Military History Anniversaries 16 thru 31 August

Events in History over the next 15 day period that had U.S. military involvement or impacted in
some way on U.S military operations or American interests

 Aug 16 1777 – American Revolution: Battle of Bennington » The Battle took place in
Walloomsac, New York, about 10 miles from its namesake Bennington, Vermont. A rebel force of
about 1,500 men, primarily New Hampshire and Massachusetts militiamen, led by General John
Stark, and reinforced by Vermont militiamen led by Colonel Seth Warner and members of the Green
Mountain Boys, decisively defeated a detachment of General John Burgoyne's army led by Lieutenant
Colonel Friedrich Baum, and supported by additional men under Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von
Breymann at Walloomsac, New York.

After a rain-caused standoff, Brigadier General John Stark's men enveloped Baum's position,
taking many prisoners, and killing Baum. Reinforcements for both sides arrived as Stark and his men
were mopping up, and the battle restarted, with Warner and Stark driving away Breymann's
reinforcements with heavy casualties. The battle reduced Burgoyne's army in size by almost 1,000
troops, led his Indian support to largely abandon him, and deprived him of much-needed supplies,
such as mounts for his cavalry regiments, draft animals and provisions; all factors that contributed to
Burgoyne's eventual defeat at the Battle of Saratoga.

 Aug 16 1780 – American Revolution: Continentals routed at Battle of Camden SC » American

General Horatio Gates suffers a humiliating defeat. Despite the fact that his men suffered from
diarrhea on the night of 15 AUG, caused by their consumption of under-baked bread, Gates chose to
engage the British on the morning of the 15 th. Although the Continentals outnumbered the British two
to one, the encounter was a disaster.

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 Gates seriously overestimated the number of soldiers he had available for combat; when he finally
realized his mistake, it was too late to withdraw. In theory, the Continental forces numbered 4,000 to
General Charles Cornwallis’ 2,239 Redcoats. In practice, however, only 3,052 Patriots were well
enough to take the field. When the British charged with their bayonets, the militia that made up the
Patriot front line, who did not have bayonets, ran. The remaining Continental soldiers fought bravely,
but utterly failed to make any headway in the face of the British assault.
Continental Army Major General Baron Johann DeKalb, a German volunteer, received numerous
wounds in the battle and succumbed to death a few days later. All told, over 900 Americans died and
another 1,000 were captured. Additionally, 22 wagonloads of equipment, along with 2,000 muskets
and a large amount of ammunition, fell into British hands. The British lost only 68 killed and another
245 wounded in the lopsided victory.
After the loss, General Gates covered 240 miles in three days in order to notify Congress from
Hillsborough, North Carolina, of what he described as “total Defeat.” When British Lieutenant
Colonel Banastre Tarleton successfully ambushed the acclaimed Brigadier General Thomas Sumter
two days later, it appeared that control of Georgia and the Carolinas might be lost to the British
crown.

 Aug 16 1812 – War of 1812: Fort Detroit surrenders without a fight » American General
William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit and his army to the British without a fight. Hull, a 59-year-old
veteran of the American Revolution, had lost hope of defending the settlement after seeing the large
English and Indian force gathering outside Detroit’s walls. The general was also preoccupied with the
presence of his daughter and grandchildren inside the fort.

Of Hull’s 2,000-man army, most were militiamen, and British General Isaac Brock allowed them
to return to their homes on the frontier. The regular U.S. Army troops were taken as prisoners to
Canada. With the capture of Fort Detroit, Michigan Territory was declared a part of Great Britain and
Shawnee chief Tecumseh was able to increase his raids against American positions in the frontier
area. Hull’s surrender was a severe blow to American morale. In September 1813, U.S. General
William Henry Harrison, the future president, recaptured Detroit.
In 1814, William Hull was court-martialed for cowardice and neglect of duty in surrendering the
fort, and sentenced to die. Because of his service in the revolution, however, President James
Madison remitted the sentence.

 Aug 16 1861 – Civil War: President Lincoln prohibits the states of the Union from trading with the
seceding states of the Confederacy.

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 Aug 16 1861 – Civil War: Union and Confederate forces clash near Fredericktown and Kirkville,
Missouri.

 Aug 16 1862 – Civil War: Naval forces and Union army troops in a joint expedition up the
Mississippi land forces at various points en route, capture steamer Fairplay above Vicksburg with
large cargo of arms, disperse Confederate troop encampments, and destroy a newly erected
Confederate battery about 20 miles up the Yazoo River.

 Aug 16 1863 – Civil War: Union General William S. Rosecrans moves his army south from
Tullahoma, Tennessee to attack Confederate forces in Chattanooga.

 Aug 16 1864 – Civil War: U.S.S. Pawneen escapes undamaged when a floating Confederate torpedo
exploded under her stern, destroying a launch, shortly after midnight at Stono Inlet, South Carolina.

 Aug 16 1864 – Civil War: Confederate General John Chambliss is killed during a cavalry charge at
Deep Bottom, Virginia, one of the sieges of Petersburg. On his body, recovered by Union forces, was
found a detailed map of the Confederate capital’s defenses at Richmond, Virginia, 20 miles north of
Petersburg.

 Aug 16 1864 – Civil War: USS Saratoga boat expedition led by Commander Colvocoresses
captures some 100 prisoners and a quantity of arms on a daring raid into Mcintosh County, Georgia.
Commander Colvocoresses also destroyed a salt works and a strategic bridge across the South
Newport River on the main road to Savannah.

 Aug 16 1914 – WWI: Liege, Belgium, falls to the German army » The Battle of Liège ends. It has
been the opening engagement of the German invasion of Belgium and the first battle of the First
World War. The attack on Liège, a town protected by the Fortified position of Liège, a ring fortress
built from the late 1880s to the early 1890s, began on 5 August 1914 and lasted until 16 AUG when
the last fort surrendered. The siege of Liège may have delayed the German invasion of France by 4–5
days. Railways in the Meuse river valley needed by the German armies in eastern Belgium were
closed for the duration of the siege and German troops did not appear in strength before the Fortified
Position of Namur at the confluence of the Sambre and Meuse rivers until 20 AUG.

 Aug 16 1914 – WWI: Austrian-born Adolf Hitler volunteers to fight with the German Army. He will
serve throughout the conflict on the Western Front as a messenger, suffer wounds, and receive
various medals for valor.

 Aug 16 1917 – WWI: Battle of Cer » A few hours before midnight on August 15th, fighting
erupted on the slopes on Cer Mountain. The Austro-Hungarian positions were lightly held and their
soldiers were driven back away from this mountain. By midnight, fierce clashes had developed
between the two armies and the Serbs were underway and chaos ensued in the darkness. By morning
on 16 AUG, the Serbians had seized the Divaca Range and also dislodged the Austro-Hungarians
from their positions. On the 17th, the Serbian army tried to retake Sabac, but their efforts failed. On

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 the18th, the Austro-Hungarians launched another attack, but this failed. The next day, the Serbs
finally crushed the Austro-Hungarians and by noon on that day, they had conquered Rasulijaca.

Before midday, Velika Glava village fell to the Serbs and by the late afternoon, Rajin Grob was
also retaken. By this time, the Austro-Hungarians started retreating quickly; their will and cohesion
apparently shattered. By 20 AUG, the Austro-Hungarian armies were fleeing across Drina River.
Before long, the Serbs reached the banks of the River Sana, bringing the first Austro-Hungarian
invasion of Serbia to an end. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. The Austro-Hungarians suffered
37,000 casualties, of which 7,000 were fatalities. About 3,000 Serbian soldiers were also killed and
15,000 wounded in the Battle of Cer.

 Aug 16 1917 – WWI: Battle of Langemack » In a renewed thrust of the Allied offensive launched
at the end of July in the Flanders region of Belgium—known as the Third Battle of Ypres, or simply
as Passchendaele, for the village that saw the heaviest fighting—British troops capture the village of
Langemarck from the Germans. Though a German counterattack recovered much of the ground
gained, British forces retained the initiative in the region, aided by the use of tanks and by a
diversionary attack by the French at Verdun, where more than 5,000 German soldiers were taken
prisoner.

 Aug 16 1924 – Post WWI: Conference regarding German recovery payments opened in London.

 Aug 16 1934 – U.S.*Haiti: U.S. occupation of Haiti, which began in 1915, ends.

 Aug 16 1937 – U.S.*China: The American adviser on Political Relations asked the Secretary of
State for reinforcements for the 4th Marine Regiment in Shanghai, China. In response, two officers
and 102 enlisted from Cavite, Philippines were sent.

 Aug 16 1940 – U.S. Army: National Airborne Day » Commemorates the first official U.S. Army
parachute jump, which took place on this date at Fort Benning, Georgia.

 Aug 16 1940 – Pre WW2: President Roosevelt announces that there have been conversations with
the UK on the acquisition of bases for western hemisphere defense. He does not disclose as yet that
Britain wants some old US destroyers in return.

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 Aug 16 1942 – WW2: L-8 Blimp Mystery » A bizarre event occurred in the air over
California that has never been satisfactorily solved. It involved a dirigible–commonly known as a
blimp–flown by the U.S. Navy, designated L-8. On that August morning two Navy pilots, Lt.
Ernest Cody and Ensign Charles Adams, went aloft aboard the L-8 from the Navy’s air station at
Treasure Island, in San Francisco Bay. Their mission was pretty simple. They were supposed to
conduct a routine patrol looking for Japanese submarines, which were still believed to be a threat
to the West Coast in 1942. They were supposed to fly west, to a small chain of islands called the
Farallones, then circle around over San Francisco and come back to base. The blimp took off at
6:03 AM. This was a routine flight and Lt. Cody was very experienced at flying blimps.

A bit more than five hours later the civilian residents of Daly City, California were startled to
see a huge silver airship descending haphazardly over their city. It appeared to be adrift and out of
control. It was partially deflated and buckling in the middle. Eventually it came down, making a
“crash” landing on Bellevue Avenue. People rushed to the stricken airship to help the crew, but
when they got there they found the doors of the gondola open and no one inside. Cody and
Adams had simply vanished. They’ve never been seen since.
The radio was found to be in perfect working order. Parachutes were in place, though life belts
weren’t–that wasn’t unusual, though, since the pilots were required to keep their life belts on
while flying. The ship was airworthy and there had been no leak of helium gas. The blimp
appeared to buckle in the middle because the absence of the weight of the pilots caused the blimp
to soar higher, thus triggering an automatic release valve to compensate; this was what ultimately
brought it down. The blimp had dropped one of its depth charges on land, but that obviously
occurred after it had been abandoned (and no one was hurt). There was no sign of a struggle,
emergency or any sort of mishap. The two men were just…gone.
The only real clue to the L-8 mystery was its last radio transmission which was logged at 7:42
AM. Lt. Cody reported that they had spotted an oil slick in the water and they were moving lower
to investigate. The crews of two fishing boats out that morning corroborated the report: they saw
the oil slick too, and they witnessed the blimp descend to check it out. Although it’s possible the
slick came from a Japanese submarine, evidently the L-8’s crew didn’t see anything that was
worth attacking; the ship dropped no depth charges and the fishing boat crews never saw anything
(or anyone) fall from the gondola. This happened around 8AM. By 8:50 the Treasure Island
controllers realized they couldn’t raise the L-8 by radio, so whatever happened to the men had
obviously happened by that time.

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 Aug 16 1943 – WW2: In Sicily on the night of August 15-16 British General Sir Bernard
Montgomery in his race with General Patton to capture Messina, tried an amphibious landing putting
elements of his commando and armored units ashore at Scaletta, just eight miles east of Messina.
However, he failed to cut off any of the retreating Axis forces and lost the race when that evening
U.S. patrols reached the city.

 Aug 16 1944 – WW2: The French 2nd Corps (de Lattre), part of US 7th Army, comes ashore and
moves forward.

 Aug 16 1944 – WW2: U.S. 15th Army corp reaches Eure, surrounds Dreux, France,

 Aug 16 1944 – WW2: Organized Japanese resistance ends on the Burma-India border.

 Aug 16 1944 – WW2: Elements of U.S. 20th Corps (part of General Patton’s 3rd Army) capture
Chartres, France.

 Aug 16 1944 – WW2: U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers first attack by Luftwaffe jet fighters
(Messerschmitt Me 163s), has first loss to a jet, and also destroys a German jet for first time.

 Aug 16 1944 – WW2: First flight of the Junkers Ju 287 » Manufactured by the German aircraft
company Junkers, it was a 4-engine, jet-powered bomber whose forward-swept wings made it
radically different from any other airplane in existence at the time. With a turbojet engine on each
side of its nose, and another under each wing, the Ju-287 flew to speeds of almost 350 mph, which
was fast but still not fast enough. Originally it was supposed to have been equipped with even more
powerful jet engines, but developmental difficulties meant that Junkers had to go with what was
available, the Jumo 004. Further production models would either have been powered by 6 Heinkel-
Hirth HeS 011 jet engines, or 6 BMW 003 engines or 2 BMW 018 turbofans to greatly increase
thrust.

Follow-up prototypes were also to have all the engines slung under their wings to combat the
wing flex found when the Ju-287 was test flown. One such follow-up prototype made 17 test flights
and was found to have decent flight characteristics, but at that late stage of the war, it could not be
further developed or produced in time to see combat. The only prototype capable of flying ended up
being destroyed by Allied bombers, and the partially-completed 2nd and 3rd prototypes were
captured by the Soviets who continued experimenting with the design. A notable feature of this
bizarre-looking airplane was that it was sort of a “Frankenplane,” with everything but the radical
wings having been taken from other planes. Even the nose landing gear had been taken from a

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 crashed U.S. B-24 bomber. It also had the tail of a Ju-388 and the fuselage of an He-177, with the
main landing gear coming from a Ju-352.
A variant of the design was to be called the “Mistel,” which was to be an Me-262 jet fighter
mounted on top of an unmanned Ju-287 filled with explosives. The Me-262 pilot was to fly the
combined planes and then release the bomber as a giant drone-powered bomb. Had the Germans
managed to make that monstrosity work, it would have been a terrifying weapon. Nazi Germany
certainly came up with some brilliant and unusual ideas during World War II, some of which may
have prolonged the war or may even have turned the tide in their favor. Poor planning and direction
from Adolf Hitler and squabbling among those responsible for aircraft production made the
development process a nightmare for German engineers, something that definitely benefited the
Allies.

 Aug 16 1945 – WW2: The Emperor of Japan issues an Imperial Rescript (decree) at 1600 hours
(local time) ordering all Japanese forces to cease fire. The Cabinet resigns. General Prince
Higashikumi becomes the prime minister of Japan and forms a new government. He orders the
Imperial Army to obey the Emperor’s call and lay down their arms.

 Aug 16 1945 – WW2: Senior U.S. POW is released » Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, (captured
by the Japanese on the island of Corregidor, in the Philippines), is freed by Russian forces from a
POW camp in Manchuria, China.

Wainwright ordering the surrender of the Philippines while being watched by a Japanese censor &
Wainwright and MacArthur greet, August 1945 (right)

When President Franklin Roosevelt transferred Gen. Douglas MacArthur from his command in the
Philippines to Australia in March 1942, Maj. Gen. Wainwright, until then under MacArthur’s
command, was promoted to temporary lieutenant general and given command of all Philippine forces.
His first major strategic decision was to move his troops to the fortified garrison at Corregidor. When
Bataan was taken by the Japanese, and the infamous Bataan “Death March” of captured Allies was
underway, Corregidor became the next battle ground. Wainwright and his 13,000 troops held out for a
month despite heavy artillery fire. Finally, Wainwright and his troops, already exhausted, surrendered
on 6 MAY.
The irony of Wainwright’s promotion was that as commander of all Allied forces in the
Philippines, his surrender meant the surrender of troops still holding out against the Japanese in other
parts of the Philippines. Wainwright was taken prisoner, spending the next three and a half years as a
POW in Luzon, Philippines, Formosa (now Taiwan), and Manchuria, China. Upon Japan’s surrender,
Russian forces in Manchuria liberated the POW camp in which Wainwright was being held.

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 The years of captivity took its toll on the general. The man who had been nicknamed “Skinny”
was now emaciated. His hair had turned white, and his skin was cracked and fragile. He was also
depressed, believing he would be blamed for the loss of the Philippines to the Japanese. When
Wainwright arrived in Yokohama, Japan, to attend the formal surrender ceremony, Gen. MacArthur,
his former commander, was stunned at his appearance-literally unable to eat and sleep for a day.
Wainwright was given a hero’s welcome upon returning to America, promoted to full general, and
awarded the Medal of Honor.

 Aug 16 1946 – Muslims*Hindus: Direct Action Day » Also known as the 1946 Calcutta Killings,
was a day of widespread communal rioting between Muslims and Hindus in the city of Calcutta (now
known as Kolkata) in the Bengal province of British India. The day also marked the start of what is
known as The Week of the Long Knives. The 'Direct Action' was announced by the Muslim League
Council to show the strength of Muslim feelings towards its demand for an "autonomous and
sovereign" Pakistan, and resulted in the worst communal riots that British India had seen.
The Muslim League and the Indian National Congress were the two largest political parties in the
Constituent Assembly of India in the 1940s. The Muslim League had demanded, since its 1940
Lahore Resolution, that the Muslim-majority areas of India in the northwest and the east, should be
constituted as 'independent states'. The 1946 Cabinet Mission to India for planning of the transfer of
power from the British Raj to the Indian leadership proposed a three-tier structure: a centre, groups of
provinces, and provinces. The "groups of provinces" were meant to accommodate the Muslim League
demand. Both the Muslim League and Congress in principle accepted the Cabinet Mission's plan.
However, Muslim League suspected that Congress's acceptance was insincere.[6]
Consequently, in July 1946, it withdrew its agreement to the plan and announced a general strike
on 16 August, terming it as Direct Action Day, to assert its demand for a separate Muslim homeland.
Against a backdrop of communal tension, the protest triggered massive riots in Calcutta. More than
4,000 people lost their lives and 100,000 residents were left homeless in Calcutta within 72 hours.
This violence sparked off further religious riots in the surrounding regions of Noakhali, Bihar, United
Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh), Punjab, and the North Western Frontier Province. These events
sowed the seeds for the eventual Partition of India.

 Aug 16 1950 – Korean War: The first 313 KATUSA (Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army)
recruits left Pusan by ship to join the badly under strength U.S. 7th Infantry Division in Japan. Once
started, the flow of Koreans reached nearly 2,000 per day until a total of 8,625 Korean officers and
men joined the division.

 Aug 16 1954 – Vietnam: Operation Passage to Freedom begins » The operation transports
refugees from Haiphong to Saigon, Vietnam. To carry out the operation, the Pacific Fleet
concentrates 74 tank landing ships (LST), transports, attack cargo ships, dock landing ships (LSD),
and other vessels in the South China Sea under Rear Adm. Lorenzo S. Sabin, Commander
Amphibious Force, Western Pacific and Commander Amphibious Group 1. The operation lasted until
May 1955.

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 Aug 16 1955 – Cold War: Famous entertainer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson loses his court
appeal to try to force the Department of State to grant him a passport. Robeson was seen as a danger
because he often interspersed his performances with comments about race relations in the United
States. Before and after his performances, he gave numerous interviews condemning segregation and
discrimination in America. For some U.S. policymakers, who viewed America’s poor record of race
relations as the nation’s “Achilles’ heel” in terms of the propaganda war with the Soviet Union,
having a well-known African-American denounce segregation and praise the Russians was
unacceptable.

 Aug 16 1964 – Vietnam War : General Khanh ousts General Minh as chief of state » General
Nguyen Khanh, elected president by the Military Council, ousts Duong Van Minh as South
Vietnamese chief of state and installs a new constitution, which the U.S. Embassy had helped to draft.
Khanh said that he was not becoming a military dictator, but it was clear that he was now the chief
power in the Saigon government. Within the week, student demonstrations against Khanh and the
military government quickly turned into riots. Meanwhile, Henry Cabot Lodge, former ambassador to
South Vietnam, went to Western Europe as a personal emissary of President Johnson to explain U.S.
policy in Vietnam and to obtain more support from allies. Lodge returned with pledges from West
Germany, Holland, Belgium, Great Britain, and Spain to provide nonmilitary technical aid to South
Vietnam, but none agreed to provide military support.

 Aug 16 1964 – Vietnam War: Henry Cabot Lodge, former ambassador to South Vietnam, went to
Western Europe as a personal emissary of President Johnson to explain U.S. policy in Vietnam and to
obtain more support from allies. Lodge returned with pledges from West Germany, Holland,
Belgium, Great Britain, and Spain to provide nonmilitary technical aid to South Vietnam, but none
agreed to provide military support.

 Aug 16 1966 – Vietnam War: Congress investigates antiwar demonstrators » The House Un-
American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong.
The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti–war
demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested for disorderly conduct. The Chairman of
the subcommittee, Representative J.R. Pool (D-TX) announced that the hearings had revealed that
key leadership of groups supporting the Viet Cong were comprised of revolutionary, hard-core
Communists.

 Aug 16 1967 – Vietnam War: Tonkin Gulf Resolution challenged » President Johnson’s broad
interpretation of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is attacked in the Senate Foreign Relations
Subcommittee by the Chairman, Senator William Fulbright of Arkansas, who feels that Johnson has
no mandate to conduct the war on the present scale.

 Aug 16 1972 – Vietnam War: Heavy air attacks on North Vietnam » U.S. fighter-bombers fly
370 air strikes against North Vietnam, the highest daily total of the year; additionally, there are eight
B-52 strikes in the North. Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes flew 321 missions (including 27 B-52 strikes)
in South Vietnam, mostly in Quang Tri province. Despite this heavy air activity, hopes for an

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 agreement to end the war rise as Henry Kissinger leaves Paris to confer with President Thieu and his
advisers.

 Aug 16 1990 – Kuwait*Iraq: Saddam Refuses to Withdraw from Kuwait » President Bush met
with Jordan’s King Hussein in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he urged the monarch to close Iraq’s
access to the sea through the port of Aqaba while in Iraq, Saddam Hussein believed that the US
would not risk the lives of its young people by going to war. However, George Bush remained
determined to restore Kuwait's independence, and he entertained the possibility that Saddam would
withdraw from Kuwait voluntarily – a move that would have been a loss of prestige for Saddam
among his supporters in Iraq. George Bush and Saddam Hussein were still on a collision course, but
one that would take months to play out.
To hold against further hostilities, Saddam offered Iran his withdrawal from all gains he had won
during the Iraq-Iran war. But he also postured strength. He sealed his borders, preventing thousands
of foreigners from leaving Iraq or Kuwait. On 16 AUG, Iraq ordered 4,000 Britons and 2,500
Americans in Kuwait to Iraq. He called Bush a liar and announced that an outbreak of war could
result in "thousands of Americans wrapped in sad coffins."
On 17 AUG, Iraq announced that until threats against it ceased, foreign citizens from "aggressive
nations" would be targeted. On 19 AUG, Saddam announced that he would free all foreigners
detained in Iraq and Kuwait when the United States promised to withdraw its forces from Saudi
Arabia and when it guaranteed that economic sanctions against Iraq would be lifted. On 21 AUG he
promised "a major catastrophe" should fighting break out in the Persian Gulf. He appeared before the
world on CNN with a group of hostages that he described as "guests," and tried to look kind and
fatherly.
In Kuwait, Saddam Hussein's forces were executing people. And Bush announced that he was not
going to allow the strong to swallow the weak. On 22 AUG, Bush signed an order to call up 46,000
reservists to add to the military buildup in Saudi Arabia. Four days later the United Nations
authorized military action to enforce a trade embargo against Iraq. On 29 AUG, Saddam responded
by announcing that the US could not defeat Iraq and that he did not "beg before anyone."

 Aug 16 2004 – GWOT: U.S. President Bush announced plans to pull 70-100 thousand U.S. troops
from Europe and Asia and redeploy them to meet the demands of the global war on terrorism.

-o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 17 1812 – War of 1812: Frigate President captures British schooner L’Adeline in North
Atlantic.

 Aug 17 1862 – Native Americans: Dakota uprising begins in Minnesota » Minnesota erupts in
violence as desperate Dakota Indians attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. The Dakota
were eventually overwhelmed by the U.S. military six weeks later.
The Dakota Indians were more commonly referred to as the Sioux, a derogatory name derived
from part of a French word meaning “little snake.” They were composed of four bands, and lived on

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 temporary reservations in southwestern Minnesota. For two decades, the Dakota were poorly treated
by the Federal government, local traders, and settlers. They saw their hunting lands whittled down,
and provisions promised by the government rarely arrived. Worse yet, a wave of white settlers
surrounded them.

The summer of 1862 was particularly hard on the Dakota. Cutworms destroyed much of their corn
crops, and many families faced starvation. Dakota leaders were frustrated by attempts to convince
traders to extend credit to tribal members and alleviate the suffering. On 17 AUG, four young Dakota
warriors were returning from an unsuccessful hunt when they stopped to steal some eggs from a white
settlement. The youths soon picked a quarrel with the hen’s owner, and the encounter turned tragic
when the Dakotas killed five members of the family. Sensing that they would be attacked, Dakota
leaders determined that war was at hand and seized the initiative. Led by Taoyateduta (also known as
Little Crow), the Dakota attacked local agencies and the settlement of New Ulm. Over 500 white
settlers lost their lives along with about 150 Dakota warriors.

President Abraham Lincoln dispatched General John Pope, fresh from his defeat at the Second
Battle of Bull Run, Virginia, to organize the Military Department of the Northwest. Some Dakota fled
to North Dakota, but more than 2,000 were rounded up and over 300 warriors were sentenced to
death. President Lincoln commuted most of their sentences, but on December 26, 1862, 38 Dakota
men were executed at Mankato, Minnesota. It was the largest mass execution in American history.

 Aug 17 1862 – Civil War: Major General J.E.B. Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the
Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. He established a reputation as an audacious cavalry
commander and on two occasions (during the Peninsula Campaign and the Maryland Campaign)
circumnavigated the Union Army of the Potomac.

 Aug 17 1862 – Civil War: Joint landing party from U.S.S. Ellis and Army boats destroyed
Confederate salt works, battery, and barracks near Swansboro, North Carolina. This constant attack
from the sea destroyed the South’s resources and drained her strength.

 Aug 17 1863 – Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard
Confederate held Fort Sumter for the first time.

 Aug 17 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Gainesville » Confederate forces defeat Union troops near
Gainesville, Florida. The result of the battle was the Confederate occupation of Gainesville Florida
for the remainder of the war. Casualties and losses: Union 28 dead, 5 wounded, and 188 captured -
CSA 3 dead and 3 wounded.

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 Aug 17 1914 – WWI: The Russian 1st and 2nd Armies begin their advance into East Prussia,
fulfilling Russia’s promise to its ally, France, to attack Germany from the east as soon as possible so
as to divert German resources and relieve pressure on France during the opening weeks of the war.

 Aug 17 1929 – China*USSR: Sino Soviet Conflict » An armed conflict between the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics and Chinese warlord Zhang Xueliang of the Republic of China over the
Chinese Eastern Railway (also known as CER). The conflict was the first major combat test of the
reformed Soviet Red Army – one organized along the latest professional lines – and ended with the
mobilization and deployment of 156,000 troops to the Manchurian border.
Small skirmishes had broken out in July, but this would not be considered the first major military
action. The first battle happened on August 17, 1929, when the Soviets attacked Chalainor. Chinese
troops retreated to an entrenchment which was supported by machine guns. The Soviets suffered
heavy losses in the battle, and it would be the only battle where the Soviets would incur such
casualties. In October the Soviets forced their naval fleets up the Amur and Songhua rivers and
capture the Lahasusu. This maneuver caused the Chinese to move to a different location. On their
way to Fujin, Chinese troops would kill any civilian they came across and raid any stores. The
Soviets stated that they did not touch the civilian population, and encouraged Chinese civilians to
fight alongside them against the Chinese army. They also denied killing civilians, and were said to
only take military goods. All civilian personal items were left in place; this was strictly enforced.
On 17 NOV the Soviets decided to take ten divisions and split their attack into two stages. The
first stage was to go past Manzhouli and attack the region of Chalainor. After capturing the region,
Soviet troops set their sights on Manzhouli. When they reached Manzhouli they found that the
Chinese were not prepared for battle and that Chinese forces were looting houses, stores and stealing
civilian clothes and trying to escape. The Soviet strategy was a success; on 26 NOV the Chinese were
ready to sign a treaty with the Soviets on Soviet terms. On 13 DEC, after much debate on the Chinese
side, the Chinese signed the Khabarovsk Protocol. This restored peace and the 1924 status quo ante,
which was the Sino-Soviet treaty of 1924.
The victory over China was an eye opener for the world. During the conflict, the Soviets used
propaganda to help spread communist ideology and confuse the Chinese Army by using radio and
leaflets. They did this by deceiving the Chinese command on which town was the Soviets' next target.
“Its military forces combined carefully measured use of depth and variety, coordinated in the fashion
of a swift action design to achieve the precise goal of ‘an annihilating offensive under complex
condition’ against enemy forces.” The conflict brought a sense of military prestige back into the
Asian region. The Soviet victory was also applauded by such western nations as the US, France and
Great Britain. It showed the west that the Soviets were able to use both diplomacy and military might
to achieve its goal. However, while some might have applauded the Soviets for using this technique,
others feared it. This was a legitimate concern. The western nations were frightened that this method
could potentially mean the Soviet Union might one day be able to beat a western nation at its own
game.
The impact of the conflict left the Manchurian region in a power vacuum. This left the door wide
open for the Japanese to take control of the region. After observing how easily Soviet forces beat the

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 Chinese, the Japanese employed a similar technique to defeat the Chinese and occupy Manchuria
following the Mukden Incident in 1931.

 Aug 17 1941 – WW2: The United States government presents a formal warning to the Japanese
along the lines agreed at Placentia Bay. The text of the note had been toned down somewhat from the
draft originally agreed with the British and Dutch, so they do not present their notes in order to avoid
appearing to disagree with the American position. No decision on the Japanese proposal of a meeting
between Roosevelt and Konoye is offered at this time.

 Aug 17 1942 – WW2: Offensive operations against Nazi-occupied territory start » Regular
combat operations by the VIII Bomber Command began when the 97th Bombardment Group flew 12
B-17Es on the first VIII Bomber Command heavy bomber mission of the war from RAF Polebrook,
attacking the Rouen-Sotteville marshalling yards in France.

 Aug 17 1942 – WW2: Lt. Col. Evans F. Carlson and a force of 122 Marine raiders come ashore
Makin Island, in the west Pacific Ocean, occupied by the Japanese. What began as a diversionary
tactic almost ended in disaster for the Americans. An accidental gun discharge upon landing alerted
the defenders. Fourteen Marines were killed by Japanese gunfire, seven drowned and nine were
captured and beheaded.

 Aug 17 1943 – WW2: Japanese airfields around Wewak in New Guina are attacked by planes of the
U.S. 5th Air Force, based in Australia. The four raids, over a five-day period ending on 21 AUG
represented a decisive victory for the Allies: the Japanese Fourth Air Army lost about 100 planes on
the ground and in the air, reducing its operational strength to about 30 planes. Ten aircraft from the
U.S. Fifth Air Force were lost.

 Aug 17 1943 – WW2: Patton wins race to Messina » U.S. General George S. Patton and his 7th
Army arrive in Messina several hours before British Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery and his
8th Army, winning the unofficial “Race to Messina” and completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
Born in San Gabriel, California, in 1885, Patton’s family had a long history of military service.
After studying at West Point, he served as a tank officer in World War I, and these experiences, along
with his extensive military study, led him to become an advocate of the crucial importance of the tank
in future warfare. After the American entrance into World War II, Patton was placed in command of
an important U.S. tank division and played a key role in the Allied invasion of French North Africa in
1942. In 1943, Patton led the U.S. 7th Army in its assault on Sicily and won fame for out-
commanding Montgomery during their pincer movement against Messina.
Although Patton was one of the ablest American commanders in World War II, he was also one of
the most controversial. He presented himself as a modern-day cavalryman, designed his own uniform,
and was known to make eccentric claims of his direct descent from great military leaders of the past
through reincarnation. During the Sicilian campaign, Patton generated considerable controversy when
he accused a hospitalized U.S. soldier suffering from battle fatigue of cowardice and then personally
struck him across the face. The famously profane general was forced to issue a public apology and
was reprimanded by General Dwight Eisenhower.

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 However, when it was time for the invasion of Western Europe, Eisenhower could find no general
as formidable as Patton, and the general was again granted an important military post. In 1944, Patton
commanded the U.S. 3rd Army in the invasion of France, and in December of that year his expertise
in military movement and tank warfare helped crush the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes.
During one of his many successful campaigns, General Patton was said to have declared,
“Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance.” On December 21,
1945, he died in a hospital in Germany from injuries sustained in an automobile accident near
Mannheim.

 Aug 17 1943 – WW2: Schweinfurt*Regensburg Mission » An air combat battle flown by B-17
Flying Fortresses of the U.S. Army Air Forces. It was conceived as an ambitious plan to cripple the
German aircraft industry. The strike by 376 bombers of sixteen bomb groups resulted in the loss of
60 bombers plus many more damaged beyond economical repair. As a result, the Eighth Air Force
was unable to follow up immediately with a second attack that might have seriously crippled German
industry.

 Aug 17 1943 – WW2: The Allies agreed to begin discussions for the planning of the invasion of
France, codenamed Overlord in a secret report by the Combined Chiefs of Staff. There were also
discussions to increase the bombing offensive against Germany and continue the buildup of American
forces in Britain prior to an invasion of France.

 Aug 17 1943 – WW2: Operation Hydea » As part of Operation Crossbow to disrupt German
secret weapon development, the Royal Air Force began a strategic bombing campaign against Nazi
Germany's V-weapon program by attacking the Peenemünde Army Research Center. Of the 596
heavy bombers sent on the raid on the night of 17/18 AUG, 215 British aircrew members and 40
bombers were lost, and hundreds of civilians were killed in a nearby concentration camp. The air raid
killed two V-2 rocket scientists and delayed V-2 rocket test launches for seven weeks. Subsequent
attacks were carried out in daylight raids by the US Army Air Force's Eighth Air Force.

 Aug 17 1944 – WW2: Germans begin retreat from the Falaise pocket in Normandy; Canadians take
Falaise. There is little German resistance to the Allied advance of US 7th Army. US Third Army
takes St. Malo, Chartres, and Orléans in France. St. Raphael, St. Tropez, Frejus, Le Luq and St.
Maxime are captured during the day.Vichy French government flees for Germany; Marshal Philippe
Pétain and his staff will be interned by Hitler, while Prime Minister Pierre Laval’s government will
resign.

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 Aug 17 1950 – Korea: Battle of Obong-Ni ridge » The North Korean People’s Army (NKPA)
had almost everything going its way during the earliest Korean War battles. The opposing South
Korean and American forces, weak and unprepared, were pushed into a shrinking perimeter around
the small port city of Pusan. That perimeter was steadily being reinforced, with an eye toward an
eventual breakout and counteroffensive. One of the units sent into the Pusan perimeter was the 1st
Marine Provisional Brigade, an ad hoc unit formed to get a force into the fight quickly while the 1st
Marine Division properly formed up. The brigade included a small force of M-26 Pershing tanks for
support.
These tanks were hurriedly readied for service to provide a counter to the NKPA’s Soviet-
Supplied T-34 tanks, which had so far ranged almost unopposed against the light tanks and anti-tank
weapons available to their opponents. The two tanks had never met in combat before, but it was
hoped the M-26’s 90mm gun and thick armor would prove a match for the Soviet vehicle. The 5th
Marines were assigned to take Obong-Ni ridge, known to the Marines as “No-Name Ridge.”
Supporting them were four M-26s of the 1st Platoon, Company A of the 1st Marine Tank Battalion.
The platoon was led by Lieutenant Granville Sweet. The NKPA 4th Infantry Division opposed the
Marines with a battalion of the 109th Tank Regiment assisting them in turn.
The day’s fighting ended, and the Americans set up defenses for the night. The tanks pulled back
to refuel, but at 8 PM, they received the message code “Flash Purple,” indicating an impending tank
attack. Lt. Sweet ordered his tanks forward as each finished topping off. He selected a narrow spot in
the road and placed three of his tanks side by side, so if the enemy destroyed his vehicles, their
wrecks would block the defile and stop the enemy advance. His tank had a problem with its elevation
mechanism, so it stayed back. The defile was near a curve in the road, and the advancing enemy
armor would be well within range before they spotted the Pershings.
The NKPA T-34-85s advanced, going past American infantry, threatening to cut the lines
between two different units. American troops fired at the tanks with recoilless rifles and bazookas.
The tank’s external fuel tanks were set ablaze, but none were knocked out. They kept ahead, up to and
around a curve in the road. As the four scorched tanks turned the corner they came in sight of the
American M-26s.

The first T-34 was hit by three M-26 rounds which went completely through its armor putting it
out of action. The second moved around the first and was immediately hit by several rounds,
including one in the turret, causing it to slew around, firing its cannon uselessly into the side of the
hill. The third began firing back at the Pershings from behind the wrecks of its two brothers. The
Marines returned fire, hitting it seven times. Three of the crew jumped out and ran off into the

15
 growing darkness, but small arms fire from nearby did them in. The last T-34, commanded by the
NKPA battalion commander, retreated back down the road but was soon knocked out by a US Army
bazooka team.
The tank battle was over and any doubt of the Pershing’s effectiveness was dispelled. The T-34s
armor had proved no match for the American 90mm cannon. The M-26s and their crews were up to
the challenge and the T-34’s aura of invincibility was forever broken. Future engagements only
showed the American tank, properly handled, was superior.

 Aug 17 1950 – Korea: Hill 303 Massacre » This was a war crime that took place during the
opening days of the Korean War on a hill above Waegwan, South Korea during one of the numerous
smaller engagements of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter. Forty-one United States Army (US) prisoners
of war were shot and killed by troops of the North Korean Korean People's Army (KPA) during one
of the numerous smaller engagements of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter.
Operating near Taegu during the Battle of Taegu, elements of the US 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry
Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division were surrounded by KPA troops crossing the Naktong River at Hill
303. Most of the US troops were able to escape but one platoon of mortar operators misidentified
KPA troops as Republic of Korea Army (ROK) reinforcements and was captured. KPA troops held
the Americans on the hill and initially tried to move them across the river and out of the battle, but
they were unable to do so because of a heavy counterattack. US forces eventually broke the KPA
advance, routing the force. As the KPA began to retreat one of their officers ordered the prisoners to
be shot so they would not slow them down.

Several rows of dead bodies lie side by side with bullet wounds to the back

The massacre provoked a response from both sides in the conflict. US commanders broadcast
radio messages and dropped leaflets demanding the senior North Korean commanders be held
responsible for the atrocity. The KPA commanders, concerned about the way their soldiers were
treating prisoners of war, laid out stricter guidelines for handling enemy captives. Memorials were
later constructed on Hill 303 by troops at nearby Camp Carroll, to honor the victims of the massacre.
On a hill above Waegwan, South Korea forty-one United States Army prisoners of war were shot and
killed by troops of the North Korean army during one of the numerous smaller engagements of the
Battle of Pusan Perimeter.

 Aug 17 1960 – Cold War: American Francis Gary Powers pleads guilty at his Moscow trial for
spying over the Soviet Union in a U-2 plane.

16
 Aug 17 1962 – Cold War: East Germans kill man trying to cross Berlin Wall » East German
guards gun down a young man trying to escape across the Berlin Wall into West Berlin and leave him
to bleed to death. It was one of the ugliest incidents to take place at one of the ugliest symbols of the
Cold War.
The 1962 incident occurred almost a year to the day that construction began on the Berlin Wall. In
August 1961, East Berlin authorities began stringing barbed wire across the boundary between East
and West Berlin. In just a matter of days, a concrete block wall was under construction, complete
with guard towers. In the months that followed, more barbed wire, machine guns, searchlights, guard
posts, dogs, mines, and concrete barriers were set up, completely separating the two halves of the
city. American officials condemned the communist action, but did nothing to halt construction of the
wall.
On August 17, 1962, two young men from East Berlin attempted to scramble to freedom across
the wall. One was successful in climbing the last barbed wire fence and, though suffering numerous
cuts, made it safely to West Berlin. While horrified West German guards watched, the second young
man was shot by machine guns on the East Berlin side. He fell but managed to stand up again, reach
the wall, and begin to climb over. More shots rang out. The young man was hit in the back, screamed,
and fell backwards off of the wall. For nearly an hour, he lay bleeding to death and crying for help.
West German guards threw bandages to the man, and an angry crowd of West Berlin citizens
screamed at the East German security men who seemed content to let the young man die. He finally
did die, and East German guards scurried to where he lay and removed his body.
During the history of the Berlin Wall (1961 to 1989), nearly 80 people were killed trying to cross
from East to West Berlin. East German officials always claimed that the wall was erected to protect
the communist regime from the pernicious influences of Western capitalism and culture. In the nearly
30 years that the wall existed, however, no one was ever shot trying to enter East Berlin.

 Aug 17 1968 – Vietnam: Defense Department figures put the number of combat missions flown
over North Vietnam since February 1965 to 117,000, dropping over 2.5 million tons of bombs and
rockets.

 Aug 17 1973 – Vietnam: The United States and Thailand agree to begin negotiations on the
reduction of the 49,000-man American presence in Thailand. With the signing of the Paris Peace
Accords and the Congressional restrictions against further bombing, U.S. bases were no longer
needed. Thailand had provided bases for the U.S. Air Force, which included four tactical fighter
wings from which strategic bombing missions by B-52s over both North and South Vietnam were
flown from. Responding to President Lyndon Johnson’s call for “Free World Military Forces” to
come to the aid of South Vietnam, Thailand had also sent combat troops, which by 1969 totaled
nearly 12,000. The last Thai troops were withdrawn from Vietnam in April 1972.

 Aug 17 1987 – Post WWII: Hitler’s last living henchman dies » Rudolf Hess, Nazi leader Adolf
Hitler’s former deputy, is found strangled to death in Spandau Prison in Berlin at the age of 93,
apparently the victim of suicide. Hess was the last surviving member of Hitler’s inner circle and the
sole prisoner at Spandau since 1966.

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 Hess, an early and devoted follower of Nazism, participated in Hitler’s failed “Beer Hall Putsch” in
1923. He escaped to Austria but voluntarily returned to Germany to join Hitler in Landsberg jail.
During his eight months in prison, Hitler dictated his life story–Mein Kampf–to Hess. In 1933, Hess
became deputy Nazi party leader, but Hitler later lost faith in his leadership ability and made him
second in the line of succession after Hermann Goering.
In May 1941, Hess stole an airplane and landed it in Scotland on a self-styled mission to negotiate
a peace between Britain and Germany. He was immediately arrested by British authorities. His peace
proposal–met with no response from the British–was essentially the same as the peace offer made by
Hitler in July 1940: an end to hostilities with Britain and its empire in exchange for a free German
hand on the European continent. However, by May 1941 the Battle of Britain had been lost by
Germany, and Hitler rightly condemned Hess of suffering from “pacifist delusions” in thinking that a
resurgent Britain would make peace.
Held in Britain until the end of the war, Hess was tried at Nuremberg after the war with other top
Nazis. On October 1, 1946, Hess was sentenced to life in prison. Twelve of the other Nazis on trial
with him were sentenced to be hanged, and others received sentences of 10 to 20 years. Hess was the
only Nazi leader to be sentenced to a life term. He escaped the death penalty mainly because his
mental state was questionable and he had spent the bloodiest years of the Nazi terror locked up in
England. He was held in Spandau Prison in Berlin, and the USSR, the United States, Britain, and
France shared responsibility in guarding him.
Hess died in prison on August 17, 1987, at the age of 93. It was revealed that he had strangled
himself with an electrical cord. His jailers said he had left a note indicating a desire to kill himself.
Rumors circulated that Hess had been murdered, supposedly because he had become a figure of
fascination for neo-Nazis in Europe. The Allied powers released his body to his family, despite fears
that his grave would become a shrine for Nazi sympathizers. At his funeral in a Bavarian graveyard in
late August 1987 scuffles broke out. The New York Times reported that about 200 Nazi
sympathizers, some dressed in "Third Reich uniforms," scuffled with police. Hess was buried in a
family plot and the site did become a gathering place for Nazis. In the summer of 2011, fed up with
visits by Nazis, the cemetery administration exhumed Hess's remains. His body was then cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea in an unknown location.

 Aug 17 1998 – Korea: It was reported that spy satellites had detected a secret underground complex
in North Korea that was suspected of being involved in a nuclear weapons program.

 Aug 17 1999 – Iraq: In Iraq US and British warplanes bombed missile sites in the north and south.

-o-o-O-o-o-

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 Aug 18 1780 – American Revolution: British win at Fishing Creek, lose at Musgrove’s Mill »
Following the Continental Army’s disastrous loss two days earlier at the Battle of Camden, two
bloody engagements leave the Loyalist and Patriot forces each with one more victory in South
Carolina’s brutal civil war.
Led by the fearsome horseman Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, 350 Loyalists located a
Patriot force commanded by Brigadier General Thomas Sumter, known as “The Gamecock” for his
fearless aggression, about 40 miles from Camden. Tarleton caught the Americans totally unprepared,
killing 150, wounding and capturing 300 and freeing 100 British prisoners at Fishing Creek, South
Carolina. Loyalist losses were just 16 killed. This battle made Tarleton, in eyes of the British, a
national hero. Coming just after the Patriot loss at Camden, it appeared that the British would soon
add the Carolinas to Georgia and possess what British General Henry Clinton called “three stripes…
of the detestable thirteen.”
However, that same day, a second battle gave the Patriots a spark of hope. At Musgrove’s Mill on
the Enoree River, Patriot Colonels Elijah Clarke and Isaac Shelby commanded a militia force that
repelled an attack by Loyalists, killing 63, wounding 90 and capturing another 70. Patriot losses were
only four killed and eight wounded and a day that could have cemented Patriot disaster ended instead
in a draw. The site of the Patriots’ desperately needed victory is now a South Carolina state park.
Shelby would go on to guide the Patriots to a brutal victory at Kings Mountain, near the border of
the Carolinas, on 7 OCT, after which his men would proceed to shoot and hang many of their
Loyalist, and fellow Carolinian, prisoners. Casualties and losses: Fishing Creek US 450 – Brit 16 &
Musgrove’s Mill US 16 – Brit 223.

 Aug 18 1795 – Post American Revolution: George Washington signs Jay Treaty with Britain »
This treaty, known officially as the “Treaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation, between His
Britannic Majesty; and The United States of America” attempted to diffuse the tensions between
England and the United States that had risen to renewed heights since the end of the Revolutionary
War. The U.S. government objected to English military posts along America’s northern and western
borders and Britain’s violation of American neutrality in 1794 when the Royal Navy seized American
ships in the West Indies during England’s war with France. The treaty, written and negotiated by
Supreme Court Chief Justice (and Washington appointee) John Jay, was signed by Britain’s King
George III on November 19, 1794 in London. However, after Jay returned home with news of the
treaty’s signing, Washington, now in his second term, encountered fierce Congressional opposition to
the treaty; by 1795, its ratification was uncertain.

Leading the opposition to the treaty were two future presidents: Thomas Jefferson and James
Madison. At the time, Jefferson was in between political positions: he had just completed a term as
Washington’s secretary of state from 1789 to 1793 and had not yet become John Adams’ vice
president. Fellow Virginian James Madison was a member of the House of Representatives.
Jefferson, Madison and other opponents feared the treaty gave too many concessions to the British.
They argued that Jay’s negotiations actually weakened American trade rights and complained that it
committed the U.S. to paying pre-revolutionary debts to English merchants. Washington himself was

19
 not completely satisfied with the treaty, but considered preventing another war with America’s former
colonial master a priority.
Ultimately, the treaty was approved by Congress on August 14, 1795, with exactly the two-thirds
majority it needed to pass; Washington signed the treaty four days later. Washington and Jay may
have won the legislative battle and averted war temporarily, but the conflict at home highlighted a
deepening division between those of different political ideologies in Washington, D.C. Jefferson and
Madison mistrusted Washington’s attachment to maintaining friendly relations with England over
revolutionary France, who would have welcomed the U.S. as a partner in an expanded war against
England.

 Aug 18 1814 – War of 1812: British burn White House and the Capital -- A large force of British
soldier under the command of Major General Robert Ross landed at the mouth of Pawtuxet River.
The British were in a position to move on Washington. Americans had very few troops available to
oppose the oncoming threat. There were only 250 regulars available in the newly formed military
district. The British marched north without any serious harassment from the Americas.

On 24 AUG, at the town of Blandsberg the Americans made a stand. The British were able to
overwhelm the first line of defense at the bridge. In short order the British overwhelmed the second
line of defense, and finally the order was given to retreat from the third line. The British lost at least
64 soldiers and the Americans lost 24 soldiers. There was now nothing standing between the British
and Washington. Back in Washington, Dolly Madison secured her place in history by removing key
documents from the White House as well as the famous painting of George Washington thus ensuring
their safety. The British arrived in Washington and burned the major government buildings including
the President’s House (now known as the White House), the Capital Building, the Treasury, the State
Department, and the War Department. The British stayed in Washington for only one night, their goal
had never been to occupy the city, merely to raid it.

 Aug 18 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern (i.e. Second Battle of Weldon Railroad) – Union
forces partially cut a vital Confederate supply line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the
Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. Although the Yankees succeeded in capturing a section of the line,
the Confederates simply used wagons to bring supplies from the railhead into the city. Casualties and
losses: US 4,296 - CSA 1,620.

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 Aug 18 1914 – WWI: Germany declares war on Russia while President Woodrow Wilson issues his
Proclamation of Neutrality.

 Aug 18 1917 – WWI: Italians launch the 11th Battle of the Isonzo » The Italian army launches
their 11th battle against Austro-Hungarian troops on the Isonzo River, near Italy’s border with
Austria-Hungary.

With its mountainous terrain, the Italian front was the least well-suited of all the fronts of World
War I for offensive warfare. Nonetheless, since 1915 the Italian army had launched no fewer than 10
attempts to overwhelm Austro-Hungarian forces, often with superior numbers, along the Isonzo,
located in the eastern sector of the front in present-day Slovenia. After several quick initial successes
by both sides, battle had settled into a stalemate, as it had on other fronts of the war. Desperate to
make headway and please his more powerful allies, Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna continued to
throw his men against the enemy at the Isonzo, where it was deemed essential to stop the Austrian
advance over the mountains into Italy.
For this 11th attempt, Cadorna sent 51 divisions of men and 5,200 guns against the Austrian
enemy. The Italian advance was impressive, pushing back the Austro-Hungarian line all along the
front, with particular gains in the north by the Italian 2nd Army, led by Luigi Capello. In total, the
Italians captured five mountain peaks and took over 20,000 Austrian (and some German) prisoners
before the offensive ran out of steam and the Austro-Hungarian line eventually held their positions.
The Italian attack was halted on 12 SEP; they would make no further attempts on the Isonzo. The
Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo—also known as the Battle of Caporetto—in late October 1917 marked a
spectacular success for the Central Powers, and almost succeeded in forcing Italy out of the war
altogether. With substantial Allied aid, and a new commander in chief, Armando Diaz, replacing
Cadorna, Italy continued the fight. By the time World War I ended, in November 1918, half of the
entire number of Italian casualties—300,000 out of 600,000—had been incurred along the Isonzo.

 Aug 18 1941 – WWII: Hitler suspends euthanasia program » Adolf Hitler orders that the
systematic murder of the mentally ill and handicapped be brought to an end because of protests within
Germany.
In 1939, Dr. Viktor Brack, head of Hitler’s Euthanasia Department, oversaw the creation of the
T.4 program, which began as the systematic killing of children deemed “mentally defective.”
Children were transported from all over Germany to a Special Psychiatric Youth Department and
killed. Later, certain criteria were established for non-Jewish children. They had to be “certified”

21
 mentally ill, schizophrenic, or incapable of working for one reason or another. Jewish children
already in mental hospitals, whatever the reason or whatever the prognosis, were automatically to be
subject to the program. The victims were either injected with lethal substances or were led to
“showers” where the children sat as gas flooded the room through water pipes. The program was then
expanded to adults.
It wasn’t long before protests began mounting within Germany, especially by doctors and clergy.
Some had the courage to write Hitler directly and describe the T.4 program as “barbaric”; others
circulated their opinions more discreetly. Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and the man who would
direct the systematic extermination of European Jewry, had only one regret: that the SS had not been
put in charge of the whole affair. “We know how to deal with it correctly, without causing useless
uproar among the people.”
Finally, in 1941, Bishop Count Clemens von Galen denounced the euthanasia program from his
pulpit. Hitler did not need such publicity. He ordered the program suspended, at least in Germany.
But 50,000 people had already fallen victim to it. It would be revived in occupied Poland.

 Aug 18 1943 – WWII: Bombing of Peenemünde » The bombing was carried out on several
occasions as part of the overall Operation Crossbow to disrupt German secret weapon development.
The first raid on Peenemünde was Operation Hydra of the night of 17/18 August 1943, involving 596
heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force. Subsequent attacks were carried out in daylight raids by the
US Army Air Force's Eighth Air Force in 1944 on 17 JUL and 4 & 25 AUG. Among those on the
ground at Peenemunde were Walter Dornberger, noted rocket expert Werner von Braun, and Nazi
female test pilot Hanna Reitsch, who later claimed to have slept through the raid. Some markers were
dropped too far south, and ultimately a number of buildings remained undamaged, while many bombs
hit the forced labor camps, killing between 5-600 prisoners. Sufficient damage was caused to delay
the V-weapons program for some months however, and the senior engineer Dr Walter Thiel was
among the dead.

 Aug 18 1944 – WWII: Japanese Carrier Taiyo » The USS Rasher submarine sinks Japanese
aircraft carrier Taiyo with a crew of 747 off Luzon in the Philippines as well as a troop transport, a
cargo ship, and an oiler.

In SEP 1942 the Taijo had also been torpedoed by an American submarine. After receiving
emergency repairs at Truk, she was sent to Japan in OCT for permanent repairs and conversion which
were completed in November 1943. On 19 January 1944 she was again torpedoed, this time in the
bow causing it to sag. While en route to Japan, part of her bow broke off in a storm and caused the
forward end of the flight deck to collapse. She had to steam stern-first to Yokosuka for repairs that
were completed at the end of June 1944. When she was torpedoed for the third time her aft avgas
tank exploded causing the carrier with a crew of 747 to sink in about half-an-hour with heavy
casualties.

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 Aug 18 1951 – Korea: Battle of Bloody Ridge begins which continued until 5 SEP

 Aug 18 1965 – Vietnam: Marines launch Operation Starlite » After a deserter from the First
Vietcong Regiment had revealed that an attack was imminent against the U.S. base at Chu Lai, the
Marines launch Operation Starlite in the Van Tuong peninsula in Quang Ngai Province. In this, the
first major U.S. ground battle of the Vietnam War, 5,500 Marines destroyed a Viet Cong stronghold,
scoring a resounding victory. During the operation, which lasted six days, ground forces, artillery
from Chu Lai, close air support, and naval gunfire combined to kill nearly 700 Vietcong soldiers.
U.S. losses included 45 Marines dead and more than 200 wounded.

 Aug 18 1966 – Vietnam: Australians defeat VC at Long Tan » The First Australian Task Force
(ATF) inflicts a major defeat on Viet Cong forces in Phuoc Tuy Province. Australia had first sent
troops to Vietnam in 1962 and eventually expanded its commitment in response to President Lyndon
Johnson’s call for “Free World Military Forces” to form an alliance of “Many Flags” in South
Vietnam. By 1966, the First Australian Task Force included two infantry battalions and associated
logistical support elements; it had also been joined by a New Zealand unit made up of two infantry
companies and a Special Air Service troops. In the Battle of Long Tan, the ATF acquitted itself very
well, inflicting a major defeat on the communist forces, killing 245 while sustaining 17 dead.

 Aug 18 1968 – Vietnam: Communists launch new offensive in Saigon » The North Vietnamese
and Viet Cong launch a limited offensive in the south with 19 separate attacks throughout South
Vietnam. In the heaviest fighting in three months, Communist troops attacked key positions along the
Cambodian border in Tay Ninh and Binh Long provinces, northwest of Saigon. In Tay Ninh, 600 Viet
Cong, supported by elements of two North Vietnamese divisions, attacked the provincial capital,
capturing several government installations. U.S. reinforcements from the Twenty-fifth Infantry
Division were rushed to the scene and after a day of house-to-house fighting expelled the communists
from the city.

 Aug 18 1971 – Vietnam: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw troops from Vietnam »
Australia and New Zealand announce the end of the year as the deadline for withdrawal of their
respective contingents from Vietnam. The Australians had 6,000 men in South Vietnam and the New
Zealanders numbered 264. Both nations agreed to leave behind small training contingents. Australian
Prime Minister William McMahon proclaimed that the South Vietnamese forces were now able to
assume Australia’s role in Phuoc Tuy province, southeast of Saigon and that Australia would give
South Vietnam $28 million over the next three years for civilian projects. Total Australian losses for
the period of their commitment in Vietnam were 473 dead and 2,202 wounded; the monetary cost of
the war was $182 million for military expenses and $16 million in civilian assistance to South
Vietnam.

 Aug 18 1976 – Korea: North Korean soldiers killed two American soldiers in the Joint Security
Area of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, heightening tensions over a 100-foot (30 m) poplar tree that
blocked the line of sight between a United Nations Command checkpoint and an observation post.

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 Led to Operation Paul Bunyan, an operation that cut down the tree with a show of force to intimidate
North Korea into backing down, which it did.

 Aug 18 1991 – Cold War: Soviet hard-liners launch coup against Gorbachev » Soviet President
Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest during a coup by high-ranking members of his own
government, military and police forces.

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest

Since becoming secretary of the Communist Party in 1985 and president of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1988, Gorbachev had pursued comprehensive reforms of the Soviet
system. Combining perestroika (“restructuring”) of the economy–including a greater emphasis on
free-market policies–and glasnost (“openness”) in diplomacy, he greatly improved Soviet relations
with Western democracies, particularly the United States. Meanwhile, though, within the USSR,
Gorbachev faced powerful critics, including conservative, hard-line politicians and military officials
who thought he was driving the Soviet Union toward its downfall and making it a second-rate power.
On the other side were even more radical reformers–particularly Boris Yeltsin, president of the most
powerful socialist republic, Russia–who complained that Gorbachev was just not working fast
enough.

The August 1991 coup was carried out by the hard-line elements within Gorbachev’s own
administration, as well as the heads of the Soviet army and the KGB, or secret police. Detained at his
vacation villa in the Crimea, he was placed under house arrest and pressured to give his resignation,
which he refused to do. Claiming Gorbachev was ill, the coup leaders, headed by former vice
president Gennady Yanayev, declared a state of emergency and attempted to take control of the
government.
Yeltsin and his backers from the Russian parliament then stepped in, calling on the Russian people
to strike and protest the coup. When soldiers tried to arrest Yeltsin, they found the way to the
parliamentary building blocked by armed and unarmed civilians. Yeltsin himself climbed aboard a
tank and spoke through a megaphone, urging the troops not to turn against the people and
condemning the coup as a “new reign of terror.” The soldiers backed off, some of them choosing to
join the resistance. After thousands took the streets to demonstrate, the coup collapsed after only three
days.
Gorbachev was released and flown to Moscow, but his regime had been dealt a deadly blow. Over
the next few months, he dissolved the Communist Party, granted independence to the Baltic states,

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 and proposed a looser, more economics-based federation among the remaining republics. In
December 1991, Gorbachev resigned. Yeltsin capitalized on his defeat of the coup, emerging from
the rubble of the former Soviet Union as the most powerful figure in Moscow and the leader of the
newly formed Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

-o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 19 1779 – American Revolution: Americans raid Paulus Hook, New Jersey » A Patriot
force consisting of 300 men led by Major Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee assaults the defensive
positions of the British at Paulus Hook, New Jersey, now known as Jersey City. Lee wins one of only
eight medals awarded by Congress during the war–and the only one awarded to a soldier beneath the
rank of general–for his role in this action.
Although Lee planned to attack immediately after midnight, his forces set off later than expected
and lost some of their number in their march through the surrounding marshland. Still, the 23-year-
old College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) graduate was able to capture the position,
possibly because the British mistook the Patriots for Hessian mercenaries until they reached the fort’s
gate.

Although the Patriots damaged the fort, took 50 lives and 158 prisoners, they failed to destroy the
structure or spike its cannon. With daybreak approaching, Lee decided to withdraw, concerned that
the British would send reinforcements from New York City across the Hudson River. Thus the fort
remained in British control until the war ended and the British evacuated and sailed for home on
November 22, 1783. The neighborhood erected a monument in memory of the battle in 1903.
Despite the limited success of the action, it gave Patriot morale a major boost. Following the
assault, several officers jealous of the flamboyant Lee’s success drafted a substantial set of charges,
including reckless endangerment of his men, against him, leading to his court martial. Lee offered his
own persuasive defense and was not only vindicated but praised for his actions by the court; he was
then awarded the Congressional medal.

 Aug 19 1782 – American Revolution: Battle of Blue Licks » The last major engagement of the
war, almost ten months after the surrender of the British commander Charles Cornwallis following
the Siege of Yorktown. Casualties and losses: US 83 - GB/Indians 8.

25
 Aug 19 1812 – War of 1812: Old Ironsides earns its name » The U.S. Navy frigate Constitution
defeats the British frigate Guerrière in a furious engagement off the coast of Nova Scotia. Witnesses
claimed that the British shot merely bounced off the Constitution‘s sides, as if the ship were made of
iron rather than wood. By the war’s end, “Old Ironsides” destroyed or captured seven more British
ships. The success of the USS Constitution against the supposedly invincible Royal Navy provided a
tremendous boost in morale for the young American republic.

The Constitution was one of six frigates that Congress requested be built in 1794 to help protect
American merchant fleets from attacks by Barbary pirates and harassment by British and French
forces. It was constructed in Boston, and the bolts fastening its timbers and copper sheathing were
provided by the industrialist and patriot Paul Revere. Launched on October 21, 1797, the Constitution
was 204 feet long, displaced 2,200 tons, and was rated as a 44-gun frigate (although it often carried as
many as 50 guns).
In July 1798 it was put to sea with a crew of 450 and cruised the West Indies, protecting U.S.
shipping from French privateers. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson ordered the American warship
to the Mediterranean to fight Barbary pirates off the coast of Tripoli. The vessel performed
commendably during the conflict, and in 1805 a peace treaty with Tripoli was signed on the
Constitution‘s deck.
When war broke out with Britain in June 1812, the Constitution was commanded by Isaac Hull,
who served as lieutenant on the ship during the Tripolitan War. Scarcely a month later, on 16 JUL,
the Constitution encountered a squadron of five British ships off Egg Harbor, New Jersey. Finding
itself surrounded, the Constitution was preparing to escape when suddenly the wind died. With both
sides dead in the water and just out of gunnery range, a legendary slow-speed chase ensued. For 36
hours, the Constitution‘s crew kept their ship just ahead of the British by towing the frigate with
rowboats and by tossing the ship’s anchor ahead of the ship and then reeling it in. At dawn on 18
JUL, a breeze sprang, and the Constitution was far enough ahead of its pursuers to escape by sail.
One month later, on 19 AUG, the Constitution caught the British warship Guerrière alone about
600 miles east of Boston. After considerable maneuvering, the Constitution delivered its first
broadside, and for 20 minutes the American and British vessels bombarded each other in close and
violent action. The British man-of-war was de-masted and rendered a wreck while the Constitution
escaped with only minimal damage. The unexpected victory of Old Ironsides against a British frigate
helped unite America behind the war effort and made Commander Hull a national hero. The

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 Constitution went on to defeat or capture seven more British ships in the War of 1812 and ran the
British blockade of Boston twice.
After the war, Old Ironsides served as the flagship of the navy’s Mediterranean squadron and in
1828 was laid up in Boston. Two years later, the navy considered scrapping the Constitution, which
had become unseaworthy, leading to an outcry of public support for preserving the famous warship.
The navy refurbished the Constitution, and it went on to serve as the flagship of the Mediterranean,
Pacific, and Home squadrons. In 1844, the frigate left New York City on a global journey that
included visits to numerous international ports as a goodwill agent of the United States. In the early
1850s, it served as flagship of the African Squadron and patrolled the West African coast looking for
slave traders.
In 1855, the Constitution retired from active military service, but the famous vessel continued to
serve the United States, first as a training ship and later as a touring national landmark. Since 1934, it
has been based at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston. Over the years, Old Ironsides has enjoyed a
number of restorations, the most recent of which was completed in 1997, allowing it to sail for the
first time in 116 years. Today, the Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat.

 Aug 19 1862 – Native Americans: During an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to
attack heavily-defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white
settlers along the way.

 Aug 19 1919 – WWI: U-24 sank the SS Arabic » Outward bound for the United States, 50 mi
south of Kinsale Ireland, SS Arabic was zigzagging and the commander of U-24 said that he thought
she was trying to ram his submarine. He fired a single torpedo which struck the liner aft, and she sank
within 10 minutes, killing 44 passengers and crew, 3 of whom were American. On 22 AUG U.S.
President Wilson's press officer issued a statement to the effect that the White House staff was
speculating on what to do if the Arabic investigation indicated that there had been a deliberate
German attack. If true, there was speculation that the US would sever relations with Germany, while
if it was untrue, negotiations were possible.
At the same time, US Secretary of State Robert Lansing approved Assistant Secretary Chandler
Anderson's suggestion for a meeting with German Ambassador Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff to
explain informally that if Germany abandoned submarine warfare, Britain would be the only violator
of American neutral rights. Anderson met Bernstorff at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in New York and
reported to Lansing that Bernstorff had immediately recognized the advantage of making Britain
responsible for illegal acts unless Britain ended its war zone.
Following the Arabic incident, German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg and Foreign
Secretary Gottlieb von Jagow decided to tell the Americans about their secret orders of 1 and 5 JUN,
which instructed submarine commanders not to torpedo passenger ships without notice and provisions
for the safety of passengers and crew, and on 25 AUG Bethmann-Hollweg informed US Ambassador
James W. Gerard about the June orders. Bethmann-Hollweg and von Jagow also sought the Kaiser's
approval to spare all passenger ships from submarine attack. This proposal angered the German
admiralty and Alfred von Tirpitz offered to resign his post as Naval Secretary if approved. The
Kaiser rejected Tirpitz's offer and supported Bethmann. On 28 AUG the Chancellor issued new

27
 orders to submarine commanders and relayed them to Washington. The new orders stated that until
further notice, all passenger ships could only be sunk after warning and the saving of passengers and
crews. In his note to Bernstorff, Bethmann instructed him to negotiate as follows:
o Offer Hague arbitration for the RMS Lusitania and Arabic incidents
o Passenger liners to be sunk only after warning and saving of lives, provided they do not flee or
resist
o US to endeavor to reestablish free seas on the basis of the Declaration of London

 Aug 19 1919 – WWI: President Wilson appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee »
In a break with conventional practice, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson appears personally before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee to argue in favor of its ratification of the Versailles Treaty, the
peace settlement that ended the First World War.

The previous 8 JUL, Wilson had returned from Paris, France, where the treaty’s terms had been
worked out over a contentious six months. Two days later, he went before the U.S. Senate to present
the Treaty of Versailles, including the covenant of the League of Nations, the international peace-
keeping organization that Wilson had envisioned in his famous “Fourteen Points” speech of 1918 and
had worked for so adamantly in Paris. “Dare we reject it?” he asked the senators, “and break the heart
of the world?”
The 96 members of the Senate, for their part, were divided. The central concern with the treaty
involved the League of Nations. A crucial article of the league covenant, around which much debate
would center in the weeks to come, required all member states “to respect and preserve as against
external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all Members of the
League.” This principle of collective security was thought by many to be an obstruction to America’s
much vaunted independence. At least six Republican senators, dubbed the “Irreconcilables,” were
irrevocably opposed to the treaty, while nine more were “Mild Reservationists” whose most
important concern about the treaty, and specifically the League of Nations, was that American
sovereignty be protected. Some three dozen Republicans were uncommitted as of yet. While most
Democrats publicly went along with Wilson, many privately thought more along the lines of the Mild
Reservationists.
So things stood on 31 JUL, when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, headed by the
Republican Senator (and Wilson’s nemesis) Henry Cabot Lodge, began six weeks of hearings on the

28
 Versailles Treaty. Lodge’s Republicans had a majority of only two in the Senate, and Wilson could
conceivably have won over the moderates among them—the Mild Reservationists and those
undecided—to his side, thus building a coalition in favor of ratification, by accepting some
reservations. Wilson was absolutely unwilling, however, to accept any degree of change or
compromise to the treaty or to his precious League of Nations. His mental and physical health already
deteriorating over that summer, Wilson broke tradition to make a personal appearance before the
committee on 19 AUG, making it clear that he continued to stand firm on all points.
Four days later, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted on the first of many amendments
to the treaty—the reversal of the award to Japan of the Shantung Peninsula, and its return to Chinese
control. Furious, Wilson decided to take his case directly to the American people. On September 2,
1919, he began a whistle-stop tour across the country, sometimes making as many as three speeches
in one day. The strain of the trip destroyed his health; suffering from exhaustion, he returned to
Washington in late September, and the rest of the tour was canceled. On 2 OCT, back at the White
House, Wilson suffered a massive stroke that left him partially paralyzed; he would never effectively
function as president again.
He continued to influence the proceedings on the treaty, however, all the way from his sickbed.
The treaty made its way through the Senate all through October and part of November, as a total of 12
amendments were defeated by Democrats and moderate Republicans. Lodge marshaled most of the
Republicans together, and their votes were enough to attach a number of reservations before
assembling a vote on ratification—the most crucial was attached to Article X, saying the U.S. would
not act to protect the territorial integrity of any League member unless Congress gave its approval.
Wilson, on his sickbed, remained determined; when told of the reservation, he said “That cuts the
very heart out of the treaty.” After Wilson expressed his vehement opposition to ratification on these
terms, the Senate took a vote on Lodge’s motion. It was defeated by a combination of the majority of
the Democrats, loyal to Wilson, and the Republican Irreconcilables, who opposed ratification in any
form. A last-ditch effort by moderates to find a compromise came close to succeeding—against
Wilson’s best efforts to block it—and when the Senate voted on March 19, 1920, on a new
ratification resolution, 23 Democrats voted in favor, and the resolution passed. It failed to win the
necessary two-thirds majority, however, and the Senate consequently refused to ratify the Treaty of
Versailles.
Though Wilson, the newly anointed winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, bemoaned the rejection of
the treaty, he never admitted any doubts about his resolute unwillingness to compromise. Though the
United States later signed separate treaties with Germany, Austria and Hungary, it never joined the
League of Nations, a circumstance that almost certainly contributed to that organization’s inefficacy
in the decades to follow, up until the outbreak of the Second World War.

 Aug 19 1934 – Pre WWII: Adolf Hitler becomes president of Germany » Adolf Hitler, already
chancellor, is also elected president of Germany in an unprecedented consolidation of power in the
short history of the republic.
In 1932, German President Paul von Hindenburg, old, tired, and a bit senile, had won re-election
as president, but had lost a considerable portion of his right/conservative support to the Nazi Party.
Those close to the president wanted a cozier relationship to Hitler and the Nazis. Hindenburg had

29
 contempt for the Nazis’ lawlessness, but ultimately agreed to oust his chancellor, Heinrich Bruning,
for Franz von Papen, who was willing to appease the Nazis by lifting the ban on Hitler’s Brown
Shirts and unilaterally canceling Germany’s reparation payments, imposed by the Treaty of Versailles
at the close of World War I.

But Hitler was not appeased. He wanted the chancellorship for himself. Papen’s policies failed on
another front: His authoritarian rule alienated his supporters, and he too was forced to resign. He then
made common cause with Hitler, persuading President Hindenburg to appoint Hitler chancellor and
himself vice-chancellor. He promised the president that he would restrain Hitler’s worst tendencies
and that a majority of the Cabinet would go to non-Nazis. As Hindenburg’s current chancellor could
no longer gain a majority in the Reichstag, and Hitler could bring together a larger swath of the
masses and a unified right/conservative/nationalist coalition, the president gave in. In January 1933,
Hitler was named chancellor of Germany.
But that was not enough for Hitler either. In February 1933, Hitler blamed a devastating Reichstag
fire on the communists (its true cause remains a mystery) and convinced President Hindenburg to
sign a decree suspending individual and civil liberties, a decree Hitler used to silence his political
enemies with false arrests. Upon the death of Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler proceeded to purge the
Brown Shirts (his storm troopers), the head of which, Ernst Roem, had begun voicing opposition to
the Nazi Party’s terror tactics. Hitler had Roem executed without trial, which encouraged the army
and other reactionary forces within the country to urge Hitler to further consolidate his power by
merging the presidency and the chancellorship. This would make Hitler commander of the army as
well. A plebiscite vote was held on 19 AUG. Intimidation, and fear of the communists, brought Hitler
a 90 percent majority. He was now, for all intents and purposes, dictator.

 Aug 19 1940 – U.S. Air Force: First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber » It was named
in honor of military aviation pioneer General Billy Mitchell. For instructions on how to fly one go to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1kQzIolmIc.

30
 Aug 19 1942 – WWII: Allies raid Dieppe » The Dieppe Raid, also known as the Battle of
Dieppe, Operation Rutter and, later, Operation Jubilee, was an Allied daylight attack on the German-
occupied port of Dieppe. The assault began at 5:00 a.m. and by 10:50 a.m. the Allied commanders
were forced to call a retreat. Over 6,000 infantrymen, predominantly Canadian, were supported by a
Canadian Armoured regiment and a strong force of Royal Navy and smaller Royal Air Force landing
contingents. Objectives included seizing and holding the major port for a short period, both to prove
that it was possible and to gather intelligence. Upon retreat, the Allies also wanted to destroy coastal
defenses, port structures and all strategic buildings. The raid had the added objectives of boosting
morale and demonstrating the firm commitment of the United Kingdom to open a Western front in
Europe.
Virtually none of these objectives was met. Allied fire support was grossly inadequate and the
raiding force was largely trapped on the beach by obstacles and German fire. After less than 10 hours
since the first landings, the last Allied troops had all been either killed, evacuated, or left behind to be
captured by the Germans. Instead of a demonstration of resolve, the bloody fiasco showed the world
that the Allies could not hope to invade France for a long time. Some intelligence successes were
achieved, including electronic intelligence.
A total of 3,623 of the 6,086 men (almost 60%) who made it ashore were either killed, wounded,
or captured. The Royal Air Force failed to lure the Luftwaffe into open battle, and lost 96 aircraft (at
least 32 to flak or accidents), compared to 48 lost by the Luftwaffe. The Royal Navy lost 33 landing
craft and one destroyer. The events at Dieppe later influenced preparations for the North African
(Operation Torch) and Normandy landings (Operation Overlord).

 Aug 19 1953 – Cold War: CIA-assisted coup overthrows government of Iran » The Iranian
military, with the support and financial assistance of the United States government, overthrows the
government of Premier Mohammed Mosaddeq and reinstates the Shah of Iran. Iran remained a solid
Cold War ally of the United States until a revolution ended the Shah’s rule in 1979.
Mosaddeq came to prominence in Iran in 1951 when he was appointed premier. A fierce
nationalist, Mosaddeq immediately began attacks on British oil companies operating in his country,
calling for expropriation and nationalization of the oil fields. His actions brought him into conflict
with the pro-Western elites of Iran and the Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi. Indeed, the Shah
dismissed Mossadeq in mid-1952, but massive public riots condemning the action forced the Shah to
reinstate Mossadeq a short time later. U.S. officials watched events in Iran with growing suspicion.

31
 Premier Mohammed Mosaddeq and Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

British intelligence sources, working with the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), came
to the conclusion that Mossadeq had communist leanings and would move Iran into the Soviet orbit if
allowed to stay in power. Working with Shah, the CIA and British intelligence began to engineer a
plot to overthrow Mossadeq. The Iranian premier, however, got wind of the plan and called his
supporters to take to the streets in protest. At this point, the Shah left the country for “medical
reasons.” While British intelligence backed away from the debacle, the CIA continued its covert
operations in Iran. Working with pro-Shah forces and, most importantly, the Iranian military, the CIA
cajoled, threatened, and bribed its way into influence and helped to organize another coup attempt
against Mossadeq. On August 19, 1953, the military, backed by street protests organized and financed
by the CIA, overthrew Mossadeq. The Shah quickly returned to take power and, as thanks for the
American help, signed over 40 percent of Iran’s oil fields to U.S. companies.
Mossadeq was arrested, served three years in prison, and died under house arrest in 1967. The
Shah became one of America’s most trusted Cold War allies, and U.S. economic and military aid
poured into Iran during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. In 1978, however, anti-Shah and anti-American
protests broke out in Iran and the Shah was toppled from power in 1979. Angry militants seized the
U.S. embassy and held the American staff hostage until January 1981. Nationalism, not communism,
proved to be the most serious threat to U.S. power in Iran.

 Aug 19 1960 – Cold War: Captured U.S. spy pilot sentenced in Russia » In the USSR, captured
American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for his confessed
espionage.
On May 1, 1960, Powers took off from Pakistan at the controls of an ultra-sophisticated Lockheed
U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. A CIA-employed pilot, he was to fly over some 2,000 miles
of Soviet territory to BodØ military airfield in Norway, collecting intelligence information en route.
Roughly halfway through his journey, he was shot down by the Soviets over Sverdlovsk in the Ural
Mountains. Forced to bail out at 15,000 feet, he survived the parachute jump but was promptly
arrested by Soviet authorities.

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 A photograph of Powers while he was in Soviet custody, after being captured.

On 5 MAY, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced that the American spy aircraft had been
shot down and two days later revealed that Powers was alive and well and had confessed to being on
an intelligence mission for the CIA. On 7 MAY, the United States acknowledged that the U-2 had
probably flown over Soviet territory but denied that it had authorized the mission. On 16 MAY,
leaders of the United States, the USSR, Britain, and France met in Paris for a long-awaited summit
meeting. The four powers were to discuss tensions in the two Germanys and negotiate new
disarmament treaties. However, at the first session, the summit collapsed after President Dwight D.
Eisenhower refused to apologize to Khrushchev for the U-2 incident. Khrushchev also canceled an
invitation for Eisenhower to visit the USSR.
In August, Powers pleaded guilty to espionage charges in Moscow and was sentenced to 10 years
imprisonment–three in prison and seven in a prison colony. However, only 18 months later, the
Soviets agreed to release him in exchange for Rudolf Abel, a senior KGB spy who was caught and
convicted in the United States five years earlier. On February 10, 1962, Powers and Abel were
brought to separate sides of the Glienicker Bridge, which connected East and West Berlin across Lake
Wannsee. As the spies waited, negotiators talked in the center of the bridge where a white line
divided East from West. Finally, Powers and Abel were waved forward and walked past each other to
freedom.
Upon returning to the United States, Powers was cleared by the CIA and the Senate of any
personal blame for the U-2 incident. In 1970, he published a book, Operation Overflight, about the
incident and in 1977 was killed in the crash of a helicopter he flew as a reporter for a Los Angeles
television station.

 Aug 19 1968 – Vietnam: Many Americans against a bombing halt » A Harris survey indicates
that 61 percent of those polled are against calling a halt to the bombing in Vietnam. President
Johnson, in a major speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Detroit, challenged Hanoi
to respond to the limitations of the bombing campaign that he had announced in March. But he
refused to curtail other military activities in Southeast Asia, saying that, “there are some among us
who appear to be searching for a formula which would get us out of Vietnam and Asia on any terms,
leaving the people of South Vietnam and Laos and Thailand… to an uncertain fate.”

33
 Aug 19 1970 – Vietnam: Cambodia and U.S. sign military aid pact » Cambodia and the U.S.
sign a military aid agreement worth $40 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1971. The
equipment included small arms, ammunition, communications equipment, spare parts and training
funds.

 Aug 19 1972 – Vietnam: Democratic candidate McGovern attacks Nixon policy in Vietnam »
George McGovern attacks U.S. pacification techniques of applying “massive firepower and free-fire
zones and [clearing] 6 million people out of their homes.” McGovern, a senator from South Dakota,
had long been an outspoken opponent of the war in Southeast Asia and had begun calling for
withdrawal of U.S. troops in early 1965. In 1972, he campaigned on a liberal reform platform, calling
for an immediate end to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He also advocated making the
Democratic party more responsive to youth, women, and minorities.

Despite McGovern’s attempt to appear more “mainstream,” his opponent, incumbent President
Richard Nixon, effectively portrayed McGovern as a radical and was able to draw moderate
Democrats to the Republican camp. In addition, many of McGovern’s domestic reform ideas
alienated many old-line Democrats who also switched their support to Nixon. McGovern’s campaign
was further damaged when his first choice for running mate, Thomas Eagleton, admitted that he had
been treated for mental illness. His second choice, Sargent Shriver, added very little to the ticket.
Badly split, the Democrats suffered one of the worst defeats in U.S. political history when Nixon and
Spiro T. Agnew won in a landslide.

 Aug 19 1972 – Vietnam: In South Vietnam, the Nguyen Hue Offensive continues with major
fighting near the northern district capital Que Son and neighboring Fire Base Ross. After a heavy
bombardment, the North Vietnamese captured both the town and the base, giving the Communist
control of most of Quang Nam province.

 Aug 19 1981 – U.S.*Libya: Two U.S. Navy F-14 jet fighters shoot down two Soviet-built Libyan
SU-22 Fitters over the Mediterranean about 60 miles from the Libyan coast after being fired on by
one of the Libyan aircraft. The U.S. said the two Libyan fighters were downed by Sidewinder
missiles fired by the F-14's in a one-minute dogfight over the Gulf, a broad body of water that Libya
claims as part of its territorial waters but that the United States regards as international waters.

 Aug 19 2010 – U.S.*Iraq: Operation Iraqi Freedom » The Operation which began on 19
March 2003, ends with the last of the United States brigade combat teams crossing the border to
Kuwait. The military objectives of Operation Iraqi Freedom had consisted of:

34
  First, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein;
 Second, identifying, isolating and eliminating, Iraq's weapons of mass destruction;
 Third, searching for, capturing, and driving out terrorists from the country;
 Fourth, collecting intelligence related to terrorist networks;
 Fifth, collecting such intelligence as was related to the global network of illicit weapons of
mass destruction;
 Sixth, to end sanctions and to immediately deliver humanitarian support to the displaced and
to many needed citizens;
 Seventh, to secure Iraq's oil fields and resources, which belonged to the Iraqi people; and
 Finally, to help the Iraqi people create conditions for a transition to a representative self-
government.
At the time, Operation Iraqi Freedom consisted of the largest special operations force since the
Vietnam War. While the vast majority of special operations forces were American, the United
Kingdom and the Australian militaries also provided forces. In northern Iraq there was a significant
special operations presence. Coalition personnel worked with Kurdish fighters against the regime.
SOF helped bring in the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and marked and called in coalition air power on
regime targets. Special operations forces were also responsible for attacking a number of specific
targets such as airfields, weapons of mass destruction sites, and command and control headquarters.
In the south, special operations personnel gave aid to conventional forces and did some of the work in
the cities to help the Shi'ia elements.
Effective 1 SEP the U.S. mission in Iraq was renamed from Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation
New Dawn to coincide with US forces' shift to an advisory, assistance, training, and equipping role.

-o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 20 1794 – American Revolution: Battle of Fallen Timbers » When President George
Washington confronted a frontier Indian crisis in 1794, he called upon Gen. Anthony Wayne to bring
the ongoing violence to a close. In the final battle of the Northwest Indian War Wayne was
victorious and gained much of what would become Ohio and Indiana for the U.S. in the Treaty of
Greenville signed a year later . General “Mad Anthony” Wayne proved that the fragile young republic
can counter a military threat when he puts down Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket’s confederacy near
present-day Toledo, Ohio, with the newly created 3,000-man strong Legion of the United State.

An 1896 depiction of the battle from Harper's Magazine (left) and commemorative issue 1929 stamp (right)

 Aug 20 1862 – Civil War: “The Prayer of Twenty Millions” » New York Tribune editor Horace
Greeley publishes a passionate editorial calling on President Abraham Lincoln to declare
emancipation for all slaves in Union-held territory. Greeley’s blistering words voiced the impatience

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 of many Northern abolitionists; but unbeknownst to Greeley and the public, Lincoln was already
moving in the direction of emancipation.

 Aug 20 1794 – Native Americans: Battle of Fallen Timbers » In the Northwest Indian War
General “Mad Anthony” Wayne proves that the fragile young republic can counter a military threat
when he puts down Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket’s confederacy near present-day Toledo, Ohio, with
the newly created 3,000-man strong Legion of the United States at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
Although the Treaty of Paris ceded the so-called Northwest Territory, stretching west to the
Mississippi River and south to Spanish Florida to the United States, the British failed to abandon their
forts in the region and continued to support their Indian allies in skirmishes with American settlers.
Two earlier Army expeditions into the Ohio territory by Generals Josiah Harmar and Arthur St. Clair
in 1790 and 1791, respectively, failed to end the unrest. In fact, St. Clair’s effort concluded with an
Indian victory and 630 dead American soldiers.

Wayne had earned the moniker “mad” for his enthusiastic and successful undertaking of a
seemingly impossible mission in 1779 at Stony Point, New York; much of Wayne’s subsequent
career involved divesting Native Americans of their land. Following the victory at Yorktown, Wayne
traveled to Georgia, where he negotiated treaties with the Creeks and Cherokees. They paid dearly in
land for their decision to side with the British, and Georgia paid Wayne in land—giving him a large
plantation–for his efforts on their behalf.
When President George Washington confronted the frontier Indian crisis in 1794, he called upon
Wayne to bring the ongoing violence to a close. Wayne commanded about 2,000 men, with Joseph
Bartholomew, Choctaw and Chickasaw men serving as his scouts. Wayne's army was buttressed by
about 1000 mounted Kentucky militiamen under Gen Charles Scott. Wayne's Legion arrived in the
Maumee River Valley in Aug. 1794, where he constructed Fort Defiance and Fort Deposit in
preparation for the battle.
For the battle Chief Blue Jacket took a defensive position along the Maumee River, not far from
present-day Toledo, Ohio, where a stand of trees (the "fallen timbers") had been blown down by a
recent storm. The Native American forces, numbering about 1,500, were composed of Blue Jacket's
Shawnees, Buckongahelas's Delawares, Miamis led by Little Turtle, Wyandots led by Roundhead
(Wyandot), Ojibwas, Ottawas led by Turkey Foot, Potawatomis, Mingos, and a British company of
Canadian militiamen under Captain Alexander McKillop. The battle lasted less than an hour. Wayne's
soldiers closed and pressed the attack with a bayonet charge. His cavalry outflanked Blue Jacket's
warriors, who were easily routed. The Indian warriors fled towards Fort Miami but were surprised to
find the gates closed against them. Major William Campbell, the British commander of the fort,

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 refused to assist them, unwilling to start a war with the United States. Wayne's army had won a
decisive victory.
Wayne's army had lost 33 men and had about 100 wounded. They reported that they had found 30-
40 dead warriors. Alexander McKee of the British Indian Department reported that the Indian
confederacy lost 19 warriors killed, including Chief Turkey Foot of the Ottawa. Six white men
fighting on the Native American side were also killed, and Chiefs Egushaway and Little Otter of the
Ottawa were wounded. The soldiers spent several days destroying the nearby Native American
villages and crops, then decamped.
Wayne was victorious and gained much of what would become Ohio and Indiana for the U.S. in
the Treaty of Greenville signed a year later. After withdrawing from the area, Wayne marched his
army unopposed to the Miami capital of Kekionga in what is today northeastern Indiana and
constructed Fort Wayne, a defiant symbol of U.S. sovereignty in the heart of Indian Country.

 Aug 20 1847 – Mexico: Battle of Churubusco » Part of a larger operation by U.S. forces under
General Winfield Scott against Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna’s defense of Mexico
City. After routing the Mexicans in this battle, Scott's army was only five miles away from its
objective of Mexico City.

 Aug 20 1908 – U.S. Navy: The American Great White Fleet arrives in Sydney, Australia, to a warm
welcome. Well over half a million Sydneysiders turned out to watch the arrival. For a city population
of around 600,000 this was no mean achievement. The largest gathering yet seen in Australia. Great
White Fleet was the popular nickname for the powerful United States Navy battle fleet that completed
a journey around the globe from 16 December 1907, to 22 February 1909, by order of United States
President Theodore Roosevelt. Its mission was to make friendly courtesy visits to numerous
countries, while displaying new U.S. naval power to the world.

 Aug 20 1932 – Post WW1: A Mother’s Grief » In Flanders, Belgium, the German artist Kathe
Kollwitz unveils the monument she created to memorialize her son, Peter, along with the hundreds of
thousands of other soldiers killed on the battlefields of the Western Front during World War I.
Born in 1867 in Koningsberg, East Prussia, Kollwitz was schooled privately and sent to study art
in Berlin, an unusually progressive education for a woman in the 1880s. Influenced by Realist artists
and writers including Max Klinger and Emile Zola, as well as the works of Edvard Munch, Kollwitz
became known for her drafting and printmaking skills, as well as for the dark subject matter of her
work, which chronicled scenes from the poverty-ridden lives of working-class people in Germany in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her work before the beginning of World War I included
drawings with such titles as Homeless, Waiting for the Drunkard and Unemployment.

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 Peter Kollwitz The Grieving Parents Monument Katheryn Kollwitz

Soon after the Great War began in the summer of 1914, Kollwitz’s 19-year-old son Peter enlisted
voluntarily as a soldier in the German army. He was killed in battle on October 22, 1914, on the
Western Front, at Diksmuide, Belgium. This personal tragedy in Kollwitz’s life was reflected in her
art, along with her political ideology and strong social conscience—by 1910 she had become a
committed socialist. Over the war years, Kollwitz produced a series of drawings exploring the war’s
impact, with titles like Widows and Orphans, Killed in Action and The Survivors. In 1917, with
World War I in full swing, Kollwitz celebrated her 50th birthday with an exhibition at the Berlin
gallery owned by the internationally known art dealer Paul Cassirer.
Kollwitz’s memorial to her son Peter was dedicated on August 20, 1932, at the German military
cemetery near Vladslo in Flanders, Belgium. The grieving Kollwitz had worked for years to create
the monument, struggling to reconcile her hatred for the war and mistrust of its leadership with the
desire to honor her son’s sacrifice for the cause. Entitled The Parents, the statue depicts an elderly
couple kneeling before the grave of their son. It bears no date or signature.
Kollwitz continued her support of German and international socialism in the post-war years, and
was eventually punished for her outspoken political beliefs. She became the first woman elected to
the Prussian Academy of Arts but was forced to resign after Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist
(Nazi) Party rose to power in 1933. Three years later the Nazis classified Kollwitz’s art—like that of
so many others during that period—as “degenerate,” and barred her from exhibiting her work.
Kollwitz’s husband Karl died in 1940; in 1942, her grandson, also named Peter, was killed at the
Russian front during World War II. Her own home, and much of her work, was destroyed by Allied
bombs the following year, and Kollwitz was evacuated from Berlin to Moritzburg, near Dresden.
“In days to come people will hardly understand this age,” Kollwitz wrote during her time in
Moritzburg. “What a difference between now and 1914…People have been transformed so that they
have this capacity for endurance….Worst of all is that every war already carries within the war which
will answer it. Every war is answered by a new war, until everything, everything is smashed.” She
died on April 22, 1945, just two weeks before World War II ended. As she wrote in her final letter:
“War accompanies me to the end.”

 Aug 20 1940 – Post Russian Revolution: Leon Trotsky assassinated » Exiled Russian
revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded by an ice-ax-wielding assassin at his compound
outside Mexico City. The killer–Ramón Mercader–was a Spanish communist and probable agent of
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Trotsky died from his wounds the next day.
Born in the Ukraine of Russian-Jewish parents in 1879, Trotsky embraced Marxism as a teenager
and later dropped out of the University of Odessa to help organize the underground South Russian

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Workers’ Union. In 1898, he was arrested for his revolutionary activities and sent to prison. In 1900,
he was exiled to Siberia. In 1902, he escaped to England using a forged passport under the name of
Leon Trotsky (his original name was Lev Davidovich Bronshtein). In London, he collaborated with
Bolshevik revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin but later sided with the Menshevik factions that
advocated a democratic approach to socialism. With the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1905,
Trotsky returned to Russia and was again exiled to Siberia when the revolution collapsed. In 1907, he
again escaped.

During the next decade, he was expelled from a series of countries because of his radicalism,
living in Switzerland, Paris, Spain, and New York City before returning to Russia at the outbreak of
the revolution in 1917. Trotsky played a leading role in the Bolsheviks’ seizure of power, conquering
most of Petrograd before Lenin’s triumphant return in November. Appointed Lenin’s secretary of
foreign affairs, he negotiated with the Germans for an end to Russian involvement in World War I. In
1918, he became war commissioner and set about building up the Red Army, which succeeded in
defeating anti-communist opposition in the Russian Civil War. In the early 1920s, Trotsky seemed the
heir apparent of Lenin, but he lost out in the struggle of succession after Lenin fell ill in 1922.
In 1924, Lenin died, and Joseph Stalin emerged as leader of the USSR. Against Stalin’s stated
policies, Trotsky called for a continuing world revolution that would inevitably result in the
dismantling of the increasingly bureaucratic Soviet state. He also criticized the new regime for
suppressing democracy in the Communist Party and for failing to develop adequate economic
planning. In response, Stalin and his supporters launched a propaganda counterattack against Trotsky.
In 1925, he was removed from his post in the war commissariat. One year later, he was expelled from
the Politburo and in 1927 from the Communist Party. In January 1928, Trotsky was deported by
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to Alma-Ata in remote Soviet Central Asia. He lived there in internal
exile for a year before being banished from the USSR forever by Stalin.
He was received by the government of Turkey and settled on the island of Prinkipo, where he
worked on finishing his autobiography and history of the Russian Revolution. After four years in
Turkey, Trotsky lived in France and then Norway and in 1936 was granted asylum in Mexico.
Settling with his family in a suburb of Mexico City, he was found guilty of treason in absentia during
Stalin’s purges of his political foes. He survived a machine gun attack carried out by Stalinist agents,
but on August 20, 1940, fell prey to Ramón Mercader, a Spanish communist who had won the
confidence of the Trotsky household. The Soviet government denied responsibility, and Mercader
was sentenced to 20 years in prison by Mexican authorities.

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 Aug 20 1940 – WW2: Radar is used for the first time, by the British during the Battle of Britain.
Also on this day, in a radio broadcast, Winston Churchill makes his famous homage to the Royal Air
Force: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

 Aug 20 1941 – WW2: Adolf Hitler authorizes the development of the V-2 missile » Launched
from mobile units, each V2 rocket was 46ft high and carried a ton of explosives. Unlike aircraft or its
predecessor the V1 flying bomb, this was a new type of weapon, crashing and exploding without
warning in target cities. It took just five minutes from launch to landing.

 Aug 20 1944 – WW2: Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (20-29 Aug) » The offensive named after the two
major cities, Iași and Chișinău, in the staging area, was a Soviet offensive against Axis forces, which
took place in Eastern Romania. The 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts of the Red Army engaged Army
Group South Ukraine, which consisted of combined German and Romanian formations, in an
operation to reclaim the Moldavian SSR and destroy the Axis forces in the region, opening the way
into Romania and the Balkans. The offensive resulted in the encirclement and destruction of the
German forces, allowing the Soviet Army to resume its strategic advance further into Eastern Europe.
It also forced Romania to switch allegiance from the Axis powers to the Allies. For the Germans, this
was a massive defeat, which can be compared to the defeat at Stalingrad.

 Aug 20 1944 – WW2: Battle of the Falaise Pocket » Part of Operation Overlord. United States
and British forces close the pincers on German units in the Falaise-Argentan pocket in France. This
was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy. A pocket was formed around Falaise,
Calvados, in which the German Army Group B, with the 7th Army and the Fifth Panzer Army
(formerly Panzergruppe West) were encircled by the Western Allies. The battle resulted in the
destruction of most of Army Group B west of the Seine, which opened the way to Paris and the
Franco-German border for the Allied armies on the Western Front. Casualties and losses: Allies
10,829 – Germany 10,000 killed, 50,000 captured plus 500 tanks/assault guns.

 Aug 20 1944 – WW2: New Guinea Campaign – Biak taken » The island of Biak is 45 miles long
and 23 miles wide, and lies off the center of strategic Geelvink Bay, near the western end of New
Guinea. The Japanese had established 3 airstrips on Biak, and these air bases could support Allied
heavy bombers. “The Japanese had begun to construct airfields on Biak’s south coast late in 1943,
and by April 1944 had completed two strips. Between them, but about three quarters of a mile inland,
was a third, which became operational early in May 1944. Biak was different from most of the
Pacific islands on which American troops had fought. It had been described as “one huge lump of
coral.” Cliffs rise abruptly from the sea, and innumerable caves honeycomb the island. Much of it is
covered with rain forests and jungle. Drinking water is scarce.”

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 The high level planners had envisioned the seizure of Biak to only take about a week, and the
activities on the 1st day’s landings (27 MAY) indicated that this estimate might be met. However, it
soon became evident that the planners had (yet again) underestimated the enemy, both in strength and
tenacity. After the battle, it was learned that there were about 11,400 Japanese troops on Biak (as
opposed to the 4,400 Japanese the planners had estimated). The assault landings had been relatively
easy, because the Japanese commander, with insufficient troops to effectively defend the entire coast,
had concentrated his strength inland around the airfields. On 28 May, as the Americans started to
push inland and toward the airfields, enemy resistance increased dramatically.
It was not until 28 JUL the U.S. 121ST FA Battalion fired its last round in support of the infantry
on Biak and on 20 AUG that Biak was officially declared clear. U.S. Casualties and losses were 474
killed, 2428 wounded, and 3500 casualties due to bush typhus. Japan’s were ~6,100 killed, wounded
unknown, and ~450 captured. The seizure of Biak was important, not only to complete Allied
dominance of all of New Guinea, but also to support looming operations against the Philippines and
Borneo.

 Aug 20 1944 – WW2: U-1229 Sunk » Off Newfoundland, aircraft from escort carrier USS Bogue
sink a German U-boat which was apparently on a mission to land German spy Oskar Mantel in
Maine. According to the radio log, the plane had delivered an attack with depth charges and was said
to have done damage. Other attacks were delivered. At 1420 planes reported submarine in sight
below the surface and reported the submarine to be surfacing. At this time it was reported that
personnel were leaving the submarine and jumping into the water with some personnel remaining on
deck. At 1435 personnel remaining aboard the submarine were brought under strafing attack and at
1442 an explosion in the conning tower was reported with the additional report that the submarine
had sunk. At that time the planes reported approximately 40 personnel in the water – later 42
survivors of the 60 man crew were recovered. Mantel was also captured

Mantel had lived in New York City for 12 years before the war, working in the wholesale
cosmetics business, a job perhaps related to his sister’s ownership of three beauty shops. According to
notes from an interrogation conducted after his mission failed, Mantel left New York in 1941 for
Japan and then went on to Russia. He also was "stationed in Paris for one a half years where he was
‘always laying up with the women,’" the note stated; "said he had a lovely time. From the smile of
recollection that shone on his face, he apparently did."
Mantel He told the investigators it was his first submarine voyage. They wrote that he was
carrying only American money, a large sum "about which he is quite concerned." They concluded
their report with the admonition "Suggest this man be kept by himself. He appears to be ready to sell
out to save himself.… Might be a potential spy about to be landed in [America] well supplied with

41
 United States money." Mantel, wearing a German naval uniform, had been wounded. It was only
back in the States when his true identity became known that the FBI wanted the navy to turn him over
to them. But it was thought that if it became known back in Germany that the 'spy' had been turned
over to American intelligence, they feared Allied POW's might be turned over to the Gestapo. Mantel
remained as a POW until 1947 when he was repatriated not ever being tried as a spy.

 Aug 20 1950 – Korea: United Nations repel an offensive by North Korean divisions attempting to
cross the Naktong River and assault the city of Taegu.

 Aug 20 1954 – Vietnam: United States decides to support Diem » President Eisenhower approves
a National Security Council paper titled “Review of U.S. Policy in the Far East.” This paper
supported Secretary of State Dulles’ view that the United States should support Diem, while
encouraging him to broaden his government and establish more democratic institutions. Ultimately,
however, Diem would refuse to make any meaningful concessions or institute any significant new
reforms and U.S. support was withdrawn. Diem was subsequently assassinated during a coup by
opposition generals on November 2, 1963.

 Aug 20 1964 – Vietnam War: The USAF began the first of 3,435 unmanned drone reconnaissance
missions during the war, using the Ryan AQM-34 Lightning Bug series. The first of the Lightning
Bugs flew a mission in Chinese airspace, while others flew over locations in Southeast Asia. The
drones could gather photographic, electronic, and communication intelligence, as well as to serve as
decoys or to drop leaflets.

 Aug 20 1965 – Post WW2: Holocaust » After 5½ years of preparation the lengthy Auschwitz
trial in Frankfurt which began December 20, 1963 and lasted 183 sessions ends. Six of the accused
were given maximum sentences (life imprisonment), three were acquitted, two were released because
of ill health, and the rest received prison terms ranging from 3¼ to 14 years. The verdict was
appealed to the Federal Supreme Court, and with one exception all appeals were rejected.
By no means did the Holoaust trials bring to justice all those, or even most of those, men and
women who served at Auschwitz. And the Ukrainians on the grounds were also never brought to trial.
Historians at the Auschwitz State Museum estimate that the SS staff of Auschwitz numbered
approximately 700 people in 1941, 2,000 in 1942, 3,000 in April 1944, and reached its peak with the
evacuation in January 1945, with 4,415 SS men and 71 SS women overseers. Between 7,000 and
7,200 people served on the staff of Auschwitz at one time or another according to the card files of
personnel.
In total no more than 15% of the Auschwitz concentration camp staff ever stood before the bar of
justice in any country. Yet the percentage tried because of their work at Auschwitz is significantly
larger than at any other camps, perhaps owing to the emblematic nature of Auschwitz as the epicenter
of the Holocaust.

 Aug 20 1968 – Cold War: Soviets Invade Czechoslovakia » Approximately 200,000 Warsaw Pact
troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring”–a brief period of
liberalization in the communist country. Czechoslovakians protested the invasion with public

42
demonstrations and other non-violent tactics, but they were no match for the Soviet tanks. The liberal
reforms of First Secretary Alexander Dubcek were repealed and “normalization” began under his
successor Gustav Husak.
Pro-Soviet communists seized control of Czechoslovakia’s democratic government in 1948. Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin imposed his will on Czechoslovakia’s communist leaders, and the country was
run as a Stalinist state until 1964, when a gradual trend toward liberalization began. However, modest
economic reform was not enough for many Czechoslovakians, and beginning in 1966 students and
intellectuals began to agitate for changes to education and an end to censorship. First Secretary
Antonin Novotny’s problems were made worse by opposition from Slovakian leaders, among them
Alexander Dubcek and Gustav Husak, who accused the central government of being dominated by
Czechs.

In January 1968, Novotny was replaced as first secretary by Alexander Dubcek, who was
unanimously elected by the Czechoslovakian Central Committee. To secure his power base, Dubcek
appealed to the public to voice support for his proposed reforms. The response was overwhelming,
and Czech and Slovak reformers took over the communist leadership.
In April, the new leadership unveiled its “Action Program,” promising democratic elections,
greater autonomy for Slovakia, freedom of speech and religion, the abolition of censorship, an end to
restrictions on travel, and major industrial and agricultural reforms. Dubcek declared that he was
offering “socialism with a human face.” The Czechoslovakian public greeted the reforms joyously,
and Czechoslovakia’s long stagnant national culture began to bloom during what became known as
the Prague Spring. In late June, a popular petition called the “Two Thousand Words” was published
calling for even more rapid progress to full democracy. The Soviet Union and its satellites Poland and
East Germany were alarmed by what appeared to be the imminent collapse of communism in
Czechoslovakia.
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev warned Dubcek to halt his reforms, but the Czechoslovakian leader
was buoyed by his popularity and dismissed the veiled threats. Dubcek declined to attend a special
meeting of the Warsaw Pact powers in July, but on 2 AUG he agreed to meet with Brezhnev in the
Slovakian town of Cierny. The next day, representatives of European Europe’s communist parties
met in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava, and a communiqué was issued suggesting that pressure
would be eased on Czechoslovakia in exchange for tighter control over the press.
However, on the night of 20 AUG, nearly 200,000 Soviet, East German, Polish, Hungarian, and
Bulgarian troops invaded Czechoslovakia in the largest deployment of military force in Europe since
the end of World War II. Armed resistance to the invasion was negligible, but protesters immediately
took to the streets, tearing down streets signs in an effort to confuse the invaders. In Prague, Warsaw
Pact troops moved to seize control of television and radio stations. At Radio Prague, journalists
refused to give up the station and some 20 people were killed before it was captured. Other stations

43
 went underground and succeeded in broadcasting for several days before their locations were
discovered.
Dubcek and other government leaders were detained and taken to Moscow. Meanwhile,
widespread demonstrations continued on the street, and more than 100 protesters were shot to death
by Warsaw Pact troops. Many foreign nations, including China, Yugoslavia, and Romania,
condemned the invasion, but no major international action was taken. Much of Czechoslovakia’s
intellectual and business elite fled en masse to the West.
On 27 AUG, Dubcek returned to Prague and announced in an emotional address that he had
agreed to curtail his reforms. Hard-line communists assumed positions in his government, and
Dubcek was forced gradually to dismiss his progressive aides. He became increasingly isolated from
both the public and his government. After anti-Soviet rioting broke out in April 1969, he was
removed as first secretary and replaced by Gustav Husak, a “realist” who was willing to work with
the Soviets. Dubcek was later expelled from the Communist Party and made a forest inspector based
in Bratislava.
In 1989, as communist governments collapsed across Eastern Europe, Prague again became the
scene of demonstrations for democratic reform. In December 1989, Gustav Husak’s government
conceded to demands for a multiparty parliament. Husak resigned, and for the first time in nearly two
decades Dubcek returned to politics as chairman of the new parliament, which subsequently elected
playwright and former dissident Vaclav Havel as president of Czechoslovakia. Havel had come to
fame during the Prague Spring, and after the Soviet crackdown his plays were banned and his
passport confiscated.

 Aug 20 1971 – Vietnam: Minh and Ky withdraw from presidential race » Peace candidate
General Duong Van Minh and Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky, fellow candidates for the October
Vietnam presidential election, accuse incumbent President Nguyen Van Thieu of rigging the election
and withdraw from the race.

 Aug 20 1971 – Vietnam: In the United States, the FBI began investigating journalist Daniel Schorr,
who was targeted by the Nixon administration because of his critical reporting of the president’s
handling of the situation in Vietnam.

 Aug 20 1974 – Vietnam: Military aid to Saigon slashed » In the wake of Nixon’s resignation,
Congress reduces military aid to South Vietnam from $1 billion to $700 million. This was one of
several actions that signaled the North Vietnamese that the United States was backing away from its
commitment to South Vietnam.

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 Aug 20 1975 – Space: Viking 1 launched » The first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars,
Viking 1 was part of a two-part mission to investigate the Red Planet and search for signs of life.
Viking 1 consisted of both an orbiter and a lander designed to take high-resolution images, and study
the Martian surface and atmosphere. Operating on Mars' Chryse Planitia for more than six years,
Viking 1 performed the first Martian soil sample using its robotic arm and a special biological
laboratory. While it found no traces of life, Viking 1 did help better characterize Mars as a cold planet
with volcanic soil, a thin, dry carbon dioxide atmosphere and striking evidence for ancient river beds
and vast flooding.

 Aug 20 1982 – U.S.*Lebanon: U.S. Marines deployed to Lebanon » During the Lebanese Civil
War, a multinational force including 800 U.S. Marines lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestinian
withdrawal from Lebanon. It was the beginning of a problem-plagued mission that would stretch into
17 months and leave 262 U.S. servicemen dead.
In 1975, a bloody civil war erupted in Lebanon, with Palestinian and leftist Muslim guerrillas
battling militias of the Christian Phalange Party, the Maronite Christian community, and other groups.
During the next few years, Syrian, Israeli, and United Nations interventions failed to resolve the
factional fighting, and in August 1982 a multinational force arrived to oversee the Palestinian
withdrawal from Lebanon.
The Marines left Lebanese territory on 10 SEP but returned on 29 SEP following the massacre of
Palestinian refugees by a Christian militia. The next day, the first U.S. Marine to die during the
mission was killed while defusing a bomb. On April 18, 1983, the U.S. embassy in Beirut was
devastated by a car bomb, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans. Then, on 23 OCT, Lebanese
terrorists evaded security measures and drove a truck packed with explosives into the U.S. Marine
barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. Fifty-eight French soldiers were killed almost
simultaneously in a separate suicide terrorist attack. On February 7, 1984, President Ronald Reagan
announced the end of U.S. participation in the peacekeeping force.

 Aug 20 1998 – Afghanistan: President Bill Clinton ordered cruise missiles launched against Osama
bin Laden’s terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and against a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan,
where bin Laden allegedly made or distributed chemical weapons.

-o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 21 1778 – American Revolution: Siege of Pondicherry, India » In the first military action on
the Indian subcontinent following the declaration of war between Great Britain and France in the
American War of Independence, British forces begin besieging the French outpost at Pondicherry
which capitulated after ten weeks of siege.

 Aug 21 1863 – Civil War: Guerillas Raid at Lawrence, Kansas » The vicious guerilla war in
Missouri spills over into Kansas and precipitates one of the most appalling acts of violence during the
war when 150 men in the abolitionist town of Lawrence are murdered in a raid by Southern partisans.

45
 The Civil War took a very different form in Kansas and Missouri than it did throughout the rest of
the nation. There were few regular armies operating there; instead, partisan bands attacked civilians
and each other. The roots of conflict in the region dated back to 1854, when the Kansas-Missouri
border became ground zero for tension over slavery. While residents of Kansas Territory were trying
to decide the issue of slavery, bands from Missouri, a slave state, began attacking abolitionist
settlements in the territory. Abolitionists reacted with equal vigor.
When the war began, the long heritage of hatred between partisans created unparalleled violence
in the area. In August 1863, the Union commander along the border, General Thomas Ewing, arrested
several wives and sisters of members of a notorious band led by William Quantrill. This gang of
outlaws had scorched the region, terrorizing and murdering Union sympathizers. On 14 AUG, the
building in Kansas City, Missouri, where the women were being held collapsed, killing five.
Quantrill assembled 450 men to exact revenge. The army, which included such future western
outlaws as the Younger brothers and Frank and Jesse James, headed for Lawrence, Kansas, long
known as the center of abolitionism in Kansas. After kidnapping 10 farmers in order to guide them to
Lawrence, the gang murdered each of them. Quantrill’s men rode into Lawrence and dragged 182
men from their homes, many in front of their families, and killed them in cold blood. They burned
185 buildings in Lawrence, then rode back to Missouri with Union cavalry in hot pursuit.

 Aug 21 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Summit Point » Also known as Flowing Springs or Cameron's
Depot, was an inconclusive battle near Summit Point, West Virginia. It was part of Union Maj. Gen.
Philip Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign, which took place between August and December
1864. While Sheridan concentrated his army near Charles Town, Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early
and Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson attacked the Union forces with converging columns on 21 AUG.
Anderson struck north against the Union cavalry at Summit Point. The Union forces fought effective
delaying actions, withdrawing to near Halltown on the following day. The battle resulted in
approximately 1,000 Union and confederate casualties combined.

 Aug 21 1864 – Civil War: Siege of Petersburg » The Siege of Petersburg foreshadowed the
trench warfare that was common in World War I, earning it a prominent position in military history.
It also featured the war's largest concentration of African American troops, who suffered heavy
casualties at such engagements as the Battle of the Crater and Chaffin's Farm.

46
 The "Dictator" siege mortar at Petersburg.

 Aug 21 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern ends » Also known as the Second Battle of the
Weldon Railroad. It was fought 18–21 AUG south of Petersburg, Virginia and was the second
attempt of the Union Army to sever the Weldon Railroad during the Siege of Petersburg. A Union
force under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren destroyed miles of track and withstood strong attacks
from Confederate troops under Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard and Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill. Union casualties
totaled 4,246 and Confederate casualties totaled 1,620. It was the first Union victory in the
Richmond-Petersburg Campaign. It forced the Confederates to carry their supplies for the besieged
city of Petersburg 30 miles by wagon to bypass the new Union lines that were extended farther to the
south and west.

 Aug 21 1864 – Civil War: Memphis, TN Raid » Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford
Forrest made a daring 4:00 am raid on Union-held Memphis, Tennessee which was then occupied by
6,000 Federal troops. The raid was not an attempt to capture the city, rather, it had three other
objectives: to capture three Union generals posted there; to release Southern prisoners from Irving
Block Prison; and to cause the recall of Union forces from Northern Mississippi. Striking
northwestward for Memphis with 2,000 cavalry troops, Forrest lost about a quarter of his strength
because of exhausted horses. Surprise was essential. Taking advantage of a thick dawn fog and
claiming to be a Union patrol returning with prisoners, the Confederates eliminated the sentries.
Galloping through the streets and exchanging shots with other Union troops, the raiders split to
pursue separate missions. One Union general was not at his quarters and another escaped to Fort
Pickering dressed in his night-shirt. The attack on Irving Block Prison also failed when Union troops
stalled the main body at the State Female College. After two hours, Forrest decided to withdraw,
cutting telegraph wires, taking 500 prisoners and large quantities of supplies, including many horses.
Although Forrest failed in Memphis, his raid influenced Union forces to return there, from northern
Mississippi, and provide protection. The Confederate victory resulted in an estimated 160 Union
casualties and 34 Confederate.

 Aug 21 1914 – WWI: French Offensive » The second and third of what will be four “Battles of
the Frontiers” fought between German and Allied forces on the Western Front during a four-day
period begin near Ardennes and Charleroi in northern France.

 Aug 21 1918 – WWI: The Second Battle of the Somme begins » It was fought on the Western
Front from late August to early September, in the basin of the River Somme. It was part of a series of
successful counter-offensives in response to the German Spring Offensive, after a pause for

47
 redeployment and supply. The most significant feature of the 1918 Somme battles was that with the
first Battle of the Somme of 1918 having halted what had begun as an overwhelming German
offensive, the second formed the central part of the Allies' advance to the Armistice of 11 November.

 Aug 21 1942 – WW2: German Propaganda Stunt » German alpine soldiers climbed the highest
mountain in Europe, Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus Mountains, and planted the Nazi standard on its
peak to symbolize the dominance of Germany over Europe.
The Battle for the Caucasus began in late July 1942, after the Germans launched their invasion of
southern Russia known as Case Blue. A part of their force sent into southern Russia was dispatched
into the Caucasus Mountains, in order to capture them and reach the valuable oil fields at Baku, while
the other was sent along the Volga River to protect the flanks of the other army. The Germans
captured Rostov, the "gate to the Caucasus" on July 23rd, and by the ninth of August, they had
reached the foothill of the Caucasus Mountains. Their advance had been swift up to this point, but
supply difficulties were beginning to slow their advance, as did the mountainous terrain.

Nevertheless, the German advance continued, and the Germans soon found themselves in sight of
Mount Elbrus, the tallest in the Caucasus and in Europe. Although their objective was to continue the
drive south, several German commanders saw the opportunity to scale the mountain as potential for a
propaganda and morale win. Should Germany be able to reach the highest peak in Europe, it would
truly demonstrate their capacity to take whatever they set their minds to, and that the Nazi regime
towers over all of Europe. A team of twenty-three men were sent to scale the mountain, and plant the
Nazi flag on its peak, which they accomplished on 21 AUG. They encountered no resistance, from
the Soviets or the mountain, as the weather cooperated and no lives were lost during the climb.
Photos were taken, and the Germans celebrated their accomplishment.
However, Adolf Hitler did not share in the celebration when word reached him of the climb.
Instead, he flew into a rage, outraged that the commanders had sent forces for such a superfluous
mission and calling for those responsible to be court-martialed. He angrily claimed that the soldiers
were more interested in pursuing a hobby than fighting a war. Hitler's anger was not completely
unjustified as the mountain served no strategic purpose, and the German army would eventually grind
to a halt before reaching their objectives in the Caucasus. However, it is unlikely that the twenty-three

48
 men sent on this expedition would have made a difference in the outcome of the campaign, and that
logistical and strategic difficulties were the real culprit for the German defeat.
Whatever the reason, the German ascent to the peak of Mount Elbrus was truly representative of
the entire Nazi war effort, as it was both the highest point they reached and highest mark of the Nazi
empire before it began its decline and eventual road to defeat.

 Aug 21 1942 – WW2: Guadalcanal Campaign » U.S. Marines turn back the first major Japanese
ground attack on Guadalcanal in the Battle of Tenaru.

 Aug 21 1944 – WW2: Battle of Chambois ends » In the Battle of Normandy a pocket had formed around
Falaise, Calvados, where the German Army Group B, with the 7th Army and the Fifth Panzer Army were
encircled by the Western Allies. The seizure 21 AUG of Chambois by American, Canadian and Polish forces
after the three day battle saw the final closure of the Falaise Pocket. The battle resulted in the destruction of
most of Germany’s Army Group B west of the Seine, which opened the way to Paris and the Franco-German
border for the Allied armies on the Western Front. Remnants of German units retreated east towards the Seine
but left much of their heavy armour and artillery behind. General Hausser was wounded in the jaw during the
battle but escaped the encirclement along with about 20,000 troops. However, approximately 50,000 Germans
trapped inside the pocket were lost to Army Group B.

The remains of a retreating German column destroyed by the Polish 1st Armoured Regiment near Hill 262

 Aug 21 1944 – WW2: The seeds of the United Nations are planted » Representatives from the
United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China meet in the Dumbarton Oaks estate at
Georgetown, Washington, D.C., to formulate the formal principles of an organization that will
provide collective security on a worldwide basis—an organization that will become the United
Nations.
Following up on a promise made at the Moscow Conferences of 1943 to create an international
organization to succeed the League of Nations, the Dumbarton Oaks Conference began planning its
creation. Step one was the outline for a Security Council, which would be composed of the member
states (basically, the largest of the Allied nations)—the United States, the USSR, China, France, and
Great Britain—with each member having veto power over any proposal brought before the Council.
Many political questions would remain to be hammered out, such as a specific voting system and
the membership status of republics within the Soviet Union. A more detailed blueprint for the United
Nations would be drawn up at both the Yalta Conference in February 1945, and the San Francisco
Conference, which would produce the U.N. charter, also in 1945.

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 Aug 21 1963 – Vietnam: Nhu’s Special Forces attack the Buddhists » South Vietnamese
Special Forces loyal to President Diem’s brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, attack Buddhists pagodas,
damaging many and arresting 1,400 Buddhists. Diem’s government represented a minority of
Vietnamese who were mostly businessmen, land owners, and Roman Catholics. A large part of the
rest of the South Vietnam’s population, overwhelmingly Buddhist, deeply resented Diem’s rule
because of what they perceived as severe discrimination against non-Catholics. In May 1963, the
Buddhists began a series of demonstrations against the Diem government, in which seven Buddhist
monks set themselves on fire in protest. The U.S. government tried to convince Diem to be more
lenient with the Buddhists, but he only became more repressive.
This continuing confrontation with the Buddhists and Diem’s failure to press for meaningful
reforms led to a withdrawal of U.S. support for the South Vietnamese leader and effectively gave a
green light for a coup conducted by opposition generals, who were told that the United States would
support whichever government was in power. During the course of the coup, Diem and his brother
were assassinated by South Vietnamese officers. The removal of Diem, which U.S. government
officials had hoped would stabilize the political situation in South Vietnam, resulted in anything but
stability–there would be ten successive governments in Saigon within 18 months.

 Aug 21 1965 – Vietnam: U.S. pilots given green light to go after anti-aircraft missiles in the North
» It is revealed by MACV headquarters (Headquarters Military Assistance Command Vietnam) in
Saigon that U.S. pilots have received approval to destroy any Soviet-made missiles they see while
raiding North Vietnam. This was a major change from previous orders that restricted them to
bombing only previously approved targets.

 Aug 21 1969 – Vietnam War: Nixon meets with South Korean President » President Nixon and
South Korean President Park Chung Hee meet in San Francisco. In his welcoming address, Nixon
notes that South Korea had “more fighting men in South Vietnam than any other nation” except the
United States and South Vietnam. The United States would spend $250 million in 1969 to maintain
South Korea’s 50,000-man Tiger Division in South Vietnam, which they had previously agreed to
outfit.

 Aug 21 1971 – Vietnam War: Antiwar protestors raid draft offices » The Federal Bureau of
Investigation foiled antiwar raids on Federal offices in Camden, N. J., and Buffalo arresting 25
people, including two Roman Catholic priests and a Lutheran minister. In the Camden case, 40 F.B.I.
men lay in wait for the raiding party until 4 A.M. and then made 20 arrests in and around the building
housing offices of the Selective Service Board, Army Intelligence and the F.B.I. itself. The bureau,
according to the Federal complaint, had been kept abreast of the group's elaborate raiding plans by an
informer. In Buffalo, F.B.I. men and city policemen arrested three young men and two young women
at 10 P.M. Saturday in a Federal building housing Selective Service boards and the office of United
States Army Intelligence. The F.B.I. said the youths had been ransacking files in the two offices.

 Aug 21 1976 – Korea: Operation Paul Bunyan commences after North Korean guards killed two
American officers sent to trim a poplar tree along the DMZ on 18 AUG, US and ROK soldiers with
heavy support chopped down the tree.

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 Aug 21 1991 – Cold War: Coup attempt against Gorbachev collapses » Just three days after it
began, the coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev collapses. Despite his success in avoiding
removal from office, Gorbachev’s days in power were numbered. The Soviet Union would soon cease
to exist as a nation and as a Cold War threat to the United States.
The coup against Gorbachev began on 18 AUG, led by hard-line communist elements of the
Soviet government and military. The attempt was poorly planned and disorganized, however. The
leaders of the coup seemed to spend as much time bickering among themselves–and, according to
some reports, drinking heavily–as they did on trying to win popular support for their action.
Nevertheless, they did manage to put Gorbachev under house arrest and demand that he resign from
leadership of the Soviet Union. Many commentators in the West believed that the administration of
President George Bush would come to the rescue, but were somewhat surprised at the restrained
response of the U.S. government. These commentators did not know that at the time a serious debate
was going on among Bush officials as to whether Gorbachev’s days were numbered and whether the
United States should shift its support to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin’s stock rose sharply
as he publicly denounced the coup and organized strikes and street protests by the Russian people.
The leaders of the coup, seeing that most of the Soviet military did not support their action, called off
the attempt and it collapsed on 21 AUG.
The collapse of the coup brought a temporary reprieve to the Gorbachev regime, but among U.S.
officials he was starting to be seen as damaged goods. Once a darling of the U.S. press and public,
Gorbachev increasingly was viewed as incompetent and a failure. U.S. officials began to discuss the
post-Gorbachev situation in the Soviet Union. Based on what had transpired during the August 1991
coup, they began a slow but steady tilt toward Yeltsin. In retrospect, this policy seemed extremely
prudent, given that Gorbachev resigned as leader of the Soviet Union in December 1991. Despite the
turmoil around him, Yeltsin continued to serve as president of the largest and most powerful of the
former soviet socialist republics, Russia.

-o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 22 1776 – American Revolution: Redcoats land at Long Island » The British arrive between
Gravesend and New Utrecht, with “near twenty four thousand men ready to land in a moment,”
according to one observer.

51
 General William Howe’s large army came to Long Island hoping to capture New York City and
gain control of the Hudson River, a victory that would divide the rebellious colonies in half. Five
days later, on 27 AUG, the Redcoats marched against the Patriot position at Brooklyn Heights,
overcoming the Americans at Gowanus Pass and then outflanking the entire Continental Army. The
Americans suffered 1,000 casualties to the British loss of only 400 men during the fighting. Howe
chose not to follow the advice of his subordinates, however, and did not storm the Patriot redoubts at
Brooklyn Heights, where he could have taken the Patriots’ military leadership prisoner and ended the
rebellion.
General Washington ordered a retreat to Manhattan by boat. The British could easily have
prevented this retreat and captured most of the Patriot officer corps, including Washington. However,
General William and Admiral Richard Howe still hoped to convince the Americans to rejoin the
British empire in the wake of the humiliating defeat, instead of forcing the former colonies into
submission after executing Washington and his officers as traitors. On September 11, Benjamin
Franklin, John Adams and other congressional representatives reopened negotiations with the Howe
brothers on Staten Island. The negotiations fell through when the British refused to accept American
independence.
The British captured New York City on 15 SEP; it would remain in British hands until the end of
the war.

 Aug 22 1777 – American Revolution: Siege of Fort Stanwix » With the approach of General
Benedict Arnold‘s army, British Colonel Barry St. Ledger abandons the siege and returns to Canada.
The fort was occupied by Continental Army forces from New York and Massachusetts under the
command of Colonel Peter Gansevoort. The besieging force was composed of British regulars,
American Loyalists, Hessian soldiers from Hesse-Hanau, and Indians

Ft. Stanwix (left) and Battle of Oriskany (right)

52
 Aug 22 1862 – Civil War: Lincoln replies to Horace Greeley » President Abraham Lincoln writes
a carefully worded letter in response to an abolitionist editorial by Horace Greeley, the editor of the
influential New York Tribune, and hints at a change in his policy concerning slavery.
From the outset of the Civil War, Lincoln proclaimed the war’s goal to be the reunion of the
nation. He said little about slavery for fear of alienating key constituencies such as the border states of
Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and, to a lesser extent, Delaware. Each of these states allowed slavery
but had not seceded from the Union. Lincoln was also concerned about Northern Democrats, who
generally opposed fighting the war to free the slaves but whose support Lincoln needed.
Tugging him in the other direction were abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass and Horace
Greeley. In his editorial, “The Prayer of Twenty Millions,” Greeley assailed Lincoln for his soft
treatment of slaveholders and for his unwillingness to enforce the Confiscation Acts, which called for
the property, including slaves, of Confederates to be taken when their homes were captured by Union
forces. Abolitionists saw the acts as a wedge to drive into the institution of slavery.
Lincoln had been toying with the idea of emancipation for some time. He discussed it with his
cabinet but decided that some military success was needed to give the measure credibility. In his
response to Greeley’s editorial, Lincoln hinted at a change. In a rare public response to criticism, he
articulated his policy by stating, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it;
and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and
leaving others alone, I would also do that.” Although this sounded noncommittal, Lincoln closed by
stating, “I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be
free.” By hinting that ending slavery might become a goal of the war, Lincoln was preparing the
public for the change in policy that would come one month later with the Emancipation Proclamation.

 Aug 22 1914 – WWI: Heavy Casualties Suffered in the Battles of the Frontiers » As French and
German forces face off on the Western Front during the opening month of the First World War, the
isolated encounters of the previous day move into full-scale battle in the forests of the Ardennes and
at Charleroi, near the junction of the Sambre and Meuse Rivers. Over the course of the day some
27,000 French soldiers died at Ardennes and Charleroi.

 Aug 22 1942 – WW2: Brazil declares war on the Axis powers. She is the only South American
country to send combat troops into Europe.

 Aug 22 1944 – WW2: Holocaust of Kedros » Wehrmacht infantry carried out an assault operation
against the civilian residents of nine villages located in the Amari Valley on the Greek island of
Crete. Casualties and losses: 164 Civilians.

 Aug 22 1944 – WW2: Romania Captured by the Soviet Union » Soviet forces break through to
Jassy, in northeastern Romania, convincing Romania’s king to sign an armistice with the Allies and
concede control of his country to the USSR.

53
 King Carol II, Prime Minister Ion Antonescu, and King Michael

As early as 1937, Romania had come under control of a fascist government that bore great
resemblance to that of Germany’s, including similar anti-Jewish laws. Romania’s king, Carol II,
dissolved the government a year later, but was unable to suppress the fascist Iron Guard paramilitary
organization. In June 1940, the Soviet Union co-opted two Romanian provinces, and the king
searched for an ally to help protect it and appease the far right within its own borders. So on July 5,
1940, Romania allied itself with Nazi Germany. Later that year, it would be invaded by its “ally” as
part of Hitler’s strategy to create one huge eastern front against the Soviet Union.
King Carol would abdicate in September 1940, leaving the country in the control of fascist Prime
Minister Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard. While Romania would recapture the territory lost to the
Soviet Union when the Germans invaded Russia, it would also have to endure the Germans’ raping of
its resources as part of the Nazi war effort.
As the war turned against Germany, and the Soviet Union began to run roughshod over Eastern
Europe, Antonescu started looking west for allies to save it from Soviet occupation. At this stage,
King Michael, son of the late King Carol, emerged from the shadows and had the pro-German
Antonescu arrested, imploring Romanians, and loyal military men, to fight with, not against, the
invading Soviets. The king would finally sign an armistice with the Allies and declare war against an
already-dying Germany in 1944. King Michael would, ironically, be forced to abdicate by the
Soviets, who would maintain a puppet communist government in Romania until the end of the Cold
War. The king had virtually destroyed his nation in order to save it.

 Aug 22 1945 – Vietnam: Conflict in Vietnam begins when a group of Free French parachute into
southern Indochina, in response to a successful coup by communist guerilla Ho Chi Minh.

 Aug 22 1962 – Vietnam War: Kennedy Reports Stalemate in Vietnam » Kennedy administration
officials quoted in The New York Times estimate that there are 20,000 guerrilla troops in South
Vietnam. Despite hundreds of engagements during the preceding two months and encouraging
victories for South Vietnamese forces, the Viet Cong had grown in numbers, and U.S. officials felt
that the war had reached a point of stalemate.

 Aug 22 1963 – Vietnam: Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General John P. McConnell, states before a
Senate Subcommittee that adopting a graduated bombing policy in North Vietnam was a mistake.
Three days later, Secretary of Defense McNamara admitted that the bombing of North Vietnam had
not materially affected Hanoi’s “war making capability.”

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 Aug 22 1967 – Vietnam: Graduated Bombing Policy Condemned » Chief of Staff of the Air
Force, General John P. McConnell, states before a Senate Subcommittee that adopting a graduated
bombing policy in North Vietnam was a mistake. Three days later, Secretary of Defense McNamara
admitted that the bombing of North Vietnam had not materially affected Hanoi’s “warmaking
capability.”

 Aug 22 1968 – Vietnam: VC Repudiates Johnson’s Peace Overture » For the first time in two
months, Viet Cong forces launch a rocket attack on Saigon, killing 18 and wounding 59.
Administration officials denounced the attack as a direct repudiation of President Johnson’s speech of
August 19, in which he appealed to the North Vietnamese to respond favorably to his limitation of the
air campaign north of the DMZ.

 Aug 22 1968 – Cold War: Czechs Protest Against Soviet Invasion » In the streets of Prague and
in the United Nations headquarters in New York City, Czechs protest against the Soviet invasion of
their nation. The protests served to highlight the brutality of the Soviet action and to rally worldwide
condemnation of the Soviet Union.
On August 21, 1968, more than 200,000 troops of the Warsaw Pact crossed into Czechoslovakia in
response to democratic and free market reforms being instituted by Czech Communist Party General
Secretary Alexander Dubcek. Negotiations between Dubcek and Soviet bloc leaders failed to
convince the Czech leader to back away from his reformist platform. The military intervention on 21
AUG indicated that the Soviets believed that Dubcek was going too far and needed to be restrained.
On 22 AUG, thousands of Czechs gathered in central Prague to protest the Soviet action and demand
the withdrawal of foreign troops. Although it was designed to be a peaceful protest, violence often
flared and several protesters were killed on 22 AUG and in the days to come. At the United Nations,
the Czech delegation passionately declared that the Soviet invasion was illegal and threatened the
sovereignty of their nation. They called on the U.N.’s Security Council to take action. The Council
voted 10 to 2 to condemn Russia’s invasion; predictably, the Soviet Union vetoed the resolution.
The 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia severely damaged the Soviet government’s reputation
around the world, and even brought forth condemnation from communist parties in nations such as
China and France. Nonetheless, Dubcek was pushed from power in April 1969 and the Czech
Communist Party adopted a tough line toward any dissent. The “Prague Spring” of 1968, when hopes
for reform bloomed, would serve as a symbol for the so-called “Velvet Revolution” of 1989. In that
year, Czech dissidents were able to break the Communist Party’s stranglehold on their nation’s
politics by electing Vaclav Havel, the first noncommunist president in 40 years.

 Aug 22 1972 – Vietnam War: Demonstrators disrupt Republican National Convention »

Delegates entering the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach are harassed by 3,000
antiwar demonstrators, many painted with death masks. The rest of the convention is marked by
demonstrations outside the meeting hall; hundreds of protestors are arrested and many are injured
when police use riot-control agents.

55
 Aug 22 2017 – War On Terrorism: Spain » Five suspected terrorists were shot dead by Spanish
police in the coastal town of Cambrils, south-west of Barcelona, after they drove into pedestrians as
part of what appeared to be the country’s second terror attack in a day. Some of the suspects, who
were travelling in an Audi A3, wore what appeared to be explosive belts, later found to be fake. The
attack came hours after a van mowed down shoppers and tourists in Barcelona’s famous Las Ramblas
district, killing 13 and wounding about 100. The attack in Cambrils, where six bystanders and a
policeman were also wounded, ended a day of bloody violence along the Catalan coast, which the
police said was the work of a terrorist cell determined to “kill as many people as possible”. The
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, boasting on a website: “Terror is filling the
crusaders’ hearts in the Land of Andalusia.” The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, said the
whole country stood in solidarity with Barcelona, blaming “jihadi terrorism”.

-o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 23 1775 – American Revolution: King George III of England refuses the American colonies’
offer of peace » The King his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St. James's stating that the
American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion.

 Aug 23 1784 – American Revolution: State of Franklin declares independence » Four counties
in western North Carolina declare their independence as the state of Franklin. The counties lay in
what would eventually become Tennessee.
The previous April, the state of North Carolina had ceded its western land claims between the
Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River to the United States Congress. The settlers in this
area, known as the Cumberland River Valley, had formed their own independent government from
1772 to 1777 and were concerned that Congress would sell the territory to Spain or France as a means
of paying off some of the government’s war debt. As a result, North Carolina retracted its cession and
began to organize an administration for the territory.

Simultaneously, representatives from Washington, Sullivan, Spencer (modern-day Hawkins) and

Greene counties declared their independence from North Carolina. The following May, the counties
petitioned for statehood as “Frankland” to the United States Congress. A simple majority of states
favored acceptance of the petition, but it fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass, even
after the counties’ changed their proposed name to “Franklin” in an attempt to curry Benjamin
Franklin’s and others’ favor.

56
 In defiance of Congress, Franklin survived as an independent nation for four years with its own
constitution, Indian treaties and legislated system of barter in lieu of currency, though after only two
years, North Carolina set up its own parallel government in the region. Finally, Franklin’s weak
economy forced its governor, John Sevier, to approach the Spanish for aid. North Carolina, terrified
of having a Spanish client state on its border, arrested Sevier. When Cherokee, Chickamauga and
Chickasaw began to attack settlements within Franklin’s borders in 1788, it quickly rejoined North
Carolina to gain its militia’s protection from attack.

 Aug 23 1814 – War of 1812: Dolley Madison saves portrait from British » First lady Dolley
Madison saves a portrait of George Washington from being looted by British troops during the war of
1812.

Dolly and James Madison

According to the White House Historical Society and Dolley’s personal letters, President James
Madison left the White House on August 22 to meet with his generals on the battlefield, as British
troops threatened to enter the capitol. Before leaving, he asked his wife Dolley if she had the
“courage or firmness” to wait for his intended return the next day. He asked her to gather important
state papers and be prepared to abandon the White House at any moment. The next day, Dolley and a
few servants scanned the horizon with spyglasses waiting for either Madison or the British army to
show up. As British troops gathered in the distance, Dolley decided to abandon the couple’s personal
belongings and save the full-length portrait of former president and national icon George Washington
from desecration by vengeful British soldiers, many of whom would have rejoiced in humiliating
England’s former colonists.
Dolley wrote to her sister on the night of 23 AUG that a friend who came to help her escape was
exasperated at her insistence on saving the portrait. Since the painting was screwed to the wall she
ordered the frame to be broken and the canvas pulled out and rolled up. Two unidentified “gentlemen
from New York” hustled it away for safe-keeping. (Unbeknownst to Dolley, the portrait was actually
a copy of Gilbert Stuart’s original). The task complete, Dolley wrote “and now, dear sister, I must
leave this house, or the retreating army will make me a prisoner in it by filling up the road I am
directed to take.” Dolley left the White House and found her husband at their predetermined meeting
place in the middle of a thunderstorm.
The next night, 24 AUG, British troops enjoyed feasting on White House food using the
president’s silverware and china before burning the building. Although they were able to return to
Washington only three days later when British troops moved on, the Madisons were not again able to
take up residence in the White House and lived out the rest of his term in the city’s Octagon House. It

57
 was not until 1817 that newly elected President James Monroe moved back into the reconstructed
building.

 Aug 23 1861 – Civil War: Rose Greenhow is Arrested » Allan Pinkerton, head of the new secret
service agency of the Federal government, places Confederate spy Rose O’Neal Greenhow under
house arrest in Washington, D.C.

Rose O’Neal Greenhow and Allan Pinkerton

Greenhow was a wealthy widow living in Washington at the outbreak of the war. She was well
connected in the capital and was especially close with Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson. The
Maryland native was openly committed to the Southern cause, and she soon formed a substantial spy
network.
Greenhow’s operation quickly paid dividends for the Confederacy. One of her operatives provided
key information to Confederate General Pierre G. T. Beauregard concerning the deployment of Union
General Irwin McDowell’s troops before the First Battle of Bull Run, Virginia, in July 1861.
Beauregard later testified that this dispatch, along with further information provided by Greenhow
herself, was instrumental in Beauregard’s decision to request additional troops. The move led to a
decisive victory by the Rebels.
It did not take the Federals long to track down the leaks in Washington. Pinkerton placed
Greenhow under house arrest, and he soon confined other suspected women in her home. However,
Greenhow was undeterred. She was allowed visitors, including Senator Wilson, and was able to
continue funneling information to the Confederates. Frustrated, Pinkerton finally confined Greenhow
and her daughter to the Old Capitol Prison for five months in early 1862. In June 1862, she and her
daughter, “Little Rose,” were released and exiled to the South.
Greenhow traveled to England and France to drum up support for the Southern cause, and she
penned her memoirs while abroad. She was on her way back to America in September 1864 when a
Yankee war vessel ran her ship aground in North Carolina. Weighted down by a substantial amount
of gold, Greenhow’s lifeboat overturned and she drowned.

 Aug 23 1863 – Civil War: Union batteries cease their first bombardment of Fort Sumter, leaving it a
mass of rubble but still unconquered by the Northern besiegers.

 Aug 23 1864 – Civil War: The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking
Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico.

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 Aug 23 1914 – WW1: 612 inhabitants of Dinant, Belgium Executed » Upon mobilization in
August 1914, the Royal Saxon Army became the German Third Army and Gen. Max von Hausen was
given command. His army participated in the Battle of the Frontiers, mainly in the battles of Dinant
where Hausen's troops summarily executed over 600 of its inhabitants, including several women and
children (one of them just 3 weeks old), and Charleroi. He and his army were responsible for the
destruction of Reims in September 1914. When asked about how such deeds would eventually be
known into history, he replied: "We should write history ourselves."
After the Second Army's retreat after the First Battle of the Marne, Hausen saw his own flank
exposed and ordered a retreat. After the stabilization of the front on the Aisne River, on September 9,
1914, Hausen was relieved of his command due to illness and replaced by General Karl von Einem.
Hausen held no further field commands during the war, and died shortly after the war ended.

 Aug 23 1914 – WW1: The Emperor of Japan declares war on Germany.

 Aug 23 1914 – WW1: Battle of Mons » In their first confrontation on European soil since the Battle
of Waterloo in 1815, four divisions of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), commanded by Sir
John French, struggle with the German 1st Army over the 60-foot-wide Mons Canal in Belgium, near
the French frontier.
The Battle of Mons was the last of four “Battles of the Frontiers” that took place over as many
days on the Western Front between Allied and German forces in the opening month of World War I.
The first three—at Lorraine, Ardennes and Charleroi—involved French forces under the central
command of General Joseph Joffre. French’s BEF had been originally slated to assist the French 5th
Army, commanded by General Charles Lanrezac, in their attempt to break through the center of the
advancing German lines. A delayed start and poor relations between French and Lanrezac, however,
meant that the 5th Army and the BEF would fight separate battles against the advancing Germans, at
Charleroi and Mons.
At nine o’clock on the morning of 23 AUG, German guns opened fire on the British positions at
Mons, focusing on the northernmost point of a salient formed by a loop in the canal. Though Von
Kluck and the 1st Army enjoyed two-to-one numerical superiority, they did not make effective use of
it, and the British regiments at the salient admirably withstood six hours of shelling and infantry
assault. Lanrezac’s decision, late in the day, to order a general retreat of the French 5th Army at
Charleroi left the BEF in danger of envelopment by the Germans, and a decision was made to
withdraw the troops as soon as possible. By the time the battle ended after nine hours, some 35,000
British soldiers had been involved, with a total of 1,600 casualties.

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 Angels of Mons

Thus the first day of British combat in World War I ended in retreat and bitter disappointment,
although the steadfastness of the BEF had delayed Von Kluck’s advance by one day. Within weeks of
the battle, however, British public imagination elevated Mons to mythic status and those who had
died to heroes, until the British defeat came to seem more like a victory in retrospect. The most
prevalent legend was that of the “Angel of Mons,” who had appeared on the battlefield carrying a
flaming sword and faced the advancing Germans, impeding their progress. In reality, victory in the
four Battles of the Frontiers imbued the Germans with a tremendous sense of confidence, as they
continued their relentless advance through Belgium into northern France—eventually controlling the
industrial power of both nations, including coal, iron ore, factories, railroads and rivers—and the
Allies scrambled to ready their defenses. Casualties and losses: UK 1638 – GE 5,000+.

 Aug 23 1914 – WW1: Battle of Galicia » The battle, also known as the Battle of Lemberg, was
a major battle between Russia and Austria-Hungary which ended 11 SEP with a Russian victory. In
the course of the battle, the Austro-Hungarian armies were severely defeated and forced out of
Galicia, while the Russians captured Lemberg and, for approximately nine months, ruled Eastern
Galicia until their defeat at Gorlice and Tarnów. Estimates put the Austro-Hungarian losses at
100,000 dead, 220,000 wounded and 100 to 130,000 captured while the Russians lost 225,000 men,
of which 40,000 were captured.
The Russians had pushed the front 100 miles into the Carpathian Mountains, completely
surrounded the Austrian fortress of Przemyśl and started a Siege of Przemyśl which lasted for over a
hundred days. The battle severely damaged the Austro-Hungarian Army, destroyed a large portion of
its trained officers, and crippled Austria. Though the Russians had been utterly crushed at the Battle
of Tannenberg 26-30 AUG, their victory at Lemberg prevented that defeat from fully taking its toll on
Russian public opinion.

 Aug 23 1915 – WW1: Tsar Nicolaas II Takes Control of Russian Army » Things have not been
going well for the Russian army. Since the Germans launched the Gorlice-Tarnów offensive in May
the enemy has inflicted a series of defeats. Russian forces are retreating eastwards, abandoning
Poland to the Germans and Austro-Hungarians. The Galician territories conquered the previous year
have also been lost and the enemy is now pressing into the ancient territory of Russia itself.
Desperate times require desperate measures. Up to now Tsar Nicholas has left command of the
army to the professional soldiers, but now he decides that a change is required at the top. He removes
Grand Duke Nicholas, his cousin, from command of the armies facing Germany and Austria-
Hungary, sending him off to lead in the Caucasus. The Tsar then makes the momentous decision to
take command of the army himself. He leaves St. Petersburg and establishes himself at Mogilev, the
headquarters of Stavka, the Russian general staff. General Mikhail Alexeev, a career soldier, is
appointed as his chief of staff.
The Tsar’s ministers plead with him not to take command of the army, and with good reason. The
Tsar has never evinced any great aptitude for matters martial and his personality does not suit him to
military command. But Nicholas will not be dissuaded. In this time of crisis he feels that it is his duty

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 to place himself at the head of his men. He hopes also that by doing so he will restore the morale of
the battered army.

 Aug 23 1917 – WW1: Houston Riot of 1917 » The Camp Logan Mutiny was a reaction by 156
soldiers of the Third Battalion of the all-black Twenty-fourth United States Infantry Regiment after
members of the Houston Police Department harassed members of the local black community and the
black soldiers who attempted to intervene were also violently accosted. It took place over a single
night, and resulted in the deaths of 11 civilians, five policemen, and four soldiers. The soldiers were
tried at three courts-martial for mutiny. Nineteen were executed, and 41 were sentenced to life
imprisonment.

 Aug 23 1921 – Post WW1: Austria and the US formally end war; the US does the same with
Germany on the 25th, and Hungary on the 29th.

 Aug 23 1939 – WW2: The Hitler-Stalin Pact » Germany and the Soviet Union sign the Molotov-
Ribbentrop non-aggression pact, stunning the world, given their diametrically opposed ideologies,
and secretly divide Poland between themselves, setting the stage for World War II. But the dictators
were, despite appearances, both playing to their own political needs.

After Nazi Germany’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, Britain had to decide to what extent it would
intervene should Hitler continue German expansion. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, at first
indifferent to Hitler’s capture of the Sudetenland, the German-speaking area of Czechoslovakia,
suddenly snapped to life when Poland became threatened. He made it plain that Britain would be
obliged to come to the aid of Poland in the event of German invasion. But he wanted, and needed, an
ally. The only power large enough to stop Hitler, and with a vested interest in doing so, was the
Soviet Union. But Stalin was cool to Britain after its effort to create a political alliance with Britain
and France against Germany had been rebuffed a year earlier. Plus, Poland’s leaders were less than
thrilled with the prospect of Russia becoming its guardian; to them, it was simply occupation by
another monstrous regime.
Hitler believed that Britain would never take him on alone, so he decided to swallow his fear and
loathing of communism and cozy up to the Soviet dictator, thereby pulling the rug out from the
British initiative. Both sides were extremely suspicious of the other, trying to discern ulterior motives.
But Hitler was in a hurry; he knew if he was to invade Poland it had to be done quickly, before the
West could create a unified front. Agreeing basically to carve up parts of Eastern Europe—and leave
each other alone in the process—Hitler’s foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, flew to Moscow
and signed the non-aggression pact with his Soviet counterpart, V.M. Molotov (which is why the pact
is often referred to as the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact). Supporters of bolshevism around the world had

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 their heretofore romantic view of “international socialism” ruined; they were outraged that Stalin
would enter into any kind of league with the fascist dictator.
But once Poland was German-occupied territory, the alliance would not last for long.

 Aug 23 1940 – WW2: London Night Bombing Begins » In August Germany’s Luftwaffe
undertook a mission to bomb numerous RAF airfields. Their mission, however, went drastically
wrong. They bombed off-target and hit many homes, killing civilians, so Winston Churchill
responded immediately with a bombing raid on Berlin the very next night. In a war of retaliation, the
Nazis then responded with a massive bombing offensive on Britain that lasted for almost ten months.
Germany’s Luftwaffe started their offensive with almost two months of constant night raids on
London, known as the Blitz. London was bombed over 70 times, while Birmingham, Liverpool and
Plymouth suffered around eight bombings. Other cities that were bombed include Bristol, Glasgow,
Southampton, Portsmouth and Hull, along with other smaller towns of military importance.
Over 40,000 people were killed in the bombings around Britain. London suffered the most, with
over 20,000 locals killed and more than one million homes destroyed. It was Germany’s intention to
injure British morale and convince them to surrender, while also damaging the British war effort. But
that was never the result — British war production and industry continued, even increased, during the
months of the bombings. The ultimate intention of the German air bombings was to lay the
groundwork for a German invasion of Britain, but this never occurred. By the following year it was
evident that Germany was not going to succeed in Britain, and Hitler turned his focus to the Soviet
Union in the East

 Aug 23 1942 – WW2: Battle of Stalingrad (23 Aug 1942 thru 2 Feb 1943) » The Battle was a
major and decisive battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and Its allies fought the Soviet
Union of control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in southwestern Russia. The battle was
marked by brutality and disregard for military and civilian casualties. It is among the bloodiest battles
in the history of warfare, with the higher estimates of combined casualties amounting to nearly two
million. The heavy losses inflicted on the German Army made it a significant turning point in the
whole war. After the Battle of Stalingrad, German forces never recovered their earlier strength, and
attained no further strategic victories in the East.
The German offensive to capture Stalingrad commenced in late summer 1942 and was supported
by intensive Luftwaffe bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble. The German offensive
eventually stalled out into building-to-building fighting, and despite controlling nearly all of the city
at times, the Wehrmacht were unable to dislodge the last Soviet defenders clinging tenaciously to the
west bank of the Volga River.
On November 19, 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two pronged attack targeting
the weak Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the 6th Army's flanks. After heavy fighting, the
weakly held Axis flanks collapsed and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded inside Stalingrad. As
the Russian winter set in, the 6th Army weakened rapidly from cold, starvation, and ongoing Soviet
attacks. Command ambiguity coupled with Adolf Hitler's resolute belief in their will to fight further
exacerbated the German predicament. Eventually, the failure of outside German forces to break the
encirclement, coupled with the failure of resupply by air, led to the final collapse. By the beginning of

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 February 1943, Axis resistance in Stalingrad had ceased and the remaining elements of 6th Army had
either surrendered or been destroyed. The battle lasted five months, one week and three days.

 Aug 23 1943 – WW2: Battle of Koersk (5 Jul – 23 Aug) » The Battle with the largest tank battle
in history involving some 6,000 tanks, 2,000,000 troops, and 4,000 aircraft ended. In it the German
offensive lasted from 5 thru 16 JUL and the Soviets offensive lasted from 12 JUL thru 23 AUG. It
marked the decisive end of the German offensive capability on the Eastern Front and cleared the way
for the great Soviet offensives of 1944–45. Soviets regained territory along a 1,200 mi wide front
after the battle. Estimates on losses vary and say the Soviets lost between 111,132 and 203,000 men
killed or wounded, between 760 and 1200 tanks and assault guns destroyed, and 681 aircraft.
Germany losses were 254,470 men killed, missing or captured with another 608,833 wounded or sick,
6,064 tanks and assault guns destroyed, between 1,626 and 1,961 aircraft lost, plus 5,244 guns.

 Aug 23 1944 – WW2: Freckleton Air Disaster » An American B-24 bomber on a test flight
overshot the runway while trying to land at the American air base at Warton England during a violent
storm. It crashed into the center of the village of Freckleton. An eye witness reported that the plane
had been struck by lightning. The human tragedy on the ground was catastrophic. The plane crashed
into the Holy Trinity Church of England School, killing 38 children and six adults. It also partly
demolished three houses before ploughing into the Sad Sack Snack Bar that had been opened to cater
for American personnel from the nearby air base. Three British civilians and seven Americans were
killed in the snack bar. Three American crew members aboard the B-24 and four RAF personnel in
the café were also killed in the crash.

 Aug 23 1944 – WW2: German SS engineers begin placing explosive charges around the Eiffel
Tower in Paris.

 Aug 23 1944 – WW2: Romania Prime Minister Marshal Ion Antonescu Overthrown » Romania’s
sovereign Michael I asked pro-German Prime Minister Antonescu to meet him in the royal palace
building where he presented him with a request to take Romania out of its Axis alliance. The
Conducător (title used officially by Romanian dictator) refused, and was promptly arrested by
soldiers of the guard, being replaced as Premier with General Constantin Sănătescu, who presided
over a national government. King Michael I offered unconditional surrender of Romania to the USSR
and the new Romanian authorities declared peace with the Allies and advised the population to greet
Soviet troops. On 25 AUG Romania declared war on Nazi Germany.

 Aug 23 1944 – WW2: Future baseball star Lieutenant Jack Roosevelt (“Jackie”) Robinson is court-
martialed for incident when he refused to give up a bus seat on July 6, 1944.

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 Jackie Robinson, later to become famous as the first black to integrate major league baseball in
modern times, was assigned to Camp Hood near Waco, Texas during World War II. Camp Hood had
a bad reputation among blacks, not only because of the segregation on the post but also because of the
depth of racism in the neighboring towns. On July 6, 1944, Robinson was riding a bus on the base and
sitting next to a fellow officer’s light-skinned wife. The driver instructed Robinson to move to a seat
farther back. Robinson argued with him, and when he got off at his stop, the bus dispatcher joined in
the altercation. A crowd formed and military policemen arrived. The MPs took Robinson into the
station. John Vernon, an archivist at the National Archives (Prologue, Spring 2008), tells what
happened next:
“…when they arrived at the station to meet with the camp’s assistant provost marshal, a white MP
ran up to the vehicle and excitedly inquired if they had ‘the nigger lieutenant’ with them. The
utterance of this unexpected and especially offensive racial epithet served to set Robinson off and he
threatened ‘to break in two’ anyone, whatever their rank or status, who employed that word.”
Robinson continued to show “disrespect” and received a court martial.
Robinson contacted the NAACP and sought publicity from the Negro press. He also wrote to the
War Department. The white press picked up on the situation as Robinson was a well-known athlete
from his days at UCLA. Higher ups were worried about this “political dynamite.” At the court martial
trial, Robinson’s commanding officer gave a glowing report on his character. His army-appointed
defense attorney pointed out inconsistencies in witnesses’ accounts. The attorney also suggested that
Robinson’s assertiveness was a legitimate expression of resentment given the racially hostile
environment. Ultimately, the court acquitted Robinson of all charges. While what happened to
Robinson was not unique, the outcome of the conflict was unusual. It would more than another
decade before blacks were free to sit where they chose on the bus.

 Aug 23 1950 – Korea: Up to 77,000 members of the U.S. Army Organized Reserve Corps are called
involuntarily to active duty to fight the Korean War.

 Aug 23 1956 – Cold War: U.S. Aircraft Shot Down by China » A Navy P4M Martin Mercator
was shot down by Chinese fighters while 160 miles north of Taiwan and 32 miles from the Chinese
coast. Before going down the plane radioed that it was under attack by aircraft. The Chinese stated,
through British diplomatic sources, that they had fired on the aircraft believing it to be a Chinese
Nationalist (Taiwanese) plane. The crew of 16 perished. Two remains were recovered by US forces;
two by Chinese forces, and were12 totally unaccounted for.

 Aug 23 1961 – Vietnam: The American cargo ship Baton Rouge Victory strikes a mine laid by the
Viet Cong in the Long Tao River, 22 miles south of Saigon. The half-submerged ship blocked the
route from the South Vietnamese capital to the sea. Seven crewmen were killed.

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 Damaged SS Baton Rouge Victory under tow

 Aug 23 1961 – Vietnam: Communist forces launch rocket and mortar attacks on numerous cities,
provincial capitals, and military installations. The heaviest shelling was on the U.S. airfield at Da
Nang, the cities of Hue and Quang Tri. North Vietnamese forces numbering between 1200 and 1500
troops attacked the U.S. Special Forces camp at Duc Lap, 130 miles northeast of Saigon near the
Cambodian border. The camp fell but was retaken by an allied relief column led by U.S. Special
Forces on August 25. A reported 643 North Vietnamese troops were killed in the battle.

 Aug 23 1966 – Vietnam: U.S. cargo ship strikes a mine near Saigon » The American cargo ship
Baton Rouge Victory struck a mine laid by the Viet Cong in the Long Tao River, 22 miles south of
Saigon. The half-submerged ship blocked the route from the South Vietnamese capital to the sea.
Seven crewmen were killed.

 Aug 23 1968 – Vietnam: Communist Forces Renew Offensive » Communist forces launch rocket
and mortar attacks on numerous cities, provincial capitals, and military installations. The heaviest
shelling was on the U.S. airfield at Da Nang, the cities of Hue and Quang Tri. North Vietnamese
forces numbering between 1200 and 1500 troops attacked the U.S. Special Forces camp at Duc Lap,
130 miles northeast of Saigon near the Cambodian border. The camp fell but was retaken by an allied
relief column led by U.S. Special Forces on 25 AUG. A reported 643 North Vietnamese troops were
killed in the battle.

 Aug 23 1968 – Laos: Communists Take Over » After the Vietnam War, the Royal Lao
Government tried to make a peace agreement with the Pathet Lao. But this agreement turned out to
be a complete failure because by 1975, the Pathet Lao was successful and communism took over
Laos. After the takeover, General Vang Pao and other Hmong leaders knew that they could not stay
in the country of Laos anymore. On May 14, 1975, the United States returned to evacuate 2500
Hmong out of Laos and into Thailand. This included General Vang Pao and his officers. But
thousands of other Hmong were left behind and they were left with two option. Either risk it, and go
west to Thailand or stay in Laos and hope for the best. Those who were caught going west were
stopped and killed by the communist and those who stayed in Laos were persecuted for their actions.
Those who made it to Thailand were put in a refugee camp.
After the communist takeover, the Pathet Lao and the NVA basically declared a mass genocide
on the Hmong. They went from village to village trying to figure out which person was fighting for
the US. The communist raped women, killed babies, tortured the civilians, and the men who the
communist thought were involve in the war were secretly killed at night. Some children were re-

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 educated by the communist and other children were brainwashed into believing that their parents
were the enemy. The communist also used a poison called yellow rain to wipe out many villages.
Today, some Hmong are still trying to escape Laos. There are also ex-soldiers who are stuck in
the jungles of Laos because they can’t move without the special stamp of approval. Even today,
some Hmong in Laos are still being persecuted and tortured because of the war. The population of
the refugee camps in Thailand has decreased because most of the Hmong has either immigrated to
another country, moved back into Laos, or settle into Thai society. The major countries that the
Hmong has immigrated to are the USA and France. These Hmong have now integrated into the
society of their new country and they are now living a normal everyday life.

 Aug 23 1979 – Cold War: Aleksandr Godunov Defects to United States » Russian ballet star
defected after a performance in New York City. He became the first dancer to defect from the
prestigious Bolshoi Ballet.

 Aug 23 1981 – U.S.*Iran: Iran Hostage Crisis ends » Minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration
as the 40th president of the United States, the 52 U.S. captives held at the U.S. embassy in Teheran,
Iran, are released, ending the 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis.
On November 4, 1979, the crisis began when militant Iranian students, outraged that the U.S.
government had allowed the ousted shah of Iran to travel to New York City for medical treatment,
seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran. The Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s political and religious leader,
took over the hostage situation, refusing all appeals to release the hostages, even after the U.N.
Security Council demanded an end to the crisis in an unanimous vote. However, two weeks after the
storming of the embassy, the Ayatollah began to release all non-U.S. captives, and all female and
minority Americans, citing these groups as among the people oppressed by the government of the
United States. The remaining 52 captives remained at the mercy of the Ayatollah for the next 14
months.
President Jimmy Carter was unable to diplomatically resolve the crisis, and on April 24, 1980, he
ordered a disastrous rescue mission in which eight U.S. military personnel were killed and no
hostages rescued. Three months later, the former shah died of cancer in Egypt, but the crisis
continued. In November 1980, Carter lost the presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan.
Soon after, with the assistance of Algerian intermediaries, successful negotiations began between the
United States and Iran. On the day of Reagan’s inauguration, the United States freed almost $8 billion
in frozen Iranian assets, and the hostages were released after 444 days. The next day, Jimmy Carter
flew to West Germany to greet the Americans on their way home.

 Aug 23 1990 – Gulf War: Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of
Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War.

 Aug 23 1994 – WWI: Eugene Bullard, the only black pilot in World War I, is posthumously
commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

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 Bullard, as a French army corporal, His awards, and next to his aircraft

 Aug 23 1996 – OEF/OIF: Osama bin Laden Declares War on the U.S. » He signed and issued
his first "Declaration of Jihad against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Mosques,"
meaning Saudi Arabia. The declaration summed up bin Laden's belief, categorical and
uncompromising, that "there is nothing more imperative, after faith, than to repel the aggressor who
corrupts religion and life, unconditionally, as far as possible." In that line was the seed of bin Laden's
stance that even the killing of innocent civilians was justified in defense of the faith. Bin Laden issued
the 1996 declaration from the southern mountains of Afghanistan. It appeared on 31 AUG in al Quds,
a newspaper published in London. The response from the Clinton administration was close to
indifferent. American forces in Saudi Arabia had been on a higher state of alert since the bombings,
but bin Laden's threats changed nothing.
American forces were encamped in Saudi Arabia since 1990 when Operation Desert Shield
became the first step in the war to oust Saddam Hussein's army from Kuwait. Abiding by extreme
interpretations of Islam that the overwhelming majority of Muslim clerics around the world reject, bin
Laden considered the presence of foreign troops on Saudi soil an affront to Islam. He had, in 1990,
approached the Saudi government and offered to organize his own campaign to oust Saddam Hussein
from Kuwait. The government politely rebuffed the offer.
The declaration of jihad was the first of two explicit declarations of war against the United States.
Fund-raising may very well have been part of the motive: by raising his profile, bin Laden was also
drawing more interest from the sympathetic charities and individuals underwriting his efforts in
Afghanistan. The second declaration of war was to be delivered in February 1998 and would include
the West and Israel, giving certain donors even more incentive to contribute to the cause.

-o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 24 1814 – War of 1812: Battle of Bladensburg » President Madison, who had been present at
the battle, at one point actually took command of one of the few remaining American batteries, thus
becoming the first and only president to exercise in actual battle his authority as commander in chief.
Casualties and losses: US 150 to 197 – UK 249.

 Aug 24 1776 – American Revolution: General Lee Recognizes Georgia’s Value » American
General Charles Lee informs Congress that Georgia was more valuable than he had originally
suspected. Lee argued that the state’s salubrious climate, crops of rice, numerous harbors and rivers,
livestock and proximity to the West Indies made it mandatory to keep out of enemy hands. To

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 safeguard Georgia, Lee recommended that the Continental Army assign to it additional
reinforcements.

 Aug 24 1814 – War of 1812: British Troops Set Fire to the White House » British troops enter
Washington, D.C. and burn the White House in retaliation for the American attack on the city of York
in Ontario, Canada, in June 1812. When the British arrived at the White House, they found that
President James Madison and his first lady Dolley had already fled to safety in Maryland. Soldiers
reportedly sat down to eat a meal made of leftover food from the White House scullery using White
House dishes and silver before ransacking the presidential mansion and setting it ablaze though not
burned to the ground; as well as several other buildings. Although President Madison and his wife
were able to return to Washington only three days later when British troops had moved on, they never
again lived in the White House. Madison served the rest of his term residing at the city’s Octagon
House. It was not until 1817 that newly elected president James Monroe moved back into the
reconstructed building.

 Aug 24 1816 - Native Americans: The Treaty of St. Louis, composite name for a series of treaties
(14) signed between the U.S. and various Native American tribes from 1804 through 1824, is signed
in St. Louis, Missouri.

 Aug 24 1914 – WWI: Poet Alan Seeger Volunteers in French Foreign Legion » Born in New
York City in 1888, Seeger attended Harvard University, where his illustrious classmates in the Class
of 1910 included the poet John Reed and the journalist Walter Lippmann. After living in New York
writing poetry and working on the staff of the magazine American, edited by Reed, Seeger moved to
Paris in 1912, where he lived on the Left Bank among a set of American expatriates until the outbreak
of the First World War in the summer of 1914.

On 24 AUG of that year, Seeger volunteered to serve as a private in the Foreign Legion of the
French army. After training at Toulouse, his regiment was sent to the trenches of northern France,
where to Seeger’s dismay they saw little actual combat. In a letter to the New York Sunwritten in
December 1914, Seeger voices his frustration with life in the trenches: “This style of warfare is
extremely modern and for the artillerymen is doubtless very interesting, but for the poor common
soldier it is anything but romantic. His role is simply to dig himself a hole in the ground and to keep
hidden in it as tightly as possible. Continually under the fire of the opposing batteries, he is yet never
allowed to get a glimpse of the enemy. Exposed to all the dangers of war, but with none of its

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 enthusiasms or splendid élan [spirit], he is condemned to sit like an animal in its burrow and hear the
shells whistle over his head and take their little daily toll from his comrades.”
Seeger finally got his chance in September 1915, with the launch of a major new Allied offensive
in Champagne, France. While awaiting orders to go forward, Seeger wrote home of his uncontainable
excitement: “I expect to march right up the Aisne borne on an irresistible élan. It will be the greatest
moment of my life.” Although the offensive ultimately failed, Seeger’s dedication to the French army
continued. His unit spent much of the rest of 1915 and early 1916 on reserve, and bronchitis kept him
out of service for several months. During that period he wrote what would become his most famous
poem, “Rendezvous with Death,” with its oft-quoted lines: I have a rendezvous with death/On some
scarred slope or battered hill/When Spring comes round again this year/And the first meadow-flowers
appear.
On July 5, 1916, Alan Seeger died during the massive Allied attack at the Somme River, after
being mortally wounded by a barrage of six German machine guns during his unit’s costly but
successful assault on the heavily fortified village of Belloy-en-Santerre, France.

 Aug 24 1942 – WW2: Brave Volunteers Save The Day in the Battle of the East Solomon Islands »
Key to the Americans’ success in this battle was the work of coastwatchers, a group of volunteers
whose job it is to report on Japanese ship and aircraft movement. On August 23, coastwatchers,
comprised mostly of Australian and New Zealander volunteers, hidden throughout the Solomon and
Bismarck islands and protected by anti-Japanese natives, spotted heavy Japanese reinforcements
headed for Guadalcanal. The coastwatchers alerted three U.S. carriers that were within 100 miles of
Guadalcanal, which then raced to the scene to intercept the Japanese. Vice Adm. William F. Halsey
said, “The coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal, and Guadalcanal saved the Pacific.”

 Aug 24 1942 – WW2: Last Cavalry Charge » The charge of the Savoia Cavalleria at Izbushensky
Russia was a clash between the Italian cavalry regiment Savoia Cavalleria and the Soviet 812th
Siberian Infantry Regiment, part of the Soviet 304th Infantry Division. Though a minor skirmish in
the theatre of operation of the Eastern Front, the charge had a great propaganda resonance in Italy and
it is still remembered as one of the last cavalry charges in history.
Thirty-two cavalrymen had died, including the commanders of the 3rd and 4th squadrons, 52 were
wounded. Well over 100 horses were also lost. The Soviets had left behind 150 dead, 300 wounded,
600 prisoners, 4 cannons, 10 mortars and 50 machine guns. Shortly afterwards some German liaison
cavalry officers arrived. They were deployed at the left of the Savoia and they had witnessed
everything from the neighboring heights. They expressed their wonder and admiration for the
anachronistic episode to the Italian commander saying: "Colonel, these kinds of things, we cannot do
them anymore". After removing the wounded and the dead, the battlefield remained covered with
dead horses.
Given that the relatively high casualties would prevent the launching of any more charges, should
the need arise, the Italian commander Col. Bettoni Cazzago decided not to pursue the Soviets, which
thus retained a solid foothold on the west bank of the Don river. However the "Izbushensky Charge",
as it was then named, temporarily relieved the whole area of Soviet pressure, delayed the full Soviet
attack on Tschebotarewskij by 24 hours, and likely bought time for the routed "Sforzesca" division to

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 seek safety. The bold action was repaid with a gold medal to the regiment standard and to Captain
Abbà and Major Litta Modignani who died in action. Another 54 silver medals and 49 war crosses
were also awarded. A much loved and much honored survivor Italian horse of the Izbushensky charge
was Albino, who lived, though blinded in the battle, until 1960.

 Aug 24 1942 – WW2: Battle of the Eastern Solomons » In the third carrier-versus-carrier battle of
the war U.S. forces continue to deliver crushing blows to the Japanese. Islands. Japanese aircraft
carrier Ryujo is sunk and US carrier USS Enterprise heavily damaged.

 Aug 24 1943 – WW2: The sinking of U-185 » Between 7 December 1942 and 6 August 1943 U-
185 was responsible for the sinking or damage of 10 Allied ships with a total tonnage of 69,501. On
the morning of 11 August 1943 she rendezvoused with the stricken U-604, which had been badly
damaged after two attacks by US aircraft and the destroyer USS Moffett. U-604 began to transfer
provisions, fuel oil and spare parts to U-185. Subsequently, U-172 arrived to assist, but the
concentration of U-boats was detected by HF/DF. As a result, the surfaced boats were attacked by a
United States Navy PBY-4 Liberator, of Squadron VB-107. U-172 escaped while the crew of U-185
opened fire with AA guns, shooting down the aircraft, killing its crew of three.
After U-604 was scuttled, U-185 headed for home, with 100 men crammed aboard a U-boat
designed for 54. On 16 AUG she transferred 23 men to U-172. Short of fuel, U-185 was heading for a
rendezvous with U-847 south-west of the Azores. On the morning of 24 AUG she was spotted by a
U.S. Grumman TBF-1 Avenger and Grumman F4F Wildcat attack team of Squadron VC-13, flying
from the escort carrier USS Core. The aircraft attacked with machine guns and depth charges, killing
the U-boat's lookouts and AA crew and rupturing the pressure hull, allowing seawater to reach the
battery cells and produce toxic chlorine gas. One diesel engine caught fire, producing more fumes,
and all electrical systems were knocked out, plunging the vessel into darkness.
Realizing that the situation was hopeless, Kapitänleutnant August Maus ordered all hands to
abandon ship. More than 40 men managed to reach the deck and jump into the sea as U-185 sank.
Only 36 men were later rescued by the destroyer USS Barker, the rest succumbing to wounds or
chlorine poisoning. The 25 men from U-185 and the nine survivors from U-604 spent the following
three years as POWs before returning to Germany. On 21 September 1943 Kapitänleutnant Maus was
awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

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 Aug 24 1944 – WW2: US Army’s “Red Ball Express” completes first truck shipment of supplies
across France, US Third Army crosses the Seine south of Paris and with other allied troops begin the
attack on Paris, and in southern France, US Seventh Army takes Avignon and Cannes.

 Aug 24 1944 – WW2: USS Harder (SS–257) sunk by Japanese Coast Defense Vessel No. 22 off
west coast of Luzon, Philippines. 79 killed.

 Aug 24 1954 – Cold War: Congress passes Communist Control Act » Though full of ominous
language, many found the purpose of the act unclear. In 1954, the Red Scare still raged in the United
States. Although Senator Joseph McCarthy, the most famous of the “red hunters” in America, had
been disgraced earlier in the summer of 1954 when he tried to prove that communists were in the U.S.
Army, most Americans still believed that communists were at work in their country. Responding to
this fear, Congress passed the Communist Control Act in August 1954.

Humbert Humphrey with members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Humphrey as a
U.S. senator from Minnesota sponsored the Communist Control Act of 1954

The act declared that, “The Communist Party of the United States, though purportedly a political
party, is in fact an instrumentality of a conspiracy to overthrow the Government of the United States.”
The act went on to charge that the party’s “role as the agency of a hostile foreign power renders its
existence a clear and continuing danger to the security of the United States.” The conclusion seemed
inescapable: “The Communist Party should be outlawed.” Indeed, that is what many people at the
time believed the Communist Control Act accomplished.
A careful reading of the act, however, indicates that the reality was a bit fuzzier. In 1950,
Congress passed the Internal Security Act. In many respects, it was merely a version of the
Communist Control Act passed four years later. It used the same language to condemn communism
and the Communist Party of the United States, and established penalties for anyone belonging to a
group calling for the violent overthrow of the American government. However, it very specifically
noted that mere membership in the Communist Party, or affiliated organizations, was not in and of
itself sufficient cause for arrest or penalty. The 1954 act went one step further by removing the
“rights, privileges, and immunities attendant upon legal bodies created under the jurisdiction of the
laws of the United States” from the Communist Party. The Communist Control Act made it clear that
“nothing in this section shall be construed as amending the Internal Security Act of 1950.” Thus,
while the Communist Control Act may have declared that the Communist Party should be outlawed,
the act itself did not take this decisive step.
In the years to come, the Communist Party of the United States continued to exist, although the
U.S. government used legislation such as the Communist Control Act to harass Communist Party

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 members. More ominously, the government also used such acts to investigate and harass numerous
other organizations that were deemed to have communist “leanings.” These included the American
Civil Liberties Union, labor unions, and the NAACP. By the mid-to-late 1960s, however, the Red
Scare had run its course and a more liberal Supreme Court began to chip away at the immense tangle
of anticommunist legislation that had been passed during the 1940s and 1950s. Today, the
Communist Party of the United States continues to exist and regularly runs candidates for local, state,
and national elections.

 Aug 24 1963 – Vietnam: Washington changes policy on support for President Diem » Ambassador
Henry Cabot Lodge receives a State Department cable stating that the United States can no longer
tolerate Ngo Dinh Nhu’s influence in President Ngo Dinh Diem’s regime. This message was in
response to the raids on the Buddhist pagodas; it also directed Lodge to tell the South Vietnamese
generals that Washington was prepared to discontinue economic and military aid to Diem.

 Aug 24 1964 – Vietnam: Company A of the Third Battalion, 196th Light Infantry Brigade refuses
the order of its commander, Lieutenant Eugene Schurtz, Jr., to continue an attack that had been
launched to reach a downed helicopter shot down in the Que Son valley, 30 miles south of Da Nang.
The unit had been in fierce combat for five days against entrenched North Vietnamese forces and had
taken heavy casualties

 Aug 24 1969 – Vietnam: U.S. Unit Refuses Commander’s Order » Company A of the Third
Battalion, 196th Light Infantry Brigade refuses the order of its commander, Lieutenant Eugene
Schurtz, Jr., to continue an attack that had been launched to reach a downed helicopter shot down in
the Que Son valley, 30 miles south of Da Nang. Schurtz called his battalion commander, Lieutenant
Colonel Robert C. Bacon, and informed him that his men had refused to follow his order to move out
because they had “simply had enough” and that they were “broken.” The unit eventually moved out
when Bacon sent his executive officer and a sergeant to give Schurtz’s troops “a pep talk,” but when
they reached the downed helicopter on 25 AUG, they found all eight men aboard dead. Schurtz was
relieved of his command and transferred to another assignment in the division. Neither he nor his men
were disciplined. This case of “combat refusal,” as the Army described it, was reported widely in
U.S. newspapers.

 Aug 24 1970 – Vietnam: B-52s conduct heavy raids along the DMZ.

 Aug 24 1970: Vietnam War Protest » In the United States, a radical protest group calling
themselves the New Year’s Gang blew up in the Army Mathematics Research Center at the
University of Wisconsin Army Mathematics Research Center in Madison. A graduate student who
was working late was killed in the blast. The center, which reportedly was involved in war research,
had been a focus for protest in the past, but previously protests had all been nonviolent.

-o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 25 1776 – American Revolution: David Hume Dies » Although Hume died when the
American Revolution was barely underway, his essay “Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth” greatly

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 affected the ideas of the drafters of the federal Constitution in 1787. Most famously, James Madison
contemplated Hume’s proposals for an ideal government and, more precisely, Hume’s thoughts
regarding the prevention of faction as he constructed his argument in favor of the Constitution in
“Federalist X.”

 Aug 25 1864 – Civil War: Rebels Attack at the Second Battle of Ream's Station » Union forces
finish cutting a vital Confederate supply line into Petersburg, Virginia by attacking the Wilmington
and Weldon Railroad at Reams Station. Casualties and losses: US 2,747 – CSA 814

 Aug 25 1914 – WWI: Germans Burn Belgian Town of Louvain » Over the course of five days,
beginning August 25, 1914, German troops stationed in the Belgian village of Louvain during the
opening month of World War I burn and loot much of the town, executing hundreds of civilians.
Located between Liege, the fortress town that saw heavy fighting during the first weeks of the
German invasion, and the Belgian capital of Brussels, Louvain became the symbol, in the eyes of
international public opinion, of the shockingly brutal nature of the German war machine. From the
first days they crossed into Belgium, violating that small country’s neutrality on the way to invade
France, German forces looted and destroyed much of the countryside and villages in their path,
killing significant numbers of civilians, including women and children. These brutal actions, the
Germans claimed, were in response to what they saw as an illegal civilian resistance to the German
occupation, organized and promoted by the Belgian government and other community leaders—
especially the Catholic Church—and carried out by irregular combatants or franc-tireurs (snipers, or
free shooters) of the type that had participated in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71.

A postcard entitled 'Le sac de Louvain' ('The Sacking of Louvain)

In reality this type of civilian resistance—despite being sanctioned by the Hague Conventions of
1899 and 1907, which the Germans objected to—did not exist to any significant degree in Belgium
during the German invasion, but was used as an excuse to justify the German pursuit of a theory of
terror previously articulated by the enormously influential 19th-century Prussian military philosopher
Karl von Clausewitz. According to Clausewitz, the civilian population of an enemy country should
not be exempted from war, but in fact should be made to feel its effects, and be forced to put pressure
on their government to surrender.

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 The burning of Louvain came on the heels of a massacre in the village of Dinant, near Liege, on
23 AUG, in which the German soldiers had killed some 674 civilians on the orders of their corps
commander. Two days later, the small but hardy Belgian army made a sudden sharp attack on the rear
lines of the German 1st Army, commanded by General Alexander von Kluck, forcing the Germans to
retreat in disorder to Louvain. In the confusion that followed, they would later claim, civilians had
fired on the German soldiers or had fired from the village’s rooftops to send a signal to the Belgian
army, or even to approaching French or British troops. The Belgians, by contrast, would claim the
Germans had mistakenly fired on each other in the dark. Whatever happened did not matter: the
Germans burned Louvain not to punish specific Belgian acts but to provide an example, before the
world, of what happened to those who resisted mighty Germany.
Over the next five days, as Louvain and its buildings—including its renowned university and
library, founded in 1426—burned, a great outcry grew in the international community, with refugees
pouring out of the village and eyewitness accounts filling the foreign press. Richard Harding Davis,
an American correspondent in Belgium, arrived at Louvain by troop train on August 27; his report
later appeared in the New York Tribune under the headline GERMANS SACK LOUVAIN; WOMEN
AND CLERGY SHOT. A wireless statement from Berlin issued by the German Embassy in
Washington, D.C., confirmed the incidents, stating that “Louvain was punished by the destruction of
the city.” The Allied press went crazy, with British editorials proclaiming “Treason to Civilization”
and insisting the Germans had proved themselves descendants not of the great author Goethe but of
the bloodthirsty Attila the Hun.
By war’s end, the Germans would kill some 5,521 civilians in Belgium (and 896 in France).
Above all, German actions in Belgium were intended to demonstrate to the Allies that the German
empire was a formidable power that should be submitted to, and that those resisting that power—
whether soldier or civilian, belligerent or neutral—would be met with a force of total destruction.
Ironically, for many in the Allied countries, and in the rest of the world as well, a different conclusion
emerged from the flames of Louvain: Germany must be defeated at all costs, without compromise or
settlement, because a German victory would mean the defeat of civilization.

 Aug 25 1921 – WWI: U.S.–German Peace Treaty Signed » The U.S., which never ratified the
Versailles Treaty ending World War I, finally signs a peace treaty with Germany.
During World War I, the German Empire was defeated by the Allied Powers, one of which was
the United States. The U.S. government declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. At the end of the
war in November 1918, the German monarchy was overthrown and Germany was established as a
republic. In 1919, the victorious Allied Powers held a peace conference in Paris to formulate peace
treaties with the defeated Central Powers. At the conference, a peace treaty with the German
government was concluded. The U.S. government was among the signatories of that treaty, but the
U.S. Senate refused to consent to ratification of the treaty, due in large measure to its objections to
U.S. participation in the League of Nations.
As a result, the two governments started negotiations for a bilateral peace treaty not connected to
the League of Nations. On July 2, 1921, U.S. President Warren G. Harding signed the Knox–Porter
Resolution, which had been passed by the U.S. Congress and ended the state of war between the U.S.
and Germany, Austria and Hungary, further setting the stage for bilateral peace treaties. The treaty

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 between the U.S. and Germany, formally titled the "Treaty between the United States and Germany
Restoring Friendly Relations" was signed in Berlin on August 25, 1921. The United States Senate
advised ratification on October 18, 1921 and the treaty was ratified by President Harding on October
21, 1921. The treaty was ratified by Germany on November 2, 1921, and ratifications exchanged in
Berlin on November 11, 1921.
Article 1 of the treaty obliged the German government to grant to the U.S. government all rights
and privileges enjoyed by the other allied powers who had ratified the peace treaty signed in Paris.
Article 2 specified which articles of the Versailles treaty shall apply to the U.S. Article 3 provided for
the exchange of ratifications in Berlin.
The treaty laid the foundations for a U.S.-German cooperation not under the strict supervision of
the League of Nations. As a result, the U.S. government embarked on a path of partially assisting the
government of the Weimar Republic to ease the burden of War reparations imposed in the Treaty of
Versailles. Following the conclusion of the peace treaty, diplomatic relations between the two
governments were reestablished, and on December 10, 1921, the new U.S. chargé d'affaires—Ellis
Loring Dresel—presented his credentials in Berlin.
The treaty was supplemented by a treaty signed in Berlin on August 10, 1922, which provided for
the establishment of a mixed U.S.-German commission to decide amount of reparations to be paid by
the German government to the U.S.

 Aug 25 1942 – WW2: Battle of Milne Bay » Japanese forces for 13 days unsuccessfully attacked
the Australian base at Milne Bay on the eastern tip of New Guinea. Papua New Guinea. Casualties
and losses: US 13 – AS 373 – JP 936.

 Aug 25 1942 – WW2: Battle of the Eastern Solomons » On the second day of the battle a
Japanese naval transport convoy headed towards Guadalcanal is turned back by an Allied air attack.
Japanese losses were one destroyer and one transport sunk, and one light cruiser heavily damaged.

 Aug 25 1944 – WW2: Paris Liberated » After more than four years of Nazi occupation, Paris is
liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. German resistance
was light, and General Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison, defied an order by
Adolf Hitler to blow up Paris’ landmarks and burn the city to the ground before its liberation. Choltitz
signed a formal surrender that afternoon while the Tricolor was flown from the Eiffel Tower and the
Arc de Triomphe.

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 Paris had fallen to Nazi Germany on June 14, 1940, one month after the German Wehrmacht
stormed into France. Eight days later, France signed an armistice with the Germans, and a puppet
French state was set up with its capital at Vichy. Elsewhere, however, General Charles de Gaulle and
the Free French kept fighting, and the Resistance sprang up in occupied France to resist Nazi and
Vichy rule.
The French 2nd Armored Division was formed in London in late 1943 with the express purpose of
leading the liberation of Paris during the Allied invasion of France. In August 1944, the division
arrived at Normandy under the command of General Jacques-Philippe Leclerc and was attached to
General George S. Patton’s 3rd U.S. Army. By 18 AUG, Allied forces were near Paris, and workers
in the city went on strike as Resistance fighters emerged from hiding and began attacking German
forces and fortifications. At his headquarters two miles inland from the Normandy coast, Supreme
Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower had a dilemma. Allied planners had concluded that the
liberation of Paris should be delayed so as to not divert valuable resources away from important
operations elsewhere. The city could be encircled and then liberated at a later date.
On 21 AUG, Eisenhower met with de Gaulle and told him of his plans to bypass Paris. De Gaulle
urged him to reconsider, assuring him that Paris could be reclaimed without difficulty. The French
general also warned that the powerful communist faction of the Resistance might succeed in
liberating Paris, thereby threatening the re-establishment of a democratic government. De Gaulle
politely told Eisenhower that if his advance against Paris was not ordered, he would send Leclerc’s
2nd Armored Division into the city himself.
On 22 AUG, Eisenhower agreed to proceed with the liberation of Paris. The next day, the 2nd
Armored Division advanced on the city from the north and the 4th Infantry Division from the south.
Meanwhile, in Paris, the forces of German General Dietrich von Choltitz were fighting the Resistance
and completing their defenses around the city. Hitler had ordered Paris defended to the last man, and
demanded that the city not fall into Allied hands except as “a field of ruins.” Choltitz dutifully began
laying explosives under Paris’ bridges and many of its landmarks, but disobeyed an order to
commence the destruction. He did not want to go down in history as the man who had destroyed the
“City of Light”–Europe’s most celebrated city.
The 2nd Armored Division ran into heavy German artillery, taking heavy casualties, but on 24
AUG managed to cross the Seine and reach the Paris suburbs. There, they were greeted by
enthusiastic civilians who besieged them with flowers, kisses, and wine. Later that day, Leclerc
learned that the 4th Infantry Division was poised to beat him into Paris proper, and he ordered his
exhausted men forward in a final burst of energy. Just before midnight on 24 AUG, the 2nd Armored
Division reached the Hótel de Ville in the heart of Paris.
German resistance melted away during the night. Most of the 20,000 troops surrendered or fled,
and those that fought were quickly overcome. On the morning of 25 AUG, the 2nd Armored Division
swept clear the western half of Paris while the 4th Infantry Division cleared the eastern part. Paris
was liberated. In the early afternoon, Choltitz was arrested in his headquarters by French troops.
Shortly after, he signed a document formally surrendering Paris to de Gaulle’s provincial
government. De Gaulle himself arrived in the city later that afternoon. On 26 AUG, de Gaulle and
Leclerc led a triumphant liberation march down the Champs d’Elysees. Scattered gunfire from a

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 rooftop disrupted the parade and later inside Notre Dame Cathedral; snipers also shoot at celebrating
Parisians at Place de la Concorde but the identity of the snipers was not determined.

French civilians seeking cover as a German sniper opens fire

De Gaulle headed two successive French provisional governments until 1946, when he resigned
over constitutional disagreements. From 1958 to 1969, he served as French president under the Fifth
Republic.

 Aug 25 1945 – Cold War: The first casualty of the Cold War » John Birch, an American
missionary to China before the war and a captain in the Army during the war, is killed by Chinese
communists days after the surrender of Japan, for no apparent reason.

After America had entered the war, Birch, a Baptist missionary already in China, was made a
liaison between American and Chinese forces fighting the Japanese. But on August 25, Birch,
commanding an American Special Services team, was ordered to halt by Chinese communist troops.
A scuffle ensued, and Birch was shot dead. In the 1950s, Robert Welch would create a right-wing,
anticommunist organization called the John Birch Society. For Welch, Birch was “the first casualty in
the Third World War between Communists and the ever-shrinking Free World.”

 Aug 25 1967 – Vietnam: Defense Secretary McNamara concedes that the U.S. bombing campaign
has had little effect on the North’s “war-making capability.” At the same time, he refused a request
from military commanders to bomb all MIG bases in North Vietnam. In Hanoi, North Vietnam’s
Administrative Committee orders all workers in light industry and all craftsmen and their families to
leave the city; only persons vital to the city’s defense and production were to remain.

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 Aug 25 1971 – Vietnam: U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade, among the first U.S. ground units
sent to Vietnam, ceases combat operations and prepares to redeploy to the United
States as part of Nixon’s troop withdrawal plan.

 Aug 25 1985 – Cold War: Samantha Smith Dies in Plane Crash » The 13-year-old “ambassador”
to the Soviet Union, dies in a plane crash. She was best known for writing to Soviet leader Yuri
Andropov in 1982 and visiting the Soviet Union as Andropov’s guest in 1983.
In late 1982, Smith, a fifth-grader at Manchester Elementary School in Manchester, Maine, wrote
a plaintive letter to Soviet leader Andropov. She said that she was “worrying about Russia and the
United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to have a war or not?” A few months later,
Smith’s letter was reprinted in Russia and it was announced that Andropov was writing a response.
Smith received his letter in April 1983. Andropov assured Smith that he did not want a nuclear war
with the United States or any other country. Calling Smith a “courageous and honest” little girl,
Andropov closed the letter with an invitation for her to visit the Soviet Union. In July, accompanied
by her parents, Smith embarked on a two-week trip.
She was a hit in the Soviet Union, and although she did not get to meet with Andropov, she
traveled widely and spoke to numerous groups and people. In the United States, some people branded
her as a patsy for the communists and claimed that Soviet propagandists were merely using her for
their own purposes, but Samantha’s enthusiasm and contagious optimism charmed most Americans
and millions of other people around the world. During the next two years, Smith became an unofficial
U.S. goodwill ambassador, speaking to groups throughout the United States and in foreign nations
such as Japan. On August 25, 1985, while traveling with her father, their small plane crashed and
both were killed.

1985 USSR Stamp

Smith’s legacy lived on, however. Her mother began the Samantha Smith Foundation, which has
as its goal bringing people from different nations and cultures together to share their experiences. In
particular, the foundation established a student exchange program with the Soviet Union. In the
Soviet Union, news of Smith’s death was met with great sadness. The Russian government responded
by issuing a stamp in her honor and naming a mountain after the young girl.

 Aug 25 1991 – Cold War: Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union; Ukraine declares its independence from USSR.

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 -o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 26 1776 – American Revolution: Washington Urges Hessians to Desert » Falsely confident
that the British would not attack New York’s Manhattan Island, General George Washington pours
additional reinforcements into the lines around Brooklyn Heights. He also ordered the dispersal of
certain documents among the Hessian soldiers fighting for the British inducing them to desert the
British army.

 Aug 26 1862 – Civil War: Second Bull Run Campaign Begins » Confederate cavalry under
General Fitzhugh Lee enter Manassas Junction, capture the rail center, and began looting and
destroying Union General Pope’s huge supply depot located there. Pope was surprised by the large
Rebel force operating in his rear, but he also realized that Jackson was detached from the rest of Lee’s
army and so he began gathering his forces around Manassas. But Pope soon had a new problem: He
could not find Jackson. From 26 AUG until the beginning of Second Bull Run on 29 AUG, Pope’s
men searched for Jackson, who had hidden his army in the trees along Bull Run.

 Aug 26 1863 – Civil War: Battle of Rocky Gap » Union Brig. Gen. William W. Averell, with 4
regiments of cavalry and mounted infantry and 2 artillery batteries, left Winchester, Virginia on
August 5th, marching westward toward Allegheny Mountains. The federals were on another in a
series of raids that plagued this backwater area throughout the war. Averell's mission was to destroy
Confederate saltpeter and gunpowder works near franklin, West Virginia and attack Col. William L.
Jackson's Confederate cavalry brigade, reportedly located at Huntersville.

Brig. Gen. William W. Averell & Col. George S. Patton

Averell's command, numbering about 2,000 men, covered 58 miles the first 2 days, reaching
Morrefield, West Virginia late on the 6th. Nearby, advanced Confederate outposts skirmished with
the federals, before disappearing into the rugged terrain. The Federals resumed their march on the 9th,
heading southward, deeper into the mountain fastness, a lack of supplies, horseshoes, and nails and
insufficient ammunition hampering their progress. By the 22nd, the Union force had dislodged
Jackson from Huntersville, with the Confederates eventually retreating to Warm Springs.
Averell trailed Jackson on the 24th, shoving the Confederates eastward and occupying Warm
Springs. The Federals marched to Callaghan's Station the next day, destroyed the saltpeter works on
Jackson's River, and prepared to move to White Sulphur Springs on the 26th. The Union advance
resumed at 4:00 A.M. on the 26th, moving westward. At Rocky Gap in the Alleghey Mountains,

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 about 2 miles from White Sulphur Springs, the Federals encountered 4 regiments of Virginia infantry
and an artillery battery, numbering 1,900 men, under Col. George S. Patton.
Patton, directed by department commander Maj. Gen. Samuel Jones to intercept Averell, arrived at
the mountain defile at about 9;30 A.M.. Averell quickly shook out a battle line and charged the
waiting confederates, who had deployed across the road. The rifle fire quickly escalated as the
Federals, most of them dismounted, and assaulted the Virginians. The battle raged all day as one
Union attack after another was repulsed in the heavily wooded terrain. Expecting reinforcements that
never arrived, Averell did not withdraw during the night. Resuming his attacks that next morning, he
again made little headway against Patton's veterans. By noon, the Union force had abandoned the
field, countermarching toward Callaghan's Station.
For the next 3 days, Averell retreated northward, arriving at Beverly, West Virginia on the 31st.
Except for the engagement at Rocky gap, he had inflicted few casualties, captured only a handful of
confederates, destroyed 2 saltpeter works, and seized some cattle.

 Aug 26 1914 – WW1: Battle of Tannenberg Begins » The German 8th Army, under the leadership
of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, on 26 AUG strikes with lethal force in a four day
battle against the advancing Russian 2nd Army, led by General Aleksandr Samsonov, in East Prussia
during the opening weeks of the First World War.

Generals Paul von Hindenburg, Erich Ludendorff, and Aleksandr Samsonov

In the middle of August 1914, much sooner than had been anticipated, Russia sent two armies into
East Prussia, while Germany, according to its war strategy, had the bulk of its forces concentrated to
the west, against France. The Russian 1st Army, under General Pavel Rennenkampf, advanced to the
northeastern corner of East Prussia, while Samsonov’s 2nd Army made headway into the southwest,
planning to join with Rennenkampf’s men and pin the outnumbered German 8th Army between them.
After a Russian victory in the Battle of Gumbinnen on 20 AUG, however, Rennenkampf paused to
regroup his forces.
Meanwhile, change was afoot behind the German lines: Helmuth von Moltke, chief of the German
general staff, chose to replace the previous leader, Maximilian von Prittwitz, after the latter issued a
misguided order for a German retreat to the River Vistula, against the advice of his corps
commanders. Hindenburg, a retired general of great stature, and Ludendorff, who had just led the
German capture of the Belgian fortress of Liege, arrived in East Prussia and immediately authorized
an aggressive counter-action against the Russians, previously planned by a senior staff officer in the
region, Colonel Max Hoffmann.

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 Separated by the great Masurian Lakes, the two Russian armies were unable to effectively
communicate with each other as to their movements, a circumstance that would prove deadly. Though
Ludendorff succumbed to nerves initially, delaying the start of the German attack by one day,
Hindenburg was able to calm his subordinate—not for the last time in what would become a fabled
partnership. On 26 AUG, after intercepting uuencoded wireless messages from both Samsonov and
Rennenkampf, the Germans were able to take Samsonov’s army by surprise with the force of their
attack near the village of Tannenberg, to the southwest of the Masurian Lakes.
The delay in starting the attack had given Samsonov’s forces more time to advance deeper into the
sack formed by the German divisions enveloping them from both sides, the strength of which
Samsonov consistently underestimated. After three days of battering by German artillery,
Samsonov’s troops began their retreat; more German forces cut off their path and a massive slaughter
ensued. In the first hours of 30 AUG, confronting the reality of his army’s collapse, Samsonov went
into the forest, away from his staff, and shot himself.
In total, over 50,000 Russian soldiers were killed and some 92,000 taken as prisoners in the Battle
of Tannenberg—named thus by the Germans in vengeful remembrance of the village, where in 1410
the Poles had defeated the Teutonic Knights. By the end of August, Russia’s ambitious advance in
East Prussia in August 1914 had achieved at least one of its goals, albeit at a tremendous cost: two
German corps had been removed from the Western to the Eastern Front in order to confront the
Russian menace. Though the two corps had not arrived in time to play a role in the Battle of
Tannenberg—which would remain the greatest German triumph of the war against Russia on the
Eastern Front— they would also be unable to aid their comrades at the Battle of the Marne in early
September, when German forces advancing towards Paris walicere decisively defeated by British and
French troops in a crucial victory for the Allies.

 Aug 26 1914 – WW1: Paris on the Front Lines » The outbreak of the First World War in August
1914 saw patriotic demonstrations on the Place de la Concorde and at the Gare de l'Est and Gare du
Nord as the mobilized soldiers departed for the front. But while the Paris newspapers were confident
of a quick victory, the German army swept through Belgium and marched rapidly toward Paris.
On 26 AUG, trainloads of refugees from Belgium arrived at the Gare du Nord and were given
shelter at the Cirque de Paris. On 30 AUG, a German plane appeared over Paris and dropped three
bombs, one on the Rue des Récollets, one on the Quai de Valmy and the third on the Rue des
Vinaigriers; the last bomb killed an elderly woman and wounded three persons. City authorities did
not allow the casualties to be mentioned in the press. Another plane appeared on 31 AUG to drop a
message with the claim that the Germans had defeated the French army at Saint-Quentin, and a third
plane appeared on 1 SEP, this time to drop more bombs that killed one person and injured sixteen.
These casualties were also concealed from the public.
Also on 26 AUG General Joseph Gallieni was called from retirement and appointed military
governor of Paris, a title that dated back to the fourteenth century. He quickly began organizing the
defenses of the city; the forts around the city were prepared for action, 376 cannons and batteries of
new 75-millimeter guns were placed around the city to defend it against aerial attack, and machine
guns and a cannon were placed on the Eiffel Tower. Herds of cattle were brought into the city to
provide meat in the event of a long siege. The important masterpieces of the Louvre were transported

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 to Toulouse for safekeeping. As the German army drew closer, French President Raymond Poincaré
decided to move the French government and the National Assembly to safety in Bordeaux, as had
been done in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. On 2 SEP, posters appeared around the city
announcing that "The members of the government of the Republic have left Paris to give a new
impulse to the national defense.
By the first week of September, the Germans had come within thirty kilometers of the Cathedral of
Notre-Dame de Paris. The French and British armies were engaged in fierce fighting with the
Germans in the First Battle of the Marne. When one of the German armies turned southeast to attack
the French army on the flank, it opened a gap between the German armies, and the French forces, led
by Marechal Joffre, saw an opportunity to attack them on their own flank. General Gallieni decided to
send all of his reserves from Paris to the front to aid the attack, but lacked enough trains and
omnibuses to move the soldiers.
On 5 SEP, Gallieni requisitioned a thousand private vehicles, including about six hundred Paris
taxicabs and their drivers to carry soldiers to the front at Nanteuil-le-Haudouin, fifty kilometers away.
The drivers were assembled on the evening of September 6 on the esplanade of Les Invalides. They
were mostly the Renault AG1 Landaulet model, with an average speed of 16 mph. Within twenty-
four hours, the Villemomble and Gagny battalions, about six thousand soldiers and officers, were
moved to the front at Nanteuil-le-Haudouin. Each taxi carried five soldiers, four in the back and one
next to the driver. Only the back lights of the taxis were lit; the drivers were instructed to follow the
lights of the taxi ahead. Most of the taxis were demobilized on September 8, but some remained
longer to carry the wounded and refugees. The taxis, following city regulations, dutifully ran their
meters. The French treasury reimbursed the total fare of 70,012 francs. The Germans were surprised
and pushed back by the French and British armies. The number of soldiers transported by taxi was
small compared to the huge armies engaged in the battle, and the military impact was minor, but the
effect on French morale was enormous; it demonstrated the solidarity between the people and the
army.
Fearing a long siege, General Gallieni did what he could to reduce the number of Parisians who
needed to be fed; a dozen free trains were organized on 5 SEP to take Parisians to the French
provinces. An emergency census ordered by Gallieni on 8 SEP showed that the population of Paris
had dropped to 1,800,000, or only 63 percent of the population counted in 1911. By October, public
transportation was again running in the city. The military government declared a moratorium on rents
for those Parisians who had been summoned into the army and protected them from legal action until
the end of the war.
As of 20 DEC, pedestrians could walk freely in Paris once again, but vehicles were only allowed
to enter and leave Paris by fourteen of the fifty-five city gates that were open from five in the
morning until ten at night. The government returned to Paris on 11 DEC, and President Poincaré was
again able to meet with his Council of Ministers in the Élysée Palace. The front lines moved further
north, and by 4 January 1915, Paris was no longer considered to be threatened. Nonetheless, the city
was bombed by a German Zeppelin airship on March 21, 1915, and by German planes on May 11 and
May 22.

 Aug 26 1942 – WW2: Soviet counter offensive begins in Moscow,

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 Aug 26 1942 – WW2: Japanese troops land on Milne Bay, New-Guinea.

 Aug 26 1942 – WW2: First black Marine (Howard Perry) entered first recruit training camp
(Montford Point, NC) for black Marines

 Aug 19 1944 – WW2: Liberation of Paris » On after four long years of occupation by Hitler’s
forces, French and American soldiers entered the streets of Paris, cheered on by jubilant crowds. A
day later, German forces in the city surrendered. But the liberation of Paris had really begun a few
days earlier, when, with the sound of the artillery from the advancing Allies in the distance to the
west, the city’s police rebelled against the occupiers. They went on strike then took over the Paris
police headquarters and raised the French flag in a show of defiance against the Nazis. Their actions
helped spark a general uprising led by the French Resistance against the German occupiers. The
police played a prominent role, with nearly 3,000 manning barricades across the city. A week of
fierce fighting followed, in which 167 police officers were killed. The police headquarters became the
first public building to be liberated, a symbol of the reestablished republic, the starting point of the
liberation,

 Aug 26 1944 – WW2: DeGaulle enters a free Paris » French General Charles de Gaulle enters
Paris, which had formally been liberated the day before. As he entered the Place de l’Hotel, French
collaborationists took a few sniper shots at him. For de Gaulle, the liberation of Paris was the end of
a long history of fighting Germans. He had sustained multiple injuries fighting at Verdun in World
War I. and had escaped German POW camps five times, only to be recaptured each time. At 6 feet, 4
inches tall, it was hard for de Gaulle to be inconspicuous.

 Aug 26 1949 – U.S. Navy: USS Cochino (SS–345) foundered after a battery explosion during a
severe storm off northern Norway killing one sailor.

 Aug 26 1957 – Cold War: Russia tests an intercontinental ballistic missile » The Soviet Union
announces that it has successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of being
fired “into any part of the world.” The announcement caused great concern in the United States, and
started a national debate over the “missile gap” between America and Russia.

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 R-7 Semyorka, the world's first ICBM and satellite launch vehicle

For years after World War II, both the United States and the Soviet Union had been trying to
perfect a long-range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Building on the successes of Nazi
Germany in developing the V-1 and V-2 rockets that pummeled Great Britain during the last months
of World War II, both American and Russian scientists raced to improve the range and accuracy of
such missiles. (Both nations relied heavily on captured German scientists in their efforts.) In July
1957, the United States seemed to win the race when the Atlas, an ICBM with a speed of up to 20,000
miles an hour and an effective range of 5,000 miles, was ready for testing. The test, however, was a
disaster. The missile rose only about 5,000 feet into the air, tumbled, and plunged to earth.
Just a month later, the Soviets claimed success by announcing that their own ICBM had been
tested, had “covered a huge distance in a brief time,” and “landed in the target area.” No details were
given in the Russian announcement and some commentators in the United States doubted that the
ICBM test had been as successful as claimed. Nevertheless, the Soviet possession of this “ultimate
weapon,” coupled with recent successful test by the Russians of atomic and hydrogen bombs, raised
concerns in America. If the Soviets did indeed perfect their ICBM, no part of the United States would
be completely safe from possible atomic attack.
Less than two months later, the Soviets sent the satellite Sputnik into space. Concern quickly
turned to fear in the United States, as it appeared that the Russians were gaining the upper hand in the
arms and space races. The American government accelerated its own missile and space programs.
The Soviet successes–and American failures–became an issue in the 1960 presidential campaign.
Democratic challenger John F. Kennedy charged that the outgoing Eisenhower administration had
allowed a dangerous “missile gap” to develop between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Following his victory in 1960, Kennedy made missile development and the space program priorities
for his presidency.

 Aug 26 1964 – Vietnam: Johnson Receives Democratic Nomination for President » Lyndon B.
Johnson is nominated to run for the presidency at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic
City, New Jersey. His running mate would be Hubert H. Humphrey. Former Vice President Johnson
had assumed the reigns of government in November 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was
assassinated. Upon assuming office, he inherited a commitment to Vietnam where Kennedy had sent
military advisors to support the South Vietnamese government in Saigon. Following the Tonkin Gulf
incident earlier in August when North Vietnamese torpedo boats reportedly attacked U.S. destroyers,
Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution empowering Johnson to “take all necessary measures
to repel an armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.”
With the support of Congress in hand and having been nominated for the presidency in his own right,

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 Johnson said he would stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, but that American “boys”
should not be sent to do the fighting that Asian “boys” with U.S. help could do themselves. Receiving
opposing views from various experts inside and outside the government, Johnson chose to listen to
those he wanted to hear, discounting those who suggested that the U.S. should not become deeply
involved in the war. Trying to protect his domestic agenda at home, he nevertheless gradually
escalated the U.S. commitment in South Vietnam, eventually sending U.S. combat units that resulted
in more than 500,000 American troops in-country by early 1968.

 Aug 26 1964 – Vietnam: The Joint Chiefs of Staff send a memorandum to the Secretary of Defense,
Robert McNamara, concurring with an 19 AUG cable from Ambassador Maxwell Taylor in Saigon
who called for “a carefully orchestrated bombing attack on North Vietnam” to prevent “a complete
collapse of the U.S. position in Southeast Asia.”

 Aug 26 1967 – Vietnam: Major George E. Day Shot Down Over North Vietnam » Badly injured
after ejecting when his North American F-100F is shot down over North Vietnam, Major George E.
Day is captured and severely tortured. He later managed to escape and eventually made it to the
DMZ. After several attempts to signal U.S. aircraft, he was ambushed and recaptured, and was later
moved to prison in Hanoi, where he continued to strongly resist to his captors. Finally released in
1973, Major Day was awarded the Medal of Honor for his conspicuous gallantry while a POW.

 Aug 26 1968 – Vietnam: Democratic Convention Besieged By Protesters » As the Democratic

National Convention gets underway in Chicago, thousands of antiwar demonstrators take to
Chicago’s streets to protest the Vietnam War and its support by the top Democratic presidential
candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey. During the four-day convention, the most violent in
U.S. history, police and National Guardsmen clashed with protesters outside the International
Amphitheater, and hundreds of people, including innocent bystanders, were beaten by the Chicago
police. The violence even spilled into the convention hall, as guards roughed up delegates and
members of the press, including CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace, who was punched in the
face. On 29 AUG, Humphrey secured the nomination and the convention ended.

In the convention’s aftermath, a federal commission investigating the convention described one of
the confrontations as a “police riot” and blamed Chicago Mayor Richard Daley for inciting his police
to violence. Nevertheless, eight political radicals–the so-called “Chicago Eight”–were arrested on
charges of conspiring to incite the violence, and in 1969 their trial began in Chicago, sparking new
waves of protests in the city.

-o-o-O-o-o-

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 Aug 27 1776 – American Revolution: The Battle of Long Island » Also known as the Battle of
Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. British forces under General William Howe defeat
Patriot forces under General George Washington in New York.
On 22 AUG, the British landed on the shores of Gravesend Bay in southwest Kings County, across
the Narrows from Staten Island and more than a dozen miles south from the established East River
crossings to Manhattan. After five days of waiting, the British attacked U.S. defenses on the Guan
Heights. Unknown to the Americans, however, Howe had brought his main army around their rear
and attacked their flank soon after. The Americans panicked, resulting in twenty percent losses
through casualties and capture, although a stand by 400 Maryland and Delaware troops prevented a
more substantial portion of the army from being lost. The remainder of the army retreated to the main
defenses on Brooklyn Heights.
The British dug in for a siege but, on the night of August 29–30, Washington evacuated the entire
army to Manhattan without the loss of supplies or a single life. Washington and the Continental Army
were driven out of New York entirely after several more defeats and forced to retreat through New
Jersey and into Pennsylvania. The Americans suffered 1,000 casualties to the British loss of only 400
men. On 15 SEP, the British captured New York City.

 Aug 27 1861 – Civil War: The attack on Cape Hatteras begins » Union ships sail into North
Carolina’s Hatteras Inlet, beginning a two-day operation that secures the area for the Federals and
denies the Confederates an important outlet to the Atlantic.

 Aug 27 1916 – WWI: Romania Formally Enters World War I » After Romania declares war on
Austria-Hungary Romanian troops cross the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire into the much-
contested province of Transylvania.

By the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914, Romania had long been at odds with Austria-Hungary
over the issue of territory—specifically Transylvania, which was ethnically Romanian but then part of
Hungary. Seeing Russia’s success against Austria on the battlefields of the Eastern Front during the
summer of 1916, Romania hoped to make an advantageous entry into the war in order to realize long-
held dreams of territorial expansion and national unity. On August 18, 1916, the Romanian
government signed a secret treaty with the Allies; by its terms, in the event of an Allied victory
Romania would acquire Transylvania, up to the River Theiss, the province of Bukovina to the River

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 Pruth, and the entire Banat region, all territory under Austro-Hungarian control. On 27 AUG,
Romania fulfilled its treaty obligation by declaring war against Austria-Hungary.
As Romanian troops opened a new front of the war in Transylvania, British forces pressured
Germany on the Somme River, and Austria faltered against Russia in the east, Kaiser Wilhelm II of
Germany briefly panicked, telling close confidantes that “The war is lost.” He regained perspective
quickly, however, and moved to strengthen Germany’s defensive position, replacing Erich von
Falkenhayn with Paul von Hindenburg as chief of the German General Staff on 28 AUG. Within two
weeks, at a conference that included Turkish and Bulgarian leaders, Wilhelm sanctioned the creation
of a Supreme War Command, effectively giving Hindenburg command of all the armies of the
Central Powers in World War I.
The demoted Falkenhayn, meanwhile, took control of Germany’s operations against Romania; in
this he was joined by another prominent German general, August von Mackensen. By December
1916, Falkenhayn and Mackensen had led their troops to a decisive victory against Romania,
overrunning much of the country and occupying the capital city, Bucharest, on December 9, 1916.
Though Russian troops entered Romania early the following year, the Russian army was on the verge
of collapse; with the Russian Revolution that year, the rise to power of the Bolsheviks, and Russia’s
subsequent exit from the war in early 1918, Romania was forced to surrender to the Central Powers at
Bucharest that May, having suffered some 335,000 casualties during the course of the war, not
including civilian deaths.
According to the Peace of Bucharest, Romania lost land along its coast to Bulgaria, as well as
control of the mouth of the Danube River, which the Central Powers commandeered. The Treaty of
Versailles in 1919 reversed these losses, however; it also gave Romania control of the long-desired
province of Transylvania.

 Aug 27 1916 – WWI: Italy Declares War on Germany » Italy hoped that by joining the countries
of the Triple Entente against the Central Powers it would gain Cisalpine Tyrol (todays provinces of
Trento and Bolzano-Bozen), Istria, Dalmatia and the port of Trieste. Although Italy had hoped to
begin the war with a surprise offensive intended to move quickly and capture several Austrian cities,
the war soon bogged down into trench warfare similar to the Western Front fought in France.
Although a member of the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Germany, Italy did not
declare war in August 1914, arguing that the Alliance was defensive in nature and therefore that
Austria-Hungary's aggression did not obligate Italy to take part. Italy had a long standing rivalry with
Austria-Hungary, dating back to the Congress of Vienna in 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars, which
granted several regions on the Italian peninsula to the Austrian Empire. In the early stages of the war,
Allied diplomats courted Italy, attempting to secure Italian participation on the Allied side,
culminating in the Treaty of London of April 26, 1915 in which Italy renounced her obligations to the
Triple Alliance. On May 23, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary.

 Aug 27 1918 – WWI: Battle of Ambos Nogales » The 35th Infantry Regiment, reinforced by
Buffalo Soldiers from the 10th Cavalry Regiment, engaged in a border skirmish in Nogales, Ariz.,
with Mexican Carrancistas who are being advised by German military officers. Three U.S. soldiers
were killed and 29 wounded. German involvement makes some consider this the first World War I

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 battle on U.S. soil although the shooting started after a dispute over a customs inspection. U.S. Army
forces skirmish against Mexican Carrancistas and their German advisors in the only battle of World
War I fought on American soil. Casualties and losses: US 32 - MEX ~430.

 Aug 27 1928 – Pre United Nations: The Kellogg-Briand Pact » In the wake of World War I,
U.S. officials and private citizens made significant efforts to guarantee that the nation would not be
drawn into another war. Some focused on disarmament, such as the series of naval conferences that
began in Washington in 1921, and some focused on cooperation with the League of Nations and the
newly formed World Court. Others initiated a movement to try to outlaw war outright. Peace
advocates Nicholas Murray Butler and James T. Shotwell were part of this movement. Both men
were affiliated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an organization dedicated to
promoting internationalism that was established in 1910 by leading American industrialist Andrew
Carnegie.
With the influence and assistance of Shotwell and Butler, French Minister of Foreign Affairs
Aristide Briand proposed a peace pact as a bilateral agreement between the United States and France
to outlaw war between them. Particularly hard hit by World War I, France faced continuing insecurity
from its German neighbor and sought alliances to shore up its defenses. Briand published an open
letter in April of 1927 containing the proposal. Though the suggestion had the enthusiastic support of
some members of the American peace movement, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge and Secretary of
State Frank B. Kellogg were less eager than Briand to enter into a bilateral arrangement. They
worried that the agreement against war could be interpreted as a bilateral alliance and require the
United States to intervene if France was ever threatened. To avoid this, they suggested that the two
nations take the lead in inviting all nations to join them in outlawing war.
The extension of the pact to include other nations was well-received internationally. After the
severe losses of the First World War, the idea of declaring war to be illegal was immensely popular in
international public opinion. Because the language of the pact established the important point that
only wars of aggression – not military acts of self-defense – would be covered under the pact, many
nations had no objections to signing it. If the pact served to limit conflicts, then everyone would
benefit; if it did not, there were no legal consequences. In early 1928, negotiations over the agreement
expanded to include all of the initial signatories. In the final version of the pact, they agreed upon two
clauses: the first outlawed war as an instrument of national policy and the second called upon
signatories to settle their disputes by peaceful means.
On August 27, 1928, fifteen nations signed the pact at Paris. Signatories included France, the
United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India,
Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Italy and Japan. Later, an additional forty-seven nations
followed suit, so the pact was eventually signed by most of the established nations in the world. The
U.S. Senate ratified the agreement by a vote of 85–1, though it did so only after making reservations
to note that U.S. participation did not limit its right to self-defense or require it to act against
signatories breaking the agreement.

 Aug 27 1939 – Pre WWII: Nazi Germany demands Danzig & Polish Corridor » The Polish
Corridor was the issue, or at least the apparent pretext, over which World War II began. In March
1939 the Nazi dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler, demanded the cession of Danzig and the creation of

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 extraterritorial German highways across the corridor connecting to East Prussia. Poland refused these
demands and secured French and British guarantees against German aggression. On 27 AUG Adolf
Hitler served notice on England and France that Germany wanted Danzig and the Polish Corridor. In
September Germany invaded Poland, thus beginning the war. Hitler annexed the Polish Corridor,
Danzig, Posen, and districts along the Silesian frontier and placed the rest of the conquered Polish
territory under a German governor. But after World War II the whole area was remapped, with great
shifts of German and Polish populations, and the issue disappeared as the Polish Corridor, along with
Gdansk and East Prussia, became part of postwar Poland.

 Aug 27 1941 – WWII: The German U-boat U-570 is captured by the British and renamed the HMS
Graph and put into service against the Germans. Enough clues exist to indicate the British captured a
second Enigma cipher machine and its codes. Equally important, that they had captured the box
designed to contain the new four-rotor version soon to become operational.

 Aug 27 1941 – WWII: Prince Fumimaro Konoye, prime minister of Japan, announces that he would
like to enter into direct negotiations with President Roosevelt in order to prevent the Japanese conflict
with China from expanding into world war.

 Aug 27 1943 – WW2: Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia Island in the Pacific Theater of
Operations.

 Aug 27 1944 – WW2: V-1 (Buzz Bomb) » Germans fire 97 V-1 buzz bombs at England, but 87
are downed by antiaircraft guns, barrage balloons, or fighter planes.
The V-1 was the first of the so-called "Vengeance weapons" series (V-weapons or
Vergeltungswaffen) deployed for the terror bombing of London. It was developed at Peenemünde
Army Research Center in 1939 by the Nazi German Luftwaffe at the beginning of the Second World
War, and during initial development was known by the codename "Cherry Stone". Because of limited
range, thousands of V-1 missiles launched into England were fired from launch facilities along the
French (Pas-de-Calais) and Dutch coasts.

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 A German crew rolls out a V-1 and, as seen from the Fleet Street rooftops, a V-1 Flying Bomb strikes near Kings Way
or Drury Lane with the Law Courts towers in the foreground, London, England, 3 Aug 1944

The Wehrmacht first launched the V-1 to target London on 13 June 1944, one week after (and
prompted by) the successful Allied landings in Europe. At peak, more than one hundred V-1s a day
were fired at south-east England, 9,521 in total, decreasing in number as sites were overrun until
October 1944, when the last V-1 site in range of Britain was overrun by Allied forces. After this, the
Germans directed V-1s at the port of Antwerp and at other targets in Belgium, launching 2,448 V-1s.
The attacks stopped only a month before the war in Europe ended, when the last launch site in the
Low Countries was overrun on 29 March 1945. As part of Operation Crossbow the British operated
an arrangement of air defenses, including anti-aircraft guns and fighter aircraft, to intercept the bombs
before they reached their targets, while the launch sites and underground V-1 storage depots became
targets for Allied strategic bombing.
Contents
The conventional launch sites could theoretically launch about 15 V-1s per day, but this rate was
difficult to achieve on a consistent basis; the maximum rate achieved was 18. Overall, only about 25
per cent of the V-1s hit their targets, the majority being lost because of a combination of defensive
measures, mechanical unreliability or guidance errors. Launches against Britain were met by a variety
of countermeasures, including barrage balloons and aircraft including the Hawker Tempest and
Gloster Meteor. These measures were so successful that by August 1944 about 80 per cent of V-1s
were being destroyed. In all, about 1,000 V-1s were destroyed by aircraft. The intended operational
altitude was originally set at 9,000 ft. However, repeated failures of a barometric fuel-pressure
regulator led to it being changed in May 1944, halving the operational height, thereby bringing V-1s
into range of the Bofors guns commonly used by Allied AA units.
Most operational V-1s were launched from static sites on land, but from July 1944 to January
1945, the Luftwaffe launched approximately 1,176 from modified Heinkel He 111 H-22s of the
Luftwaffe's Kampfgeschwader 3 (3rd Bomber Wing, the so-called "Blitz Wing") flying over the
North Sea. Apart from the obvious motive of permitting the bombardment campaign to continue after
static ground sites on the French coast were lost, air-launching gave the Luftwaffe the opportunity to
outflank the increasingly effective ground and air defenses put up by the British against the missile.
To minimize the associated risks (primarily radar detection), the aircrews developed a tactic
called "lo-hi-lo": the He 111s would, upon leaving their airbases and crossing the coast, descend to an
exceptionally low altitude. When the launch point was neared, the bombers would swiftly ascend, fire
their V-1s, and then rapidly descend again to the previous "wave-top" level for the return flight.
Research after the war estimated a 40 per cent failure rate of air-launched V-1s, and the He 111s used
in this role were vulnerable to night-fighter attack, as the launch lit up the area around the aircraft for
several seconds. The combat potential of air-launched V-1s dwindled as 1944 progressed at about the

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 same rate as that of the ground-launched missiles, as the British gradually took the measure of the
weapon and developed increasingly effective defense tactics.

 Aug 27 1944 – WW2: Chindits » The final group of Chindits, British commandos operating
behind Japanese lines in Burma, is evacuated to India. The Chindits were the largest of the allied
Special Forces. They were formed and lead by Major General Orde C. Wingate D.S.O. and operated
deep behind enemy lines in North Burma in the War against Japan. For many months they lived in
and fought the enemy in the jungles of Japanese occupied Burma, totally relying on airdrops for their
supplies (view film clip at http://www.chindits.info/FilmClips/Index.html). There were two Chindits
expeditions into Burma, the first in February 1943 Operation Longcloth, consisted of a force of 3,000
men who marched over 1,000 miles during the campaign.
The second expedition, Operation Thursday, in March 1944 was on a much larger scale. The full
force was marched or landed in the jungle on makeshift air-strips by glider or Dakota aircraft 200
miles behind enemy lines in March 1944. It was the second largest airborne invasion of the war and
consisted of a force of 20,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with air support provided by the
1st Air Commando USAAF. Tragically their leader, General Wingate, was killed a few weeks after
the launch of Operation Thursday. The mission was successful and eventually started the rot, which
led to the Japanese surrender.
The force suffered many casualties killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Many of the survivors still
suffer today from the hardship, rigors and strain of the two long arduous campaigns, when the only
contact with base was by radio, all supplies came by air-drop. The Chindits were very much an
International Force, which include British, Burma Rifles, Hong Kong Volunteers, Gurkhas and West
African Serviceman. The R.A.F. and First Air Commando, U.S.A.A.F. provided air support.

 Aug 27 1945 – WW2: B–29 Superfortress bombers begin to drop supplies into Allied POW camps
in China.

 Aug 27 1945 – WW2: Occupation of Japan » US troops land in Japan after Japanese surrender.
Theoretically an international occupation, in fact it was carried out almost entirely by U.S. forces
under Gen. Douglas MacArthur. During the occupation period, Japanese soldiers and civilians from
abroad were repatriated to Japan, arms industries were dismantled, and political prisoners were
released. Wartime leaders stood trial for war crimes, and seven were executed. A new constitution
(promulgated 1947), vesting power in a democratic government, replaced the Meiji Constitution; in it
Japan renounced its right to wage war, the emperor was reduced to ceremonial status, and women
were given the right to vote. The occupation administration also carried out land reform, reducing the
number of farmers who were tenants from 46 percent to 10 percent, and began the breakup of the
zaibatsu (business conglomerates). Labor unions were initially encouraged, but as fears of leftist
organizations grew with the advent of the Cold War, stronger governmental control of labor was
supported. The education system, seen as elitist, was revised to resemble the U.S. system. Though the
United States wanted to end the occupation in 1947, the Soviet Union vetoed a peace treaty with
Japan; a treaty was signed in 1951, and the occupation ended the following year.

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 Aug 27 1952 – Cold War: Red Scare dominates American Politics » As the presidential election
of 1952 begins to heat up, so do accusations and counteraccusations concerning communism in
America. The “Red Scare”—the widespread belief that international communism was operating in the
United States—came to dominate much of the debate between Democrats and Republicans in 1952.
On August 27, 1952, the New York Times front page contained three stories suggesting the impact
of the Red Scare on the upcoming election.
o In the first story, the Republican-dominated Senate Internal Security Subcommittee released a
report charging that the Radio Writers Guild was dominated by a small number of
communists. The Guild, whose members were responsible for producing more than 90
percent of the programs on radio, had purportedly been run by a small clique of communists
for at least the last nine years. According to the subcommittee report, communist subversion
of the Guild was merely one step in a larger effort to control the media of the United States—
including radio, television, movies, and book publishing.
o The second front-page story was a report that the American Legion was demanding, for the
third year in a row, that President Harry S. Truman dismiss Secretary of State Dean Acheson
for his lack of vigor in dealing with the communist threat. The Legion report declared that the
Department of State was in desperate need of “God-fearing Americans” who had the
“intestinal fortitude not to be political puppets.” The organization demanded a quick and
victorious settlement of the Korean War, even if this meant expanding the war into China.
o The third story provided a counter of sorts to the previous two stories. It reported a speech by
Democratic nominee for President Governor Adlai E. Stevenson, in which he strongly
criticized those who used “patriotism” as a weapon against their political opponents. In an
obvious slap at the Senate Subcommittee and others, such as Senator Joseph McCarthy,
Stevenson repeated the words of the writer Dr. Samuel Johnson: “Patriotism is the last refuge
of scoundrels.” The governor claimed that it was “shocking” that good Americans, such as
Acheson and former secretary of state General George C. Marshall, could be attacked on the
grounds that they were unpatriotic.
The three related stories from the front page of the Times indicated just how deeply the Red Scare
had penetrated American society. Accusations about communists in the film, radio, and television
industries, in the Department of State and the U.S. Army, in all walks of American life, had filled the
newspapers and airwaves for years. By 1952, many Americans were convinced that communists were
at work in the United States and must be rooted out and hunted down. Republicans and their allies
were obviously planning to use the Red Scare to their advantage in the presidential election of that
year, while the Democrats were going to have to battle the perception that they had been “soft” on
communism during the administration of President Truman (who came to office in 1945 following
the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt). The Republicans were eventually victorious, with Dwight D.
Eisenhower scoring a victory over Stevenson.

 Aug 27 1970 – Vietnam: Vice President Spiro Agnew meets with South Vietnamese president
Nguyen Van Thieu in Saigon. In a speech at Ton Son Nhut air base, Agnew praised the South
Vietnamese people for suffering “so much in freedom’s cause” and promised that “there will no
lessening of U.S. support.” Meanwhile, MACV (Military Assistance Command Vietnam) reported

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 that 52 Americans died and 358 were wounded during the week August 16-22, the lowest casualty
toll since the week of December 3, 1966.

 Aug 27 1972 – Vietnam: In the heaviest bombing in four years, U.S. aircraft flatten North
Vietnamese barracks near Hanoi and Haiphong as part of ongoing Operation Linebacker I, part of
President Nixon’s response to the NVA Easter Offensive. Planes also hit bridges on the northeast
railroad line to China.

 Aug 27 1979 – England*Ireland: Warrenpoint Ambush – eighteen British Army soldiers were
killed when the PIRA exploded two roadside bombs as a British convoy passed Narrow Water Castle
near Warrenpoint in northern Ireland. There was a brief exchange of fire, and the British Army shot
dead a civilian. This was the British Army's highest death toll from a single attack during the
Troubles. On the same day, four people (including Lord Mountbatten, a cousin of the Queen) were
killed by a PIRA bomb on board a boat near the coast of County Sligo, Ireland.

-o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 28 1833 – Pre Civil War: Slavery Abolition Act » An act of Britain’s Parliament that
abolished slavery in most British colonies, freeing more than 800,000 enslaved Africans in the
Caribbean and South Africa as well as a small number in Canada. It received Royal Assent on August
28, 1833, and took effect on August 1, 1834.
Several factors led to the Act’s passage. Britain’s economy was in flux at the time, and, as a new
system of international commerce emerged, its slaveholding Caribbean colonies—which were largely
focused on sugar production—could no longer compete with larger plantation economies such as
those of Cuba and Brazil. Merchants began to demand an end to the monopolies on the British market
held by the Caribbean colonies and pushed instead for free trade. The persistent struggles of enslaved
Africans and a growing fear of slave uprisings among plantation owners were another major factor.
The Act did not explicitly refer to British North America. Its aim was rather to dismantle the large-
scale plantation slavery that existed in Britain’s tropical colonies, where the enslaved population was
usually larger than that of the white colonists. Enslaved Africans in British North America were
relatively isolated and far smaller in number. As an imperial statute, the Slavery Abolition Act
liberated less than 50 enslaved Africans in British North America. For most enslaved people there,
however, the Act resulted only in partial liberation, as it only emancipated children under the age of
six, while others were to be retained by their former owners for four to six years as apprentices. The
British government made available £20,000,000 to pay for damages suffered by owners of registered
slaves, but none of the money was sent to slaveholders in British North America. Those who had
been enslaved did not receive any compensation either.
The Act also made Canada a free territory for enslaved American blacks. Thousands of fugitive
slaves and free blacks subsequently arrived on Canadian soil between 1834 and the early 1860s.

 Aug 28 1861 – Civil War: Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries » The 2 day battle was the first
combined operation of the Union Army and Navy in the American Civil War, resulting in Union

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 domination of the strategically important North Carolina Sounds. Two forts on the Outer Banks (Fort
Clark and Fort Hatteras) had been built by the Confederates, to protect their commerce-raiding
activity. But these were lightly-defended, and their artillery could not engage the bombarding fleet
under Flag Officer Silas H. Stringham, commandant of the Atlantic Blockading Squadron, which had
been ordered to keep moving, to avoid presenting a static target. Although held up by bad weather,
the fleet was able to land troops under General Ben Butler, who took the surrender of Flag Officer
Samuel Barron.
This battle represented the first application of the naval blockading strategy. The Union retained
both forts, providing valuable access to the sounds, and commerce raiding was much reduced. The
victory was welcomed by a demoralized Northern public after the humiliation of 1st Bull Run.
Casualties and losses: US 3 – CSA 715.

 Aug 28 1862 – Civil War: Battle of Thoroughfare Gap » The battle took place in Fauquier and
Prince William Counties, Virginia, as part of the Northern Virginia Campaign of the American Civil
War. Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. James Longstreet successfully drove back Union forces
under Brig. Gen. James B. Ricketts and Col. Percy Wyndham, allowing his corps to unite with that of
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson prior to the Second Battle of Bull Run.
In terms of casualties, the battle was small, with only 100 combined, but had major strategic
consequences. Ricketts failed to fully comprehend the importance of keeping the two wings of the
Confederate army apart. Rather than entrenching his force in a strong defensive position at the gap,
the easiest and quickest crossing of the Bull Run Range, he left only cavalry there while he sat a half-
day's march away at Gainesville, protecting the railroad, a job much more suited for his cavalry. As
such, he lost the advantage and the only hope his small force had in seriously hindering Longstreet's
advance. His failure to do so allowed the two wings of the Confederate army to unite at Manassas and
virtually ensured Pope's defeat during the Second Battle of Bull Run on 29 AUG.

 Aug 28 1862 – Civil War: Battle of Groveton » Mistakenly believing the Confederate Army to be
in retreat, Union General John Pope attacks. More than 6,000 Rebels, six brigades from Gens.
Richard S. Ewell’s and William B. Taliaferro’s divisions, launched a surprise attack against Union
Gen. John Gibbon’s 2,100 man Black Hat Brigade. Casualties and losses: US ~900 – CSA ~400.

 Aug 28 1862 – Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run » Fought between August 28 and 30 it was
the second time Union and Confederate forces had met at Bull Run, near Manassas in Prince William
County, Virginia. The first battle had taken place in July of the previous year and resulted in a defeat
for the Federal army. The second battle pitted the Federal troops in the Army of Virginia, commanded
by Major General John Pope, against the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by General
Robert E. Lee.
The Confederates had set up positions to prevent the Union army from moving along the
Warrenton Turnpike. Units of the Union army moved to the turnpike in an attempt to consolidate
forces with Pope, whose main force was now located at Centerville, and these were attacked by
Jackson’s units. Meanwhile, Confederate forces under the command of Major General James
Longstreet defeated the Federal forces at the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap. This victory enabled
Longstreet’s men to move to join up with Jackson’s. On 29 AUG, Pope launched an offensive against

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 Jackson’s troops, who were now in defensive positions along an incomplete railway grade. Pope
believed that some of his forces were in a position to prevent Jackson from retreating to the Bull Run
Mountains. Jackson was confident that his defensive position was solid and he could hold out until
Longstreet’s troops arrived. The Confederates successfully held off the Federal offensive, and later in
the day, Longstreet’s men arrived from Thoroughfare Gap.
In the early morning of 20 AUG, the final section of Longstreet’s units arrived and took up
position in darkness at Groveton. As the sun rose, these units realized they were completely isolated
and were far too close to the Union forces. Their commander, Richard H. Anderson immediately
ordered a retreat. Pope was convinced that the entire Confederate army was now in retreat, and
planned to pursue them. Despite intelligence that the Confederates were still in position, Pope sent his
soldiers forward to renew attacks on the Confederates. He ignored the advice of several of his staff to
proceed with care. Pope ordered Major General Fitz John Porter’s to attack along the turnpike. At the
same time, other units were to move forward along the Union right flank. Pope ordered these troop
movements constantly, believing he would be pursuing retreating Confederate forces.
The Confederates, rather than retreating, had moved heavy artillery to high ground overlooking
Brawner Farm in anticipation of a Union attack. Secondly, Porter’s men were not in the best position
to follow Pope’s orders, and there was a significant delay before they were ready to carry out the
instruction. The Federal troops were repelled by a heavy Confederate artillery bombardment and the
attack failed. Longstreet then launched a counter attack, using 25,000 men in the assault. The
objective was to take Henry House Hill, as this location had proved decisive in the First Battle of Bull
Run. Throughout the day, fierce fighting took place as ground was won and lost. Pope also
recognized the strategic importance of Henry House Hill and initiated a withdrawal to reinforce his
defenders there. These troops came under intense pressure from Confederate troops, who succeeded
in defeating several units of artillery and infantry.
As darkness fell, Pope had managed to withdraw to Henry House Hill and establish a solid
defensive line. So intense had the action been that the Confederate forces were short on ammunition
and exhausted from the action. This gave Pope the opportunity to begin an orderly withdrawal to
Centerville under cover of darkness. Just as in the First Battle of Bull Run, the Union army had been
forced into retreat. However, this time the retreat was orderly and disciplined, and the army did not
suffer the devastating humiliation and losses it had sustained in the retreat in July of the previous
year.
The Second Battle of Bull Run led to heavy casualties on both sides. The Union army lost around
10,000 men in total, while the Confederates lost about 8,300. It was considered a Confederate victory.
On 12 SEP, Pope was relieved of his command.

 Aug 28 1867 – U.S. Navy: Midway Atoll Acquisition » The U.S. passed the Guano Islands Act of
1856, which allowed American sailing vessels to temporarily claim and occupy islands for the
removal of guano (bird droppings) which were valuable as fertilizer. On July 5, 1859, Midway atoll
was sighted by Captain N.C. Middlebrooks, on the seal-hunting ship Gambia. The islands were
named the "Middlebrook Islands" or the "Brook Islands". Nine years later on this date, Captain
William Reynolds of the USS Lackawanna formally took possession of the atoll for the United States.

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 Although technically part of the Hawaiian seamount chain, the island was separately annexed and
placed under control of the US Navy.

 Aug 28 1914 – WWI: Battle of Heligoland Bight » War spreads from land to sea when the first
major naval battle of the conflict breaks out between British and German ships in the North Sea, near
the northern coast of Germany. Casualties and losses: GB 35 – Ger 1,200 + 3 Cruisers Sunk + 3
damaged.

 Aug 28 1914 – WWI: Battle of Tannenberg » The German 8th Army, under the leadership of
Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, strikes with lethal force against the advancing Russian
2nd Army, led by General Aleksandr Samsonov, in East Prussia during the opening weeks of the First
World War.
In the middle of August 1914, much sooner than had been anticipated, Russia sent two armies into
East Prussia, while Germany, according to its war strategy, had the bulk of its forces concentrated to
the west, against France. The Russian 1st Army, under General Pavel Rennenkampf, advanced to the
northeastern corner of East Prussia, while Samsonov’s 2nd Army made headway into the southwest,
planning to join with Rennenkampf’s men and pin the outnumbered German 8th Army between them.
After a Russian victory in the Battle of Gumbinnen on August 20, however, Rennenkampf paused to
regroup his forces.
Meanwhile, change was afoot behind the German lines: Helmuth von Moltke, chief of the
German general staff, chose to replace the previous leader, Maximilian von Prittwitz, after the latter
issued a misguided order for a German retreat to the River Vistula, against the advice of his corps
commanders. Hindenburg, a retired general of great stature, and Ludendorff, who had just led the
German capture of the Belgian fortress of Liege, arrived in East Prussia and immediately authorized
an aggressive counter-action against the Russians, previously planned by a senior staff officer in the
region, Colonel Max Hoffmann.
Separated by the great Masurian Lakes, the two Russian armies were unable to effectively
communicate with each other as to their movements, a circumstance that would prove deadly. Though
Ludendorff succumbed to nerves initially, delaying the start of the German attack by one day,
Hindenburg was able to calm his subordinate—not for the last time in what would become a fabled
partnership. On 26 AUG, after intercepting uuencoded wireless messages from both Samsonov and
Rennenkampf, the Germans were able to take Samsonov’s army by surprise with the force of their
attack near the village of Tannenberg, to the southwest of the Masurian Lakes. The delay in starting
the attack had given Samsonov’s forces more time to advance deeper into the sack formed by the
German divisions enveloping them from both sides, the strength of which Samsonov consistently
underestimated. After three days of battering by German artillery, Samsonov’s troops began their
retreat; more German forces cut off their path and a massive slaughter ensued. In the first hours of 30
AUG, confronting the reality of his army’s collapse, Samsonov went into the forest, away from his
staff, and shot himself.
In total, over 50,000 Russian soldiers were killed and some 92,000 taken as prisoners in the Battle
of Tannenberg—named thus by the Germans in vengeful remembrance of the village, where in 1410
the Poles had defeated the Teutonic Knights. By the end of August, Russia’s ambitious advance in

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 East Prussia in August 1914 had achieved at least one of its goals, albeit at a tremendous cost: two
German corps had been removed from the Western to the Eastern Front in order to confront the
Russian menace. Though the two corps had not arrived in time to play a role in the Battle of
Tannenberg—which would remain the greatest German triumph of the war against Russia on the
Eastern Front— they would also be unable to aid their comrades at the Battle of the Marne in early
September, when German forces advancing towards Paris were decisively defeated by British and
French troops in a crucial victory for the Allies.

 Aug 28 1914 – WWI: Battle of Helgoland: British fleet beats German, 1,100 killed.

 Aug 28 1940 – WWII: Liverpool Blitz » Liverpool was the most heavily bombed area of the
country, outside London, due to the city having, along with Birkenhead, the largest port on the west
coast and being of significant importance to the British war effort. The government hoped to hide
from the Germans just how much damage had been inflicted upon the docks, so reports on the
bombing were kept low-key. Around 4,000 people were killed in the Merseyside area during the
Blitz. This death toll was second only to London, which suffered 30,000 deaths by the end of the war.
Liverpool, Bootle and the Wallasey Pool complex were strategically very important locations
during the Second World War. The Port of Liverpool had for many years been the United Kingdom's
main link with North America, and would prove to be a key part in the British participation in the
Battle of the Atlantic. As well as providing anchorage for naval ships from many nations, the port's
quays and dockers would handle over 90 per cent of all the war material brought into Britain from
abroad with some 75 million tons passing through its 11 miles of quays. Liverpool was the eastern
end of a transatlantic chain of supplies from North America, without which Britain could not have
pursued the war.
The first major air raid on Liverpool took place in August 1940, when 160 bombers attacked the
city on the night of 28 AUG. This assault continued over the next three nights, then regularly for the
rest of the year. There were 50 raids on the city during this three-month period. Some of these were
minor, comprising a few aircraft, and lasting a few minutes, with others comprising up to 300 aircraft
and lasting over ten hours. On 18 SEP, 22 inmates at Walton Gaol were killed when high-explosive
bombs demolished a wing of the prison. 28 NOV saw a heavy raid on the city, and the most serious
single incident, when a hit on an air-raid shelter in Durning Road caused 166 fatalities. Winston
Churchill described it as the "single worst incident of the war".
A series of heavy raids took place in December 1940, referred to as the Christmas blitz, when 365
people were killed between 20 – 22 DEC. The raids saw several instances of direct hits on air raid
shelters; on 20 DEC 42 people died when a shelter was hit, while another 40 died when a bomb struck
railway arches on Bentinck Street, where local people were sheltering. On 21 DEC another hit on a
shelter killed 74 people. The bombing decreased in severity after the new year.

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 May 1941 saw a renewal of the air assault on the region; a seven-night bombardment that
devastated the city. The first bomb landed upon Seacombe, Wallasey, Wirral, at 22:15 on 1 May. The
peak of the bombing occurred from 1 – 7 May 1941. It involved 681 Luftwaffe bombers; 2,315 high
explosive bombs and 119 other explosives such as incendiaries were dropped. The raids put 69 out of
144 cargo berths out of action and inflicted 2,895 casualties. The seven night bombardment resulted
in Over 6,500 homes being completely demolished by aerial bombing and a further 190,000 damaged
leaving 70,000 people homeless. 500 roads were closed to traffic as well as railways and tram lines
being destroyed. 700 water mains and 80 sewers were damaged alongside gas, electricity and
telephone services. 9,000 workers from outside the city and 2,700 troops helped to remove debris
from streets. On the night of the 3rd and 4th of MAY alone, 400 fires were attended to by the fire
brigade
After the raids in May 1941, the German air assault diminished, as Hitler's attention turned
towards attacking the Soviet Union. The last German air raid on Liverpool took place on 10 January
1942, destroying several houses on Upper Stanhope Street. By a quirk of fate one of the houses
destroyed was number 102, which had been the home of Alois Hitler, Jr, half-brother of Adolf Hitler
and the birthplace of Hitler's nephew, William Patrick Hitler. The house was never rebuilt and the
whole site was eventually cleared of housing and grassed over. By the end German bombs had killed
2,716 people in Liverpool, 442 people in Birkenhead, 409 people in Bootle and 332 people in
Wallasey.

 Aug 28 1941 – WWII: Mass Slaughter in Ukraine » More than 23,000 Hungarian Jews are
murdered by the Gestapo in occupied Ukraine. The German invasion of the Soviet Union had
advanced to the point of mass air raids on Moscow and the occupation of parts of Ukraine. On 26
AUG, Hitler displayed the joys of conquest by inviting Benito Mussolini to Brest-Litovsk, where the
Germans had destroyed the city’s citadel. The grand irony is that Ukrainians had originally viewed
the Germans as liberators from their Soviet oppressors and an ally in the struggle for independence.
But as early as July, the Germans were arresting Ukrainians agitating and organizing for a provisional
state government with an eye toward autonomy and throwing them into concentration camps. The
Germans also began carving the nation up, dispensing parts to Poland (already occupied by Germany)
and Romania.

But true horrors were reserved for Jews in the territory. Tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews had
been expelled from that country and migrated to Ukraine. The German authorities tried sending them
back, but Hungary would not take them. SS General Franz Jaeckeln vowed to deal with the influx of

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 refugees by the “complete liquidation of those Jews by 1 SEP.” He worked even faster than promised.
On 28 AUG, he marched more than 23,000 Hungarian Jews to bomb craters at Kamenets Podolsk,
ordered them to undress, and riddled them with machine-gun fire. Those who didn’t die from the
spray of bullets were buried alive under the weight of corpses that piled atop them. All told, more
than 600,000 Jews had been murdered in Ukraine by war’s end.

 Aug 28 1944 – WWII: German forces in Toulon and Marseilles, France, surrender to the Allies. 

 Aug 28 1965 – Vietnam: The Viet Cong are routed in the Mekong Delta by U.S. forces, with more
than 50 killed.

 Aug 28 1966 – Vietnam: North Vietnamese Pilots Being Trained in Soviet Union » It is reported
in three Soviet newspapers that North Vietnamese pilots are undergoing training in a secret Soviet air
base to fly supersonic interceptors against U.S. aircraft. The Soviets agreed to supply the necessary
war materials, to include air defense weapons for the North and offensive weapons to be employed in
the South. At one point in the war, the Soviets would supply 80 percent of all supplies reaching North
Vietnam.

 Aug 28 1967 – Vietnam: More voices Raised Against the War » Reverend Thomas Lee Hayes,
speaking for the National Mobilization Committee, announces that there will be a massive protest
march on 21 OCT in Washington. In the Senate, Mike Mansfield (D-MT) made a proposal endorsed
by 10 other senators to bring a peace plan before the United Nations.

 Aug 28 1968 – Cold War: Riots in Chicago Fracture the Cold War Consensus » At the
Democratic National Convention in Chicago, tens of thousands of protesters against the Vietnam War
battle police in the streets while the Democratic Party tears itself to shreds concerning a platform
statement on Vietnam. In one day and night, the Cold War consensus that had dominated American
thinking since the late 1940s was shattered.

 Aug 28 1972 – Vietnam: U.S. Air Force Gets its First Ace Since Korean War » Captain Richard
S. Ritchie, flying with his “backseater” (radar intercept officer), Captain Charles B. DeBellevue, in an
F-4 out of Udorn Air Base in Thailand, shoots down his fifth MIG near Hanoi.

 Aug 28 1986 – Cold War: US Navy officer Jerry A. Whitworth is given a 365-year prison term for
spying for the USSR s for his part in the Walker family spy ring. At the time of Whitworth's arrest,
U.S. authorities described them as "the most damaging espionage ring uncovered in the United States
in three decades".

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 In the trial, which began 24 MAR, the defense acknowledged that Mr. Whitworth, in exchange for
$332,000, had stolen classified Navy cryptographic data and passed it to John A. Walker Jr., who has
admitted heading a Soviet spy ring, and that he failed to report the money on his income tax returns.
The defense attorneys had asked the jury to acquit Mr. Whitworth of the espionage charges. They
argued that he had not known that the stolen military data were being sold specifically to the Soviet
Union, as charged in the indictment. The defense had argued Mr. Whitworth believed the materials
were being sold to Israel and that their sale to an ally would not harm the United States.
The espionage count on which the jury could not agree charged Mr. Whitworth with stealing a
classified document from the aircraft carrier Enterprise that was found in a search of his home.
Defense attorneys had argued that the document, a portion of the Navy's wartime contingency plan
for the Middle East, had been taken inadvertently. Mr. Whitworth was accused of conspiring with his
former Navy colleague, Mr. Walker, to steal the Navy's most highly classified cryptographic data
over a 10-year period. Mr. Walker, a retired Navy warrant officer, confessed he had spied for the
Soviet Union since 1968 and at various times had recruited people to aid his espionage activities,
including members of his family.

 Aug 28 1990 – Gulf War: Iraq declares Kuwait to be its newest province.

-o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 29 1708 – Queen Anne’s War: Haverhill, Massachusetts Destroyed by French & Indians »
The Raid on Haverhill was a military engagement that took place during Queen Anne's War. French,
Algonquin, and Abenaki warriors under the command of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville descended
on Haverhill, then a small frontier community in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. In the surprise
attack, 16 people were killed and another 14 to 24 were taken captive. A rapid militia muster gave
chase, and in a skirmish later in the day, nine of the French and Indian party were killed and some of
their prisoners escaped.
Haverhill was not the original target of the raiders. Expecting a larger Indian contingent, French
authorities planned to engage in a series of raids on the communities of the Piscataqua River.
However, the unwillingness of some Indian tribes to participate in the expedition forced the French to
reduce the scope of the operation and choose an easier target. The raid was more costly to the French
than previous frontier raids like that in 1704 on Deerfield, Massachusetts because the province had
been warned of the raiders' advance.

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 Aug 29 1776 – American Revolution: General George Washington retreats during the night from
Long Island to New York City.

 Aug 29 1778 – American Revolution: British and American forces battle indecisively at the Battle
of Rhode Island. Casualties and losses: US 201 - GB 280.

 Aug 29 1779 – American Revolution: Battle of Chemung » Near New York’s southwestern
border with Pennsylvania, Continental forces led by Major General John Sullivan and Brigadier
General James Clinton defeat a combined force of Loyalists and Indians commanded by Captain
Walter Butler and Chief Joseph Brant.

 Aug 29 1786 – American Revolution: Shay’s Rebellion » Daniel Shay led a rebellion in
Massachusetts to protest the seizure of property for the non-payment of debt. Shay was a
Revolutionary War veteran who led a short-lived insurrection in western Massachusetts to protest a
tax increase that had to be paid in cash, a hardship for veteran farmers who relied on barter and didn‘t
own enough land to vote. The taxes were to pay off the debts from the Revolutionary War, and those
who couldn‘t pay were evicted or sent to prison.

 Aug 29 1861 – Civil War: USS Yankee, Commander T. T. Craven, and USS. Reliance, Lieutenant
Mygatt, engaged Confederate battery at Marlborough Point, Virginia.

 Aug 29 1861 – Civil War: Four U.S. steamers engaged Confederate battery at Aquia Creek,
Virginia, for three hours.

 Aug 29 1861 – Civil War: U.S. Navy squadron captures forts at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina.
Casualties and losses: US 3 - CSA 715.

 Aug 29 1862 – Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run » Confederate General Robert E. Lee deals a
stinging defeat to Union General John Pope at Bull Run, Virginia—a battle that arose out of the
failure of Union General George McClellan’s Peninsular campaign earlier in the summer. The
Confederates mauled the Union troops, and by August 30 Pope had to retreat. His army lost over
16,000 men to the Confederates’ 9,000.

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 Aug 29 1862 – Civil War: H.L. Hunley » Confederate submarine sank in Charleston harbor for
the first time. After making several practice dives in the harbor, the submarine was moored by lines
fastened to steamer Etiwan at the dock at Fort Johnson. When the steamer moved away from the dock
unexpectedly, H. L. Hunley was drawn onto her side. She filled with water and rapidly sank, carrying
with her five gallant seamen. Lieutenant Payne and two others escaped. She was subsequently raised
and refitted, as, undaunted by the “unfortunate accident,” another crew volunteered to man her.

 Aug 29 1914 – WWI: Battle of Tannenberg » On the 4th day of the Battle of Tannenberg the
Russian Narev-army panics, Gen Martos is caught.

 Aug 29 1914 – WWI: Women join British War Effort » With World War I approaching the end of
its first month, the Women’s Defense Relief Corps is formed in Britain. Though women’s rights
organizations in Britain had initially opposed the country’s entrance into the First World War, they
reversed their position soon enough, recognizing the potential of the war effort to gain advancement
for British women on the home front. As early as August 6, 1914, just one day after Britain declared
war on Germany, an article published in the women’s suffrage newspaper Common Cause stated that:
“In the midst of this time of terrible anxiety and grief, it is some little comfort to think that our large
organization, which has been completely built up during past years to promote women’s suffrage, can
be used to help our country through the period of strain and sorrow.”

In addition to the two nursing organizations that existed in 1914—the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
(FANY) and the Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs)—several new women’s organizations sprung
into being over the course of the war. Created with the support of the British secretary of state for
war, Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener, the Women’s Defense Relief Corps came into being in late
August 1914. The corps was made up of two divisions: a civil section, the goal of which was to
substitute women for men in factories and other places of employment in order to free those men for
military service; and a “semi-military” or “good citizen” section, where women were actively
recruited for the armed forces. This latter group was trained in drilling, marching and the use of arms;
its members were exhorted to protect not only themselves but their loved ones on the home front in
case of possible invasion by the enemy.
Another organization founded during World War I was the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps
(WAAC), created in July 1917. Members of the WAAC supported the war effort more directly,
enlisting in the army to perform labors such as cookery, mechanical and clerical work and other
miscellaneous tasks. For the first time, British women were sent to the battlefields of the Western
Front to serve their country, thus freeing more male soldiers to do battle in the trenches against the
German enemy. By the end of the war, some 80,000 women had served Britain as non-combatants,
both on the home front and on the front lines in France and Belgium.

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 Aug 29 1914 – WWI: Battle of St. Quentin » On the night of 26 August 1914, the Allies withdrew
from Le Cateau to St. Quentin France. With retreat all along the line, the commander-in-chief of the
French forces, Joseph Joffre, needed the Fifth Army (General Charles Lanrezac) to hold off the
German advance with a counter-attack, despite a 4 mi separation from the French Fourth Army on the
right flank and the continual retreat of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the left flank. The
movement of the Fifth Army took most of 28 August, turning from facing north to facing west against
St. Quentin.
On 29 AUG the Fifth Army attacked St. Quentin with their full force. The Germans captured
orders from a French officer and General Karl von Bülow, commander of the German 2nd Army had
time to prepare. The attacks against the town by the XVIII corps was a costly failure but X and III
corps on the right were rallied by the commander of I Corps, General Louis Franchet d'Esperey.
Advances on the right were made against Guise and forced the Germans, including the Guard Corps,
to fall back. That night, Joffre ordered Lanrezac to resume his retreat and destroy the bridges over the
Oise as he fell back. The orders did not reach the Fifth Army until the morning of 30 August, and the
retreat began several hours late. The move went unchallenged by the German 2nd Army, which
neither attacked nor pursued.
Bülow found that the 2nd Army was separated by the Oise, which offered the possibility of
enveloping the French attack with counter-attacks from both flanks. The risk that the French could
exploit the 9.3 mile gap between the inner flanks of the 2nd Army, led Bülow to choose a cautious
policy of preventing the danger and ordered the corps on the inner flanks to close up and counter-
attack the French X Corps. Later in the afternoon French attacks were repulsed and the 14th Division
was ordered to advance from the Somme area to intervene in the battle. The divisional commander
ignored the order to let the division rest and prepare for an advance on La Fère to get behind the Fifth
Army.
Lieutenant-General Karl von Einem the VII Corps commander was overruled and all corps of the
2nd Army were ordered to attack and obtain a decisive victory. Bülow reported the battle to Oberste
Heeresleitung (OHL, supreme command of the German armies) by wireless as a victory but during
the night, captured documents revealed that thirteen French divisions had attacked 6½ German
divisions. Bülow sent a staff officer to the 1st Army (General Alexander von Kluck), to request
support for the attack on 30 AUG. Doubts emerged that the Guard Corps could attack in the morning
due to exhaustion and the commander was authorized to withdraw behind the Oise if necessary; the
possibility of enveloping the French left flank had passed and operations for local advantage were
ordered for the morning.
The French resumed the offensive on the morning of 30 AUG but managed only disjointed
attacks which were repulsed; German counter-attacks began before noon. The terrain in the Oise
valley was marshy, cut by deep streams and covered by underbrush, with rising ground beyond.
German infantry made slow progress through extensive artillery bombardments by both sides. By
early afternoon, aircraft reconnaissance reports showed that the French had begun to withdraw behind
rearguards. Bülow ordered a pursuit by small infantry parties with field artillery, while the main force
paused to rest, due to exhaustion and to concern that the fortress of La Fère obstructed a general
advance and would have to be masked while the 1st Army enveloped the French from the west and

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 then attacked on 1 SEP. The 2nd Army pursuit by small forces took only four guns, 16 machine-guns
and 1,700 prisoners.

 Aug 29 1914 – WWI: New Zealand forces capture German Samoa » With hindsight, New
Zealand’s capture of German Samoa was an easy affair. But at the time it was regarded as a
potentially risky action with uncertain outcomes. As it happened, New Zealand had a great deal of
luck on its side. At the outbreak of war, Samoa was of moderate strategic importance to Germany.
The radio transmitter located in the hills above Apia was capable of sending long-range Morse signals
to Berlin. It could also communicate with the 90 warships in Germany’s naval fleet. Britain wanted
this threat neutralized.
After agreeing to seize the territory, New Zealand asked for details of German troop numbers and
fortifications. British military intelligence would have been able to report that German Samoa’s
defenses were limited to a native constabulary of about 50 men with two European superintendents.
New Zealand’s troops were vulnerable as they crossed the Pacific. The ships Monowai and Moeraki,
requisitioned from the Union Steam Ship Company as transports, were slow and unarmed. After
sailing from Wellington on the morning of 15 AUG, they rendezvoused with HMS Philomel, Psyche
and Pyramus. These aging British cruisers were initially their only escorts.
The danger to the New Zealand convoy was real. At the outbreak of war, Germany had two heavy
cruisers, SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau, three light cruisers and various other ships stationed
in the Pacific. Throughout the two-week voyage to Samoa, the location of the German East Asia
Squadron remained unknown to the Allies. Naval support was strengthened after five days when the
New Zealand convoy reached Noumea in French New Caledonia. There they were joined by the
Royal Australian Navy’s battlecruiser HMAS Australia, the light cruiser HMAS Melbourne and the
French armoured cruiser Montcalm. In his diary, trooper John Reginald Graham describes the tension
on board ship after leaving Noumea:
It was only on reaching Samoa that New Zealand realized the weakness of the German defenses:
20 troops and special constables armed with 50 aging rifles. The single artillery piece at Apia was
fired every Saturday afternoon but took half an hour to load. It was later discovered that the German
administration had received orders from Berlin not to oppose an Allied invasion. The Samoa Advance
Party of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force landed at Apia on 29 AUG with no opposition. But
had Germany placed greater importance on Samoa, or had the German East Asia Squadron
intercepted the New Zealand convoy en route, the story could have been very different.

 Aug 29 1915 – U.S. Navy: Salvage divers raise F-4 (SS-23), the first U.S. submarine sunk in an
accident.

Photographed in 1913-15, in Honolulu drydock after salvage, and implosion hole inspection

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 Aug 29 1916 – U.S. Navy: Congress creates US Naval Reserve.

 Aug 29 1941 – WW2: German Einsatzkommando in Russia kills 1,469 Jewish children.
Einsatzkommandos were a sub-group of five Einsatzgruppen mobile killing squads (term used by
Holocaust historians) – up to 3,000 men total – usually composed of 500–1,000 functionaries of the
SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to exterminate Jews, Polish intellectuals, Romani, homosexuals,
communists and the NKVD collaborators in the captured territories often far behind the advancing
German front. After the outbreak of war with the Soviet Union with Operation Barbarossa, the Red
Army began to retreat so rapidly that the large Einsatzgruppen had to be split into dozens of smaller
commandos (Einsatzkommandos), responsible for systematically killing Jews and, among others,
alleged Soviet partisans behind the Wehrmacht lines. After the war several Einsatzkommando
officers were tried, in the Einsatzgruppen trial, convicted of war crimes and hanged.

 Aug 29 1942 – WW2: The American Red Cross announces that Japan has refused to allow safe
conduct for the passage of ships with supplies for American POWs. As the war came to a close, the
Red Cross followed on the heels of liberating military forces to supply relief and aid to those
suffering from the ravages of battle. Approximately 20,000 professional Red Cross workers served
during the war, along with countless other volunteers.

 Aug 29 1943 – WW2: Danish Navy Scuttles its Warships » German forces crossed the border into
neutral Denmark on the morning of 9 April 1940, meaning the previous year’s non-aggression pact
had gone the way of so many others the Nazi government made. In a remarkably gentle invasion,
troops crossed easily into southern Jutland. Shortly afterwards, un-armoured German ships boldly
docked in Copenhagen and began disembarking soldiers and equipment. Naturally the Danish armed
forces were largely demobilized; however, the navy’s ships were still staffed by Danish sailors and
even performed minesweeping operations, while the army was allowed to maintain 2,200 men and
1,100 auxiliary troops until August 1943.
By August 1943, resistance to the Germans became so blatant that they were left with no option
but to declare martial law and dissolve their puppet regime. The troubled relationship had been
souring for some time, with the population becoming steadily less accepting of the Germans, who
complained that they found the population to be cold and distant. Although the Danish government
had tried to prevent violence and sabotage, by late 1942 Germany declared Denmark to be ‘enemy
territory’ for the first time. In late 1942, a diplomatic crisis arose between King Christian X – who
had been left in place as head of state – and Hitler himself. Following a long and flattering telegram
congratulating the king on his birthday, Hitler was infuriated to be snubbed by the curt reply: ¨Giving
my best thanks. King Christian¨. The response was a swift crackdown and the arrival of a new
plenipotentiary (effective leader): Dr Werner Best.
Best allowed an election in March 1943 which, combined with a growing feeling of optimism that
Germany would be defeated, led to widespread strikes and protests throughout the summer of 1943,
culminating in a draconian ultimatum to the Danish government that sought to hammer the final few
pieces of the totalitarian structure into place. Amongst other demands, the Germans required the

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 government to ban public assemblies and strikes, to introduce a curfew, and to establish the death
penalty for sabotage. The government refused, and martial law was declared on 29 August 1943.
Knowing that the navy would now be fair game to the Germans, and useful to their war effort, one
man acted quickly and decisively this time. Vice-Admiral Aage Helgesen Vedel had resolved back in
1941 that no more of his fleet would be allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy, and he secretly
ordered the captains under his command to prepare scuttling charges. As the political standoff
intensified leading up to the deadline of the ultimatum, the charges were checked and the 2,000 men
at the Holmen naval facility put on alert against a potential German attack. The anticipated German
attack, ‘Operation Safari’, came on the morning of 29 AUG, but the Danish sentry guarding the
bridge to the Holmen base conveniently lost the handle that lowered the bridge, delaying the 500
German soldiers long enough for 32 ships to be sunk where they lay. Four more ships reached the
safety of neutral Sweden, while 14 were captured.
Skirmishes with the occupying German forces here and in military installations across the country
left 23 Danes dead, and the Germans were ultimately able to salvage and reuse 15 of the scuttled
ships for residential and educational use. However, none of the Danish submarines were used again.

 Aug 29 1944 – WW2: Anti-German Rebellion in Slovakia Russia » The uprising was an armed
insurrection organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. This resistance
movement was represented mainly by the members of the Democratic Party, but also by social
democrats and Communists, albeit on a smaller scale. It was launched on this date from Banská
Bystrica in an attempt to resist German troops that had occupied Slovak territory and to overthrow the
collaborationist government of Jozef Tiso. Although the resistance was largely defeated by German
forces, guerrilla operations continued until the Soviet Army, Czechoslovak Army and Romanian
Army liberated Fascist Slovakia in 1945.

 Aug 29 1944 – WW2: 15,000 American troops liberating Paris march down Avenue des Champs
Elysees.

 Aug 29 1945 – WW2: President Harry Truman issues Executive Order No. 9639, giving the
Secretary of the Navy the power to seize control of and operate a list of petroleum refineries and
transportation companies in order to counteract strikes by oil workers. The list of plants seized by the
Navy included those owned by industry giants: the Gulf, Shell, Standard and Union oil companies.

 Aug 29 1945 – WW2: U.S. airborne troops are landed in transport planes at Atsugi airfield,
southwest of Tokyo, beginning the occupation of Japan.

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 Aug 29 1949 – Cold War: Soviets Explode Atomic Bomb » At a remote test site at Semipalatinsk
in Kazakhstan, the USSR successfully detonates its first atomic bomb, code name “First Lightning.”
In order to measure the effects of the blast, the Soviet scientists constructed buildings, bridges, and
other civilian structures in the vicinity of the bomb. They also placed animals in cages nearby so that
they could test the effects of nuclear radiation on human-like mammals. The atomic explosion, which
at 20 kilotons was roughly equal to “Trinity,” the first U.S. atomic explosion, destroyed those
structures and incinerated the animals.
According to legend, the Soviet physicists who worked on the bomb were honored for the
achievement based on the penalties they would have suffered had the test failed. Those who would
have been executed by the Soviet government if the bomb had failed to detonate were honored as
“Heroes of Socialist Labor,” and those who would have been merely imprisoned were given “The
Order of Lenin,” a slightly less prestigious award.
The test surprised the Western powers. American intelligence had estimated that the Soviets would
not produce an atomic weapon until 1953, while the British did not expect it until 1954. On 3 SEP, a
U.S. spy plane flying off the coast of Siberia picked up the first evidence of radioactivity from the
explosion. Later that month, President Harry S. Truman announced to the American people that the
Soviets too had the bomb. Three months later, Klaus Fuchs, a German-born physicist who had helped
the United States build its first atomic bombs, was arrested for passing nuclear secrets to the Soviets.
While stationed at U.S. atomic development headquarters during World War II, Fuchs had given the
Soviets precise information about the U.S. atomic program, including a blueprint of the “Fat Man”
atomic bomb later dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, and everything the Los Alamos scientists knew about
the hypothesized hydrogen bomb.

The first Soviet atomic bomb, "RDS-1", was an implosion type like the U.S. "Fat Man" bomb,
even in appearance; the front "eyes" are radar fuses.

The revelations of Fuchs’ espionage, coupled with the loss of U.S. atomic supremacy, led
President Truman to order development of the hydrogen bomb, a weapon theorized to be hundreds of
times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. On November 1, 1952, the United
States successfully detonated “Mike,” the world’s first hydrogen bomb, on the Elugelab Atoll in the
Pacific Marshall Islands. The 10.4-megaton thermonuclear device instantly vaporized an entire island
and left behind a crater more than a mile wide. Three years later, on November 22, 1955, the Soviet
Union detonated its first hydrogen bomb on the same principle of radiation implosion. Both
superpowers were now in possession of the so-called “superbomb,” and the world lived under the
threat of thermonuclear war for the first time in history.

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 Aug 29 1950 – Cold War: Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Edward W. Barrett
declares that most of the “captive populations” in Soviet satellite nations oppose the Russians. Barrett
called for an accelerated program of U.S. propaganda designed to capitalize on this weakness in the
communist bloc.

 Aug 29 1952 – Korea: In the largest bombing raid of the Korean War, 1,403 planes of the Far East
Air Force bomb Pyongyang, North Korea.

 Aug 29 1960 – U.S.*Cuba: A U.S. U-2 spy plane spots SAM (surface-to-air) missile launch pads in
Cuba.

 Aug 29 1964 – Vietnam: Nguyen Khanh steps down as president of South Vietnam and Xuan Oanh,
former professor at Trinity College in Connecticut, is named prime minister. Khanh had been a major
player in the instability that followed the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem in November 1963. This
period was marked by ten successive governments in Saigon within 18 months.

 Aug 29 1972 – Vietnam: Nixon announces another troop reduction » President Nixon sets
December 1 as the target date for reducing U.S. troops strength in Vietnam by 12,000, to 27,000, an
all-time low since the American troop buildup began in 1965.

 Aug 29 1990 – Iraq: Saddam Hussein declares America can't beat Iraq.

 Aug 29 1995 – Bosnia: NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force against Bosnian Serb forces.

 Aug 29 2003 – Iraq: A terrorist bomb kills Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia
Muslim leader in Iraq, and nearly 100 worshipers as they leave a mosque in Najaf where the ayatollah
had called for Iraqi unity.

 Aug 29 2007 – U.S. Air Force: USAF nuclear weapons incident: Six cruise missiles armed with
nuclear warheads are flown without proper authorization from Minot Air Force Base to Barksdale Air
Force Base.

 Aug 29 2012 – Egypt: The Egyptian Army’s Operation Eagle results in the deaths of 11 suspected
terrorists and the arrest of another 23.

-o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 30 1776 – American Revolution: Gen. Howe’s Letter of Reconciliation » General George
Washington gives the New York Convention three reasons for the American retreat from Long
Island. That same day, he rejects British General William Howe’s second letter of reconciliation.
With Howe and a superior British force having recently landed at Long Island–they handed the
Continentals a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Brooklyn Heights on 27 AUG. Washington gave
these reasons for his decision to retreat: the need to reunite his forces, the extreme fatigue of his
soldiers and the lack of proper shelter from the weather.

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 For his part, Howe had attempted to reconcile with the Patriots before blood was spilled, but had
been rejected by Washington because he had failed to use Washington’s title of “general” when
addressing the letter. Even after beating the Continentals at Brooklyn Heights, Howe looked for a
peaceful resolution, allowing Washington and his army to escape by boat to Manhattan and sending
yet another letter to Washington through American General John Sullivan. Washington refused to
accept the missive, but gave Sullivan permission to deliver it to Congress in Philadelphia.
On 11 SEP, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and other congressional representatives accepted
Howe’s offer and reopened talks on Staten Island. The negotiations fell through when the British
refused to accept American independence as a condition for peace. The British captured New York
City on 15 SEP; it would remain in British hands until the end of the war.

 Aug 30 1781 – American Revolution: The French fleet arrives in the Chesapeake Bay to aid the
American Revolution.

 Aug 30 1813 – Old West: Fort Mims Massacre » Tecumseh, the leader of the Shawnee tribe, had
traveled across the country trying to stir up an Indian uprising against the Americans. Additionally,
the Spanish in Florida offered the Red Sticks, a militant group of the Creeks, arms and ammunition
with which to fight against the Americans. When American settlers learned of this union they
organized a militia to intercept the leader of the Red Sticks. The attacks started on July 27, 1813. This
battle set the frontier afire and exposed settlers gathered together in makeshift stockades. One of those
stockades was Ft Mims about 60 miles north of Mobile, Texas.
By late August the stockade had 17 buildings surrounded by a wooden wall. There were between 300
and 550 people in the fort including a militia under the command of Major Beasley. Beasley did not
take the threat of a Creek attack seriously, and did not spend enough time preparing and training the
defense. On 29 AUG, Red Stick warriors led by Chief Red Eagle attacked the fort. The attack
continued for four hour and hundreds of Creeks were killed. However, when the battle ended nearly
all of the Americans had been massacred. The massacre sealed the fate of the Red Sticks; the US had
no choice but to respond with overwhelming force.

 Aug 30 1861 – Civil War: Union General John Fremont declares martial law throughout Missouri
and makes his own emancipation proclamation to free slaves in the state. President Lincoln overrules
the general.

 Aug 30 1862 – Civil War: Battle of Richmond » Confederates under Edmund Kirby Smith rout
Union forces under General Horatio Wright in one of the most lopsided engagements of the Civil
War. Casualties and losses: US 5343 - CSA 451.

 Aug 30 1914 – WWI: 1st German plane bombs Paris, 2 killed

 Aug 30 1914 – WWI: Battle of Tannenberg ends » The battle fought at Tannenberg, East
th
Prussia (now Stębark, Poland), ended in its 5 day with a German victory over the Russians. The
crushing defeat occurred barely a month into the WWI conflict, but it became emblematic of the
Russian Empire’s experience in World War I.

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 The Russians lost 30,000 killed or wounded, while the Germans sustained a total of only 13,000
casualties. Some 92,000 Russian prisoners were taken, two and a half army corps annihilated, and the
remaining half of Samsonov’s army severely shaken. The Russians also lost 400 artillery pieces and
other vital war materiel. The Germans were certainly favored by Russian mistakes—above all, by the
folly in dispersing the fog of war by sending unciphered wireless messages. Yet if allowance is made
for these flashes of light, due account should be taken of the difficulties of campaigning in this
region. The German victory at Tannenberg remains a singular achievement, as its scale was unique in
the history of the war.
Still, Tannenberg was not a second Cannae, deliberately planned and carried through to
conclusion. The aim from the outset had been to break the force of the Russian invasion, not to
surround a Russian army. Indeed, the idea of the double envelopment was an afterthought, which
became possible only when Russian Gen, Rennenkampf continued to remain passive. The Germans
were also unable to extend their tactical victory at Tannenberg to the strategic level.
After Tannenberg and the arrival of two fresh army corps from the Western Front, the Germans
turned on the slowly advancing Rennenkampf, whose lack of energy was partly due to his losses at
Gumbinnen and to his subsequent lack of information. Attacked on a line extending from east of
Königsberg to the southern end of the chain of the Masurian Lakes (September 5–17), Rennenkampf
was driven from East Prussia. As a result of these East Prussian battles, Russia had lost 250,000 men
and, what could be afforded still less, much war matériel. The invasion of East Prussia had at least, by
causing the dispatch of two corps from the west, helped to make possible the French comeback on the
Marne.
 Aug 30 1918 – WWI: Vladimir Lenin Shot » After speaking at a factory in Moscow, Soviet
leader Vladimir Lenin is shot twice by Fanya Kaplan, a 28-year-old Jewish member of the Social
Revolutionary party. Lenin was seriously wounded but survived the attack. The assassination attempt
set off a wave of reprisals by the Bolsheviks against the Social Revolutionaries and other political
opponents. Thousands were executed as Russia fell deeper into civil war.

Vladimir Lenin Fanya Kaplan

Born Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov in 1870, Lenin was drawn to the revolutionary cause after his brother
was executed in 1887 for plotting to assassinate Czar Alexander III. He studied law and took up
practice in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), where he associated with revolutionary Marxist circles. In
1895, he helped organize Marxist groups in the capital into the “Union for the Struggle for the
Liberation of the Working Class,” which attempted to enlist workers to the Marxist cause. In
December 1895, Lenin and the other leaders of the Union were arrested. Lenin was jailed for a year
and then exiled to Siberia for a term of three years.

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 After the end of his exile, in 1900, Lenin went to Western Europe, where he continued his
revolutionary activity. It was during this time that he adopted the pseudonym Lenin. In 1902, he
published a pamphlet titled ‘What Is to Be Done?’ which argued that only a disciplined party of
professional revolutionaries could bring socialism to Russia. In 1903, he met with other Russian
Marxists in London and established the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party (RSDWP).
However, from the start there was a split between Lenin’s Bolsheviks (Majoritarians), who advocated
militarism, and the Mensheviks (Minoritarians), who advocated a democratic movement toward
socialism. These two groups increasingly opposed each other within the framework of the RSDWP,
and Lenin made the split official at a 1912 conference of the Bolshevik Party.
After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1905, Lenin returned to Russia. The revolution,
which consisted mainly of strikes throughout the Russian empire, came to an end when Nicholas II
promised reforms, including the adoption of a Russian constitution and the establishment of an
elected legislature. However, once order was restored, the czar nullified most of these reforms, and in
1907 Lenin was again forced into exile.
Lenin opposed World War I, which began in 1914, as an imperialistic conflict and called on
proletariatsoldiers to turn their guns on the capitalist leaders who sent them down into the murderous
trenches. For Russia, World War I was an unprecedented disaster: Russian casualties were greater
than those sustained by any nation in any previous war. Meanwhile, the economy was hopelessly
disrupted by the costly war effort, and in March 1917 riots and strikes broke out in Petrograd over the
scarcity of food. Demoralized army troops joined the strikers, and on March 15 Nicholas II was
forced to abdicate, ending centuries of czarist rule. In the aftermath of the February Revolution
(known as such because of Russia’s use of the Julian calendar), power was shared between the
ineffectual Provincial Government and the soviets, or “councils,” of soldiers’ and workers’
committees.
After the outbreak of the February Revolution, German authorities allowed Lenin and his
lieutenants to cross Germany en route from Switzerland to Sweden in a sealed railway car. Berlin
hoped (correctly) that the return of the anti-war Socialists to Russia would undermine the Russian war
effort, which was continuing under the Provincial Government. Lenin called for the overthrow of the
Provincial Government by the soviets, and he was condemned as a “German agent” by the
government’s leaders. In July, he was forced to flee to Finland, but his call for “peace, land, and
bread” met with increasing popular support, and the Bolsheviks won a majority in the Petrograd
soviet. In October, Lenin secretly returned to Petrograd, and on November 7 the Bolshevik-led Red
Guards deposed the Provisional Government and proclaimed soviet rule.
Lenin became the virtual dictator of the world’s first Marxist state. His government made peace
with Germany, nationalized industry, and distributed land but beginning in 1918, had to fight a
devastating civil war against czarist forces. In 1920, the czarists were defeated, and in 1922 the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was established. Upon Lenin’s death in early 1924, his body
was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum near the Moscow Kremlin. Petrograd was renamed
Leningrad in his honor. After a struggle of succession, fellow revolutionary Joseph Stalin succeeded
Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union.

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 Aug 30 1918 – WWI: The Belfort Ruse » In Belfort, France, a small town near the German border,
Colonel Arthur L. Conger of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) plants a copy of a false
operational order in a wastebasket; as intended, it is later found and removed by a German agent. It
was designed to trick the German High Command into believing that the thrust of the Allied
offensive, which would begin less than two weeks later would instead be launched near Belfort. The
extent to which the ruse proved successful is debatable.

 Aug 30 1932 – Pre WWII: Nazi leader Hermann Goering is elected president of the Reichstag.

 Aug 30 1939 – Pre WWII: Isoroku Yamamoto appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese fleet
» Yamamoto was part of the Japanese Navy establishment, who were rivals of the more aggressive
army establishment, especially the officers of the Kwantung Army. As such, he promoted a policy of
a strong fleet to project force through gunboat diplomacy, rather than a fleet used primarily for
transport of invasion land forces, as some of his political opponents in the army wanted. This stance
led him to oppose the invasion of China. He also opposed war against the United States partly
because of his studies at Harvard University (1919–1921) and his two postings as a naval attaché in
Washington, D.C., where he learned to speak fluent English. Yamamoto traveled extensively in the
United States during his tour of duty there, where he studied American customs and business
practices.
He was promoted to captain in 1923. On February 13, 1924, at the rank of captain, he was part of
the Japanese delegation visiting the US Naval War College. Later that year, he changed his specialty
from gunnery to naval aviation. His first command was the cruiser Isuzu in 1928, followed by the
aircraft carrier Akagi.

Isoroku Yamamoto with United States Secretary of the Navy Curtis D. Wilbur

He participated in the second London Naval Conference of 1930 as a rear admiral and the 1934
London Naval Conference as a vice admiral, as the growing military influence on the government at
the time deemed that a career military specialist needed to accompany the diplomats to the arms
limitations talks. Yamamoto was a strong proponent of naval aviation, and served as head of the
Aeronautics Department before accepting a post as commander of the First Carrier Division.
Yamamoto opposed the Japanese invasion of northeast China in 1931, the subsequent full-scale land
war with China in 1937, and the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy in 1940. As
Deputy Navy Minister, he apologized to United States Ambassador Joseph C. Grew for the bombing
of the gunboat USS Panay in December 1937. These issues made him a target of assassination threats
by pro-war militarists.

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 Throughout 1938, many young army and naval officers began to speak publicly against
Yamamoto and certain other Japanese admirals such as Mitsumasa Yonai and Shigeyoshi Inoue for
their strong opposition to a tripartite pact with Nazi Germany as they saw it as inimical to "Japan's
natural interests". Yamamoto received a steady stream of hate mail and death threats from Japanese
nationalists. His reaction to the prospect of death by assassination was passive and accepting. The
admiral wrote: To die for Emperor and Nation is the highest hope of a military man. After a brave
hard fight the blossoms are scattered on the fighting field. But if a person wants to take a life instead,
still the fighting man will go to eternity for Emperor and country. One man's life or death is a matter
of no importance. All that matters is the Empire. As Confucius said, "They may crush cinnabar, yet
they do not take away its color; one may burn a fragrant herb, yet it will not destroy the scent." They
may destroy my body, yet they will not take away my will.
The Japanese Army, annoyed at Yamamoto's unflinching opposition to a Rome-Berlin-Tokyo
treaty, dispatched military police to "guard" Yamamoto, a ruse by the army to keep an eye on him. He
was later reassigned from the naval ministry to sea as the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet
on August 30, 1939. This was done as one of the last acts of the then-acting Navy Minister
Mitsumasa Yonai, under Baron Hiranuma's short-lived administration. It was done partly to make it
harder for assassins to target Yamamoto. Yonai was certain that if Yamamoto remained ashore, he
would be killed before the year [1939] ended.

 Aug 30 1940 – WWII: Second Vienna Award » Germany and Italy arbitrate a decision on the
division of the disputed province of Transylvania between Romania and Hungary. The loss of
northern Transylvania forces Romanian King Carol to abdicate in favor of his son, Michael, and
brings to power a dictatorship under General Ion Antonescu.

 Aug 30 1941 – WWII: Tube Alloys » Winston Churchill, the first national leader to do so,
approves a nuclear program. Tube Alloys was the code name of the research and development
program authorized by the United Kingdom, with participation from Canada, to develop nuclear
weapons during the Second World War. Starting before the Manhattan Project in the United States,
the British efforts were kept classified, and as such had to be referred to by code even within the
highest circles of government.
The possibility of nuclear weapons was acknowledged early in the war. At the University of
Birmingham, Rudolf Peierls and Otto Frisch co-wrote a memorandum explaining that a small mass of
pure uranium-235 could be used to produce a chain reaction in a bomb with the power of thousands
of tons of TNT. This led to the formation of the MAUD Committee, which called for an all-out effort
to develop nuclear weapons. Wallace Akers, who oversaw the project, chose the deliberately
misleading name "Tube Alloys". His Tube Alloys Directorate was part of the Department of
Scientific and Industrial Research.
The Tube Alloys program in Britain and Canada was the first nuclear weapons project. Due to the
high costs, and the fact that Britain was fighting a war within bombing range of its enemies, Tube
Alloys was ultimately subsumed into the Manhattan Project by the Quebec Agreement with the
United States, under which the two nations agreed to share nuclear weapons technology, and to
refrain from using it against each other, or against other countries without mutual consent; but the
United States did not provide complete details of the results of the Manhattan Project to the United

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 Kingdom. The Soviet Union gained valuable information through its atomic spies, who had infiltrated
both the British and American projects.
The United States terminated co-operation after the war ended with the Atomic Energy Act of
1946. This prompted the United Kingdom to relaunch its own project, High Explosive Research.
Production facilities were established and British scientists continued their work under the auspices of
an independent British program. Finally, in 1952, Britain performed a nuclear test under codename
"Operation Hurricane". In 1958, in the wake of the Sputnik crisis and the British demonstration of a
two-stage thermonuclear bomb, the United Kingdom and the United States signed US–UK Mutual
Defence Agreement, which resulted in a resumption of Britain's nuclear Special Relationship with the
United States.

 Aug 30 1944 – WWII: Ploesti Falls to Soviet Troops » Although badly damaged after the
November 1940 earthquake, this city which was the center of the Rumanian oil industry was a
significant source of oil for Nazi Germany. The Allies made it a target of the Oil campaign of World
War II and attacked it repeatedly, such as during the HALPRO and Operation Tidal Wave at a great
loss, without producing any significant delay in operation or production.

In June 1942, 13 B-24 Liberators of the "Halverson project" (HALPRO) attacked Ploiesti. Though
damage was small, Germany and Romania responded by putting strong anti-aircraft defenses around
Ploiești. Luftwaffe General Alfred Gerstenberg built one of the heaviest and best-integrated air
defense networks in Europe. The defenses included several hundred large-caliber 88mm guns and
10.5 cm FlaK 38 anti-aircraft guns, and many more small-caliber guns. The latter were concealed in
haystacks, railroad cars, and mock buildings. German and Romanian AA artillery at Ploiesti consisted
in 52 heavy (88 mm) 9 medium (37 mm) and 17 light (20 mm) anti-aircraft batteries. These were
divided between the German 5th Flak Division (30 heavy, 5 medium and 7 light) and the Romanian
4th AA Brigade (22 heavy, 2 medium and 10 light). Half of the manpower of the German 5th Flak
Division was Romanian.
The Axis had 52 fighters within flight range of Ploiesti (Bf 109 fighters and Bf 110 night fighters,
plus assorted types of Romanian IAR 80 fighters). For the defense of Ploiesti, the Royal Romanian
Air Force had aircraft from 5 Escadrile (Squadrons): 61 (IAR 80B), 62 (IAR 80B), 45 (IAR 80C), 53
(Bf 109G) and 68 (Bf 110).[15] These defenses made Ploiesti the 3rd or 4th most heavily defended
target in Axis Europe, after Berlin and Vienna or the Ruhr, and thus the most heavily defended Axis
target outside the Third Reich.
Operation Tidal Wave was the first air attack of the Western Allies on Romanian territory. Until
August 1944, the Royal Romanian Air Force and Romanian flak shot down 223 American and British
bombers as well as 36 fighters. Romanian losses amounted to 80 aircraft. Luftwaffe pilots shot down

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 66 more Western Allied aircraft. Total Western Allied casualties amounted to 1,706 killed and 1,123
captured.

 Aug 30 1944 –WWII: French Provisional Government is established in Paris under Gen. Charles de
Gaulle.

 Aug 30 1945 – Post WWII: MacArthur arrives in Japan » Gen. Douglas MacArthur lands at
Atsugi Airport in Japan and proceeded to drive himself to Yokohama to oversee the formal surrender
ceremony and to organize the postwar Japanese government. Along the way tens of thousands of
Japanese soldiers lined the roads, their bayonets fixed on him. One last act of defiance—but all for
naught. MacArthur would be the man who would reform Japanese society, putting it on the road to
economic success.

 Aug 30 1945 – Post WW2: British Liberate Hong Kong from Japan » On 25 December 1941, The
British Crown colony of Hong Kong was surrendered to Imperial Japan forces by Sir Mark Young,
Governor of Hong Kong. The surrender took place after eighteen days of fierce fighting against the
Japanese forces who invaded the territory. Known as the Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong
Kong, the occupation lasted for three years and eight months. During the occupation, Hong Kong’s
population went down from 1.6 million to just six hundred thousand. In 1945 the Japanese occupation
ended after the United States dropped an atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forcing the
Japanese to surrender on 15 AUG. Rear-Admiral Harcourt re-occupied Hong Kong on 30 August
1945 with his fleet and established a British Military Administration.

 Aug 30 1951 – Cold War: U.S. & Philippines sign Mutual Defense Treaty » The overall accord
contained eight articles and dictated that both nations would support each other if either the
Philippines or the United States were to be attacked by an external party.
The Philippines became a colony of the United States following the Spanish–American War and
the subsequent Philippine–American War. In 1935, under the terms of the Tydings–McDuffie Act,
the Philippines became a self-governing commonwealth, the Philippine Commonwealth, with full
independence planned for ten years later. Delayed by World War II and the Japanese invasion and
occupation of the Philippines, the Philippines became fully independent on July 4, 1946. Following
independence there remained in the Philippines a strong American military presence including a
number of United States military bases in the Philippines, all allowed by treaties between the newly
independent Philippines and the United States. There were also a number of treaties that created a
strong bond between the Philippines and the United States which gave both countries rights not
enjoyed by other nations.

 Aug 30 1963 – Cold War: Hotline Established between Washington and Moscow » Two months
after signing an agreement to establish a 24-hour-a-day “hot line” between Moscow and Washington,
the system goes into effect. John F. Kennedy becomes the first U.S. president to have a direct phone
line to the Kremlin in Moscow. The “hotline” was designed to facilitate communication between the
president and Soviet premier.

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 The Hotline terminal room in the NMCC at the Pentagon, 1985 with the new teletype and
encryption equipment, installed in 1980.

The establishment of the hotline to the Kremlin came in the wake of the October 1962 Cuban
Missile Crisis, in which the U.S. and U.S.S.R had come dangerously close to all-out nuclear war.
Kennedy’s administration had discovered that the Soviets had planted missiles capable of launching
nuclear warheads into the U.S. on the island of Cuba. The highly tense diplomatic exchange that
followed was plagued by delays caused by slow and tedious communication systems. Encrypted
messages had to be relayed by telegraph or radioed between the Kremlin and the Pentagon. Although
Kennedy and Khrushchev were able to resolve the crisis peacefully and had both signed a nuclear
test-ban treaty on August 5, 1963, fears of future “misunderstandings” led to the installation of an
improved communications system.
On 30 AUG, the White House issued a statement that the new hotline would “help reduce the risk
of war occurring by accident or miscalculation.” Instead of relying on telegrammed letters that had to
travel overseas, the new technology was a momentous step toward the very near future when
American and Soviet leaders could simply pick up the phone and be instantly connected 24 hours a
day, seven days a week. It was agreed that the line would be used only in emergencies, not for more
routine governmental exchanges.
An article in The New York Times described how the new system would work: Kennedy would
relay a message to the Pentagon via phone, which would be immediately typed into a teletype
machine by operators at the Pentagon, encrypted and fed into a transmitter. The message could reach
the Kremlin within minutes, as opposed to hours. Although a far cry from the instantaneous
communication made possible by today’s cell phones and email, the technology implemented in 1963
was considered revolutionary and much more reliable and less prone to interception than a regular
trans-Atlantic phone call, which had to be bounced between several countries before it reached the
Kremlin.
In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson became the first U.S. president to use the new system
during the Six Day War in the Middle East when he notified then-Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin that
he was considering sending Air Force planes into the Mediterranean.

 Aug 30 1966 – Vietnam: China Agrees to Provide Aid to North Vietnam » Hanoi Radio announces
that Deputy Premier Le Thanh Nghi has signed an agreement with Peking whereby the People’s
Republic of China will provide additional economic and technical aid to North Vietnam. China had
already been providing support to the Communists in Vietnam since the war against the French.

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 When the U.S. became decisively involved after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, China increased the
support to both North Vietnam and the insurgents in South Vietnam.

 Aug 30 1969 – Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh responds to Nixon Letter » Ho Chi Minh’s reply to
President Nixon’s letter of 15 JUL is received in Paris. Ho accused the United States of a “war of
aggression” against the Vietnamese people, “violating our fundamental national rights” and warned
that “the longer the war goes on, the more it accumulates the mourning and burdens of the American
people.” Ho said he favored the National Liberation Front’s 10-point plan as “a logical and
reasonable basis for the settlement of the Vietnamese problem.” Ho demanded that the United States
“cease the war of aggression,” withdraw its troops from Vietnam and allow self-determination for the
Vietnamese people. President Nixon would not reveal that he had received this communication until
his speech to the nation on 3 NOV.

 Aug 30 1970 – Vietnam: Elections held in South Vietnam » An estimated 6 million South
Vietnamese cast ballots for 30 seats at stake in the Senate elections. While the voting was going on,
Communist forces attacked at least 14 district towns, a provincial capital, and several polling places.
Fifty-five civilians were reported killed and 140 wounded.

-o-o-O-o-o-

 Aug 31 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Jonesboro » General William T. Sherman launches the
attack that finally secures Atlanta, Georgia, for the Union, and seals the fate of Confederate General
John Bell Hood’s army, which is forced to evacuate the area. The Battle was the culmination of a
four-month campaign by Sherman to capture Atlanta. The fall of Atlanta was instrumental in securing
the reelection of Abraham Lincoln in the fall.

 Aug 31 1916 – Pre WW2: American Soldier Harry Butters Killed in the Battle of the Somme »
Harry Butters, an American soldier serving in the British army during World War I, is killed by a
German shell during the Battle of the Somme, while fighting to secure the town of Guillemont,
France.
The son of a prominent San Francisco industrialist, Butters was raised partially in England and
schooled there at Beaumont College, a Jesuit academy in Old Windsor. He later attended Phillips
Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, before inheriting his father’s fortune upon the latter’s
death in 1906 and moving back to California, where he worked briefly for Standard Oil and
purchased his own ranch. When World War I broke out in the summer of 1914, Butters rallied to the
Allied cause and decided to join the British army. Through his old school connections in England, he
received a commission in the Royal Artillery, 24th Division, 107 th Brigade in April 1915. In
September, Butters traveled to France with his comrades, where he took part in the ill-executed
British attack during the Battle of Loos later that month.
“I find myself a soldier among millions of others in the great allied armies fighting for all I believe
right and civilized and humane against a power which is evil and threatens the existence of all the
rights we prize and the freedom we enjoy,” Butters wrote home on October 5, 1915, describing his
experiences on the battlefield at Loos. “It may seem to you that for me this is all quite uncalled for,

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 that it can only mean either the supreme sacrifice for nothing or at best some of the best years of my
life wasted; but I tell you that I am not only willing to give my life to this enterprise (for that is
comparatively easy except when I think of you), but that I firmly believe—if I live through it to spend
a useful lifetime with you—that never will I have the opportunity to gain so much honorable
advancement for my own soul, or to do so much for the cause of the world’s progress, as I am here
daily…I think less of myself than I did, less of the heights of personal success I aspired to climb, and
more of the service that each of us must render in payment for the right to live and by virtue of which
only we can progress.”
Butters was on the front lines near the Belgian village of Ploegsteert in April 1916 when he met
Winston Churchill; Churchill was serving as a battalion commander on the Western Front after
leaving the British Admiralty in the wake of the disastrous Allied operations on the Gallipoli
Peninsula the previous year. Impressed by the young American volunteering in service to England
—”I just lied to ‘em and said I was British born,” Butters told Churchill, explaining his commission
in the Royal Artillery—Churchill invited Butters to dine with him in his bunker, where the two men
ate and drank champagne on the evening of 11 APR. After suffering from shell shock—the newly
diagnosed psychological trauma of battle—Butters was sent on leave in June. Although Churchill,
then back in London, urged Butters to take his time before returning to service, he went back to the
Western Front on 2 JUL, one day after the Allies launched the epic Battle of the Somme.
On August 31, 1916, Butters and his unit were at the Somme, firing on Trones Woods, outside
Guillemont, when his gun received a direct German hit during a massive barrage; he and all the
members of his battery were killed. “I don’t exaggerate when I say nearly 100,000 shells dropped that
day in an area of about 800 square yards,” wrote Reverend A. Caseby in his diary entry recounting
Butters’ death. Butters was buried in the Commonwealth Graves Commission Cemetery at Meulte, a
little village south of Albert, France. In accordance with a request he made in late August to a British
chaplain, his gravestone reads simply “An American Citizen.”
Churchill himself wrote a memorial to Butters in the London Observer: “He had seen much
service on the front line, including the battle of Loos, and came through unscathed until in June last a
bouquet of shells destroyed his observation post and stunned him. He could be induced to take only a
week’s rest before he was back at the front, disdainful as ever of the continual threats of death. And
thus, quite simply, he met his fate. He was one of the brightest, cheeriest boys I have ever known, and
always the life and soul of the mess. We realize his nobility in coming to the help of another country
entirely of his own free will, and understand what a big heart he had.”

 Aug 31 1935 – Pre WW2: FDR Signs Neutrality Act » President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the
Neutrality Act, or Senate Joint Resolution No. 173, which he calls an “expression of the desire…to
avoid any action which might involve [the U.S.] in war.” The signing came at a time when newly
installed fascist governments in Europe were beginning to beat the drums of war.
In a public statement that day, Roosevelt said that the new law would require American vessels to
obtain a license to carry arms, would restrict Americans from sailing on ships from hostile nations
and would impose an embargo on the sale of arms to “belligerent” nations. Most observers
understood “belligerent” to imply Germany under its new leader, Adolf Hitler, and Italy under Benito
Mussolini. It also provided the strongest language yet warning other countries that the U.S. would

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 increase its patrol of foreign submarines lurking in American waters. This was seen as a response to
Hitler’s March 1935 announcement that Germany would no longer honor the terms of the Treaty of
Versailles, which prohibited Germany from rebuilding her military; he had then immediately stepped
up the country’s submarine production.
Although the legislation stated that the U.S. intended to stay out of foreign wars, Roosevelt
insisted that the country could not foresee future situations in which the U.S. might have to amend its
neutral stance. Noting that “history is filled with unforeseeable situations that call for some flexibility
of action,” Roosevelt contended that the law would not prevent the U.S. from cooperating with other
“similarly minded Governments to promote peace.” In other words, he left plenty of room for
America to change its mind regarding the sale of arms to friendly countries and gave it the right to
exercise options to protect her own safety. This came to pass in March 1941, when the passing of the
Lend-Lease Act increased America’s military exports to the British in order to help them fight off
Hitler’s advance toward England.

 Aug 31 1939 – WWII: Poland ordered general mobilization; one hundred thousand men joined the
colors within the first hour.

 Aug 31 1939 – WWII: Germany Prepares for Polish Invasion » At noon, despite threats of British
and French intervention, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler signs an order to attack Poland, and German forces
move to the frontier. That evening, Nazi S.S. troops wearing Polish uniforms staged a phony invasion
of Germany, damaging several minor installations on the German side of the border. They also left
behind a handful of dead German prisoners in Polish uniforms to serve as further evidence of the
alleged Polish attack, which Nazi propagandists publicized as an unforgivable act of aggression.

 Aug 31 1941 – WW2: 23 U–boats sunk (80,000 ton) this month

 Aug 31 1942 – WW2: U–boats sunk 108 ships (544,000 ton) this month.

 Aug 31 1942 – WW2: The British army under General Bernard Law Montgomery defeats Field
Marshal Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps in the Battle of Alam el Halfa in Egypt.

 Aug 31 1944 – WW2: The British 8th Army breaks through the Germans’ “Gothic Line” » Built
earlier in the year this was a defensive line drawn across northern Italy consisting of fortified towns,
stretching from Pisa in the west to Pesaro in the east.

 Aug 31 1944 – WW2: Numfor Island » In Papua province, Western New Guinea, northeastern
Indonesia, on Numfor Island the last significant Japanese force is brought to battle by American
forces and destroyed. The Japanese had occupied the island in December 1943 and built three
airfields on the island, turning it into a significant air base. Bombing of the island by United States
and Australian aircraft began as early as April 1944 and Allied units landed on the island July 2,
1944.
The island was officially declared secure on 7 JUL. However, individual Japanese soldiers
continued guerrilla activities, and it was 31 AUG before all fighting had ceased. The Allies had lost

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 66 killed or missing and 343 wounded. It had killed approximately 1,714 Japanese and taken 186
prisoners. According to the US Army official history, only 403 of the original 3,000 Javanese civilian
laborers were alive by then. About 10-15 were reported to have been killed accidentally by Allied
forces. The rest had died from maltreatment before the invasion.
About 300 Formosan labor troops had died before the invasion. Others fought the Allies, allegedly
as a result of Japanese coercion. Over 550 surrendered; more than half of these were suffering from
starvation and tropical diseases. Less than 20 were reported killed by Allied action. According to the
US Army historian, Allied personnel found evidence that human bodies, of Japanese, Formosan and
Allied personnel, had been partly eaten by starving Japanese and Formosans.

 Aug 31 1951 – Cold War: William O. Douglas calls for recognition of PRC » Supreme Court
Justice William O. Douglas issues a statement calling for the recognition of the communist People’s
Republic of China. His comments touched off an angry partisan debate in the U.S. Senate.
Recognition by America, he reasoned, would help split China from its dependence on the Soviet
Union and perhaps stem the tide of communist expansion in the Far East.

 Aug 31 1951 – Korea: The 1st Marine Division begins its attack on Bloody Ridge. The 4 day battle
results in 2,700 Marine casualties.

 Aug 31 1955 – Vietnam: Secretary of State John Foster Dulles supports South Vietnamese President
Ngo Dinh Diem’s position regarding his refusal to hold “national and general elections” to reunify the
two Vietnam states. Although these elections were called for by the Geneva Accords of July 1954,
Diem and his supporters in the United States realized that if the elections were held, Ho Chi Minh and
the more populous north would probably win, thereby reuniting Vietnam under the Communist
banner. Accordingly, he refused to hold the elections and the separation of North and South soon
became permanent.

 Aug 31 1965 – Cold War: A concrete wall replaced the barbed wire fence that separates East and
West Germany. It was named the Berlin Wall.

 Aug 31 1965 – Vietnam: Premier Nguyen Cao Ky announces that South Vietnam would not
negotiate with the Communists without guarantees that North Vietnamese troops would be withdrawn
from the South. He also said that his government would institute major reforms to correct economic
and social injustices.

 Aug 31 1965 – Vietnam: President Johnson signs into law a bill making it illegal to destroy or
mutilate a U.S. draft card, with penalties of up to five years and a $10,000 fine.

 Aug 31 1967 – Vietnam: Senate Committee calls for Stepped-Up Bombing » Senate Preparedness
Investigating Committee issues a call for action against the North, declaring that McNamara had
“shackled” the air war against Hanoi, and calling for “closure, neutralization, or isolation of
Haiphong.” President Johnson, attempting to placate Congressional “hawks” and the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, expanded the approved list of targets in the north.

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 Aug 31 1972 – Vietnam: U.S. Weekly Casualty Figures Hit New Low » U.S. weekly casualty
figures of five dead and three wounded are the lowest recorded since record keeping began in January
1965. These numbers reflected the fact that there were less than 40,000 American troops left in South
Vietnam by this time and very few of these were involved in actual combat. U.S. troop withdrawals
had begun in the fall of 1969 following President Richard Nixon’s announcement at the Midway
conference on June 8, 1972, that he would begin reducing the number of American troops in Vietnam
as the war was turned over to the South Vietnamese as part of his “Vietnamization” policy. Once the
troop withdrawals began, they continued on a fairly regular basis, steadily reducing the troop level
from the 1969 high of 543,400.

[Source: [Source: www.history.com/this-day-in-history, www.history.navy.mil/today-in-

history/july-16.html, https://www.historycentral.com, & https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/history-
of-war/day | August 2020++]

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