Download Military History Anniversaries 0401 thru 0430

Military History Anniversaries 1 thru 30 Apr
Significant events in U.S. Military History for the next 30 days are:
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Apr 01 1745: French & Indian War: A fleet consisting of 19 transport ships escorted by 13
armed merchant vessels is carrying a total of 4,220 American colonial militiamen toward Cape
Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The goal is the capture of Louisbourg, the largest fort in North
America. It was built and garrisoned by the French to protect the entrance to the St. Lawrence
River and French Canada.
Apr 01 1865 – Civil War: Battle of Five Forks – In Siege of Petersburg, Confederate General
Robert E. Lee begins his final offensive. Casualties and losses: US 830 - CSA 2,950
Apr 01 1893 – The rank of Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy is established.
Apr 01 1924 – Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the "Beer Hall
Putsch". However, he spends only nine months in jail, during which he writes Mein Kampf.
Apr 01 1942 – WW2: Rationing - Anyone wishing to purchase a new toothpaste tube, then made
from metal, had to turn in an empty one.
Apr 01 1944 – WW2: Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss
city of Schaffhausen.
Apr 01 1945 – WW2: Operation Iceberg – United States troops land on Okinawa in the last
campaign of the war.
Apr 01 1948 – Cold War: Berlin Airlift – Military forces, under direction of the Soviet–controlled
government in East Germany, set–up a land blockade of West Berlin.
Berliners watch a C-54 Skymaster land at Tempelhof Airport, 1948
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Apr 01 1954 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air
Force Academy in Colorado.
Apr 01 1992 – Start of the Bosnian War. The most recent figures suggest that around 100,000
people were killed during the war. In addition, an estimated total of 20,000 to 50,000 women
were raped and over 2.2 million people were displaced, making it the most devastating conflict in
Europe since the end of World War II.
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Apr 02 1865 – Civil War: The 9 month Siege of Petersburg is broken – Union troops capture the
trenches around Petersburg, Virginia, forcing Confederate General Robert E. Lee to retreat.
Casualties and losses: US 42,000 - CSA 28,000
Apr 02 1865 – Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet flee the
Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
Apr 02 1885 – Cree warriors attacked the village of Frog Lake, North-West Territories, Canada,
killing 9.
Apr 02 1917 – WWI: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of
war on Germany.
Apr 02 1972 – Vietnam: The Easter Offensive begins – North Vietnamese soldiers of the 304th
Division take the northern half of Quang Tri Province.
Apr 02 1975 – Vietnam: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quãng Ngãi Province in front
of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
Apr 03 1865 – Civil War: Union forces occupy the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
Apr 03 1942 – WW2: The Japanese begin their all–out assault on the U.S. and Filipino troops at
Bataan.
Apr 03 1943 – WW2: USS Pickerel (SS–177) sunk by Japanese minelayer Shirakami and
auxiliary subchaser Bunzan Maru off northern Honshu, Japan. 74 killed
Apr 03 1945 – WW2: US 1st Army conquers Hofgeismar, Germany
Apr 03 1946 – Post WW2: Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed in the Philippines
for leading the Bataan Death March. He maintained that he had no knowledge of atrocities until
after they had occurred.
Masaharu Homma
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Apr 03 1969 – Vietnam: United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the
United States will start to "Vietnamize" the war effort.
Apr 04 1917 – WWI: The U.S. Senate votes 90–6 to enter World War I on the Allied side.
Apr 04 1918 – WWI: The Battle of the Somme ends.
Apr 04 1944 – WW2: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces
kills 3000 civilians.
Apr 04 1945 – WW2: Battle of Kassel - After a 4 day struggle with the German Army American
troops capture Kassel Germany. Casualties and losses: US light – GE 50 killed & 5400+ POW
Apr 04 1945 – WW2: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany. It was
the first Nazi concentration camp liberated by U.S. troops. They discovered piles of bodies, some
covered with lime, and others partially incinerated on pyres.
Apr 04 1973 – Vietnam: A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last
flight of Operation Homecoming.
Apr 04 1975 – Vietnam: Operation Baby Lift – A United States Air Force C–5A Galaxy crashes
near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, transporting orphans – 172 die.
Apr 05 1862 – Civil War: The Battle of Yorktown begins.
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Apr 05 1943 – WW2: American bomber aircraft accidentally cause more than 900 civilian deaths,
including 209 children, and 1300 wounded among the civilian population of the Belgian town of
Mortsel. The target is the Erla factory one kilometer from the residential area hit.
Apr 05 1945 - Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip "Tito" Broz signs an agreement with the Soviet
Union to allow "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory".
Apr 05 1944 – WW2: 270 inhabitants of the Greek town of Kleisoura are executed by the
Germans.
Apr 05 1942 – WW2: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on
Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean Raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the
Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
Apr 05 1951 – Cold War: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for performing
espionage for the Soviet Union.
Apr 05 1968 – Vietnam: Operation Pegasus was launched by the 1st Air Cavalry Division to
relieve the marines at Khe Sanh.
Apr 05 1969 – Vietnam: Massive antiwar demonstrations occur in many U.S. cities.
Apr 05 2009 – North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyongsong-2 rocket. The satellite
passed over mainland Japan, which prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations
Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks.
Apr 06 1862 – Civil War: The 2 day Battle of Shiloh begins – in Tennessee, forces under Union
General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
Casualties and losses: US 13,047 - CSA 10,699.
Apr 06 1865 – Civil War: The Battle of Sayler's Creek – Confederate General Robert E. Lee's
Army of Northern Virginia fights its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia.
Casualties and losses: US 1,148 - CSA 7,700.
Apr 06 1866 – Post Civil War: The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic
organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until
1956.
GAR Parade during the 1914 Encampment in Detroit, Michigan
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Apr 06 1917 – WWI: The United States declares war on Germany.
Apr 06 1945 – WW2: the Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville comes to an end. Casualties
and losses: AUS 189 - JP 1,624.
Apr 06 1972 – Vietnam: Easter Offensive – American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval
bombardments.
Apr 07 1712 – Tuscarora War: Col. John Barnwell, commanding a combined white militia and
friendly Indian force numbering about 300 men, again besieges this main encampment of the
hostile Tuscarora Indians. The Tuscarora had launched a surprise attack in September 1711,
killing about 130 colonists, prompting North Carolina to ask Virginia and South Carolina for
help. Barnwell's army was composed mostly of South Carolina militia. He had besieged the
hostiles’ fort in March, but agreed to a truce after the Indians began torturing their captives within
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earshot of the militia. When the Tuscarora failed to honor part of their agreement, Barnwell
maintained the siege for 10 days, finally forcing the Indians to surrender. All captives were freed
and other conditions were met bringing the Tuscarora War to a close.
Apr 07 1776 – American Revolution: Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captured the
HMS Edward, a tender ship for the British Man-O-War, the HMS Liverpool. It was the first prize
taken by the Continental Navy.
Apr 07 1862 – Civil War: Battle of Shiloh ends – the Union Army under General Ulysses S.
Grant defeats the Confederates near Shiloh, Tennessee. Casualties and losses: US 13.047 – CSA
10,699.
Apr 07 1939 - World War II: Italy invades Albania overrunning it in 5 days. Its ruler was forced
into exile, and the country was made part of the Italian Empire as a separate kingdom in personal
union with the Italian crown.
Three Albanian soldiers in an unidentified location fleeing North with peasants towards Yugoslavia
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Apr 07 1943 – WW2: Holocaust: In Terebovlia, Ukraine, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress to
their underwear and march through the city of Terebovlia to the nearby village of Plebanivka.
There they are shot dead
Apr 07 1945 – WW2: The Japanese battleship Yamato, the largest battleship ever constructed, is
sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while en–route to a suicide mission in Operation Ten–Go.
Apr 07 1978 – Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter.
Apr 07 2003 – Gulf War: U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days
later.
Apr 08 1832 – Black Hawk War: Around three-hundred United States 6th Infantry troops leave
St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
Apr 08 1864 – Civil War: Battle of Mansfield - Union forces are thwarted by the Confederate
army at Mansfield, Louisiana. Casualties and losses: US 2,117 - CSA 1,000.
Apr 08 1942 – WW2: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.
Apr 08 1942 – WW2: Siege of Leningrad - Soviet forces open a much-needed railway link to
Leningrad.
Apr 08 1945 – WW2: After an air raid accidentally destroys a train carrying about 4,000 Nazi
concentration camp internees in Prussian Hanover, the survivors are massacred by Nazis.
Apr 09 1782 – American Revolution: 4 day Battle of the Saintes begins. Casualties and losses:
Brit 1,059 - FR 8,000 Est.
Apr 09 1865 – Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765
troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
Apr 09 1916 – WWI: The Battle of Verdun – German forces launch their third offensive of the
battle.
Apr 09 1916 – WWI: The Battle of Verdun - German forces launch their third offensive of the
battle.
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Apr 09 1917 – WWI: The Battle of Arras - the battle begins with Canadian Corps executing a
massive assault on Vimy Ridge.
Apr 09 1918 – WWI: The Battle of the Lys - the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by
the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders.
Apr 09 1940 – WW2: Operation Weserübung - Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
Apr 09 1942 – WW2: The Japanese Navy launches an air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri
Lanka); Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS
Vampire are sunk off the island's east coast.
Apr 09 1942 – WW2: The Battle of Bataan/Bataan Death March – United States forces surrender
on the Bataan Peninsula
Apr 09 1945 – WW2: USS Snook (SS–279) missing. Most likely sunk by a combination of
Japanese naval aircraft in the Nansei Soto. 84 killed.
Apr 09 1945 – WW2: The German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer is sunk..
Apr 09 1945 – WW2: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends. Casualties and losses: Ger
50K + 80K taken POW – SU 3,700
Apr 09 1981 – The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington (SSBN–598)
accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it.
Apr 10 1865 – Civil War: A day after his surrender to Union forces, Confederate General Robert
E. Lee addresses his troops for the last time.
Apr 10 1942 – WW2: Bataan Peninsula, Luzon, Philippines – After more than three months of
determined resistance, American and Filipino forces are compelled by hunger, disease and lack of
supplies to surrender to the Japanese army. Among these units are the survivors of two Guard
tank battalions, the 192nd from Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Wisconsin, and the 194th from
Minnesota and Missouri, as well as the 200th Coast Artillery (Anti–Aircraft) from New Mexico.
These men were subjected to the Bataan Death March with the survivors spending the next three
years in captivity.
Apr 10 1963 – USS Thresher (SSN–593) sank after a possible piping failure during deep
submergence tests off New England coast. 129 died
Apr 10 1972 – Vietnam: For the first time since NOV 67, American B–52 bombers reportedly
begin bombing North Vietnam.
Apr 11 1945 – WW2: American forces liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.
German civilians are forced by American troops to bear witness to Nazi atrocities at
Buchenwald concentration camp, mere miles from their own homes, April 1945.
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Apr 11 1951 – Korea: President Harry Truman relieves General of the Army Douglas MacArthur
of overall command in Korea.
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Apr 12 1861 – Civil War: The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the
harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
Apr 12 1862 – Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurred, starting
from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw). Some of Andrews' raiders were the first to be
awarded the Medal of Honor by the US Congress for their actions
Apr 12 1864 – Civil War: Battle (Massacre) of Fort Pillow: Confederate forces kill the majority
of the African American soldiers and many of the white soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow,
Tennessee. Casualties and losses: US 574 - CSA 100.
1885 color poster of the "Fort Pillow Massacre".
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Apr 12 1865 – Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.
Apr 12 1917 – WWI: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the
Germans.
Apr 12 1970 – Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay
four days after a fire on board.
Apr 13 1776 – Revolutionary War: American forces are surprised in the Battle of Bound Brook,
New Jersey. During the battle, most of the 500–man garrison escaped. Casualties and losses: US
40 to 120 - GB 7.
Apr 13 1861 – Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate forces. Casualties and losses:
US 2 - CSA 0
Apr 13 1972 – Vietnam: The Battle of An Loc begins
Apr 14 1918 – WWI: Douglas Campbell is 1st US ace pilot (shooting down 5th German plane)
Apr 14 1941 – WW2: German general Erwin Rommel attacks Tobruk.
Apr 14 1945 – WW2: US 7th Army & allies forces captured Nuremberg & Stuttgart in Germany
Apr 14 1994 – In a U.S. friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq,
two United States Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two United States Army helicopters,
killing 26 people.
Apr 14 2003 – U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that
killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner the MS Achille Lauro in 1985.
Apr 15 1783 – American Revolution: Preliminary articles of peace ending the American
Revolutionary War (or American War of Independence) are ratified.
Apr 15 1861 – Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 Volunteers to quell the
insurrection that soon became the American Civil War
Apr 15 1900 – Philippine-American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S.
infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines.
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Apr 15 1940 – WW2: The Allies begin their attack on the Norwegian town of Narvik which is
occupied by Nazi Germany.
Apr 15 1941 – WW2: In the Belfast Blitz, two-hundred bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack
Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom killing one thousand people.
Apr 15 1945 – WW2: The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
Apr 15 1952 – The maiden flight of the B-52 Stratofortress
Apr 15 1969 – Korea: The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United
States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.
Apr 15 1970 – During the Cambodian Civil War, massacres of the Vietnamese minority results in
800 bodies flowing down the Mekong River into South Vietnam.
Apr 15 1986 – Libya: The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing
raids against Libyan targets in response to a bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S.
servicemen.
Apr 16 1862 - Civil War: The one hour Battle at Lee's Mills (part of the 29 day Seige of
Yorktown) in Virginia. Casualties and losses: US 165 - CSA 75.
Apr 16 1863 - Civil War: Union Admiral David Dixon Porter leads 12 ships past the heavy
barrage of Confederate artillery at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He lost only one ship, and the
operation speeded General Ulysses S. Grant's movement against Vicksburg.
Apr 16 1944 - WW2: Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people. This
bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter.
Apr 16 1945 - WW2: American troops enter Nuremberg Germany
Apr 16 1945 - The U.S Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp
Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz).
Apr 16 1945 - WW2: German refugee ship MV Goya carrying wounded and fleeing refugees
from the Soviet invasion is sunk by a Soviet submarine. One of the largest maritime losses of life
in history, with just 183 survivors among 7,000 passengers and crew.
Apr 16 1945 - WW2: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin,
with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights. Estimated casualties
and losses: Soviets 20 to 30,000 – Ger. 20,000
Apr 16 1947 - Cold War: Bernard Baruch, an American financier and presidential advisor,
delivered a speech saying we are today in the midst of a cold war using the term for the first to
describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although no official
dates are set it is generally acknowledged it did not end until 1991.
Apr 16 1953 - Korean War: Battle of Pork Chop Hill (Hill 255) begins.
Apr 17 1863 - Civil War: Grierson's 16 day Raid begins – 1700 horse troopers under Union Army
Colonel Benjamin Grierson successfully attack central Mississippi. Casualties and losses: US 24
– CSA 240 est.
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Apr 17 1864 – Civil War: The 4 day Battle of Plymouth begins. Confederate forces attack
Plymouth, North Carolina resulting in a Confederate victory. Casualties and losses: US 2,000 CSA 800.
Apr 17 1941 - WW2: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
Apr 17 1961 - Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban refugees land at
the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro. Casualties and losses: Cuba 4,176 Cuban Exiles/US 1,320.
Apr 18 1775 - American Revolution: The British advancement by sea begins - American
revolutionaries Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott ride though the towns of
Massachusetts warning the countryside of the troop movements.
Paul Revere, 1903
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William Dawes
Samuel Prescott
Apr 18 1848 – Mexican*American War: Battle of Cerro Gordo - Winfield Scott's U.S. troops
out-flanked and drove Santa Anna's larger Mexican army from a strong defensive position in the
Battle of Cerro Gordo. American victory opened the way for invasion of Mexico.
Apr 18 1942 - WW2: James H. Doolittle bombs Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya.
Apr 18 1943 - WW2: Operation Vengeance - The mastermind of the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor (Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto) is shot down by American P–38 fighters while traveling in
a bomber.
Apr 18 1944 - WW2: USS Gudgeon (SS–211) missing. Most likely sunk by Japanese naval
aircraft (901st Kokutai) southwest of Iwo Jima. 79 killed.
Apr 18 1945 - WW2: Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany.
Apr 18 1949 - The keel for the aircraft carrier USS United States is laid down at Newport News
Drydock and Shipbuilding. However, construction is canceled five days later, resulting in the
Revolt of the Admirals.
Apr 18 1988 – Iran*Iraq War: The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against
Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
Apr 19 1775 - American Revolution: The war begins with an American victory in Concord
during the battles of Lexington and Concord. Casualties and losses: Americans 93 - GB 300.
Apr 19 1861 - Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861 – a pro–Secession mob in Baltimore, Maryland,
attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.
Apr 19 1916 – WWI: U.S. President Wilson address to the U.S. Congress. He said that the U.S.
should break diplomatic relations with Germany if they did not stop attacking merchant ships
with its submarines.
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Apr 19 1942 - WW2: In Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the
Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.
Apr 19 1943 - WW2: In Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter
the Warsaw ghetto to round up the remaining Jews.
Apr 19 1951 - Korean War: General Douglas MacArthur retires from the military.
Apr 19 1971 - Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans Against the War begin a five-day demonstration
in Washington, D.C.
Apr 19 1989 - A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
USS Iowa's Turret Two explodes
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Apr 20 1775 – Revolutionary War: the Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington
and Concord.
Apr 20 1861 – Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in
order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
Apr 20 1945 – WW2: US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the
Soviet Union.
Apr 20 1945 – WW2: Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron
Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
Apr 21 1836 - Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto - Republic of Texas forces under Sam
Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Casualties and
losses: Tex 39 – Mex 838.
Apr 21 1918 – WWI: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron",
is shot down and killed over Vaux sur Somme in France.
Richthofen wearing the Blue Max, Prussia’s highest military order
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Apr 21 1942 – WW2: The most famous (and first international) Aggie Muster is held on the
Philippine island of Corregidor, by Brigadier General George F. Moore (with 25 fellow Texas
A&M graduates who are under his command), while 1.8 million pounds of shells pounded the
island over a 5 hour attack.
Apr 22 1836 - Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas
General Sam Houston capture Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
Apr 22 1898 – Spanish*American War: The USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.
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Apr 22 1863 – Civil War: Grierson's 15 day Raid begins - troops under Union Army Colonel
Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
Apr 22 1898 – Spanish*American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban
ports and the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship. When the U.S. Congress issued a
declaration of war on April 25, it declared that a state of war had existed from this date.
Apr 22 1915 – WWI: The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is
released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
Apr 22 1918 - WWI: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as "The Red
Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.
Apr 22 1943 – WW2: USS Grenadier (SS–210) scuttled after Japanese seaplane attacks (936
Kokutai) damaged the boat the previous day, off Penang, Malaysia. 76 POWs, 4 later died.
Apr 22 1944 – WW2: The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the
first use of helicopters in combat with CSAR operations in the China-Burma-India theater.
Apr 22 1944 – WW2: Operation Persecution - Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently
known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea. After the 3 months it took to defeat the enemy
casualties and losses totaled: US 527 – JP 12,811.
Apr 22 1945 – WW2: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. 520 are killed and 80
escape. It was one of the largest concentration (extermination) camps in Europe credited with
killing 350 to 800,000 inmates over its 3 ½ years of operation.
Apr 22 1945 – WW2: Führerbunker: After learning that Soviet forces have taken Eberswalde
without a fight, Adolf Hitler admits defeat in his underground bunker and states that suicide is his
only recourse.
Apr 22 1945 – WW2: Soviet forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command
headquarters.
Apr 22 1951 - Korean War: The Chinese People's Volunteer Army begin assaulting positions
defended by the Royal Australian Regiment and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry at
the Battle of Kapyong.
Apr 22 1951 – Ticker–tape parade for General MacArthur in NYC.
Apr 22 1972 - Vietnam War: Increased American bombing in Vietnam prompts anti-war protests
in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.
Apr 22 1975 - Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as
Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on
Saigon, falls.
Apr 22 2008 – The United States Air Force retires the remaining F-117 Nighthawk aircraft in
service.
Apr 23 1899 – Quingua, Luzon, Philippine Islands — An American force consisting of four
battalions of infantry from Nebraska and Iowa plus a battery of guns from the Utah Light
Artillery, is fiercely engaged by Filipino insurgents about 20 miles north of the capital of Manila.
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Apr 23 1941 – WW2: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the
invading Wehrmacht.
Apr 23 1942 – WW2: Baedeker Blitz - German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation
for the British raid on Lübeck.
Apr 23 1945 – WW2: Adolf Hitler's designated successor Hermann Göring sends him a telegram
asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich, which causes Hitler to replace him with
Joseph Goebbels and Karl Dönitz.
Apr 24 1805 – U.S. Marines attack and capture the town of Derna in Tripoli from the Barbary
pirates.
Apr 24 1918 – WWI: First tank–to–tank combat, at Villers–Bretonneux, France, when three
British Mark IVs met three German A7Vs.
Apr 24 1944 – WW2: 1st Boeing B–29 arrives in China "over the Hump"
Apr 24 1948 – Cold War: The Berlin airlift begins to relieve surrounded city. Ends 12 May 1949.
Fatalities: 40 Britons and 31 Americans
Berliners watch a C-54 skymaster land at Tempelhof Airport, 1948
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Apr 24 1967 – Vietnam: American General William Westmoreland says that the enemy had
gained support in the U.S. States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he
cannot win militarily.
Apr 24 1980 – Operation Eagle Claw: A rescue attempt of the U.S. hostages held in Iran fails
when a plane collides with a helicopter in the Iranian desert. Eight U.S. servicemen die.
Apr 25 1846 – Mexican*American War: Thornton Affair – Open conflict begins over the
disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War.
Apr 25 1862 – Civil War: Forces under Union Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of
the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Apr 25 1864 – Civil War: The Battle of Marks' Mills. Casualties and losses: US 1,500 - CSA 293.
Result: Confederate victory.
Apr 25 1898 – Spanish*American War: The United States declares war on Spain.
Apr 25 1915 - WWI: The Battle of Gallipoli begins-The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli
Peninsula by Australian, British, French and New Zealand troops begins with landings at Anzac
Cove and Cape Helles.
Apr 25 1945 – WW2: Elbe Day – United States and Soviet troops meet in Torgau along the River
Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two, a milestone in the approaching end of
World War II in Europe.
Apr 25 1945 – WW2: The last German troops retreat from Finland's soil in Lapland, ending the
Lapland War. Military acts of Second World War end in Finland.
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Apr 25 1945 – WW2: The Nazi occupation army surrenders and leaves Northern Italy after a
general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement; the puppet fascist regime
dissolves and Benito Mussolini tries to escape. This day is taken as symbolic of the Liberation of
Italy.
Apr 25 1951 - Korean War: Assaulting Chinese forces are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting
with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong.
Casualties and losses: UN 146 - CH/NK ~1,000.
Apr 25 1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first submerged
circumnavigation of the globe.
Apr 25 1972 - Vietnam: Nguyen Hue Offensive - The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces
5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
Apr 25 1975 – Vietnam: As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital
Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first
Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
Apr 26 1865 – Civil War: Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders his army to
General William Tecumseh Sherman at the Bennett Place near Durham, North Carolina. Also the
date of Confederate Memorial Day for most states.
Apr 26 1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of
President Lincoln, in Virginia.
Apr 26 1933 - The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.
Apr 26 1944 – WW2: General Heinrich Kreipe, Commander of the German 22nd Air Landing
Infantry Division, is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete.
Apr 26 1945 – WW2: Filipino troops of the 66th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth
Army, USAFIP–NL and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division, United
States Army were liberated in Baguio City. All had fought against the Japanese forces under
General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
Apr 26 1945 – WW2: Battle of Bautzen – last successful German tank–offensive of the war and
last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht. Casualties and losses: Ger 6,500 – Soviets/Polish
18,232.
Apr 27 1777 – American Revolution: The Battle of Ridgefield: A British invasion force engages
and defeats Continental Army regulars and militia irregulars at Ridgefield, Connecticut.
Casualties and losses: US 100 - GB 194. Result: Tactical British victory; Strategic American
victory.
Apr 27 1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of
Derna
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Apr 27 1813 – War of 1812: United States troops capture the capital of Upper Canada York
(present day Toronto, Canada).
Apr 27 1865 – The steamboat SS Sultana, carrying 2,400 passengers, explodes and sinks in the
Mississippi River, killing 1,700, most of whom are Union survivors of the Andersonville and
Cahaba Prisons.
Apr 27 1975 – Vietnam: Saigon is encircled by North Vietnamese troops.
Apr 28 1942 – As result of a Gallup Poll the war is titled WW2
Apr 28 1944 – WW2: During Exercise Tiger, a large-scale rehearsal for the invasion of
Normandy, 9 German E-boats attacked an Allied convoy, killing 946 American servicemen.
Apr 28 1945 – WW2: Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are executed by a firing
squad consisting of members of the Italian resistance movement.
Apr 28 1952 – Occupied Japan: The United States occupation of Japan ends as the Treaty of San
Francisco, ratified September 8, 1951, comes into force.
Apr 28 1965 – Latin America Interventions: United States occupation of the Dominican
Republic: U.S. Army and Marines land in the Dominican Republic to forestall establishment of a
Communist dictatorship and to evacuate U.S. Army troops. Troops stay until October 1966
Apr 28 1970 – Vietnam: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon formally authorizes American combat
troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.
Apr 28 1975 – Vietnam: General Cao Van Vien, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs
for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on victory.
Apr 28 1986 – The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclearpowered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the
Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea.
Apr 29 1781 – American Revolution: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal
off the coast of Martinique resulting in a French tactical victory.
Apr 29 1862 – Civil War: New Orleans, Louisiana falls to Union forces under Admiral David
Farragut securing them access into the Mississippi River.
Apr 29 1916 - WWI: The British 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege
of Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.
Apr 29 1944 – WWII: British agent Nancy Wake, a leading figure in the French Resistance and
the Gestapo's most wanted person, parachutes back into France to become a liaison between
London and the local maquis group.
Apr 29 1945 – WWI: Battle of the Lys – The 22 day battle which was part of the German spring
offensive ends. Casualties and losses: Allies 120,000 – Ger 120,000.
Apr 29 1945 – WW2: The German army in Italy unconditionally surrenders to the Allies.
Apr 29 1945 – WW2 - Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a
Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. Both Hitler and Braun
commit suicide the following day.
Apr 29 1945 – WW2: The Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.
Apr 29 1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former
Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders for war crimes.
Apr 29 1970 – Vietnam: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt
Viet Cong.
29 Apr 1975 – Vietnam: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens
from Saigon prior to an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes
to an end.
Apr 29 1990 – Cold War: Wrecking cranes began tearing down Berlin Wall at Brandenburg Gate
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Apr 30 1943 – WW2: Operation Mincemeat – The submarine HMS Seraph surfaces in the
Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain to deposit a dead man planted with false invasion plans
and dressed as a British military intelligence officer.
Apr 30 1945 – WW2: Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his bunker. Karl Donitz becomes his
successor.
Apr 30 1972 – Vietnam: The North Vietnamese launch an invasion of the South.
Apr 30 1975 – Vietnam: Fall of Saigon. Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam
War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van
Minh.
Apr 30 2004 – U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually
humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
[Source: Various Mar 2015 ++]
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