TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
9 December
◆536 Belisarius takes Rome from the Ostrogoths.
◆1835 Inspired by the spirited leadership of Benjamin Rush Milam, the newly created Texan Army takes possession of the city of San Antonio, an important victory for the Republic of Texas in its war for independence from Mexico.★
◆1842 Battle of Ayachuco, Peru: Peruvian & Chilean forces defeat the Spanish, securing Peru's independence
◆1863 Major General John G. Foster replaced Major General Ambrose E. Burnside as Commander of the Department of Ohio.
◆1909 The 1st US monoplane was flown by Henry W. Walden at Long Island, NY.
◆1938 Prototype shipboard radar, designed and built by the Naval Research Laboratory, is installed on USS New York (BB-34).
◆1941 Gilbert Islands, Tarawa and Makin are occupied by the Japanese
◆1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt told Americans to plan for a long war.
◆1941 1st US WW II bombing mission in Far East took place over Luzon, Philippines.
◆1941 Hitler ordered US ships torpedoed.
◆1941 USS Swordfish (SS-193) makes initial U.S. submarine attack on Japanese ship.
◆1942 On Guadalcanal, General Patch's 14th Corps relieves the exhausted Marines. The Marines leave for Australia
◆1943 German forces counterattack near Monte Sammucro but the forces of the US 5th Army hold. The Monte Camino perimeter is consolidated.
◆1943 On Bougainville, a recently constructed American airfield becomes operational at Cape Torokina.
◆1944 US 3rd Army is engaged in fighting around the various bridgeheads over the Saar River.American forces are within 4 miles of Saarbrucken. A German counterattack, with tanks and infantry, near Saarlouis is defeated as US forces advance further into the German held Siegfried Line. To the right of the Allied line, the US 7th Army and French 1st Army continue offensive operations.
◆1944 The US 8th Air Force attacks Stuttgart during the day.
◆1944 On Leyte, a small number of Japanese reinforcements are successfully landed at Palompon on the west coast, northwest of Ormoc. To the south of Ormoc, the US 77th Division continues expanding its beachhead.
◆1949 UN took trusteeship over Jerusalem.
◆1950 President Truman banned U.S. exports to Communist China.
◆1950 X Corps was forced to withdraw from Hungnam by sea. A curtain of intense naval gunfire greatly aided the successful evacuation of 3,834 U.N. military personnel, 1,146 vehicles, 10,013 tons of bulk cargo and 7,000 Korean civilian refugees by elements of the U.S. Navy's Task Force 90.
◆1952 Three carriers of Task Force 77 launched aircraft to strike military targets at Munsan, Hyesanjin, Rashin and Hunyun, the latter being the northernmost air raid on the Korean War.
◆1960 The Laos government fled to Cambodia as the capital city of Vientiane was engulfed in war.
◆1992 US Force Recon Marines and Navy SEAL's, followed by Company F, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment arrive in Mogadishu, launching America's intervention in Somalia.