Repost from a blog I read:
www.fmft.netGeorge Washington is inaugurated as the first president of the United States of America
1803: Napoleon Bonaparte sells Louisiana to the US for $27 million. At that time, Louisiana comprised the land between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains and covered more than 800,000 square miles.
1812: Louisiana became the 18th state of the Union
1865: During the Bhutan War, 200 enemy occupied a blockhouse, covering the retreat of their main body. Two engineer officers, Major Trevor and Lieutenant Dundas, led an assault party of Sikh troops against the blockhouse, first scaling a 14 foot wall under heavy fire, then crawling head-first through a small opening to get inside. The attack succeeded, but both officers were wounded. Each received the Victoria Cross. In March 2002, Royal Engineers serving with ISAF completed a new bridge in Afghanistan named for James Dundas VC, near where he fell in action in 1879.
1915: During the night, a small team of men from the Royal Naval Division set out across some 400-500 yards of open ground to carry supplies to troops isolated in the Gallipoli bridgehead. Raked by heavy fire, only one man, Lance Corporal Parker, a stretcher bearer from the Royal Marine Light Infantry, reached the other side, the rest having been killed or wounded. Parker then worked ceaselessly to aid the wounded amongst the men in the isolated trench. It having been decided to withdraw from an unsustainable position, he then helped carry casualties back across the open ground, despite by now being wounded himself. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.
1917: In the Atlantic, a German U-boat closed on a three-masted schooner, and opening fire, badly damaged her. As the crew took to the boats, U-93 closed for the kill. However, at only yards, the crippled schooner ran up the White Ensign and opened fire with concealed guns. She was HMS Prize, one of the Q or "Mystery" ships introduced to help combat the submarine menace. The U-boat was sunk, and Prize survived to be towed home. Her captain, Lieutenant Sanders, received the Victoria Cross. Sanders and the entire crew of Prize were lost in August of the same year, when another U-boat failed to be deceived.
1941: British and Commonwealth forces completed their evacuation - Operation Demon - from the Greek mainland.
1943: Under Operation Mincemeat, the submarine HMS Seraph planted a dead body, ostensibly that of "Major Martin, Royal Marines" in the sea off the Spanish coast, carrying fake planning documents to mislead German intelligence as to the Allies intentions prior to the invasion of Sicily.
Bomber Command returned to one of its most important targets, Essen, home to the huge Krupps factory. Heavy cloud hid the target. But a combination of new technology - the Oboe precision radar bombing system fitted to Pathfinder Mosquito aircraft and sky-marking flares to provide aiming points on the cloud tops allowed accurate bombing, with Krupps suffering further damage.
In Tunisia, Lance-Corporal Kenneally, Irish Guards, charged German troops preparing an assault on the British positions. He inflicted heavy casualties and although wounded and barely able to walk, stayed in the front line, helped to move by a comrade. In recognition of this exploit, and a similar attack a couple of days previously, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
1944: Bomber Command continued its attacks on French railway yards in preparation for the Normandy landings, aiming to cripple the German transportation network. An attack on Somain largely failed, but yards at Acheres and Maintenon were much more successful. These particular raids were noted for the mercifully few casualties suffered amongst the French population, only three fatalities being reported, all at Somain.
1967: 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment arrives in South Vietnam, the first full Australian infantry unit to be deployed there
1975: Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces
