TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
10 August
◆991 Battle of Maldon: Anglo-Saxons hold the Danes.★
◆1405 Battle of Haverfordwest: French defeat the English in Wales.
◆1487 Battle of Calliano: The Hapsburgs defeat the Venetians.
◆1644 The French capture Freiburg.
◆1680 The Pueblo Indians revolt against Spanish rule.
◆1814 John Clifford Pemberton (d.1881), Lt Gen (Confederate Army), was born.
◆1821 Missouri enters the Union as the 24th state; and the first located entirely west of the Mississippi River.
◆1831 William Driver of Salem, Massachusetts, was the first to use the term "Old Glory" in connection with the American flag, when he gave that name to a large flag aboard his ship, the Charles Daggett.
◆1846 After a decade of debate about how best to spend a bequest left to America from an obscure English scientist, President James K. Polk signs the Smithsonian Institution Act into law.
◆1861 The struggle for Missouri erupts with the Battle of Wilson's Creek, where a motley band of raw Confederates defeat a Union force in the southwestern section of the state.★
◆1862 Rear Admiral Farragut reported to Secretary of the Navy Welles that he had partially destroyed Donaldsonville, Louisiana, in reprisal for the firing by guerrilla forces on steamers ''passing up and down the river.''
◆1864 Confederate Commander John Bell Hood sent his cavalry north of Atlanta to cut off Union General William Sherman's supply lines.
◆1864 Rear Admiral Farragut continued steady day and night bombardment, battering down the walls of Fort Morgan resolutely defended by his former shipmate, General Page.
◆1869 Battle of Caraguatay: Brazilians defeat Francisco Lopez de Solano's Paraguayans.
◆1874 Herbert Clark Hoover (d.1964), the 31st president of the United States (1929-1933), was born in West Branch, Iowa.
◆1904 Battle of the Yellow Sea: Togo's Japanese fleet defeats the Russians.
◆1916 First Naval aircraft production contract, for N-9s.
◆1918 Alvin York captures "the whole damned German Army."★
◆1942 An American submarine sinks the Japanese heavy cruiser Kako while it was returning to Rabual after the battle at Savo Island.1943 Another Allied amphibious operation is carried out on the north coast. Forces land at Brolo, east of Cape Orlando. The Germans again fall back.
◆1944 On Guam, American forces have secured the island. Insignificant groups of Japanese continue their resistance. American casualties amount to 7000, including 1300 killed. Only 100 Japanese prisoners have been taken, out of a garrison estimated at over 10,000 men.
◆1944 US 3rd Army continues attacking. The US 8th Corps, in Brittany, has cleared St. Malo and Dinard of their German garrisons. The US 20th Corps captures Nantes and reaches the Loire River near Nantes. The US 15th Corps advances toward Alencon from Le Mans. German forces around Mortain pull back because of pressure from US 1st Army and the growing threat of encirclement from the converging Canadian and American armies.
◆1945 US and British battleships bombard the city of Kimaishi, concentrating on the steel mills.
◆1945 US aircraft strike strategic targets on Honshu. In an effort to destroy Japanese aircraft moved to northern Honshu Island, US and British carrier aircraft attack airfields in continuous waves. A total of 34 Allied aircraft are lost, while 397 Japanese aircraft are claimed destroyed and 320 damaged.
◆1945 Just a day after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan submits its acquiescence to the Potsdam Conference terms of unconditional surrender, as President Harry S. Truman orders a halt to atomic bombing.
◆1949 President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Bill, which establishes the Department of Defense.★
◆1950 The Air Force Reserve's 452nd Light Bombardment Wing and 437th Troop Carrier Wing was recalled to active duty.
◆1950 U.S. and Australian warplanes conducted large-scale bombing missions on transportation and communications targets in North Korea.
◆1950 The U.S. Army activated the IX Corps at Fort Sheridan, Ill., and ordered it to Korea.President Truman raised the authorized strength of the Army to 1,081,000. Due to an inadequate response to the request for volunteers, the Army involuntarily recalled 7,862 captains and lieutenants to report in September and October.
◆1966 Troops of the First Battalion, Fifth Marines fight a bitter battle against NVA forces in Quang Tin province, 60 miles west of Tam Ky. In Thailand, a U.S.-built air base is opened in Sattahib. Ultimately, there would be five major airbases and over 49,000 U.S. military personnel in Thailand. The bases would be turned over to the Thais and the U.S. troops withdrawn in 1973.
◆1972 North Vietnamese forces block Routes 1, 4, and 13, all major South Vietnamese ground supply routes to Saigon.
◆1977 US and Panama signed a Panama Canal Zone accord.
◆1990 US's Magellan spacecraft landed on Venus.
◆1990 The Military Sealift Command began loading equipment and supplies from the Garden City Port in Savannah, Georgia, to support Allied operations during Operation Desert Shield. Coast Guard units, including reservists called-up specifically for this operation, maintained security zones and ensured the safe loading of the vessels.
◆2001 About 20 US and British jets bombed air-defense installation south of Baghdad in retaliation for increased anti-aircraft activity.