February 2

1943: At Stalingrad, the remnants of 6.Armee under General Strecker in the northern pocket of the Kessel cease fighting and surrender to the Red Army. In all, over 96,000 survivors of the once 300,000-strong Armee are captured; of these, only about 5,000 will ever return to Germany after the war. At Moscow, the victory over the Germans is celebrated with a salute of several hundred guns.
1944: In the Ukraine, the Red Army recaptures Luzk and Rovno.
1945: The Soviet 1st Belorussian Front reaches the Oder south of Frankfurt. Ecuador declares war on Germany.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1916: Zeppelin crashes into North Sea - Two days after nine German zeppelins dropped close to 400 bombs throughout the English Midlands, the crew of the British fishing trawler King Stephen comes across the crashed remains of one of the giant airships floating in the North Sea.
1962: First U.S. Air Force plane crashes in South Vietnam. - The first U.S. Air Force plane is lost in South Vietnam. The C-123 aircraft crashed while spraying defoliant on a Viet Cong ambush site. The aircraft was part of Operation Ranch Hand, a technological area-denial technique designed to expose the roads and trails used by the Viet Cong. U.S. personnel dumped an estimated 19 million gallons of defoliating herbicides over 10-20 percent of Vietnam and parts of Laos from 1962 to 1971. Agent Orange--so named from the color of its metal containers--was the most frequently used.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do

1942: First Japanese air attack on Port Moresby - The Japanese had hoped to occupy Port Moresby as a base from which to cut off shipping to Eastern Australia. Their defeat in the Battle of the Coral Sea thwarted the planned naval attack and invasion against Port Moresby.
1968: Baria recaptured - The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, recaptured Baria after the Tet offensive. The effects of the Tet Offensive were felt most acutely by the Australians when the Viet Cong attacked targets around Phuoc Tuy's provincial capital, Baria. The attacks were repulsed with few Australian casualties, though the Communists suffered heavy losses.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/feb.htm

1800 - USS Constellation (CAPT Thomas Truxtun) defeats la Vengeance
1862 - USS Hartford, Capt David G. Farragut, departs Hampton Roads for Mississippi River campaign
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1974 - The F-16 Fighting Falcon flies for the first time.
1989 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul, ending nine years of military occupation.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_2

February 3
1942: German forces of Heeresgruppe Mitte launch a counterattack at Vjasma, cutting off and encircling several Soviet divisions.
1944: In the East, the beginning of renewed defensive battles against Soviet forces in the area of Vitebsk.
1945: The US 8th Air Force, with 937 bombers and 613 fighters, carries out the heaviest attack to date against Berlin which levels large areas of the city and kills more than 25,000 civilians.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1941: Ottawa Ontario - Government extends compulsory military training from one month to four.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Feb&day=03

1944: U.S. troops capture the Marshall Islands - American forces invade and take control of the Marshall Islands, long occupied by the Japanese and used by them as a base for military operations.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...rticle&id=6700

1915: Turkish forces attack the Suez canal - Turkish attempts to capture the Suez canal, vital to Allied shipping, were repulsed largely by Indian troops. Australians of the 7th and 8th Infantry Battalions temporarily garrisoned the trenches after the fight.
1943: Australians counter-attack at Wau - Having failed to take Wau the Japanese were forced into retreat. At the end of the fighting some 1,200 Japanese had been killed as had some 300 Australians.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/feb.htm

1945 - World War II: The Soviet Union agrees to enter the Pacific Theatre conflict against Japan.
1945 - World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17's of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_3

February 4 (tomtom22's 66th birthday, yahoo!!)

1942: The Afrikakorps recaptures Derna in Libya.
1943: Soviet army troops and marines achieve a landing neart the Black Sea port of Novorossisk.
1945: Beginning of the Yalta Conference in the Crimea between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin to discuss plans for the treatment of postwar Germany, its division into zones of occupation, the question of reparations, and the future Polish western border.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1962: The first U.S. helicopter is shot down in Vietnam. It was one of 15 helicopters ferrying South Vietnamese Army troops into battle near the village of Hong My in the Mekong Delta. The first U.S. helicopter unit had arrived in South Vietnam aboard the ferry carrier USNS Core on December 11, 1961. This contingent included 33 Vertol H-21C Shawnee helicopters and 400 air and ground crewmen to operate and maintain them. Their assignment was to airlift South Vietnamese Army troops into combat.
1972: A force of 824 soldiers, the last of Thailand's 12,000 troops serving in South Vietnam, departs. The Thai contingent, which had first arrived in country in the fall of 1967, had been 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. In all, 44 countries responded to Johnson plea for military aid to South Vietnam, but only Australia, New Zealand, Korea, and Thailand provided combat troops. In the end, the program never achieved the widespread international support that Johnson sought.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...rticle&id=1654

1779 - John Paul Jones takes command of Bonhomme Richard
1959 - Keel laying of USS Enterprise, first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, Newport News, VA
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1945: France - First Canadian Corps ordered to rejoin First Canadian Army on western front.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Feb&day=04

1941 - World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_4

February 5

1945: On the Eastern front, the Red Army approaches Elbing and Marienburg in East Prussia.
Source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1782 - Spanish defeat British forces and capture Minorca.
1945 - World War II: GeneralDouglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
1968 - The Battle of Khe Sanh of the Vietnam War begins.
2003 - U.S. plan to invade Iraq: Colin Powell addresses the UN Security Council on Iraq.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_5

1951: Ottawa Ontario - Government starts three-year, $5 million rearmament program for Canadian armed forces.
1980 - THE MAN CALLED INTREPID IS HONORED Hamilton Bermuda - Sir William Stephenson is awarded the Order of Canada; the ailing Winnipeg-born engineer pioneered digital wireless photo transmission. He worked for British intelligence during World War II under the code name Intrepid, and was the personal contact man between Churchill and Roosevelt.
Source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Feb&day=05

1917 - Murray, VC - Captain H.W. Murray, 4th Division, originally from Launceston, Tasmania, wins the Victoria Cross at Stormy Trench north-east of Gueudecourt, France.
Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1865 - Battle of Dabney's Mill (Hatcher's Run) - Union and Confederate forces around Petersburg, Virginia, begin a three-day battle that produces 3,000 casualties but ends with no significant advantage for either side.
1918 - U.S. steamship Tuscania is torpedoed and sinks - Anchor line steamship Tuscania, traveling as part of a British convoy and transporting over 2,000 American soldiers bound for Europe, is torpedoed and sinks off the coast of Ireland by the German submarine U-77.
1941 - Hitler to Mussolini: Fight harder! - Adolf Hitler scolds his Axis partner, Benito Mussolini, for his troops' retreat in the face of British advances in Libya, demanding that the Duce command his forces to resist.
1960 - South Vietnam requests more support - The South Vietnamese government requests that Washington double U.S. Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG-Vietnam) strength from 342 to 685. The advisory group was formed on November 1, 1955 to provide military assistance to South Vietnam. It had replaced U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group Indochina (MAAG-Indochina), which had been providing military assistance to "the forces of France and the Associated States in Indochina"
(Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) in accordance with President Harry S. Truman's order of June 27, 1950.
1975 - North Vietnamese begin preparations for offensive - North Vietnamese Gen. Van Tien Dung departs for South Vietnam to take command of communist forces in preparation for a new offensive. In December 1974, the North Vietnamese 7th Division and the newly formed 3rd Division attacked Phuoc Long Province, north of Saigon. This attack represented an escalation in the "cease-fire war" that started shortly after the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973.
1989 - The last Soviet troops leave Kabul - In an important move signaling the close of the nearly decade-long Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan, the last Russian troops withdraw from the capital city of Kabul. Less than two weeks later, all Soviet troops departed Afghanistan entirely, ending what many observers referred to as Russia's "Vietnam."
Source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1854 - Dedication of first chapel built on Navy property, Annapolis, MD
1941 - Chief Nurse Marion B. Olds and Nurse Leona Jackson, Navy, arrive on Guam.
1971 - Moonwalk by CAPT Alan B. Shepherd, Jr. USN, Commander of Apollo 14 and CDR Edgar D. Mitchell, USN Lunar Module Pilot. During the 9 day mission, 94 lbs of lunar material was collected and Shepard became the first person to hit a golf ball on the moon. Recovery was by helicopter from USS New Orleans (LPH-11).
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

February 6

1941: The British 8th Army (Wavell) captures Benghasi in Cyrenaica from the Italians.
1945: The Soviet 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov) makes further advances to reach the Oder between Küstrin and Frankfurt.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1941: 6th Division enters Benghazi, Libya - Benghazi changed hands five times as fighting, first against the Italians and later the German Afrika Korps, ebbed and flowed across Libya's Mediterranean coast.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/feb.htm

1813: Brockville Ontario - US Capt. Benjamin Forsyth crosses frozen St. Lawrence with 52 riflemen and attacks Brockville the next day; takes 52 hostages in War of 1812 skirmish.
1943: Mediterranean - German U-boat torpedoes Canadian corvette Louisbourg in the Mediterranean.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Feb&day=06

1862 - Union gunboat squadron captures Fort Henry, Tennessee River
1922 - World powers sign the Washington Naval Treaty providing for limitation of naval armament
1973 - In accordance with the agreement at the Paris Peace Talks, Navy Task Force 78 begins Operation End Sweep, the mine clearance of North Vietnamese waters of mines laid in 1972.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1940: The Finnish 9th Division finally manages to encircle the Russian 54th Division in Kuhmo.
1941: The Bishops of Norway start the Church’s struggle against the occupying German forces.
1943: The Americans outflank the retreating Japanese on Guadalcanal. Russians cut off Army Group A by reaching Yeysk on the Sea of Rostov.
1944: The Japanese pressure in Arakan forces the British to retreat.
1945: The 1st Belorussian Front makes further advances to reach the Oder between Küstrin and Frankfurt.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/

you're a little behind... Happy Belated Birthday by the way!

February 7

1942: The drive of the Afrikakorps toward Egypt and the Suez Canal comes to a halt before Tobruk.
1945: In East Prussia, Soviet attacks north of Königsberg are blocked with the help of naval gunfire by the cruisers Scheer and Lützow.
Source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1807 - Napoléon's French Empire begin fighting against Russian and Prussian forces of the Fourth Coalition at the Battle of Eylau in Eylau, Poland.
1842 - Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien.
1944 - World War II: In Anzio, ItalyNazi forces launch a counteroffensive.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_7

1945: Black Sea talks plan defeat of Germany - Plans are being drawn up by London, Washington and Moscow for the final phase of the war against Germany.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/d...es/february/7/

1862: Confederates order reinforcements to Fort Donelson - One day after the fall of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of Rebel forces in the west, orders 15,000 reinforcements to Fort Donelson. This fort lay on the Cumberland River just a few miles from Fort Henry. Johnston's decision turned out to be a mistake, as many of the troops were captured when the Fort Donelson fell to the Yankees on February 16.
1915: Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes begins - In a blinding snowstorm, General Fritz von Below and Germany’s Eighth Army launch a surprise attack against the Russian lines just north of the Masurian Lakes on the Eastern Front, beginning the Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes (also known as the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes).
1965: U.S. jets conduct retaliatory raids - As part of Operation Flaming Dart, 49 U.S. Navy jets from the 7th Fleet carriers Coral Sea and Hancock drop bombs and rockets on the barracks and staging areas at Dong Hoi, a guerrilla training camp in North Vietnam. Escorted by U.S. jets, a follow-up raid by South Vietnamese planes bombed a North Vietnamese military communications center.
1971: Operation Dewey Canyon II ends but U.S. units continue to provide support for South Vietnamese army operations in Laos. Operation Dewey Canyon II began on January 30 as the initial phase of Lam Son 719, the South Vietnamese invasion of Laos that was to commence on February 8. The purpose of the South Vietnamese operation was to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail, advance to Tchepone in Laos, and destroy the North Vietnamese supply dumps in the area.
Source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1800 - USS Essex becomes first U.S. Navy vessel to cross the Equator.
1815 - The Board of Naval Commissioners, a group of senior officers, is established to oversee the operation and maintenance of the Navy, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy.
1955 - Seventh Fleet ships begin evacuation of Chinese nationalists from Tachen Islands
1965 - In response to a Viet Cong attack on barracks area at Pleiku, South Vietnam, aircraft from carriers, USS Coral Sea, USS Hancock, and USS Ranger attack North Vietnamese area near Donghoi.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

February 8

1941: The first convoy of the newly formed Afrikakorps under the command of Generaloberst Rommel leaves Naples for Tripoli in Libya.
1943: The Red Army recaptures Kursk.
1944: German roops evacuate Nikopol in the Ukraine.
1945: In the West, the Canadian First Army (Crerar) begins an offensive in the area of Nijmegen in Holland. Paraguay declares war on Germany. In the East, Soviet attacks in East Prussia, Pommerania and on the Oder front opposite Berlin continue with unabated ferocity.
Source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1942:Japanese invade Singapore - Singapore was believed to be an impregnable fortress but the Japanese advance from the Malayan Peninsula proved the falsity of this belief.
Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1807 - Battle of Eylau - Napoleon defeats Russians under GeneralBenigssen.
1900 - British troops are defeated by Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.
1904 - Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China starts the Russo-Japanese War.
1943 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal - United States forces defeat Japanese troops.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_8

1777: Former POW Timothy Bigelow is named colonel - Just six months after his release as a prisoner-of-war, Major Timothy Bigelow becomes colonel of the 15th Massachusetts Colonial Line of the Continental Army.
1862: Battle of Roanoke Island - Union General Ambrose Burnside scores a major victory when he captures Roanoke Island in North Carolina. The victory was one of the first major Union victories of the war and it gave the Yankees control of the mouth of Albemarle Sound, a key Confederate bay that allowed the Union to threaten the Rebel capital of Richmond from the south.
1918: U.S. Army resumes publication of Stars and Stripes - The United States Army resumes publication of the military newsletter Stars and Stripes. Begun as a newsletter for Union soldiers during the American Civil War, Stars and Stripes was published weekly during World War I from February 8, 1918, until June 13, 1919. The newspaper was distributed to American soldiers dispersed across the Western Front to keep them unified and informed about the overall war effort and America’s part in it, as well as supply them with news from the home front.
1943: Britain's Indian Brigade begins guerrilla operations in Burma - Under the command of Major General Orde Wingate, the 77th Indian Brigade, also called the Chindits, launch guerrilla raids behind Japanese lines in Burma.
1962: MACV established - The Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), headed by Gen. Paul D. Harkins, former U.S. Army Deputy Commander-in-Chief in the Pacific, is installed in Saigon as the United States reorganizes its military command in South Vietnam.
1971: Operation Lam Son 719 begins - South Vietnamese army forces invade southern Laos. Dubbed Operation Lam Son 719, the mission goal was to disrupt the communist supply and infiltration network along Route 9 in Laos, adjacent to the two northern provinces of South Vietnam.
Source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1862 - Joint amphibious force capture Roanoke Island, key to Albemarle Sound
1890 - USS Omaha sailors and marines assist Hodogary, Japan in subduing large fire
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1894: Air Vice-Marshal William Avery 'Billy' Bishop VC, DSO 1938-1956,
fighter ace, father of the RCAF, born at Owen Sound, Ontario in 1894; dies Sept 11, 1956 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Bishop shot down 72 German aircraft during World War I, 25 in one ten-day period in 1918. In August 1918 he joined the British Air Ministry and formed the Royal Canadian Air Force as a separate brigade.
1945: Reichswald Germany - First Canadian Army attacks German positions in the Reichswald; part of Allied offensive into Germany; west of Rhine, north of Ruhr Valley.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Feb&day=08

February 9

1941: Great Britain breaks off diplomatic relations with Rumania.
1943: The Red Army recaptures Belgorod.
1945: In the East, the Red Army encircles Elbing and Posen.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1965: A U.S. Marine Corps Hawk air defense missile battalion is deployed to Da Nang. President Johnson had ordered this deployment to provide protection for the key U.S. airbase there. This was the first commitment of American combat troops in South Vietnam and there was considerable reaction around the world to the new stage of U.S. involvement in the war.
1972: The aircraft carrier USS Constellation joins aircraft carriers Coral Sea and Hancock off the coast of Vietnam. From 1964 to 1975, there were usually three U.S. carriers stationed in the water near Vietnam at any given time. Carrier aircraft participated in the bombing of North Vietnam and also provided close air support for U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam. In 1972, the number of U.S. carriers off Vietnam increased to seven as part of the U.S. reaction to the North Vietnamese Eastertide Offensive that was launched on March 30--carrier aircraft played a major role in the air operations that helped the South Vietnamese defeat the communist invasion.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do

1943: Japanese defeat on Guadalcanal - After the ill-fated Philippines campaign, Guadalcanal was the first test of land strength between Japan and the United States in the Second World War. Japanese reverses at Guadalcanal contributed to their having to withdraw from the Kokoda Trail in 1942 when they were almost within sight of Port Moresby.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/feb.htm

1799 - USS Constellation (CAPT Truxtun) captures French l'Insurgente
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1945 - The Battle of the Atlantic the HMS Venturer sinking U-Boat 864 off the coast of Norway.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_9

1942: By dawn the Japanese 5th and 18th Divisions have firmly established themselves on the island and begin to advance south-east towards Singapore city.
1944: The Germans capture Aprilia in the Anzio beachhead.
1945: British and Canadians troops smash the first of the main Siegfried Line defence zones. The last Rhine bridge is blown in the Colmar Pocket. Half the German Nineteenth Army were evacuated, but General De Lattre's forces have taken 22,000 German prisoners since the 20th January.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/

February 10

1945: In the East, the attack by 2nd Belorussian Front (Rokossovsky) against the Pommernstellung is blocked by the German defenders. In Silesia, Liegnitz is captured by the 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev). In Hungary, the remnants of the defenders of Budapest give up and surrender.
Source: http://www.feldgrau.com/february.html

1962: Russia frees US spy plane pilot - American spy plane pilot Captain Francis "Gary" Powers has been freed from prison in the Soviet Union in exchange for a Russian spy jailed in the US.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/d...00/2731827.stm

1258 - Battle of Baghdad - Mongols overrun Baghdad, burning it to the ground and killing large numbers of citizens (estimates range from 10,000 to 800,000).
1763 - French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Canada to Great Britain.
1814 - Battle of Champaubert occurs.
1846 - Battle of Sobraon - British defeat Sikhs in final battle of 1st Anglo-Sikh War
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_10

1944: End of Japanese resistance on the Houn Peninsula - Fighting in the Huon Peninsula lasted from August 1943 until mid-February 1944 and involved heavy fighting at such places as Lae, Finschhafen, Sattelberg, Shaggy Ridge and the Ramu Valley.
Source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1779: The Battle of Carr’s Fort - A force of more than 340 men from the South Carolina and Georgia militias, led by Colonel Andrew Pickens of South Carolina with Colonel John Dooly and Lt Colonel Elijah Clarke of Georgia, attack a group of approximately 200 Loyalists under the command of Colonel John Hamilton at Robert Carr’s Fort, in Wilkes County, Georgia.
1942: Japanese sub bombards Midway - A Japanese submarine launches a brutal attack on Midway, a coral atoll used as a U.S. Navy base. It was the fourth bombing of the atoll by Japanese ships since December 7.
1965: Viet Cong guerrillas blow up the U.S. barracks at Qui Nhon, 75 miles east of Pleiku on the central coast, with a 100-pound explosive charge under the building. A total of 23 U.S. personnel were killed, as well as two Viet Cong. In response to the attack, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a retaliatory air strike operation on North Vietnam called Flaming Dart II.
Source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1862 - Union gunboats destroy Confederate ships at Elizabeth City, NC
1900 - Appointment of first naval governor of Guam, Commodore Seaton Schroder
1960 - USS Sargo (SSN-583) surfaces at North Pole
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesfeb.htm

1942: Atlantic - German U-boat torpedoes Canadian corvette Spikenard.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Feb&day=10