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Battlefield Chronicles

Vietnam War – Operation Ivory Coast – The Son Tay Raid

Vietnam War – Operation Ivory Coast – The Son Tay Raid

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The Operation Ivory Coast has been called the most daring raid of the Vietnam War; Operation Ivory Coast was an effort to rescue prisoners of war who had been held by North Vietnam for years. It did not rescue any of the prisoners, but it did change the way U.S. Special Operations planned and executed its missions.  By 1970, the United States not only knew that hundreds of American POWs were being held by the communist North Vietnamese, but they also knew those prisoners were being subjected to torture and mistreatment - and many had been suffering for years on end.  Special operations planners knew the location of where at least 61 of them were being held, a camp near the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi known as Son Tay. The United States designed a plan to rescue them right out from under the communists' noses.  The mission would not be an easy one. At least six of the prisoners were believed to be near death, and the Son Tay prison was in an area where intelligence...

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Gulf War – Operation Desert Storm

Gulf War – Operation Desert Storm

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The 1990-91 Gulf War was probably one of the best-planned and most well-executed military operations in the history of human warfare. The United Nations, with its resolutions condemning the Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait, worked the way it was intended. UN Resolution 678 called for Iraq to leave Kuwait by January 15, 1991, and authorized member states to use all necessary means to enforce the resolution after the deadline. A coalition of 42 countries, led by the United States, did just that – and abided by the mandate after Iraqi forces withdrew.  Operation Desert Storm Begins After Iraq Invades Kuwait The U.S. military dubbed the combat phase of the war Operation Desert Storm. The use of air power and overwhelming military force took little more than a month to dislodge Iraq from its ill-gotten gains. While Desert Storm is still rightfully celebrated as a resounding victory, the buildup to that victory, Operation Desert Shield, sometimes gets lost to historical...

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Cpl. Dakota Meyer, U.S. Marine Corps (2006-2010)

Cpl. Dakota Meyer, U.S. Marine Corps (2006-2010)

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Dakota Meyer never planned on joining the Marine Corps. Growing up on a cattle farm in Columbia, Kentucky, he planned to play college football after high school. He played running back for his high school team and wanted to play on a bigger stage. In 2006, when he was just 17, a Marine Corps recruiter visited his school and told Meyer that playing football was a good idea because he could never be a Marine. Dakota Meyer Joins the Marines and Begins a New Path Dakota Meyer signed up for the Marine Corps that day. After graduating, he shipped out to training at Parris Island, his first steps toward an entirely different destiny than he'd planned. Meyer would leave active duty in the Corps in 2010. The following year, he was working a construction job in his civilian career when the White House called his office to inform him he was receiving the Medal of Honor for actions he took in Afghanistan in 2009. The office told the White House Meyer would have to call them back during his lunch...

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The First Battle of Fallujah

The First Battle of Fallujah

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In the earliest years of the Iraq War, the city of Fallujah was one of the most contested cities in the country, but it didn't start out that way. Local citizens had taken control of maintaining order in the city, but a series of misunderstandings between Coalition forces and local leaders soon led to violence and outrage. At the end of March 2004, four private military contractors were massacred and mutilated by insurgents there. The same day, five American soldiers were killed by a massive explosive device near Habbaniyah while en route to Fallujah. The U.S. military decided something needed to be done.  The First Battle of Fallujah: The Surge Begins On April 4, 2004, the U.S. launched a massive operation to capture or kill those responsible for murdering Blackwater contractors and the five American troops while pacifying the city. An estimated 10,000 troops, including U.S. Army soldiers from the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain Division, 1st Infantry Division, 3rd...

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The Fall of Rome

The Fall of Rome

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In any normal war, capturing an enemy capital would capture the imagination of soldiers and the public back home. During World War II, capturing the capital of one of the original members of the Axis Pact should have been a defining moment. That moment was overshadowed by another defining moment: D-Day, the amphibious invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.   When the Allies captured Rome on June 4, 1944, however, the city was open because most of the fighting had taken place along the way – and the Allied soldiers paid dearly for their efforts almost the entire way. The Fall of Rome: A Pivotal Yet Overshadowed Victory of WWII Having kicked the Axis out of North Africa in 1943, the Western Allies' next target was Sicily, a resounding success that captured the island in just five weeks. They then prepared to move on to Italy, Europe's "soft underbelly" (as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called it). Their victory on Sicily caused the overthrow of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini,...

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The War of 1812

The War of 1812

The War of 1812 is a relatively little-known war in American history, but it is also one of its most important. It lasted from June 1812 to February 1815, and was fought between the United States of America and the United Kingdom, its North American colonies, and its Native American allies. It also defined the presidency of James Madison, known as the "Father of the Constitution." Despite its complicated causes and inconclusive outcome, the conflict helped establish the credibility of the young United States internationally. It also fostered a strong sense of pride among the American people that is reflected and preserved in one of the fledgling nation's most famous patriotic songs, the U.S. national anthem.  Causes of the war included British attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy's forced impressment of as many as 10,000 American merchant sailors, and America's desire to expand its territory. The United States suffered many costly defeats at the hands of British,...

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The German Wehrmacht and U.S. Army Fought the Nazi SS Together at Itter Castle

The German Wehrmacht and U.S. Army Fought the Nazi SS Together at Itter Castle

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On May 3, 1945, a Yugoslavian handyman walked out of Nazi Germany's Itter Prison on a 40-mile trek to Innsbruck (in what is today Austria). His mission was to find any American troops he could and get them back to the castle. Itter Castle was a prison for the Reich's most high-value prisoners, including the sister of Gen. Charles de Gaulle and former French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier.  The Imminent Threat to Itter Castle With the end of the war soon coming, the prisoners had taken control of Castle Itter but knew that Hitler's most fanatical troops, the Waffen-SS, were still fighting – and were still a threat. They were right to be concerned. The 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division was operating in the area, killing military-age males and executing anyone who surrendered to the Allies. They now had their sights set on taking Itter and killing everyone inside. A motley crew of American tankers, French prisoners, German soldiers, and a former SS commander would fight the SS...

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WW2 – D-Day Landings: The 82nd and 101st Airborne

WW2 – D-Day Landings: The 82nd and 101st Airborne

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The amphibious landings of D-Day were hours away when the first combat missions by the US Army started in France. The Normandy invasion, also called Operation Overlord or D-Day, began with a large-scale parachute drop that included 13,100 Soldiers of the 82nd and the 101st Airborne Divisions. During the night in the early hours of June 6th, 1944, the attack occurred and was the vanguard of the Allied operations in Normandy. What Was the Mission of the US 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions on D-Day? The troops were all part of the United States VII Corps assigned to capture Cherbourg, the coastal city in Normandy, and thus project power across the strategically essential Cotentin Peninsula. With Cherbourg secure, it could serve as a supply port for the Allied troops after the landing. They were also tasked with a specific mission: to block approaches into the vicinity of the amphibious landing at Utah Beach, to capture causeway exits off the beaches, and to establish...

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The Revolutionary War – The Battle of Saratoga

The Revolutionary War – The Battle of Saratoga

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The road to the American Revolutionary War - or War of Independence - began in the wake of the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763) when the government of King George III of Great Britain decided that the American colonies should share in the costs associated with the War by adding taxes to common goods, such as sugar, molasses and tea. These attempts were met with increasingly stiff resistance. American colonists claimed they were unconstitutional, suggesting that they deserved to have representation in the British Parliament if they were to shoulder some of the war costs. Taking a harsh response, the British instead used their military to allow their representatives to safely perform their tax collection and other duties. At the time, the loyalties among the colonists were divided. Historians estimate that one-third of colonists supported the American Revolution, one-third sided with the British, and one-third remained neutral about breaking away from British rule. Background of the...

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The Revolutionary War – Washington Crossing the Delaware

The Revolutionary War – Washington Crossing the Delaware

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The American Revolution did not start off the way the Americans had hoped. By Christmas night, 1776, morale was lower than it had ever been. The British Army had captured New York the previous summer, and men were beginning to desert as Washington's Army camped across the Delaware River from occupied Trenton (Washington Crossing the Delaware), New Jersey.  What men Washington had left were largely inexperienced, as most of the veterans from the Battle of Long Island went home when their enlistments were up. Even Washington himself was unsure of the near future. All was not lost, however. He did have a few factors in his favor. For starters, his forces outnumbered those of the Hessian mercenaries who occupied Trenton. He also had a solid intelligence source inside Trenton, providing information on the numbers, movements, and dispositions of the enemy. Washington decided to craft a perfectly-detailed attack that would surprise the Hessians and give the Americans a badly-needed...

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Civil War – The Battle of Shiloh

Civil War – The Battle of Shiloh

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The first year of the American Civil War wasn’t a great one for the Union Army. Losses at places like Bull Run and Ball’s Bluff overshadowed a string of smaller but equally important battles across the country. President Abraham Lincoln’s general-in-chief, George B. McClellan, was highly regarded by his men but was difficult to deal with, increasingly insubordinate, and failed to follow up on his victories.  However, a shining star was beginning to emerge in the Western Theater of the war. Ulysses S. Grant began the war in 1861 as a Colonel but was elevated to command a campaign along the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers by Maj. Gen. John C. Frémont. Grant, it would turn out, had the aggression necessary to take the fight to the rebels. He bloodied the Confederates at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, the two most significant Union victories at the time, forcing the rebels out of Kentucky.  The Battle of Shiloh: The Bloody Turning Point President Lincoln promoted Grant, now...

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Korean War – The Battle of Chipyong-Ni

Korean War – The Battle of Chipyong-Ni

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On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 Soldiers from the North Korean People's Army (NPKA) poured across the 38th parallel and, within days, captured Seoul, the South Korean capital. For two months, the outnumbered South Korean army and the small American force fought numerous battles with NPKA as they withdrew down the Korean peninsula to the Pusan area at the southeast tip of Korea. It was here that they set up a final defensive perimeter where they were able to impede the enemy's advancement. To take the pressure off the continuous attacks by the NKPA, a counteroffensive began on Sept. 15th, when United Nations forces made a daring landing at Incheon on the west coast. The unexpected attack crushed the meager NPKA defenses within a few days, cutting off North Korean supply lines to the south.  U.N. casualties during the Incheon landing and subsequent battles resulted in 566 killed and 2,713 wounded. In the fighting, the NKPA lost more than 35,000 killed and...

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