TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
20 June
◆1361 Battle of San Ruffillo: The Papacy defeats the Visconti.
◆1402 Battle of Angora: Mongols defeat Ottomans.
◆1499 Battle of Frastanz: The Swiss defeat the Hapsburgs.
◆1593 Battle of Sissex: The Hapsburgs defeat the Ottoman Turks.
◆1675 Abenaki, Massachusetts, Mohegan & Wampanoag Indians formed an anti English front. Wampanoag warriors attacked livestock and looted farms.
◆1782 Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States and the eagle as its symbol.
◆1813 Fifteen U.S. gunboats engage 3 British ships in Hampton Roads, VA
◆1815 Trials of Fulton I, built by Robert Fulton, are completed in New York. This ship would become the Navy's first steam-driven warship.
◆1819 The paddle-wheel steamship Savannah arrives in Liverpool, England, after a voyage of 27 days and 11 hours--the first steamship to successfully cross the Atlantic.
◆1840 Samuel F.B. Morse, a popular artist, patented his telegraph.
◆1862 Union gunboats occupied the Stono River above Cole's Island, South Carolina, and shelled Confederate positions there.
◆1863 A heavy combined Army-Navy bombardment of Vicksburg, lasting 6 hours, hammered Confederate positions.
◆1864 General John Bell Hood's Confederate force attack William T. Sherman's troops outside of Atlanta, Georgia, but are repulsed with heavy losses.
◆1881 Five years after General George A. Custer's infamous defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn, Hunkpapa Teton Sioux leader Sitting Bull surrenders to the U.S. Army, which promises amnesty for him and his followers.
◆1866 50 Marines and Sailors landed at new Chwang, China, to assure punishment for those who attacked an American official.
◆1898 During the Spanish-American War on the way to the Philippines to fight the Spanish, the U.S. Navy cruiser Charleston seized the island of Guam.
◆1900 German minister murdered; Chinese begin siege of foreigners in Beijing. Military delegations in the “Foreign Quarter” including the US Marine delegation band together to defend their charges.
◆1919 Treaty of Versailles: Germany ended the incorporation of Austria.
◆1924 Audie Murphy was born in Kingston, Tx. He became the most decorated American soldier of World War II who went on to make movies and write a book about his war experiences called “To Hell and Back.”*
◆1934 Commander in Chief, Asiatic Fleet Admiral Frank Upham reports to CNO that based on analyses of Japanese radio traffic, "any attack by (Japan) would be made without previous declaration of war or intentional warning."
◆1941 A German U-boat sights the American battleship Texas within the area that Germany has declared is the operational area for U-boats. However, after checking with the U-boat command, the Texas is not attacked.
◆1941 U.S. Army Air Forces was established, replacing the Army Air Corps.
◆1942 Japanese sub 'I-26' shells Port Estevan, near Vancouver.
◆1943 US General Krueger establishes 6th Army headquarters at Milne Bay. There is an unsuccessful Japanese attack on the 17th Australian Brigade in the Mubo area.
◆1943 Race-related rioting erupted in Detroit; federal troops were sent in two days later to quell the violence that resulted in 34 deaths and 600 wounded.
◆1944 Elements of the US 1st Army advance to about 5 miles of Cherbourg and begin to encounter heavier resistance.
◆1944 Nazis began mass extermination of Jews at Auschwitz.
◆1944 The Japanese fleet withdraws to refuel, believing that their aircraft have landed safely on Guam. US Task Force 58 (Admiral Mitscher) launches an air strike on the Japanese fleet in the late afternoon. The 216 American aircraft encounter 35 defending fighters and sink the carrier Hiyo. Two other Japanese aircraft carriers are damaged as are a battleship and a cruiser. US loses amount to 20 planes shot down and 72 crashing while attempting to land on their carriers in the dark. During the night, the Japanese fleet withdraws and are not pursued.
◆1944 On Biak, there is fighting among the Japanese-held caves in the west of the island. The airfields and villages at Borokoe and Sorido are overrun by American forces.
◆1944 The US 5th Amphibious Corps continues operations on Saipan. The US 27th Division clears the south of the island while the US 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions advance northward.
◆1945 On Okinawa, Japanese resistance along the center of the line, held by the US 24th Corps, continues to be strong. The US 32nd Infantry Regiment (US 7th Division) reaches Height 89, near Mabuni, where the Japanese headquarters have been identified. On the flanks, the American Marines on the right and the infantry on the left advance virtually unopposed, capturing over 1000 Japanese and reaching the southern coast of the island at several points. The scale of surrenders is unprecedented for the forces of the Imperial Army.
◆1945 On Luzon, Filipino guerrillas advance up the Cagayan valley from Aparri and liberate the town of Tuguegarao. The American regimental task force enters Aparri while elements of the US 37th Division advances 2.5 miles north of Ilagan. Meanwhile, the US 8th Army headquarters announces that operations to recapture the islands of Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol and Palawan, as well as the western part of Mindanao, are completed.
◆1945 US Task Group 12.4 (Admiral Jennings) with the carriers Lexington, Hancock and Cowpens conduct air raids on Japanese positions. The carriers are en route to join US Task Force 38.
◆1947 Congress charters Central Intelligence Agency.
◆1948 President Harry S. Truman institutes a military draft with a proclamation calling for nearly 10 million men to register for military service within the next two months. Truman's action came during increasing Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union.
◆1953 U.S. infantrymen held onto outposts in the central sector despite an artillery and mortar barrage of some 5,000 rounds followed by a battalion-size assault.
◆1953 The U.N. forces established a new main line of resistance on the south bank of the Kumsong River.
◆1963 The United States and Soviet Union signed an agreement to set up a hot line communications link between the two superpowers and a treaty was signed limiting nuclear testing.
◆1964 General William Westmoreland succeeded General Paul Harkins as head of the U.S. forces in Vietnam.
◆1964 Viet Cong forces overrun Cai Be, the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, killing 11 South Vietnamese militiamen, 10 women, and 30 children.
◆1967 Boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted. Ali's conviction was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court.
◆1969 A top-secret study, commissioned by presidential assistant Henry Kissinger, is completed by the office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Code-named Duck Hook, the study proposed measures for military escalation against North Vietnam.*
◆1976 On the seventh anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, the Viking 1 lander, an unmanned U.S. planetary probe, becomes the first spacecraft to successfully land on the surface of Mars. Viking 1 was launched on August 20, 1975, and arrived at Mars on June 19, 1976.*
◆2002 Turkey took over control of the 19-nation peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, ISAF.