November 23 in U.S. military history
1863:The battles of the Chattanooga campaign begin between newly appointed commander of the Western armies, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg.
Within days, Union Army forces will attack and capture Orchard Knob, Lookout Mountain, and the Confederate works on Missionary Ridge. The “Gateway to the Lower South” will open, and within a year, Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman will pass through the “gateway” en route to Atlanta.
1943: Japanese-held Tarawa falls to American forces despite the boast of its defending commander, Rear Adm. Keiji Shibasaki, that “a million men could not take Tarawa in a hundred years.” It takes several thousand Marines and about 76 hours to seize Tarawa (featured image). 100 miles to the north, Makin Island is also declared secure.
1944: The Seventh Army, commanded by Gen. Alexander Patch, captures Strasbourg, France. 40 miles to the west, 1st Lt. Edward A. Silk charges 150 yards across open terrain to single-handedly silence a German machine-gun position that had halted his battalion near Moyenmoutier. Lt. Silk then neutralizes a second machine gun nest, then captures a dozen German soldiers who were firing from a farmhouse. For his near-suicidal attack he is awarded the Medal of Honor.
1972: Peace talks between the US and North Vietnam secretly resume in Paris, but quickly reach an impasse.
“A Marine from 1st Marine Division uses a flamethrower to clear a path through what was once a thick jungle in Tarawa – 1943” There was no ‘jungle’ on Tarawa. It was a flat island covered in palm trees. I’ve seen many pictures of the Marines on Tarawa and never saw that one. That picture looks like Okinawa.
Thanks for pointing that out.
1961: The world’s first nuclear-powered ship, the USS Constitution (CVN-65) is commissioned.
it was the USS Enterprise (CVN 65).