Portal:War/Selected anniversaries/April

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

< Portal:War | Selected anniversaries

edit

Selected anniversaries in April

January • February • March • April • May • June • July • August • September • October • November • December

April 1

1572 - The Watergeuzen succeeded in capturing Den Briel, effectively sealing off the Meuse River from the Spaniards.
1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Five Forks - In Petersburg, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee begins his final offensive.
1918 - The Royal Flying Corps is replaced by the Royal Air Force.
1941 - The Blockade Runner Badge for German navy is instituted.
1945 - World War II: Operation Iceberg - United States troops land on Okinawa in the last campaign of the war.

April 2

1453 - Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (İstanbul), which would fall on May 29
1755 - Commodore William James captures pirate fortress of Severndroog on west coast of India.
1801 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Copenhagen - The British destroy the Danish fleet.
1865 - American Civil War: Siege of Petersburg broken - Union troops capture the trenches around Petersburg, Virginia, forcing Confederate General Robert E. Lee to retreat.

April 3

1941 - Hungarian and German troops march into Yugoslavia.
1942 - World War II: Japanese forces begin an all-out assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. Bataan falls on April 9 and the Bataan Death March began.
1969 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to "Vietnamize" the war effort.

April 4

1865 - American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.
1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Somme ends.
1945 - World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf death camp in Germany.
1949 - Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

April 5

1242 - During a battle on the ice of Chudskoye Lake, Russian forces rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
1654 - The Treaty of Westminster, ending the First Anglo-Dutch War, is signed.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Yorktown. The battle begins when Union forces under General George McClellan close in on the Confederate capital Richmond, Virginia.
1942 - Second World War: Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal Navy Cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
1945 - Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip "Tito" Broz signs an agreement with the USSR allowing "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory."

April 6

402 - Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
1832 - Indian Wars: Black Hawk War begins - The Sauk warrior Black Hawk enters into war with the United States.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh begins - In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh.
1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Sayler's Creek - Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia.
1917 - World War I: United States declares war on Germany (see Wilson's address to Congress).

April 7

1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh ends - Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant defeat the Confederates near Shiloh, Tennessee.
1939 - World War II: Italy invades Albania.
1945 - World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato is sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while in-route to a suicide mission.
1989 - Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway after a fire. 42 sailors die.

April 8

1767 - Ayutthaya kingdom fell to Burmese invaders.
1832 - Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
1942 - World War II: Siege of Leningrad - Soviet Union forces open a much-needed railway link to Leningrad.
1975 - Vietnam War: After spending a week in South Vietnam, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Frederick Weyand gives a report to the U.S. Congress that South Vietnam will fall without additional military aid.

April 13

1941 - Pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan is signed.

April 14

43 BC - Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Julius Caesar's assassin Decimus Junius Brutus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, who is killed.
69 - Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Emperor Otho in the Battle of Bedriacum and seizes the throne.
1205 - Battle of Adrianople between Bulgars and Crusaders.
1471 - In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeated the Lancastrians under Warwick at the battle of Barnet; the Earl of Warwick was killed and Edward IV resumed the throne.

April 15

1450 - Battle of Formigny; Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in northern France.
1632 - Battle of Rain; Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
1940 - The Allies start their attack on the Norwegian town of Narvik which was occupied by Nazi Germany.
1942 - George Cross awarded to "to the island fortress of Malta - its people and defenders" by King George VI.

April 16

1071 - Bari falls to Robert Guiscard, ending Byzantine rule in Italy.
1746 - Second Jacobite Rebellion: The Battle of Culloden, the last battle of the Jacobite Uprising is fought, ultimately leading to the destruction of the Highland clans.
1799 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Mount Tabor – Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle at Lee's Mills in Virginia.

April 17

69 - After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Plymouth begins – Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.
1895 - The Treaty of Maguan (also known as the "Treaty of Shimonoseki") between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the first Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan.

April 18

1797 - Battle of Neuwied resulted in the victory of French under General Louis Lazare Hoche against Austrians under General Wermecek.
1915 - Early French aviator and a fighter aircraft pilot Roland Garros was shot down and glided to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I.
1942 - World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Tokyo occurs.
1945 - World War II: Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany, leaving nothing standing.
1988 - U.S. launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in retaliation for the April 14 mining of the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will. The one-day action is the world's largest naval battle since World War II.

April 19

1587 - Sir Francis Drake sinks the Spanish fleet in Cádiz harbor.
1775 - American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Lexington and Concord – British General Thomas Gage attempts to confiscate American colonists' firearms. Captain John Parker orders his band of minutemen to not fire unless fired upon. Random shots rang out among the British soldiers. The minutemen promptly fired back. This was the "shot heard round the world." The British are driven back to Boston, Massachusetts, thus beginning the American Revolutionary War.
1809 - The army of Austria attacks and is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition.
1943 - World War II: In Poland, German troops enter the Warsaw ghetto to round up the remaining Jews, beginning the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
1989 - A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.

April 20

1689 - The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry.
1775 - American Revolutionary War: British troops begin siege of Boston, Massachusetts
1792 - France declares war on Austria.
1861 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
1918 - Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
1945 - US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.

April 21

1836 - Texas Revolution: Battle of San Jacinto – Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1894 - Norway formally adopts the Krag-Jørgensen rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.
1918 - World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron," is shot down and killed by Allied fire over Vaux sur Somme in France.
1945 - World War II: Soviet Union forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.

April 22

1836 - Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto forces under Texas General Sam Houston capture Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1863 - American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins – troops under Union Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports and the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.
1915 - The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
1930 - The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
1944 - World War II: Operation Persecution initiated – Allied forces land in the Hollandia area of New Guinea.

April 23

1014 - Battle of Clontarf: Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
1521 - Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
1942 - World War II: Baedeker Blitz – German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
1948 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Haifa, the major port of Israel, is captured from Palestinian forces.

April 24

1862 - American Civil War: A flotilla commanded by Union Admiral David Farragut passes two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River on its way to capture New Orleans, Louisiana.
1898 - Spanish-American War: Spain declares war on the United States.
1940 - World War II: Operation Demon – The United Kingdom begins evacuating Greece.
1980 - Eight U.S. servicemen died in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempted to end the Iran hostage crisis.

April 25

1607 - Eighty Years' War: Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
1707 - An Allied Austrian army is defeated by Bourbon army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Mark's Mills – Confederate forces seize a Union wagon supply train on its way to Camden, Arkansas forcing Union General Frederick Steele to withdraw his troops to Little Rock, Arkansas.
1945 - Elbe Day: United States and Russian troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two, a milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe.
1972 - Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.