TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
3 August
◆9 Tiberius defeats the Pannonian Pirustae & Desidiates.
◆1460 Scots capture & raze Roseburgh.
◆1492 From the Spanish port of Palos, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sets sail in command of three ships--the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina--on a journey to find a western sea route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia.
◆1578 "Battle of the Three Kings" - Wadi Al-makhazin: the Moroccans defeat Portuguese invaders & a local usurper.
◆1601 Battle of Guruslau: Michael the Brave's Imperial-Romanian forces defeat the Poles.
◆1644 First Battle of Freiburg: French defeat the Bavarians.
◆1645 Battle of Allersheim: the French defeat the Bavarians.
◆1678 - Robert LaSalle built the 1st ship in America, Griffon.
◆1692 Battle of Steenkerken: The French defeat the English & Germans.
◆1758 Naval Battle of Negapatam: English defeat the French off India.
◆1796 Battle of Lonato: The French defeat the Austrians.
◆1804 US Commodore Edward Prebble’s squadron bombarded Tripoli inflicting heavy damages on the city though this engagement would be indecisive.★
◆1812 Frigate Essex capture British brig Brothers.
◆1823 Union General Thomas Francis Meagher, designer of the Irish tricolor, the Irish Republic's current flag, is born in Waterford, Ireland.
◆1848 Battle of Milan: Austrians defeat the Piedmontese.
◆1861 Construction of USS Monitor authorized.
◆1861 First manned ascent in a balloon from a ship, gunboat USS Fanny, to observe Confederate artillery position at Hampton Roads, VA.
◆1863 Governor Seymour asked Pres. Lincoln to suspend the draft in NY.
◆1864 Lieutenant J. C. Watson and his boat crew made a final night expedition into the waters of Mobile Bay under the guns of Fort Morgan.
◆1864 U.S.S. Miami, Acting Lt. George W. Graves, engaged Confederate batteries at Wilcox's Landing, Virginia.
◆1914 Germany invaded Belgium and declared war on France.
◆1923 Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the 30th president of the United States, following the death of Warren G. Harding.
◆1936 The State Department urged Americans in Spain to leave because of that country's civil war.
◆1941 Although the U.S. had not yet entered World War II at this time, gasoline rationing began in parts of the eastern United States on this day in 1941.
◆1942 Mildred McAfee of Wellesley College was chosen to head the Women’s Reserve. She took a one-year leave of absence from her position and was sworn in as the first female Lieutenant Commander US Naval Reserve.
◆1943 News of the heavy American bomber losses in the Ploesti oil field raid is made public.
◆1943 Gen. George S. Patton slapped a private at an army hospital in Sicily, accusing him of cowardice. Patton was later ordered by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to apologize for this and a second, similar episode.
◆1944 A joint Sino-American force under American General Joseph Stilwell captures Myitkyina, in the northeast. Most of the Japanese garrison has successfully withdrawn.
◆1944 On Guam, the US 77th Division (part of US 3rd Amphibious Corps) advances on the east side of the island after the Japanese fall back. The Japanese defensive positions on Mount Santa Rosa are shelled by American warships.
◆1944 Elements of the US 8th Corps (Middleton), part of US 3rd Army, engage German defenders in Rennes while other elements by-pass the city. To the left, advancing forces of US 1st Army capture Mortain.
◆1945 An American communique announces that US B-29 Superfortress bombers dropping mines over Japan have now sealed off all of the main ports, leaving the country totally blockaded.
◆1950 Congress removed the existing limitations on the size of the Army. The Army issued an involuntary recall of 30,000 enlisted men, mostly from the Volunteer and Inactive Reserve, to report in September.
◆1950 South Koreans recaptured Yongdok.
◆1950 Eight Corsairs of VMF-214, the famed "Black Sheep" squadron of World War II, led by squadron executive officer, Major Robert P. Keller, launched from the USS SICILY and executed the first Marine aviation mission in the Korean War in a raid against enemy installations near Inchon. After the F4Us delivered their incendiary bombs and rockets on their targets, the Marines concluded their greeting to the Communist troops with a series of strafing runs.★
◆1950 Elements of Marine Corps squadron VMO-6, equipped with HO3S helicopters and OY observation aircraft began operations in Korea.
◆1951 Lieutenant General W. M. Hoge dedicated the longest highway bridge of the Korean War. The 62nd Engineer Construction Battalion built the bridge in the IX Corps area.
◆1954 The 1st VTOL (Vertical Take-off & Land) aircraft was flown.
◆1958 U.S. nuclear submarine Nautilus accomplishes the first undersea voyage to the geographic North Pole. The world's first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus dived at Point Barrow, Alaska, and traveled nearly 1,000 miles under the Arctic ice cap to reach the top of the world. It then steamed on to Iceland, pioneering a new and shorter route from the Pacific to the Atlantic and Europe.★
◆1965 CBS-TV news shows pictures of men from the First Battalion, Ninth Marines setting fire to huts in the village of Cam Na, six miles west of Da Nang, despite reports that the Viet Cong had already fled the area.★
◆1966 U.S. Marine units commence Operation Prairie, a sequel to an earlier operation in the area (Operation Hastings), which involves a sweep just south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) against three battalions of the North Vietnamese 324B Division. An additional 1,500 Marines from Seventh Fleet ships off Quang Tri Province conducted amphibious landings on September 15 to assist in the operation, which lasted until September 19 and resulted in a reported 1,397 communist casualties.
◆1970 USS James Madison (SSBN-627) conducts first submerged launching of Poseidon nuclear missile off Cape Kennedy.
◆1977 Radio Shack issued a press release introducing the TRS-80 computer. 25 existed and within weeks thousands were ordered.
◆1980 Closing ceremonies were held in Moscow for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games, which had been boycotted by dozens of countries, including the United States.
◆1987 The Iran-Contra congressional hearings ended, with none of the 29 witnesses tying President Reagan directly to the diversion of arms-sales profits to Nicaraguan rebels.
◆1990 US announced the commitment of Naval forces to Gulf regions.
◆1990 Radio Kuwait went off the air due to the Iraqi invasion.
◆1990 A day after Iraq invaded Kuwait, thousands of Iraqi soldiers pushed to within a few miles of the border with Saudi Arabia, heightening world concerns that the invasion could spread.
◆1992 The Senate voted to sharply restrict and eventually end U.S. testing of nuclear weapons.
◆1998 The UN approved plans for a NATO action in Kosovo to counter the Serb offensive.
◆1999 Arbitrators ruled the government had to pay the heirs of Dallas dressmaker Abraham Zapruder $16 million for his movie film that captured the assassination of President Kennedy.