Newsletter & Updates

Military History

On 17 Nov 1941, during WWI, Nazi Joseph Goebbels published in the German magazine Das Reich that “The Jews wanted the war, and now they have it”—referring to the Nazi propaganda scheme to shift the blame for the world war onto European Jewry, thereby giving the Nazis a rationalization for the so-called Final Solution.

Legend holds that on 21 Nov 1864, President Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to Lydia Bixby, a widow and mother of five men who had been killed in the Civil War. A copy of the letter was then published in the Boston Evening Transcript on 25 Nov and signed “Abraham Lincoln.” The original letter has never been found. The letter expressed condolences to Mrs. Bixby on the death of her five sons, who had fought to preserve the in the Civil War. The author regretted how “weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming.” He continued with a prayer that “our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement [and leave you] the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.”

On 22 Nov 1963, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president, was assassinated while traveling through , in an open-top convertible. First lady Jacqueline Kennedy rarely accompanied her husband on political outings, but she was beside him, along with Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, for a 10-mile motorcade through the streets of downtown . Sitting in a convertible, the Kennedys and Connallys waved at the large and enthusiastic crowds gathered along the parade route. As their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 pm, Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots from the sixth floor, fatally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor Connally. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at ‘ . He was 46.

On 22 Nov 1942, during WWII, a Soviet counteroffensive against the German armies paid off as the Red Army trapped about a quarter-million German soldiers south of Kalach, on the Don River, within Stalingrad. As the Soviets’ circle tightened, German General Friedrich Paulus requested permission from to withdraw.

On 24 Nov 1863, during the Civil War, Union troops captured Lookout Mountain southwest of Chattanooga as they began to break the Confederate siege of the city. In the “battle above the clouds,” the Yankees scaled the slopes of the mountain on the periphery of the lines.

On 24 Nov 1944, during WWII, 111 US B-29 Superfortress bombers raided Tokyo for the first time since Capt. Jimmy Doolittle’s raid in 1942. Their target: the Nakajima aircraft engine works. Fall 1944 saw the sustained strategic bombing of . It began with a reconnaissance flight over Tokyo by Tokyo Rose, a Superfortress B-29 bomber piloted by Capt. Ralph Steakley, who grabbed over 700 photographs of the bomb sites in 35 minutes. Next, starting the first week of November, came a string of B-29 raids, dropping hundreds of tons of high explosives on , in order to keep the Japanese fighters stationed there on the ground and useless for a counteroffensive. Then came . The awesome raid, composed of 111 Superfortress four-engine bombers, was led by Gen. Emmett “Rosie” O’Donnell, piloting Dauntless Dotty. Press cameramen on site captured the takeoffs of the first mass raid on the Japanese capital ever for posterity. Unfortunately, even with the use of radar, overcast skies and bad weather proved an insurmountable obstacle at 30,000 feet: Despite the barrage of bombs that were dropped, fewer than 50 hit the main target, the Nakajima Aircraft Works, doing little damage. The upside was that at such a great height, the B-29s were protected from counter-attack; only one was shot down.

On 25 Nov 1918, a full two weeks after an armistice ended WWI in Europe, Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck of Germany finally surrendered his forces in German East Africa. A master of guerrilla warfare known for his brave and honorable conduct, Lettow-Vorbeck emerged from the First World War as the only undefeated military commander on either side of the conflict.

On 25 Nov 1941, Adm. Harold Stark, US chief of naval operations, told Adm. Husband Kimmel, commander of our Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, that both President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull think a Japanese surprise attack is a distinct possibility. “We are likely to be attacked next Monday, for the Japs are notorious for attacking without warning,” had informed his Cabinet. “We must all prepare for trouble, possibly soon,” he telegraphed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Kimmel’s command was specifically at the mid-Pacific base at Oahu, which included, Pearl Harbor. At the time he received the “warning” from Stark, he was negotiating with Army Lt. Gen. Walter Short, commander of all forces at Pearl Harbor, about sending US warships out from Pearl Harbor in order to reinforce Wake and Midway Islands, which, along with the , were possible Japanese targets. But the Army had no antiaircraft artillery to spare. War worries had struck because of an intercepted Japanese diplomatic message, which gave November 25 as a deadline of sorts. If Japanese diplomacy had failed to convince the Americans to revoke the economic sanctions against , “things will automatically begin to happen,” the message related. Those “things” were becoming obvious, in the form of Japanese troop movements off apparently toward . In fact, they were headed for , as was the Japanese First Air Fleet. Despite the fact that so many in positions of command anticipated a Japanese attack, especially given the failure of diplomacy (Japan refused US demands to withdraw from both the Axis pact and occupied territories in China and Indochina), no one expected Hawaii as the target.

On 26 Nov 1950, during the Korean War, in some of the fiercest fighting of the Korean War, thousands of communist Chinese troops launch massive counterattacks against US and Republic of Korea (ROK) troops, driving the Allied forces before them and putting an end to any thoughts for a quick or conclusive US victory. When the counterattacks had been stemmed, US and ROK forces had been driven from and the war settled into a grinding and frustrating stalemate for the next two-and-a-half years.

On 26 Nov 1968, during the Vietnam War, while returning to base from another mission, Air Force 1st Lt. James Fleming and four other Bell UH-1F helicopter pilots got an urgent message from an Army Special Forces team pinned down by enemy fire. Although several of the other helicopters had to leave the area because of low fuel, Lieutenant Fleming and another pilot pressed on with the rescue effort. The first attempt failed because of intense ground fire, but refusing to abandon the Army green berets, Fleming managed to land and pick up the team. When he safely arrived at his base near Duc Co, it was discovered that his aircraft was nearly out of fuel. Lieutenant Fleming was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.

On 29 Nov 1947, despite strong Arab opposition, the UN voted for the partition of Palestine and the creation of an independent Jewish state. The modern conflict between Jews and Arabs in dates back to the 1910s, when both groups laid claim to the British-controlled territory. The Jews were Zionists, recent emigrants from Europe and who came to the ancient homeland of the Jews to establish a Jewish national state. The native Palestinian Arabs sought to stem Jewish immigration and set up a secular Palestinian state.

On 30 Nov 1950, President Harry Truman announced during a press conference that he was prepared to authorize the use of atomic weapons in order to achieve peace in Korea. At the time of Truman’s announcement, communist had joined North Korean forces in their attacks on United Nations troops, including US soldiers, who were trying to prevent communist expansion into . Truman blamed the Soviet Union for using communist Chinese insurgents as part of a devious plan to spread communism into and pledged to “increase our defenses to a point where we can talk—as we should always talk—with authority.” The press then asked what Truman planned to do if the Chinese Nationalists, who were already struggling against the spread of communism in their own country, failed to get involved in the Korean conflict. Truman responded that the would take “whatever steps were necessary” to contain communist expansion in . A reporter asked “Will that include the atomic bomb?” to which Truman replied, “That includes every weapon that we have.”

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