TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
8 December
◆1776 George Washington's retreating army in the American Revolution crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.
◆1861 The American Bible Society announced that it would distribute 7,000 Bibles a day to Union soldiers.
◆1861 CSS Sumter captured the whaler Eben Dodge in the Atlantic. The war began affecting the Northern whaling industry.
◆1863 The disabled merchant steamer Henry Von Phul was shelled by a Confederate shore battery near Morganza, Louisiana. U.S.S. Neosho, Acting Ensign Edwin P. Brooks, and U.S.S. Signal, Acting Ensign William P. Lee, steamed up to defend the ship and silenced the battery.Union merchantmen were largely free from such attacks when convoyed by a warship.
◆1863 Averell’s cavalry destroyed railroads in the southwestern part of West Virginia.
◆1920 President Wilson declined to send a representative to the League of Nations in Geneva.
◆1931 Coaxial cable was patented.
◆1932 Japan told the League of Nations that it had no control over her designs in China.
◆1933 Secretary of the Navy establishes Fleet Marine Force, integrating a ready-to-deploy Marine force with own aircraft into Fleet organization.
◆1939 The American government protests the British blockade of Germany, stating: "Whatever may be said for or against measures directed by one belligerent against another, they many not rightfully be carried to the point of enlarging the rights of a belligerent over neutral vessels and their cargoes, or otherwise penalizing neutral states or their nationals in connection with their legitimate activities."
◆1940 An Executive Order extended the jurisdiction of the Lighthouse Service to the noncontiguous territory of the Midway Islands.
◆1941 America's Pacific fleet lay in ruins at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan. Leaning heavily on the arm of his son James, a Marine captain, FDR walked haltingly into the House of Representatives at noon to request a declaration of war from the House and address the nation via radio. "Yesterday," the president proclaimed, "December 7, 1941-a date which will live in infamy-the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory." Roosevelt's 10-minute speech, ending with an oath-"So help us God"-was greeted in the House by thunderous applause and stamping of feet. Within one hour, the president had his declaration of war, with only one dissenting vote, from a pacifist in the House. FDR signed the declaration at 4:10 p.m., wearing a black armband to symbolize mourning for those lost at Pearl Harbor. On both coasts, civilian defense groups were mobilized. In New York, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia ordered the rounding up of Japanese nationals, who were transported to Ellis Island and held in custody indefinitely. In California, antiaircraft batteries were set up on Long Beach and the Hollywood Hills. Reports on supposed spy activity on the part of Japanese Americans began pouring into Washington, even as Japanese Americans paid for space in newspapers to declare unreservedly their loyalty to the United States. War is also declared upon Japan by British, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Free French, several South American countries. China declares war upon Germany, Italy and Japan. The latter is a formal declaration only as a de facto state of war has existed between China and Japan for 7 years. Montanan Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress and a dedicated lifelong pacifist, casts the sole Congressional vote against the U.S. declaration of war on Japan.
◆1941 Japanese troops occupy the city of Shanghai and capture a small US garrison in the foreign section.
◆1941A US tanker was shelled by a Japanese submarine off Cape Mendocino.
◆1941 USS Wake (PR-3), a river gunboat moored at Shanghai, is only U.S. vessel to surrender during World War II.
◆1941 The Japanese attack begins with the capture of Bataan Island and the creation of an airstrip for plane refueling. Japanese invasion troops leave Paulau for the Philippines. The main attack begins with massive air bombardment which reduces the American defenses to 17 B-17's and less than 40 fighters. Most of the planes are destroyed on the ground. American General Douglas MacArthur has under his command 130,000 troops (20,000 Americans). His plan to defend the island becomes nonviable after the destruction of the main portion of the his air force and the losses at Pearl Harbor.1941- Fears of offending American public opinion by violating Thailand's neutrality have prevented the British from preparing defenses in Thailand and difficulties with Thai border guards prevent a quick response to the Japanese landings further north.
◆1941 Japanese aircraft attacked Wake Island within hours of the fateful attack on Pearl Harbor.Marines of the 1st Defense Battalion and Marine Fighting Squadron 211 resisted Japanese invasion attempts for over two weeks before finally succumbing to an overwhelming force. A small Japanese landing force leaves Kwajalein escorted by a cruiser and two destroyers.
◆1941 Japanese General Yamashita began his attack against the British army at Singapore.General Tomoyuki Yamashita earned the name “Tiger of Malaya” for his masterful capture of Singapore and the whole Malay Peninsula from the British, who had a superior number of troops. Yamashita’s forces landed on the northern Malay Peninsula and southern Thailand on December 8, 1941, and moved rapidly southward toward Singapore, which surrendered on February 15, 1942. The peninsula and Singapore remained under Japanese control throughout the war. Later in the war, while defending the Philippines from Gen. MacArthur‘s return, Yamashita's troops wantonly slaughtered more than 100,000 Filipinos in Manila. He was later tried and executed for war crimes.
◆1942 - Eight PT boats (PT 36, PT 37, PT 40, PT 43, PT 44, PT 48, PT 59, and PT 109) turn back 8 Japanese destroyers attempting to reinforce Japanese forces on Guadalcanal.1943- U.S. carriers sank two cruisers and down 72 planes in the Marshall Islands.
◆1943 - Kwajalein is bombarded by an American force consisting of 5 battleships and 12 destroyers commanded by Admiral Lee. One Japanese destroyer is damaged.
◆1943 In Italy, the US 5th Army continues attacking but little progress is achieved. To the east, the British 8th Army operations continue as well. The Canadian 1st Division begins attacking over the Moro River, a few miles from the east coast.
◆1944 US 3rd Army reports the establishment of four additional crossing of the Saar river on both sides of Sarreguemines and inside the town. American tanks are reported to be approaching the town of Rohrbach to the southeast.
◆1944 An American naval force, commanded by Admiral Smith and consisting of 3 heavy cruisers and a destroyer escort, bombard Iwo Jima.
◆1944 On Leyte, the US 77th Division advances from its beachhead to within 1 mile of Ormoc. Attacks by the Japanese 26th Division, near Buri, are repulsed by other US forces.
◆1945 The Toyota Motor Company received permission from the occupation government to start production of buses and trucks--vehicles necessary to keep Japan running. After World War II ended with Japan's surrender on September 3, 1945, Japan remained under Allied occupation ruled by an occupation government. Its war industries were shut down completely. This was the first rumble of the postwar auto industry in Japan.
◆1949 As they steadily lose ground to the communist forces of Mao Zedong, Chinese Nationalist leaders depart for the island of Taiwan, where they establish their new capital.
◆1950 The Greek Expeditionary Force arrived in Korea. The Greek Infantry Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel D. G. Arbouzis, soon saw action attached to the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division's 7th Cavalry Regiment.
◆1965 In some of the heaviest raids of the war, 150 U.S. Air Force and Navy planes launch Operation Tiger Hound to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the lower portion of the Laotian panhandle, from Route 9 west of the Demilitarized Zone, south to the Cambodian border. The purpose of this operation, which lasted until 1968, was to reduce North Vietnamese infiltration down the trail into South Vietnam. After 1968, the Tiger Hound missions became part of a new operation called Commando Hunt.
◆1967 In the biggest battle yet in the Mekong Delta, 365 Vietcong were killed.
◆1968 South Vietnam’s vice president Nguyen Cao Ky arrived in Paris for peace talks.
◆1987 At a summit meeting in Washington, D.C., President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign the first treaty between the two superpowers to reduce their massive nuclear arsenals.
◆1991 Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine declared the Soviet national government dead, forging a new alliance to be known as the Commonwealth of Independent States.