TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
29 June
◆626 Avars & Persians invest Constantinople (retreat, 10 Aug 626).
◆1149 Battle of Inab: Turks defeat the Prince of Antioch.
◆1308 Battle of the River Dee: Edward Bruce defeats the English.
◆1377 French naval raids on Rye, Folkestone, Portsmouth, Weymouth, Plymouth, Dartmouth, and Lewes.
◆1502 Christopher Columbus arrived at Santo Domingo, Hispaniola, on his 4th voyage to the new world. He requested harbor and advised Gov. Nicolas de Ovando of an approaching hurricane. Ovando denied the request and dispatched a treasure fleet to Spain. 20 ships sank in the storm, 9 returned to port and one made it to Spain.
◆1575 Battle of Nagashino: the Tokugawa defeat the Takeda.✯
◆1541 The Spanish first crossed the Arkansas River. Francisco Vazquez de Coronado continued to explore the American southwest. He left New Mexico and crossed Texas, Oklahoma and east Kansas.
◆1651 Battle of Berestechko (2nd Day): Poles vs. Ukrainians & Tatars.
◆1652 Massachusetts declared itself an independent commonwealth.
◆1734 Battle of Parma: Franco-Spanish forces defeat the Austrians.
◆1767 The British Parliament approved the Townshend Revenue Acts, which imposed import duties on glass, lead, paint, paper and tea shipped to America. Colonists bitterly protested the Acts, which were repealed in 1770.
◆1776 The Virginia constitution was adopted and Patrick Henry was made governor.
◆1835 BATTLE OF ANAHUAC: Determined to win independence for the Mexican State of Texas, William Travis raises a volunteer army of 25 soldiers and liberates the city of Anahuac.
◆1862 Confederate General Robert E. Lee attacks Union General George McClellan as he is pulling his army away from Richmond, Virginia, in retreat during the Seven Days' Battles.✯
◆1863 Battle at Westminster, Maryland: Federal assault.
◆1863 George A. Custer (23) was appointed Union Brevet Brig-general.
◆1863 Lee ordered his forces to concentrate near Gettysburg, PA.
◆1864 Wilson's Raid: Battle of Ream's Station, VA.
◆1866 Seven Weeks' War: The Hanoverian Army surrenders to the Prussians.
◆1913 Bulgarian troops initiate hostilies with Serbia in Macedonia, triggering the Second Balkan War.
◆1918 Marines landed at Vladivostok, Russia, to protect the American Consulate.✯
◆1943 A squadron of American cruisers and destroyers shells the Japanese base at Shortland while other vessels lay mines in the area. A US convoy heading for New Georgia is sighted by the Japanese but it is mistakenly believed to be carrying supplies to Guadalcanal.
◆1943 Germany began withdrawing U-boats from North Atlantic in anticipation of the Allied invasion of Europe.
◆1944 CDR Frank A. Erickson landed a helicopter on the flight deck of CGC Cobb. This was the first rotary-wing shipboard landing by Coast Guard personnel.
◆1944 On Biak, American forces mop up lingering Japanese resistance.
◆1945 INVASION OF JAPAN: President Truman approves the plan, devised by the joint chiefs of staff, to invade Japan.The plan (Operation Downfall) calls for 5 million troops, mostly Americans.✯
◆1949 US troops withdrew from Korea after WWII.
◆1950 President Truman authorized air operations against targets located in North Korea.Subsequently, the 3rd Bombardment Group flew the first air mission north of the 38th parallel against Heijo Airfield near Pyongyang. Staff Sergeant Nyle S. Mickley, a B-26 gunner, became the first gunner to shoot down an enemy aircraft, a Yak-3 fighter serving as the sole defender of the airfield.
◆1950 While defending Suwon Airfield, Air Force Lieutenant Orrin R. Fox, 80th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, scored two Yak-9 kills and Lieutenants Richard J. Burns, 35th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, and Harry T. Sandlin, 80th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, each shot down a Yak fighter. These were the first aerial victories made by F-51 Mustang pilots in the Korean War. Interestingly, General MacArthur witnessed the air battle while conferring with Syngman Rhee.
◆1950 President Truman ordered a naval blockade of the Korean coast. Meanwhile, the USS Juneau, fired on enemy shore targets in the first U.S. Naval engagement of the Korean War.
◆1950 The North Korean People's Army seized Seoul as General of the Army Douglas MacArthur flew to Korea to confer with ROK President Syngman Rhee. Meanwhile, U.S. B-29 Superfortresses of the 20th Air Force bombed Kimpo Airfield, now in communist hands.
◆1951 The United States invited the Soviet Union to the Korean peace talks on a ship in Wonson Harbor.
◆1951 U.N. Forces Commander General Matthew Ridgway offered to meet with the communist commanders to discuss a cease-fire and armistice.
◆1954 The Atomic Energy Commission voted against reinstating Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer's access to classified information.
◆1966 During the Vietnam War, U.S. aircraft bomb the major North Vietnamese population centers of Hanoi and Haiphong for the first time, destroying oil depots located near the two cities.
◆1970 U.S. ground combat troops end two months of operations in Cambodia and return to South Vietnam.
◆1994 US reopened