TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
26 February
◆493 Roman troops holding Ravenna surrender to Theoderic's Ostrogoths.
◆1147 Crusaders massacre the Jews of Wurzburg.
◆1266 Battle of Benevento: Angevins defeat the Hohenstaufen to secure the throne of Naples.
◆1775 British forces land at Salem, Massachusetts to capture the colonists’ arsenal. They are repulsed with no casualties.
◆1793 Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury, submits to the Senate the first list of cutters with stations, officers names, rank and dates of commission.
◆1815 Napoleon Escapes from Elba.
◆1860 White settlers massacred a band of Wiyot Indians at the village of Tuluwat on Indian Island near Eureka, Ca. At least 60 women, children and elders were killed.★
◆1863 In support of the Union, the Cherokee Indian National Council repeals its ordinance of secession.
◆1864 Boat expedition under the command of Acting Master E. C. Weeks, U.S.S. Tahoma, destroyed a large salt works belonging to the Confederate government on Goose Creek, near St. Marks, Florida.
◆1901 Boxer Rebellion leaders Chi-Hsin (Chi-hsui) and Hsu-Cheng-Yu were publicly executed in Peking.
◆1903 Richard J. Gatling (84), US inventor (Gatling Gun), died.
◆1916 Russian troops occupy Kermanshah, Persia.
◆1935 Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR) was 1st demonstrated by Robert Watson-Watt.
◆1935 Nazi leader Adolf Hitler signs a secret decree authorizing the founding of the Reich Luftwaffe as a third German military service to join the Reich army and navy.
◆1936 Japanese military troops marched into Tokyo to conduct a coup and assassinate political leaders.
◆1938 The 1st passenger ship was equipped with radar.
◆1940 The U.S. Air Defense Command was established at Mitchell Field, Long Island, NY.
◆1940 Sumner Welles meets Mussolini and his son-in-law Count Galeazzo Ciano, the foreign minister.
◆1942 Soviet Ambassador Litvinov demands the Allies open a second front. He states that “only by simultaneous offensive operations on two or more of the fronts can Hitler’s armed forces be disposed of.”
◆1942 Don Mason, WWII Navy flier, sent the message: “Sighted sub sank same.”1942 – German battle cruiser Gneisenau was deactivated by bomb.
◆1942 Battle of the Java Sea, Allied Naval Force attacks Japanese invasion convoy.
◆1942 Werner Heisenberg informed Nazis about uranium project “Wunderwaffen.”
◆1943 U.S. Flying Fortresses and Liberators pound German docks and U-boat lairs at Wilhelmshaven, the chief German naval base on the North Sea until the end of World War II, after which its naval installations were dismantled.
◆1943 Elements of 10th and 21st Panzer Divisions (parts of 5th Panzer Army commanded by von Arnim) attack British positions at Medjez el Bab. Rommel intends to concentrate these and other forces for an attack on the British 8th Army before the Mareth Line.★
◆1944 The source of the Orinoco River is discovered by the crew of a USAAF plane in a mountainous gorge near the Brazilian-Venezuelan border.
◆1944 Allied aircraft raid Rabaul, on New Britain, destroying Japanese munitions dumps.
◆1944 Sue Dauser was appointed the 1st female US navy captain of nurse corps.
◆1945 During the day, US 8th Air Force bombers drop about 3000 tons of bombs on Berlin; some 500,000 incendiaries are among the bombs. The nominal targets are 3 railway stations. A total of 15 bombers and 7 escort fighters are lost. During the night, RAF Mosquito bombers attack Berlin, guided by the light of the fires started during the day.
◆1945 An ammunition dump on the Philippine island of Corregidor is blown up by a remnant of the Japanese garrison, causing more American casualties on the eve of U.S. victory there.
◆1945 The US 1st and 9th Army units are moving rapidly from their bridgeheads over the Our River.
◆1949 From Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas, the Lucky Lady II, a B-50 Superfortress, takes off on the first nonstop round-the-world flight.★
◆1951 In the US the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.
◆1952 Ten Superfortresses, using radar aiming methods, dropped one-hundred tons of bombs on the Sinhung-dong rail road bridge near Huichon in north central Korea, knocking out two spans.
◆1955 G.F. Smith became the 1st aviator to bail out at supersonic speed.
◆1962 After becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn told a joint meeting of Congress, “Exploration and the pursuit of knowledge have always paid dividends in the long run.”
◆1965 The first contingent of South Korean troops arrives in Saigon. Although assigned to non-combat duties, they came under fire on April 3. The South Korean contingent was part of the Free World Military Forces, an effort by President Lyndon B. Johnson to enlist allies for the United States and South Vietnam. By securing support from other nations, Johnson hoped to build an international consensus behind his policies in Vietnam. The effort was also known as the “many flags” program. By the close of 1969, there were over 47,800 Korean soldiers actively involved in combat operations in South Vietnam. Seoul began to withdraw its troops in February 1972.
◆1968 Allied troops who had recaptured the imperial capital of Hue from the North Vietnamese during the Tet Offensive discover the first mass graves in Hue.
◆1970 Five Marines were arrested on charges of murdering 11 South Vietnamese women and children.
◆1973 First airborne mine sweep in a live minefield took place in the Haiphong, Vietnam ship channel by helicopters from Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron Twelve on board USS New Orleans.
◆1976 US performed a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
◆1977 The 1st flight of Space Shuttle atop a Boeing 747 took place.
◆1984 The last U.S. Marines sent to Lebanon as part of a multinational peacekeeping force leave Beirut, the war-torn Lebanese capital where some 250 of the original 800 Marines lost their lives during the problem-plagued 18-month mission.
◆1987 NASA launched GEOS-H.
◆1990 A year after agreeing to free elections, Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government loses at the polls.
◆1991 A cease-fire was called by Pres. Bush after 100 hours of ground combat. Following the cease-fire a retreating Iraqi unit stumbled into the Gen. McCaffrey’s 24th infantry division and some 400 Iraqis were reported killed. Army investigations concluded that the Iraqis started the Rumaylah battle.
◆1991 Kuwaiti resistance leaders declared themselves in control of their capital, following nearly seven months of Iraqi occupation.