TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
31 March
◆1571 The English capture Dumbarton, Scotland.
◆1644 Castro War: Peace of Ferrara -Pope Urban VIII agrees to "status quo ante" with Venice, Tuscany, Parma, & Modena.
◆1774 In response to the continuing rebelliousness of the Massachusetts colony, an angry parliament passes a series of Coercive Acts. The first of these is the Boston Port Bill, to go into force June 1. The port bill forbids any shipping or trade in Boston harbor except for that involving military supplies and certain approved cargoes of food and fuel. The bill also provides for the stationing of customs officials at Salem rather than Boston. If Massachusetts reimburses customs for the duties owed and the costs of the Boston Tea Party, only then will the port be opened to all maritime traffic.
◆1814 The Allies capture Paris.
◆1822 The Massacre of Chios: Ottoman troops slaughter the rebellious populace, raising Western sympathy for Greek independence.
◆1854 In Tokyo, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, representing the U.S. government, signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade and permitting the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Japan.★
◆1862 Skirmishing between Rebels and Union forces took place at Island 10 on the Mississippi River.
◆1863 Confederate troops opened a sustained attack and siege of the Union position at Washington, North Carolina.
◆1865 The final offensive of the Army of the Potomac gathers steam when Union General Phil Sheridan moves against the left flank of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
◆1865 Battle of Dinwiddie Court House, Va: Confederate's frustrate a Union attempt to turn their strategic flank at Petersburg.
◆1866 Guano War: Spanish fleet bombards Valparaiso.
◆1916 General Pershing and his army routed Pancho Villa’s army in Mexico. 1917 – The United States took possession of the Virgin Islands, which it had purchased from Denmark for $25 million in 1916.
◆1943 An American battalion occupies positions around Morobe at the mouth of the Waria River.
◆1945 The U.S. and Britain barred a Soviet supported provisional regime in Warsaw from entering the U.N. meeting in San Francisco.
◆1945 US naval forces, including Task Force 58 and TF52, continue air strikes on Okinawa while TF54 continues bombarding the island. Japanese Kamikaze and submarine attacks continue.
◆1948 Congress passed a $6.2 billion foreign aid bill, the Marshall Aid Act, to rehabilitate war-torn Europe.
◆1951 Operation RIPPER was officially terminated as Eighth Army fought its way back to the 38th parallel.
◆1952 The Kimpo Provisional Regiment was organized by and within the U.S. 1st Marine Division for the defense of the Kimpo peninsula.
◆1958 US Navy formed the atomic sub division.
◆1958 Moscow declared a halt on all atomic tests and asked other nations to follow.
◆1965 US ordered the first combat troops to Vietnam.★
◆1970 The U.S. forces in Vietnam downed a MIG-21, the first since September 1968.
◆1971 Poseidon (C-3) missile becomes operational when USS James Madison began her 3rd patrol carrying 16 tactical Poseidon missiles.★
◆1972 After firing more than 5,000 rockets, artillery, and mortar shells on 12 South Vietnamese positions just below the Demilitarized Zone, the North Vietnamese Army launches ground assaults against South Vietnamese positions in Quang Tri Province.
◆1991 The Warsaw Pact spent the last day of its existence as a military alliance.
◆1992 USS Missouri (BB-63), the last active American battleship is decommissioned.
◆1999 Nato bombs hit Cacak, Serbia.★
◆2003 In the 13th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US-led troops fought pitched battles with Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard within 50 miles of the capital. B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers struck communication and command centers in Baghdad, and cruise missiles set Iraq’s Information Ministry ablaze. Casualties from the war to date US total: 40 dead, 7 captured, 18 missing; British total: 25 dead. Of 8,000 precision bombs dropped since the war began, 3,000 fell in the last 3 days. Port operations at Umm Qasr looked to be delayed for weeks.