TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
2 July
◆1214 Battle of La Roche-aux-Moines.
◆1247 Emperor Frederick II lays siege to Parma.
◆1298 Battle of Goellheim\Worms: Albert of Austria defeats Adolf von Nassau Weilburg.
◆1431 Battle of Bulgneville: The Angevins defeat the Lorrainers.
◆1600 Battle of Nieuport: Dutch defeat the Spanish.
◆1625 Breda falls to the Spanish after a year's siege.
◆1644 Battle of Marston Moor: Roundheads defeat the Royalists.
◆1704 Battle of Schellenberg: Anglo-Imperialists defeat the Franco-Bavarians.
◆1775 George Washington arrived in Boston and took over as commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army.
◆1776 Congress passed Lee's resolution that "these united Colonies are, and of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States," and then spent two days over the wording of Jefferson's document.
◆1862 Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborough's fleet covered the withdrawal of General McClellan's army after a furious battle with Confederate forces under General Robert E. Lee at Malvern Hill.
◆1863 Battle of Gettysburg (Day 2): General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia attacks General George G. Meade's Army of the Potomac at both Culp's Hill and Little Round Top, but fails to move the Yankees from their positions.
◆1864 General Jubal Early and Confederate forces reached Winchester.
◆1864 Congress passes the Wade-Davis Bill, requiring a majority of a seceded state's white citizens to take an oath of loyalty to the Constitution and guarantee black equality, but President Abraham Lincoln pocket vetoes the harsh plan for dealing with the defeated Confederate states.
◆1881 Only four months into his administration, President James A. Garfield is shot as he walks through a railroad waiting room in Washington, D.C. 1900 Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin's first airship, the LZ-1, flies.
◆1923 Commissioning of Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC.
◆1926 The U.S. Army Air Corps was created by Congress.
◆1926 The Distinguished Flying Cross was established in the Air Corps Act (Act of Congress, Public Law No. 446, 69th Congress). An Act of Congress (Public Law 446-69th Congress (44 Stat. 780)) which established the Soldier’s Medal for acts of heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy.★
◆1941 The US authorities very soon know of a Japanese determination to attempt to seize bases in Indonesia even if it should precipitate war through their code-breaking service which has managed to work out the key to the major Japanese diplomatic code and some other minor operational codes. The information gained from the diplomatic code is circulated under the code name Magic.
◆1943 The American buildup on Rendova Island continues but the Japanese garrison continues to resist. During the night a Japanese naval force bombards the American positions with little effect.
◆1943 The U.S. Army Air Corps 99th Fighter Squadron, the first of the all-black Tuskegee Airmen to see combat, had been based in Africa for four months when they were assigned to escort 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers on a routine mission over Sicilian targets. Lieutenant Charles B. Hall of Brazil, Indiana became the first Tuskegee Airman to score a confirmed kill when he shot down a German fighter plane.
◆1944 There are Allied landing on Numfoor Island. About 7100 troops, including elements of the US 168th Infantry Division and Australian forces, under the command of US General Patrick establish a beachhead on the north coast near Kamiri Airfield. There is no Japanese resistance. Admiral Fechteler commands the naval support with US Task Force 74 and TF75 providing escort and a preliminary bombardment. On Biak Island, remnants of the Japanese force continue to resist.
◆1944 On Saipan, American forces conduct a general advance. Garapan village is overrun.
◆1944 As part of Operation Gardening, the British and American strategy to lay mines in the Danube River by dropping them from the air, American aircraft also drop bombs and leaflets on German-occupied Budapest.
◆1945 The submarine USS Barb fires rockets on Kaihyo Island, off the east coast of Karafuto (Sakhalin) Island. It is the first American underwater craft to fire rockets in shore bombardment. Meanwhile, Japanese sources report that only 200,000 people remain in Tokyo. All others have been evacuated to safer areas. The Japanese claim that some 5 million civilians have been killed or wounded by American fire-bombs.
◆1946 Establishment of VX-3 to evaluate adaptability of helicopters to naval purposes.
◆1950 USS Juneau and 2 British ships sink 5 of 6 attacking North Korean torpedo boats and gunboats. This is the only significant naval engagement of the Korean War.
◆1950 The Royal Australian Air Force 77 Squadron began flying F-51 Mustang missions in Korea.
◆1951 The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division launched Operation DOUGHNUT, a series of attacks directed against hills in the Iron Triangle.
◆1957 The Seawolf, the first submarine powered by liquid metal cooled reactor, was completed.
◆1957 Grayback, the first submarine designed to fire guided missiles, was launched.
◆1967 The U.S. Marine Corps launched Operation Buffalo in response to the North Vietnamese Army's efforts to seize the Marine base at Con Thien.
◆1967 During Operation Bear Claw, Seventh Fleet Amphibious Force conducts helicopter assault 12 miles inland at Con Thien.
◆1997 The US began a round of underground nuclear weapons-related tests in Nevada.