This day in military history..

14 December

1939: Because of its brutal aggression against Finland, the Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations.
1941: German forces evacuate Kalinin 100 miles NW of Moscow.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1941: Japanese forces land at Penang, Malaya - Penang's military importance lay in the island's port facilities and its stocks of ammunition and stores. When the allies were unable to stop the Japanese advance on the mainland it became clear that the island would have to be evacuated.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1981 - Arab-Israeli conflict: Israel's Knesset passes The Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the area of the Golan Heights.
1995 - Yugoslav Wars: The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris by PresidentSlobodan Milošević, PresidentFranjo Tuđman, PresidentAlija Izetbegović, PresidentJacques Chirac, PresidentBill Clinton, Prime MinisterJohn Major, ChancellorHelmut Kohl and Prime MinisterViktor Chernomyrdin.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14_December

1918: New king renounces Finnish throne - In the latest bump on Finland’s rocky road from Swedish and Russian duchy to independent nation, the newly-crowned Frederick, German-born and the brother-in-law of Kaiser Wilhelm II, renounces the Finnish throne after barely two months.
1961: Kennedy announces intent to increase aid to South Vietnam - In a public exchange of letters with South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, President John F. Kennedy formally announces that the United States will increase aid to South Vietnam, which would include the expansion of the U.S. troop commitment. Kennedy, concerned with the recent advances made by the communist insurgency movement in South Vietnam wrote, "We shall promptly increase our assistance to your defense effort."
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1943: Casa Berardi, Italy - Canadian Major Paul Triquet wins VC in capturing Casa Berardi, north of Moro.
1950: Yokohama Japan - Lieutenant-Colonel J.R. Stone and the 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry arrive in Yokohama en route to Korea; begin intensive training at Miryang, near Taegu after Communist China had intervened on the side of the North Koreans.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Dec&day=14

1814 - British squadron captures U.S. gunboats in Battle of Lake Borgne, LA.
1944 - Rank of Fleet Admiral, U.S. Navy (five star admiral) is established.
1945 - Captain Sue S. Dauser receives the first Distinguished Service Medal awarded to a nurse.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm
 
December 15

1943: The Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain break off diplomatic relations with the Yugoslav government-in-exile and recognize Tito's Communist Popular Liberation Committee as the government-to-be of the country.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1943 - Bureau of Naval Personnel Circular Letter on non-discrimination in Navy V-12 program.
1944 - Congress appoints first three of four Fleet Admirals.
1965 - Launch of Gemini 6 with Captain Walter M. Schirra, Jr., USN, as Command Pilot. The mission included 16 orbits in 25 hours and 51 minutes. Recovery was by HS-11 helicopters from USS Wasp (CVS-18 )
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm

1914 : The Serbian Army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Austro-Hungarian Army.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_15

1915: British begin evacuation of Gallipoli - Allied forces begin a full retreat from the shores of the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey, ending a disastrous invasion of the Ottoman Empire. The Gallipoli campaign resulted in 250,000 Allied casualties and a greatly discredited Allied military command. Roughly an equal number of Turks were killed or wounded.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=14

1864: Battle of Nashville, Tennessee - The once powerful Confederate Army of Tennessee is nearly destroyed when a Union army commanded by General George Thomas swarms over the Rebel trenches around Nashville.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=2418

1939: The Russians launch heavy attacks against Finnish forces at Taipale. A fifth British division arrives in France.
1941: The Eighth Army attacks the German and Italian positions at Gazala. Rommel, fearful that the British will outflank him, orders the retreat. Japanese troops move into southern Burmese territory on the Kra Isthmus and seize Victoria Point, which had been vacated by the British two days earlier. Japanese artillery and aircraft pound Hong Kong in an attempt to soften it up.
1942: Convoy JW-51A sets sail from Lock Ewe in Scotland with 16 merchants bound for the Kola Inlet.
1943: The first Japanese daylight raid on Calcutta is mounted with many reported killed. US troops land on New Britain near Cape Gloucester, to the South West of Rabaul.
1944: The Chinese finally take Bhamo itself in northern Burma after the Japanese evacuate at night. The 19th Indian Division meets the British 36th Infantry Division at Indaw, making the first connected front in Burma.
A U.S. task force lands on Mindoro Island in the western Philippines without loss.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/index.htm
 
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Battle of the Bulge begins

December 16

1942: In the East, the Red Army begins an offensive in the direction of Rostov-on-Don to cut off the German forces of Heeresgruppe A in the Caucasus.
1944: The German Army in the West begins Operation Wacht am Rhein (Watch on the Rhine), eventually to become known as the Battle of the Bulge, with the objective of splitting the Allied forces and capturing the strategic port of Antwerp. Being under the control of Heeresgruppe B (Model), the attacking forces pouring forth from the Ardennes Forest comprise 6.SS-Panzerarmee (Dietrich), 5.Panzerarmee (von Manteuffel), with 7.Armee (Brandenberger) providing flank support to the south of the line of advance.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1821 - LT Robert F. Stockton and Dr. Eli Ayers, a naval surgeon and member of American Colonizing Society, induce a local African king to sell territory for a colony which became the Republic of Liberia.
1907 - Great White Fleet departs Hampton Roads, VA to circumnavigate the world.
1922 - USS Bainbridge (DD-246) rescues 482 persons from burning French transport Vinh-Long.
1941 - USS Swordfish (SS-193) sinks Japanese cargo ship Atsutasan Maru.
1942 - Pharmacist's Mate First Class Harry B. Roby, USNR, performs an appendectomy on Torpedoman First Class W. R. Jones on board USS Grayback (SS-208). It is the second appendectomy performed on board a submarine.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm

1895: Halifax Nova Scotia - Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps organized to interest young men in serving in a planned Canadian Navy.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Dec&day=16

1773: Sons of Liberty dump British tea - On this day in 1773, a group of Massachusetts colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians board three British tea ships moored in Boston Harbor and dump 342 chests of tea into the water. Now known as the "Boston Tea Party," the midnight raid was a protest of the Tea Act of 1773, a bill enacted by the British parliament to save the faltering British East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and granting it a virtual monopoly on the American tea trade. The low tax allowed the company to sell its tea even more cheaply than that smuggled into America by Dutch traders. Many colonists viewed the act as yet another example of Britain's taxation tyranny.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=45
 
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December 17

1939: Unable to complete repairs of the Graf Spee within 24 hours, the time limit stipulated by international law for foreign warships in neutral ports, and under strict orders by OKM not to go into internment in Uruguay, Capt. Langsdorff takes his ship outside the harbor of Montevideo and orders his crew to scuttle her, thus denying the fleet of British Navy vessels converging on the River Plate the opportunity of destroying her in an unequal battle.
1940: In pursuit of the retrating Italian forces, the British 8th Army (Wavell) captures Sollum in Cyrenaica.
1944: The German offensive in the West, after some deep penetrations into the lines of the unprepared US forces in the area, makes only slow progress due to limited roads as well as difficult terrain and weather conditions, not reaching any assigned first-day objectives.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

546 - Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome bribing the Byzantine garrison.
1944 - World War II: Battle of the Bulge - Malmedy massacre - American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17_December

1967:HMAS Perth under fire - HMAS Perth comes under fire off Dong Hoi, Vietnam.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1846 - Ships under Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry capture Laguna de Terminos during Mexican War.
1941 - Admiral Chester W. Nimitz named Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, to relieve Admiral Husband Kimmel. Admiral William Pye becomes acting commander until Nimitz's arrival.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm

1939: Britain - First contingents of Canadian First Division start arriving in England for service in World War II. Ottawa Ontario - Canada signs British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, a $1.281 billion program to train pilots, navigators, wireless operators and gunners from UK, Canada, Australia and NZ; instructors from the Royal Canadian Air Force working at 107 schools and 184 ancillary units across Canada will eventually train 130,000 Allied aircrew.
1941: Hong Kong - Japanese repeat demand for surrender of the colony, but it is summarily refused by the British governor; garrison, which includes 450 Canadians, has no hope of relief, with the sinking of two British battleships off Singapore, and the crippling of the US fleet at Pearl Harbor; invasion comes the following day.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Dec&day=17
 
December 18

1940: Hitler issues Directive No. 21, ordering plans for the preparation of Operation Barbarossa, the attack against the Soviet Union, to be submitted by May 15, 1941.
1941: Field Marshal von Brauchitsch resigns as head of OKH, Hitler himself assuming personal command of the Heer, especially of its operations on the Eastern front.
1944: In the West, Operation Wacht am Rhein begins to bog down in the face of stiffened US resistance and lack of adequate logistical support, notably fuel for the armored Kampfgruppen of Dietrich's and Manteuffel's armies.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1944: 'Arty' Hill, Bougainville, captured - 'Arty Hill', as it was known, was captured by the Queensland 9th Battalion, and was a major Japanese position on the Numa Numa Trail leading across Bougainville.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1813: Lewiston New York - John Murray leads 500 British and Canadians in capture of old Fort Niagara from the Americans in the War of 1812; Fort Niagara; captures 300 prisoners; Phineas Riall leads party of Indians in 2 week raid on Manchester, Fort Schlosser, Black Rock and Buffalo.
1941: Kowloon, Hong Kong - Japanese troops cross the Lye Mun Passage after dark, in assault boats, landing craft and small boats towed by ferry steamers, to attack Hong Kong island; two platoons of the Winnipeg Grenadiers deployed to seize the hills known as Jardine's Lookout and Mount Butler where they engaged in intense fighting; heavily outnumbered, they are cut to pieces and both platoon commanders killed; the following day Brigadier Lawson is killed when the Japanese surround his West Brigade headquarters. All British and Canadian forces in Hong Kong will surrender on Christmas Day; Canadians lose 290 dead in battle, with 493 wounded; a total of 557 were killed or later died in Japanese prison camps.
1950: Pusan Korea - 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, lands at Pusan; first Canadian troops in Korea.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Dec&day=18

1916: The Battle of Verdun, the longest engagement of World War I, ends on this day after ten months and close to a million total casualties suffered by German and French troops. The massive loss of life at Verdun—143,000 German dead out of 337,000 casualties, to France’s 162,440 out of 377,231—would come to symbolize, more than that of any other battle, the bloody nature of trench warfare on the Western Front.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih

1902 - Admiral of the Navy George Dewey receives orders to send his battleship to Trinidad and then to Venezuela to make sure that Great Britain's and Germany's dispute with Venezuela was settled by peaceful arbitration not force.
1944 - Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet encounters typhoon northeast of Samar. Destroyers USS Hull, USS Monaghan and USS Spence sink, while 21 other ships are damaged.
1965 - River Patrol Force established in Vietnam.
1965 - Helicopters from HS-11 on USS Wasp (CVS-18) pick up crew and capsule of Gemini 7, after picking up the crew and capsule of Gemini 6 two days earlier.
1967 - Operation Preakness II begins in Mekong Delta.
1972 - Mining and bombing of North Vietnam resumes with Linebacker II Operation.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm
 
December 19

1940: Mussolini requests German assistance for his hard-pressed troops in Cyrenaica in the form of a Panzer Division and various logistical support.
1941: Frogmen of the Italian Navy penetrate the port of Alexandria in Egypt and damage the British battleships HMS Valiant and Queen Elizabeth. Colombia severs diplomatic relations with Germany and Italy.
1944: SHAEF orders the 101st Airborne Division as well as the 10th Armored Division to be detached from 3rd Army and moved north to support the US forces under attack in the Ardennes, particularly to aid the 28th Infantry Division in its defense of the vital road junction of Bastogne.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1939 - A British destroyer intercepts Columbus, a German passenger liner, 450 miles east of Cape May, New Jersey. Columbus is subsequently scuttled.
1940 - Secretary of the Navy is given control and jurisdiction overthe Pacific island of Palmyra.
1941 - Hitler takes complete command of the German Army.
1943 - The Japanese destroyer Namukaze is sunk by the submarine USS Grayback (SS-208 ) off the Ryukyu Islands.
1944 - The Japanese carrier Unryu is sunk by the submarine USS Redfish (SS-395) in the East China Sea.
source: The Cooler King

1915 : Haig becomes commander-in-chief of the British army in France - In the wake of the British defeat at the Battle of Loos in September 1915, Sir Douglas Haig replaces Sir John French as commander-in-chief of all British forces on the Western Front.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih

1916 - World War I: Battle of Verdun - On the Western Front, the French Army successfully holds off the German Army and drives it back to its starting position.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19_December

1941: Hong Kong - Company Sergeant Major John Osborn of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, leading a bayonet charge against the Japanese on Mount Butler; throws himself on a Japanese grenade to save his comrades' lives; posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
1941: Atlantic - Royal Canadian Navy destroyer HMCS Saguenay torpedoed by a German U-boat.
1813: Lewiston New York - Lt.-Col. John Murray leads 550 British and Canadians in surprise attack, capturing Fort Niagara from the Americans; Riall goes on to destroy Lewiston and Buffalo to retaliate for burning of Newark (Niagara) and Queenston.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Dec&day=19

1951: HMAS Sydney completes a tour of operations off Korea's west coast - Aircraft from Sydney left no operable railway lines in its area of operations, significantly disrupting enemy supply routes.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1870 - After a month at sea in a 22-foot boat, Coxswain William Halford, the lone survivor of 5, reaches Hawaii to seek help for crew of USS Saginaw, wrecked near Midway Island. Rescuers reach the 88 Saginaw survivors on 4 January 1871.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm
 
December 20

1941: German forces of Heeresgruppe Mitte retreating from the front before Moscow reach new defensive lines more than 100 m to the west where, following strict orders by Hitler, they are to stand and fight off any further Soviet advances.
1944: In their torturous advance toward the Meuse river, armored units of 6.SS-Panzerarmee capture Stavelot, searching for Allied fuel dumps to replenish their near- exhausted supplies of gasoline.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1914 : First Battle of Champagne begins - After minor skirmishes, the First Battle of Champagne begins in earnest, marking the first major Allied attack against the Germans since the initiation of trench warfare on the Western Front.
1941: Hitler to Halder: No Retreat! - In one of his first acts as the new commander in chief of the German army, Adolf Hitler informs General Franz Halder that there will be no retreating from the Russian front near Moscow. "The will to hold out must be brought home to every unit!" Halder was also informed that he could stay on as chief of the general army staff if he so chose, but only with the understanding that Hitler alone was in charge of the army's movements and strategies.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih

1941 - World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.
1942 - World War II: Bombing of Calcutta by the Japanese.
1989 - United States invasion of Panama: United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_December

1943: Ortona Italy - Maj-Gen Christopher Vokes and the 1st Canadian Division ordered to take the medieval seaport of Ortona, as part of the advance of General Montgomery's Eighth Army up the Italian Adriatic coast; Royal Edmonton Regiment and Seaforth Highlanders of Canada attack from the south, since the town flanked by sea cliffs on the north and east and by a deep ravine to the west; Canadians suffer heavy casualties before German forces withdraw on the night of Dec 27; 1,372 Canadians killed at Ortona - almost 25% of all Canadians killed in the Mediterranean theatre.
1944: Burma - RCAF Squadrons Nos. 435 and 436 fly their first operational mission, supplying Wingate's Fourteenth Army on its epic march south on the Burma Road.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Dec&day=20

1939: The Russians cease their attacks at Summa, leaving Finnish forces in control of the whole Mannerheim defensive line, except the Oinala Bulge.
1940: The Luftwaffe continues its attacks against British cities, this time hitting Liverpool.
1941: Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll takes over command of the Atlantic Fleet, from Admiral Ernest J. King who is appointed as Commander, US Navy. German forces of Army Group Centre retreating from before Moscow reach a new defensive line more than 100km to the west, where, following strict orders by Hitler, they are to stand and fight off any further Soviet advances.
1943: The British reach the Maungdaw plain in Arakan, Burma. De Lattre de Tassigny meets de Gaulle in Algiers before taking command of ‘Army B’, for liberation of France. The heaviest raid of war on Frankfurt with more than 2,000 tons dropped by RAF. Mosquito raiders follow half an hour later to hamper the fire fighters efforts. US counter intelligence reports the smashing of a Nazi spy ring in Sicily. A 19-year-old ringleader ‘Grammatico’ and 27 others are arrested.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1915:Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli - The evacuation of Gallipoli, largely planned by Brigadier General C.B.B. White, was a triumph of careful planning and bold execution.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1822 - Congress authorizes the 14-ship West Indies Squadron to suppress piracy in the Caribbean.
1941 - Admiral Ernest J. King designated Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet in charge of all operating naval fleets and coastal frontier forces, reporting directly to the President.
1964 - USS Richard E. Kraus (DD-849) completes a successful emergency mission in aiding the disabled American Merchant Ship, SS Oceanic Spray in the Red Sea.
1974 - Clearance of Suez Canal for mines and unexploded ordnance completed by Joint Task Force.
1989 - Operation Just Cause begins in Panama.
1998 - Operation Desert Fox in Iraq ends.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm
 
December 21
1944: In the Ardennes, units of 5.Panzerarmee capture St. Vith.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1883: Toronto Ontario - George T. Denison organizes first Canadian infantry and cavalry schools.
1884: Khartoum Sudan - General Herbert Kitchener leads British troops into Khartoum; find General Charles Gordon's garrison was wiped out three days earlier; the expedition was transported up the Nile by Canadian voyageurs and Caughnawaga Mohawks recruited by Col. Garnet Wolseley, who had previously employed them during the Red River Campaign in 1870.
1943: Ortona Italy - 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade attacks the town of Ortona, starting a week-long battle; a savage house to house fight against heavily barricaded 'mouseholed' German infantry. 1,372 Canadian soldiers will die during the week of fighting, one quarter of all casualties in the Mediterranean theatre.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Dec&day=21

1945 : "Old Blood and Guts" dies - General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. 3rd Army, dies from injuries suffered not in battle but in a freak car accident. He was 60 years old. Descended from a long line of military men, Patton graduated from the West Point Military Academy in 1909. He represented the United States in the 1912 Olympics-as the first American participant in the pentathlon. He did not win a medal. He went on to serve in the Tank Corps during World War I, an experience that made Patton a dedicated proponent of tank warfare.
During World War II, as commander of the U.S. 7th Army, he captured Palermo, Sicily, in 1943 by just such means. Patton's audacity became evident in 1944, when, during the Battle of the Bulge, he employed an unorthodox strategy that involved a 90-degree pivoting move of his 3rd Army forces, enabling him to speedily relieve the besieged Allied defenders of Bastogne, Belgium.
Along the way, Patton's mouth proved as dangerous to his career as the Germans. When he berated and slapped a hospitalized soldier diagnosed with "shell shock," but whom Patton accused of "malingering," the press turned on him, and pressure was applied to cut him down to size. He might have found himself enjoying early retirement had not General Dwight Eisenhower and General George Marshall intervened on his behalf. After several months of inactivity, he was put back to work.
And work he did-at the Battle of the Bulge, during which Patton once again succeeded in employing a complex and quick-witted strategy, turning the German thrust into Bastogne into an Allied counterthrust, driving the Germans east across the Rhine. In March 1945, Patton's army swept through southern Germany into Czechoslovakia-which he was stopped from capturing by the Allies, out of respect for the Soviets' postwar political plans for Eastern Europe.
Patton had many gifts, but diplomacy was not one of them. After the war, while stationed in Germany, he criticized the process of denazification, the removal of former Nazi Party members from positions of political, administrative, and governmental power. His impolitic press statements questioning the policy caused Eisenhower to remove him as U.S. commander in Bavaria. He was transferred to the 15th Army Group, but in December of 1945 he suffered a broken neck in a car accident and died less than two weeks later.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do?actio...yId=worldwarii

1916: Light Horse capture El Arish - Originally intended as an outpost for the defence of the Suez Canal, El Arish became one of the first steps in the Allied advance on Palestine.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1861 - Congress authorizes the Medal of Honor, the Nation's highest award, for Naval personnel.
1943 - USS Grayling ( SS-20 ) sinks fourth Japanese ship since 18 December.
1951 - First helicopter landing aboard a hospital ship, USS Consolation.
1968 - Launch of Apollo 8 with Captain James A. Lovell, Jr. as Command Module Pilot. During the mission Lovell was one of the first two people to see the far side of the moon. The mission lasted 6 days and 3 hours, and included 10 moon orbits. Recovery was by HS-4 helicopters from USS Yorktown (CVS-10).
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm
 
December 22

1941: Prime Minister Churchill arrives at the White House as the guest of President Roosevelt.
1944: US troops of the 28th Infantry and 101st Airborne Divisions defending besieged Bastogne receive a German surrender ultimatum which the CO of the 102nd, Brigadier General McAuliffe, answers with the single word, "Nuts!" This succinct specimen of American slang has to be interpreted to General von Lüttwitz, CO of XXXXVII.Panzerkorps, as a negative reply.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1972: Washington announces that the bombing of North Vietnam will continue until Hanoi agrees to negotiate "in a spirit of good will and in a constructive attitude." North Vietnamese negotiators walked out of secret talks in Paris on December 13. President Nixon issued an ultimatum to North Vietnam to send its representatives back to the conference table within 72 hours "or else." They rejected Nixon's demand, and in response the president ordered Operation Linebacker II, a full-scale air campaign against the Hanoi area.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=1565

1941: First United States troops arrive in Australia - Australia soon became a major base for US forces in the war against Japan. They were warmly welcomed as representing a defence for Australia.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1864http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1864 - Savannah, Georgia falls to General William Tecumseh Sherman, concluding his "March to the Sea".
1940http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940 - Himarë is captured by the Greek army.
1942http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1942 - Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.
1944 - Vietnam People's Army is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Indo-China, now Vietnam.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22_December

1941: Hong Kong - Japanese capture Sugar Loaf Hill at 12 noon, but Canadians from C Company of the Royal Rifles recapture the hill; later taken out to Stanley Fort down the peninsula, for a rest; will hold out until their ammunition, food and water are exhausted.
1950: Korea - HMCS Athabaskan relieved for repairs and general maintenance; had performed carrier screen duty, escorted shipping, carried out blockade patrols and provided anti-aircraft protection and general support for the forces evacuating Inchon.
1977: Ottowa starts building first six new naval frigates; part of $1.5 billion naval program.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Dec&day=22

1775 - Congress commissions first naval officers: Esek Hopkins, Commander in Chief of the Fleet, Captains Dudley Saltonstall, Abraham Whipple, Nicolas Biddle, and John Hopkins. Lieutenants included John Paul Jones.
1841 - Commissioning of USS Mississippi, first U.S. ocean-going side-wheel steam warship, at Philadelphia.
1942 - Pharmacist's Mate First Class Thomas A. Moore performs appendectomy on Fireman Second Class George M. Platter on board USS Silversides (SS-236).
1942 - Sue Dauser takes oath of office as Superintendant of Navy Nurse Corps, becoming first woman with the relative rank of captain in U.S. Navy. She was promoted to the rank of captain on 26 February 1944.
1944 - Commissioning of first 2 African-American WAVES officers, Harriet Ida Pickens and Frances F. Wills.
1960 - HS-3 and HU-2 (USS Valley Forge) helicopters rescue 27 men from oiler SS Pine Ridge breaking up in heavy seas off Cape Hatteras.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm
 
December 23

1941: Under the continous pressure of the British 8th Army (Wavell), Rommel and his Afrikakorps evacuate Benghasi in Libya.
1942: Having advanced as far as the Myshkova river 30 m SW of Stalingrad, the three Panzer divisions of the force to relieve the German troops of 6.Armee encircled at Stalingrad have exhausted their power and begin withdrawing to their starting line at Kotelnikovo.
1944: In Hungary, the Red Army captures Gran, thus cutting all German communications with Budapest. In the Ardennes, US forces begin lifting the siege of Bastogne.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1826 - Captain Thomas ap Catesby Jones of USS Peacock and King Kamehameha negotiate first treaty between Hawaii and a foreign power.
1910 - LT Theodore G. Ellyson becomes first naval officer sent to flight training.
1941 - Gallant defenders of Wake Island (Sailors, Marines, volunteer civilian contractors, and Army Air Force radio detachment) surrender.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm

1783http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1783 - George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.
1793http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1793 - The Battle of Savenay, decisive defeat of the royalist counter-revolutionaries in Revolt in the Vendée during the French Revolution.
1914http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1914 - Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt.
1916http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1916 - Battle of Magdhaba - Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
1940http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940 - Greek submarine Papanikolis (Υ-2) sinks the Italian motor ship Antonietta.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_23

1944: Hallifax, Nova Scotia - German submarine U-806 torpedoes Royal Canadian Navy minesweeper HMCS Clayoquot by the Halifax lightship; sinks on the 24th.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Dec&day=23

1916: Battle of Magdhaba, northern Sinai - The capture of Magdhaba by Chauvel's Mounted Brigade and the Imperial Camel Corps helped open the way for the successful Allied campaign in Palestine.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp
 
December 24

1942: Following the suspension of Operation Winter Tempest, the relief of Stalingrad, the Red Army begins an offensive against Heeresgruppe Don (von Manstein) toward Kotelnikovo, breaking through the lines of 4.Rumänische Armee.
1943: In the Ukraine, the Red Army launches an offensive in the Kiev-Shitomir area, capturing Berdichev. General Dwight D. Eisenhauer is appointed supreme commander of the Allied forces preparing for the invasion of Europe.
1944: In the English Channel, U-486 (Oblt.z.S. Gerhard Meyer) sinks the Allied troop carrier SS Leopoldville with the loss of 763 men of the US 66th Infantry Division. All news and information on this incident is suppressed by orders of SHAEF headquarters.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1941: Benghazi recaptured - Benghazi changed hands five times as the North African campaign ebbed and flowed along the Mediterranean coast.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1941: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese Imperial Army.
1941: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.
1942: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers.
1943: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_24

1814 - Treaty of Ghent ends the War of 1812.
1864 - Naval Forces under Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter with Army forces under Major General Benjamin F. Butler begin unsuccessful two-day attack against Fort Fisher, NC.
1950 - Under cover of naval gunfire support, Task Force 90 completes a 14-day evacuation of 100,000 troops and equipment and 91,000 refugees from Hungnam, North Korea.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm
 
December 25

1942: Heavy fighting continues all around the perimeter of the Stalingrad Kessel, while the decimated and starving troops of 6.Armee receive their last rations of horse meat, the 12,000 horses in the pocket having now all been slaughtered.
1944: Fighting continues in the "Battle of the Bulge", while in the southern portion of the German attack, surrounded US troops continue to hold out against repated German attempts to take the vital road junction at Bastogne.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1776 - George Washington and his army cross the Delaware River to attack the Kingdom of Great Britain's Hessian mercenaries in Trenton, New Jersey.
1941 - Admiral Chester W Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_25

1855: Kingston Ontario - Soldiers of the Royal Canadian Rifles at the Tête du Pont barracks clear ice from Lake Ontario and use field hockey sticks and lacrosse balls to play first game of ice hockey.
1941: Hong Kong - Japan announces the surrender of the British-Canadian garrison by radio broadcast; 290 Canadian dead, 493 wounded; Canadian survivors spend rest of war in Japanese POW camps; in all, 264 men never return from the camps.
1944: Ravenna Italy - Canadian Army captures Adriatic coast city of Ravenna.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Dec&day=25
 
December 26

1943: Ordered to sail to the Barents Sea and destroy the Allied convoy JW-55B bound for the Soviet port of Murmansk, the German battle-cruiser Scharnhorst (Vizeadm. Bey) encounters a protective force of the British Home Fleet (Vice-Adm. Burnett) consisting of the cruisers HMS Belfast, Duke of York, Jamaica and Norfolk. After a fierce action, Scharnhorst is sunk, with only 36 of her crew of 1,839 surviving.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1862 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins.
1862 - Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_26

1943 - Seventh Amphibious Force lands 1st Marine Division on Cape Gloucester, New Britain.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm

1776: Washington wins first major U.S. victory at Trenton - At approximately 8 a.m. on the morning of December 26, 1776, General George Washington's Continental Army reaches the outskirts of Trenton, New Jersey, and descends upon the unsuspecting Hessian force guarding the city. Trenton's 1,400 Hessian defenders were still groggy from the previous evening's Christmas festivities and had underestimated the Patriot threat after months of decisive British victories throughout New York. The troops of the Continental Army quickly overwhelmed the German defenses, and by 9:30 a.m.Trenton was completely surrounded.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=54

1942: Halifax, Nova Scotia - Canadian-escorted convoy ONS-154 loses 14 ships to German U-boats in mid-Atlantic; gets 32 to Britain by Dec. 30.
1943: London England - General A.G.L. 'Andy' McNaughton 1887-1966 retires as commander of First Canadian Army; will become Minister of National Defence replacing J. L. Ralston.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Dec&day=26

1939: The first squadron of Australian airmen arrives in Britain.
1941: The Philippine capital of Manila is declared an open city by the Americans. Japanese troops cross the river Perak. The Japanese commander General Yamashita, senses that British resistance is weakening in Malaya and is determined to push home his advantage and not allow the British any time to reorganise themselves. This he does by forcing the British troops back down the coast roads until he reaches a defensive position and then outflanks it through the jungle. The Russians land on the Kerch Peninsula in an attempt to relieve the siege of Sevastopol.
1942: The Russians continue their advance on the southern front and claim 56,000 prisoners taken in middle Don region.
1943: US Marines make further landings on New Britain, either side of Cape Gloucester.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
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busy day in Vietnam

27 December

1941: The Red Army continues its counter-offensive in the Kalinin area 100 miles NW of Moscow.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1941: Prime Minister Curtin announces that 'Australia looks to America'. - Once the United States entered the Second World War and the United Kingdom's weakness in South East Asia had been exposed the United States became Australia's main ally; a situation that would endure long after the war ended.
1943: 7th Division capture 'The Pimple', Shaggy Ridge, New Guinea - The four-month battle for Shaggy Ridge culminated with the capture of this Japanese position on the ridge's summit.source:http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1918 - Beginning of Great Poland Uprising, the Poles in Greater Poland (or Grand Duchy of Poznań) rise against the Germans.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_December

1780: Americans raid Hammonds Store - American Brigadier General Daniel Morgan detaches a force of approximately 275 troops commanded by Colonel William Washington to destroy a force of 250 British Loyalists under the command of Colonel Thomas Waters, who had been terrorizing Patriots in the vicinity of Fairforest Creek, on Bush River, South Carolina.
1864: Hood's army crosses the Tennessee River - The broken and defeated Confederate Army of Tennessee finishes crossing the Tennessee River as General John Bell Hood's force retreats into Mississippi.
1942: Germans form the Smolensk Committee to enlist Soviet soldiers - German military begins enlisting Soviet POWs in the battle against Russia. General Andrei Vlasov, a captured Soviet war hero turned anticommunist, was made commander of the renegade Soviet troops.
1966: A United States and South Vietnamese joint-service operation takes place against one of the best-fortified Viet Cong strongholds, located in the U Minh Forest in the Mekong Delta, 125 miles southwest of Saigon.
1969: In the fiercest battle in six weeks, U.S. and North Vietnamese forces clash near Loc Ninh, about 80 miles north of Saigon. Elements of the 1st Infantry Division reported killing 72 of 250 North Vietnamese soldiers in a daylong battle. Loc Ninh, a village of fewer than 10,000 people, was located at the northern limit of national Route 13, only a few miles from the Cambodian border. It was the site of several major battles between U.S. and Communist forces. On April 5, 1972, as part of their Easter Offensive, North Vietnamese forces overtook Loc Ninh during their attempt to capture the An Loc provincial capital to the south.
Source:http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1943: 7th Division capture 'The Pimple', Shaggy Ridge, New Guinea - The four-month battle for Shaggy Ridge culminated with the capture of this Japanese position on the ridge's summit.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp
 
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December 28

1940: Mussolini asks Hitler for support of the Italian forces bogged-down in their offensive in Albania.
1942: In the face of the continuing Soviet offensive toward Rostov-on-Don that threatens to cut it off, Heeresgruppe A (Ruoff) is ordered to withdraw its forces from the Caucasus.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1941: Rear Admiral Ben Moreell requests authority from the Bureau of Navigation to create a contingent of construction units able to build everything from airfields to roads under battlefield conditions. These units would be known as the "Seabees"-for the first letters of Construction Battalion.
1964: South Vietnamese troops retake Binh Gia in a costly battle. The Viet Cong launched a major offensive on December 4 and took the village of Binh Gia, 40 miles southeast of Saigon. The South Vietnamese forces recaptured the village, but only after an eight-hour battle and three battalions of reinforcements were brought in on helicopters. The operation continued into the first week of January. Losses included an estimated 200 South Vietnamese and five U.S. advisors killed, plus 300 more South Vietnamese wounded or missing. Battles such this, in which the South Vietnamese suffered such heavy losses at the hands of the Viet Cong, convinced President Lyndon B. Johnson that the South Vietnamese could not defeat the communist without the commitment of U.S. ground troops to the war.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?

1867 - U.S. claims Midway Island, first territory annexed outside Continental limits.
1905 - Drydock Dewey left Solomon's Island, MD, enroute through the Suez Canal to the Philippines to serve as repair base. This, the longest towing job ever accomplished, was completed by Brutus, Caesar, and Glacier on 10 July 1906.
1982 - Recommissioning of USS New Jersey (BB-62), the first of four Iowa-class battleships that were returned to service in 1980s.
1990 - LCDR Darlene M. Iskra becomes commander of USS Opportune, a salvage vessel.
1990 - USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and USS America (CV-66) Carrier Battle Groups deploy from Norfolk, VA, for Middle East to join Operation Desert Shield.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm

1837: Toronto Ontario - Upper Canada Governor Francis Bond Head approves raising of six regiments of incorporated militia to head off potential rebellion.
1943: Ortona Italy - Canadians enter the medieval town of Ortona after a week of battling enemy paratroopers in house to house fighting; Germans moved out quickly the night before when they were in danger of being cut off.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Dec&day=28

1940: 6th Division in their first action near Bardia - Bardia, the Second AIF's first battle, involved an attack on an Italian frontier fortress. The preliminary operations began several days before the main attack was launched..
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp
 
December 29

1941: In the eastern Crimea, German troops of Heeresgruppe B (von Schobert) evacuate Kerch and Theodosia.
1943: The British 8th Army (Montgomery) captures Ortona on the Adriatic coast of Italy. The RAF launches a heavy raid on Berlin.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1860: Action at Matarikoriko, New Zealand - Sailors from the Victorian Colonial warship, Victoria, take part in the action at Matarikoriko, New Zealand. The Victoria's service in New Zealand waters during the second Anglo-Maori war, represents the first overseas military operation by an Australian unit, the beginning of Australia's overseas war history.source:http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1813 - War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York.
1862 - American Civil War: End of the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.
1940 - Battle of Britain: Luftwaffe firebombs London, killing almost 3000 civilians
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/29_December

1890: The last ever battle between American natives and US troops takes place at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. source: http://www.tnl.net/when/12/29

1778: British capture Savannah, Georgia - British Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell and his force of between 2500 and 3600 troops, which included the 71st Highland regiment, New York Loyalists, and Hessian mercenaries, launch a surprise attack on American forces defending Savannah, Georgia.
1915: French government gives land for British war cemeteries - French National Assembly passes a law formally ceding the land that holds the British war cemeteries to Great Britain. The move ensured even as the war was being fought that its saddest and most sacred monuments would be forever protected.
1962: Saigon announces success of strategic hamlet program - Saigon announces that 4,077 strategic hamlets have been completed out of a projected total of 11,182. The figures also stated that 39 percent of the South Vietnamese population was housed in the hamlets. U.S. officials considered these figures questionable.
Source:http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1813: Buffalo, New York - Major General Phineas Riall attacks villages of Black Rock and Buffalo with a party of Canadian militia and Indians to get revenge on burning of Newark and Queenston on Dec. 10.
1837: Buffalo, New York - Royal Navy Commander Andrew Drew and a group of Canadian militiamen cross the Niagara River to Fort Schlosser, and capture the American supply steamer Caroline used by William Lyon Mackenzie and his rebels on Navy Island; they set the ship ablaze, cut her adrift and send her toward Niagara Falls; incident almost causes war between Britain and US. Legend says she went over the Falls.
1944: France - RCAF Flight Lt. Dick Audet destroys five German planes in ten minutes.
1945: Ottawa Ontario - DND releases World War II casualty statistics; 41,371 Canadians in service killed, 43,178 wounded, 10,844 made prisoners of war, 32 missing in action.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Dec&day=289

1812 - USS Constitution (Captain William Bainbridge) captures HMS Java off Brazil after a three hour battle.
1943 - USS Silversides (SS-236) sinks three Japanese ships and damages a fourth off Palau.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm
 
December 30

1944: Australians of the 25th Battalion occupy Pearl Ridge, Bougainville - The capture of the heavily defended Japanese position on Pearl ridge gave the Australians possession of this important vantage point that provided views over both sides of Bougainville.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1460 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Wakefield.
1862 - The USS Monitor sinks off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
1972 - Vietnam War: The United States halts heavy bombing of North Vietnam.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_30

1941 - Admiral Ernest J. King assumes duty as Commander in Chief, United States Fleet.
1959 - Commissioning of first fleet ballistic missile submarine, USS George Washington (SSB(N)-598), at Groton, CT.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm

1861: St. Andrews New Brunswick - 62nd Wiltshire Regiment despatched to St. Andrews, New Brunswick; as a response to Trent crisis.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Dec&day=30
 
December 31

1941: Heeresgruppe B halts all further attacks against the Crimean fortress of Sevastopol.
1944: In northern Alsace, 7.Armee (Brandenberger) begins Operation Nordwind, an attack against the southern flank of the US 3rd Army (Patton) that has reached the German border on the Saar river.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/december.html

1969:Vietnam - Australian military commitment to Vietnam reaches a peak of 8,300 service personnel.
source:http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

406 - Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia.
1775 - American Revolutionary War: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Quebec.
1862 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union (thus dividing Virginia in two); meanwhile, the Battle of Stones River is fought near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
1944 - World War II: Hungary declares war on Germany.
1946 - President Harry Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/31_December

1991: The civil war in El Salvador ends
source: http://www.tnl.net/when/12/31

1862: Battle of Parker's Crossroads - Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest narrowly escapes capture during a raid in western Tennessee. Despite the close call, the raid was instrumental in forcing Union General Ulysses S. Grant to abandon his first attempt to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi.
1968: Bloodiest year of the war ends - At year's end, 536,040 American servicemen were stationed in Vietnam, an increase of over 50,000 from 1967.
1971: U.S. annual casualty figures down - The gradual U.S. withdrawal from the conflict in Southeast Asia is reflected in reduced annual casualty figures. The number of Americans killed in action dropped to 1,386 from the previous year total of 4,204. South Vietnam losses for the year totalled 21,500 men, while the combined Viet Cong and North Vietnamese total was estimated at 97,000 killed in action.
1972: U.S. and communist negotiators prepare to return to the Paris talks - With the end of Linebacker II, the most intense U.S. bombing operation of the Vietnam War, U.S. and communist negotiators prepare to return to the secret Paris peace talks scheduled to reconvene on January 2.
Source:http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/

1775: Quebec Quebec - American Brigadier-General Richard Montgomery orders the attack on Quebec from the Lower Town at 5 am during a bitterly cold blizzard; he is killed at a fortified gate during the fire fight; Benedict Arnold is wounded. Guy Carleton, Baron Dorchester repels Americans with the aid of Col. Allan Maclean.
1941: Canada - RCAF has 14 squadrons operating overseas, 7 more authorized; plus 16 at home, including 8 on west coast.
1943: Canada - RCAF at peak, with 215,000 men and women, 78 squadrons, including 35 overseas and 6 heading there; Canada has produced 11,000 planes so far.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Dec&day=31

1862 - USS Monitor founders in a storm off Cape Hatteras, NC.
1941 - Admiral Chester W. Nimitz assumes command of U.S. Pacific Fleet.
1942 - Commissioning of USS Essex (CV-9), first of new class of aircraft carriers, at Norfolk, VA
1948 - Last annual report by a Secretary of the Navy to Congress and the President filed by SECNAV John L. Sullivan. Thereafter the Secretary of Defense would report annually to Congress.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesdec.htm
 
January 1

1941: Hitler, in his New Year's order of the day to the German armed forces, promises "...completion, on the Western Front, of the greatest victory in our history..."
1943: German troops of 1. Panzerarmee (von Kleist) in the Caucasus begin withdrawing from the Terek front to avoid being cut off by Soviet forces attacking from the northeast toward Rostov-on-Don.
1944: Field Marshal Rommel is appointed C-in-C of Heeresgruppe B, the German forces in France north of the Loire river.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1950 - Mary T. Sproul commissioned as first female doctor in U.S. Navy
1959 - U.S. Naval Observatory introduces system of uniform atomic time using cesium beam atomic oscillators. This measurement has been adopted as standard by the International Committee on Weights and Measures.
1962 - Navy SEAL teams established
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1901: Sunnyside, South Africa - Two companies of the Queensland Mounted Infantry Regiment along with British and Canadian troops attacked a Boer laager on the western border of Orange Free State. The Queenslanders suffered the first casualties of any Australian colony in the Boer War.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1943: England - RCAF No. 6 Bomber Group begins operations from England; RCAF now has 31 squadrons overseas, 36 at home; Canada's largest air formation.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=01

1781: Mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line - 1,500 soldiers from the Pennsylvania Line--all 11 regiments under General Anthony Wayne’s command--insist that their three-year enlistments are expired, kill three officers in a drunken rage and abandon the Continental Army’s winter camp at Morristown, New Jersey.
1915: In the early-morning hours of New Year’s Day, the 15,000-ton British HMS class battleship Formidable is torpedoed by the German submarine U-24 and sinks in the English Channel, killing 547 men. The Formidable was part of the 5th Battle Squadron unit serving with the Channel Fleet. The Formidable and the seven other battleships of the 5th Battle Squadron were under the command of Admiral Lewis Bayly, and were in the channel for firing practice on New Year’s Eve.
1966: Advance elements of the 1st Regiment of the Marine 1st Division arrive in Vietnam. The entire division followed by the end of March.
The division established its headquarters at Chu Lai and was given responsibility for the two southernmost provinces of I Corps (the military region just south of the DMZ). At the peak of its strength, the 1st Marine Division consisted of four regiments of infantry: the 1st, 5th, 7th, and 27th Marines. It also included the 11th Artillery regiment, which consisted of six battalions of 105-mm, 155-mm, and 8-inch howitzers. Other divisional combat units included the 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Antitank Battalion, 1st Amphibious Tractor Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, and the 1st Force Reconnaissance Company. The division numbered nearly 20,000 marines by the time all elements had arrived in South Vietnam.
1967: Operation Sam Houston begins as a continuation of border surveillance operations in Pleiku and Kontum Provinces in the Central Highlands by units from the U.S. 4th and 25th Infantry Divisions. The purpose of the operation was to interdict the movement of North Vietnamese troops and equipment into South Vietnam from communist sanctuaries in Cambodia and Laos. The operation ended on April 5. A total of 169 U.S. soldiers were killed in action; 733 enemy casualties were reported.
source: :http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/
 
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a very slow day

January 2

1942: On the central front in Russia, the Red Army achieves a breakthrough at Rshev.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1969 - Operation Barrier Reef began in Mekong Delta, Vietnam
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1943: Buna Government Station captured - The Japanese withdrawal from the Kokoda trail enabled the allies to plan the encirclement of important Japanese positions in the Buna, Sanananda and Gona beachhead. Buna was the second of the three to fall to the allies after weeks of heavy fighting.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1942: Washington DC - Canada signs declaration of unity with 27 other countries at war with the Axis; allies pledge not to make a separate armistice or peace.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=02

1863: The battle of Stones River concludes when the Union troops of William Rosecrans defeat Confederates under Braxton Bragg at Murfeesboro, just south of Nashville. This battle was a crucial engagement in the contest for central Tennessee, and provided a Union victory during a very bleak period for the North.
1905: In a crucial turning point of the Russo-Japanese War, Japan captures Port Arthur, a major Russian naval base on the Liaodong Peninsula in China. When Czar Nicholas II’s Russia declined to withdraw its troops from Manchuria after joining with British, French, Japanese, German and American forces to suppress the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900, Japan became wary of Russia’s territorial ambitions in the Far East. On February 4, 1904, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Port Arthur, beginning the Russo-Japanese War.
1967: In what is described as the biggest air battle of the war to date, U.S. Air Force F-4 Phantom jets down seven communist MiG-21s over North Vietnam. The Phantoms were flying cover for F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers, which were attacking surface-to-air missile sites in the Red River Delta. During this operation, Col. Robin Olds shot down one of the MiGs, becoming the first and only U.S. Air Force ace with victories in both World War II and Vietnam ("ace" was a designation traditionally awarded for five enemy aircraft shot down).
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Landing&displayDate=1/2&categoryId=leadstory

1941 - World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales.
1941 - World War II: The U.S. government announces its Liberty ship program to build freighters in support of the war effort.
1942 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_January
 
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