TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
15 August
◆717 Arab-Barbarian hordes abandon the siege of Constantinople (from 25 Aug 716).
◆778 Battle of Roncevalles: the Basques attack Charlemagne's rear guard.
◆1645 Battle of Klisyth: Montrose's Royalists slaughter 6000 Scots Covenanters.
◆1760 Battle of Leignitz/The Katzbach: Frederick the Great defeats the Austrians.
◆1799 Battle of Novi: Austro-Russians defeat the French.
◆1812 Potawatomi Indians kill William Wells, an Indian captive turned Indian fighter.
◆1824 Freed American slaves formed the country of Liberia.
◆1845 U.S. Naval Academy established at Annapolis, MD on former site of Fort Severn.
◆1861 Lincoln directed reinforcements to be sent to Missouri.
◆1861 Just months after he surrendered Fort Sumter, Union General Robert Anderson is named commander of the Department of the Kentucky.
◆1863 Submarine H. L. Hunley had arrived in Charleston on two covered railroad flat cars. Brigadier General Jordan advised Mr. B.A. Whitney that a reward of $100,000 dollars would he paid by John Fraser and Company for the destruction of U.S.S. New Ironsides. He added that "a similar sum for destruction of the wooden frigate Wabash, and the sum of fifty thousand dollars for every Monitor sunk" was also being offered. The next day, Jordan ordered that "every assistance be rendered in equipping the submarine with torpedoes. Jordan noted that General Beauregard regarded H. F. Hunley as the most formidable engine of war for the defense of Charleston now at his disposition & accordingly is anxious to have it ready for service. . . ."
◆1864 Rear Admiral Farragut's fleet sustained its pounding of Fort Morgan with shot from its heavy guns. Typical of the action that took place in Mobile Bay from the time the ships dominated its waters on 5 August until General Page, the determined defender of Fort Morgan, finally capitulated was a log entry of U.S.S. Manhattan, Commander Nicholson: "At 7 [p.m.] opened fire on Fort Morgan. At 8 Fort Morgan opened fire on this ship and fired two shot. From 8 to mid-night: Continuing to fire on Fort Morgan; Morgan fired one shot at this ship. At 10:20 ceased firing having fired 7 XV-inch shell. Fort fired on our encampment on shore from 9 till end of watch."
◆1876 US law removed Indians from Black Hills after gold find. Sioux leaders Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull led their warriors to protect their lands from invasion by prospectors following the discovery of gold. This led to the Great Sioux Campaign staged from Fort Laramie. Gold was discovered in Deadwood in the Dakota territory by Quebec brothers Fred and Moses Manuel. The mine was incorporated in California on Nov 5, 1877, as the Homestake Mining Company.
◆1895 Commissioning of U.S.S. Texas, the first American steel-hulled battleship. Texas served off Cuba during the Spanish-American War and took part in the naval battle of Santiago. Under the name of San Marcos, she was sunk in weapon effects tests in Chesapeake Bay in 1911. Her hulk continued in use as a gunnery target through World War II.
◆1908 First Navy post offices established in Navy ships.
◆1914 The American-built waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is inaugurated with the passage of the U.S. vessel Ancon, a cargo and passenger ship.
◆1918 Russia severed diplomatic ties with US.
◆1934 19 years of occupation ended as the 1st Marine Brigade departed Haiti.
◆1942 The Japanese submarine I-25 departed Japan with a floatplane in its hold. It was assembled upon arriving off the West Coast of the US, and used to bomb U.S. forests.
◆1942 On Guadalcanal, the Marines prepare an airstrip and fortify the perimeter around it. They receive a small amount of supplies by sea.
◆1943 An invasion of Kiska Island commences. Three American battleships provide support for the landing of 34,000 US and Canadian troops. The Japanese evacuated the island by the end of July but the Americans failed to take note of it.
◆1943 Elements of the US 25th Division (General McLure) occupy Vella Lavella. About 4500 troops land. Admiral Wilkinson, commanding Task Force 31, provides naval support. Coast Guardsmen were part of Task Force 31.
◆1943 Further American amphibious operations on the Sicilian north coast land after the Axis defenders have pulled back.
◆1944 Allied forces launch a secondary invasion of France (Operation Dragoon, formerly Anvil) between Toulon and Cannes. Most of the initial assaults are carried out by forces of US 6th Corps (Truscott) as part of US 7th Army (Patch). Also included in the initial landings are French commandos. Three American division come ashore in the first wave at three beaches: Alpha Beach (US 3rd Division) on the left flank; Delta Beach (US 45th Division-OK, AZ, NM, COARNG); and, Camel Beach (US 36 Division-TXARNG) on the right flank. In addition to the main landing sites, there airborne landing at Le Muy by 5000 French troops inland from Delta Beach and a sea borne landing on Levante Island. Over 1500 aircraft are engaged in air support for the operation. Admiral Hewitt command the naval support, including 5 battleships, 7 escort carriers, 24 cruisers and 91 destroyers. There is almost no resistance to the lands. Allied forces suffer 183 casualties. Prime Minister Churchill is present during the initial landings, on board a destroyer offshore. The German forces in southern France consist of the 19th Army (Weise) with 7 infantry divisions and the 11th Panzer Division.
◆1944 From south of Tinchebray to Argentan the US 7th and 5th Corps (elements of US 1st Army) are attacking northward. Most of the German 7th Army as well as elements of 15th Panzer Army and Panzer Group Eberbach are now threatened with encirclement. These forces now begin a withdrawal eastward. Field Marshal Kluge is touring the front during the day. Allied aircraft are heavily engaged in ground attacks throughout the day.
◆1945 World War II gasoline rationing in America ended on this day.
◆1945 Celebrations mark the end of World War II -- VJ Day. A two-day holiday is proclaimed for all federal employees. In New York, Mayor La Guardia pays tribute to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the deceased president, in a radio broadcast.
◆1945 US Task Force 38 launches massive air strikes on the Tokyo area, encountering numerous Japanese fighters but the aircraft are recalled upon receipt of the surrender announcement.Meanwhile, Vice-Admiral Ugaki, commanding Kamikaze operations, leads a final mission but the 7 dive-bombers are shot down off Tokyo before they can reach Okinawa.
◆1945 The recorded message of Emperor Hirohito is broadcast to the Japanese people. Many cannot at first accept what has happened. The tight control of the government has prevented civilians from knowing the full extent of the weakness of Japan's position. This is VJ Day.
◆1945 South Korea was liberated after nearly 40 years of Japanese colonial rule.
◆1948 The Republic of Korea [South Korea] was proclaimed.
◆1950 Two U.S. divisions were badly mauled by the North Korean Army at the Battle of the Bowling Alley in South Korea, which raged on for five more days.
◆1950 The Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (KATUSA) program was born when General MacArthur ordered Eighth Army to increase the strength of each American company and battery with 100 Korean recruits. The KATUSAs, as they came to be called, were legally part of the ROK Army but would serve as part of American units. While largely untrained, the KATUSAs were a badly needed infusion of manpower to the depleted Eighth Army ground units.
◆1958 USS Lexington (CVA-16) arrives in vicinity of Taiwan.
◆1961 Two days after sealing off free passage between East and West Berlin with barbed wire, East German authorities begin building a wall--the Berlin Wall--to permanently close off access to the West.
◆1965 Da Nang and Chu Lai Marines reinforced by 6,400 arrivals.
◆1968 Heavy fighting intensifies in and around the DMZ, as South Vietnamese and U.S. troops engage a North Vietnamese battalion. In a seven and a half hour battle, 165 enemy troops were killed. At the same time, U.S. Marines attacked three strategic positions just south of the DMZ, killing 56 North Vietnamese soldiers.
◆1970 South Vietnamese officials report that regional forces killed 308 Communist troops in four days of heavy fighting along a coastal strip south of the DMZ. This was one of the biggest victories of the war for the regional forces in the war and was extremely significant since one of the prime objectives of Nixon's Vietnamization policy was the strengthening of the regional/popular forces so that they could help secure the countryside.
◆1971 In South Vietnam, North Vietnamese troops increase operations along the DMZ. This activity had begun on August 12 and continued until the 15th. The North Vietnamese captured the South Vietnamese marine base at Ba Ho, two miles south of the DMZ; most of the defenders were killed or wounded, but the Communists suffered 200 dead in taking the base.
◆1994 Terrorist Illich Ramirez Sanchez, aka Carlos, is captured in Khartoum, Sudan, by French intelligence agents.
◆1998 In Congo the US Embassy shut its doors as rebels approached Kinshasa. Pres. Kabila and his ministers retired to Lubumbashi.
◆2000 US warplanes bombed air defense sites in northern Iraq.
◆2001 The Air Force gave the go-ahead to build its new F-22 fighter, but said it would build fewer planes for more money than it had once planned.
◆2004 US armored vehicles and tanks rolled back into the streets of Najaf and troops battled Shiite militants in a resumption of fighting after the collapse of negotiations.