TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
13 October
◆539 BCE Cyrus the Great of Persia captures Babylon [Alt].
◆51 BCE Battle of Amanaus: Cicero defeats the Isaurians.
◆1213 Battle of Steppes: Liege defeats Brabant.
◆1307 Simultaneous arrest of all Knights Templar in France - the original "Friday the Thirteenth."
◆1513 Battle of Olmo: Spanish defeat the French & Venetians.
◆1670 Virginia passed a law that blacks arriving in the colonies as Christians could not be used as slaves.
◆1754 American Revolutionary War heroine Molly Pitcher was born. During the American Revolution, at the Battle of Monmouth, NJ, Molly helped out as a water carrier, gaining her nickname, Molly Pitcher. Her husband, John, was wounded during the battle and Molly dropped the water pitcher, taking up her husband's job of loading and firing a cannon. General George Washington appointed her a noncommissioned officer.
◆1775 United States Navy Founded.★
◆1792 The cornerstone of the executive mansion, later known as the White House, was laid during a ceremony in the District of Columbia.
◆1795 William Prescott, American Revolutionary soldier, died. Prescott inherited a large estate and resided in Pepperell, Massachusetts.★
◆1812 At the Battle of Queenston Heights, a Canadian and British army defeated the Americans who had tried to invade Canada.
◆1864 Battle at Darbytown Road Virginia resulted in 337 casualties. Union forces advanced to find and feel the new Confederate defensive line in front of Richmond. While mostly a battle of skirmishers, a Federal brigade assaulted fortifications north of Darbytown Road and was repulsed with heavy casualties. The Federals retired to their entrenched lines along New Market Road.
◆1884 Greenwich was established as universal time meridian of longitude.
◆1914 Garrett Morgan invented and patented the gas mask.
◆1930 New German Reichstag opened with 107 Nazi Party members in uniform.
◆1942 In the first of four attacks, two Japanese battleships sail down the slot and shelled Henderson field on Guadalcanal, in an unsuccessful effort to destroy the American Cactus Air Force. The bombers based there have become too effective and the Japanese dispatch the battleships Konga and Haruna to bombard the field. About 50 aircraft are destroyed in the attacks, more than half the field’s complement.
◆1943 During World War II, Italy declared war on Germany, its one-time Axis partner.
◆1943 Along Italy’s Volturno River, the US 3rd, 34th and 45th Infantry Divisions make good progress despite weather and German demolitions forcing advances only along major roadways.
◆1944 The US 1st army entered Aachen, Germany.
◆1951 Hill 851, the last peak comprising Heartbreak Ridge, was secured by the 23rd Regimental Combat Team of the 2nd Infantry Division after a fierce assault of bayonets, grenades and flame-throwers. Total allied casualties were over 3,700, more than 1,800 suffered by the 23rd Infantry RCT alone. Total enemy casualties were estimated 25,000. A total of 6,060 prisoners were taken.
◆1952 In preparation for the Kojo amphibious demonstration, FEAF and USN aircraft hit enemy positions around Kojo, and USN surface craft shelled the beach area. After a respite of almost a year, the enemy, using small fabric-covered biplanes, hassled Cho-do and the Seoul area with "Bedcheck Charlie" raids.
◆1954 USS Saipan begins relief and humanitarian aid to Haitians who were victims of Hurricane Hazel. The operation ended 19 October.
◆1965 Marine Attack Squadron 211 was awarded the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces Gallantry Cross for Vietnam service, 13 October 1965 - 13 July 1966.
◆1966 173 US airplanes bombed North-Vietnam.
◆1971 Anchorage, AK & Camp Murray, Fort Lewis, Washington — Two states tie for claiming to have enlisted the first female soldier into their Army National Guard. In Camp Murray Specialist Five Nora Campbell is sworn on this date as a member of the Washington National Guard. At virtually the same time Specialist Five Mary L. Cunningham is sworn in as a member of the Alaska Army Guard in Anchorage. Both are members of their respective State Area Headquarters. (The Specialist Five rank is no longer in use, it was the equivalent to a Sergeant, E-5). In 1967 Congress authorized the enlistment of prior-service female personnel into the Guard under Public Law 90-130 effective 1 July 1968. Only prior service women were allowed to join at this point due to the war in Vietnam demanding so much money that none was available to train women for enlisted Guard service. The Air Guard immediately enlisted its first prior-service woman when Technical Sergeant Reannie Pocock joined the 146th Military Airlift Wing, CA ANG in 1968. However, the Army Guard waited three years before finally accepting its first enlisted women soldiers. As the war in Vietnam drew to a close in the early 1970s, and the all-volunteer and Total Force policies took effect, Congress amended the law, added more money for Guard training and allowed the direct enlistment of women with no prior-service experience.
◆1983 The Space Shuttle Challenger, carrying seven, the largest crew to date, landed safely at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
◆1987 The US Navy made the 1st military use of trained dolphins in the Persian Gulf.
◆1994 Pro-British Protestant paramilitaries in Northern Ireland announced a cease-fire matching the Irish Republican Army's six-week-old truce.
◆2002 Stephen Ambrose (b.Jan 10, 1936), historian, died in New Orleans.