TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
22 April
◆1363 Battle of Canturino: The White Company defeats the Milanese.
◆1370 Construction of the Bastille begins in Paris.
◆1521 King Francis I of France declares war on Spain.
◆1676 Naval Battle off Etna/Agosta/Catania: Dutch-Spanish vs. French.
◆1778 Captain John Paul Jones of Ranger led landing party raid on Whitehaven, England.
◆1792 President Washington proclaimed American neutrality in the war in Europe.
◆1796 Battle of Mondovi: Napoleon defeats the Piedmontese.
◆1809 Battle of Eggmuhl: The French defeat the Austrians.
◆1861 Robert E. Lee was named commander of Virginia forces.
◆1863 Colonel Benjamin Grierson's troops bring destruction to central Mississippi on a two-week raid along the entire length of the state.
◆1870 Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin (d.1924), also known as Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, Russian revolutionary leader and first communist leader of USSR, was born. It was later learned that he was a hereditary noble and that he had a French mistress named Inessa Armand.
◆1889 At precisely high noon, thousands of would-be settlers make a mad dash into the newly opened Oklahoma Territory to claim cheap land.
◆1898 The Volunteer Army Act was passed to circumvent the question about the legality of sending the militia (National Guard) abroad. When war did break out with Spain, the Regular Army’s 28,000 men were scattered throughout the country at many different posts and the National Guard numbered around 100,000 men and was composed mostly of infantry units of widely varying degrees of readiness. The act was so framed that National Guard forces could serve as state volunteer units with the approval of the respective governors.
◆1898 With the United States and Spain on the verge of formally declaring war, the U.S. Navy began blockading Cuban ports under orders from President McKinley. In the first Spanish-American War action the USS Nashville captured a Spanish merchant ship, the Buenaventura, off Key West, Fla. Also, Congress authorized creation of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, popularly known as the "Rough Riders."
◆1904 J. Robert Oppenheimer was born, physicist, head of Manhattan Project, d. 1967.
◆1913 Balkan Wars: Montenegrans capture Scutari, Albania, from the Turks.
◆1915 Second Battle of Ypres: Germany introduces poison gas.
◆1940 Rear Adm. Joseph Taussig testified before US Senate Naval Affairs Committee that war with Japan is inevitable.
◆1942 British troops including the 7th Armored Division assume position around Meiktia to stem the Japanese advance. Chinese troops from the 200th Division are sent as reinforcements. However, the refusal of another division to withdraw under orders from General Stilwell makes the position of these troops vulnerable.
◆1943 A series of Allied attacks are launched against the Axis positions in the Tunisian hills. The US 2nd Corps (now commanded by General Bradley) attacks Hill 609 in "Mousetrap Valley," with the objective of advancing to Mateur. The British 5th Corps attacks "Longstop" and "Peter's Corner" and the British 9th Corps attacks between Boubellat and Bou Arada. Montgomery has been ordered to cease his attacks along the coast. Meanwhile, another Axis air supply effort results in 30 transports being shot down.
◆1944 American forces begin Operation Persecution against Japanese positions at Hollandia, New Guinea and nearby. The US 1st Corps (General Eichelberger) lands at Aitape, Tanahmerah Bay and Humboldt Bay. The American force totals 84,000 men. Task Force 77 (Admiral Barbey) provides transport for the landing force. Cruiser forces under the command of Admiral Crutchley and Admiral Berkey provide a covering force. Task Force 58 (Admiral Mitscher) provides additional naval support. The Japanese forces number 11,000 under the command of General Adachi. The operation proves a surprise and the Japanese retire inland.
◆1944 US forces occupy Ungelap Island, in the Marshalls, completing the campaign.
◆1945 The US 31st Infantry Division is landed at Moro Gulf. The US 24th Division is already advancing inland and has nearly reached Kabakan. Meanwhile, on Jolo, the last Japanese resistance comes to an end as their final strong-points fall to the US forces. Scattered individual Japanese soldiers remain at large.
◆1945 US 7th Army units cross the Danube at Dillingen and Baldingen.
◆1945 Units of 2nd and 4th US Corps (parts of US 5th Army) reach the Penaro River in their advance to the Po River. On the left flank Modena is taken.
◆1951 There was a ticker-tape parade for General MacArthur in NYC.
◆1951 The Chinese launched their spring offensive with a heavy artillery barrage northeast of Yonchon. The Battle of the Imjin River began.
◆1952 An atomic test conducted at Yucca Flat, Nevada, became the first nuclear explosion shown on live network television.★
◆1954 Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army, which he charges with being "soft" on communism.
◆1991 Intel released 486SX chip.
◆1999 An early morning missile hit the home of Pres. Milosevic at 15 Uzicke St. in Belgrade. NATO bombs also hit the Serbian TV station in Belgrade and killed 15 people. Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin after meeting with Pres. Milosevic in Belgrade said Milosevic would accept an int'l. presence in Kosovo.
◆2003 American soldiers in Baghdad found $112 million sealed inside 7 animal kennels.★
◆2004 Pat Tillman former safety for the Arizona Cardinals, was killed in an ambush in Afghanistan by friendly fire.★