TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
10 December
◆1652 Battle of Dungeness: Tromp's Dutch fleet defeat Blake's English one.
◆1665 Dutch Marines established.
◆1861 Kentucky was admitted to the Confederate States of America.
◆1864 Union General William T. Sherman completes his "March to the Sea" when he arrives in front of Savannah, Georgia.
◆1877 Turks surrender Plevna to Russo-Romanian Army after a bloody five month siege.
◆1898 In France, the Treaty of Paris is signed, formally ending the Spanish-American War and granting the United States its first overseas empire.★
◆1906 President Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for helping mediate an end to the Russo-Japanese War.
◆1909 Red Cloud, Oglala Sioux warrrior & chief (1822-1909).
◆1918 U.S. troops were called to guard Berlin as a coup was feared.
◆1926 Part 2 of Hitler's Mein Kampf was published.
◆1939 The American government grants Finland, at war with the USSR, a $10 million credit for agricultural supplies, a gesture largely due to Finland being the only country to have paid war debts from the World War I to the United States.
◆1940 Roosevelt announces an extension of the export-license system. Iron ore, pig iron and many important iron and steel manufactures are brought within the system. Like previous measures this is aimed at Japan. The changes come into effect at the end of the year.
◆1941 Japanese air attacks and troop landings on Luzon. Attack on the naval base at Caite destroys weapons stocks. At Aparri, on the north coast, 2000 troops of the Tanaka Detachment land, while troops of the Kanno Detachment land at Vigan in the northeast. Both landings are well supported by naval forces.
◆1941 Admiral Goto commands a Japanese force which captures the 300 man US garrison on Guam.
◆1941 Aircraft from USS Enterprise attack and sink Japanese Submarine I-70 north of Hawaiian Islands. A participant in the Pearl Harbor Attack. At the time, I-70 is thought to be the first Japanese combatant ship sunk during World War II.
◆1941 PBY piloted by LT Utter of VP-101 shoots down Japanese ZERO in first Navy air-to-air kill during World War II.
◆1941 The US submarine Sealion was sunk in an air attack at Manila Bay. 10 crewman were captured by the Japanese and shipped to work in a Mitsubishi copper mine in northern Japan.
◆1941 With no weapon larger than the .30 caliber MG, 153 Marines defended Guam until overwhelmed.
◆1941 The long-running debate on draft regulations ends with Roosevelt signing into law a revised bill which puts those who have been fathers since before Pearl Harbor at the bottom of the list.
◆1943 On Bougainville, the first American aircraft arrive at the Cape Torokina airfield. American divisions are gradually extending their perimeter.
◆1944 On Leyte, the US 77th Division captures Ormoc, the main Japanese base on the island. Japanese forces are now mostly concentrated around Palompon.
◆1944 The US 7th Corps (part of US 1st Army) launches an attack west of Aachen directed at Duren. To the south, US 3rd Army continues to defend its bridgeheads on the Saar River.
◆1950 Evacuation operations at Wonson, North Korea, completed.
◆1950 The U.S. Air Force Combat Cargo Command completed a four-day emergency mission in which it airdropped 1,580 tons of supplies and equipment and evacuated 4,687 casualties from the Hagaru-ri and Koto-ri areas near the Chosin/Changjin Reservoir.
◆1951 The 45th Infantry Division of the Oklahoma Army National Guard arrived in Korea to replace the 1st Cavalry Division.
◆1979 First Poseidon submarine configured with Trident missiles, USS Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657) completes initial deterrent patrol.
◆1982 USS Ohio (SSBN-726), first Trident-Class submarine, returns from first deterrent patrol.
◆2001 US air strikes continued at Tora Bora and Afghan fighters moved in on al Qaeda defenders in fortified caves.