TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
3 April
◆1367 Battle of Najera/Navarrete: An Anglo-Spanish army defeats a Franco-Spanish army.
◆1847 Marines and Sailors from the USS Portsmouth landed and captured San Lycas, Mexico.
◆1860 The first Pony Express mail simultaneously leaves St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, carried by Henry Wallace riding west and John Roff riding east.
◆1865 The Rebel capital of Richmond falls to the Union, the most significant sign that the Confederacy is nearing its final days.
◆1865 Battle at Namozine Church, Virginia (Appomattox Campaign).
◆1865 Fifty of the sixty Midshipmen at the Confederate Naval Academy, under the command of Lieutenant William H. Parker, escorted the archives of the government and the specie and bullion of the treasury from Richmond to Danville.
◆1882 Jesse James, shot by Robert Ford, at 34, St Joseph, Mo.
◆1896 Battle of Tucruf: Sudanese Mahdists defeat the Italians.
◆1926 Virgil Grissom (d.1967), Lt. Col. USAF, astronaut (Mercury 4, Gemini 3), was born in Mitchell, Ind. He was the Mercury and Gemini astronaut who was killed in a fire while preparing for the first Apollo flight.
◆1926 Robert Goddard launched his 2nd flight of a liquid-fueled rocket.★
◆1933 The dirigible Akron crashed into the Atlantic off of New Jersey and killed 73 0f the 76 men aboard.
◆1942 The Japanese infantry stage a major offensive against Allied troops in Bataan, the peninsula guarding Manila Bay of the Philippine Islands.
◆1942 ADM Nimitz named Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, a joint command, and retained his other title, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet.
◆1943 Attacks by American General Patton’s 2nd Corps around El Guettar are held by the Axis defenders.★
◆1944 The B-17 and B-24 bombers of the US 15th Air Force drop 1100 tons of bombs on rail and industrial targets in Budapest. During the night, RAF Liberator and Wellington bombers carry out a follow-up raid. The attacks necessitate the closure of all the railway stations in the city.
◆1945 On Okinawa, Marines of the III Amphibious Corps continued to make good progress all along their front, clearing Zampa Misaki and seizing the Katchin Peninsula, thus effectively cutting the island in two. By this date (D+2), III AC elements had reached objectives thought originally to require 11 days to take. In Kamikaze attacks by Japanese planes, one escort carrier and other ships are hit. American artillery spotter planes begin operating from Kadena airfield.
◆1945 Part of the US 40th Division lands on Masbate to assist Filipino guerrillas who have controlled part of it for several days.
◆1946 Lt. General Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan Death March, was executed outside Manila in the Philippines.
◆1948 President Harry S. Truman signs off on legislation establishing the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948, more popularly known as the Marshall Plan.
◆1951 Eighth Army, led by the 1st Cavalry Division, crossed the 38th parallel.
◆1951 U.S. Air Force Captain Robert H. Moore, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, shot down his fifth enemy plane and became the ninth ace of the Korean War.
◆1972 The United States prepares hundreds of B-52s and fighter-bombers for possible air strikes to blunt the recently launched North Vietnamese invasion.★
◆1974 A tape from the SLA announced Patty Hearst’s decision to “stay and fight” with the SLA.
◆1991 U.N. Security Council Resolution 687 specifies the cease-fire conditions. The Resolution mandates that Iraq respect the sovereignty of Kuwait and declare and destroy, remove, or render harmless all ballistic missile systems with a range of more than 150 kilometres. It also confirms that Iraq must repatriate all Kuwaiti and third-state nationals and extend complete cooperation to the Red Cross in these efforts; and create a compensation fund, financed by Iraq, to meet its liability for losses, damages, and injuries related to its unlawful occupation of Kuwait.
◆1992 First five coed recruit companies from Orlando, FL Naval Training Center graduate.
◆1999 NATO missiles struck downtown Belgrade for the first time, destroying the headquarters of security forces accused of waging a campaign against Kosovo Albanians. NATO bombs struck the Serbian Internal Ministry buildings near the Sava River.★
◆2001 President Bush warned China it risked damaging relations with the United States unless it quickly released the American crew of a damaged Navy spy plane. The plane had made an emergency landing in China after colliding with a Chinese fighter.
◆2002 The US-financed Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty began broadcasting in the North Caucasus region that included Chechnya. The Kremlin viewed the broadcasts as interference with internal affairs.
◆2003 In the 16th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US Marines and infantry moved with surprising speed toward Baghdad. Central Command said there was “increasing evidence” that Saddam Hussein’s regime had lost control of its fighting forces. US troop casualty totaled: 51 dead, 16 missing and 7 captured. A power blackout in Baghdad coincided with heavy artillery fire. US forces attacked Saddam Int’l. Airport.