TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
27 January
◆1595 Sir Francis Drake died, English sea dog, of fever at c. 55.★
◆1778 Marines landed at New Providence, Bahamas; the American flag flew over foreign soil for the first time. The first American soldiers sent forth from the fledgling nation's shores were a detachment of Marines. That amphibious raid--the first in what remains today a Marine specialty--aimed to seize guns and gunpowder from a British fort.
◆1787 General Benjamin Lincoln arrives in Springfield Massachusetts and moves on to drive Shays’ rebels northward.
◆1814 Congress authorizes a United States Army of 62,773 men. To this time the effective strength of the army had been about 11,000 regulars. Secretary of War John Armstrong divides the US into nine military districts and he will go on to remove such ineffectual leaders form command as General James Wilkenson and General Wade Hampton for their part in their failure to take Montreal.
◆1823 Pres. Monroe appointed 1st US ambassadors to South America.1825 - Congress approved Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears."
◆1837 Marines fought in the Battle of Hatchee-Lustee (Muskogee for "Black Creek"), which is today Reedy Creek, Florida. A combined force under General Jesup of Army and Marines attacked a large Seminole village and captured or drove off the inhabitants.
◆1862 President Lincoln issues General War Order No. 1, ordering all land and sea forces to advance on February 22, 1862.
◆1868 The Battle of Toba-Fushimi: The "Boshin War" begins in Japan, ultimately leading to the fall of the Shogunate.
◆1880 Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
◆1900 Hyman Rickover, American admiral the "Father of the Nuclear Navy" was born in Makow, Russia (now Poland). He emigrated to the United States with his family in 1906. He served on active duty with the United States Navy for more than 63 years, receiving exemptions from the mandatory retirement age due to his critical service in the building of the United States Navy's nuclear surface and submarine force. He died at home in Arlington, Virginia, on July 8, 1986 and was buried in Section 5 at Arlington National Cemetery. His first wife, Ruth Masters Rickover (1903-1972) is buried with him and the name of his second wife, Eleanore A. Bednowicz Rickover, whom he met while she was serving as a Commander in the Navy Nurse Corps, is inscribed on his gravestone.
◆1900 Foreign diplomats in Peking fear revolt and demanded that the Imperial Government discipline the Boxer Rebels.
◆1915 US Marines begin occupation of Haiti.
◆1935 The League of Nations majority favored depriving Japan of mandates.
◆1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the sale of U.S. war planes to France.
◆1940 The American transport City of Flint, which had been impounded by Germany, arrives back at her home port following her adventures in the Baltic.
◆1941 The United States and Great Britain begin high-level military talks in Washington. They agree to a strategy for war known as the ABC-1 plan. It calls for first concentrating on defeating Germany, then taking on Japan.
◆1942 USS Gudgeon is first US sub to sink enemy submarine in action, Japanese I-173.
◆1943 8th Air Force bombers, dispatched from their bases in England, fly the first American bombing raid against the Germans, targeting the Wilhelmshaven port.★
◆1944 US 5th Army continues attacks on the Gustav Line. The British 10th Corps attacks Santa Maria Infante. The US 34th Division (part of 2nd Corps) captures Monte Maiola and Caira to the north of Cassino. The Free French Corps near Monte Abate is pushed by by German counterattacks.
◆1944 The Cape Gloucester beachhead, on New Britain, is expanded to the northwest by US marine regimental forces.
◆1944 The governments of Australia, Britain and the United States protest the Japanese treatment of prisoners of war. They indicate a determination to investigate and punish those responsible.
◆1945 Commissioning of USS Higbee (DD-806), first U.S. Navy ship named after a female member of U.S. Navy. 1945 The Ledo Road to China is finally cleared when Chinese troops from Burma and Yunnan province link up near Mongyu. General Sultan, who leads the British, American and Chinese in the area, has in fact announced the road as open on January 22nd. Sultan’s forces are now moving south toward Mandalay and Lashio by several routes.
◆1945 The US 32nd Infantry Division lands at Lingayen Gulf to reinforce the American troops there.
◆1945 Troops from US 3rd Army cross the Our River and take Oberhausen. The gains made by the German Ardennes offensive are now almost completely eliminated.
◆1951 FIRST NUCLEAR TEST IN NEVADA: Forcefully marking the continued importance of the West in the development of nuclear weaponry, the government detonates the first of a series of nuclear bombs at its new Nevada test site.★
◆1951 From this period onward, the major strategic concern of the Chinese was to provide its armies with replacements and supplies. They indoctrinated communist soldiers at all echelons in the importance of logistical support. The Chinese 68th Army commander told his subordinates "The achievement of final victory lies in timely food and ammunition supply and successful transportation."
◆1953 The Combat Cargo Command of the U.S. Air Force transported its 2,000,000th passenger to Korea after two years of operations as the Far East's military airline.
◆1959 NASA selected 110 candidates for the first U.S. space flight.
◆1965 Military leaders ousted the civilian government of Tran Van Huong in Saigon.
◆1967 A launch pad fire during Apollo program tests at Cape Canaveral, Florida, kills astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chafee.★
◆1977 Pres. Carter pardoned most Vietnam War draft evaders.
◆1978 The State Supreme Court ruled that Nazis can display the Swastika in a march in Skokie, Illinois.
◆1981 President Reagan greeted the 52 former American hostages released by Iran, telling them during a visit to the White House: "Welcome home."
◆1985 The Cold War couldn’t stop one of the stalwarts of capitalism, Coca-Cola, from setting up shop behind the iron curtain.★
◆1988 About 400 Marines and sailors from the 2d Marine Division, 2d Marine Aircraft Wing, and 2d Force Service Support Group deployed for the Persian Gulf. The Contingency Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) CM 2-88 would relieve Contingency MAGTF 1-88 in the volatile Persian Gulf and provide the effective landing force capability to Joint Task Force Middle East.
◆1991 Muhammad Siyad Barre, the dictator of the Somali Democratic Republic since 1969, flees Mogadishu as rebels overrun his palace and capture the Somali capital.