TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
7 February
◆1074 Battle of Montesarchio: Normans defeat the Beneventine Lombards.
◆1238 The Mongols sack and burn Vladimir, Russia.
◆1313 Robert the Bruce captures Dumfries, Scotland.
◆1799 In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, federal marshals arrest John Fries, the leader of a taxpayer’s rebellion. Fires had raised a force of several hundred men in Bucks, Montgomery and Northampton counties in order to protest the direct federal tax implemented by the acts of July 9 and 14, 1798 to raise revenue for the anticipated war with France. Tried twice, Fries will be convicted of treason both times. Although sentenced to death, he will be pardoned by President Adams.
◆1800 USS Essex becomes first U.S. Navy vessel to cross the Equator.
◆1807 Battle of Eylau, Day 1: Napoleon vs. the Russo-Prussians (ends 8th).
◆1812 The New Madrid Earthquake: Greatest in the series that devastated the central Mississippi Valley.
◆1815 The Board of Naval Commissioners, a group of senior officers, is established to oversee the operation and maintenance of the Navy, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy.
◆1832 250 Marines defeated Malay pirates in Sumatra, Indonesia.
◆1861 The Choctaw Nation declares its allegiance to the Confederacy.
◆1862 One day after the fall of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of Rebel forces in the west, orders 15,000 reinforcements to Fort Donelson.
◆1862 Roanoke Isle, N.C. seized by Marines and Soldiers in battle with Confederates.
◆1864 Union troops commanded by Major General Q A Gilmore occupy Jacksonville, Florida.
◆1881 Battle of Ingogo: Boers defeat the British in the Transvaal.
◆1894 The US House of Representatives passed a resolution that prevented the sending of US troops to Hawaii to restore Queen Lili’uokalani.
◆1915 1st wireless message sent from a moving train to a station was received.
◆1917 The British steamer California is sunk off the coast of Ireland by a German U-boat.
◆1928 The United States signed an arbitration treaty with France.
◆1942 Presidential order creates the War Shipping Administration which assumed control over all phases of merchant marine activities.
◆1942 The federal government ordered passenger car production stopped and converted to wartime purposes.
◆1943 During a fierce convoy battle near Greenland, the CGC Ingham rescued 33 survivors from the torpedoed troopship SS Henry Mallory while the Bibb rescued 202. Bibb then rescued 33 from the torpedoed Kalliopi.
◆1943 The government announced that shoe rationing would go into effect in two days, limiting each purchaser to three pairs for the remainder of the year.
◆1943 On Guadalcanal the US 161st Regiment continues a cautious advance. The Japanese proceed with their evacuation.
◆1944 In the Kwajalein Atoll, American forces complete the elimination of isolated Japanese pockets of resistance.
◆1944 At the Anzio beachhead, there are new attacks on the British 1st Division by German forces. The Germans aim for the village of Aprilia and "The Factory" nearby. Meanwhile, the British 56th Division and the US 45th Division arrive at Anzio.
◆1945 In the US 5th Corps advance toward the Roer, Schmidt is taken. To the south, US 3rd Army units move into Germany east of the Our.
◆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).
◆1945 US 76th and 5th Infantry divisions began crossing Sauer.
◆1947 Arabs and Jews rejected a British proposal to split Palestine.
◆1948 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as Army chief of staff and was succeeded by Gen. Omar Bradley. Eisenhower will become President of Columbia University.
◆1950 The United States recognized Vietnam under the leadership of Emperor Bao Dai, not Ho Chi Minh who was recognized by the Soviets.
◆1950 Sen Joe McCarthy claimed "communists" in US Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
◆1955 Seventh Fleet ships begin evacuation of Chinese nationalists from Tachen Islands
◆1962 President Kennedy began the blockade of Cuba.
◆1965 As part of Operation Flaming Dart, 49 U.S. Navy jets from the 7th Fleet carriers Coral Sea and Hancock drop bombs and rockets on the barracks and staging areas at Dong Hoi, a guerrilla training camp in North Vietnam.
◆1968 North Vietnamese used 11 Soviet-built light tanks to overrun the U.S. Special Forces camp at Lang Vei at the end of an 18-hour long siege.★
◆1971 Operation Dewey Canyon II ends, but U.S. units continue to provide support for South Vietnamese army operations in Laos.
◆1974 The island nation of Grenada won independence from Britain.
◆1984 While in orbit 170 miles above Earth, Navy Captain Bruce McCandless becomes the first human being to fly untethered in space when he exits the U.S. space shuttle Challenger and maneuvers freely, using a bulky white rocket pack of his own design.
◆1990 The Central Committee of the Soviet Union's Communist Party agrees to endorse President Mikhail Gorbachev's recommendation that the party give up its 70-year long monopoly of political power.