Today in military history: April 27, 2014

1296 – Battle of Dunbar (also Spottismuir) (First War of Scottish Independence)

 About 1731 - "Portrait of John Balliol," mezzotint, by British printmaker William Robins.

  

1423 – Battle of Horic (Hussite Wars) 

1522 – Battle of Bicocca (Italian War of 1521-1526) 

1777 – Battle of Ridgefield (American Revolutionary War) 

1799 – Battle of Cassano (French Revolutionary Wars) 

1805 – US takes Derna (First Barbary War) 

1808 – Battle of Revolax (Finnish War) 

1813 – Battle of York (War of 1812)

 The death of American brigadier general Zebulon Pike at the Battle of York on 27 April 1813. This scene shown in this American print of 1839 bears little resemblance to the actual 1813 fortifications at York, while the town itself was actually out of sight further to the east.

1941 – Germans enter Athens (WWII) 

1943 – British take Djebel Bou Aoukaz (WWII) 

1945 – Allies take Prenzlau, Angermunde, Genoa, and Baguio (WWII)  

1947 – Battle of Tang’erli begins (Chinese Civil War) 

1975 – Saigon encircled (Vietnam War) 

1978 – Saur Revolution begins (Afghanistan)  

  Day after Saur revolution in Kabul

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Author: Cleric77

Today in military history: April 26, 2014

1289 – Siege of Tripoli ends (Lebanon)  
1794 – Battle of Mouscron begins (French Revolutionary Wars)
1836 – Battle of Terapegui (First Carlist War) 

1862 – Skirmish at Neosho, MO; Siege of Fort Macon ends (US Civil War) 

1863 – Attack at Cape Girardeau, MO (US Civil War) 

1865 – Gen Johnston surrenders a second time under new terms (US Civil War)

about 1860-1865 - Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, C.S.A

1937 – Air raids on Guernica begin (Spanish Civil War)

 Lithographs by Francisco Mateos (1894-1976) L'état major 1937 - 

Art laying the blame of the raids on Guernica with clergy supporting Franco

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Author: dalbera from Paris, France

  

1941 – Dessie taken by Allies (WWII) 

1944 – Australians take Alexishafen (WWII) 

1945 – Allies take Stettin, Bremen, Regensburg; Battle of Baguio; Battle of Berlin begins (WWII)

 April 1945 photo by Wilfried Woscidlo - Volksturmmann with 

Raketen-Panzer-Büchse in Schützenloch auf freiem Feld

This file is licensed under the 

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license.

Attribution: Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1985-092-29 / 

Woscidlo, Wilfried / CC-BY-SA

   

1961 -  Algiers putsch ends (Algerian War) 

2007 – Battle of Mogadishu ends (Somalia)

New military history research: French military in Vietnam and the Vietnam air war

The Journal of Vietnamese Studies presents two articles of interest:

A study by Holly High, James R. Curran and Gareth Robinson looks into the contents of two large databases containing information on the air war over Southeast Asia.  The authors point out that this was the first war to “go digital” and the records maintained can provide a wealth of information on operations conducted. 

 1960s - Da Nang Air Base during the Vietnam War.  

Revetments shown provide protection against mortar and rocket attacks.

Jean Michaud studies a 1906 French military ethnography of Colonial Upper Tonkin in Northern Vietnam covering 1897 to 1904.  Michaud examines a public version of the ethnography and also a lesser known more military focused version. 

 Arrival at the “Porte de Chine” of the military commander of Guangxi, Marshal Su Yuan Chuan and his official entourage on 16 July 1900. The procession of sedan chairs, guarded by soldiers, had just passed through the outer gatehouse into French Indo-China (Vietnam). Marshal Su had been invited as a guest to celebrate the inaugural train of the railway connecting Hanoi with Dang Dong, close to the Nam-Quan frontier post between China and Vietnam.