24 OCT Today in Military History 1147 Besieged since June, Lisbon falls to Afonso I of Portugal 1158 Battle of Orkney: Danes Svein and Erland defeat Earl Harald of Orkney 1401 Battle of Nave: The Visconti defeat the Imperialists 1648 Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) 1793 Revolutionary France introduces a new calendar, based on scientific reason 1795 Third Partition: Austria, Prussia, & Russia, obliterate Poland 1806 Fra Diavolo defeated by the French near Sora 1812 Battle of Maloyaroslavits: Prince Eugene seizes the town after hard fighting, but it is abandoned the next day 1871 Los Angeles mob lynches 18 Chinese 1912 Battle of Kirk Kilise: Bulgarians defeat the Turks in Thrace 1912 Battle of Kumanovo: Serbians defeat the Turks in Macedonia 1917 Battle of Caporetto (12th Isonzo): Austro-German Offensive (to Nov 9) 1942 FDR directs that all available ammunition, aircraft, & equipment be provided to forces engaged on Guadalcanal or bound for North Africa, even if it means stripping units elsewhere 1943 Japanese destroyer Mochizuki is sunk by Marine aircraft southwest of Rabaul 1944 Acrimonious confrontation between Rachele Mussolini and Clara Petacci, as Il Duce sheepishly tries to calm things down 1944 Leyte Gulf: despite a desperate attempt to save her, heavily damaged by a Japanese dive bomber, the USS Princeton (CVL-23) has to be sunk 1944 USS Tang (SS-308) is sunk in the Formosa Straits by a malfunctioning torpedo, 70 of 78 crewmen die, 8 are taken prisoner 1945 United Nations Charter becomes effective 1948 Bernard Baruch coins the term Cold War 1956 Soviet troops invade Hungary as Imre Nagy becomes prime minister 1960 Baikonoer: launch pad explosion, 165 die 1973 Yom Kippur War ends as the Arabs agree to an armistice: the Israelis are 65 miles from Cairo, 26 from Damascus
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 21:57:47 +0000