WebMaster's Corner July 2017

First, a few important military events:

1 July 1863 – the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac, were gathered in late June in and around the town of Gettysburg, The great battle, named after the town, began with a small fight between the forces of Confederate Major General Buford and Union General Ambrose Powell Hill in front of Cemetery Hill. The battle went on for two more days and by the evening of 3 July the Confederate army began its retreat to Virginia. During the costly three days the Union casualties were: 3,070 soldiers killed, 14,497 wounded, and 5,434 captured or missing. The Confederates suffered 2,592 deaths, 12,706 wounded, and 5,150 captured or missing. Gettysburg had important psychological effects, demoralizing the South because they never again were able to carry the war that far north.

1 July 1916 – Battle of the Somme (July-Nov 1916) began at 0730 hours when the British Expeditionary Forces’ leading battalions went “over the top.” The troops had been told to expect a “piece of cake” as most of the opposing force had been killed by the prior week-long Artillery barrage. The British planners were dead wrong; the British Tommies offered unspeakable sacrifice—an estimated one million men died before the battle ended without consequence in November. (French 195,000; British 420,000; and German 650,000.)

1 July 1920 - The Finance Department was created by law. It became the Finance Corps in 1950.

2 July 1926 - The Air Corps Act was enacted. The legislation changed the name of the Air Service to the Air Corps, "thereby strengthening the conception of military aviation as an offensive, striking arm rather than an auxiliary service. See more at this URL: http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/PopTopics/aircorpsact.htm

15 July 1918 - During the Battle of the Marne in World War I, German General Erich Ludendorff launched Germany's fifth, and last, offensive to break through the Chateau-Thierry salient. However, the Germans were stopped by American, British and Italian divisions. On July 18, General Foch, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied troops, launched a massive counter-offensive. The Germans began a retreat lasting four months until they requested an armistice in November.

25 July 1945 – General Thomas T. Handy, Acting Chief of Staff of the Army, orders General Carl Spaatz, CG, USA Strategic Air Forces, to “deliver its first special bomb as soon as weather will permit visual bombing after about 3 August 1945 on one of the targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata and Nagasaki.”

27 July 1775 - First U.S. Army Paymaster is appointed in a letter from John Adams to James Warren (a civilian):

27 July 1953 - Korean War cease-fire signed by Lieutenant General Nam Il and Lieutenant General William K. Harrison at 1000 hours at Panmunjom. About 12 hours later the fighting ended.

28 July1914 – Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. The Great War (World War I) begins — a global war eventually involving 32 nations. The aggregate direct war costs of all the belligerents amounted to about $186 billion. Casualties in the land forces amounted to more than 37 million; in addition, close to 10 million deaths among the civilian populations were caused indirectly by the war.