for the bravery shown by the cadets who fought in the Battle of Crete. 12 cadets never returned home

1974: The Carnation Revolution, the military coup of 25 April, 1974 that ousted the authoritarian regime of Marcelo Caetano, begins in Portugal. The first free election in almost 40 years, is carried out a year later, on 25 April, 1975.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP9I2VzGDBE

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April, 26

1933: Hermann Wilhelm Göring, one of the leading members of the Nazi Party and Prussian minister of the interior at the time, detached the espionage and political units of the Prussian Police, merged them and proceeded to staff the new unit with thousands of Nazis, thus establishing the Geheime Staatspolizei (=Secret State Police), the infamous Gestapo. Göring became the commander of this new force that was given power to shadow, arrest, interrogate, and intern any enemies of the state.

Obverse and reverse of Gestapo ID disc

1937: During theSpanish Civil War, the town of Guernica in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain, is attacked by the Condor Legion of Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe to support the efforts of Franco to overthrow the Basque Government and the Spanish Republican government. The town was devastated. Pablo Picasso painted his famous "Guernica" painting to commemorate the horrors of the bombing and René Iché made a violent sculpture the day after the bombing.

Picasso's Guernica, and...


the Guernica sculpture by René Iché

1944: On the night of 26 April, 1944, British SOE agents and Cretan resistance members, abduct Generalmajor Karl Heinrich Georg Ferdinand Kreipe, military commander of Festung Kreta (=Fortress Crete). The operation was a spectacular demosntration of British phlegm, Greek courage and Greco-British co-operation. For their part in the successful operation, Maj. Patrick Leigh Fermor was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, and Cpt. William Stanley Moss the Military Cross, on 13 July, 1944.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zlUhJwddFU
In 1972 in a Greek TV show, history comes unraveled when on the same TV set, Fermor, Kreippe and members of the Cretan Resistance, met after 28 years (unfortunately only in Greek)