TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
17 May
◆1102 Second Battle of Ramalah: Crusaders defeat the Fatimids.
◆1540 Battle of Kanauj: The Afghans defeat the Moghuls.
◆1648 Battle of Zusmarshausen: Swedes defeat the Imperialists.
◆1673 Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette began exploring the Mississippi.
◆1733 England passed the Molasses Act, putting high tariffs on rum and molasses imported to the colonies from a country other than British possessions.
◆1742 Battle of Chotusitz: Prussians defeat the Austrians.
◆1794 Battle of Tourcoing (Day 1): French vs. Austro-English (ends 18th)
◆1863 The Union army defeats the Confederates on the Big Black River and drives them into Vicksburg in part of a brilliant campaign by General Ulysses S. Grant.
◆1864 The Battle of Adairsville, Georgia.
◆1871 Gen. Sherman, Indian fighter, escaped in ambulance from the Comanches.
◆1876 The 7th US Cavalry under Custer left Ft. Lincoln.
◆1884 Alaska became a US territory.
◆1885 For the second time in two years, the Apache chief Geronimo breaks out of an Arizona reservation, sparking panic among Arizona settlers.
◆1938 Congress passed the Vinson Naval Act, providing for a two-ocean navy.
◆1940 FDR announces plans to recommission 35 more destroyers.
◆1942 USS Tautog (SS-199) sinks Japanese sub, I-28; while USS Triton (SS-201) sinks I-164.
◆1943 The Memphis Belle, one of a group of American bombers based in Britain, becomes the first B-17 to complete 25 missions over Europe.
◆1944 Allied forces of the US 5th Army continue to advance in the Liri Valley. Piumarolo, Monte Faggeta, Esperia and Formia are all captured. The Polish 2nd Corps captures Sant'Angelo. The French Expeditionary Corps is held beyond Esperia, near Monte d'Ore. The German 10th Army (Vietinghoff) has been reinforced by 3 division from Army Group C (Kesselring) reserves but it is unable to halt the Allies. The German command decides withdraw to a new line of defense.
◆1944 US forces land on Insumarai Island and at Arare on the mainland nearby. Admiral Crutchley and Admiral Berkey command cruisers and destroyers covering the landings.
◆1944 Allied aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious and USS Saratoga raid oil installations at Surabaya, on Java. Battleships of the British Eastern Fleet (Admiral Sommerville) provide escort. The Japanese lose 1 freighter and 12 aircraft on the ground. Only 1 Allied plane is lost. During the night, land-based Liberator bombers raid the installations again.
◆1945 On Luzon, the US 152nd Division, part of US 11th Corps, entrenches in favorable positions on Woodpecker Ridge as the Japanese retire. The US 43rd Division captures the Ipoh dam, the main source of water for Manila, intact after an intensive bombing and artillery preparation.
◆1945 On Okinawa, the US 6th Marine Division, part of US 3rd Amphibious Corps, continues assaulting Sugar Loaf hill have Japanese positions are heavily bombarded by aircraft, artillery and ships. Elements of US 1st Marine Division capture the western part of the Wana valley but fail to take the ridge. Units of the US 77th Division, part of US 24th Corps, make a surprise attack on Ishimmi Ridge, west of the village, and end up in positions exposed to Japanese fire.
◆1945 Aircraft from the USS Ticonderoga attack targets on the Japanese held island of Taroa and the Maleolap atoll, encountering limited resistance.
◆1951 Aircraft from carriers attack bridges between Wonsan and Hamhung, Korea.
◆1961 Cuban leader Fidel Castro offered to exchange prisoners captured in the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion for 500 bulldozers.
◆1962 Naval amphibious ready group lands Marines to guard Thailand's borders from Communist probes.
◆1966 Naval Support Activity Saigon established.
◆1968 The second Air Guard unit to arrive in Vietnam is Iowa’s 174th Tactical Fighter Squadron.
◆1970 A force of 10,000 South Vietnamese troops, supported by 200 U.S. advisers, aircraft and logistical elements, attack into what was known as the "Parrot's Beak," the area of Cambodia that projects into South Vietnam above the Mekong Delta.
◆1972 Preceded by five B-52 strikes, which reportedly killed 300 North Vietnamese to the south, South Vietnamese forces arrive by helicopter to within two miles of An Loc in continuing efforts to relieve this besieged city.
◆1973 First woman to hold a major Navy command, Captain Robin Lindsay Quigley assumes command of Navy Service School, San Diego, CA.
◆1987 The USS Stark is damaged in an Iraqi missile attack, killing 37 crew members. Iraq apologizes and says that the attack was a mistake. Shortly thereafter, the United States begins military escorts of Kuwaiti tankers that had been "reflagged" as American, with US crews.
◆1993 Intel Corp. introduced the Pentium microprocessor. It had 3.1 million transistors.
◆1993 Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal is approved for Somalia veterans by the Joints Chief of Staff.
◆1999 US authorities charged Jean-Philippe Wispelaere of Australia for trying to sell classified American defense documents. Wispelaere had worked in Canberra for the Australian Defense Intelligence Organization.
◆2002 Coalition forces battled enemy forces in Operation Condor in the Khost region. A pan-Arab newspaper quoted Mullah Mohammed Omar as saying Osama bin Laden is alive and that the future of the US in Afghanistan is “fire, hell and total defeat.”