May 27th

1941: In the Atlantic, the crippled German battleship Bismarck is relentlessly bombarded by dozens of British warships, including the battleships Rodney and King George V. After all her guns are silenced, she is sunk by torpedos from the cruiser Dorsetshire; there are only 14 survivors out of a crew of 2,200. In Libya, the Afrikakorps recaptures Halfaya Pass.
1942: Off the northern coat of Norway, Luftwaffe bombers sink 5 ships of Convoy PQ-16.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1965:HMAS Sydney's first voyage to Vietnam - HMAS Sydney departs on first voyage to Vietnam with 1RAR embarked.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1813 - War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.
1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima begins.
1940 - World War II: 97 out of 99 members of a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are massacred while trying to surrender at Dunkirk. The German commander, Captain Fritz Knoechlein, is eventually hanged for war crimes.
1941 - World War II: U.S.President Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency".
1942 - World War II: Operation Anthropoid - assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague.
1965 - Vietnam War: United States warships begin bombardments of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam for the first time.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_27

1940: British position in Flander’s worsens as King Leopold of Belgium surrenders the remnants of his Army.
1941: Having been reinforced by the 15th Panzer Division, Rommel retakes the Halfaya Pass on Egyptian border. The 10th Indian Division begins to advance north from Basra towards Baghdad. 400 miles west of Brest, the crippled Bismarck is relentlessly bombarded by dozens of British warships, including the battleships Rodney and King George V. After all her guns are silenced, she is sunk by torpedo's from the cruiser Dorsetshire. There are only 110 survivors out of a crew of 2,300. The convoy HX129, becomes the first to have continuous escort protection across the Atlantic. Germans paratroopers take Canea and with it the main British supply point of Suda Bay. This convinces Major General Freyberg VC, that the situation has gone against the British and that he must withdraw from Crete to save what he can.
1942: Japanese Combined Fleet lifts anchor and sets sail for Midway. On the same day, Admiral Nimitz, having been for warned of the impending Japanese attack against Midway by US intelligence who were intercepting Japanese naval signals, issues orders for Task Force 16 (Admiral Spruance) with the carriers Enterprise and Hornet, plus 6 cruisers, 11 destroyers, 2 tankers and 19 submarines, to sail for Midway the next day. The Afrika Korps, having pushed round the British defenses, move northeast. They are engaged by elements of the British 1st and 7th Armoured Divisions. Many tank losses were taken by both sides, although as the battle went on the British armour became increasingly scattered. The Italian Ariete Armoured Division continued to meet stiff resistance from the Free French at Bir Hacheim, while the Italian Trieste Motorised Division further north, found itself grinding through minefields under heavy fire as a result of a navigation error. The siege of Sevastopol rages on, becoming the only incident of a formal siege of a modern fortress being pushed through to final reduction. Sevastopol is the premier port on the Black Sea, and its defenses include three zones of trenches, pillboxes, and batteries. The strongest defenses lie in the middle zone, which includes the heights and the south bank of the Belbek River. Among these hills are "Fort Stalin" on the East and the massive western anchor of "Fort Maxim Gorki I," with its turret of twin 305 mm (12-inch) guns sweeping the length of the Belbek valley. 105,000 men defend this port. Against this the Germans and Romanians range 203,000 men and some of the most powerful siege artillery ever disposed by any army in World War II. Field Marshal Erich von Manstein aims 305 mm, 350 mm, and 420 mm howitzers at the Russians, along with two of the new, stubby "Karl" and "Thor" 600 mm mortars. Also on hand is the 800 mm (31.5-inch) "Big Dora" from Krupp, which has to be transported to position by 60 railway wagons. "Big Dora" is commanded by a major general and a colonel, protected by two flak regiments and periodically fed with a 10,500 lb. shell. Czech patriots shoot Reinhard Heydrich in the suburbs of Prague. His condition is described as critical.
1943: The first British ‘liaison’ team is dropped into Yugoslavia to join up with Tito’s partisans.
1944: Start of the monsoon season bogs down operations in Burma. 12,000 U.S. troops land on Biak in the Schouten Island Group, 350 miles West of Hollandia. MacArthur says, 'this marks the strategic end of the New Guinea campaign'.
1945: Chinese troops are now 25 miles North of Foochow and take Loyaun. The U.S. Sixth Army takes Santa Fe on Luzon.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

May 28th

1940: In the West, the Belgian Army surrenders, King Leopold being taken prisoner. In Norway, French mountain troops capture the port of Narvik, forcing the German defenders (Gebirgsjäger units and crews of sunk destroyers) into the surrounding hills.
1941: On Crete, British and Commonwealth fores begin evacuating the island which by now is practically in German hands.
1943: In Italy, the US 15th Air Force attacks oil refineries at Livorno.
1944: The US 8th Air Force attacks synthetic fuel-producing plants at Leuna-Meseburg.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/may.html

1940: French mountain troops capture the port of Narvik, forcing the German defenders (Gebirgsjäger units and crews of sunk destroyers) into the surrounding hills and towards the safety of the Swedish border and internment.
1941: British and Commonwealth forces begin evacuating Crete through the port of Sphakia on the southern coast of Crete. The withdrawal is to be covered by two recently landed Commando Battalions. However the garrisons at Retimo and Heraklion will be evacuated separately.
1942: The Russian pocket Southeast of Kharkov continues to be broken in. 200 Poles are taken from Warsaw to the village of Magdalenka and shot. Among them are three women brought on stretchers from Pawiak prison hospital. Heavy fighting continues at the southern end of the Gazala line, although by now Rommel's forces are beginning to run out of fuel and his tanks are becoming scattered. In order to shorten his supply lines he decides to punch a hole through the Gazala line.
1943: The U.S. 15th Air Force attacks Italian oil refineries at Livorno.
1944: The US 8th Air Force attacks synthetic fuel-producing plants at Leuna-Meseburg.
1945: The British Twelfth Army HQ is set up in Rangoon.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/

1902: Boer War ends - Boers surrender, ending the Boer War. Over 16,000 Australians served in South Africa, 251 were killed in action and 267 died from disease and 43 were reported missing.
1968: Fire support base Balmoral attacked - This second assault on Fire Support Base Balmoral, Vietnam, was more easily defeated than the first with the North Vietnamese driven off after 30 minutes.1968: D company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, receives citation - Award of United States Presidential Unit Citation to D Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, for the Battle of Long Tan.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/may.htm

1813: Burlington Ontario - General John Vincent ends his retreat to Burlington Heights after losing Fort George; Americans now control Niagara Peninsula.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=May&day=28

1813 - Frigate Essex and prize capture five British whalers
1917 - First underway fueling in U.S. Navy, USS Maumee fuels 6 destroyers in North Atlantic. LCDR Chester W. Nimitz served as Maumee's executive officer and chief engineer.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesmay.htm


1754 - French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginiamilitia under 22-year-old Lieutenant ColonelGeorge Washington defeat a Frenchreconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
1863 - American Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first African American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts, to fight for the Union.
1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the RussianBaltic Fleet by AdmiralTogo Heihachiro and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
1982 - Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_28

1918 : U.S. troops score victory at Cantigny - In the first sustained American offensive of World War I, an Allied force including a full brigade of nearly 4,000 United States soldiers captures the village of Cantigny, on the Somme River in France, from their German enemy. A day after their French allies suffered a blistering defeat on the Aisne River, a two-hour artillery barrage preceded the attack on Cantigny, located further north on the Western Front. The French army provided air cover, artillery, heavy tanks and—in an especially effective tactic—teams of flamethrowers to aid the U.S. advance through the German-held village, which was quickly overrun. The Americans took 100 German prisoners by the end of that day. The commander in chief of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), General John J. Pershing, gave the order that no inch of Cantigny was to be surrendered. Over the next 72 hours, the Americans in Cantigny endured seven German counterattacks, maintaining control of the village despite high casualties, with 200 soldiers killed and another 200 incapacitated by German gas attacks. By the time relief finally came, total U.S. casualties at Cantigny had reached over 1,000, and the soldiers were exhausted from the strain of continual shelling. As the first major U.S. victory, the capture of Cantigny had a threefold impact on the war effort in the spring of 1918: first, it deprived the Germans of an important observation point for their troops on the Western Front. It also lent weight to Pershing’s argument that an independent U.S. command should be maintained apart from the joint Allied command. Finally, it provided a warning to the Germans that the Americans, although recently arrived and relatively new to the battlefield, were not a force to be taken lightly.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do?

15th September 1940 Battle Of Britain Day..........This marks the day when Hitler suffered his first set back when he failed to drive the RAF from the skies over Britain which would have allowed his invasion to go ahead, seeing this failed he took it out on Russia

November 11

1864 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea - Union General William Tecumseh Sherman begins burning Atlanta, Georgia to the ground in preparation for his march south.
1865 - Treaty of Sinchula is signed in which Bhutan ceded the areas east of the Teesta River to the British East India Company.
1921 - The Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding at Arlington National Cemetery.
1940 - World War II: Battle of Taranto - The Royal Navy launches the first aircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italian fleet at Taranto.
The German cruiser Atlantis captures top secret British mail, and sends it to Japan.
1967 - Vietnam War: In a propaganda ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, three American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong and turned over to "new left" antiwar activist Tom Hayden.
1968 - Vietnam War: Operation Commando Hunt initiated. The goal was to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, through Laos into South Vietnam.
1972 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam.
2004 - New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior dedicated at the National War Memorial, Wellington
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11_November

1778- Patriot Colonel Ichabod Alden refuses to believe intelligence about an approaching hostile force. As a result, a combined force of Loyalists and Native Americans, attacking in the snow, killed more than 40 Patriots, including Alden, and took at least an additional 70 prisoners, in what is known today as the Cherry Valley Massacre. The attack took place east of Cooperstown, New York, in what is now Otsego County.
1918- At 11 o’clock in the morning of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the First World War--known at the time as the Great War--comes to an end. The Great War took the life of some 9 million soldiers; 21 million more were wounded. Civilian casualties caused indirectly by the war numbered close to 10 million. The two nations most affected were Germany and France, each of which sent some 80 percent of their male populations between the ages of 15 and 49 into battle.
1942- Congress approves lowering the draft age to 18 and raising the upper limit to age 37. In September 1940, Congress, by wide margins in both houses, passed the Burke-Wadsworth Act, and the first peacetime draft was imposed in the history of the United States. The registration of men between the ages of 21 and 36 began exactly one month later. There were some 20 million eligible young men-50 percent were rejected the very first year, either for health reasons or because 20 percent of those who registered were illiterate. But by November 1942, with the United States now a participant in the war, and not merely a neutral bystander, the draft ages had to be expanded; men 18 to 37 were now eligible.

1944- The German First Army HQ leaves Metz as the U.S. Third Army gains three bridgeheads over the Moselle.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/index.htm

November 13th

1775 - American Revolutionary War: Patriot revolutionary forces under Col. Ethan Allen attack Montreal defended by British General Guy Carleton. Allen and his troops were disorganised and soundly defeated.
1941 - World War II: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is torpedoed by U 81, she sinks on November 14.
1942 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal - Aviators from the USS Enterprise sink the Japanese heavy cruiser BB- Hiei.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_November

1941: President Roosevelt announces the arming of American merchant vessels carrying Lend-Lease cargo to Britain.
1942: In Libya, the British 8th Army retakes Tobruk.
1944: German troops of Heeresgruppe E evacuate Skopje in Yugoslavia.
Source: http://www.feldgrau.com/november.html

1965 Warrant Officer K. Wheatley, Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, originally from Sydney, New South Wales, wins the first Victoria Cross of the Vietnam War posthumously in the Tra Bong Valley, Quang Ngai province.
Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1982-Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedicated Near the end of a weeklong national salute to Americans who served in the Vietnam War, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington after a march to its site by thousands of veterans of the conflict. The long-awaited memorial was a simple V-shaped black-granite wall inscribed with the names of the 57,939 Americans who died in the conflict, arranged in order of death, not rank, as was common in other memorials.

1775-Patriots take Montreal On this day in 1775, Continental Army Brigadier General Richard Montgomery takes Montreal, Canada, without opposition.
Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do

November 16

1632 - The Battle of Lützen, where king Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden is killed.
1776 - American Revolutionary War: Hessian mercenaries capture Fort Washington from the Patriots.
1857 - The relief of Lucknow. The most Victoria Crosses won in a single day (24).
1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Campbell's Station near Knoxville, Tennessee. Confederate troops unsuccessfully attack Union forces.
1940 - World War II: In response to Germany leveling Coventry two days before, the Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg.
1940 - Holocaust: In Poland, Nazis close off the Warsaw Ghetto from the outside world.
1943 - World War II: American bombers strike a hydro-electric power facility and heavy water factory in German-controlled Vermork, Norway.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_November
1944: In the West, US and German forces begin the bitter battle for the Roer river crossings on the German-Belgian border.
Source: http://www.feldgrau.com/november.html
1943 Admiral Louis Mountbatten appointed Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia.
Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp
1863 : Battle of Campbell Station, Tennessee Confederates under General James Longstreet fail to defeat a Union force under General Ambrose Burnside near Knoxville, Tennessee. source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/t...1&cat=10272941
1970 Ky defends South Vietnamese operations in Cambodia South Vietnamese Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky, speaking at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, says Cambodia would be overrun by communist forces "within 24 hours" if South Vietnamese troops currently operating there are withdrawn.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/t...1&cat=10272949

November 17
1796 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Arcole - French forces defeat the Austrians in Italy.
1863 - American Civil War: Siege of Knoxville begins - Confederate forces led by General James Longstreet place Knoxville, Tennessee under siege.
1941 - World War II: Joseph Grew, the United States ambassador to Japan, cables the State Department that Japan has plans to launch an attack against Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (his cable is ignored).
1967 - Vietnam War: Acting on optimistic reports he was given on November 13, US President Lyndon B. Johnson tells his nation that, while much remained to be done, "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making progress." (two months later the Tet Offensive made him regret his words).
1970 - Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai massacre.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17_November
1941: Units of 11.Armee (von Manstein) capture the eastern Crimean port of Kerch.
1942: In Tunisia, the first clashes occur between the newly landed US and German forces.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/november.html
1943 Sattleberg The Austrailian 9th Division begins its attack on Sattleberg. Sattelberg, a high peak and the key to the occupation of the Huon Peninsula, involved a hard, four-month campaign for the 9th Division. source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp
1965 1st Cavalry unit ambushed in the Ia Drang Valley - During part of what would become known as the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley, a battalion from the 1st Cavalry Division is ambushed by the 8th Battalion of the North Vietnamese 66th Regiment. The battle started several days earlier when the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry engaged a large North Vietnamese force at Landing Zone X-Ray at the base of the Cheu Pong hills (Central Highlands).
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/t...2&cat=10272949

November 18
1916 - World War I: First Battle of the Somme ends - In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.
1940 - World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.
1943 - World War II: 440 Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF lost nine aircraft and 53 air crew.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18_November

1942 Popondetta captured by Australians - Popondetta, on the steamy kunai plains north of the Owen Stanley Range, became a major Allied base for the attack on the Japanese-held beachheads in Papua.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1943: Start of a series of heavy night attacks by the RAF against Berlin.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/november.html

1941: At 6am 'Operation Crusader’, the British Eighth Army's offensive to relieve Tobruk begins. Rommel, who arrives back from Rome that day, is caught by surprise, allowing the British XXX Corps to advance 50-miles and capture the axis airfield 10 miles south of Sidi Rezegh. The Germans, believing that the British are about to encircle Bardia, send the Afrika Korps on a wild goose chase in that direction.
1943: A German counter offensive recaptures Zhitomir.
1944: The U.S. Third Army crosses the German frontier. Metz is cut off and surrounded by the U.S. Third Army's, XX Corps.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/index.htm

1942: The Red Army counter-attacked and surrounded the German army at Stalingrad.
1960: The first vertical take-off aircraft (VTOL) made by the British Hawker Siddeley company was flown for the first time.
1990: Nato and Warsaw Pact members ended the Cold War by signing a weapons treaty in Paris.
SOURCE: http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/onthisday.asp

December 12

1969: The Philippine Civic Action Group, a 1,350-man contingent from the Army of the Philippines, departs South Vietnam. The contingent was part of the Free World Military Forces, an effort by President Lyndon B. Johnson to enlist allies for the United States and South Vietnam. By securing support from other nations, Johnson hoped to build an international consensus behind his policies in Vietnam. The effort was also known as the "many flags" program. The Philippine Civic Action Group entered Vietnam in September 1966, setting up operations in a base camp in Tay Ninh Province northwest of Saigon. The force included an engineer construction battalion, medical and rural community development teams, a security battalion, a field artillery battery, and a logistics and headquarters element.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...rticle&id=1547

1917:HMAS Australia damaged - The battle cruiser HMAS Australia damaged in a collision with the battle cruiser HMS Repulse.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1939: The German liner Bremen arrives at Bremerhaven from Murmansk, having evaded the British blockade. In the east, Russia rejects the League of Nations demands for peace with Finland.
1940: In England, Sheffield suffers heavy Luftwaffe raids.
1941: Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania declare war on the United States. In order to improve relations with Germany, Yugoslavia signs a friendship pact with Hungary.
1942: A hastily assembled force of 13 divisions, including three Panzer divisions, under the control of 4.Panzerarmee (Hoth), begins Operation Winter Tempest, the relief of 6.Armee (von Paulus) encircled at Stalingrad. In the Mediterannian Sea, Italian midget submarines sink four ships in the harbor at Algiers.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1862 - Confederate torpedo (mine) sinks USS Cairo in Yazoo River.
1937 - Japanese aircraft sink USS Panay in Yangtze River near Nanking, China.
1941 - Naval Air Transport Service is established.
1951 - First flight of helicopter with gas-turbine engine at Windsor Locks, CT, demonstrates adaptability of this engine to helicopters.
1972- Captain Eugene A. Cernan, USN, commander of Apollo 17, walks on the Moon. Commander Ronald E. Evans, USN, was the Command Module Pilot. The mission lasted 12 days, 13 hours and 52 minutes. Recovery by HC-1 helicopters from USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14).
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm

1969: Halifax Nova Scotia - Royal Canadian Navy retires aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure after 12 years of service; later sold for scrap.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Dec&day=12

December 13

1939: In the south Atlantic the German raider, the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, fights an action against three British cruisers, HMS Achilles, Ajax and Exeter, which results in serious damage to both sides, with Exeter rendered a blazing hulk and the Graf Spee withdrawing to the River Plate for repairs.
1940: Hitler issues Directive No. 20, the order for the preparation of Operation Marita, a plan for sending German forces to revive the bogged-down Italian offensive in Albania.
1941: In the East, the Red Army launches a counter-offensive from the Kalinin area toward besieged Leningrad. German forces of Heeresgruppe Mitte (von Bock) evacuate Tula.
1942: In Libya, Panzerarmee Afrika evacuates El Agheila.
1943: Heeresgruppe Mitte becomes engaged in a series of heavy defensive battles in the area of Witebsk.
1944: In northern Alsace, German forces of 7.Armee (Brandenberger) withdraw to fortified positions of the Westwall (Siegfried Line).
SOURCE: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1862: Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia repulses a series of attacks by General Ambrose Burnside's Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg, Virginia. The defeat was one of the most decisive loses for the Union army, and it dealt a serious blow to Northern morale in the winter of 1862-63.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...rticle&id=2416

1915:Light Horse fight at Um Rakham - The Light Horse was deployed against pro-Turkish Arabs of an Islamic sect known as the Senussi, in Egypt's western desert. source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1941: Hong Kong - British Governor rejects Japanese demand for the surrender of Hong Kong; defence of the Island organized into a West Brigade, commanded by Brigadier J.K. Lawson, and including The Winnipeg Grenadiers; and an East Brigade, under Brigadier C. Wallis, including The Royal Rifles of Canada; General Maltby deploys both Canadian units to defend the southern beaches against a seaborne attack, as heavy Japanese artillery fire and air raids begin.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Dec&day=13