Today In Military History April 8th

1740   War of Jenkins' Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate Princesa, taken into service as HMS Princess.

1864    American Civil War: Battle of Mansfield: Union forces are thwarted by the Confederate army at Mansfield, Louisiana.

1866     Italy and Prussia ally against the Austrian Empire.

1942      World War II: Siege of Leningrad: Soviet forces open a much-needed railway link to Leningrad.

1942      World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.

2013 The Islamic State of Iraq enters the Syrian Civil War and begins by declaring a merger with the Al-Nusra Front under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham.