TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
19 February
◆45 BCE Caesar captures Ategua, Hispania.
◆197 Battle of Lugdunum: Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats his some-time partner Clodius Albinus, to secure domination of the Empire.
◆1408 Battle of Bramham Moor: The Sheriff of Yorkshire defeats the Earl of Northumberland & Thomas Bardolf.
◆1512 Gaston de Foix's French capture Brescia amid great slaughter.
◆1574 Spanish troops plunder Krommenie, Wormerveer, & Jisp, the Netherlands.
◆1634 Battle of Smolensk: Wladyslaw IV of Poland defeats the Russians.
◆1674 Netherlands and England signed the Peace of Westminster. NYC became English.
◆1807 Aaron Burr, a former U.S. vice president, is arrested in Alabama on charges of plotting to annex Spanish territory in Louisiana and Mexico to be used toward the establishment of an independent republic.
◆1807 A British squadron under Admiral Duckworth forces the Dardanelles.
◆1814 USS Constitution captures British brig Catherine
◆1846 The Texas state government was formally installed in Austin.
◆1859 Daniel E. Sickles, NY congressman, was acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity. This was the 1st time this defense was successfully used. Sickles had shot and killed Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key, author of "Star Spangled Banner." He shot Key, the DC district attorney, in Lafayette Square for having an affair with his wife. Sickles pleaded temporary insanity and the sanctity of a man’s home and beat the murder rap.
◆1862 Confederates evacuated Clarksville, Tennessee.
◆1862 Congress authorized cutters to enforce law forbidding importation of Chinese "coolie" labor.
◆1917 American troops are recalled from the Mexican border to prepare for possible deployment to Europe. General Pershing has already been ordered off the hunt for the cowardly Pancho Villa.
◆1934 President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues an Executive Order canceling existing air-mail contracts because of fraud and collusion. The Army Air Corps is designated to take over airmail operations.
◆1941 Coast Guard Reserve established. Auxiliary created from former Reserve.
◆1942 Ten weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of any or all people from military areas "as deemed necessary or desirable."
◆1942 General Dwight D. Eisenhower, is appointed chief of the War Plans Division of the US Army General Staff.
◆1942 Port Darwin, on the northern coast of Australia, was bombed by about 150 Japanese warplanes. General George C. Kenney, who pioneered aerial warfare strategy and tactics in the Pacific theater, ordered 3,000 para-frag bombs to be sent to Australia, where he thought they might come in handy against the Japanese. Darwin was virtually leveled by 64 bombing raids over 21 months.
◆1943 The Axis offensive is renewed with the objective of Le Kef.★
◆1943 On Guadalcanal American reinforcements arrive as part of the buildup for the next offensive move to the Russell Islands. These islands are now reported abandoned by the Japanese.
◆1944 The U.S. Eighth Air Force and Royal Air Force began "Big Week," a series of heavy bomber attacks against German aircraft production facilities.
◆1944 The Anzio beachhead becomes stabilized. Neither side’s plans significant attacks at this time. To the south, there is a lull in the fighting along the Gustav Line.
◆1944 Fighting continues on Engebi in the Eniwetok Atoll. Americans land on Eniwetok in regimental strength. There is heavy Japanese resistance, in spite of massive preparatory bombardments.
◆1945 Landing on Iwo Jima commence, 2 divisions of the US 5th Amphibious Corps are landed in Operation Detachment.★★
◆1945 There are American landings on the northwest islands of Samar and Capul. No Japanese resistance is encountered.
◆1952 In the Korean War, both sides agreed to recommend that a political conference to settle the Korean War should be held within three months of an armistice.
◆1959 A USAF rocket-powered rail sled attained Mach 4.1 (4,970 kph) in NM.
◆1963 The Soviet Union informed President Kennedy it would withdraw "several thousand" of an estimated 17,000 Soviet troops in Cuba.
◆1965 Dissident officers move several battalions of troops into Saigon on this day with the intention of ousting Gen. Nguyen Khanh from leadership.
◆1966 Robert F. Kennedy suggested the U.S. offer the Vietcong a role in governing South Vietnam.
◆1981 The U.S. government releases a report detailing how the "insurgency in El Salvador has been progressively transformed into a textbook case of indirect armed aggression by communist powers."