TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY

0		Army and Navy Day in Azerbaijan and Navy Day in Poland
0		Feast of St. Vigilius of Trent, Patron of the Tyrol, and that of St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás, Founder and Patron of Opus Dei
0		International Rat Catcher's Day
1242		Battle of Kuzadagh: The Mongols defeat the Seljuks
1249		Battle of Fossalta: The Bolognese defeat the Modenese
1284		or maybe 1376 the Pied Piper abducted the children of Hamelin, by tradition
1402		Battle of Casalecchio: Bolognese & Florentines under Giovanni I Bentivoglio of Bologna are defeated by Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan, the Malatesta of Rimini, & the Gonzaga of Mantua
1483		Richard III usurped the English throne, stashing his nephews, King Edward V & his brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, in the Tower, from which they never emerged
1707		Marshal Daun's Austrian Army invades Spanish-held Naples
1775		Washington visits NY en route to assume command of the army at Boston.
1794		Battle of Fleurus: French defeat the Austro-English, to secure Belgium
1830		Prince William Henry of Hannover became King William IV of the United Kingdom (1830-1837) -- Learn More
1847		Col. Ethan Allen Hitchcock recruited the "Mexican Spy Company" at Puebla -- Learn More
1848		Battle of Castrovillari: The Neapolitan Borbons defeat Sicilian-Calabrese revolutionaries
1857		Indian Mutiny: Cawnpore massacre
1857		Queen Victoria awards the first VCs, decorating 62 veterans of the Crimea in Hyde Park
1861		Skirmish at Patterson's Ford/Kelly's Island, Va
1862		Day 2 of the Seven Days: Battle of Mechanicsville
1898		Action near Santiago: US and Spanish troops skirmish at Sevilla
1898		Action off Santiago: US ships & Spanish batteries exchange fire
1902		Britain establishes the Order of Merit
1917		First American combat troops arrive in France
1924		US Marines leave the Dominican Republic, after 8 years of occupation
1934		Germany and Poland sign a non-aggression pact
1939		Polish anti-aircrft gunners down a German plane that had "strayed" over the Hela Peninsula
1941		Nazi-collaborators in Lithuania massacre 2,300 Jews in Kovno
1942		NE New Guinea: Australian Kanga Force raids Salamaua
1943		Since Dec 7, 1941, Japan has lost 2 million g.r.t. of shipping
1944		Japanese capture U.S. airbase at Hengyang, China
1963		Berlin: Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" is wildly applauded
1978		Breton separatists bomb the Palace of Versailles

BORN

1742		Arthur Middleton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1787
1810		Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, 69, with his brother, co-inventor of the hot air balloon
1819		Abner Doubleday, Maj. Gen, U.S., who didn't invent baseball, d. 1893
1837		Martin Davis Hardin II, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1923
1837		Victor Jean Baptiste Girardey, Brig Gen, C.S.A., kia 1864
1865		Bernard Berenson, Fascist-friendly art critic, d 1959
1898		Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer, d. 1978
1898		Lewis "Chesty" Puller, iconic US Marine with 5 awards of the Navy Cross, plus a DSC, d. 1971
1901		Stuart Symington, WW I veteran, first Secretary of the Air Force (1947-1950), liberal politician, d. 1988

DIED

363		Flavius Claudius Julianus -- the Roman Emperor Julian 'the Apostate' (360-363), c. 31, of wounds in action against the Persians
1402		Giovanni I Bentivoglio, Lord of Bologna (1401-1402), kia against the Visconti at Casalecchio.
1541		Francisco Pizarro González, Marqués de los Atabillos, conquistador, at c. 60-65, sword in hand fighting his assassins, crying "Jesus!"
1757		Maximilian Ulysses Browne, 51, Irish soldier of fortune, Austrian field marshal and baron of the HRE, d. of wounds
1830		King George IV of Great Britain & Hanover (1820-1830), 67
1836		Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French soldier, who wrote 'La Marseillaise,' at 75 -- https://youtu.be/4K1q9Ntcr5g
1922		Prince Albert I of Monaco (1889-1922), French naval officer, oceanographer, at 73 -- Learn More
1943		Brigadier Claude Nicholson, who held Calais during the Dunkirk Operation, suicide at 44, in a German P/W camp -- Learn More