TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
16 February
◆1220 The Mongols capture Bokhara.
◆1495 The Colonna brothers capture Naples for Charles VIII of France.
◆1512 Battle of Valeggio: the French defeat the Venetians.
◆1646 Battle of Great Torrington: Parliamentarians defeat the Royalists in the last major engagement of the first English Civil War.
◆1760 Cherokee Indians held hostage at Fort St. George by South Carolina Governor Lyttleton are killed in revenge for Indian attacks on frontier settlements that broke a peace treaty of December 1759. This leads to a renewal of Cherokee attacks.
◆1804 During the First Barbary War, U.S. Lieutenant Stephen Decatur leads a military mission that famed British Admiral Horatio Nelson calls the "most daring act of the age."★
◆1815 USS Constitution captures British Susannah.1846 Battle of Sobraon: British win the First Sikh War.
◆1862 General Ulysses S. Grant finishes a spectacular campaign by capturing Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River in Tennessee.
◆1864 Battle of Mobile, Al., operations by Union Army.
◆1865 Columbia, S.C., surrendered to Federal troops.
◆1909 Serbia mobilizes against Austria-Hungary.
◆1916 Russians capture Erzurum, Armenia, from the Turks.
◆1944 German forces begin a new attack on the Allied forces on the Anzio beachhead. The US 45th Division and the British 56th Division are engaged by elements of 5 German divisions. There is no decisive breakthrough. The Luftwaffe provides close air support for the offensive as well as attacking shipping off shore. The ammunition ship Elihu Yale blows up after a German air strike. To the south, around Cassino, forces of New Zealand Corps (part of US 5th Army) continue attacking.
◆1944 Carrier aircraft from US Task Group 58.4 (Admiral Ginder) raid Eniwetok. The Japanese airfield on Engebi is no longer operational.
◆1945 Two American battalions, one sea borne and one dropped by parachute, land on Corregidor Island in Manila Bay. The attacking troops land successfully but encounter heavy Japanese resistance among the tunnels and gun emplacements of the island. The US troops are quickly reinforced. Since the battle for Luzon began, about 3200 tons of bombs have been dropped on Corregidor.
◆1945 Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines is occupied by American troops, almost three years after the devastating and infamous Bataan Death March.
◆1945 US Task Force 58, part of US 5th Fleet (Spruance), with 12 fleet carriers and 4 light carriers, conducts air raids on Tokyo. The aircraft carriers are escorted by 8 battleships, 15 cruisers and 83 destroyers as well as numerous support ships.
◆1945 US Task Force 54 (Admiral Rodgers), with 5 cruisers and 16 destroyers, as well as the 10 escort carriers of TF52 begin the preliminary bombardment of Iwo Jima. Poor weather limits the effectiveness of the activity.
◆1951 The 861-day naval siege of Wonsan began. This was one of the largest blockade and bombardment efforts ever initiated by the U.S. Navy.
◆1951 The U.S. Army began using the L-19 Bird Dog for forward air control, artillery spotting and other front-line duties.
◆1953 Marine Corps Captain Ted Williams, future baseball hall of famer, had his F9F Panther jet fighter badly crippled by anti-aircraft fire. Rather than ditch the aircraft, Captain Williams opted to return to base, an action that required exceptional skill and daring. He received the Air Medal for his actions. Williams walked away from the wheels-up landing.
◆1953 Air Force Captain Joseph C. McConnell, Jr., 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, flying his F-86 "Beauteous Butch" shot down his fifth MiG. The delayed confirmation of the kill resulted in him being recognized as the 27th ace of the war rather than the 26th.
◆1957 A U.S. flag flew over an outpost in Wilkes Land, Antarctica.1959 Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba (1959-1976), later President (1976-2008).
◆1960 US nuclear submarine USS Triton set off on underwater round-world trip.
◆1961 The United States launched the “Explorer Nine” satellite.
◆1967 Operation River Raider begins in Mekong Delta.
◆1988 First documented combat action by US military "advisors" in El Salvador.
◆2001 Two dozen US and British aircraft bombed 5 radar and other anti-aircraft sites around Baghdad with guided missiles. A number of new guided bombs, AGM-154A priced from $250-700k, missed their targets.
◆2003 NATO officials say a deal has been struck on the plans for Turkey's defense in case of a war with Iraq. Germany and Belgium drop their objections in return for guarantees that sending surveillance planes and missile batteries to Turkey did not mean war.