This week in military history 4/19 - 4/25

Here is this weeks military history!


As you might have noticed, this post is far from complete. I really wanted to put all the military history from this week in here, but it is just too much. So I thought it would be a good idea to instead of reviewing ALL the military events, doing just the battles and skirmishes of the Napoleonic era. This way I am able to write more about certain battles then I'm doing now.



April 19th

1246: The Battle of Haugsnes was fought between the forces of Pórour Kakali Sighvatsson and those of Gissur Porvaldsson at Haugsnes, Northern Iceland. There were 110 casualties in total, but it's still the bloodiest battle ever in Icelandic history. Pórour's clan was victorious.

1775: The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first engagements of the American Revolution. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict. The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising at Lexington. The militia were outnumbered and fell back. At the North Bridge in Concord, 500 militiamen fought and defeated three companies of the British troops. I really like how patriotic the stories are about the American Revolution, I'm always searching for stories from the British point of view about this conflict.

 
1794: The Warsaw Uprising was an armed uprising by the population with support from the Polish army to free Warsaw from the Russian rule. Altough the Russian troops had a larger force, the guerilla tactics used by the militia suprised the garrison and the Russian troops fled while taking heavy losses.

1809: The Battle of Raszyn was fought between armies of the Austrian Empire and the Duchy of Warsaw. The Austrian army, almost twice the size of the Polish army, suffered a minor defeat.

1862: The Battle of South Mills. A minor battle during the American Civil War.

1917: The Second Battle of Gaza was fought during the invasion of the Ottoman Empire. The entrenched Ottoman Army reinforced by substantial forces in a line of strong redoubts were attacked by three infantry divisions supported by two mounted divisions of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. The strength of the defending entrenchments and supporting artillery wiped out the attacking infantry.


April 20th

1744: The Battle of Villafranca was fought during the War of the Austrian Succession(a war that has my interest). The armies of Spain and France, advancing into Kingdom of Sardinia, unsuccessfully attacked entrenched positions at the pass of Villafranca.

1797: The Battle of Neuwied was fought between the French and Austrian army. The French attack surprised their enemies and broke through their lines. Aside from 1,000 men killed and wounded, Austrian losses included at least 3,000 prisoners, 24 artillery pieces and five colors. For their part, the French lost 2,000 men killed, wounded, and captured

1809: The Battle of Abensberg was fought between a Franco-German force under the command of Napoleon and the Austrian corps led by Archduke Louis of Austria. As the day wore on, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann von Hiller arrived with reinforcements to take command of the three corps that formed the Austrian left wing. The action ended in a complete Franco-German victory.

April 21st

1526: The Battle of Panipat was fought between the forces of Babur and the Lodi Empire. It marked the beginning of the Mughal Empire. This was one of the earliest battles involving gunpowder and artillery.

1757: The Battle of Reichenberg was fought between the Prussian corps and the Austrian amry. The Prussians had entered Bohemia and met the Austrians at Reichenberg. Austria had the advantage in numbers but only 10,500 of the 18,000 were present at Reichenberg. The Prussians, 16,000 men strong, won the battle.

1809: The Battle of Landshut was fought between the French and Austrians. The Austrians, though outnumbered against the Bavarian and Württembergers, fought hard until Napoleon arrived, when the battle became a clear French victory.

April 22nd

1573: The Battle of Borsele was fought between a Spanish fleet and a Gueux fleet. The Spanish fleet sailed from the port of Antwerp to try to supply the cities of Middelburg and Arnemuiden, which were besieged by Dutch troops. Only a few Spanish ships managed to reach their objective.

1809: The Battle of Eckmühl was the turning point of the 1809 Campaign. Napoleon was able to defeat the Austrian army and keep the strategic initiative for the remainder of the war.

1915: Start of the Second Battle of Ypres, fought during the First World War between Allied forces and German troops.

April 23rd

1809: The Battle of Ratisbon was fought between the French army and the Austrian corps.The brief defense of the city and installation of a pontoon bridge to the east enabled the retreating Austrian army to escape into Bohemia. During the assault, Napoleon was wounded in his ankle by a small artillery round, but it only caused a bruise. The much larger French army won the battle.



April 24th

1547: The Battle of Mühlberg was a large battle at Mühlberg in Saxony during the Protestant Reformation at which the Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire decisively defeated the Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes. It was a decisive Spanish-Imperial victroy.

1941: The Battle of Greece lasted from April 6th till April 30th. It resulted in a Axis victory and the occupation of Greece.

 April 25th

1607: The naval Battle of Gibraltar took place when a Dutch fleet surprised and engaged a Spanish fleet anchored at the Bay of Gibraltar. During the four hours of action, most of the Spanish fleet was destroyed. Following the destruction of the Spanish ships, the Dutch deployed boats and killed hundreds of swimming Spanish sailors. The Dutch lost 100 men including admiral Van Heemskerk. 60 Dutch were wounded. The Spanish lost most or their entire fleet with more then 4.000 men killed.