TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
5 October
◆105 BCE Battle of Arausio: The Cimbri defeat two Roman armies in one day.
◆1556 The English storm Zutphen, in the Netherlands.
◆1775 Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the 2d Continental Congress used the word "Marines" on one of the earliest known occasions. It directed General George Washington to secure two vessels on "Continental risque and pay", and to give orders for the "proper encouragement to the Marines and seamen" to serve on the two armed ships.
◆1804 Robert Parker Parrott (d.1877), Inventor (Parrot Gun - 1st machine gun), was born. Robert P. Parrott is known to many Civil War artillery researchers and collectors for his inventions of the projectile and cannon which bear his name.★
◆1813 The Battle of the Thames was decisive in the War of 1812.★
◆1830 The 21st president of the United States, Chester Arthur, was born.
◆1863 Confederate ship David seriously damages USS New Ironsides with a spar torpedo off Charleston, South Carolina.
◆1864 At the Battle of Allatoona Pass, a small Union post was saved from Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood's army.
◆1877 Nez Perce Chief Joseph and 418 survivors were captured in the Bear Paw mountains and forced into reservations in Kansas.
◆1882 Robert Goddard (d.1945), American rocket scientist, was born.
◆1911 Italian troops attack Tripoli.
◆1912 Leon, Nicaragua, was captured by Marines after a short battle.
◆1915 Germany issued an apology and promises for payment for the 128 American passengers killed in the sinking of the British ship Lusitania.
◆1916 Corporal Adolf Hitler was wounded in WW I.
◆1940 The Tripartite Pact is condemned by Navy Secretary Knox and he announces that he is calling up some of the naval reserve.
◆1942 Aircraft from the carrier Hornet attack Japanese shipping gathering off Bougainville, but achieve only slight success.
◆1950 Eighth Army issued its operations order for the movement across the 38th parallel. Eighth Army anticipated strong resistance at the parallel and a stubborn defense of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
◆1951 The ROK 3rd Infantry Division recaptured Pohang -Dong.
◆1951 Having experienced heavy fighting to secure the central positions of Line Jamestown where no less than four 3rd Infantry Division soldiers earned the Distinguished Service Cross in a three -day period, the key Hill 477 was taken without a shot fired. Battle-weary troops of the 7th Infantry Regiment were pleasantly surprised.
◆1957 Minitrack, a satellite tracking net developed by the Naval Research Laboratory, becomes operational. This network, with stations from Maine to Chile, tracked the Vangard satellite.
◆1969 A Cuban defector entered US air space undetected and landed his Soviet -made MiG -17 at Homestead Air Force Base near Miami, Florida, where the presidential aircraft Air Force One was waiting to return President Richard M. Nixon to DC.
◆1993 China set off an underground nuclear blast, ignoring a plea from President Clinton not to do so.
◆1999 In Chechnya Russian troops seized the northern third of the country.
◆2002 Rwanda withdrew its last troops from neighboring Congo, with some 1,100 soldiers marching in single file out of the war-ravaged country.
◆2003 Israeli warplanes bombed the Ein Saheb base northwest of Damascus, Syria, in retaliation for a suicide bombing at a Haifa restaurant. Israeli military called it an Islamic Jihad training base.