TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
12 June
◆1298 Battle of the Black Ironside: William Wallace routs the English.
◆1340 Naval Battle of Sluys: English defeat the French off Flanders.
◆1667 The Dutch fleet burns a major portion of the Royal Navy in the Medway.
◆1665 England installed a municipal government in New York, formerly the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.
◆1775 In the first naval battle of Revolution the US ship Unity captured the British ship Margaretta.
◆1838 The Iowa Territory was organized.
◆1849 The gas mask was patented by L. P. Haslett.
◆1862 STUARTS RIDE AROUND THE UNION ARMY: In one of the greatest maneuvers in military history, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart begins his ride around the Army of the Potomac during the Peninsular campaign, after being sent on a reconnaissance of Union positions by Robert E. Lee.*
◆1864 Lee sent Early into the Shenandoah Valley.
◆1864 After suffering a devastating defeat on June 3, Union General Ulysses S. Grant pulls his troops from their positions at Cold Harbor, Virginia, and moves south.
◆1876 Marcus Kellogg, a journalist traveling with Custer's 7th Cavalry, files one of his last dispatches before being killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
◆1897 Carl Elsener patents the "Swiss Army Knife."
◆1898 During the Spanish-American War, Filipino rebels led by Emilio Aguinaldo proclaim the independence of the Philippines after 300 years of Spanish rule. By mid-August, Filipino rebels and U.S. troops had ousted the Spanish, but Aguinaldo's hopes for independence were dashed when the United States formally annexed the Philippines as part of its peace treaty with Spain.
◆1901 Cuba agreed to become an American protectorate by accepting the Platt Amendment.
◆1918 First airplane bombing raid by an American unit occurred on World War I’s Western Front in France.
◆1918 Brigade command holds a council of war and concludes the German hold on the northern third of Belleau Wood is tenuous. An attack at 6 pm achieves a breakthrough, but the Marines are now exposed.
◆1921 President Harding urged every young man to attend military training camp.
◆1937 The Purges: Stalin initiates mass executions of senior military personnel.
◆1942 American bombers struck the oil refineries of Ploesti, Romania for the first time.
◆1944 US naval forces continue attacks on Japanese positions in the island group. They concentrate on Tinian, Saipan and Guam. The Japanese fleets located at Tawitawi and Batjan set sail to counterattack. Admiral Kurita commands a vanguard force while Admiral Ozawa leads the main force. The main force from Tawitawi is sighted and reported by an American submarine. The Japanese have 5 fleet carriers, 2 light carriers, 2 seaplane carriers, 5 battleships as well as several cruisers and destroyers in support. The commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Toyoda, realizes that the American forces are numerically superior but he also expects support from the land-based aircraft on the islands. These air assets, however, are being depleted by American attacks.
◆1944 A third wave of Allied forces has landed. There are now 326,000 troops, 104,000 tons of supplies and 54,000 vehicles deployed in Normandy, France. Elements of US 7th Corps advance across the Cotentin Peninsula and southwest. Also, the 4th Division is engaged at Montebourg, Crisbecq and near Azeville to the northward drive on Cherbourg. The 5th Corps assists 7th Corps and advances toward St Lo. Caumont is captured and Foret de Cerisy and the Bayeux road are reached.
◆1945 On Okinawa, many of the Japanese naval infantry cut off in the Oruku peninsula, reduced to a pocket of about 1000 square yards, begin to commit mass suicide to avoid surrender. The US 1st Marine Division captures the west end of Kunishi Ridge during a night attack. The US 96th Division attacks Japanese positions around Mount Yuza and Mount Yaeju. 7th Inf Div breaks the SE end of Japanese front, as the 7th Marines attack Kunishi Ridge.
◆1945 On Luzon, the US 145th Infantry Regiment breaks Japanese resistance at Orioung Pass, occupies the town of Orioung and advances as far as positions overlooking the town of Balite.The Visayan Islands (including Samar, Negros, Panay, Leyte, Cebu, and Bohol), between Luzon and Mindanao, are secured by American forces. American casualties in the campaign have amounted to 835 dead and 2300 wounded. Japanese casualties are estimated to be 10,000 dead.
◆1948 The Women's Armed Forces Integration Act provides for enlistment and appointment of women in the Naval Reserve and the regular Marine Corps.
◆1951 Eighth Army controlled the "Iron Triangle" as Operation PILEDRIVER wrapped up.
◆1951 Twenty-five sailors were killed when the destroyer USS Walke struck a mine east of Wonsan.
◆1953 Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Robert V. McHale and Captain Samuel Hoster, both of the 319th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, were on a night mission in their F-94 Starfire and apparently collided with the enemy light aircraft they were attacking. The men thereby made the fourth and last F-94 kill of the Korean War posthumously.
◆1972 Gen. John D. Lavelle, former four-star general and U.S. Air Force commander in Southeast Asia, testifies before the House Armed Services Committee. He had been relieved of his post in March and later demoted after it was determined that he had repeatedly ordered unauthorized bombings of military targets in North Vietnam. Court-martial charges were brought against him by his subordinates but were dropped by the Air Force because the "interests of discipline" had already been served. Lavelle became the first four-star general in modern U.S. history to be demoted on retirement, although he continued to receive full general's retirement pay of $27,000 per year.
◆1985 The U.S. House of Representatives approved $27 million in aid to the Nicaraguan contras.
◆1987 THE “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” SPEECH: In one of his most famous Cold War speeches, President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.*
◆1992 In a letter to U.S. senators, Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin said the Soviet Union had shot down nine U.S. planes in the early 1950's and held 12 American survivors.
◆1999 NATO troops began entering Kosovo. They reached Pristina and confronted Russian soldiers over control of the airport. A Russian armored column entered Pristina before dawn to a heroes' welcome from Serb residents.