Today in Military History 13 March

1074 Battle of Mogyoród Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.

1590 Battle of Ivry Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under Charles, Duke of Mayenne, during the French Wars of Religion.

1647 Thirty Years War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm.

1674 The Third Anglo-Dutch War The Battle of Ronas Voe results in the Dutch East India Company ship Wapen van Rotterdam being captured with a death toll of up to 300 Dutch crew and soldiers.

1757 Admiral Sir John Byng is executed by firing squad aboard HMS Monarch for breach of the Articles of War. 

1780 American Revolutionary War Spanish forces capture Fort Charlotte in Mobile, Alabama, the last British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans.

1884  at the Battle of Tamai, Sudan, when both members of the crew of one of the Gatling guns had been killed, Private Edwards, after bayoneting two Arabs and himself receiving a wound from a spear, remained with the gun, defending it throughout the action. His citation reads:

For the conspicuous bravery displayed by him in defence of one of the guns of the Naval Brigade, at the battle of Tamai, on 13th March, 1884. This man (who was attached to the Naval Brigade as Mule Driver) was beside the gun with Lieutenant Almack,.R.N., and a blue jacket. Both the latter were killed, and Edwards, after bayonetting two Arabs, and himself receiving a wound with a spear, rejoined the ranks with his mules, and subsequently did good service in remaining by his gun throughout the action. w

 

1900 At dawn on the 13th March, 1900, the party that had destroyed the railway north of Bloemfontein had to charge through a Boer piquet and get over four deep spruits, in order to make their way back through the Boer lines. At the fourth spruit Sapper Webb's horse failed to get up the bank and he was left in a very dangerous position. In face of a very heavy rifle and shell fire, and, notwithstanding the great chance of being cut off, Sergeant Engleheart returned to Sapper Webb's assistance. It took some time to get the man and his horse out of the sluit and the position became momentarily more critical owing to the advance of the Boers. He was, however, at last successful, and, retiring slowly, to cover Webb's retreat, was able to get him safely back to the party. Shortly before this, Sergeant Engleheart had shown great gallantry in dashing into the first spruit, which could only be reached in single file and was still full of Boers hesitating whether to fly or fire. Had they been given time to rally, they must have destroyed the small party of British, as they outnumbered them by 4 to 1. w

1917  For his actions this day Christopher Cox VC

During the attack of his battalion (the 7th Bedfordshire Regiment) the front wave was checked by the severity of the enemy artillery and machine-gun fire, and the whole line had to take cover in shell holes to avoid annihilation.
Private Cox, utterly regardless of personal safety, went out into the open over fire-swept ground and single-handed rescued four men. Having collected the wounded of his own battalion, he then assisted to bring in the wounded of an adjoining battalion.
On the two subsequent days he carried out similar rescue work with the same disregard of his own safety. He has on all occasions displayed the same high example of unselfishness and valour.  See

1945 The R.A.F. drop the Grand Slam bomb in action for the first time, on a railway viaduct near Bielefeld, Germany.

1951 Korean War: United Nations troops recapture Seoul for the second time.

1961 A USAF B-52 bomber crashes near Yuba City, California whilst carrying nuclear weapons.

1978 The Israel Defense Forces launch Operation Litani, a seven-day campaign to invade and occupy southern Lebanon.

1988 In the Johnson South Reef Skirmish Chinese forces defeat Vietnamese forces in an altercation over control of one of the Spratly Islands.