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Post by melody on Feb 18, 2008 7:10:23 GMT -5
February 18 Hitler diaries hoax unfolds 1981: The Hitler diaries hoax unfolds. Writer Gerd Heidemann secretly meets a German publishing conglomerate Gruner + Jahr. He tells the executives that he has received Adolph Hitler's diaries from a confidential source. Gruner + Jahr agree to pay approximately $2 million for the volumes. Two years later, the diaries would be revealed as a fraud that fooled not only publishers around the world, but also some of the leading handwriting authentication experts. United States Punishes Nations for Trading with Cuba 1964 The United States cuts off military assistance to Britain, France, and Yugoslavia in retaliation for their continuing trade with the communist nation of Cuba. The action was chiefly symbolic, but represented the continued U.S. effort to destabilize the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro. The amount of aid denied was miniscule--approximately $100,000 in assistance to each nation. None of the nations indicated that the aid cut-off would affect their trade with Cuba in the least. America's decision to terminate the trade, therefore, hardly had a decisive effect. The three nations continued their trade with Cuba and expressed their resentment at the U.S. action. Castro stayed in power and rules communist Cuba to this day. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Feb 19, 2008 8:14:34 GMT -5
February 19 Marines Invade Iwo Jima 1945 On this day, Operation Detachment, the U.S. Marines' invasion of Iwo Jima, is launched. Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guarded by Japanese artillery, but to American military minds, it was prime real estate on which to build airfields to launch bombing raids against Japan, only 660 miles away. The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese defense of the island in February 1944, when B-24 and B-25 bombers raided the island for 74 days. It was the longest pre-invasion bombardment of the war, necessary because of the extent to which the Japanese--21,000 strong--fortified the island, above and below ground, including a network of caves. Underwater demolition teams ("frogmen") were dispatched by the Americans just before the actual invasion. When the Japanese fired on the frogmen, they gave away many of their "secret" gun positions. The amphibious landings of Marines began the morning of February 19 as the secretary of the navy, James Forrestal, accompanied by journalists, surveyed the scene from a command ship offshore. As the Marines made their way onto the island, seven Japanese battalions opened fire on them. By evening, more than 550 Marines were dead and more than 1,800 were wounded. The capture of Mount Suribachi, the highest point of the island and bastion of the Japanese defense, took four more days and many more casualties. When the American flag was finally raised on Iwo Jima, the memorable image was captured in a famous photograph that later won the Pulitzer Prize. 1807 Aaron Burr, a former U.S. vice president, is arrested for treason in Alabama. He was charged for plotting to annex Spanish territory in Louisiana and Mexico to be used toward the establishment of an independent republic. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Feb 20, 2008 8:21:12 GMT -5
February 20 Pilot O'Hare becomes First American WWII Flying Ace 1942 On this day, Lt. Edward O'Hare takes off from the aircraft carrier Lexington in a raid against the Japanese position at Rabaul-and minutes later becomes America's first flying ace. Aboard the Lexington was U.S. Navy fighter pilot O'Hare. As the Lexington left Bougainville, the largest of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, for Rabaul, ship radar picked up Japanese bombers headed straight for the carrier. O'Hare and his team went into action, piloting F4F Wildcats. In a mere four minutes, O'Hare shot down five Japanese G4M1 Betty bombers--bringing a swift end to the Japanese attack and earning O'Hare the designation "ace" (given to any pilot who had five or more downed enemy planes to his credit). O'Hare was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery--and excellent aim. Battle of Olustee 1864: The Battle of Olustee begins. This battle was the largest battle fought in Florida during the Civil War. The Confederate force under General Joseph Finegan defeats an army commanded by General Truman Seymoure. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Feb 21, 2008 8:54:20 GMT -5
February 21 Malcolm X assassinated 1965: Malcolm X is assassinated in New York City while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity. He was assasinated by rival Black Muslims at the Audobon Ballroom in Washington Heights. Bernard Fall Killed by Mine in South Vietnam 1967 Writer and historian Bernard B. Fall is killed by a Viet Cong mine while accompanying a U.S. Marine patrol along the seacoast about 14 miles northwest of Hue, on a road known as the "Street Without Joy" (which Fall had used for the title of one of his books about the war). A professor of international relations at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Fall was a French citizen and noted expert on the war in Vietnam. He was killed while gathering material for his eighth book. A U.S. Marine photographer was also killed. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Feb 22, 2008 7:59:58 GMT -5
February 22 1864: Battle of West Point, Mississippi is fought. Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest routs a Union force three times the size of his army in a battle that helped end Union General William T. Sherman's expedition into Alabama. Battle of West Point, Mississippi 1864 Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest routs a Union force three times the size of his army in a battle that helped end Union General William T. Sherman's expedition into Alabama. The Confederates suffered 144 men killed, wounded, or missing, while the Union lost 324. The engagement was significant because Sherman was forced to return to Vicksburg. The battle also lifted Confederate morale and enhanced the reputation of Nathan Bedford Forrest, who had taken on a much larger Union force and won. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Feb 23, 2008 9:05:17 GMT -5
February 23 U.S. FLAG ON IWO JIMA 1945: U.S. Marines from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Division raises the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima. Marine photographer Louis Lowery was with them and recorded the event. American soldiers fighting for control of Suribachi's slopes cheered the raising of the flag, and several hours later more Marines headed up to the crest with a larger flag. Marines Raise the Flag on Mt. Suribachi 1945 On this day, during the battle for Iwo Jima, U.S. Marines raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, the highest point on the island of Iwo Jima and a key strategic point. Later, Marine commanders decide to raise a second, larger flag, an event which an Associated Press photographer captured on film. The resulting photograph became a defining image of the war. Although the famous photograph has long led people to believe that the flag-raising was a turning point in the fight for Iwo Jima, vicious fighting to control the island actually continued for 31 more days. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Feb 24, 2008 22:18:41 GMT -5
February 24 Airman Wins Medal of Honor for Action on This Day 1969 After a North Vietnamese mortar shells rocks their Douglas AC-47 gunship, Airman First Class John L. Levitow throws himself on an activated, smoking magnesium flare, drags himself and the flare to the open cargo door, and tosses it out of the aircraft just before it ignites. For saving his fellow crewmembers and the gunship, Airman Levitow was later awarded the Medal of Honor. He was the only enlisted airman to win the Medal of Honor in Vietnam and was one of only four enlisted airmen ever to win the medal. TET OFFENSIVE HALTED 1968: The Tet Offensive ends as U.S. and South Vietnamese troops recapture the ancient capital of Hu? from communist forces. Although scattered fighting continued across South Vietnam for another week, the battle for Hu? was the last major engagement of the offensive, which saw communist attacks on all of South Vietnam's major cities. In the aftermath of Tet, public opinion in the United States decisively turned against the Vietnam War. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Feb 25, 2008 8:34:19 GMT -5
February 25 Molotov Is Born 1890 Vlacheslav Mikhaylovich Skryabin, foreign minister for the Soviet Union who took the revolutionary name Molotov, is born in Kurkaka, Russia. Though he held many notable posts in the Soviet government, many remember him for another reason--during the war, Molotov advocated the use of throwing bottles filled with flammable liquid and stuffed with a lit rag at the enemy, and the famous "Molotov cocktail" was born. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Feb 26, 2008 7:18:06 GMT -5
February 26 Hitler Organizes Luftwaffe 1935 On February 26, 1935, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler signs a secret decree authorizing the founding of the Reich Luftwaffe as a third German military service to join the Reich army and navy. The Luftwaffe was configured to serve as a crucial part of the German blitzkrieg, or "lightning war"--the deadly military strategy developed by General Heinz Guderian. By the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the Luftwaffe had an operational force of 1,000 fighters and 1,050 bombers. Britain handed the Luftwaffe its first defeat in 1941. Later that year, Hitler ordered an invasion of the USSR, which after initial triumphs turned into an unqualified disaster. As Hitler stubbornly fought to overcome Russia's bitter resistance, the depleted Luftwaffe steadily lost air superiority over Europe in the face of increasing British and American air attacks. By the time of the D-Day invasion of Normandy in June 1944, the Luftwaffe air fleet was a skeleton of its former self. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Feb 27, 2008 8:00:45 GMT -5
February 27 U.S. Aircraft Carrier Langley Is Sunk 1942 On this day, the U.S. Navy's first aircraft carrier, the Langley, is sunk by Japanese warplanes (with a little help from U.S. destroyers), and all of its 32 aircraft are lost. On December 8, 1941, the Langley was part of the Asiatic Fleet in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked. She immediately set sail for Australia, arriving on New Year's Day, 1942. On February 22, commanded by Robert P. McConnell, the Langley, carrying 32 Warhawk fighters, left as part of a convoy to aid the Allies in their battle against the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies. On February 27, the Langley parted company from the convoy and headed straight for the port at Tjilatjap, Java. About 74 miles south of Java, the carrier met up with two U.S. escort destroyers when nine Japanese twin-engine bombers attacked. Although the Langley had requested a fighter escort from Java for cover, none could be spared. The first two Japanese bomber runs missed their target, as they were flying too high, but the Langley's luck ran out the third time around and it was hit three times, setting the planes on her flight deck aflame. The carrier began to list. Commander McConnell lost his ability to navigate the ship. McConnell ordered the Langley abandoned, and the escort destroyers were able to take his crew to safety. Of the 300 crewmen, only 16 were lost. The destroyers then to sank the Langley before the Japanese were able to capture it. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Feb 28, 2008 7:08:22 GMT -5
February 28 Gorbachev Calls for Nuclear Weapons Treaty 1987 In a surprising announcement, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev indicates that his nation is ready to sign "without delay" a treaty designed to eliminate U.S. and Soviet medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe. Gorbachev's offer led to a breakthrough in negotiations and, eventually, to the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in December 1987. In February 1987, Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union was willing to proceed with negotiations on the INF Treaty. This time, he suggested that "the problem of medium-range missiles in Europe be singled out from the package of issues and that a separate agreement on it be concluded, and without delay." In other words, he was dropping his insistence on including SDI in the negotiations. The timing of Gorbachev's offer was interesting to many observers in the United States. Some suggested that it was not coincidental that his statement was released just days after a high-level presidential review board had issued a stinging report critical of the Reagan administration's involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal. Perhaps, they concluded, Gorbachev felt that Reagan would be anxious for a settlement. The two men met in December 1987 and signed the INF Treaty, by which the Soviets eliminated about 1,500 medium-range missiles from Europe and the United States removed nearly half that number. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Mar 2, 2008 0:11:20 GMT -5
sorry, yall...i missed the 29th...went to find it but couldn't... March 01 Bulgaria Joins the Axis 1941 On this day, the southeastern European nation of Bulgaria joins the Axis powers by signing the Tripartite Pact. When the Second World War broke out, Bulgaria declared its neutrality. But Bulgaria's King Boris was eager to expand his country's borders, and Germany had already coerced Romania to restore south Dobruja--which had been lost in World War I--to Bulgaria. Bulgaria had chosen the wrong side in World War I, deciding that its territorial needs then would best be met by joining the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary and the German Empire). They were wrong, and King Boris was determined not to make the same mistake again. Believing Hitler's boasts that he had already won the war, King Boris chose to pitch his country's tent on the Axis side of the war. Bulgaria benefited in the short term from the alliance; it made territorial gains in both Greece and Yugoslavia. But Hitler was not through exploiting its "partner"-the Fuhrer wanted Bulgaria's help in its war with the Soviet Union. While King Boris prepared Bulgarian troops for the Eastern Front in 1943, communists and agrarian reformers mounted a vigorous resistance campaign, assassinating more than 100 pro-Nazi officials. King Boris also died at this time-from a heart attack. A Regency Council was formed, which remained loyal to Germany. Successive governments rose and fell until the Soviet Union's invasion of Bulgaria in September 1944 resulted in an armistice and a postwar, pro-Soviet Bulgaria. March 02 Battle of the Bismarck Sea 1943: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea. U.S. and Australian land-based planes take on a convoy of Japanese ships in the Bismarck Sea (the western Pacific). The attack stopped 16 Japanese ships that were attempting to reach New Guinea with reinforcements and supplies. In an overwhelming victory, the Allied force, which included 137 U.S. bombers, sank eight Japanese troop transports and four Japanese destroyers. More than 3,000 Japanese troops and sailors were lost, along with the critical supplies. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Mar 3, 2008 7:30:52 GMT -5
March 03 Finland Declares War on Germany 1945: Finland declares war on Germany. This was a ironic development, given that Finland was a reluctant ally of Germany, as they had a common enemy in the USSR. However, by June 1944, the tide of war had turned against Germany and Finnish president Risto Ryti had resigned. His successor, Gustaf Mannerheim, signed an armistice with the Soviets on September 19, 1944, which included a provision to bar German troops from Finnish soil. The final dissolution of the Finland-Germany bond came on March 3, 1945, with a formal declaration of war against Germany. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Mar 4, 2008 10:08:13 GMT -5
March 04 U.S. Eighth Air Force Bombs Berlin 1944: The U.S. Eighth Air Force launches the first American bombing raid against the German capital. The British Royal Air Force (RAF) had been conducting night raids against Berlin and other German cities since November 1943, suffering losses at increasingly heavy rates. While the British inflicted significant damage against their targets, the German defenses proved quite effective: The RAF flew 35 major raids between November 1943 and March 1944 and lost 1,047 aircraft, with an even greater number damaged. www.military.com/todayhistory
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Post by melody on Mar 5, 2008 9:57:36 GMT -5
March 05 Winston Churchill Denounces the Soviet Union 1946: Winston Churchill denounces the Soviet Union's tyrannical policies in Europe and declares, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent." This speech is regarded as one of the most well known from the Cold War period. The former British Prime Minister's speech was one of the catalysts for the beginning of the Cold War. www.military.com/todayhistory
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