TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
3 December
◆1762 France ceded to Spain all lands west of the Mississippi- the territory known as Upper Louisiana.
◆1775 LT John Paul Jones raises the Grand Union flag on Alfred. First American flag raised over American naval vessel. ★
◆1800 Battle of Hohenlinden: Moreau's French crush the Austrians in an ambush.
◆1826 Union General George McClellan is born in Philadelphia.★
◆1828 Andrew Jackson was elected 7th president of the United States over John Quincy Adams.
◆1862 Confederate rebels attacked a Federal forage train on the Hardin Pike near Nashville, Tenn.
◆1863 Confederate General Longstreet abandoned his siege at Knoxville, Ten., and moved his army east and north toward Greeneville. This withdrawal marked the end of the Fall Campaign in Tennessee.
◆1912 First Balkan War - Battle of Elli: A Greek naval squadron defeats a Turkish squadron.
◆1915 The U.S. expelled German attaches on spy charges.
◆1915 British 6th Indian Division falls back on Kut-el-Amara, Iraq.
◆1918 The Allied Conference ended in London; Germany was required to pay to full limits for the war.
◆1940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt embarks on USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37) to inspect bases acquired from Great Britain under Destroyer-for Bases agreement.
◆1940 The British government announces that it has placed a first order with US yards for the construction of 60 merchant ships.
◆1942 Admiral Tanaka leads 10 destroyers in a supply operation to bring food to the desperate Japanese soldiers on Guadalcanal. To avoid air attacks, the cargo is dropped not landed. Only about 300 of the 1500 containers reach the Japanese forces.
◆1943 Elements of US 5th Army reach the summit of Monte Camino and capture Monte Maggiore. The British 8th Army takes San Vito. However, around Orsogna, a counterattack by the German 26th Panzer Division forces the New Zealand 2nd Division to retreat.
◆1944 Elements of US 13th Corps (part of US 9th Army) reach the Roer River. Elements of the US 20th Corps (part of US 3rd Army) cross the Saar River near Patchen, in assault boats. They secure the main bridge of the Saar.
◆1950 In the east, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division began withdrawal into the Wonsan-Hamhung area. The U.S. 7th Infantry Division's 17th Infantry Regiment withdrew from the Yalu River area toward Hungnam.
◆1952 The U.N. General Assembly resolved on the release and repatriation of prisoners in Korea. The fate of non-repatriated prisoners was to be determined by a political conference three months after an armistice or by the U.N. Within two weeks, the communists rejected this resolution.
◆1953 Eisenhower criticized McCarthy for saying communists are in Republican party.
◆1973 Pioneer 10 passed Jupiter (1st fly-by of an outer planet).
◆1975 Laos fell to communist forces. The Lao People's Democratic Rep. was proclaimed.
◆1983 Two F-14s flying over Lebanon were fired upon.
◆1999 The Mars Polar Lander touched down at the Martian South Pole. 2 probes burrowed into the polar surface to test for water and carbon dioxide. NASA failed to make contact with the $165 million lander following setdown.
◆2001 A test US anti-missile launched from Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands successfully hit a dummy warhead from Vandenberg Air Base in California, 4,800 miles away.