TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
5 February
◆1512 Gaston de Foix's Franco-Italian army captures Bologna.
◆1782 A Franco-Spanish expedition liberates Menorca from 75 years' of the British rule.
◆1783 Sweden recognized the independence of the United States.
◆1795 French capture Zealand, the Netherlands.
◆1807 Battle of Waltersdorf: Ney's French defeat the Prussians.
◆1840 Hiram Stevens Maxim (d.1916), inventor of the automatic single-barrel rifle, was born in Sangerville, Maine.★
◆1864 Federal forces occupied Jackson, Miss.
◆1865 Union and Confederate forces around Petersburg, Virginia, begin a three-day battle that produces 3,000 casualties but ends with no significant advantage for either side.★
◆1900 The United States and Great Britain signed the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, giving the United States the right to build a canal in Nicaragua but not to fortify it.
◆1904 The American occupation of Cuba ended.
◆1918 The 1st Marine Replacement Battalion sailed for France in WW I.
◆1940 The US Maritime Commission announces that Britain and France are buying 113,000 tons of old American cargo ships.
◆1942 The United States declares war on Thailand.
◆1942 The British RAF drops 1.4 million copies of 2 American leaflets, describing scale of the US arms program, over 8 French cities and towns.
◆1942 Singapore: Final elements of the British 18th Div arrive, by sea, as Japanese artillery bombards the city from across the Straits of Johore.
◆1942 Adm Yamamoto holds a staff conference aboard BB 'Nagato', to plan "Second Phase" operations, which will lead to Coral Sea and Midway.
◆1945 The German pocket near Colmar is cut in two by a link between French units and part of the US 21st Corps. Farther north, US 1st Army extends its attacks, led by US 5th Corps, toward the Roer aiming to take the Schwammenauel Dam.
◆1945 The US forces close in tighter around Manila. The US 11th Corps has completed its attack across the Bataan Peninsula.
◆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).
◆1947 The Soviet Union and Great Britain rejected terms for an American trusteeship over Japanese Pacific Isles.
◆1951 Operation ROUNDUP, an advance by X Corps, began. This attack in the central front was directed against the enemy's II and V Corps with friendly forces converging on Hongchon from the east and west.
◆1968 U.S. troops divided Viet Cong at Hue while the Saigon government claimed they would arm loyal citizens.
◆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 It was reported that the United States had agreed to sell 42 F-4 Phantom jets to Israel.
◆1972 US airlines began mandatory inspection of passengers and baggage.
◆1973 Services were held at Arlington National Cemetery for Army Lt. Col. William B. Nolde, the last American soldier killed before the Vietnam cease-fire.
◆1983 Former Nazi Gestapo official Klaus Barbie (d.1991), expelled from Bolivia, was brought to trial in Lyon, France. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
◆1989 In an important move signaling the close of the nearly decade-long Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan, the last Russian troops withdraw from the capital city of Kabul.
◆1998 Pres. Clinton ordered 2,000 Marines to the Persian Gulf and met with PM Tony Blair of Britain to discuss the possible use of force against Iraq.
◆2002 US officials announced plans to train and arm Colombian troops to protect the key Cano Limon oil pipeline.
◆2003 US military officials say that the USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Arabian Sea on the weekend, putting a third US aircraft carrier battle group within striking distance of Iraq.
◆2004 CIA Director George Tenet acknowledged that US spy agencies may have over-estimated Iraq's illicit weapons capabilities.
◆2004 NASA restored communications with the Mars Spirit rover.