On this day in Military History

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May 10, 1940

British troops occupied Iceland.

Churchill became Prime Minister.



1933

Comprehensive book burnings in Nazi Germany.


Also bad operations in Vietnam, 1969 & 1972

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1944: Operation Diadem: The British Eighth and U.S. Fifth Armies begin an attack on Gustav Line in central Italy. The Gustav Line was the most rearward of the three German defensive lines on the Italian peninsula south of Rome. Built along the Garigliano and Rapido rivers it was fortified with gun pits, concrete bunkers, turreted machine-gun emplacements, barbed wire and minefields. The Gustav Line was held by 15 divisions of the German Army under the command of General Albert Kesselring.

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1797: Napoleon’s troops occupy Venice and tore open the gates of the infamous Venetian Jewish ghetto. Swept up in the fervor, many Jews volunteer for Napoleon’s army

The French entry into Venice

1821: The Battle of Valtetsi, in mountainous Arcadia, Peloponnese, occurs. It was the first major battle of the Greek War for Independence. Approximately 12,000 Turks and Albanians, under Mustafa Kehayabey and Ruby Bey, attack 2,300 revolutionaries under the Maniot Kyriakules Mavromichales. 700 Greeks under Theodoros Kolokotrones, arrive on time and attack the Turks on their flanks weakening their operational power. All Turkish and Albanian attacks were repelled and finally Ruby bey ordered retreat which turned into a route after the Greeks abandoned their defensive attitude under the fortified positions and violently counterattacked, completely breaking the enemy lines achieving a decisive and total victory and capturing huge amounts of gun pieces and materiel, mainly cannons and ammunition that would be vital for the following events. Total Greek losses: 150 KIA; Ottoman losses accounted for 600 KIA

Mavromichales (left) and Kolokotrones

WWI-1917: The 10th battle of the Isonzo begins. 38 Italian divisions launch an attack on only 14 divisions of the Austro-Hungarian Army. 35,000 Italians and 7,300 Austro-hungarians are KIA

Italian Field Marshal Luigi Cadorna (left), Austro-Hungarian Field Marshal Svetozar Borojević von Bojna

1919: I/5 & II/5 Btns of the 5th Infantry Rgt occupy the region of Magnesia (now Manisa) in Minor Asia

Greek Cpl in Minor Asia. He wears French M1918 brown leather equipment; he carries an Adrian French steel helmet; He's armed with the M1903 Mannlicher-Schönauer, rotary magazine bolt action rifle (6.5mm)

1942: The 2nd battle of Kharkov. Timoshenko’s offensive grinds forward into Army Group South with two pincer attacks, one Northwest out of the Izyum bulge by the 6th Red Army and the other West then Southwest by the 28th Red Army from the Volchansk area, designed to converge west of Kharkov. After initial promising signs, the offensive was stopped by German counterattacks. Critical errors by several staff officers and by Joseph Stalin himself, who failed to accurately estimate the 6th Army's potential and overestimated their own newly-trained forces, led to a successful German pincer attack cutting off advancing Soviet troops from the rest of the front.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtHjhI5Rp2U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNSbVvkC0EY

1943: Greek Destroyer "Kanares III" (L-53, former HMS Hatherleigh) under Lt Commander Panagiotes Damelates, disembarks a contingent under 2nd Lt Ioannes Semertsides on the islet of Zembra, in the gulf of Tunis; after a short skirmish, the German garrison on the islet surrenders

1945: The German garrison of "Festung Kreta" (Fortress Crete), surrenders to the Greek authorities

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1912: The Royal Flying Corps (later the Royal Air Force) is formed in the UK

The illustrations above are taken from diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/ww1/afc/rfc.htm

1940: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees the Nazi invasion in the Netherlands to Great Britain. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.

1940: German troops step on French soil: Supported by waves of Luftwaffe Stuka dive-bombers, the two German Panzer Korps of Heeresgruppe B establish bridgeheads across the Meuse river, tearing a 50-mile gap in the French defences between Dinant and Sedan. The 7th Panzer Division (Rommel) is the first division across. Dutch troops withdraw to their second and final line of defence on the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Utrecht line.

Crossing the Meuse

1940: Winston Churchill, delivers his first speech as Prime Minister: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjuiMuvHojQ

1943: Surrender of all German and Italian forces in Tunisia (130,000 German and 120,000 Italian prisoners). General von Arnim and 25 other axis generals are claimed captured, so ending the life of the once mighty "Afrika Korps" and marking the end of the three-year North African campaign.

Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen von Arnim (left) in British captivity at Trent Park camp in 1943

[largewar]

May 13, 1846
President James Knox Polk declares war on Mexico

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1509: During the War of the League of Cambrai, in the Great Italian Wars, the Battle of Agnadello, occurs. It was a struggle for power and territory among France and the Republic of Venice. Approximately 20,000 Venetians under Nicolo, Count of Pitigliano and his younger cousin, Bartolomeo d'Alviano, repulse approximately 40,000 French, who launch attacks, first by cavalry and then by pikemen. French king Louis XII arrives with his own reinforcements, throwing Alviano's army into confusion. Finally the Venetian army is routed leaving behind 5,000 dead and wounded. The battle is mentioned in Machiavelli's "The Prince" (Chapter 12), noting that in one day, the Venetians "lost what it had taken them eight hundred years' exertion to conquer."

Allegory of the Victory over the League of Cambrai (detail). This complex painting is in the "Sala del Senato", Venice. It commemorates a rather inglorious war against the League of Cambrai (formed by the Pope, the kings of France and Spain, and the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire) which went badly for Venice. In 1509 its enemy occupied Venice's mainland territories and threatened the City itself. The canvas depicts Doge Leonardo Loredan and represents the Venetian resistance to the combined powers of Europe, symbolized by allegorical figures.

1919: The Greek 4th Infantry Rgt occupies the town of Aydın (ancient Tralles) on the Aegean coast of Turkey.

Smyrna/İzmir: The Changing of the Guard at the Greek general headquarters

1940: Germans take Rotterdam. The Dutch government arrives in London.

Rotterdam annihilated by the Nazis

1944: Elements of the Greek Sacred Band, land on the island of Paros, neutralize the German garrison of the airfield and capture its CO as POW

The Greek Sacred Band's CO, Colonel Khristodulos Tsigantes in Tunisia

1948: Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War (also known by Israelis as the War of Independence, and by Palestinians as Al Nakba-the catastrophe).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0IqElS6pMw

1955: Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, East Germany and the USSR, sign in Warsaw, Poland, a treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, known informally as the Warsaw Pact

The first Warsaw Pact conference

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1648: The Peace Treaty of Osnabrück is signed which brought the Thirty Years' War to an end (together with the Treaty of Münster are also known as the Peace of Westphalia). The Treaty of Osnabrück ended the 30 years' war & five months later (24 October) the Treaty of Münster ended 80 years of hostility between the Spanish government and the Dutch (Republic of the Seven United Netherlands).
The terms:

-France gained the bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun; Breisach and Philippsburg; Alsace and part of Strasburg.

-Sweden gained West Pomerania, Wismar, Stettin, Mecklenburg; the bishoprics of Verden and Bremen which gave her control over the estuaries of the Elbe and Weser.

-Brandenburg gained East Pomerania; the archbishopric of Magdeburg and Halberstadt.

-Bavaria kept the Upper Palatinate and the Electoral title that went with it. The Lower Palatinate was restored to Charles Louis, the son of Frederick and an 8th Elector's title was made for him.

-Saxony kept Lusatia.

-Bohemia remained an hereditary domain.

-Upper Austria was restored to the Habsburgs - Bavaria had taken control of it.

-Spain recognised the United Provinces as a sovereign state

Ratification of the Treaty of Münster

1701: The War of the Spanish Succession begins. It starts as a quarrel, specifically between France and Austria and 13 years later, half of Europe, fights the other half: the Habsburg Empire, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Duchy of Savoy are at war with the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of Spain, the Electorate of Bavaria and the Hungarians under the Prince Francis II Rákóczi, over a possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L_2tZ51C7A

1756: The 7 years' War begins when Great Britain declares war on France. It involved all of the major European powers of the period: the Kingdom of Prussia, Great Britain, the Kingdom of Portugal and the lesser German States of Hanover, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Hesse-Kassel & Schaumburg-Lippe are at war with the Kingdom of France, the Habsburg Empire, the Russian Empire (which temporarily changed sides in the later stages of the war), the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Electorate of Saxony & the Kingdom of Sardinia. Because of its global nature, it has been described as the "first World War".

The battle of Kunersdorff (1759) in the 7 years' War

1792: France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia. The War of the First Coalition (the first major concerted effort of multiple European powers, among them Great Britain, Prussia, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Portugal, the Dutch Republic, to contain Revolutionary France) begins. It ended 5 years later in a French victory.

Napoleon at the battle of Rivoli (1797) in the War of the First Coalition

1918: The Finnish Civil Ends. The war was fought in Finland from 27 January to 15 May, 1918, between the forces of the Social Democrats led by the People's Deputation of Finland, commonly called the "Reds" (punaiset), and the forces of the non-socialist, conservative-led Senate, commonly called the "Whites" (valkoiset). Its result was a "White" victory and claimed approximately 35,000 lives on both sides

The final shot

1919: Greek Army occupies the port town of Cydoniae (now Ayvalık) in Minor Asia

Greek troops with local Greek boy scouts of Ayvalık

1940: After the fall of Rotterdam, Holland surrenders. The German 20th Panzer Korps (Hoth) repels a counter-attack by French armoured forces, destroying 125 out of 175 tanks. An attack by 6th Army (von Reichenau) against the Dyle line in Belgium is repulsed. In Paris, panic breaks out over reports of a German breakthrough at Sedan with thousands of civilians fleeing the city for the west and south of the country, clogging the roads for Allied military traffic which is attacked by Luftwaffe bombers and fighter bombers.

1941: The Luftwaffe begin preparatory attacks against Crete

1957: The UK exploded its first hydrogen bomb as part of a series of tests in the Pacific, at Malden Island to minimise nuclear fall-out. After just two years of development, the bomb was dropped by a four-engined jet, Valiant of No 49 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, normally based at RAF Wittering, Northants.

The aircraft that dropped Britain's first H-bomb, Vickers Valiant B, 1 XD818 of No. 49 Squadron

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1940: The Germans try to enlarge Sedan pocket. British troops withdraw from Louvain, west of Brussels as troops of the German 6. Armee break through the Allied "Dyle line" in Belgium. The KW line, or "Dyle line" as it was referred to by the Allies, covered Brussels and connected the PFA-Position fortifiée d’Anvers with the city of Namur. It ran from the fort of Koningshooikt near Antwerp to Wavre (hence the name: KW) along the marshy Dyle valley, for 60 miles, a natural tank barrier. Belgian government leaves Brussels for Ostend.


1942: Kerch is captured by German troops: General Erich von Manstein commanded 11. Armee in an effort to clean out the Red Army presence on the Kerch peninsula which would then allow him to deal with Sevastopol without interference. According to von Manstein’s plan, the VII. and XLII. Korps had to tie down the Soviet forces in the northern sector, while the XXX. Korps and the 22. Panzer Division broke the front in the south and swept north, encirkling the Soviet forces. The result was yet another disaster for the Red Army; 162,282 soldiers KIA, WIA & MIA, almost all the heavy weapons and equipment and 417 airplanes lost. The remaining Soviets were forced to evacuate their troops across the straits in extremely difficult conditions and under heavy fire. For five days, Soviet ships shuttle back and forth, finally pulling out 86,000 men, including 23,000 wounded.


1943: The Warsaw Ghetto uprising ends.

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1940: Brussels, Louvain (Leuven) and Mechelen in central Belgium all occupied by the troops of 6. Armee. Germans attack further into NE France; General Gamelin, French Commander-in-Chief, gives allied troops "conquer or die" order. French prime minister Pierre Laval is replaced by Paul Reynaud who forms a new government. Charles de Gaulle's newly raised 4th Armoured division launches a counter-attack near Laon, which is easily repulsed by the Germans.

General Maurice Gamelin (center) with his staff officers

1943: Operation Chastise: The Dambuster Raids are carried out by No. 617 Squadron RAF on German dams. 1,300 people are killed (53 RAF aircrewmen).

The post-raid party attended by those crews who completed the mission

1944: U.S. troops land on Wake Island and the northern coast of New Guinea.

US soldiers of the 163rd Infantry Regiment storm the beach on Wake Island

1987: An Iraqi Mirage F1 fighter jet fires two Exocet missiles into the U.S. warship USS Stark (FFG-31), killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.

[bd popeye]

This Day in US Naval History - May 17
Story Number: NNS020131-18
Release Date: 1/31/2002 10:51:00 AM

From the Navy News Service
1940 - FDR announces plans to recommission 35 more destroyers.
1942 - USS Tautog (SS 199) sinks Japanese sub, I-28; while USS Triton (SS 201) sinks I-164.
1951 - Aircraft from carriers attack bridges between Wonsan and Hamhung, Korea.
1962 - Naval amphibious ready group lands Marines to guard Thailand's borders from Communist probes.
1966 - Naval Support Activity Saigon established.
1973 - First woman to hold a major Navy command, Capt. Robin Lindsay Quigley assumes command of Navy Service School, San Diego.
1987 - USS Stark (FFG 31) struck by Iraqi Exocet missile in Persian Gulf, killing 37 Sailors; 21 were wounded.
1990 - USS Roark (FF 1053) rescues 42 refugees from unseaworthy craft in South China Sea.

For more information about naval history, visit the Naval Historical Center Web site at http://www.history.navy.mil.

For more info on the attack on the Stark go to the link below.

http://www.navybook.com/nohigherhonor/pic-stark.shtml

More USS Stark FFG-37 Photos

The USS Stark (FFG 31) burns and lists to port on 18 May 1987, one day after the guided missile frigate was struck by two Iraqi-launched Exocet missiles. The attack killed 37 sailors.

The USS Stark (FFG-31) was a short hulled Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate of the US Navy. She was laid down in August 1979 and commissioned on October 23, 1982 with the homeport of Mayport, Florida. She was named after Admiral Harold Rainsford Stark.

The Stark was deployed to the Middle East Force in 1984 and 1987. She is remembered for the incident of May 17, 1987 when she was struck by two missiles from an Iraqi Mirage fighter during the Iran-Iraq War. The fighter had taken off from Shaibah at 20.00 and had flown south into the Persian Gulf. Shortly after being routinely challenged by the frigate at around 22.10 the fighter fired two Exocet ASM missiles. The frigate did not detect the missile attack and both missiles struck without warning. The first hit the port-side hull and left a three metre by four metre gash when it exploded in crew quarters; the second missile hit the superstructure of the frigate. Thirty-seven crew were killed and twenty-one were injured. The frigate was afire but this was brought under control during the night and the ship returned to Bahrain under her own power. $142 million was spent repairing the vessel.

The Stark was part of the Standing Naval Forces Atlantic Fleet in 1990 before returning to the Middle East Force in 1991. She was attached to UNITAS in 1993 and took part in Operation Support Democracy and Operation Able Vigil in 1994. In 1995 she again returned to the Middle East Force before serving in the Atlantic again in 1997 and in 1998. The Stark was decommissioned on May 7, 1999 and transferred to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia for disposal.

http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/ency..._%28FFG-31%29/

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1803: UK revokes the treaty of Amiens and declares war on Napoleonic France. The war of the 3rd Coalition (the third major concerted effort of multiple European powers, among them the UK, Austria, the Russian Empire, Portugal, Sweden, to contain Napoleonic France and its client states) begins. It ended 43 months later in a French victory.

Napoleon at the final battle of the war of the 3rd coalition, the battle of Austerlitz

1905: During the Greek struggle for Macedonia, Cpt Michael Moraites' (aka Kodros) armed band, while moving into the Gumenissa gorge to spend the night, falls into a Turkish ambush. They are attacked by a battalion sized Turkish element. After a desperate battle for survival, Cpt Moraites and his XO 2nd Lt Spyridon Phrangopulos (aka Gogras) are killed. A Large Number of Moraites' men are killed and captured.

Cpt Moraites (left), 2nd Lt Phrangopulos

WWI-1918: The Greek Divisions of the Armée d'Orient (Salonika Front) under Lt Gen Emmanuel Zymvrakakes, occupy Skra-di-Legen.
Skra-di-legen, was a fortified position covering the three peaks of the Paikon Mountain, west of the town of Gevgelija. Bulgarian troops fortified it in 1916 and in 1917 they withstood a strong frontal assault launched by the French. In May 1918 this triangular in shape position was defended by the 3rd brigade of the Bulgarian 5th "Dunavska" (Danubian) division: 2nd Infantry Regiment defended its right flank, 50th Infantry Regiment defended its left flank and on the top of the triangle, occupying the frontal position, stood the three battalions of the 49th Infantry Regiment. Three more Bulgarian Regiments (8th, 60th, 54th Infantry Regiment) & one German (45. Infanterie Regiment) were in reserve. The attacking forces comprise the Archipelago Division (Maj Gen Emmanuel Ioannu), the Cretan Division (Maj Gen Panaghiotes Speliades) & the Serrae Division (Maj Gen Epaminondas Zymvrakakes).
THE BATTLE
The allies, started a 13-hour Artillery barrage, before elements of the Greek Archipelago Division were thrown to battle. At 04:45, I/1 Btn (Major Psarras) & II/1 Btn (Cpt. Skaltsoyannes) of the 1st Archipelago Rgt (Lt Col Georgios Kondyles) of the Archipelago Division, marched under the fire of the Bulgarians against the first Bulgarian line of Defence, Bastion-Ouest, overrided the enemy & occupied the line Piton-Poche (the Regiment's main objective). At almost the same time, the Battalions (III/6 Btn-Major Nikolaos Plasteras, II/6 Btn-Major Vassilios Karakufas) of the 6th Archipelago Rgt (Col. Constantine Exarkhakos) after a tough & bloody fight, occupied the Bulgarian entrenchments set on the axis Courtine-Bastion Central. The Battalions (I/4 Btn-Major Vassilios Papayannes, III/4 Btn-Major Constantine Babales) of the 4th Archipelago Rgt (Lt.Col. Euthymios Tsimikales) commenced their advance against the main Bulgarian fortifications of Skra-di-Legen under heavy enemy fire. Within 15 minutes they approached the first enemy defence line. After a fierce battle, I/4 Btn although lost its CO, occupied the main defence line of Skra-di-Legen.
At the east flank of the Archipelago Division, the Regiments (7th Cretan-Lt.Col. Panagiotes Gardikas, 8th Cretan-Lt.Col. Demetrios Stavrianopulos) of the Cretan Division commenced their advance at 04:45. The Cretans of the 7th Rgt routed the enemy & by 10:50 occupied Bochet. At 05:30, 8th Rgt advanced against the Bulgarians at Tablette & occupied it. At 14:00, III/8 Btn (Major Ioannes Vlastos) attacked the Bulgarian entrenchments of Petit Tranche Brun & after heavy fight, occupied it.
At the west flank of the Archipelago Division, the Regiments (2nd Serrae-Lt.Col. Chrestos Tserules, 3rd Serrae-Lt.Col. Nikolaos Kalomenopulos) of the Serrae Division, attacked the Bulgarians at 04:45. By 06:45 the objectives had been secured: 2nd Rgt occupied the town of Lunci & secured the line Boite des Bulgars-Block Roche. 3rd Rgt. made contact with the allied Serbian Division. Although the Bulgarians conducted strong counter-attacks, they were all repulsed by the Greeks. Greeks suffered 2,832 casualties (29 officers). Bulgarian losses accounted for approx. 600 KIA. 1835 Bulgarians (35 Officers) captured.


1940: Germans take Antwerp, Belgium’s second city. Allied forces are seriously split as German tanks of 19. Panzer Korps (Guderian) reach Peronne and Rommel's 7. Panzer Division reaches Cambrai during their rapid advance toward the Channel coast. Amiens is occupied. Regions ceded to Belgium in Treaty of Versailles (1919) re-incorporated into Germany.

Motorcycle-mounted reconnaissance troops from the German 7. Panzer Division survey the landscape somewhere in northern France, May 1940

1944: In the 4th and final battle of Monte Cassino, after a 7-day fierce encounter with German Fallschirmjäger, Polish troops finally capture it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAfizXfIXWo

2009: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending decades of fighting between the two sides.

Sri Lankans celebrate in Colombo after President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared victory in the country's civil war with LTTE

[4X4Driver]

19 May 1919


THE BEGINNING OF THE TURKISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

After the Armistice of Mondoros, the countries that had signed the agreement did not consider it necessary to abide by its terms. Under various pretexts the navies and the armies of the Entente (France, Britain and Italy ) occupied Istanbul, while the province of Adana was occupied by the French, and the British occuped Urfa and Maraş. In addition, British soldiers were in Merzifon and Samsun, and Italian soldiers were in Antalya and Konya. On the 15th of May 1919 the Greek Army landed in Izmir in accordance with the Allied powers. The Turkish War of Independence began under these difficult conditions on the 19th of May 1919 when Mustafa Kemal landed in Samsun. It is after this date, which marks the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence, that a national resistance arose across Anatolia. Mustafa Kemal became the leader of the national struggle movement which quickly grew in strength. Once the congresses in Erzurum and Sivas were held in the summer of 1919, the objectives of the national pact were declared.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a highly respected army general, led the Turkish people in their War of Independence (1919-1923) against the allied occupiers.Ataturk’s outstanding leadership qualities were first recognized during the 1915 Çanakkale Battle (also known as the Gallipoli Battle, or Dardanelles Campaign). After numerous victories by Turkish forces on many fronts between 1919 and 1922, the occupying forces were defeated. In 1923, the Republic of Turkey was established. As the leader of the new nation, Ataturk created the foundations for a modern, secular and democratic country.

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1643: In the Thirty Years' War, the French (under Louis II de Bourbon, 4th prince of Condé) decisively defeated the Spanish forces (under Don Francisco de Melo) in the Battle of Rocroi. 26,000 Spaniards, crossed the French border from the Netherlands and then stopped to besiege the small fortress of Rocroi, 55 miles (88 km) northeast of Reims. They were annihilated by the 22,000 French of the Duke d’Enghien (later known as the Great Condé), marking the end of Spain’s military ascendancy in Europe. At the battle of Rocroi, the Tercio Español (a mixed infantry formation of about 3,000 pikemen, swordsmen and arquebusiers in a mutually supportive formation that dominated warfare for over a century) is decisively defeated and the technique of the Tercios, and the art of their style of combat, died.

Louis II de Bourbon, Duke d’Enghien

1940: General Gamelin is replaced by General Maxime Weygand as Chief of the French General Staff and C-in-C of all theatres of operations. Marshal Henri Petain, the hero of the First World War, is appointed as Deputy Prime Minister. German troops of XX. Panzer Korps (Reinhardt) capture St. Quentin.

General Weygand

1941: In the Anglo-Iraqi War, the British capture Fallujah after fierce fighting.

Iraqi troops at Fallujah

1944: Wake Island is secured. In the battle of Wake island, 820 Japanese and 130 Americans were killed.

Raising the U.S. flag on Wake Island

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1813: During the War of the Sixth Coalition (the sixth major concerted effort of multiple European powers, among them Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and a number of German States to contain Napoleonic France) the battle of Bautzen occurs. Napoleonic France defeats the combined forces of Prussia (under Count Gebhard von Blücher) and Russia (under Prince Peter Wittgenstein). Although a success for the French, Bautzen was not the decisive. Following Bautzen, Napoleon agreed to a seven-week truce with the Coalition, requested by the Allies on 2 June 1813, the armistice (Armistice of Pleischwitz) was signed on 4 June, and lasted until 16 August.


1825: During the Greek War for Independence, the naval battle of Kaphereus occurs. The Greek fleet (35 ships) under Vice Admiral Georgios Sakhtures defeats the Ottoman fleet (50 ships) under Hosref Pasha. In the battle which lasted for 8 hours, an Ottoman Frigate (62 guns) and a Corvette (28 guns) were sunk with all hands on board. The remaining Turkish ships slowly withdrew to the Dardanelles.


1940: XIX. Panzer Korps (Guderian) completes its advance to the Channel coast by capturing Abbeville (a town on the main road from Paris to Boulogne) and Noyelles, thus separating the BEF (British Expeditionary Force), French 1st Army and the Belgian Army from the rest of the French forces to the south of the river Somme. German reinforcements pour into this split between the allied troops in northern France.


1941: After initial air attacks by dive-bombers of the VIII Fliegerkorps, German paratroops of the 7. Flieger-Division carried in 490 Ju-52 transports of XI Fliegerkorps, land at Maleme, Canea (08:00), Heraklion (16:00), and Rethymno airfields (16:25). They suffer very heavy losses (1000 killed and wounded) as the British and Commonwealth troops together with the locals put up fierce resistance and by nightfall have only secured the area around the Maleme airfield (heights 107, Aghia), although it still remains under fire from the British. However, the capture of Maleme airfield allows the Germans to begin sending reinforcements by sea during the night.

The Greek Orthodox Bishop of Canea, blesses the British & Commonwealth troops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1-_dmUaRYM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70DgIkKIDvY

1942: The Crimea is finally cleared of the Red Army. 170,000 Soviets taken prisoner. Manstein's next objective: Sevastopol.

Crimea, 1942

1956: Operation Redwing (test "Cherokee") : The first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

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1809: During the War of the Fifth Coalition (the fifth major concerted effort of multiple European powers, among them Austria, the UK, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of Sicily to contain Napoleonic France) the battle of Aspern-Essling occurs. Napoleon attempted a forced crossing of the Danube near Vienna, but the French were driven back by the Austrians under Archduke Charles. The battle was the first time Napoleon had been personally defeated in over a decade. The victory demonstrated the progress the Austrian army had made since the string of catastrophic defeats in 1800 and 1805.

Victorious Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen during the Battle of Aspern-Essling

1879: During the War of the Pacific (a conflict between Chile and the alliance between Peru and Bolivia) the naval battle of Iquique occurs. The wooden Chilean Corvette "Esmeralda" and the schooner "Covadonga", while sailing near Iquique, Peru, spotted the Peruvian ironclad ships "Independencia" and "Huáscar". The four ships engaged in combat, but the armor of the Peruvian ships resisted the shots from the Chilean ships while the Esmeralda lost one of her engines. Her CO, Captain Arturo Prat Chacón refused to surrender to the Peruvians and Esmeralda, was rammed by the Peruvian monitor "Huáscar". He was killed shortly after boarding the Peruvian armored monitor. Despite the fact that Iquique was a Peruvian victory, following Prat's death, his name became a rallying cry for Chilean forces, and Arturo Prat has since been considered a Chilean national hero.

Death of Arturo Prat

1940: A British counter attack is launched near Arras with armoured and infantry support against Rommel's 7. Panzer Division, throwing it off balance. A similar attack in the south by a French armoured brigade under General de Gaulle fails after initial success. The French 9th Army is surrounded and destroyed, its commander, General Giraud, taken prisoner.

French General Henri Giraud in captivity in Germany

1941: 80 Ju-52s crash land a regiment of 5. Gebirgsjäger Division to support the hard-pressed paratroopers who are defending Maleme airfield. A British counter-attack at Maleme airfield is repulsed by the now reinforced paratroopers. A German attack at the Rethymnon airfield fails. A Battalion of the Greek Gendarmerie counter-attacks and captures the CO of the 2. Fallschirmjäger-Regiment, Oberst Alfred Sturm.

Gebirgsjäger board Ju-52s for Crete

1941: The city of Heraklion is heavily bombarded by the Luftwaffe. German paratroopers penetrate the outskirts of the city. A Greek counter-attack is launched with infantry and civilian armed bands which causes disarray. The paratroopers withdraw with considerable casualties.


1941: A Royal Navy force commanded by Rear Admiral Irvine Glennie intercepted a convoy of 25 commandeered caiques - Greek fishing boats - escorted by the Italian destroyer Lupo (Cpt. Francesco Mimbelli). The Royal Navy sank several caiques and others turned back. They were carrying elements of the 5. Gebirgsjäger Division with their vehicles, Flak and support weapons, as well as engineer and anti-tank units. The Luftwaffe sinks the British Destroyer HMS "Juno" (F46) (Cdr J.R.J. Tyrwhitt) and damages the Light cruiser HMS "Ajax" (22), southwest of Crete.


1945: The Japanese begin the evacuation of Shuri, on Okinawa. Their losses so far are estimated at 48,000 killed out of a garrison of 85,000.


1945: The British Second Army (Major Sidney Excell) arrest a certain Heinrich Hitzinger at Bremervörde. British soldier Arthur Britton, identified him as Heinrich Himmler in disguise.