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TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
0    Secret Police Day in Russia
0    Feast of St. Dominic of Silos, Patron of Captives, Prisoners, Shepherds, Pregnant Women, and more besides
69    the Roman Emperor Aulus Vitellius abdicated as the Flavian legions entered Rome, ending the "Year of the Four Emperors" -- Learn More
1046    Abdication of Pope Gregory VI (1045-1046), d. 1048
1192    Returning from the Crusaders, Richard Lion-Heart of England is captured by Leopold V of Austria, and held for ransom, setting the stage for "Ivanhoe"
1334    Jacques Fournier is elected Pope as Benedict XII (1334-1342)
1497    Annulment of the marriage of Giovanni Sforza (28) and Lucrezia Borgia (17) on the grounds of impotence, which Giovanni later proves is untrue
1522    Suleiman the Magnificent captures Rhodes, after permitting the last surviving Knights of St. John their freedom
1822    Congress authorizes a naval expedition to suppress piracy in the Caribbean
1826    Batman was promoted to first lieutenant in the U.S. 6th Infantry -- Learn More
1841    Capt Charles Wilkes' "United States Exploring Expedition" surveys Wake I.
1861    Combat at Drainsville, Va
1862    Battle of Holly Spring, Ms: Earl Van Dorn disrupts U.S. Grant's supply lines
1862    Battle of Kelly's Ford, Va
1862    Grant begins his first effort to take Vicksburg
1915    Russian troops capture Qom, Persia
1915    The British withdrew from Sulva Bay, Gallipoli -- Learn More
1922    Brooklyn's Engine Company 205 makes the last run by a horse-drawn fire engine in New York City
1924    Adolf Hitler is freed from prison, having served only part of his sentence for the "Beer Hall Putsch"
1928    Australian George H. Wilkins and American Carl B. Eielson flew some 1,300 miles over the Antarctic Peninsula in about 10 hours -- Learn More
1933    Chaco War: Bolivia & Paraguay conclude a 20 day truce
1941    American Volunteer Group ("Flying Tigers") goes into action over Kunming
1941    Ernest J. King is named Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet
1941    The British colonial gov't of Malaya agrees to train Malayan Communist Party members for guerrilla operaitons in case of a Japanese invasion.
1942    8,000 ton Japanese transport lost to a mine off Tokyo
1942    First Japanese bombing of Calcutta
1942    Papua: Allied forces make gains in the Sanananda area
1943    USS 'Puffer (SS-268) sinks the Japanese destroyer 'Fuyo' about 60 miles west of Manila
1944    Battle of Bastogne: Germans surround the American defenders, initiating a siege
1944    Dwight D. Eisenhower was promoted to General of the Army -- Learn More
1944    Japanese on Leyte told no more reinforcements or supplies will be sent
1958    First successful test of the US Titan ICBM
1983    PLO chairman Yasser Arafat & 4,000 loyalists evacuate Lebanon
1989    Operation Just Cause begins: US troops invade Panama

BORN
1537    King John III of Sweden (1568-1592)
1701    Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau, among Frederick's greatest marshals, d. 1758
1807    Richard Lucian Page, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1901
1808    Thomas Tingey Craven, Rear-Adm, U.S.N., d. 1887
1825    Romeyn Beck Ayres, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1888
1833    Samuel A Mudd, physician, friend to John Wilkes Booth, probable conspirator, d. 1883
1841    Ferdinand Buisson, 1927 Peace Nobelist, d. 1932
1915    Delmer Berg, American leftist, last surviving American veteran of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, d. 2016
1917    The Cheka, aka GPU, NKVD, KGB, FSS, etc.

DIED
217    Pope St. Zephyrinus (198-217)
860    King Ethelbald of Wessex (856-860), b. 834
910    King Alfonso III "the Great" of León, Galicia, & Asturias (866-910), c. 62
1355    King Stefan Urosh IV Dushan "the Mighty" of Serbia (1346-55), c. 47
1679    John Maurice of Nassau, 75, Prince of Nassau-Siegen (1674-1679), soldier & administrator
1731    Chhatrasal, 82, enemy of the Mughals, Maharaja of Panna (1707-1731)
1812    Sacagawea, c. 24, though there is some doubt
1936    Baron Jacques de Borchgrave, First Secretary of the Belgian Legation in Spain, murdered by leftist pistoleros in Madrid
1937    Erich Ludendorff, German general (WW I) and Hitler's friend, at 72
1939    Capt. Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff , 45, sometime commander of the 'Graf Spee,' suicide
1973    Adm. Luis Carrero Blanco, Premier of Spain, assassinated at 70