Download Military History Anniversaries 0201 thru 0228

Military History Anniversaries 1 thru 28 FEB
Significant events in U.S. Military History for the next 28 days are:
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Feb 01 1909 – U.S. troops leave Cuba after installing Jose Miguel Gomez as president.
Feb 01 1942 – WW2: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls–Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the
United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.
Feb 01 1945 – WW2: U.S. Rangers and Filipino guerrillas rescue 513 American survivors of the
Bataan Death March.
Feb 01 1968 – Vietnam: U.S. troops drive the North Vietnamese out of Tan Son Nhut airport in
Saigon.
Feb 01 1968 – Vietnam: The execution of Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem by South Vietnamese
National Police Chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan is videotaped and photographed by Eddie Adams. This
image helped build opposition to the Vietnam War.
Feb 01 1998 – Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be
promoted to rear admiral.
Feb 02 1848 – Mexican-American War: The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo formally ends the
Mexican War.
Feb 02 1943 – WW2: The last German forces surrender to the Soviets after the Battle of Stalingrad.
Casualties and losses: Ger 850,000 - USSR 1,129,619
Feb 02 1989 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet armored column leaves Kabul.
Feb 03 1781 – American Revolution: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint
Eustatius.
Feb 03 1783 – American Revolution: Spain recognizes United States independence.
Feb 03 1904 – Colombian troops clash with U.S. Marines in Panama.
Feb 03 1917 – WW2: The U.S. breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after the former
announced a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
Feb 03 1943 – WW2: The USAT Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men
aboard survived. Congress declares this as Four Chaplains Day. The Chapel of the Four Chaplains,
dedicated by President Harry Truman, is one of many memorials established to commemorate the
Four Chaplains story.
Feb 03 1944 – WW2: Beginning of the German Army offensive against the Anzio bridgehead in
Italy.
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Feb 03 1944 – WW2: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine
forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.
Feb 03 1944 – WW2: The United States shells the Japanese homeland for the first time at Kurile
Islands.
Feb 03 1945 – WW2: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1000 B–17's of the Eighth Air Force bomb
Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 to 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000.
Feb 03 1945 – WW2: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin a month-long battle
to retake Manila from Japan.
Feb 03 1945 – WW2: Sinking of allied troop ship Dorchester results in Congress declaring this as
Four Chaplains Day. 674 of 904 aboard drown.
Feb 03 1961 – Cold War: The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the
next 30 years, a "Doomsday Plane" is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of
the United States' bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC's command post.
Feb 04 1861 – Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet
and form the Confederate States of America.
Feb 04 1899 – The Philippine-American War begins with the two day Battle of Manila. Casualties
and losses: US 285 - PI 2,000
Feb 04 1941 – WW2: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American
troops.
Feb 04 1945 – WW2: American, British and Soviet leaders meet in Yalta to discuss the war aims.
Feb 04 1945 – WW2: Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority.
Feb 04 1945 – WW2: First firebombing raid against Japan at Kobe.
Feb 04 1945 – WW2: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and
Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.
Feb 04 1945 – WW2: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles
known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations.
Feb 04 1945 – WW2: USS Barbel (SS–316) sunk by Japanese naval aircraft in South China Sea in
Palawan Passage. 81 killed
Feb 04 1957 – The first nuclear–powered submarine, the USS Nautilus (SSN–571), logs its 60,000th
nautical mile.
Feb 05 1918 – WWI: Luxury Liner SS Tuscania (1914) is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland; it is the
first ship carrying American troops (2,013) to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk. Of the crew and
troops 210 lives were lost.
Feb 05 1918 – WWI: Stephen W. Thompson shot down a German airplane. It was the first aerial
victory by the U.S. military.
Feb 05 1941 – WW2: Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture Keren, Eritrea (Africa).
Casualties and losses: UK/IN/FR 3,765 - Italy 33,847.
Feb 05 1945 – WW2: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
Feb 05 1958 – A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast
of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.
A Mk 15 nuclear 7600 pound bomb
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Feb 05 1968 – Vietnam: Battle of Khe Sanh begins.
Feb 06 1778 – American Revolution: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and
Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new
republic.
Feb 06 1862 – Civil War: The U.S. Navy gives the United States its first victory of the war, by
capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee, known as the Battle of Fort Henry. Casualties and losses: US 40 CSA 79.
Feb 06 1899 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris (1898), a peace treaty between the United
States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.
Feb 06 1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty was signed in Washington, DC, limiting the naval
armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.
Feb 06 1945 – WW2: MacArthur reports the fall of Manila, and the liberation of 5,000 prisoners.
Feb 07 1943 – WW2: Imperial Japanese naval forces complete the evacuation of 10,652 Imperial
Japanese Army troops from Guadalcanal during Operation Ke, ending Japanese attempts to retake the
island from Allied forces in the Guadalcanal Campaign.
Feb 07 1944 – WW2: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied
Operation Shingle.
Feb 07 1951 - Korea: Sancheong-Hamyang massacre: South Korean Army 11th Division killed 705
unarmed citizens in Sancheong and Hamyang, South Gyeongsang district of South Korea. The
victims were civilians and 85% of them were women, children and elderly people.
Feb 07 1968 – Vietnam: North Vietnamese use 11 Soviet–built light tanks to overrun the U.S. Special
Forces camp at Lang Vei at the end of an 18–hour long siege. Casualties and losses: NVA 310 US/ARVN/KOL 534.
Feb 08 1942 – WW2: Japan invades Singapore.
Feb 08 1948 – The formal creation of the Korean People's Army of North Korea is announced.
Feb 08 1971 – Vietnam: South Vietnamese ground forces, backed by American air power, begin
Operation Lam Son 719, a 17,000 man incursion into Laos that ends three weeks later in a disaster.
Casualties and losses: ARVN/US/KOL 22,121 - NVA/PLO 8339
Feb 09 1775– American Revolution: British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.
Feb 09 1862 – Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet
in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.
Feb 09 1942 – WW2: Dwight D. Eisenhower and top United States military leaders hold their first
formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
Feb 09 1942 – WW2: Japanese submarine bombards Midway Atoll
Feb 09 1943 – WW2: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its
remaining forces from the island, ending the Battle of Guadalcanal. Casualties and losses: Allies 7104
- JP 32,000
Feb 09 1965 – Vietnam: The first United States combat troops are sent to South Vietnam.
Feb 09 2001 – The American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and sinks the EhimeMaru, a Japanese training vessel operated by the Uwajima Fishery High School
Feb 10 1763 – French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes
Quebec to Great Britain.
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Feb 10 1954 – President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
Feb 11 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant commences the 6 day Battle of Fort
Donelson, Tennessee.
Feb 11 1938 – Japan refuses to reveal naval data requested by the U.S. and Britain.
Feb 11 1942 – WW2: USS Shark (SS–174) sunk by Japanese destroyer Yamakaze; Makassar Strait,
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miles east of Menado, Celebes. 59 killed.
Feb 11 1943 – WW2: General Dwight Eisenhower is selected to command the allied armies in
Europe.
Feb 11 1973 – Vietnam: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.
Feb 12 1946 – WW2: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U–boats.
Feb 12 1951 – Korea: U.N. forces push north across the 38th parallel for the second time
Feb 13 1945 – WW2: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German
and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.
Feb 13 1945 – WW2: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city
with a massive aerial bombardment.
Feb 13 1951 – Korea: Battle of Chipyong–ni, which represented the "high–water mark" of the
Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences. Casualties and losses: China 5,079 - UN 343.
Feb 13 1971 – Vietnam: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops
invade Laos.
Feb 13 1991 – Gulf War: Two laser–guided "smart bombs" destroy a bunker in Baghdad. It was being
used as a military communications outpost and unknown to allied forces, as a shelter for Iraqi
civilians.
Feb 14 1778 – The United States Flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first
time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte rendered a nine gun salute to
USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.
13 Star Flags (1777-1795)
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Feb 14 1779 - American Revolution: the Battle of Kettle Creek is fought in Georgia. Casualties and
losses US 32 – GB ~145.
Feb 14 1942 - Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.
Feb 14 1945 – WW2: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the
United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden, the capital of the German state of
Saxony.
Feb 14 1945 – WW2: Navigational error leads to the mistaken bombing of Prague, Czechoslovakia
by an American squadron of B-17s assisting in the Soviet's Vistula-Oder Offensive.
Feb 15 1898 – U.S. battleship Maine mysteriously blows up in Havana Harbor, Cuba killing more
274 crew members and bringing the United States closer to war with Spain.
Feb 15 1942 - World War II: Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British
General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers
become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.
Feb 15 1943 – WW2: The Germans break the American Army’s lines at the Fanid–Sened Sector in
Tunisia, North Africa. Four days of successive defeats cost II the American II Corps l2,546 missing,
103 tanks, 280 vehicles, 18 field guns, 3 antitank guns, and one antiaircraft battery.
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Feb 15 1944 - World War II: The Narva 13 day Offensive begins with Soviet Leningrad Front and
German army detachment "Narwa" for the strategically important Narva Isthmus
Feb 15 1944 – WW2: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy, begins.
Feb 15 1945 – WW2: Third day of bombing in Dresden.
Monte Cassino in ruins
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Feb 15 1954 - Canada and the United States agree to construct the Distant Early Warning (DEW)
Line, a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic regions of Canada and Alaska.
Feb 15 1967 – Vietnam: Thirteen U.S. helicopters are shot down in one day in Vietnam.
Feb 15 1989 - Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announces that all
of its troops have left Afghanistan.
Feb 15 2003 – Iraq War: Protests against the Iraq war take place in over 600 cities worldwide. It is
estimated that between 8 million to 30 million people participate, making this the largest peace
demonstration in history.
Feb 16 1804 – United States Navy Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a successful raid to destroy the
captured USS Philadelphia in Tripoli, denying her use to the Barbary States in the First Barbary War.
Feb 16 1862 – Civil War: The Battle of Fort Donelson ends with the Confederate surrender of Ft.
Donelson TN. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's victory earned him the nickname 'Unconditional Surrender
Grant.' Casualties and losses: US 2691 - CSA 13,846
Feb 16 1864 – Civil War: The H.L. Hunley becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship,
the USS Housatonic.
Feb 16 1865 – Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina is burned as Confederate forces flee from
advancing Union forces.
Feb 16 1865 – WW2: Norwegian commandos trained by the British Special Operations Executive
destroy a factory to prevent the German nuclear energy project from acquiring heavy water.
Feb 16 1944 – WW2: Operation Hailstone begins. U.S. naval air, surface, and submarine attack
against Truk (Chuuk), Japan's main base in the central Pacific, in support of the Eniwetok invasion.
Feb 16 1945 – WW2: American troops landed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines.
Feb 16 1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from
New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
Feb 16 2006 - The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United
States Army.
Feb 17 1864 – Civil War: The Confederate H.L. Hunley in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina
becomes the first submarine to engage and sink a warship, the USS Housatonic.
Feb 17 1865 – Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina, is burned as Confederate forces flee from
advancing Union forces.
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Feb 17 1944 – WW2: Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ends in an U.S. victory on 22
February. Casualties and losses: US 1,096 - JP 2,693.
Feb 17 1944 – WW2: Operation Hailstone begins. U.S. naval air, surface, and submarine attack
against Truk Lagoon, Japan's main base in the central Pacific, in support of the Eniwetok invasion.
Feb 17 1974 - Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House in a
stolen helicopter.
Feb 18 1865 – Civil War: Union forces under Major General William T. Sherman set the South
Carolina State House on fire during the burning of Columbia.
Feb 18 1865 – Civil War: Union troops force the Confederates to abandon Fort Anderson, N.C.
Feb 18 1942 – WW2: The Imperial Japanese Army begins the systematic extermination of perceived
hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore.
Feb 18 1955 – Cold War: Operation Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada
Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots of the Teapot series.
Teapot MET (Military Effects Test)
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Feb 19 1915 - WWI: The first naval attack on the Dardanelles begins when a strong Anglo-French
task force bombards Ottoman artillery along the coast of Gallipoli.
Feb 19 1942 – WW2: Bombing of Darwin: In the largest attacks mounted by a foreign power against
Australia, more than 240 bombers and fighters of the Imperial Japanese Navy bombed Darwin killing
243 people. Most of the cargo shipping available to support efforts in Java and the Philippines with
Java was lost effectively halting further surface shipments from Australia.
Feb 19 1942 – WW2: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the executive order 9066, allowing the
United States military to relocate Japanese–Americans to Japanese internment camps.
Feb 19 1943 – WW2: Battle of the Kasserine Pass - First large-scale meeting of American and
German forces in World War II. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel initiates a series of attacks on the
allied forces that ultimately are thrown back. Casualties and losses US/UK/FR 10,000 & 183 tanks –
GER/IT 2,000 & 34 tanks.
Feb 19 1943 – WW2: German troops of the Afrika Korps break through the Kasserine Pass, defeating
U.S. forces. U.S. troops retake the pass 5 days later. Casualties and losses: US 6,500 Axis 2,000.
Feb 19 1943 – WW2: USS Grampus (SS–207) sunk either by Japanese naval aircraft (958th Kokutai)
southeast of New Britain on 19 February or by destroyer Minegumo in Blackett Strait on the night of
5–6 March. 71 killed.
Feb 19 1944 – WW2: The U.S. Eighth Air Force and Royal Air Force begin "Big Week," a series of
heavy bomber attacks against German aircraft production facilities.
Feb 19 1945 – WW2: Battle of Iwo Jima (Operation Detachment) – about 30,000 United States
Marines land on Iwo Jima commencing a battle that lasts 35 days. Casualties and losses: US 26,038
- JP 22,060.
Feb 19 1976 – Executive Order 9066, which led to the relocation of Japanese Americans to
internment camps, is rescinded by President Gerald R. Ford's Proclamation 4417.
Feb 19 1999 – President Bill Clinton issues a posthumous pardon for first African American graduate
of West Point, U.S. Army Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper. In 1881 he was court martialed and dismissed
from the US Army on rumors alleging improprieties.
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Feb 20 1864 – Civil War: Confederate troops defeat a Union army sent to bring Florida into the union
at the Battle of Olustee, Fla. Casualties and losses: US 1,861 - CSA 946.
Feb 20 1942 – WW2: Lt. Edward O’Hare downs five out of nine Japanese bombers that are attacking
the carrier Lexington and becomes America's first World War II flying ace.
Feb 20 1944 – WW2: The ‘Big Week’ began with American bomber raids on German aircraft
manufacturing centers. In 3500 sorties 10,000 tons of bombs were dropped seriously disrupting
German fighter production.
Feb 21 1862 – Civil War: The Texas Rangers win a Confederate victory in the Battle of Val Verde,
NM. Casualties and losses: US 975 - CSA 150 to 230.
Feb 21 1916 – WW I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.
Feb 21 1945 – WW2: Japanese Kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier Bismarck Sea and damage the
Saratoga.
Feb 21 1951 – Korea: The U. S. Eighth Army launches Operation Killer, a counterattack to push
Chinese forces north of the Han River in Korea.
Feb 22 1847 – Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista – 5,000 American troops defeat
15,000
Feb 22 1899 – Philippine American War: Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna counterattacks
for the first time against the American forces but fail to regain Manila from the Americans.
Feb 22 1909 – The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by the USS Connecticut (BB–18),
return to the United States after a voyage around the world.
Feb 22 1915 – WWI: Germany institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.
Feb 22 1942 – WW2: Franklin Roosevelt orders Gen. Douglas MacArthur to leave the Philippines as
the Japanese victory becomes inevitable.
Feb 22 1944 - WW2: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem,
Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.
Feb 22 1973 – Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of
China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.
Feb 22 1984 – Britain and the U.S. send warships to the Persian Gulf following an Iranian offensive
against Iraq.
Feb 23 1836 – Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna began his 13 day siege of the Alamo
Spanish mission in San Antonio, Texas.
The Alamo, as drawn in 1854
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Feb 23 1836 – Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna began his 13 day siege of the Alamo
Spanish mission in San Antonio, Texas.
Feb 23 1847 – Mexican–American War: Battle of Buena Vista – In Mexico, American troops under
General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
Feb 23 1903 – Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States ‘in perpetuity’.
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Feb 23 1942 – WW2: A Japanese submarine surfaced off the coast of California, shelling the
coastline near the town of Ellwood. The first Axis explosives to hit American soil.
Feb 23 1945 – WW2: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of Marines and a commonly forgotten
U.S. Navy Corpsman, reach the top of Mt. Suribachi and are photographed raising the American flag.
The photo would later win a Pulitzer Prize and become the model for the national USMC War
Memorial.
Feb 23 1945 – WW2: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free the captives of the
Los Baños internment camp.
Feb 23 1945 – WW2: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.
Feb 23 1967 – Vietnam: U.S. troops begin the largest offensive of the war, near the Cambodian
border.
Feb 23 1991 – Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus starting
the ground phase of the war.
Feb 23 2008 - A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam. It is the first
operational loss of a B-2.
Feb 24 1813 – War of 1812: The American ship USS Hornet sank the British sloop HMS Peacock in
an action off the coast of Guiana (north coast of South America.
Feb 24 1917 – WW I: The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann
Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to
Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.
Feb 24 1942 – Battle of Los Angeles: A UFO flying over wartime Los Angeles causes a blackout
order at 2:25 a.m. and attracts a barrage of anti–aircraft fire, ultimately killing 3 civilians.
Feb 24 1944 – WW2: Merrill’s Marauders, a specially trained group of American soldiers, begin their
1,000 mile journey in a ground campaign against Japan into Burma.
Feb 24 1968 – Vietnam: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Hué.
Feb 24 1983 – A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the
practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
Feb 25 1916 - WWI: the Germans capture Fort Douaumont during the Battle of Verdun.
Feb 25 1933 – USS Ranger, the first U.S. Navy ship to be built solely as an aircraft carrier, is
launched.
Feb 25 1945 – WW2: First firebombing raid against Tokyo Japan destroyed around 643 acres of the
snow-covered city.
Feb 25 1968 - Vietnam War: 135 unarmed citizens of Hà My village in South Vietnam's Qu'ng Nam
Province are killed and buried en masse by South Korean troops in what would come to be known as
the Hà My massacre.
Feb 25 1991 – Gulf War: An Iraqi scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi
Arabia killing 28 U.S. Army Reservists from Pennsylvania.
Feb 26 1935 – Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the
Treaty of Versailles.
Feb 26 1943 – U.S. Flying Fortresses and Liberators pound German docks and U–boat lairs at
Wilhelmshaven.
Feb 26 1966 – Vietnam: The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army massacres 380
unarmed civilians in South Vietnam.
Feb 26 1991 – Gulf War: On Baghdad Radio Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal
of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
Feb 26 1991 – Gulf War: United States Army forces capture the town of Al Busayyah, Iraq.
Feb 27 1776 – American Revolution: the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in North Carolina between
the Patriots and Loyalists breaks up a Loyalist militia. Casualties and losses: Patriots 2 – Loyalists
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Feb 27 1782 – American Revolution: the House of Commons of Great Britain votes against further
war in America.
Feb 27 1864 – Civil War: The first Union prisoners arrive at the Confederate Andersonville Prison in
Georgia.
Feb 27 1942 – WW2: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an allied strike force is defeated by a
Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies
Feb 27 1944 – WW2: USS Grayback (SS–208) missing. Most likely succumbed to damage inflicted
by land–based Japanese naval aircraft suffered the day before in the East China Sea. 80 killed.
Feb 27 1991 – Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".
Feb 28 1844 – A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing
eight people, including two United States Cabinet members.
Feb 28 1863 – Civil War: The Confederate ship Nashville was destroyed by the Union ironclad vessel
USS Montauk on the Ogeechee River in Georgia.
Feb 28 1893 – The USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States
Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched.
Feb 28 1916 – WW I: Beginning of the battle of Verdun, in France, which lasted ten months.
Feb 28 1942 – The heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA–30) is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with
693 crew members killed, along with HMAS Perth (D29) which lost 375 men.
Feb 28 1945 – WW2: U.S. tanks break the natural defense line west of the Rhine and cross the Erft
River.
Feb 28 1991 – The first Gulf War ends.
Feb 28 1994 – U.S. warplanes shoot down four Serb aircraft over Bosnia in the first NATO use of
force in the troubled area.
Feb 28 1998 – Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army
in Kosovo.
Feb 29 1864 – American Civil War: Kilpatrick–Dahlgren Raid fails – plans to free 15,000 Union
soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
Feb 29 1944 – WW2: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American
General Douglas MacArthur.
Feb 29 1944 – WW2: USS Trout (SS–202) missing. Most likely sunk by Japanese destroyer
Asashimo in Philippine Sea. 81 killed.
Feb 29 1972 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization – South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops
from Vietnam.
[Source: Various Jan 2014 ++]
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