June 6 1586 Francis Drake's forces raid St. Augustine in Spanish Florida.
June 6 1762 Seven Years' War: British forces begin a siege of Havana, Cuba, and temporarily capture the city in the Battle of Havana.
June 6 1813 – War of 1812: Battle of Stoney Creek: A British force of 700 under John Vincent defeats an American force twice its size under William Winder and John Chandler.
June 6 1862 American Civil War: Battle of Memphis: Union forces capture Memphis, Tennessee, from the Confederates.
June 6 1909 French troops capture Abéché (in modern-day Chad) and install a puppet sultan in the Ouaddai Empire.
June 6 1918 World War I: Battle of Belleau Wood: The U.S. Marine Corps suffers its worst single day's casualties while attempting to recapture the wood at Château-Thierry.
June 6 1942 World War II: Battle of Midway. U.S. Navy dive bombers sink the Japanese cruiser Mikuma and four Japanese carriers.
June 6 1944 World War II: The Allied invasion of Normandy—codenamed Operation Overlord—begins with the execution of Operation Neptune (commonly referred to as D-Day), the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The Allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history.
June 6 1944 CSM Stanley Hollis won the Victoria Cross for his actions on D Day
in Normandy on 6 June 1944 Company Sergeant-Major Hollis went with his
company commander to investigate two German pill-boxes which had been
by-passed as the company moved inland from the beaches. "Hollis
instantly rushed straight at the pillbox, firing his Sten gun
into the first pill-box, He jumped on top of the pillbox, re-charged
his magazine, threw a grenade in through the door and fired his Sten gun
into it, killing two Germans and taking the remainder prisoners.
Later the same day... C.S.M. Hollis pushed right forward to engage the [field] gun with a PIAT
[anti-tank weapon] from a house at 50 yards range... He later found
that two of his men had stayed behind in the house...In full view of,
the enemy who were continually firing at him, he went forward
alone...distract their attention from the other men. Under cover of his
diversion, the two men were able to get back.
Wherever the fighting was heaviest...[he]...appeared, displaying the utmost gallantry... It was largely through his heroism and resource that the Company's objectives were gained and casualties were not heavier. ....he saved the lives of many of his men
June 6th 1944 In Burma, at Ningthouk soon after midnight on the night of 6th/7th June, 1944, an attack was made by a strong force of Japanese with medium and light machine guns. In the first instance the attack largely fell on the south-west corner of the position which was held by a weak platoon of about twenty men of which Sergeant Turner was one of the section commanders. By creeping up under cover of a nullah [a stream or watercourse], the enemy was able to use grenades with deadly effect against this portion of the perimeter. Three out of the four light machine guns in the platoon were destroyed and the platoon was forced to give ground.
Sergeant Turner, with coolness and fine leadership, at once reorganised his party and withdrew forty yards. The enemy made determined and repeated attempts to dislodge them and concentrated all fire they could produce in an effort to reduce the position and so extend the penetration. Sustained fire was kept upon Sergeant Turner and his dwindling party by the enemy for a period of two hours. The enemy, however, achieved no further success in this sector. Sergeant Turner with a doggedness and spirit of endurance of the highest order repelled all their attacks, and it was due entirely to his leadership that the position was ultimately held during the night.
June 6 1971 A midair collision between a Hughes Airwest Douglas DC-9 jetliner and a United States Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II jet fighter near Duarte, California, claims 50 lives.
June 6 1971 Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Khanh between Australian and Vietnamese communist forces begins.
June 6 1982 The Lebanon War begins. Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon during Operation Peace for the Galilee, eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.
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