This day in military history..

January 3

1944: The US Fifth Army (Clark) begins an offensive against the German forces in Italy (Kesselring) entrenched in the Gustav Line along the Rapido river, with its center at Cassino.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1904 - Marines from USS Dixie arrive in Panama
1944 - Top Marine ace MAJ Boyington captured after shooting down 28 aircraft in his Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Zero.
1945 - Third Fleet carriers begin a 2 day attack against Formosa destroying 100 aircraft with loss of only 22 aircraft.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1941: 6th Division in action at Bardia, Libya - The attack against the Italians at Bardia was the beginning of Australia's first major ground campaign of the Second World War.
1951: Seoul evacuated by UN Command Forces - United Nations forces were forced to evacuate Seoul after a successful southward advance by Chinese and North Korean forces. It was the second time in the Korean war that Seoul had fallen; the first time was shortly after North Korea launched its invasion of the South.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1777 - American general George Washington defeats British general Charles Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.
1945 - Admiral Chester W Nimitz is placed in command of all U.S. Naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_3

1941: St. John's Newfoundland - Canada and the US acquire air bases at Gander and Goose Bay on a 99 year lease.
1943: Algeria - Canadian Army troops arrive in North Africa.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=03

1777: In a stroke of strategic genius, General George Washington manages to evade conflict with General Charles Cornwallis, who had been dispatched to Trenton to “bag the fox” (Washington), and wins several encounters with the British rear guard, as it departs Princeton for Trenton, New Jersey. Deeply concerned by Washington’s victory over the British at Trenton on December 26, 1776, Cornwallis arrived with his troops in Trenton on the evening of January 2 prepared to overwhelm Washington’s 5,000 exhausted, if exuberant, Continentals and militia with his 8,000 Redcoats. Washington knew better than to engage such a force and Cornwallis knew Washington would try to escape overnight, but he was left to guess at what course Washington would take. Cornwallis sent troops to guard the Delaware River, expecting Washington to reverse the route he took for the midnight crossing on December 25. Instead, Washington left his campfires burning, muffled the wheels of his army’s wagons and snuck around the side of the British camp. As the Continentals headed north at dawn, they met the straggling British rear guard, which they outnumbered 5 to 1.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?
 
January 4

1944: On the southern front in the Ukraine, Soviet forces cross the old Polish-Russian border in Volhynia.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1942: Japanese air attacks begin against Rabaul, New Britain - Rabaul possessed a number of airfields and one of the best natural harbours in the south-west Pacific. Its capture gave Japan a base from which to launch air attacks towards New Guinea and north-eastern Australia as well as a strong south-eastern corner to its defensive perimeter in the Pacific.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

871 - Battle of Reading - Ethelred of Wessex fights, and is defeated by, a Danish invasion army.
1642 - English Civil War: King Charles I of England attacks Parliament.
1717 - The Netherlands, England and France sign the Triple Alliance.
1762 - England declares war on Spain and Naples.
1944 - World War II: The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.
1951 - Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_4

1944: United States begins supplying guerrilla forces - U.S. aircraft begin dropping supplies to guerrilla forces throughout Western Europe. The action demonstrated that the U.S. believed guerrillas were a vital support to the formal armies of the Allies in their battle against the Axis powers.
1974: Thieu announces war has resumed - South Vietnamese troops report that 55 soldiers have been killed in two clashes with communist forces. Claiming that the war had "restarted," South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu asserted, "We cannot allow the communists a situation in which...they can launch harassing attacks against us," and ordered his forces to launch a counter-offensive to retake lost territory.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih

1863 - Blockading ship USS Quaker City captures sloop Mercury carrying despatches emphasizing desperate plight of the South.
1910 - Commissioning of USS Michigan (BB-27), the first U.S. dreadnought battleship.
1989 - Aircraft (VF-32) from USS John F. Kennedy shoot down 2 hostile Libyan Migs.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1942: The Red Army captures Kaluga to the southwest of Moscow.
1943: The Japanese Navy orders the evacuation of Guadalcanal by the end of the month.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/index.htm
 
January 5

1941: The British 8th Army (Wavell) captures Bardia in Cyrenaica, taking 45,000 Italian prisoners.
1942: German forces in the Crimea repulse a Soviet landing at Eupatoria.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1477 - Battle of Nancy: Charles the Bold is killed and Burgundy becomes part of France.
1675 - Battle of Colmar: the French army beats Brandenburg.
1781 - American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
1913 - First Balkan War: During the Naval Battle of Lemnos, Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it did not venture for the rest of the war.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_5

1855 - USS Plymouth crew skirmish with Chinese troops
1875 - CDR Edward Lull begins expedition to locate best ship canal route across Panama. Route followed 30 years later.
1943 - USS Helena (CL-50) fired first proximity fused projectile in combat and shot down Japanese divebomber in southwest Pacific.
1968 - First Male Nurse Corps officer in Regular Navy, LT Clarence W. Cote.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1941: Bardia captured - The Australian 6th Division captured 40,000 Italian prisoners, including four generals, at a cost of 130 killed and 326 wounded in Australia's first major land battle of the Second World War.1945: HMAS Australia damaged by Kamikaze aircraft - Australian ships were operating in support of United States amphibious landings in the Lingayen Gulf, Philippines when the Australia, for the second time in the war, became one of seven Allied ships to be struck by Kamikaze aircraft. 25 of her crew were killed and 30 wounded.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1940: The Finnish 9th Division begins an offensive on the Raate road, which leads to the almost complete destruction of Russian 44th division in 2 days. The Red Airforce makes its first air attack on the Finnish GHQ town of St. Michel causing 29 dead.
1942: 80,000 US and Filipino troops successfully complete their withdrawal to the Bataan Peninsula, along with 26,000 civilians, although food stocks are only sufficient to sustain 43,000 men for 6 months. The Japanese quickly close up to the first defensive position, which is based on Mounts Santa Rosa and Natib. German forces in the Crimea repulse a Soviet landing at Eupatoria.
1943: US Fifth Army is set up in Tunisia under Lieutenant General Mark Clark.
1944: The last of four German blockade-runners from Japan are sunk in the South Atlantic. Koniev’s 2nd Ukrainian Front extends the Russian general offensive in temperatures of -20°C.
1945: Australian troops land at Saposa to engage Japanese forces at Waitavolo.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/index.htm

1967: 1st Battalion, 9th U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese Marine Brigade Force Bravo conduct amphibious operations in the Kien Hoa Province in the Mekong Delta, located 62 miles south of Saigon. This action, part of Operation Deckhouse V, marked the first time that U.S. combat troops were used in the Mekong Delta. The target area, called the Thanh Phu Secret Zone by the Viet Cong guerrillas, was believed to contain communist ammunition dumps, ordinance and engineering workshops, hospitals, and indoctrination centers. During the course of the operation, which lasted until January 15, seven U.S. Marines and 21 Viet Cong were killed.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=1594

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January 6

1941: In his annual message to Congress, President Roosevelt announces the "Four Freedoms". The Luftwaffe launches its first attacks against British convoys bound for Malta in the Mediterranean.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1916 - First enlisted flight training class at Pensacola, FL
1942 - Japanese capture 11 Navy Nurses in Manila, Philippines
1967- Operation Deckhouse V begins in Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
1996 - USS Hopper, named for RADM Grace Hopper, commissioned.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1940: Finnish pilot Lt. Sarvanto, flying a Fokker, shoots down six out of seven Russian SB-2 bombers in just 5 minutes. The Russian 44th Division's commander General Vinogradov, authorizes the remainder of his troops to try escape back to Russian lines.
1941: The Luftwaffe launches its first attacks against British convoys bound for Malta in the Mediterranean.
1942: Rommel's battered forces reach the Tripolitanian frontier having evaded all British attempts to cut them off.
1944: The allies announce that jet-propelled aircraft will soon to be in production. The Air Ministry says that Bomber Command dropped 157,000 tons of bombs on Germany in 1943, while the Luftwaffe dropped only 2,400 tons on Britain.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/index.htm
 
January 7

1942 - World War II: Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins.
1945 - World War II: British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge.
1979 - Phnom Penh fell to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_January

1952 -HMAS Tobruk bombards Chomi Do, Korea - The bombardment of Chomi Do, on the Haeju Gulf north-west of Seoul, forestalled a North Korean invasion of Yongmae Do, an island about 20 kilometres from Inchon.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1967 : Operation Cedar Falls is launched - About 16,000 U.S. soldiers from the 1st and 25th Infantry Divisions, 173rd Airborne Brigade and 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment join 14,000 South Vietnamese troops to mount Operation Cedar Falls. This offensive, the largest of the war to date, was designed to disrupt insurgent operations near Saigon, and had as its primary targets the Thanh Dien Forest Preserve and the Iron Triangle, a 60-square-mile area of jungle believed to contain communist base camps and supply dumps. During the course of the operations, U.S. infantrymen discovered and destroyed a massive tunnel complex in the Iron Triangle, apparently a headquarters for guerrilla raids and terrorist attacks on Saigon. The operation ended with 711 of the enemy reported killed and 488 captured. Allied losses were 83 killed and 345 wounded. The operation lasted for 18 days.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do

1960 - Launch of first fully-guided flight of Polaris missile at Cape Canaveral (flew 900 miles)
1967 - Mobile Riverine Force begins arriving at Vung Tau, Vietnam
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1940: General Semyon Timoshenko takes command of all Soviet forces in Finland and begins to build up his forces for a decisive offensive.
1941: Tobruk is surrounded, but the British are unable to assault it immediately as supplies and reinforcements need to be brought up.
1942: British forces continue to retreat south through central Malaya as the Japanese force a crossing of the river Slim. The British commander, General Arthur E. Percival, hopes to be able to hold at Johore until at least mid February. Japanese troops complete their capture of Sarawak and also take Jesselton in northern Borneo. The Soviet North West Front begins an offensive south of Lake Ilmen in an attempt to encircle Demyansk. At the same time the newly created Volkhov Front launches an attack to force the Germans back from around Leningrad.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/index.htm
 
January 8

1942: On the Northern front in Russia, the Red Army begins an offensive near Lake Ilmen.
1943: General Rokossovsky, C-in-C of Don Front, issues a surrender ultimatum to the troops of 6.Armee, guaranteeing "their lives and safety, and after the end of the war return to Germany', and promising that "...medical aid will be given to all wounded, sick and frost-bitten..."
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1916: Evacuation of Helles - British and French landings at Helles on 25 April 1915, had failed to secure their objectives, leading to a lengthy stalemate on the southern tip of the Gallipoli Penninsula.
1952: RAAF launch first meteor rocket attack against ground forces - Meteors proved unsuitable in air-to-air combat against the superior MIGs and were reassigned to ground attack duties.
1958: Last Australian servicemen return from Korea - At the end of hostilities in Korea the peninsula remained divided between North and South. The war has yet to officially end.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

871 - Battle of Ashdown - Ethelred of Wessex defeats Danish invasion army.
1815 - War of 1812: In the Battle of New OrleansHYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson"Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
1863 - Battle of Springfield of the American Civil War is fought.
1877 - Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry (Montana).
1916 - World War I: Allied forces withdraw from Gallipoli.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8_January

1847 - Battle of San Gabriel (Navy, Marines, Army defeat Mexicans in CA)
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1967: About 16,000 U.S. soldiers from the 1st and 25th Infantry Divisions, 173rd Airborne Brigade and 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment join 14,000 South Vietnamese troops to mount Operation Cedar Falls.
This offensive, the largest of the war to date, was designed to disrupt insurgent operations near Saigon, and had as its primary targets the Thanh Dien Forest Preserve and the Iron Triangle, a 60-square-mile area of jungle believed to contain communist base camps and supply dumps. During the course of the operations, U.S. infantrymen discovered and destroyed a massive tunnel complex in the Iron Triangle, apparently a headquarters for guerrilla raids and terrorist attacks on Saigon. The operation ended with 711 of the enemy reported killed and 488 captured. Allied losses were 83 killed and 345 wounded. The operation lasted for 18 days.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-...egory&displayDate=01/08&categoryId=vietnamwar

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January 9

1943: The Soviet ultimatum to 6.Armee at Stalingrad is ignored by order of Colonel-General von Paulus, and the battle continues with unabated ferocity.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1861 - American Civil War: The "Star of the West" incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina. It is considered by some historians to be the "First Shots of the American Civil War".
1863 - American Civil War: the Battle of Fort Hindman occurs in Arkansas.
1916 - The Ottoman Empire prevails in the Battle of Çanakkale, as the last British troops are evacuated.
1917 - World War I: the Battle of Rafa occurs near the Egyptian border with Palestine.
1941 - World War II: The Greek Triton (S.112) sinks the Italian submarine Neghelli in Otranto.
1945 - The United States invades Luzon in the Philippines.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_9

1918 - Establishment of Naval Overseas Transportation Service to carry cargo during WWI
1945 - Carrier aircraft begin 2-day attack on Japanese forces, Luzon, Philippines
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1917: Light Horse captures Rafa - Following the capture of Magdhaba a fortnight earlier the Allies need to take Rafa, a former Egyptian police post on the Mediterranean border with Palestine, to enable their advance into Palestine.
1966: 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, in Operation Crimp - The operation became the scene of a major action against a Viet Cong tunnel complex.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1917: Battle of Khadairi Bend begins - After several months of preparations, British troops under the command of their new regional chief Sir Frederick Maude launch an offensive against Turkish forces at Khadairi Bend, to the north of Kut, Mesopotamia.
source: : http://www.history.com/tdih.do

1940: German bombers sink three merchantmen in North Sea.
1942: Japanese troops launch an attack against the eastern side of the Santa Rosa-Natib defence line on Bataan, making some gains, although US-Filipino counter-attacks forces them back to their start-line.
1944: British troops capture Maungdaw in Burma.
1945: British troops enter Thebes, to the Northwest of Athens. The U.S. Third Army counter-attacks towards Houffalize, on the southern side of the Ardennes salient.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/index.htm
 
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January 10

1942: Colonel-General Ernst Udet, head of Luftwaffe aircraft production and development, commits suicide for failure to provide adequate replacements and new improved aircraft models.
1943: After a 55-minute bombardment by thousands of guns and rocket-launchers, and employing seven armies, the Red Army begins Operation Ring, the final annihilation of the tattered remnants of 6.Armee defending themselves desperately against all odds in the ruins of Stalingrad.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1940: Second AIF sails for the Middle East - Following in the footsteps of the first AIF, the second AIF were also sent to the Middle East rather than England. Unlike their earlier counterparts, however, most of their fighting took place in North Africa.
1942: Japanese air raid on Singapore - After their rapid advance through Malaya, Japanese forces paved the way for their invasion of Singapore with a series of air raids against the island.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

49BC - Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_January

1940: Hitler informs his commanders that the attack in the west will begin on the 17th January. On this same day a German light aircraft makes a forced landing at Malines in Belgium, near the German border. The plane's occupants were carrying details of the German plans, which alerted the Belgium and Dutch governments to German intentions.
1941: Heavy air attacks begin on Malta. Germany and the Soviet Union sign a fresh treaty, which recognises their existing spheres of influence and affirms current trade agreements. German aircraft surprise the Mediterranean fleet, which is escorting 3 merchant ships to Greece. 40 Ju-87 Stukas attack them, scoring 6 hits on HMS Illustrious and severely damaging her. HMS Warspite also receives damage. Both ships make for Malta and arrive the next day.
1943: After a 55-minute bombardment by thousands of guns and rocket-launchers and employing seven armies, the Red Army begins Operation Ring, the final annihilation of the tattered remnants of 6th Army defending themselves desperately against all odds in the ruins of Stalingrad.
1944: The Russians capture Lyudvipol, 2-3 miles across the Polish border. The Russians propose new Polish border further west on the so-called ‘Curzon Line’. German forces in Dnieper bend are attacked by the Russians for the next five days, but and early thaw aids the German defense.
1945: The German 7th Gebirgsdivision retreats from it's positions in Lätäseno. Only a very small portion of Finland is still in German hands.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1847 - American naval forces occupy Los Angeles.
1917 - Navy places first production order for aerial photographic equipment.
1934 - VP-10F flies first non-stop formation flight from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor, arriving 11 Jan.
1956 - Establishment of first Navy nuclear power school at Submarine Base, New London, CT
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

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January 11

1942: The Kriegsmarine begins Operation Drum Beat, the first coordinated attack carried out by five U-boats initially against US shipping along the East Coast of the United States. Their first victim is the 9,000 ton British freighter Cyclops which is sunk by U-123 (Kptlt. Hardegen).
1944: 660 heavy bombers of the US 8th Air Force carry out attacks against industrial targets at Braunschweig, Magdeburg and Ascherleben.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1957: Port Said Egypt - Canadian aircraft carrier HMCS Magnificent arrives in Egypt with men and supplies for the UN emergency force; Canadian strength in Egypt now about 1,000 men.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Jan&day=11

1942: Japanese captured Tarakan island, Borneo - The success of Japan's war in South East Asia and the Pacific depended in large part upon the seizure of Borneo's oilfields, including those at Tarakan.
1973: Cessation of hostilities in Vietnam by Australian forces - The proclamation by the Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck, ended 11 years of Australian involvement in Vietnam, the longest duration of any war in Australia's history.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1941: The Cruisers HMS Southampton and HMS Gloucester are attacked by German aircraft in the Sicilian channel. HMS Gloucester receives damage, while HMS Southampton is sunk. British submarine's begin to make attacks on German and Italian convoys crossing to Libya.
1942: The Japanese 5th Division enters Kuala Lumpur, which is the main supply base for the Indian 3rd Corps. By this time Japanese forward elements are coming in to contact with the 8th Australian Division, which puts up fierce resistance, although Japanese amphibious landings to their south force them to retreat and ends British hopes of a protracted defense of Johore. The Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies begins with landings at Tarakan (Borneo) and Manado (Celebes). The Kriegsmarine begins Operation Drum Beat, the first coordinated attack carried out by five U-boats initially against US shipping along the East Coast of the United States. Their first victim is the 9,000 ton British steamer Cyclops which is sunk by U-123 (Kptlt. Hardegen), 300 miles to the east of Cape Cod.
1945: U.S. troops establish a firm hold on the Luzon beachhead. British troops capture Laroche, 20 miles Northwest of Bastogne.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1863 - CSS Alabama sinks USS Hatteras off Galveston
1944 - Aircraft from USS Block Island make first aircraft rocket attack on German submarine
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1863: Union General John McClernand and Admiral David Porter capture Arkansas Post, a Confederate stronghold on the Arkansas River. The victory secured central Arkansas for the Union and lifted northern morale just three weeks after the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg.
Arkansas Post was a massive fort 25 miles from the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers. It was designed to insure Confederate control of the White and Arkansas rivers, and to keep pressure off Vicksburg, the last major Rebel city on the Mississippi River. The sides of the square fort were each nearly 200 feet long and the structure was protected by a moat. It sat on a bluff 25 feet above the river. The post was a major impediment to Yankee commerce on the Arkansas.
1916: To provide a safe and stable haven for the growing number of refugees pouring out of the devastated Balkan state of Serbia, French forces take formal military control of the Greek island of Corfu.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do
 
January 12

1943: The Red Army begins an offensive to restore the land communications with the encircled city of Leningrad. In the East, Heeeresgruppe A continues its withdrawal from the Caucasus to the Taman peninsula, i.e. the Kuban bridgehead.
1945: The Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev) launches an offensive from its bridgehead across the Vistula at Baranov.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1916: Ottawa Ontario - Cabinet Order in Council raises Canadian troop strength in World War I to 500,000.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_...mth=Jan&day=12

1943: Beginning of allied attack on Sanananda - 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. Sanananda was last of the three to fall to the allies after weeks of heavy fighting.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1991 - Persian Gulf War: An act of the U.S. Congress authorizes the use of military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_January

1962: The United States Air Force launches Operation Ranch Hand, a "modern technological area-denial technique" designed to expose the roads and trails used by the Viet Cong. Flying C-123 Providers, U.S. personnel dumped an estimated 19 million gallons of defoliating herbicides over 10-20 percent of Vietnam and parts of Laos between 1962-1971.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do?

1813 - US Frigate Chesapeake captures British Volunteer
1848 - Attack on Sloop Lexington, San Blas, Mexico
1953 - Landings tested on board USS Antietam, first angled deck carrier
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1942: British capture Sollum. Hitler orders Admiral Otto Ciliax, who commands the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the cruiser Prinz Eugen at Brest, to prepare to return to Germany. The new German battleship Tirpitz, sister ship of the Bismarck is ordered to Norway.
1943: Gen. Leclerc drives the last Germans troops out of the Fezzan in Southern Libya with his Free French forces from Chad.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
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January 13

1945: In the East, the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov) begins an offenive toward Pillkallen in East Prussia. German forces of Heeresgruppe E complete their withdrawal from Greece and Albania.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1900:prieska, South Africa - New South Welshmen attacked at Prieska by Boers
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1099 - Crusaders set fire to Mara, Syria.
1847 - The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican-American War in California.
1958 - Moroccan Liberation Army ambushes Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_13

1776: British raid Prudence Island in Narragansett Bay - In the early morning hours, British forces raid Prudence Island, Rhode Island, in an effort to steal a large quantity of sheep. But, upon landing on the island’s southern beaches, the British were ambushed by fifteen Minutemen from Rhode Island’s Second Company led by Captain Joseph Knight, who had been tipped off to the Brits’ plans and rowed across Narragansett Bay from Warwick Neck the previous morning.
1916: Battle of Wadi - In an attempt to relieve their compatriots under heavy siege by Turkish forces at Kut-al Amara in Mesopotamia, British forces under the command of Lieutenant General Fenton Aylmer launch an attack against Turkish defensive positions on the banks of the Wadi River.
1942: Allies promise prosecution of war criminals - Representatives of nine German-occupied countries meet in London to declare that all those found guilty of war crimes would be punished after the war ended. Among the signatories to the declaration were Polish Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski and French Gen. Charles de Gaulle. The core of the declaration was the promise of "the punishment, through the channels of organized justice, of those guilty of, or responsible for, these crimes, whether they have ordered them, perpetrated them, or participated in them."
1962: First Operation Farm Gate missions flown - In the first Farm Gate combat missions, T-28 fighter-bombers are flown in support of a South Vietnamese outpost under Viet Cong attack.
1972: Nixon announces additional withdrawals - President Nixon announces that 70,000 U.S. troops will leave South Vietnam over the next three months, reducing U.S. troop strength there by May 1 to 69,000.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/t...8&cat=10272949

1865 - Amphibious attack on Fort Fisher, NC
1964 - USS Manley evacuates 54 American and 36 allied nationals after Zanzibar government is overthrown
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1943: Mediterranean, off Italy - Royal Canadian Navy Corvette Ville de Québec sinks a U-boat in the Mediterranean; RCN's first U-boat kill.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=13

1941: The Luftwaffe launches a heavy attack against Plymouth.
1942: A Japanese attack just to the east of Mount Natib, begins to pose a threat to the left flank of the US-Filipino 2nd Corps.
1944: The Chinese strengthen their position in the Hukawng Valley in northern Burma.
1945: The British make further gains in central Burma and are now only 30 miles from Mandalay. The Jørstad Bridge is blown up by the Norwegian resistance, killing 70 Germans. The U.S. First Army attack the Germans between Stavelot and Malmady.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
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January 14

1942: At the so called Arcadia Conerence held in Washington, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill agree to concentrate the Allied war effort on the European theater.
1943: Beginning of the Casablanca Conference in Morocco with Rooseelt and Churchill and the Allied joint staff along with the Combined Chiefs of Staff, to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war. This meeting marked the first time an American president left American soil during wartime. Participants also included leaders of the French government-in-exile, Gen. Charles de Gaulle and Gen. Henri Giraud, who were assured of a postwar united France.
1944: South of Leningrad, the Red Army begins an offensive against the lines of Heeresgruppe Nord (von Küchler) at Narva
1945: The Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front (Rokossovsky) begins an offensive from its Narev bridgehead against Elbing in East Prussia.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1942:Gemas, Malaya - 8th Division inflicts heavy casualties on Japanese in an ambush at Gemas in the first Australian contact with Japanese troops of the Second World War.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1784: Continental Congress ratifies the Second Treaty of Paris, ending the War for Independence.
1915: South African troops occupy Swakopmund in German Southwest Africa - As part of an attempt to display its loyalty to the British empire and, perhaps more importantly, enlarge its own sphere of influence on the African continent, South Africa sends troops to occupy Swakopmund, a seaside town in German-occupied Southwest Africa (modern-day Namibia).
1942: Anglo-American Combined Chiefs of Staff established - United States and Great Britain agree to have the British Chiefs of Staff and the U.S. Joint Chiefs work together, either through meetings or representatives, to advise the leaders of both nations on military policy during the war.
1964: Westmoreland appointed as Harkins' deputy - Lt. Gen. William Westmoreland is appointed deputy to Gen. Paul Harkins, chief of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV). It was generally accepted that Westmoreland would soon replace Harkins, whose insistently optimistic views on the progress of the war had increasingly come under criticism.
1968: Operation Niagara launched - U.S. joint-service Operation Niagara is launched to support the U.S. Marine base at Khe Sanh.
1980: United Nations vote "deplores" Soviet intervention in Afghanistan - In a crushing diplomatic rebuke to the Soviet Union, the U.N. General Assembly votes 104 to 18 to "deplore" the Russian intervention in Afghanistan.
source: http://www.historychannel.com/

1813 - US Frigate Chesapeake captures British brig Hero
1815 - HMS Endymion, Tenedos and Pomone capture USS President
1863 - Navy General Order 4, Emancipation Proclamation
1943 - In first submarine resupply mission, USS Gudgeon lands 6 men, 2,000 pounds of equipment and supplies on Negros Island.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1902: Halifax Nova Scotia - Canadian Mounted Rifles sail out of Halifax bound for Boer War in South Africa.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=14
 
January 15

1942: Heeresgruppe Mitte (von Kluge) evacuates the Kaluga sector and takes up winter positions 20 m further West.
1943: On the Northern front in Russia, the Red Army captures Velikije Luki in the Valdai Hills.
1944: In Italy, French troops under General Juin capture Monte Santa Croce.
1945: In its drive toward the Oder river, the Red Army captures Kielce in western Poland.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1944:Sio - The capture of Sio by the 9th Australian Division represented the final destruction of the Japanese 20th Division in the protracted Huon Peninsula campaign of 1943-1944.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1777 - American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present day Vermont) declares its independence.
1943 - World War II: Japanese driven off Guadalcanal.
1973 - Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President of the United StatesRichard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.

1865 Fort Fisher falls - Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to Union forces, and Wilmington, the Confederacy's most important blockade-running port, is closed.

1865 - In largest amphibious operation of war, Union forces capture Ft. Fisher, Wilmington, NC, by joint amphibious force.
1997 - Navy physician CAPT Jerry Lineger joined the crew of the MIR space station after being launched on Atlantis during space Shuttle Mission STS-81. Prior to the mission, he was trained at the Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia for over a year.
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm
 
January 16

1945: In the Battle of the Bulge, US and British forces brought up to block the German advance meet at Houffalize.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1952: HMAS Sydney begins its seventh patrol in Korean waters - Sydney began its service in Korea in August 1951. This was the ship's final patrol in Korean waters.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1930 - USS Lexington provides power to Tacoma, WA, when floods knocked out city power plants
1991 - Operation Desert Storm, liberation of Kuwait from Iraq, begins
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

550 - Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
1780 - American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
1809 - Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_16
 
January 17

1942: The British 8th Army (Auchinlech) captures ollum in Cyrenaica.
1945: The Red Army captures Czenstochova, while German forces evacuate Warsaw. The German defenders of encircled Budapest withdraw to Buda on the western bank of the Danube.
source:
http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1917: 4 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps sail for France - No. 4 Squadron was the final Australian Flying Corps squadron formed in the First World War. Its pilots flew Sopwith Camels over the Western Front beginning their active service in the battle of Cambrai.
1991: Coalition air attacks begin against Iraqi forces in Iraq and Kuwait - The first day of the Gulf War which ended when Iraqi forces were driven from Kuwait.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1746 - Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie", defeats a Hanoverian army at Falkirk in his ultimately unsuccessful campaign to recover the throne for the Jacobite dynasty.
1781 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens - Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
1885 - A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
1945 - Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw.
1945 - The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
1991 - Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm began early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17_January

1942: The last German garrison at Halfaya in Cyrenaica surrenders, with about 5,500 prisoners taken.
1945: Russian forces cross the Warthe and advance 100-miles on a 160-mile front forcing the Germans to evacuate Warsaw, which falls that same day. The German defenders encircled at Budapest withdraw to Buda on the western bank of the Danube. The Red Army captures Czenstochova.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1832- USS Peacock makes contact with Vietnamese court officials
1900 - US (CDR Taussig in USS Bennington) takes formal possession of Wake Island
1955 - USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the first nuclear-powered submarine, casts off lines at 1100 and sends message "underway on nuclear power"
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm
 
January 18

1942: In the East, the Red Army encircles seeral German divisions at Demjansk near Lake Ilmen. In the Crimea, German troops of Heeresgruppe B recapture Feodosia and seal off the Soviet bridgehead at Kerch. Germany, Italy and Japan sign a new military treaty.
1944: German forces of Heeresgruppe Mitte repel repeated Soviet attacks in the area of Vitebsk.
1945: German troops in Poland evacuate Kracow. Beginning of a German offensive from Lake Balaton to lift the Soviet siege of Budapest.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1919: Versailles Peace Conference opens - The Treaty of Versailles, signed between Germany and representatives of 27 victorious powers punished Germany territorially and financially for her role in the First World War. The treaty was supposed also to prevent Germany from having the means to make war in the future.
1942: Lieutenant Colonel C.G.W. Anderson, VC - Lieutenant Colonel Charles Anderson, 2/19 Battalion, 8th Division, originally of Cape Town, South Africa, won the Victoria Cross during operations against the Japanese at the Muar River, Malaya.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1944 - Soviet forces liberate Leningrad, effectively ending a three year Nazi siege, known as the Siege of Leningrad.
1945 - Liberation of the Budapest ghetto by the Red Army
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_18

1943: Australian troops capture Cape Killerton and Wye Point in Papua, New Guinea.
1942: The Red Army cuts the main supply route for the German 2nd and 10th Corps at Demyansk near Lake Ilmen, forcing the Luftwaffe to begin flying in supplies. Field Marshal von Bock takes over command of Army Group South from Field Marshal von Reichenau who died of a heart attack. The Soviet South West Front launches an offensive across the river Donets, to the South of Kharkov in an attempt to cut of all German forces north of the Sea of Azov. German troops of 11th Army recapture Feodosiya and seal off the Soviet bridgehead at Kerch in the Crimea.
1943: The Germans counter attack in Tunisia. They gain ground against the Free French, but are repulsed by British forces. The Russians break through the German stranglehold on Leningrad to relieve the city from the East. In the Caucasus, the Russian advance continues. Cherkessk is captured by the Red Army, who are now less than 250 miles south east of Rostov.
1944: German forces of Army Group Centre repel repeated Red Army attacks in the area of Vitebsk.
1945: USAAF B29 bombers destroy the Kawasaki aircraft works near Kobe, in Japan. German troops evacuate Kracow. A German offensive begins from Lake Balaton, with the aim of lifting the Red Army's siege of Budapest.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm

1911 - First aircraft landing on board a ship, USS Pennsylvania by Eugene Ely.
1962 - After a flash fire in the Persian Gulf on Danish tanker, Prima Maersk, burned a crewman, USS Duxbury Bay transfers a Navy doctor to help the Danish crewman and USS Soley took him to the nearest hospital at Bahrain Island.
1968 - Operation Coronado X begins in Mekong Delta, Vietnam
1977 - The Trident (C-4) missile development flight test program commenced when C4X-1 was launched from a flight pad at Cape Canaveral, FL
1991 - USS Nicholas attacks and captures Iraqi oil platforms
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm
 
January 19

1945: Sweeping the German defenders before it, the Red Army captures Lodz.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1942: North Borneo surrendered to Japanese - The Japanese continued their conquest of South East Asia in early 1942. Oil rich North Borneo was a vital objective that would allow Japan to carry on its war in Asia and the Pacific. 1951: No. 77 Squadron raids Pyongyang - Mustangs of No. 77 Squadron attacked a suspected Chinese headquarters with rockets.source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1942: Halifax Nova Scotia - German submarine torpedoes Canadian ship Lady Hawkins, as U-boats ravage unprotected shipping along the Atlantic coast.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=19

1812 - Peninsular War: After a ten day siege, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, orders British soldiers of the Light and third divisions to storm Ciudad Rodrigo.
1817 - An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, crosses the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs - The Confederate States of America suffers its first significant defeat in the conflict.
1871 - Franco-Prussian War: Battle of St. Quentin is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory.
1915 - World War I: German zeppelins bomb the cities of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in the United Kingdom killing more than 20, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.
1941 - World War II: British troops attack Italian-held Eritrea.
1942 - World War II: Japanese forces invade Burma.
1945 - World War II: Soviet forces liberate the ghetto of Łódź. Out of 230,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived Nazi occupation.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_19

1941: British troops under General Platt, re-occupy Kassala in the Sudan and advance into Eritrea.
1942: General Wavell warns Churchill that Singapore cannot be held as little had been done to prepare the landward facing defences. Churchill replies that Singapore must be defended and that 'no question of surrender be entertained until after protracted fighting among the ruins of Singapore city'. General Wavell orders General Percival to prepare Singapore Island for a siege. Japanese troop capture Tavoy as their advance continues in Burma.The Japanese have now secured all of British North Borneo. Two Axis transports, the Mongevino and Ankara land 45 German tanks at Benghazi as reinforcement, while axis forces evacuate the city.
1943: The Eighth Army captures Homs and Tarhuna, near Tripoli. Russians claim further victories during a 75-mile advance towards Kharkov on the Voronezh front, with the Russians claiming 52,000 axis prisoners on this front alone.
1944: Germans forces are surrounded in Novgorod, 100 miles to the South of Leningrad, but manage to break out.
1945: USAAF B29 bombers destroy the Kawasaki aircraft works near Kobe, in Japan. The Russians cross 1939 Poland-Silesia frontier taking Kracow. East Prussia is also entered from south by Russian troops. Red Army forces capture Lodz.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
January 20

1941: With Hitler's tacit support, Marshal Antonescu suppresses a rebellion by the Iron Guard in Rumania.
1943: The Red Army begins an offensive against Heeresgruppe Mitte in the Voronesh area.
1944: On the Northern front in Russia, the Red Army recaptures Novgorod. The RAF launches a heavy attack (700 bombers) against Berlin.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1942: Wirraways engage Japanese fighter and bomber formations over Rabaul - In the days before the fall of Rabaul, Japanese aircraft conducted a series of raids on the town. In an engagement lasting less than ten minutes three of 24 Squadron's eight Wirraways were shot down, one crashed on take-off and two were damaged in crash-landings.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1777: Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson leads 400 “raw” men from the New Jersey militia and 50 Pennsylvania riflemen under Captain Robert Durkee in an attack against a group of 500 British soldiers foraging for food led by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Abercromby near Van Nest’s Mills in Millstone, New Jersey. The mills lay at a strategic point between New Brunswick and Princeton, New Jersey, where General George Washington had defeated the British on January 3. After that victory, Washington had decided to divide his forces in order to harass British installments in the New Jersey towns of New Brunswick and Amboy. The British, who were stealing flour and supplies from Van Nest’s Mills with which to supply their troops in New Brunswick, had set up small cannon defenses at a bridge crossing the Millstone River. The Patriots caught the British forces by surprise when they, avoiding the cannons, forded the deep and icy water. In the ensuing 20-minute battle, Dickinson reported that the Patriots captured “107 horses, 49 wagons, 115 cattle, 70 sheep, 40 barrels of flour – 106 bags and many other things.” They also took 49 prisoners. General Washington reported to John Hancock that the British removed “a good many dead and wounded in light Waggons,” estimated to be 24 or 25 in total compared to the 4 or 5 losses sustained by the Patriots.
1918: British and German forces clash in the Aegean Sea when the German battleships Goeben and Breslau attempt a surprise raid on Allied forces off the Dardanelle Straits. The Goeben and </I>Breslau</I>—the same two swift, powerful cruisers that had famously eluded capture by the British in the Dardanelles in 1914 to reach Constantinople and bring Turkey into the war on the side of Germany—had attempted to leave the Dardanelles and head towards Salonika, Greece, when they encountered the British fleet. Just after sunrise on January 20, the Goeben and Breslau fired upon and sank two British monitors, the HMS Raglan and the M28, leaving 127 sailors dead.
source: http://www.history.com/tdih.do

1783 - Hostilities cease between Great Britain and the United States
1903 - Theordore Roosevelt issues Executive Order placing Midway Islands under jurisdiction of the Navy Department.
1914 - School for naval air training opens in Pensacola, FL.
1948 - Establishment of U.S. Persian Gulf Area Command (later changed to Middle East Force in August 1948).
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1942: The Japanese 55th Division crosses the Thai-Burmese border from Raheng. They quickly threaten Moulmein in Burma, using the same tactics as in Malaya of outflanking British forces through the Jungle. British troops capture Benghazi.
1944: The RAF makes its heaviest raid on Berlin, with 700 bombers dropping more than 2,300 tons during the 11th raid of the ‘Battle of Berlin’.
The Red Army recaptures Novgorod. U.S. troops are thrown back on the Rapido.
1945: The French First Army under de Lattre attacks against the Colmar Pocket in Alsace.
source: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/timelines-index.htm
 
January 21

1941: The US informs the Soviet Union that the "moral embargo" imposed on it after its 1939 attack on Finland no longer applies.
1942: Having been reenforced and resupplied, the Afrikakorps begins a counter-offensive against the British 8th Army to recapture Cyrenaica. The Luftwaffe, with 400 aircraft available, begins a series of raids against London and ports in southern England. The US Fifth Army (Clark) achieves a landing at Anzio and Nettuno south of Rome.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1954 - Launching of Nautilus, first nuclear submarine, at Groton, CT
1961 - USS George Washington completes first operational voyage of fleet ballistic missile submarine staying submerged 66 days
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1941: 6th Division begins its attack on Tobruk, Libya - The Port city of Tobruk was a well fortified Italian held strong point held by about 25,000 men.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1968: Battle for Khe Sanh begins - One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins at Khe Sanh, 14 miles below the DMZ and six miles from the Laotian border.
Seized and activated by the U.S. Marines a year earlier, the base, which had been an old French outpost, was used as a staging area for forward patrols and was a potential launch point for contemplated future operations to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. The battle began with a brisk firefight involving the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines and a North Vietnamese battalion entrenched between two hills northwest of the base. The next day North Vietnamese forces overran the village of Khe Sanh and North Vietnamese long-range artillery opened fire on the base itself, hitting its main ammunition dump and detonating 1,500 tons of explosives.
An incessant barrage kept Khe Sanh's Marine defenders pinned down in their trenches and bunkers. Because the base had to be resupplied by air, the American high command was reluctant to put in any more troops and drafted a battle plan calling for massive artillery and air strikes. During the 66-day siege, U.S. planes, dropping 5,000 bombs daily, exploded the equivalent of five Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs in the area. The relief of Khe Sanh, called Operation Pegasus, began in early April as the 1st Cavalry (Airmobile) and a South Vietnamese battalion approached the base from the east and south, while the Marines pushed westward to re-open Route 9.
The siege was finally lifted on April 6 when the cavalrymen linked up with the 9th Marines south of the Khe Sanh airstrip. In a final clash a week later, the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines drove enemy forces from Hill 881 North. Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, contended that Khe Sanh played a vital blocking role at the western end of the DMZ, and asserted that if the base had fallen, North Vietnamese forces could have outflanked Marine defenses along the buffer zone. Various statements in the North Vietnamese Communist Party newspaper suggested that Hanoi saw the battle as an opportunity to re-enact its famous victory at Dien Bien Phu, when the communists had defeated the French in a climactic decisive battle that effectively ended the war between France and the Viet Minh.
There has been much controversy over the battle at Khe Sanh, as both sides claimed victory. The North Vietnamese, although they failed to take the base, claimed that they had tied down a lot of U.S. combat assets that could have been used elsewhere in South Vietnam. This is true, but the North Vietnamese failed to achieve the decisive victory at Khe Sanh that they had won against the French. For their part, the Americans claimed victory because they had held the base against the North Vietnamese onslaught. It was a costly battle for both sides. The official casualty count for the Battle of Khe Sanh was 205 Marines killed in action and over 1,600 wounded (this figure did not include the American and South Vietnamese soldiers killed in other battles in the region). The U.S. military headquarters in Saigon estimated that the North Vietnamese lost between 10,000 and 15,000 men in the fighting at Khe Sanh.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=1626
 
January 22

1945: Advancing in East Prussia, the Red Army captures Insterburg and Allenstein.
source: http://www.feldgrau.com/january.html

1941: Tobruk surrenders to Australian 6th Division - After its capture Tobruk was garrisoned by the 9th Division , elements of the 7th Division and other Allied units. The town was surrounded on three sides by the German Afrika Korps in April and remained besieged, but able to be re-supplied by sea, until December. Most Australian, however, left Tobruk between August and October.
source: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/thismonth/index.asp

1800 - CAPT Thomas Tingey ordered to duty as first Superintendent of the Washington Navy Yard
1944 - Operation Shingle, Allied landing at Anzio, Italy
source: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/datesjan.htm

1968: Operations Jeb Stuart and Pershing II kick off - Operating in the two northernmost military regions, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) launches two major operations. In the first operation, conducted by the 1st Cavalry Division in Quang Tri and Thua Thien provinces, south of the Demilitarized Zone, "First Team" units launched Operation Jeb Stuart. This operation was a large-scale reinforcement of the Marines in the area and focused on clearing enemy Base Areas 101 and 114. Jeb Stuart was terminated on March 31 with enemy casualties listed at 3,268; U.S. casualties were 291 killed in action and 1,735 wounded. On the same day that Jeb Stuart was launched, other 1st Cavalry units launched Operation Pershing II in the coastal lowlands in Binh Dinh Province. This operation, designed to clear enemy forces from the area, lasted until February 29.
source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=1628

1506 - The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrive at the Vatican.
1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Isandlwana - Zulu troops defeat British troops.
1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Rorke's Drift - 139 British soldiers successfully defend their garrison against an intense assault by four to five thousand Zulu warriors.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_22

1813: Frenchtown Michigan - Major General Henry Proctor leads 500 soldiers and militia, with Tecumseh's 800 Indians from Amherstburg, in a counterattack across the frozen Detroit River after his defeat 4 days earlier. He recaptures the River Raison post, defeats 900 US troops led by Brig. Gen. James Winchester, and captures Winchester and 500 Americans.
1944: Anzio Italy - Allies establish Anzio beachhead south of Rome; Canadians man static front on Adriatic coast.
1951: Korea - Canadian destroyer HMCS Huron put under United Nations command.
source: http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=22
 
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