TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
18 March
◆37 Caligula becomes Roman Emperor (37-41), possibly having murdered Tiberius.
◆180 Marcus Aurelius died, soldier-philosopher, Roman Emperor (161-180), of plague at 58, Vienna.
◆1167 Battle of Al-Babein: Turks defeat the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
◆1584 Tsar Ivan IV "the Terrible" of Russia died (1547-1584), at 53.
◆1644 In Virginia the Opechancanough Indians rise up against the settlers but after two years they will be defeated decisively. They will be forced to give up all the land between the James and York Rivers. The resulting peace will last until 1675.
◆1766 After four months of widespread protest in America, the British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act, a taxation measure enacted to raise revenues for a standing British army in America.
◆1776 George Washington's army occupies Boston.
◆1781 British General Cornwallis retreats to Willmington to wait for reinforcements from General Clinton.
◆1793 Battle of Neerwinden: The Austrians defeat the French.
◆1799 Cardinal Ruffo's Calabrian insurgents liberate Cosenza from the French amid great slaughter.
◆1818 Congress passes the first Pension Act, which provides lifetime pensions authorized for veterans of the War for Independence with nine months Continental service in need of assistance.
◆1837 Stephen Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, N.J. He was the 22nd (1885-1889) and 24th (1893-1897) president of the United States, the only President elected for two nonconsecutive terms.
◆1863 Confederate women rioted in Salisbury, N.C. to protest the lack of flour and salt in the South.
◆1865 Battle of Wilson’s raid to Selma, AL.
◆1874 Hawaii signed a treaty giving exclusive trading rights with the islands to the United States.
◆1890 The 1st US state naval militia was organized in Massachusetts.
◆1896 Second Battle of Sebderat: Italians defeat the Sudanese Mahdists.
◆1906 Roy L. Johnson, US admiral (WW II-Pacific Ocean), was born.
◆1909 Einar Dessau of Denmark used a short-wave transmitter to converse with a government radio post about six miles away in what is believed to have been the first broadcast by a “ham” operator.
◆1915 British & French lose 6 ships attempting to force the Dardanelles.
◆1917 The Germans sank the U.S. ships, City of Memphis, Vigilante and the Illinois, without any type of warning.
◆1924 The Soldier’s Bonus Bill is passed by the House. It offers 20-year annuities for veterans and will cost $2,000,000,000. The Senate will concur in 23 April, but Coolidge will veto it. Congress will override the veto.
◆1938 Mexico nationalizes all oil properties of the US and other foreign-owned companies. There will be no financial settlement until 1941.
◆1939 Georgia finally ratified the Bill of Rights, 150 years after the birth of the federal government. Connecticut and Massachusetts, the only other states to hold out, also accepted the Bill of Rights in this year.
◆1943 Burma: "Chindits" raid across the Irrawaddy River.
◆1943 The US 2nd Corps (commanded by General Patton) captures Gafsa and advances toward El Guettar.
◆1944 Allied destroyers bombard the Japanese base at Wewak during the night (March 18-19).
◆1944 On Manus, the village of Lorengau is captured by US forces. On Los Negros American and Japanese forces engage near Papitalai.
◆1944 US Task Group 50.10 (Admiral Lee) bombards Mili Atoll. Two battleships and the carrier Lexington are involved. The USS Iowa is damaged by fire from a Japanese coastal battery.1944 German troops seize control of Hungary.
◆1945 About 1300 American bombers, with some 700 escorting fighters, drop 3000 tons of bombs on Berlin, despite heavy anti-aircraft defenses, including numerous jet fighters. The US fleet loses 25 bombers and 5 fighters.
◆1945 Forces of US 3rd Army capture Bingen and Bad Kreuznach as the advance to the southwest continues. To the south, the progress of US 7th Army is beginning to accelerate, with most of its forward units having now crossed the German border.
◆1945 There are American landings on Panay by 14,000 men of US 40th Infantry Division (General Brush) in the area near Iloilo. There is little initial opposition from the Japanese garrison.
◆1945 US Task Force 58 (Admiral Mitscher) conducts air raids on airfields on Kyushu. There are Japanese Kamikaze attacks by about 10 planes which hit Intrepid, Yorktown and Enterprise but fail to disable any of the aircraft carriers. Admiral Spruance, command the US 5th Fleet, is present for the operations.
◆1950 In a surprise raid on the communist People’s Republic of China (PRC), military forces of the Nationalist Chinese government on Taiwan invade the mainland and capture the town of Sungmen.★
◆1951 Following the withdrawal of communist forces, Seoul was again in U.N. hands.
◆1952 There was a Communist offensive in Korea.
◆1953 The Eisenhower Administration protests the Soviet Union’s firing on a US bomber over international water.
◆1969 U.S. B-52 bombers are diverted from their targets in South Vietnam to attack suspected communist base camps and supply areas in Cambodia for the first time in the war.★
◆1971 U.S. helicopters airlifted 1,000 South Vietnamese soldiers out of Laos.
◆1974 Navy sent to sweep mines from Suez Canal.
◆1975 South Vietnam abandoned most of the Central Highlands of Vietnam to Hanoi.
◆1977 US restricted citizens from visiting Cuba, Vietnam, N. Korea and Cambodia.
◆1977 Vietnam handed over MIA to US.
◆1980 A congressman claims many U.S. combat planes can’t fly for lack of spare parts.
◆1981 The U.S. disclosed that there were biological weapons tested in Texas in 1966.
◆1989 The space shuttle Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, completing a five-day mission.
◆1994 The space shuttle Columbia returned from a two-week mission.
◆2001 US National Reconnaissance Office was planning a $25 billion project for some 12 satellites to be deployed by 2005.
◆2002 Britain planned to send 1,700 troops to Afghanistan to join the 6,300 US forces.
◆2003 US President George W. Bush gives a televised speech saying “Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict commenced at a time of our choosing”.