tomtom22

April 20th

1941: British forces in Greece retreat from Mt. Olympus.
1945: From its Oder bridgeheads S of Stettin, the Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front (Rokossovsky) launches an offensive toward Neubrandenburg, Stralsund and Rostock, while Soviet heavy artillery begins a continuous bombardment of Berlin. But the cost of victory is high: In the battle for Berlin, Soviet tank losses between April 1 and 19 amount to 2,807. During the same period, the Allies in the West lose 1,079 tanks.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/april.html

1915:First half-flight, Australian Flying Corps, sailed for the Baghdad expedition - This was the first use of Australian aircraft and aircrew in war. 1941: ANZAC Corps withdraw to Thermopylae Line, Greece - The Greek campaign ended in disaster for the Allies. Unable to hold out against superior and better organised German forces, the Allies were forced to evacuate their troops from Greece in late April 1941.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1910: Parliament passes a Bill setting up the Royal Canadian Navy.
1918: Government calls up men from ages of 20 to 22 for military service.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Apr&day=20

1796 - Congress authorizes completion of 3 frigates
1861 - Norfolk Navy Yard abandoned and burned by Union forces.
1914 - In first call to action of naval aviators, detachment on USS Birmingham sailed to Tampico, Mexico.
1915 - First Navy contract for lighter-than-air craft awarded.
1942 - USS Wasp (CV-7) launches 47 British aircraft to reinforce Malta
1947 - CAPT L.O. Fox, USN, supported by 80 Marines, accepted the surrender of LT Yamaguchi and 26 Japanese soldiers and sailors, two and one half years after the occupation of Peleliu and nearly 20 months after the surrender of Japan.
1953 - USS New Jersey shells Wonsan, Korea from inside the harbor.
1964 - USS Henry Clay (SSBN-625) launches a Polaris A-2 missile from the surface in first demonstration that Polaris submarines could launch missiles from the surface as well as from beneath the ocean. 30 minutes later the submarine launched another Polaris missile while submerged.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesapr.htm

1775 - American Revolutionary War: the siege of Boston begins, which followed the first battles at Lexington and Concord.
1792 - France declares war on Austria, the beginning of French Revolutionary Wars.
1918 - Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
1945 - World War II: U.S. B-29 bombers destroy the Musashi Aircraft plants, halting production of the Nakajima Ki-84 fighter planes.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_20

1918: Ottawa Ontario - Government calls up men from ages of 20 to 22 for military service.
1910: Ottawa Ontario - Parliament passes a Bill setting up the Royal Canadian Navy.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Apr&day=20

1657: The Spanish fleet at Santa Cruz was destroyed by the English under Admiral Blake.
source: http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/onthisday.asp

---

"It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle." - Norman Schwarskopf, Commander of Desert Storm Operations