TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
4 February
◆634 Arabs defeat Byzantines at Gaza.
◆786 Harun al-Rashid succeeded his older brother the Abbasid Caliph al-Hadi as Caliph of Baghdad.
◆1747 Tadeusz Kosciusko, patriot, American Revolution hero (built West Point), was born in Poland.
◆1779 John Paul Jones takes command of Bonhomme Richard.
◆1783 Britain declared a formal cessation of hostilities with its former colonies, the United States of America.
◆1787 In an attack on Shays’ insurgents at Petersham, Massachusetts, General Benjamin Lincoln captures 150 rebels and forces Shays to flee for Vermont. By the end of the month, the uprising has been completely suppressed. In March the Massachusetts legislature offers a pardon to all except Shays, Luke Day and two other leaders. Shays will be pardoned on 13 June, 1788. This rebellion has the effect of causing the state legislature to avoid direct taxation, to lower court costs, and to exempt household necessities and workmen’s tools from the debt process. Shays’ Rebellion is also an important factor in influencing the creation of a new federal constitution, since the states have seen how essentially powerless they are to prevent such incidents of violence.
◆1789 George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, is unanimously elected the first president of the United States by all 69 presidential electors.
◆1807 French capture Amantea, Calabria, from Neapolitan patriots, after a month's siege and heavy losses.
◆1809 British troops take their first French eagles, from the 62nd & 80th Regiments on Martinique.
◆1822 Free American Blacks settled Liberia, West Africa. The first group of colonists landed in Liberia and founded Monrovia, the colony's capital city, named in honor of President James Monroe.
◆1861 The Confederate State of America is open for business when the Provisional Congress convenes in Montgomery, Alabama.★
◆1861 The Apache Wars began.
◆1865 A boat expedition under Lieutenant Commander Cushing, U.S.S. Monticello, proceeded up Little River, South Carolina, placing the small town of All Saints Parish under guard and capturing a number of Confederate soldiers. On the 5th Cushing destroyed some $15,000 worth of cotton.
◆1868 Marines landed at Osaka, Japan, to protect foreign nationals.
◆1899 After an exchange of gunfire, fighting broke out between American troops and Filipinos near Manila, sparking the Philippine-American War (also referred to as the Philippine Insurrection of 1899). American soldiers patrolling in Santa Mesa opened fire on Filipino soldiers near a bridge over the San Juan River.
◆1915 Germans decreed British waters part of war zone; all ships were to be sunk without warning.
◆1938 Hitler seized control of German army and put Nazis in key posts.
◆1941 The United Service Organization, a civilian agency, is founded.★
◆1942 Dutch and American ships attacking in the Makassar Straits are repelled by Japanese aircraft. Two American cruisers are damaged in the fighting.
◆1943 On Guadalcanal, about 5000 more Japanese troops are evacuated by a squadron (led by Admiral Koyanagi) consisting of one cruiser and 22 destroyers. Four of the ships are damaged. Meanwhile, the US 147th Regiment advances west of Tassafaronga.
◆1944 Organized Japanese resistance in the Kwajalein Atoll ends. Most of the 8700 Japanese garrison commanded by Admiral Akiyama have been killed. Only 265 are captured, many are Korean laborers or wounded. The Americans have deployed 41,000 troops of whom 370 have been killed in action and 1500 wounded.
◆1944 At the Anzio beachhead, German attacks force the British 1st Division to fall back.Meanwhile, to the south, the forces of US 5th Army continue offensive operations. The US 34th Division gains ground near Point 593 and Point 445 as well as attacking Colle Sant'Angelo.
◆1944 President Roosevelt authorized the Bronze Star Medal by Executive Order 9419 dated 4 February 1944, retroactive to 7 December 1941. ★
◆1945 The Allies announce that all German forces have been expelled from Belgium. US 1st and 3rd Army units are attacking toward the Roer River around Duren.
◆1945 On Luzon, advance units of the US 1st Cavalry Division reach the outskirts of Manila from the north while units of 11th Airborne Division approach from the south. Yamashita has not ordered his forces to defend the city but the 20,000 Japanese troops under the local naval commander in the city are prepared to fight to the end.
◆1945 American USAAF B-24 and B-29 bombers raid Iwo Jima in preparation for the landings later in the month. They drop a daily average of 450 tons of bombs over the course of 15 days (6800 tons).
◆1959 Keel laying of USS Enterprise, first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, Newport News, VA.
◆1962 The first U.S. helicopter is shot down in Vietnam.★
◆1966 Senate Foreign Relations Committee began televised hearings on the Vietnam War.
◆1969 Al-Fatah-leader Yasser Arafat officially took over as chairman of PLO.
◆1971 Moonwalk by CAPT Alan B. Shepherd, Jr. USN, Commander of Apollo 14 and CDR Edgar D. Mitchell, USN Lunar Module Pilot. During the 9 day mission, 94 lbs of lunar material was collected and Shepard became the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon.
◆1972 A force of 824 soldiers, the last of Thailand's 12,000 troops serving in South Vietnam, departs.
◆1974 Patricia Hearst, the 19-year-old daughter of publishing billionaire William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped from her Berkeley, California, apartment by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA).
◆1982 President Reagan announced a plan to eliminate all medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe.
◆2003 The North Atlantic Council decided to extend Operation Active Endeavour to include escorting non-military ships traveling through the Strait of Gibraltar to maintain security in the area and to secure the safe transit of designated Allied ships.