TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
15 April
◆43 BCE Battle of Forum Gallorum: Antony is defeated by the Consuls.
◆1632 Battle of the Lech: Swedes defeat the Imperialists.
◆1715 Uprising of Yamasse Indians in South Carolina.
◆1746 Battle of the Trebbia: Austrians defeat the French & Spanish.
◆1813 U.S. troops under James Wilkinson sieged the Spanish-held city of Mobile in future state of Alabama.
◆1858 Battle of Azimghur: Mexicans vs. Spanish loyalists.
◆1861 Three days after the attack on Fort Sumter, S.C., President Lincoln declared a state of insurrection and called out Union troops.
◆1885 Naval forces land at Panama to protect American interests during revolution.
◆1889 A marshal's posse killed and captured a group of Sooners, settlers who stole onto the Public Domain territory in Oklahoma in hopes of claiming it legally, just nine days before the official start of the land rush.
◆1892 Battle of Serobeti: Italians defeat the Sudanese Mahdists.
◆1912 Titanic sinks at 2:27 AM off Newfoundland as band plays on. USS Chester and USS Salem sailed from MA to assist RMS Titanic survivors.
◆1918 First Marine Aviation Force formed at Marine Flying Field, Miami, FL.
◆1943 US forces prepare for an invasion of the Aleutian Island, Attu, held by the Japanese. The US 7th Division, preparing for deployment in North Africa, is earmarked for the operation.
◆1944 The US 15th Air Force sends 500 sorties to Bucharest and Ploesti.
◆1944 U.S. plans Operation Wedlock, an invasion of the Kurile Islands of northern Japan.★
◆1945 US troops occupied the concentration camp at Colditz.
◆1945 Commenting on the death of American President Franklin Roosevelt in his Order of the Day, Adolf Hitler proclaimed: “Now that fate has removed from the earth the greatest war criminal of all time, the turning point of this war will be decided.”
◆1945 On Okinawa, the US 6th Marine Division assaults Yae Hill but is driven back by the Japanese defense.
◆1945 Units of the US 9th Army, which have crossed the Elbe River near Magdeburg, are forced to retreat. The US 1st Army takes Leuna. Meanwhile, Operation Venerable is launched against the German garrison in the fortress of Royan, at the mouth of the Gironde River; heavy napalm bomb attacks by the US 8th Air Force and shelling by the Free French battleship Lorraine are followed by an attack by Free French and American forces.
◆1945 In Italy, both US 5th and British 8th Armies continue their attacks. Elements of the Polish 2nd Corps (part of British 8th Army) has reached the Sillario River after crossing the Santero River.
◆1951 Lieutenant General James A. Van Fleet took command of Eighth Army.★
◆1952 President Harry Truman signed the official Japanese peace treaty.
◆1952 The 1st B-52 prototype test flight was made.
◆1961 US CIA pilots knocked out part of the Cuban air force.
◆1961 Launching of first nuclear-powered frigate, USS Bainbridge, at Quincy, MA.
◆1962 Marine Corps operational involvement in the Vietnam War began on Palm Sunday when USS Princeton brought HMM-362 with its Sikorsky UH-34s arrived at Soc Trang in the Delta south of Saigon. The task unit was called "Shufly" and its first operational employment involved lifting Vietnamese troops into battle.
◆1969 North Korea shot at US airplane above Japan Sea.
◆1970 As part of the third phase of U.S. troop withdrawals announced by President Nixon, the 1st Infantry Division departs Vietnam.★
◆1971 North Vietnamese troops ambushed a company of Delta Raiders from the 101st Airborne Division near Fire Support Base Bastogne in Vietnam. The American troops were on a rescue mission.
◆1971 III MAF Redeployed to Okinawa after six years of service in Vietnam.1986 The Libyan military (on orders from dictator Moammar Gadhafi) fired a missile (or missiles) at the Coast Guard LORAN Station Lampedusa, off the coast of Italy. The missile(s) missed by a wide margin and there were no casualties.
◆1988 The Soviet Union began the process of withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, more than eight years after Soviet forces had entered the country.
◆1997 The Justice Department inspector general reported that FBI crime lab agents produced flawed scientific work or inaccurate testimony in major cases such as the Oklahoma City bombing.
◆1997 The US military said it would allow American Indian soldiers to use peyote in their religious services.
◆1999 The US Pentagon planned to ask for 30,000 reservists and National Guard members for NATO support. Pres. Clinton was expected to ask for $5.9 billion in emergency spending to cover US costs in the Kosovo operation.
◆1999 NATO bombed TV transmitters, military installations and bridges throughout Yugoslavia. Military targets in Montenegro were struck as was the city of Subotica, near the Hungarian border.
◆2003 In the 28th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom selected Iraqi leaders met with retired US Lt. Gen. Jay Garner to shape a new government with 13 goals, the 1st being "Iraq must be democratic." Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States has no plans to go to war with Syria. Marines came under fire while seizing an airstrip on the outskirts of Tikrit.
◆2003 US forces cut off oil flow from Iraq to Syria. Oil flow had reached 130,000 barrels a day providing both countries over $10 million a month in profits.
◆2004 The Pentagon told 20,000 US soldiers in Iraq that their tours would be extended.