M4 (105) Sherman

Today in 1861, near Apache Pass in southeastern Arizona,

The earliest military action to be revered with a Medal of Honor award was performed by Colonel Bernard J.D. Irwin, an assistant army surgeon serving in the first major U.S.-Apache conflict.

Near Apache Pass, in southeastern Arizona, Irwin, an Irish-born doctor, volunteered to go to the rescue of Second Lieutenant George N. Bascom, who was trapped with 60 men of the U.S. Seventh Infantry by the Chiricahua Apaches. Irwin and 14 men, initially without horses, began the 100-mile trek to Bascom's forces riding on mules. After fighting and capturing Apaches along the way and recovering stolen horses and cattle, they reached Bascom's forces on February 14 and proved instrumental in breaking the siege.

The first U.S.-Apache conflict had begun several days before, when Cochise, the Chiricahua Apache chief, kidnapped three white men to exchange for his brother and two nephews held by the U.S. Army on false charges of stealing cattle and kidnapping a child. When the exchange was refused, Cochise killed the white men, and the army responded by killing his relatives, setting off the first of the Apache wars.

Although Irwin's bravery in this conflict was the earliest Medal of Honor action, the award itself was not created until 1862, and it was not until January 21, 1894, that Irwin received the nation's highest military honor.

[February 13, 1861]

Today in 1959, at Amon Carter Field in Fort Worth, Texas,

The United States Air Force retired its last Convair B-36 Peacemaker to become an all-jet bomber force.

 

The Convair B-36 Peacemaker was one of the largest airplanes ever built, and was a key element in maintaining peace during the Cold War with Russia during the 1950s. Originally conceived in 1941 as an intercontinental bomber, it was first produced in the late 1940s, after World War II ended.

Built in Fort Worth, Texas by the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (later known
simply as “Convair”), started life as a prop-driven aircraft.  Interestingly, much of the B-36's external skin was made of magnesium, which had a dull color, in contrast to the shiny aluminum used to cover the fore and aft pressurized compartments. During production of the Peacemaker, Convair and the Air Force evolved the plane to the B-36D, B-36F, and B-36H models.

Jets and props are clearly visible.

The four bomb bays could carry up to 86,000 pounds (39,000 kg) of bombs, more than 10 times the load carried by the World War II workhorse, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, and substantially more than the entire B-17's gross weight. The B-36 was not designed with nuclear weaponry in mind, because the mere existence of such weapons was top secret during the period when the B-36 was conceived and designed (1941–46). Nevertheless, the B-36 stepped into its nuclear delivery role immediately upon becoming operational.

A major change to the original, basic B-36 design was the addition of jet engines. Beginning with the B-36D, the Peacemaker added four General Electric J47-GE-19 jet engines, mounted in pods like those used in the Boeing B-47. Ultimately, the Air Force had all earlier B-36 units reconfigured with the jet engines.  In all, 384 Peacemakers were built, all with 6 propellers mounted on the back of the wings, and most with an additional 4 jet engines mounted on the wingtips.

The progression of US bombers up to the B-36.

On this date, the Air Force also received the first Boeing B-52G with larger fuel tanks,
stretching the unrefueled range from 6,000 to 10,000 miles.

[February 12, 1959]

Today in 1942, in the English Channel,

In what was later called “The Mad Dash,” the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, as well as the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, escaped from the French port of Brest and made a run up the English Channel to safety in German waters.

KMS Scharnhorst

The Gneisenau and Scharnhorst had been anchored at Brest since March 1941. The Prinz Eugen had been tied to the French port since the Bismarck sortie in May 1941, when it and the battleship Bismarck made their own run through the Atlantic and the Denmark Strait to elude Royal Navy gunfire. All three were subject to periodic bombing raids–and damage–by the British, as the Brits attempted to ensure that the German warships never left the French coast. But despite the careful watch of British subs and aircraft, German Vice Admiral Otto Ciliax launched Operation Cerberus to lead the ships out of the French port.

KMS Gneisenau

The Germans, who had controlled and occupied France since June 1940, drew British fire deliberately, and the Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, and Prinz Eugen used the resulting skirmish as a defensive smoke screen. Six German destroyers and 21 torpedo boats accompanied the ships for protection as they moved north late on the night of February 11. In the morning, German planes provided air cover as well; ace pilot Adolf Galland led 250 other fighters in an unusually well-coordinated joint effort of the German navy and Luftwaffe.

The British Royal Air Force also coordinated its attack with the Royal Navy Swordfish squadron, but a late start–the RAF did not realize until the afternoon of February 12 that the German squadron had pushed out to sea–and bad weather hindered their effort. All three German warships made it to a German port on February 13, although the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst had been damaged by British mines along the way. The British lost 40 aircraft and six Navy Swordfish in the confrontation, while the Germans lost a torpedo boat and 17 aircraft.



KMS Prinz Eugen

The “Channel Dash,” as it came to be called, was extremely embarrassing to the British, as it happened right under their noses. They would get revenge of a sort, though: British warships sunk the Scharnhorst in December 1944 as the German ship attempted to attack a Russian convoy. The Gneisenau was destroyed in a bombing raid while still in port undergoing repairs, and the Prinz Eugen survived the war, but was taken over by the U.S. Navy at war’s end.

[February 11, 1942]

Today in 1763, in Paris, France,

The Seven Years’ War, a global conflict known in America as the French and Indian War, ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by France, Great Britain, and Spain.

The war was characterized by barbarity and ferocity.

The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War. The war was fought between the colonies of British America and New France, with both sides supported by military units from their parent countries of Great Britain and France, as well as Native American allies. At the start of the war, the French North American colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 European settlers, compared to 2 million in the British North American colonies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on the Indians. Long in conflict, the metropole nations declared war on each other in 1756, escalating the war from a regional affair into an international conflict.

In many ways, the war presaged battles of the American Revolution.

The war was fought primarily along the frontiers between New France and the British colonies, from Virginia in the South to Nova Scotia in the North. It began with a dispute over control of the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, called the Forks of the Ohio, and the site of the French Fort Duquesne and present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The dispute erupted into violence in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in May 1754, during which Virginia militiamen under the command of 22-year-old George Washington ambushed a French patrol.

 

The Treaty of Paris.

The outcome of the war was one of the most significant developments in a century of
Anglo-French conflict. France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. It ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River (including New Orleans) to its ally Spain, in compensation for Spain's loss to Britain of Florida. (Spain had ceded this to Britain in exchange for the return of Havana, Cuba). France's colonial presence north of the Caribbean was reduced to the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, confirming Britain's position as the dominant colonial power in eastern North America.
[February 10, 1763]

Today in 1972, off the coast of Vietnam,

The aircraft carrier USS Constellation joined the aircraft carriers Coral Sea and Hancock for military operations against North Vietnam.

From 1964 to 1975, there were usually three U.S. carriers stationed in the water near Vietnam at any given time. Carrier aircraft participated in the bombing of North Vietnam and also provided close air support for U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam. In 1972, the number of U.S. carriers off Vietnam increased to seven as part of the U.S. reaction to the North Vietnamese Eastertide Offensive that was launched on March 30.  Carrier-based aircraft played a critical role in the air operations that helped the South Vietnamese defeat the communist invasion and led to peace talks that allowed the U.S. to withdraw combat troops from southeast Asia.

[February 9, 1972]

Today in 1968, in Quảng Trị Province, South Vietnam,

The Battle of Lang Vei began.

Towards the end of 1967 the 198th Tank Battalion, Vietnam People's Army (VPA) 203rd Armored Regiment, received instructions from the North Vietnamese Ministry of Defense to reinforce the 304th Division as part of the Route 9-Khe Sanh Campaign. After an arduous journey down the Ho Chi Minh trail in January 1968, the 198th Tank Battalion linked up with the 304th Division for a major offensive along Highway 9, which stretched from the Laotian border through to Quảng Trị Province. On 23 January, the VPA 24th Regiment attacked the small Laotian outpost at Bane Houei Sane, under the control of the Royal Laos Army BV-33 ‘Elephant’ Battalion.

Most of the fighting at Lang Vei occurred at night.

In that battle the 198th Tank Battalion failed to reach the battle on time because its tank crews struggled to navigate their tank equipment through the rough local terrain. However, as soon as the PT-76 tanks of the 198th Tank Battalion turned up at Bane Houei Sane, the Laotian soldiers and their families panicked and retreated into South Vietnam.

After Bane Houei Sane was captured, the 24th Regiment prepared for another attack which
targeted the U.S. Special Forces Camp at Lang Vei, manned by Detachment A-101 of the 5th Special Forces Group. On 6 February, the North Vietnamese 24th Regiment, again supported by the 198th Tank Battalion, launched their assault on Lang Vei. Despite fighting with air and artillery support, the U.S.-led forces conceded ground and the North Vietnamese quickly dominated their positions.

Lang Vei, 1968.

By the early hours of 7 February the command bunker was the only position still held by
allied forces, but they were besieged by North Vietnamese soldiers above ground. During the entire ordeal, U.S. and indigenous Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) forces trapped inside the command bunker had to endure North Vietnamese harassment, which came in the form of fragmentation and tear gas grenades. To rescue the American survivors inside the Lang Vei Camp, a counter-attack was mounted, but the Laotian soldiers, who formed the bulk of the attack formation, refused to fight the North Vietnamese. Later on, U.S. Special Forces personnel were able to escape from the camp, and were rescued by
a U.S. Marine task force.

[February 6, 1968]

Today in 1810, in Cadiz, Spain

The Siege of Cádiz began during the Peninsular War.

At the time, Cadiz was a large Spanish naval base of Cádiz and a French army laid siege to the base from 5 February 1810 to 24 August 1812.  Following the occupation of Seville, Cádiz became the Spanish seat of power, and was targeted by 70,000 French troops under the command of the Marshals Claude Victor and Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult for one of the most important sieges of the war.  Defending the city were 2,000 Spanish troops who, as the siege progressed, received aid from 10,000 Spanish reinforcements as well as British and Portuguese troops.

 

 

During the two and a half year siege, the Cortes Generales government in Cadiz (the Cádiz Cortes) drew up a new constitution to reduce the strength of the monarchy (a constitution eventually revoked by Fernando VII).

In October 1810, a mixed Anglo-Spanish relief force embarked on a disastrous landing at Fuengirola. A second relief attempt was made at Tarifa in 1811. However, despite defeating a detached French force of 15,000–20,000 under Marshal Victor at the Battle of Barrosa, the siege was not lifted.

Cadiz served as headquarters for the Spanish fleet.

In 1812, the Battle of Salamanca eventually forced the French troops to retreat from
Andalusia, for fear of being cut off by the allied armies.  Defeat at Cádiz contributed decisively to the liberation of Spain from French occupation, due to the survival of the Spanish government and the use of Cádiz as a jump off point for the Allied forces.

[February 5, 1810]

Today in 1941, in Washington, D.C.,

The United Service Organizations, Inc., a civilian agency, was founded.

The USO organization was formed to offer support for U.S. service members and their families, and sent many actors, musicians, and other performers to entertain the troops. Since its inception, the USO has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense (DOD), relying heavily on private contributions and on funds, goods, and services from various corporate and individual donors. Although congressionally chartered, it is not a government agency. The USO operates 160 centers worldwide.

Bob Hope was a fixture of USO tours during the Vietnam War.

During World War II, the USO became the G.I.'s "home away from home" and began a tradition of entertaining the troops that continues today. Involvement in the USO was one of the many ways in which the nation had come together to support the war effort, with nearly 1.5 million Americans having volunteered their services in some way. After it was disbanded in 1947, it was revived in 1950 for the Korean War, after which it also provided peacetime services. During the Vietnam War, USOs were sometimes located in combat zones.

The organization became particularly famous for its live performances called Camp Shows, through which the entertainment industry helped boost the morale of its servicemen and women. Hollywood in general was eager to show its patriotism, and many famous celebrities joined the ranks of USO entertainers. They entertained in military bases at home and overseas, sometimes placing their own lives in danger, by traveling or performing under hazardous conditions.

Today the USO has over 160 locations around the world in 14 countries (including the U.S.) and 27 states. In 2009, USO centers served 7.7 million visitors. That number climbed to more than 8 million in 2011.

[February 4, 1941]

Today in 1859, in Rheydt in the Prussian Rhine Province,

Hugo Junkers was born.

 

Junkers was a German engineer and aircraft designer. As such he is generally credited with pioneering the design of all-metal airplanes and flying wings. As founder of the Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG, he was one of the mainstays of the German aircraft industry in the years between World War I and World War II. In particular his multi-engined all-metal passenger- and freightplanes helped establish airlines in Germany as well as all over the world. Although his name is also linked to some of the most successful German warplanes of the Second World War, Hugo Junkers himself had nothing to do with their development. He was forced out of his own company by the Nazi government in 1934 and died in 1935.

As well as aircraft, Junkers also built both Diesel and petrol engines and held various patents on thermodynamic and metallurgical subjects. He was also one of the main sponsors of the Bauhaus movement and facilitated the move of the Bauhaus from Weimar to Dessau (where his factory was situated) in 1925.

Amongst the highlight of his career were the Junkers J 1 of 1915, (the first aircraft to use an all-metal skin cantilever wing design and minimal external bracing), the Junkers F 13 of 1919 (the world's first all-metal passenger aircraft), the Junkers W 33 (which made the first successful east-to-west crossing of the Atlantic ocean), the Junkers G 38 "flying wing", and the Junkers Ju 52, affectionately nicknamed "Tante Ju", one of the most famous airliners of the 1930s.

[February 3, 1859]

Today in 1943, on the northern outskirts of Stalingrad, Soviet Union,

At Stalingrad, the remnants of the German 6^th Armee under General Strecker in the northern pocket of the Kessel ceased fighting and surrendered to the Red Army.

German troops march into Soviet captivity.

The Battle of Stalingrad began in the summer of 1942 with a German assault on the city, a major industrial center and a potential strategic coup, and an early determination that the capture of the city would be swift and relatively easy.  However, repeated attacks by the 6th Army, under General Friedrich von Paulus, and part of the 4th Panzer Army, under General Ewald von Kleist, could not break past the determined defense of the city by the Soviet 62nd Army.  German forces pushed the Soviets almost to the Volga River in mid-October and eventually encircled Stalingrad (before later becoming encircled themselves).

 

Stubborn, resourceful defenders, diminishing resources, partisan guerilla attacks, and the harsh Russian winter were already taking their toll on the German forces when, on November 19, the Soviets launched a massive counteroffensive.  The Soviet attack began with a massive artillery bombardment of the German positions and ended with the Soviets encircling the enemy, launching pincer movements from north and south simultaneously, eventually making the German position untenable.

Von Paulus surrenders.

Surrender was the German’s only hope for survival, but Hitler refused to consider it: " Surrender is out of the question.  The 6th Army will hold its positions to the last man and the last round."  

 

In fact, Von Paulus held out until January 31, 1943, when he finally surrendered. Of more than 280,000 men under Paulus' command, half were already dead or dying, about 35,000 had been evacuated from the front, and the remaining 91,000 were hauled off to Soviet POW camps.  Only about 5,000 would ever return to Germany after the war.

 

Soviet troops celebrate their victory.

Pockets of German belligerence continued until February 2.

[February 2, 1943]

Today in 1800, in the open sea of the Atlantic Ocean

The USS Constellation engaged in a decisive battle with the French vessel La Vengeance.

USS Constitution is still an active warship in the US Navy.

An undeclared war between the United States and France, the Quasi-War was the result of disagreements over treaties and America's status as a neutral in the Wars of the French Revolution. Fought entirely at sea, the Quasi-War was largely a success for the fledgling US Navy as its vessels captured numerous French privateers and warships, while only losing one of its vessels. By late 1800, attitudes in France shifted and hostilities were concluded by the Treaty of Mortefontaine.

 

 

The Quasi-War was officially fought from July 7, 1798, until the signing of the Treaty of Mortefontaine on September 30, 1800. French privateers had been preying on American shipping for several years prior to the beginning of the conflict.

The two most noteworthy battles of the conflict involved the 38-gun frigate USS Constellation. Commanded by Thomas Truxtun, Constellation sighted the 36-gun French frigate L'Insurgente on February 9, 1799. The French ship closed to board, but Truxtun used Constellation's superior speed to maneuver away, raking L'Insurgente with fire. After a brief fight, Capt. M. Barreaut surrendered his ship to Truxtun.

 

Almost a year later, on February 2, 1800, Constellation encountered the 52-gun frigate La Vengeance. Fighting a five-hour battle at night, the French ship was pummeled, but was able to escape in the darkness.

[February 1, 1800]

Today in 1606, in London, England

Guy Fawkes was hanged, drawn and quartered.

Today, England celebrates November 5 as “Guy Fawkes Day” in commemoration of the botched attack on the English Parliament by a group of anti-government conspirators who hoped to blow up the Parliament building in the infamous "Gunpowder Plot."  Ironically, Fawkes was not one of the original conspirators and actually was a late addition to the group.

Born a Protestant in 1570, Fawkes enlisted in the Spanish army in the Netherlands around 1593, shortly after converting to Catholicism. Co-conspirators Robert Catesby, Thomas Winter, Thomas Percy and John Wright enlisted Fawkes as a ringer, reasoning that his military skills — he had participated in the 1595 capture of Calais, France — and his anonymity as a foreign soldier made him an ideal candidate to help execute their plan.

Fawkes' henchmen were zealous Catholics who believed that by beheading the government, they might usher in a new era of Catholicism in Protestant England. Led by Catesby, they hatched a plan to explode gunpowder under Parliament during a state opening, when King James I, his queen, and other family members and government leaders were inside. The plot was set for Nov. 5, 1605, and in the preceding days, the conspirators rented a cellar underneath the building, where Fawkes stashed at least 20 barrels of gunpowder.

Things didn't go according to plan. The plotters sought wider support, and, as the story goes, one of the individuals to whom they reached out alerted his brother-in-law, a lord, not to attend Parliament on Nov. 5. The building was searched, and Fawkes was apprehended along with his stockpile of gunpowder. Tortured on the rack, he revealed the names of his co-conspirators. Some of them were killed while resisting arrest; others, including Fawkes, pled not guilty and went to trial, where they were convicted of high treason. In January, 1606, the remaining conspirators were hanged, drawn and quartered. Parliament immediately established Nov. 5 as a day of celebration.

[January 31, 1606]

After 150 years, Confederate submarine's hull again revealed

AP | Bruce Smith

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — A century and a half after it sank and a decade and a half after it was raised, scientists are finally getting a look at the hull of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship.

 

What they find may finally solve the mystery of why the hand-cranked submarine sank during the Civil War.

"It's like unwrapping a Christmas gift after 15 years. We have been wanting to do this for many years now," said Paul Mardikian, senior conservator on the Hunley project.

The Hunley sank the Union blockade ship USS Housatonic off Charleston in February 1864 as the South tried to break the Union blockade strangling the Confederacy. But the sub and its eight-man crew never made it back to shore.

The Hunley was discovered off the South Carolina coast in 1995, raised in 2000 and brought to a conservation lab in North Charleston.

It was covered with a hardened gunk of encrusted sand, sediment and rust that scientists call concretion.

Last May, it was finally ready to be bathed in a solution of sodium hydroxide to loosen the encrustation. Then in August, scientists using small air-powered chisels and dental tools began the laborious job of removing the coating.

Now about 70 percent of the outside hull has been revealed.

Mardikian said the exposed hull indeed has revealed some things that may help solve the mystery of the sinking.

"I would have to lie to you if I said we had not, but it's too early to talk about it yet," he said. "We have a submarine that is encrypted. It's like an Enigma machine."

He said the clues will be studied closely as scientists try to piece together what happened to the 40-foot submarine that night in 1864.

The Hunley had a 16-foot spar tipped with a charge of black powder that was exploded, sinking the Housatonic. After close examination of the spar two years ago, scientists speculated the crew was knocked unconscious by the shock wave of the explosion.

When the Hunley was first raised, scientists speculated the crew may have run out of air before they could crank back to the coast.

After the Hunley was raised, the sand and the silt and the remains of the crew in the interior were removed.

In April 2004, thousands of men in Confederate gray and Union blue walked in a procession with the crew's coffins four miles from Charleston's waterfront Battery to Magnolia Cemetery in what has been called the last Confederate funeral.

Today in 1912, in New York City,

Author and historian Barbara Tuchman was born.

 

Ms. Tuchman is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is best known for her book The Guns of August (1962), a historical analysis of early World War I.  She earned her first Pulitzer in 1963.   She went on to win another Pulitzer in 1970 for Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45, a book about the relationship between America and China during World War II. Tuchman died on February 6, 1989, in Greenwich, Connecticut.

[January 30, 1912]

Today in 1879, on the prairie near Little Big Horn River,

The battlefield at Little Big Horn was designated a national monument.

The Custer battlefield today.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to Lakota as the Battle of the Greasy Grass,[1] and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes, against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which occurred June 25–26, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory, was the most prominent action of the Great Sioux War of 1876. It was an overwhelming victory for the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho, led by several major war leaders, including Crazy Horse and Chief Gall, inspired by the visions of Sitting Bull.

The Custer battlefield in 1879 (after the battle).

The U.S. 7th Cavalry, including the Custer Battalion, a force of 700 men led by George Armstrong Custer, suffered a severe defeat. Five of the 7th Cavalry's twelve companies were annihilated; Custer was killed, as were two of his brothers, a nephew, and a brother-in-law. The total U.S. casualty count, including scouts, was 268 dead and 55 injured.

[January 29, 1879]

Today in 1964, in the skies over East Germany,

The U.S. State Department angrily accused the Soviet Union of shooting down an American jet that strayed into East German airspace. Three U.S. officers aboard the plane were killed in the incident. The Soviets responded with charges that the flight was a "gross provocation," and the incident was an ugly reminder of the heightened East-West tensions of the Cold War era. According to the U.S. military, the jet was on a training flight over West Germany and pilots became disoriented by a violent storm that led the plane to veer nearly 100 miles off course.

A North American T-39 Sabreliner.

Shortly after the incident, U.S. officials were allowed to travel to East Germany to recover the bodies and the wreckage.

Like numerous other similar Cold War incidents, this event resulted in heated verbal exchanges between the United States and the Soviet Union, but little else. The deaths were, however, another reminder that the heated suspicion, heightened tension, and loaded rhetoric of the Cold War did have the potential to erupt into meaningless death and destruction.

[January 28, 1964]

Today in 1945, in Poland,

Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau.



[January 27, 1945]

Today in 1863, in Washington, D.C.

Union General Joseph Hooker assumed command of the Army of the Potomac.



Gen. "Fightin' Joe' Hooker

Following Ambrose Burnside's disastrous tenure as commander, including the debacle at Fredericksburg, Virginia, President Lincoln realized the demoralized Union army desperately needed a new leader.  Hooker, a West Point graduate, was a veteran of the Seminole War and the Mexican War, and served in the American West in the 1850s. When the Civil War erupted, Hooker was named brigadier general in the Army of the Potomac. He quickly rose to division commander, and distinguished himself during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. He also continued to build his reputation as a hard drinker and womanizer. Hooker received command of the First Corps in time for the Second Battle of Bull Run, Virginia, in August 1862 and his corps played a major role in the Battle of Antietam in Maryland in September of that year.

Accidentally saddled with the sobriquet “Fighin’ Joe” when a newspaper poked fun at the General’s notoriously thin skin, General Hooker would forever after be known as Fightin’ Joe Hooker.

Battle of Chancellorsville

When he took charge, Hooker first had to deal with the sagging morale of the army. He reorganized his command and instituted a badge system, where each division had its own unique insignia. This helped to build unit pride and identity, and Hooker led a re-energized army into Virginia in April 1863. Hooker's appointment was part of President Abraham Lincoln's frustrating process of finding a winning general in the East. After Irwin McDowell, George McClellan, John Pope, McClellan again, and then Burnside, Lincoln hoped Hooker could defeat Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the vaunted Army of Northern Virginia.

Gen. George Meade

However, it was too tall an order for a man like Hooker. In May 1863, Hooker clashed with Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, and the Union army suffered a decisive and stunning defeat. Lincoln's search for an effective commander continued.  When Hooker sensed that his Commander in Chief (and the army itself) had lost confidence in him, he foolishly tendered an offer of resignation (which he did not believe Lincoln would accept).  But, Lincoln knew Hooker was not the man for the job, accepted the resignation, and, much to his surprise, appointed George Meade the new commander, just days before the pivotal battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

[January 26, 1863]

Today in 1945, along the northern coast of East Prussia,

The German Kriegsmarine began the evacuation by sea of hundreds of thousands of civilian refugees from East Prussia and the Danzig area.

Desperate Wehrmacht troops evacuating Danzig.

The Soviet Red Army advance was virtually unstoppable, the German operation against the US and British in the West had failed, and East Prussia's land communications with the rest of the Reich had been completely severed.

By 1945, the Kriegsmarine was a shadow of its former self.

The Reich did not have much longer to survive.
[
January 23, 1945]

Today in 1941, in Tobruk, Libya

British and Commonwealth forces entered the port city, capturing it and taking tens of thousands of Italian occupiers taken prisoner.

Tobruk's port was more important than the city itself.

Less than a year earlier, Italy had declared war on Great Britain in June 1940. At that time, Gen. Rodolfo Graziani had almost 10 times the number of men in Libya than the British forces in Egypt under Gen. Archibald Wavell, who was commissioned to protect the North African approaches to the Suez Canal. A vast western desert stretched between the antagonists, who sat for months without confrontation. During that time, Italian forces passed into Egypt-but by that point Britain had reinforced its own numbers and decided to make a first strike.

Tobruk would change hands several times during the war.

On December 9, Maj. Gen. Richard Nugent O'Connor launched a westward offensive from Mersa Matruh, in Egypt. Thirty thousand Brits warred against 80,000 Italians-but the British had the advantage of 275 tanks to the Italians' 120. Within three days, 40,000 Italian prisoners were taken. The battle marked the beginning of the end of the Italian occupation of North Africa.

Italian artillery was among the spoils captured by the British.

General O'Connor then began a sweep of Italian positions in Libya. Under his direction in early January 1941, the British 7th Royal Tank Regiment drove westward from Bardia, which it had just taken from the Italians, with the intention of isolating Tobruk until the 6th Australian Division could aid in an assault. The attack on the coastal fortress of Tobruk was finally launched on the 21st and it fell the next day, yielding 30,000 Italian prisoners, 236 guns, and 87 tanks. The 7th Royal Tank Regiment was a remarkable unit, winning a quick series of battles in Libya despite a paucity of resources.

Rommel and the Afrika Korps arrived in the nick of time.

However, the British victory was short-lived as the unrelenting string of Italian catastrophes led Adolf Hitler to the conclusion that the Italian would lose all of North Africa if they were no reinforced by German forces.  Rommel and the Afrika Korps soon arrived.

[January 22, 1941]

Today in 1954, on the Thames River in Connecticut

USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine, was christened by Mamie Eisenhower and launched.

 

Commissioned on September 30, 1954 under the command of Commander Eugene P. Wilkinson, USN, the vessel was the first submarine to complete a submerged transit to the North Pole on August 3, 1958. Sharing names with the submarine in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and named after another USS Nautilus (SS-168) that served with distinction in World War II, Nautilus was authorized in 1951 and launched in 1954. Because her nuclear propulsion allowed her to remain submerged far longer than diesel-electric submarines, she broke many records in her first years of operation, and traveled to locations previously beyond the limits of submarines. In operation, she revealed a number of limitations in her design and construction. This information was used to improve subsequent submarines.

Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. The submarine has been preserved as a museum of submarine history in Groton, Connecticut, where the vessel receives some 250,000 visitors a year.

[January 21, 1954]

Today in 1824, in Clarksburg, Virginia

Thomas Jonathon (later “Stonewall”) Jackson was born.

CSA General "Stonewall" Jackson

During the American Civil War, Jackson sided with the South and joined the Army of the Confederate States of America as a commissioned officer at the regimental level. 

Jackson at First Bull Run where he earned his nickname

Jackson, a devout Christian, was a West Point graduate who served in the Mexican War then resigned to teach at the Virginia Military Institute. Serving with the Rebel army, he became a Brigadier General, earning his nickname of “Stonewall” at the first battle of Bull Run as his troops held firm while others wavered. "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall," General Bee, a fellow general, commented.

Jackson, with Lee and Davis, is immortalized at Stone Mountain, Georgia

During the Battle of Chancellorsville (and not long before Lee’s invasion of the North and the Battle of Gettysburg), Jackson was shot by jittery confederate troops while he was riding with other officers and inspecting the lines in the dark.  "I have lost my right arm," lamented General Lee upon his death.  Jackson was missed at Gettysburg and many remain convinced that had he been present the outcome of that pivotal battle would have been very different.

[January 21, 1824]

Today in 1839, in northern Peru

The Battle of Yungay (or Yungai) effectively destroyed the Peru-Bolivian Confederation created by Bolivian Marshal Andrés de Santa Cruz in 1836.

 

On January 20, 1839, the alliance formed Chilean Army led by Chilean General in Chief Manuel Bulnes and force of Peruvians opposed to Santa Cruz, decisively defeated the Confederate Army commanded by Santa Cruz after six hours of combat in the battlefield of Yungay, in northern Peru, 200 km north of Lima.  The Chilean victory at Yungay effectively brought the Peru-Bolivian Confederation to an end, and Andrés de Santa Cruz exiled himself in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

 

 

The Peruvian government paid the debt contracted with Chile due to Chilean aid on the restoring campaign, also giving decorations and awards to Chilean and Peruvian officials.[2] Also, Peruvian officers who served under the Confederation - among them Guillermo Miller, Mariano Necochea, Luis José Orbegoso, Domingo Nieto – were banned from the Peruvian army.

The victory of Yungay is remembered by the Chilean Army with the "Hymn of Yungay", and by Peru with the creation of the Ancash Department.

[January 20, 1839]

Today in 1419, in Upper Normandy, France

The city of Rouen surrendered to Henry V of England.

The capture of Rouen completed Henry V's conquest of Normandy.

Fought between 1337 and 1453, the Hundred Years' War saw England and France battle for the French throne.  Beginning as a dynastic war in which Edward III of England attempted to assert his claim to the French throne, the Hundred Years' War also saw English forces attempt to regain lost territories on the Continent.  Though initially successful, English victories and gains were slowly undone as French resolve stiffened. 

Henry V

During the Lancastrian phase of the War, Richard II was deposed by Henry IV in 1399 in England and Charles VI was plagued by mental illness in France.  While Henry desired to mount campaigns in France, issues with Scotland and Wales prevented him from moving forward.  The war was renewed by his son Henry V in 1415 when an English army landed and captured Harfleur. 

The Hundred Years' War saw the decline of the mounted knight.

As it was too late in the year to march on Paris, he moved towards Calais and won crushing victory at the Battle of Agincourt.  Over the next four years, he captured Normandy and much of northern France.  Meeting with Charles in 1420, Henry agreed to the Treaty of Troyes by which he agreed to marry the French king's daughter and have his heirs inherit the French throne. 

[January 19, 1419]