9th Apr 1731

War between Britain and Spain begins, Captain Robert Jenkins loses and ear to Spanish brigands. War is known as ‘The War of Jenkins’ Ear.

9th Apr 1770

Botany Bay on the Australian continent is discovered by Captain Cook

9th Apr 1916

At the Battle of Verdun the German army launches its third offensive.

9th Apr 1917

Canadian troops begin a massive assault on Vimy Ridge, The Battles of Arras.

9th Apr 1940

Norway and Denmark are invaded by Germany.

9th Apr 1942

American and Filipino forces overwhelmed by the Japanese army in the Battle of Bataan.

9th Apr 1945

On the outskirts of Berlin the Red Army is repulsed at the Seelow Heights.

9th Apr 1959

Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper Jr, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr, Alan Shepard Jr and Donald Slayton are introduced as America’s first astronauts.

9th Apr 1970

The official break-up of the Beetles is announced by Paul McCartney

9th Apr 2003

The Statue of Saddam Hussein is pulled down, US tanks roll into the centre of Baghdad.

Regards

Alan

11th Apr 1814

Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.

11th Apr 1941

Coventry is blitzed by German bombers

11th Apr 1945

The Red Army finall takes the Seelow Heights north of Berlin.

11th Apr 1951

General MacArthur is fired as head of United Nations forces in Korea.

11th Apr 1961

The trial of Adolf Eichman begins in Israel.

11th Apr 1970

Apollo 13 is launched from Cape Kennedy.

11th Apr 1982

Naval Blockade with a 200 mile radius on the Falkland Isles is imposed by Britain.

Regards

Alan

13th Apr 1919

Hundreds of Indian nationalists are killed by British forces in the Amritsar Massacre.

13th Apr 1941

Belgrade is captured by German troops.

13th Apr 1945

Vienna falls to Soviet troops.

13th Apr 1960

The first navigational satellite is successfully launched into orbit.

13th Apr 1970

Moon landing by Apollo 13 is aborted when an oxygen tank explodes jeopardizing the lives of the 3 man crew.

Regards

Alan

15th Apr 1912

Titanic sinks at 2.27 am in the North Atlantic.

15th Apr 1917

At the Battle of Arras the Germans are defeated by the British.

15th Apr 1940

British and French troops land at Narvik, Nortway.

15th Apr 1945

Belsen Concentration Camp is liberated by British troops.

15th Apr 1952

The official Japanese peace treaty is signed by Harry Truman.

15th Apr 1986

Libya is attacked by US warplanes.

15th Apr 1989

At least 200 injured and 96 crushed in the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster.

15th Apr 2010

Volcanic eruption in Iceland causes flights to be cancelled due to volcanic ash.

Regards

Alan

17th Apr 1808

Decree by Napoleon Bonaparte orders US Ships to be seized.

17th Apr 1950

The US accuses the Soviets of shoot down a US Plane over the Baltic sea.

17th Apr 1951

British submarine Affray goes missing off the south coast of England.

17th Apr 1961

1400 Cuban exiles attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro, attacking the Bay
of Pigs.

17th Apr 1964

New Mustang is unveiled at the New York World Fair by the Ford Motor Co.

17th Apr 1970

Crew of Apollo 13 lands safely back on Earth.

17th Apr 1975

Khmer Rouge capture Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Regards

Alan

19th Apr 1775

Fighting breaks out at Lexington, Massachusetts, the start of the American Revolution.

19th Apr 1861

4 Union soldiers and nine civilians killed in the Baltimore riots.

19th Apr 1938

Victory in the Spanish Civil War is declared by General Francisco Franco.

19th Apr 1943

The Warsaw Ghetto uprising begins

19th Apr 1971

Russia launches its first Salyut space station.

19th Apr 1989

Number 2 turret on the USS Iowa explodes

19th Apr 1993

FBI storms the Branch Davidian cult headquarters in Waco, Texas

19th Apr 1995

168 killed as a truck bomb explodes in front of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Regards

Alan

21st Apr 1898

Spanish-American war begins

21st Apr 1914

Vera Cruz, Mexico occupied by US Marines.

21st Apr 1918

Baron Von Richthofen, The Red Baron is shot down and killed.

21st Apr 1941

German bombers drop fire bombs on Plymouth.

21st Apr 1943

Several Doolittle pilots executed by the Japanese.

21st Apr 1945

The Red Army enter the outskirts of Berlin.

21st Apr 1989

100,000 students gather to protest in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.

Regards

Alan

Hi Alan, thought you might like this - first hand account of the Plymouth Fire bombing from my old boss' autobiography (which I helped him write! )

Robin

"We did have hundreds of incendiaries landing all around us which we had to run about putting out, they would fall out of the skies sounding just like hail stones as they bounced off the roofs and walls dropping to the ground, some would go off at once, some would not. We had buckets of sand all put ready to extinguish them as quickly as possible because as well as causing fires they also lit the place up so Jerry could see us so that was urgent. Later on in the blitz the Germans developed a nasty incendiary which was designed with an explosive charge meant to explode after it had burned for three minutes to try and get the fire watchers and air raid wardens who were putting them out. So the authorities told us to be careful and not to approach the bomb if it had been burning for more than three minutes. How on earth were we supposed to know how long it had been burning?, rushing around putting them out, dodging the shrapnel, we couldn’t know how long they had been going so we just put them out anyway and hoped for the best. We managed to get away with it so that was good.
I had an incendiary bomb up until the 1970’s, it was one that hadn’t exploded and I kept it as a souvenir but during one of Dad’s clear outs at Goodamoor he found it and decided to hand it in to the police, much to my regret. My mate Freddy found one during the war and, being Freddy, decided to try and get the end cap off to get the gunpowder out. He was sat on the doorstep of his house with the incendiary on his lap trying to lever the cap off when the thing detonated blowing him backwards, burning his legs and making a right old mess of his steps. He got into a fair bit of trouble from his Dad and others for that little escapade! Freddy was a mad chap but he’s still alive and he’s still mad!"

Ellis B Daw

22nd Apr 1898

The USS Nashville takes on a Spanish Ship in the first action of the Spanish-American war.

22nd Apr 1915

During the 2nd battle of Ypres the Germans us poison gas.

22nd Apr 1918


At the Battle of Zeebrugge British naval forces attempt to sink ships to block German U-boat bases.

22nd Apr 1938

Japn launched a second offensive in the Shantung offensive against China.

22nd Apr 1944

Major attack by the Allies is launched again the Japanese in Hollandia, New Guinea.

Regards

Alan

24th Apr 1877

War is declared by Russia on the Ottoman Empire.

24th Apr 1898

Spain rejects an ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba and declares war on the United States.

24th Apr 1916

Easter Uprising against British occupation is launched by Irish nationalists.

24th Apr 1948

The Berlin airlift begins

24th Apr 1980

A plane collides with a helicopter in the Iranian desert thwarting a rescue attempt of US hostages held in Iran.

24th Apr 1990

Space shuttle Discovery launched the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit.

24th Apr 1993

Massive bomb explodes in a parked van in Bishopsgate, heart of the city of London.

Regards

Alan