TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
18 October
◆1016 Battle of Ashingdon/Assandun: Danes defeat the Saxons.
◆1080 Battle of Dyrrhachium: Robert the Weasel defeats the Byzantines, and invests the city.
◆1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle: ends War of Austrian Succession.
◆1767 The boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, the Mason-Dixon line, was agreed upon. The two surveyors who mapped the line were Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon.
◆1776 At the Battle of Pelham Col. John Glover and the Marblehead regiment collided with British Forces in the Bronx.
◆1812 U.S. sloop of war Wasp captures HM brig Frolic.
◆1813 Battle of Leipzig, Day 3: Austrians, Russians, Prussians, v. Napoleon.
◆1842 US Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones sailed into Monterey, the Mexican capital of California, on the mistaken belief that the US and Mexico had gone to war.★
◆1859 U.S. Marines reach Harper's Ferry, VA and assault the arsenal seized by John Brown and his followers.★
◆1862 Morgan's raiders captured federal garrison at Lexington, Ky.★
◆1867 The United States took formal possession of Alaska from Russia.
◆1898 The American flag was raised in Puerto Rico shortly before Spain formally relinquished control of the island.
◆1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt banned foreign war submarines from U.S. ports and waters.
◆1942 In reaction to several incidents, Hitler orders that all prisoners taken from Commando or similar units are to be shot immediately whether in uniform or not and whether surrendering or not.
◆1942 On New Guinea, American forces sent on a parallel trail to help the Australians cut off Japanese retreats down the Kokoda Trail, finally begin to reach Pongani. The trip has proved to be so difficult that the soldiers are in no condition to fight. In addition, the transport of troops by air from Port Moresby to the northern coast has made the land trip unnecessary.
◆1942 Admiral Halsey is appointed chief of the Pacific Command Area, replacing Admiral Ghormley.
◆1943 There is a heavy air raid on the Japanese air base at Buin on Bougainville.
◆1943 In Italy, elements of the US 5th Army reach Dragoni, while other elements capture Gioia.
◆1943 General Orders 27, 29th Infantry Division (DC, MD, VA) disbands the 29th Ranger Battalion (Provisional).
◆1944 Lt. General Joseph Stilwell was recalled from China by president Franklin Roosevelt.
◆1944 All able-bodied German males between the ages of 16 and 60 are now liable for conscription into the Volkssturm (the home defense force).
◆1944 General McClain takes command of the US 1st Army on the western front. He replaces General Corlett.
◆1944 Rangers begin landing on outlying islands in Leyte Gulf.
◆1944 The American escort carriers of TG77.4 concentrate air strikes on Leyte while the now 12 fleet carriers, in three groups from TF38, strike Luzon.
◆1950 US forces drove north across the 38th parallel into the Peoples Republic of North Korea.
◆1961 An emergency crisis was proclaimed in South Vietnam due to a communist attack.
◆1967 A protest in Madison, Wisc., against recruiting by Dow Chemical, the maker of napalm and Agent Orange, turned violent.
◆1968 In Operation Sea Lords, the Navy's three major operating forces in Vietnam (TF 115, 116, and 117) are brought together for the first time to stop Vietcong infiltration deep into South Vietnam's Mekong Delta.
◆1997 A $21.5 million memorial to honor the military service of US women was dedicated at entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.