TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
9 June
◆53 BCE Battle of Carrhae: Crassus is crushed by the Parthians.
◆721 Battle of Toulouse: Duke Odo of Aquitaine defeats the Moors.
◆1075 Battle of Homburg: Henry VII of France defeats the Saxons.
◆1358 Battle of Meaux: The Captal de Buch & Gaston Phoebus defeat the "Jacquerie" peasants.
◆1732 Royal charter for Georgia was granted to James Oglethorpe.
◆1742 Battle of Bloody Marsh: Spanish assault on Simons Island, Ga.
◆1772 THE GASPEE AFFAIR: In an incident that some regard as the first naval engagement of the American Revolution, colonists board the Gaspee, a British vessel that ran aground off the coast of Rhode Island, and set it aflame.
◆1778 British evacuate Philadelphia.
◆1800 Battle of Montebello: French defeat the Austrians.
◆1862 Battle of Port Republic, last of five battles in Jackson's Valley campaign.
◆1863 BATTLE OF BRANDY STATION: As the Army of Northern Virginia, under the command of General Robert E. Lee, started moving northward to take the war to the Union (a move that would eventually end at Gettysburg, PA), General J.E.B. Stuart was tasked to use the Confederate cavalry to screen this movement from Union scouts. But the Federals soon learned of a large rebel presence in area around Culpeper Court House, near a train depot named “Brandy Station.”
◆1864 Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, GA (Pine Mt, Pine Knob, Golgotha).
◆1898 Battle of Cuzco Well, Guantanamo: Marines defeat Spanish.
◆1931 Robert H. Goddard patented a rocket-fueled aircraft design.
◆1942 The Japanese high command announced that "The Midway Occupation operations have been temporarily postponed."
◆1944 On the right flank of the invasion beaches, elements of the US 7th Corps capture Azeville in its northward drive toward Cherbourg. Other elements are moving west toward Carentan. The US 5th Corps, from Omaha beach, capture Trevieres. The British and Canadian forces of the British 2nd Army are heavily engaged by growing German reserves around Caen. Allied aircraft are now operating from forward landing strips in France.
◆1944 Forces of the US 5th Army capture Tarquinia, Viterbo and Vetrella. Elements of British 8th Army advance toward Terni and Orvieto. A small amphibious force lands at Santo Stefano. Meanwhile, there is a substantial reorganization of Allied forces. Elements of British 10th and 13th Corps are regrouped while elements of the US 6th Corps, mostly, are withdrawn from the line for the invasion of southern France.
◆1945 On Okinawa, the Japanese forces defending the Oroku peninsula are cut off and surrounded by forces of the US 6th Marine Division. The US 1st Marine Division advance southward to Kunishi Ridge, one of the last Japanese strong points.
◆1945 On Luzon, the US 37th Division captures Bagabag. The American forces attempt to block the routes into the Cagayan valley in order to isolate the Japanese forces concentrated in the Sierra Madre, in the northeast. On Mindanao, elements of the US 24th Division take Mandog, the last major strong point in the Japanese defenses.
◆1945 Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki declared that Japan will fight to the last rather than accept unconditional surrender.
◆1948 Israel became a state and was immediately attacked by her Arab neighbors. About 150,000 Arabs remained in Israel after the founding. Most others fled or were forced out.
◆1951 Eighth Army commander Lieutenant General James A. Van Fleet insisted that his forces occupy suitable ground in the event of a cease-fire.
◆1959 Launching of USS George Washington (SSBN-598), first nuclear powered fleet ballistic missile submarine, at Groton, CT.
◆1963 JFK named Winston Churchill a US honorary citizen.
◆1972 Part of a relief column composed mainly of South Vietnamese 21st Division troops finally arrives in the outskirts of An Loc.
◆1987 In a second day of testimony before the Iran-Contra congressional committees, secretary Fawn Hall said she had spirited secret documents from the White House because she feared they would fall into the wrong hands.
◆1995 One week after being shot down over Bosnia by a Bosnian Serb missile, and a day after being rescued, US Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady was warmly welcomed by his comrades at Aviano Air Base in Italy.