M4 (105) Sherman

Today in 1861, near Apache Pass in southeastern Arizona,

The earliest military action to be revered with a Medal of Honor award was performed by Colonel Bernard J.D. Irwin, an assistant army surgeon serving in the first major U.S.-Apache conflict.

Near Apache Pass, in southeastern Arizona, Irwin, an Irish-born doctor, volunteered to go to the rescue of Second Lieutenant George N. Bascom, who was trapped with 60 men of the U.S. Seventh Infantry by the Chiricahua Apaches. Irwin and 14 men, initially without horses, began the 100-mile trek to Bascom's forces riding on mules. After fighting and capturing Apaches along the way and recovering stolen horses and cattle, they reached Bascom's forces on February 14 and proved instrumental in breaking the siege.

The first U.S.-Apache conflict had begun several days before, when Cochise, the Chiricahua Apache chief, kidnapped three white men to exchange for his brother and two nephews held by the U.S. Army on false charges of stealing cattle and kidnapping a child. When the exchange was refused, Cochise killed the white men, and the army responded by killing his relatives, setting off the first of the Apache wars.

Although Irwin's bravery in this conflict was the earliest Medal of Honor action, the award itself was not created until 1862, and it was not until January 21, 1894, that Irwin received the nation's highest military honor.

[February 13, 1861]

Today in 1959, at Amon Carter Field in Fort Worth, Texas,

The United States Air Force retired its last Convair B-36 Peacemaker to become an all-jet bomber force.

 

The Convair B-36 Peacemaker was one of the largest airplanes ever built, and was a key element in maintaining peace during the Cold War with Russia during the 1950s. Originally conceived in 1941 as an intercontinental bomber, it was first produced in the late 1940s, after World War II ended.

Built in Fort Worth, Texas by the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (later known
simply as “Convair”), started life as a prop-driven aircraft.  Interestingly, much of the B-36's external skin was made of magnesium, which had a dull color, in contrast to the shiny aluminum used to cover the fore and aft pressurized compartments. During production of the Peacemaker, Convair and the Air Force evolved the plane to the B-36D, B-36F, and B-36H models.

Jets and props are clearly visible.

The four bomb bays could carry up to 86,000 pounds (39,000 kg) of bombs, more than 10 times the load carried by the World War II workhorse, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, and substantially more than the entire B-17's gross weight. The B-36 was not designed with nuclear weaponry in mind, because the mere existence of such weapons was top secret during the period when the B-36 was conceived and designed (1941–46). Nevertheless, the B-36 stepped into its nuclear delivery role immediately upon becoming operational.

A major change to the original, basic B-36 design was the addition of jet engines. Beginning with the B-36D, the Peacemaker added four General Electric J47-GE-19 jet engines, mounted in pods like those used in the Boeing B-47. Ultimately, the Air Force had all earlier B-36 units reconfigured with the jet engines.  In all, 384 Peacemakers were built, all with 6 propellers mounted on the back of the wings, and most with an additional 4 jet engines mounted on the wingtips.

The progression of US bombers up to the B-36.

On this date, the Air Force also received the first Boeing B-52G with larger fuel tanks,
stretching the unrefueled range from 6,000 to 10,000 miles.

[February 12, 1959]

Today in 1942, in the English Channel,

In what was later called “The Mad Dash,” the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, as well as the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, escaped from the French port of Brest and made a run up the English Channel to safety in German waters.

KMS Scharnhorst

The Gneisenau and Scharnhorst had been anchored at Brest since March 1941. The Prinz Eugen had been tied to the French port since the Bismarck sortie in May 1941, when it and the battleship Bismarck made their own run through the Atlantic and the Denmark Strait to elude Royal Navy gunfire. All three were subject to periodic bombing raids–and damage–by the British, as the Brits attempted to ensure that the German warships never left the French coast. But despite the careful watch of British subs and aircraft, German Vice Admiral Otto Ciliax launched Operation Cerberus to lead the ships out of the French port.

KMS Gneisenau

The Germans, who had controlled and occupied France since June 1940, drew British fire deliberately, and the Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, and Prinz Eugen used the resulting skirmish as a defensive smoke screen. Six German destroyers and 21 torpedo boats accompanied the ships for protection as they moved north late on the night of February 11. In the morning, German planes provided air cover as well; ace pilot Adolf Galland led 250 other fighters in an unusually well-coordinated joint effort of the German navy and Luftwaffe.

The British Royal Air Force also coordinated its attack with the Royal Navy Swordfish squadron, but a late start–the RAF did not realize until the afternoon of February 12 that the German squadron had pushed out to sea–and bad weather hindered their effort. All three German warships made it to a German port on February 13, although the Gneisenau and Scharnhorst had been damaged by British mines along the way. The British lost 40 aircraft and six Navy Swordfish in the confrontation, while the Germans lost a torpedo boat and 17 aircraft.



KMS Prinz Eugen

The “Channel Dash,” as it came to be called, was extremely embarrassing to the British, as it happened right under their noses. They would get revenge of a sort, though: British warships sunk the Scharnhorst in December 1944 as the German ship attempted to attack a Russian convoy. The Gneisenau was destroyed in a bombing raid while still in port undergoing repairs, and the Prinz Eugen survived the war, but was taken over by the U.S. Navy at war’s end.

[February 11, 1942]

Today in 1763, in Paris, France,

The Seven Years’ War, a global conflict known in America as the French and Indian War, ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by France, Great Britain, and Spain.

The war was characterized by barbarity and ferocity.

The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War. The war was fought between the colonies of British America and New France, with both sides supported by military units from their parent countries of Great Britain and France, as well as Native American allies. At the start of the war, the French North American colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 European settlers, compared to 2 million in the British North American colonies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on the Indians. Long in conflict, the metropole nations declared war on each other in 1756, escalating the war from a regional affair into an international conflict.

In many ways, the war presaged battles of the American Revolution.

The war was fought primarily along the frontiers between New France and the British colonies, from Virginia in the South to Nova Scotia in the North. It began with a dispute over control of the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, called the Forks of the Ohio, and the site of the French Fort Duquesne and present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The dispute erupted into violence in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in May 1754, during which Virginia militiamen under the command of 22-year-old George Washington ambushed a French patrol.

 

The Treaty of Paris.

The outcome of the war was one of the most significant developments in a century of
Anglo-French conflict. France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. It ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River (including New Orleans) to its ally Spain, in compensation for Spain's loss to Britain of Florida. (Spain had ceded this to Britain in exchange for the return of Havana, Cuba). France's colonial presence north of the Caribbean was reduced to the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, confirming Britain's position as the dominant colonial power in eastern North America.
[February 10, 1763]

Today in 1972, off the coast of Vietnam,

The aircraft carrier USS Constellation joined the aircraft carriers Coral Sea and Hancock for military operations against North Vietnam.

From 1964 to 1975, there were usually three U.S. carriers stationed in the water near Vietnam at any given time. Carrier aircraft participated in the bombing of North Vietnam and also provided close air support for U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam. In 1972, the number of U.S. carriers off Vietnam increased to seven as part of the U.S. reaction to the North Vietnamese Eastertide Offensive that was launched on March 30.  Carrier-based aircraft played a critical role in the air operations that helped the South Vietnamese defeat the communist invasion and led to peace talks that allowed the U.S. to withdraw combat troops from southeast Asia.

[February 9, 1972]

Today in 1968, in Quảng Trị Province, South Vietnam,

The Battle of Lang Vei began.

Towards the end of 1967 the 198th Tank Battalion, Vietnam People's Army (VPA) 203rd Armored Regiment, received instructions from the North Vietnamese Ministry of Defense to reinforce the 304th Division as part of the Route 9-Khe Sanh Campaign. After an arduous journey down the Ho Chi Minh trail in January 1968, the 198th Tank Battalion linked up with the 304th Division for a major offensive along Highway 9, which stretched from the Laotian border through to Quảng Trị Province. On 23 January, the VPA 24th Regiment attacked the small Laotian outpost at Bane Houei Sane, under the control of the Royal Laos Army BV-33 ‘Elephant’ Battalion.

Most of the fighting at Lang Vei occurred at night.

In that battle the 198th Tank Battalion failed to reach the battle on time because its tank crews struggled to navigate their tank equipment through the rough local terrain. However, as soon as the PT-76 tanks of the 198th Tank Battalion turned up at Bane Houei Sane, the Laotian soldiers and their families panicked and retreated into South Vietnam.

After Bane Houei Sane was captured, the 24th Regiment prepared for another attack which
targeted the U.S. Special Forces Camp at Lang Vei, manned by Detachment A-101 of the 5th Special Forces Group. On 6 February, the North Vietnamese 24th Regiment, again supported by the 198th Tank Battalion, launched their assault on Lang Vei. Despite fighting with air and artillery support, the U.S.-led forces conceded ground and the North Vietnamese quickly dominated their positions.

Lang Vei, 1968.

By the early hours of 7 February the command bunker was the only position still held by
allied forces, but they were besieged by North Vietnamese soldiers above ground. During the entire ordeal, U.S. and indigenous Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) forces trapped inside the command bunker had to endure North Vietnamese harassment, which came in the form of fragmentation and tear gas grenades. To rescue the American survivors inside the Lang Vei Camp, a counter-attack was mounted, but the Laotian soldiers, who formed the bulk of the attack formation, refused to fight the North Vietnamese. Later on, U.S. Special Forces personnel were able to escape from the camp, and were rescued by
a U.S. Marine task force.

[February 6, 1968]