1 January​ 1945

OPERATION BODENPLATTE: The German

Luftwaffe makes a series of heavy attacks on Allied airfields

in Belgium, Holland and northern France. They have

assembled around 800 planes of all types for this effort by

deploying every available machine and pilot. Many of the

pilots have had so little training that they must fly special

formations with an experienced pilot in the lead providing the

navigation for the whole force. The Allies are surprised and

lose many aircraft on the ground. Among the German aircraft

losses for the day are a considerable number of planes shot

down by German anti-aircraft fire. Allied losses amount to

300 planes opposed to about 200 German aircraft shot down.

1 January​ 1945

OPERATION NORDWIND. Operation North Wind (Unternehmen Nordwind) was the last major German offensive of the Second World War on the Western Front. It began on 1 January 1945 in Alsace and Lorraine in north-eastern France, and it ended on 25 January.

On 1 January 1945, German Army Group G (Heeresgruppe G) commanded by Colonel General (Generaloberst) Johannes Blaskowitz and Army Group Upper Rhine (Heeresgruppe Oberrhein) commanded by Heinrich Himmler launched a major offensive against the thinly stretched, 110 km line of the U.S. 7th Army. 

Operation North Wind soon had the understrength U.S. 7th Army in dire straits. The 7th Army, at the orders of U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, had sent troops, equipment, and supplies north to reinforce the American armies in the Ardennes involved in the "Battle of the Bulge."

On the same day that the German Army launched Operation North Wind, the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) committed almost one-thousand aircraft in support. This attempt to cripple the Allied air forces based in northwestern Europe was known as Operation Baseplate (Unternehmen Bodenplatte).

The initial attack was conducted by three Corps of the German 1st Army of Army Group G, and by 9 January, the XXXIX Panzer Corps was heavily engaged as well. By 15 January, at least seventeen German divisions (including units in the Colmar Pocket) were engaged from Army Group G and Army Group Upper Rhine, including the 10th SS Panzer, 7th Parachute, 21st Panzer, and 25th Panzer Grenadier divisions. Another attack, smaller, was against the French positions south of Strasbourg but it was finally stopped.

U.S. VI Corps, which bore the brunt of the German attacks, was fighting on three sides by 13 January. With casualties mounting, and running severely short on replacements, tanks, ammunition, and supplies, Eisenhower, fearing the outright destruction of the U.S. 7th Army, rushed already battered divisions hurriedly relieved from the Ardennes, southeast over 100 km, to reinforce the 7th Army. 

Their arrival was delayed, and the Americans were forced to withdraw to defensive positions on the south bank of the Moder River on 21 January. The German offensive finally drew to a close on 25 January, the same day that the reinforcements began to arrive from the Ardennes. Strasbourg was saved but the Colmar pocket was a danger which had to be eliminated.

“This attack has a very clear objective, namely the destruction of the enemy forces. There is not a matter of prestige involved here. It is a matter of destroying and exterminating the enemy forces wherever we find them. The question of liberating all of Alsace at this time is not involved either. That would be very nice, the impression on the German people would be immeasurable, the impression on the world decisive, terrific psychologically, the impression on the French people would be depressing. But that is not important. It is more important, as I said before, to destroy his manpower.”
— Adolf Hitler

​

1 January​ 1863

​CONFEDERATE VICTORY IN GALVESTON. Confederate warships under Major Leon Smith, CSA, defeated Union blockading forces at Galveston in a fierce surprise attack combined with an assault ashore by Confederate troops that resulted in the capture of the Northern Army company stationed there. 

Smith's flotilla included the improvised cotton-clad gunboats C.S.S. Bayou City and Neptune, with Army sharpshooting boarding parties embarked, and tenders John F. Carr and Lucy Gwin. The Union squadron under Commander William B. Renshaw, U.S.S. Harriet Lane, Owasco, Corypheus, Sachem, Clifton, and Westfield, was caught off guard. 

Despite the surprise, Harriet Lane,

Commander Jonathan M. Wainwright,

put up a gallant fight. She rammed

Bayou City, but without much damage.

In turn she was rammed by Neptune,

which was so damaged by the resulting

impact and a shot from Harriet Lane

taken at the waterline that she sank in

8 feet of water. Bayou City, meanwhile,

turned and rammed Harriet Lane so

heavily that the two ships could not be

separated. 

The troops from the cotton-clad

clambered over the bulwarks to board

Harriet Lane. Commander Wainwright

was killed in the wild hand-to-hand combat and his ship was captured. In the meantime, Westfield, Commander Renshaw, had run aground in Bolivar Channel prior to the action, could not be gotten off, and was destroyed to prevent her capture. 

Renshaw and a boat crew were killed when Westfield blew up prematurely. The small ships comprising the remainder of the blockading force ran through heavy Confederate fire from ashore and stood out to sea. Surprise and boldness in execution, as often in the long history of warfare, had won another victory. 

The tribute paid by Major General John Bankhead Magruder, CSA, was well deserved. "The alacrity with which officers and men, all of them totally unacquainted with this novel kind of service, some of whom had never seen a ship before, volunteered for an enterprise so extraordinarily and apparently desperate in its character, and the bold and dashing manner in which the plan was executed, are certainly deserving of the highest praise."

1 January​ 

Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day 

CHEEVER, BENJAMIN H., JR. Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At White River, S. Dak., 1 January 1891. Entered service at: Washington, D.C. Born: 7 June 1850, Washington, D.C. Date of issue. 25 April 1891. Citation: Headed the advance across White River partly frozen, in a spirited movement to the effective assistance of Troop K, 6th U.S. Cavalry. 

HOWZE, ROBERT L. Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, Company K, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At White River, S. Dak., 1 January 1891. Entered service at: Overton, Rusk County, Tex. Born: 22 August 1864, Overton, Rusk County, Tex. Date of issue: 25 July 1891. Citation: Bravery in action. 

KERR, JOHN B. Rank and organization: Captain, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At White River, S. Dak., 1 January 1891. Entered service at: Hutchison Station, Ky. Birth: Fayette County, Ky. Date of issue: 25 April 1891. Citation: For distinguished bravery while in command of his troop in action against hostile Sioux Indians on the north bank of the White River, near the mouth of Little Grass Creek, S. Dak., where he defeated a force of 300 Brule Sioux warriors, and turned the Sioux tribe, which was endeavoring to enter the Bad Lands, back into the Pine Ridge Agency. 

KNIGHT, JOSEPH F. Rank and organization: Sergeant, Troop F, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At White River, S. Dak., 1 January 1891. Entered service at: - - - . Birth: Danville, 111. Date of issue: 1 May 1891. Citation: Led the advance in a spirited movement to the assistance of Troop K, 6th U.S. Cavalry. 

MYERS, FRED Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company K, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At White River, S. Dak., 1 January 1891. Entered service at: Washington, D.C. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: 4 February 1891. Citation: With 5 men repelled a superior force of the enemy and held his position against their repeated efforts to recapture it. 

SMITH, CORNELIUS C. Rank and organization: Corporal, Company K, 6th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: Near White River, S. Dak., 1 January 1891. Entered service at: Helena, Mont. Birth: Tucson, Ariz. Date of issue: 4 February 1891. Citation: With 4 men of his troop drove off a superior force of the enemy and held his position against their repeated efforts to recapture it, and subsequently pursued them a great distance. 

MacGlLLlVARY, CHARLES A. Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company I, 71st Infantry, 44th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Woelfling, France, 1 January 1945. Entered service at: Boston, Mass. Birth: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. G.O. No.: 77, 10 September 1945. Citation: He led a squad when his unit moved forward in darkness to meet the threat of a breakthrough by elements of the 17th German Panzer Grenadier Division. Assigned to protect the left flank, he discovered hostile troops digging in. As he reported this information, several German machineguns opened fire, stopping the American advance. Knowing the position of the enemy, Sgt. MacGillivary volunteered to knock out 1 of the guns while another company closed in from the right to assault the remaining strong points. He circled from the left through woods and snow, carefully worked his way to the emplacement and shot the 2 camouflaged gunners at a range of 3 feet as other enemy forces withdrew. Early in the afternoon of the same day, Sgt. MacGillivary was dispatched on reconnaissance and found that Company I was being opposed by about 6 machineguns reinforcing a company of fanatically fighting Germans. His unit began an attack but was pinned down by furious automatic and small arms fire. With a clear idea of where the enemy guns were placed, he voluntarily embarked on a lone combat patrol. Skillfully taking advantage of all available cover, he stalked the enemy, reached a hostile machinegun and blasted its crew with a grenade. He picked up a submachine gun from the battlefield and pressed on to within 10 yards of another machinegun, where the enemy crew discovered him and feverishly tried to swing their weapon into line to cut him down. He charged ahead, jumped into the midst of the Germans and killed them with several bursts. Without hesitation, he moved on to still another machinegun, creeping, crawling, and rushing from tree to tree, until close enough to toss a grenade into the emplacement and close with its defenders. He dispatched this crew also, but was himself seriously wounded. Through his indomitable fighting spirit, great initiative, and utter disregard for personal safety in the face of powerful enemy resistance, Sgt. MacGillivary destroyed four hostile machineguns and immeasurably helped his company to continue on its mission with minimum casualties. 

*YANO, RODNEY J. T. Rank and organization: Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, Air Cavalry Troop, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. Place and date: Near Bien Hao, Republic of Vietnam, 1 January 1969. Entered service at: Honolulu, Hawaii. Born: 13 December 1943, Kealakekua Kona, Hawaii. Citation: Sfc. Yano distinguished himself while serving with the Air Cavalry Troop. Sfc. Yano was performing the duties of crew chief aboard the troop's command and control helicopter during action against enemy forces entrenched in dense jungle. From an exposed position in the face of intense small arms and antiaircraft fire he delivered suppressive fire upon the enemy forces and marked their positions with smoke and white phosphorous grenades, thus enabling his troop commander to direct accurate and effective artillery fire against the hostile emplacements. A grenade, exploding prematurely, covered him with burning phosphorous, and left him severely wounded. Flaming fragments within the helicopter caused supplies and ammunition to detonate. Dense white smoke filled the aircraft, obscuring the pilot's vision and causing him to lose control. Although having the use of only 1 arm and being partially blinded by the initial explosion, Sfc. Yano completely disregarded his welfare and began hurling blazing ammunition from the helicopter. In so doing he inflicted additional wounds upon himself, yet he persisted until the danger was past. Sfc. Yano's indomitable courage and profound concern for his comrades averted loss of life and additional injury to the rest of the crew. By his conspicuous gallantry at the cost of his life, in the highest traditions of the military service, Sfc. Yano has reflected great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

1 January​ 1959

CASTRO TAKES CUBA. Cuban dictator Batista falls

from power: In the face of a popular revolution

spearheaded by Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement,

Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees the island nation.

As celebration and chaos intermingled in the Cuban

capitol of Havana, U.S. policymakers debated how best

to deal with the radical Castro and the ominous rumblings

of anti-Americanism in Cuba. 

The United States government had supported the

American-friendly Batista regime since it came to power

in 1952. After Fidel Castro, together with a handful of

supporters that included the professional revolutionary

Che Guevara, landed in Cuba to unseat Batista in December 1956, the U.S. continued to support Batista. 

Suspicious of what they believed to be Castro’s leftist ideology and fearful that his ultimate goals might include attacks on U.S. investments and properties in Cuba, American officials were nearly unanimous in opposing his revolutionary movement. Cuban support for Castro’s revolution, however, spread and grew in the late 1950s, partially due to his personal charisma and nationalistic rhetoric, but also because of the increasingly rampant corruption, brutality, and inefficiency within the Batista government. 

This reality forced U.S. policymakers to slowly withdraw their support from Batista and begin a search in Cuba for an alternative to both the dictator and Castro. American efforts to find a “middle road” between Batista and Castro ultimately failed. On January 1, 1959, Batista and a number of his supporters fled Cuba. 

Tens of thousands of Cubans (and thousands of Cuban-Americans in the United States) joyously celebrated the end of the dictator’s regime. Castro’s supporters moved quickly to establish their power. Judge Manuel Urrutia was named as provisional president. Castro and his band of guerrilla fighters triumphantly entered Havana on January 7. 

In the years that followed, the U.S. attitude toward the new revolutionary government would move from cautiously suspicious to downright hostile. As the Castro government moved toward a closer relationship with the Soviet Union, and Castro declared himself to be a Marxist-Leninist, relations between the U.S. and Cuba collapsed into mutual enmity, which continued only somewhat abated through the following decades.

1 January​ 1966

1ST MARINE DIVISION DEPLOYS TO VIETNAM. 
​1st Marine Division advance elements arrive in Vietnam: On this
 day, advance elements of the 1st Regiment of the Marine 1st 
Division arrive in Vietnam. The entire division followed by the 
end of March. The division established its headquarters at Chu 
Lai and was given responsibility for the two southernmost 
provinces of I Corps (the military region just south of the DMZ). 

At the peak of its strength, the 1st Marine Division consisted of 
four regiments of infantry: the 1st, 5th, 7th, and 27th Marines. 
It also included the 11th Artillery regiment, which consisted 
of six battalions of 105-mm, 155-mm, and 8-inch howitzers. 

Other divisional combat units included the 1st Tank Battalion, 
1st Antitank Battalion, 1st Amphibious Tractor Company, 
​1st Reconnaissance Battalion, and the 1st Force Reconnaissance 
Company. The division numbered nearly 20,000 
marines by the time all elements had arrived in South Vietnam. 

During the Tet Offensive of 1968, the 1st Marine Division assisted the South Vietnamese army forces in recapturing the​ imperial city of Hue. The 1st Marine Division was withdrawn from Vietnam in the spring of 1971 and moved to its current base at Camp Pendleton, California. 

During the course of the Vietnam War, 20 members of the 1st Marine Division won the Medal of Honor for conspicuous bravery on the battlefield. The 1st Marine Division was twice awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for gallantry in action in Vietnam and received the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm and the Vietnamese Civil Action Award.