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Battlefield Chronicles

Civil War – The Battle of Atlanta

Civil War – The Battle of Atlanta

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In the summer of 1864, the Confederate States of America was reeling from a series of defeats that would ultimately lead to its demise. Despite the Union victory at Gettysburg in 1863 that turned the Army of Northern Virginia back and the capture of Vicksburg that gave the Union control of the Mississippi River, the outcome of the Civil War was anything but assured.  After leading the Union Army at the Siege of Vicksburg and his subsequent win at Chattanooga, Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General and given overall command of the Union Armies. With the Confederacy now split in two, Grant took over command of the Army of the Potomac while command of the Western Theater fell to Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman.  In the spring of 1864, Grant decided to launch simultaneous offensives all along the Confederate lines in an effort to exhaust the Confederacy's resources and its ability to prolong the war. For Sherman, this meant engaging Confederate Gen. Joseph E....

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The Revolutionary War – The Penobscot Expedition

The Revolutionary War – The Penobscot Expedition

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The U.S. Navy has had its wins and losses since its birthday on Oct. 13, 1775. Its victories are too numerous to count. While its losses are few and far between, two devastating losses stand out among all the others.  Its most memorable significant loss is, of course, a day that continues to live in infamy. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor devastated the Navy's Pacific Fleet but did not cripple it. The Navy's first-ever significant is on par with Pearl Harbor but is often forgotten: The ill-fated Penobscot Expedition.  The Ill-fated Penobscot Expedition In 1779, the Revolutionary War was in full swing. An American victory over British forces at Saratoga in 1777 brought recognition of the 13 American colonies from European powers like France and Spain. France allied itself with the new country, and the British Empire was forced to alter its strategy for dealing with the rebels.  A British force under Gen. Francis McLean captured a large portion of Maine, then part of...

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War in Afghanistan – The Fall Of Kandahar

War in Afghanistan – The Fall Of Kandahar

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After the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul, and Herat, Kandahar was the last major city under Taliban control. Kandahar was where the Taliban movement had originated and where its power base was located, so it was assumed that capturing Kandahar would be difficult. The city fell after several weeks of fighting to a force of local militia under Pashtun military commanders and their American advisers.  First Wave Of Aerial Attacks Against The Taliban In preparation for the attack of Kandahar, the first wave of aerial attacks against the Taliban was launched on October 7, 2001, at 6:30 pm local time. A group of United States Air Force (USAF) bombers consisting of five B-1s and ten B-52s took off from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. They were complemented by twenty-five United States Navy (USN) F-14s and F/A-18s strike aircraft from the aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson and USS Enterprise in the North Arabian Sea. The Royal Air Force (RAF) and USAF provided L-1011s, KC-135, and KC-10s to...

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The Men Who Fought in the Battle of Belleau Wood

The Men Who Fought in the Battle of Belleau Wood

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In June of 1918, a fierce battle was waged at Belleau Wood, an ancient hunting-reserve of old-growth oaks, surrounded by wheat fields, located about 60 miles outside of Paris. The Germans were launching their spring offensive to overwhelm the Allies before they were fortified by fresh American troops. The Americans were arriving at a rate of about 250,000 per month. The Battle of Belleau Wood has since achieved near-mythic status in U.S. military history, particularly for the U.S. Marines. Founded in 1775 during the American Revolution, the U.S. Marines Corps had a reputation for discipline, excellent marksmanship, and, as the Germans would find out at Belleau Woods, tenacity. During the Great War, they were also very young. A The New York Times article from July 1918 cites a report stating that "nearly one-third of the recruits obtained by the Marine Corps since the United States entered the war were under twenty-one years of age." The article goes on to quote Secretary of the Navy...

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WW1 – Battle of Saint-Mihiel

WW1 – Battle of Saint-Mihiel

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The United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, when it declared war on Germany. The declaration came after a series of provocative acts from the German military and diplomatic corps. U.S. troops arrived in Europe by June 1917 but were largely ill-prepared for the kind of fighting taking place on the western front.  Preparation for the Saint-Mihiel Battle For months, American soldiers were used to augment French and British forces in Europe. As training improved and the number of veteran U.S. troops increased, Americans reasserted control of their forces. By September 1918, Gen. John J. Pershing had taken command of the American First Army and would lead them into combat at Saint-Mihiel.  Pershing was leading the largest American offensive operation ever assembled for combat in the first time American troops were deployed to defend a foreign country.  The Germans had captured Saint-Mihiel early on in the war, and its position cut a hole in the French Army’s line of...

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The Battle of New Orleans

The Battle of New Orleans

The War of 1812 held a lot of meaning for the young United States. It was an assertion of its independence from Great Britain, a demand to be recognized and respected as a nation of the world, and it was a chance to show that the U.S. would assert itself militarily if the need arose.  What most people, even Americans, remember about the War of 1812 (aside from the burning of the White House) is that the conflict was fought to a draw. Very little tangibly changed following nearly three years of war - not a bad outcome for a young country fighting what was arguably the world’s greatest power at the time.  Background of The Battle of New Orleans The real, lasting outcome of the war actually came after the war’s end: the Battle of New Orleans. Neither side knew that a peace treaty had been signed, but the battle was still important, as American determination and skill in combat forced the British to abide by the terms of the treaty.  It also ensured that New Orleans,...

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The Battle of the Alamo

The Battle of the Alamo

Few battles in American history resound so powerfully in our collective memory as that of the Alamo. The Battle of the Alamo had everything we could ever want in an epic story. It featured a handful of defenders fighting for freedom, facing down an overwhelming but cruel enemy, and among those defenders were some of America's most legendary names.  When the defenders of the Alamo were killed to the last man, it inspired a country to take up arms and win their freedom, lest they all meet the same fate. The Texians who fought at the Alamo may not have won the battle, but their sacrifice helped win the war and freedom for their country.  Background of the Battle of the Alamo For years before the battle, Texas enjoyed a swell of population and the autonomy to grow far from the heavy hand of government from Mexico City. When General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna came to power in 1832 and changed all that. By 1835, he consolidated power and tried to rule through a more centralized...

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Vietnam War – Battle of Ngok Tavak & Kham Duc

Vietnam War – Battle of Ngok Tavak & Kham Duc

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Kham Duc Special Forces Camp (A-105), was located on the western fringes of Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam. In the spring of 1968, it was the only remaining border camp in Military Region I. Backup responsibility for the camp fell on the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal), based at Chu Lai on the far side of the province. The camp had originally been built for President Diem, who enjoyed hunting in the area. The 1st Special Forces Detachment (A-727B) arrived in September 1963 and found the outpost to be an ideal border surveillance site with an existing airfield. The camp was located on a narrow grassy plain surrounded by rugged, virtually uninhabited jungle. The only village in the area, located across the airstrip, was occupied by post dependents, camp followers, and merchants. The camp and airstrip were bordered by the Ngok Peng Bum ridge to the west and Ngok Pe Xar mountain, looming over Kham Duc to the east. Steeply banked streams full of rapids and waterfalls cut through the...

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Korean War – Firefight at Outpost 3 (1952)

Korean War – Firefight at Outpost 3 (1952)

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"There were 80 of us on that hill when an estimated 600-800 Chinese hit us hard that night. Sixty-six of us were killed, wounded or missing."PFC Edgar "Bart"Dauberman, USMC "Easy"Company, 2d Battalion 5th Marines  In the spring of 1952, General James A. Van Fleet, USA, Commander, 8th United States Army in Korea and supreme commander of all Allied Forces in Korea, undertook one of the most audacious operations in the history of warfare. With his Army fully engaged against Chinese and North Korean communists across the Korean peninsula, General Van Fleet completely realigned his entire force. Dubbed Operation Mixmaster, thousands of men and vehicles and thousands upon thousands of tons of supplies and equipment were shuttled hundreds of miles to new positions over a period of more than one week. It was a daringly unprecedented operation, and the Chinese and North Koreans, who could have ruined it all, were caught flatfooted. For Major General John T. Selden's First Marine...

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War in the Pacific – The Battle of Manila

War in the Pacific – The Battle of Manila

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On February 3, 1945, American forces entered the outskirts of Manila, capital of the Philippines, beginning the Battle of Manila, a ferocious and destructive urban battle against the Japanese that would leave Manila the second-hardest hit Allied capital (following Warsaw) of World War II.  American Troops Were Able to Rapidly Advance to Manila As part of his campaign to retake the Philippines from the Japanese (who had captured it from the Americans in 1942), General Douglas MacArthur first invaded the island of Leyte and then moved on to the island of Luzon, the largest of the Philippine islands and home to the capital, Manila.  American troops were able to rapidly advance to Manila, leading MacArthur to believe it would be a relatively easy fight. They entered the city limits on February 3, quickly liberating Allied (mostly American) POWs and civilians from their incarceration at the University of Santo Tomas and Bilibid Prison. However, Japanese forces dug in and put up a fierce...

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Custer’s Last Stand

Custer’s Last Stand

In 1868, many Lakota leaders of the Sioux nation agreed to a treaty, known as the Fort Laramie Treaty that created a large reservation for them in the western half of present-day South Dakota. They agreed to give up their nomadic life, which often brought them into conflict with other tribes in the region, with settlers, and with railroad surveyors, in exchange for a more stationary life relying on government-supplied subsidies. However, some Lakota leaders such as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse rejected the reservation system. Likewise, many roving bands of hunters and warriors did not sign the 1868 treaty and consequently felt no obligation to conform to its restrictions or to limit their hunting to the unseeded hunting land assigned by the treaty. Their sporadic forays off the designated lands continually brought them into conflict with settlers and enemy tribes outside the treaty boundaries. In 1874, the tension between the U.S. and the Lakota escalated when U.S. Army troops were...

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WW2 – Bataan and Corregidor

WW2 – Bataan and Corregidor

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Within hours of their December 7, 1941, attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the Japanese military began its assault on the Philippines, bombing airfields and bases, harbors and shipyards. Manila, the capital of the Philippines, sits on Manila Bay, one of the best deep-water ports in the Pacific Ocean, and it was, for the Japanese, a perfect resupply point for their planned conquest of the southern Pacific. After the initial air attacks, 43,000 men of the Imperial Japanese 14th Army went ashore on December 22 at two points on the main Philippine island of Luzon. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the supreme commander of all Allied forces in the Pacific, cabled Washington, D.C., that he was ready to repel this main invasion force with 130,000 troops of his own. Bataan Death March For whatever reason, MacArthur's claim that many troops were in error. In fact, his force consisted of tens of thousands of ill-trained and ill-equipped Filipino reservists and some 22,000...

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