Daniel Orr's Blog, page 112

December 24, 1943 –World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander

On December 24, 1943, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was
named Supreme Allied Commander. Then in February 1944, he was appointed as the Supreme
Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). He was charged with
the planning and execution of the Allied landings on the Normandy coast under Operation Overlord.

The Normandy landings.

(Taken from Normandy Landings – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

On June 6, 1944 (also called D-Day), the Allied 21st Army
Group launched Operation Overlord, the invasion of the French coast of Normandy.  The operation was delayed by one day from its
earlier planned June 5 because of a storm in the English
Channel.  A lull in the
inclement weather encouraged General Dwight D. Eisenhower, over-all commander
of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF), to proceed with
the invasion.  Meanwhile in northern France, the bad weather lulled German
authorities into believing that no invasion could take place, and on June 6, at
the time of the Normandy
landings, many high-ranking German commanders were away from their posts and
participating in military exercises elsewhere.

The invasion began with British and American parachute and
glider units making overnight landings in Normandy on the flanks of the target area,
and securing bridges, exit routes, and capturing other key objectives.  In the early morning of June 6, Allied air
and naval units launched a massive bombardment of the Normandy coast and the immediate interior,
which was followed by the landing of the ground forces.  With a massive supporting naval armada of
some 7,000 vessels, including 1,200 warships, 4,100 transports, and many
hundreds of auxiliary vessels, Allied land forces ferried by amphibious landing
crafts hit the Normandy coast at five points: in the western sector, U.S. forces
in the beaches codenamed Utah and Omaha, and in the eastern sector, the British
at the beaches named Gold and Sword, and the Canadians at Juno.

The British and Canadians established beachheads after
meeting only moderate German resistance, while U.S.
forces at Utah
beach at the extreme right, facing the weakest resistance of all the sectors,
also easily gained a foothold.  At Omaha beach, U.S. forces met fierce enemy fire
and suffered heavy casualties from the entrenched defenders occupying the high ground
overlooking the beach.  The Germans at Omaha Beach
also comprised the veteran 352nd Infantry Division, the strongest formation in Normandy.  Here, the Americans faced the real danger of
being thrown back into the sea.  The
rapid landing of more troops and tanks, and more decisively, the bombardment of
German positions by Allied warships and planes allowed the Omaha situation to ease by mid-day.  By the end of D-Day (June 6), four of the
five beachheads were secured, while Omaha
was still being cleared and consolidated, and also still subject to distant
enemy artillery fire.

Although the Allies had cause for optimism, they had failed
to achieve their pre-invasion objectives for Day 1, that of establishing a
beachhead up to a distance of 6–10 miles (10–16 km) inland, of linking up the
three central beachheads, and capturing the towns of Caen, Saint-Lo, and
Bayeux.  In the following days, the
Allies expanded their beachheads, and on June 9, 1944, two artificial harbors
towed from England became
operational in Normandy,
one each in the American and British-Canadian sectors, where large numbers of
troops, equipment, and supplies were unloaded. 
The Allied plan was to fortify and then expand their positions faster
than the Germans could send reinforcements to Normandy. 
On June 7, 1944, the British and Canadian sectors linked up, joined the
next day with the American-held Omaha beachhead,
and on June 11, by the Utah
sector – a continuous Allied frontline thus was established.  The delay in the link-up by the Utah sector resulted
from the Germans receiving reinforcements there and mounting a determined stand
against American attempts to expand the beachhead.

On D-Day, the Allies landed some 130,000–156,000
troops.  By June 11, this number had
grown to 330,000 troops, including 150,000 vehicles and 570,000 tons of
supplies.  By July 4, Allied troops
landed were one million, which now included French, Polish, Dutch, Belgian,
Czech, and Greek units.  By then, the
Allies held an overwhelming superiority in manpower and weapons over the
Germans, and had achieved full mastery of the skies over France and
water lanes along the French northern coast.

The Allied landings experienced a major, temporary setback
when a powerful storm struck the French coast on June 19–22, 1944 that
completely destroyed the artificial harbor in the American sector, as well as
sank or beached hundreds of Allied ships and destroyed some 140,000 tons of
supplies.  As a result, the Allies scaled
back or temporarily stopped all combat operations due to a shortage of
ammunition and supplies.

Operation Overlord caught the Germans completely by
surprise, which indicated the overwhelming success of the Allied deception
strategy under Operation Bodyguard. 
Allied planners believed that the sheer number of invasion ships
steaming across the English Channel would
surely be detected by the Germans within a few hours, and thus were astonished
that German intelligence had failed miserably. 
Even after the landings had taken place and for many weeks thereafter, Hitler
continued to believe that Normandy was merely a diversion for the main attack
at Pas de Calais, and refused to allow the armored reserves be brought to
Normandy, as requested by General Gerd von Rundstedt, commander of German
forces in the West, who by late June 1944, was convinced that the Normandy
landings were indeed the main Allied attack. 
German forces at Normandy
did launch a number of sporadic counter-attacks, including a major thrust on
D-Day that advanced to the coast at Lue-sur-Mer.  But lacking reinforcements and air and
artillery support, these German counter-attacks were easily repulsed.

Following D-Day, the Allies rapidly extended their Normandy beachheads and
continued to push back the Germans.  On
June 7, 1944 (D-Day + 1), an advance by Canadian forces toward Caen was stopped decisively by the Germans
north of the town.  One week later, on
June 13, an attack by British armor toward Villers-Bocage was repulsed with
heavy losses by German panzers.  And in
late June 1944, a British attempt to outflank Caen also failed to achieve a
breakthrough.  The Germans concentrated
their forces in the western sector, particularly in the defense of Caen, since its capture would allow an Allied breakout
into the open plains of northwest France, where the sheer weight of
Allied manpower and weapons would be overwhelming.

December 23, 1956 – Britain and France withdraw from Egypt, ending the Suez Crisis

On December 23, 1956, Britain and France withdrew their forces from Egypt.  As a result of strong diplomatic pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union, in March 1957, Israel also withdrew its troops from occupied portions of the Sinai Peninsula, which then were retaken by the Egyptian forces.  In exchange for the Israeli troop withdrawal, Egypt re-opened the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and allowed the demilitarization of the Sinai.  As a consequence of the Suez Crisis, the UN sent peacekeepers to the Suez Canal and the Sinai Peninsula.

The Suez Crisis was a war between Egypt against the alliance of Britain, France, and Israel for control of the politically and economically vital Suez Canal, a man-modified shipping channel that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

(Taken from Suez Crisis – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background

The Suez Canal in Egypt is a man-made shipping waterway that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea (Map 7).  The Suez Canal was completed by a French engineering firm in 1869 and thereafter became the preferred shipping and trade route between Europe and Asia, as it considerably reduced the travel time and distance from the previous circuitous route around the African continent.  Since 1875, the facility was operated by an Anglo-French private conglomerate.  By the twentieth century, nearly two-thirds of all oil tanker traffic to Europe passed through the Suez Canal.

In the late 1940s, a wave of nationalism swept across Egypt, leading to the overthrow of the ruling monarchy and the establishment of a republic.  In 1951, intense public pressure forced the Egyptian government to abolish the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of
1936, although the agreement was yet to expire in three years.

With the rise in power of the Egyptian nationalists led by Gamal Abdel Nasser (who later became president in 1956), Britain agreed to withdraw its military forces from Egypt after both countries signed the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement of 1954.  The last British troops left Egypt in June
1956.  Nevertheless, the agreement allowed the British to use its existing military base located near the Suez Canal for seven years and the possibility of its extension if Egypt was attacked by a foreign power.  The Anglo-Egyptian Agreement of 1954 and foreign control of the Suez Canal were resented by many Egyptians, especially the nationalists, who believed that their country was still under semi-colonial rule and not truly sovereign.

Furthermore, President Nasser was hostile to Israel, which had dealt the Egyptian Army a crushing defeat in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.  President Nasser wanted to start another war with Israel.  Conversely, the Israeli government believed that Egypt was behind the terrorist activities that were being carried out in Israel.  The Israelis also therefore were ready to go to war against Egypt to put an end to the terrorism.

Egypt and Israel sought to increase their weapons stockpiles through purchases from their main suppliers, the United States, Britain, and France.  The three Western powers, however, had agreed among themselves to make arms sales equally and only in limited quantities to Egypt and Israel, to prevent an arms race.

Friendly relations between Israel and France,
however, were moving toward a military alliance.  By early 1955, France was sending large quantities of weapons to Israel.  In Egypt, President Nasser was indignant at the Americans’ conditions to sell him arms: that the weapons were not to be used against Israel, and that U.S. advisers were to be allowed into Egypt.  President Nasser, therefore, approached the
Soviet Union, which agreed to support Egypt militarily.  In September 1955, large amounts of Soviet weapons began to arrive in Egypt.

The United States and Britain were infuriated.  The Americans believed that Egypt was falling under
the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, their Cold War enemy.  Adding to this perception was that Egypt recognized Red China.  Meanwhile, Britain felt
that its historical dominance in the Arab region was being undermined.  The United States and Britain withdrew their earlier promise to President Nasser to fund his ambitious project, the construction of the massive Aswan Dam.

Egyptian troops then seized the Suez Canal, which President Nasser immediately nationalized with the purpose of using the profits from its operations to help build the Aswan Dam.  President Nasser ordered the Anglo-French firm operating the Suez Canal to leave; he also terminated the firm’s contract, even though its 99-year lease with Egypt still was due to expire in 12 years, in 1968.

The British and French governments were angered by Egypt’s seizure of the Suez Canal.  A few days later, Britain and France decided to take armed action: their military leaders met and began to prepare for an invasion of Egypt.  In September 1956, France and Israel also jointly prepared for war against Egypt.

The three countries had various reasons for wanting to start the war.  Britain and France wanted to regain control of the Suez Canal.  The British wanted to reassert itself in the region.  The French were embroiled in a colonial war in Algeria against rebels whom they believed were being funded by President Nasser.  Israel wanted to stop the local terrorism which it attributed to Egypt’s instigation.  Furthermore, Israeli commercial vessels were blocked from entering the Suez Canal after Egypt seized
the waterway.

December 22, 1948 – Arab-Israeli War: Israeli forces attack Egyptian Army units in southern Negev

On December 22, 1948, Israeli forces attacked Egyptian Army units positioned in the southern Negev, driving them across the Egyptian border after five days of fighting.  The Israelis then crossed into the Sinai Peninsula and advanced toward al-Arish to trap the Egyptian Army.  Britain and the United States exerted pressure on Israel, forcing the latter to
withdraw its forces from the Sinai.

On January 3, 1949, the Israeli Army surrounded the Egyptian forces inside the Gaza Strip in southwestern Palestine.  Three days later, Egypt
agreed to a ceasefire, which soon came into effect.  The 1948 Arab-Israeli War was over.  In the following months, Israel signed separate armistices with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

At war’s end, Israel held 78% of Palestine, 22% more than was allotted to the Jews in the original UN partition plan.  Israel’s territories comprised the whole Galilee and Jezreel Valley in the north, the whole Negev in the south, the coastal plains, and West Jerusalem.  Jordan acquired the West Bank, while Egypt gained the Gaza Strip.  No Palestinian
Arab state was formed.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the 1947-1948 Civil War in Palestine (previous article) that preceded it, over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled from their homes, with most of them eventually settling in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and southern Lebanon (Map 11).  About 10,000 Palestinian Jews also were displaced by the conflict. 
Furthermore, as a consequence of these wars, tens of thousands of Jews left or were forced to leave from many Arab countries.  Most of these Jewish refugees settled in Israel.

1948 Arab-Israeli War. Key battle areas are shown. The Arab countries of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, assisted by volunteer fighters from other Arab states, invaded newly formed Israel that had occupied a sizable portion of Palestine.

(Taken from 1948 Arab-Israeli War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 1)

On May 14, 1948, the Palestinian Jews established the State of Israel.  The next day, the infant nation was attacked by the armies of Egypt,
Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, assisted by volunteer fighters from other Arab states.  The Arabs’ stated reasons for the invasion were to stop the violence and to restore law and order in Palestine, and to allow the Palestinian people to form a government of their choice.  Also cited by the Arabs was the displacement of Palestinian Arabs caused by Jewish aggression. As the nation of Israel was by now in existence, the
resulting 1948 Arab-Israeli War was one fought by sovereign states.

From the east, Jordanian and Iraqi forces crossed the Jordan River into Palestine.  The Jordanians advanced along two columns for Jerusalem, which they surrounded on May 17, 1948.  After heavy house-to-house fighting, the Jewish defenders of the city were forced to surrender when they ran low on food and ammunition.  The Jordanians captured Jerusalem and then occupied Latrun, a strategic outpost overlooking the highway that led to Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the Iraqis advanced to the vicinity surrounding the Arab-populated city of Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkaran.  On May 25, they captured Geulim, Kfar Vona, and Ein Vered before being stopped at Natanya, their ultimate objective on the western coast.  Natanya’s fall would have divided Israel’s coastal areas in two.

A strong Israeli counterattack on Jenin forced the Iraqis to pull back and defend the city.  The Iraqis repulsed the Israeli attack.  Now, however, they were concerned with making further advances because of the risk of being cut off from the rear.  The Iraqis, therefore, switched to a defensive position, which they maintained for the rest of the war.

From the northeast, Syrian forces began their campaign by advancing toward the south side of the Sea of Galilee.  They captured some Israeli villages before being defeated at Degania.  The Syrians soon withdrew across the border in order to regroup.  On June 6, they launched another attack, this time in northern Galilee, where they captured Mishmar Hayarden.  Israeli Army reinforcements soon arrived in northern Palestine, stopping further Syrian advances.

From the south, the Egyptian Army, which was the largest among the invading forces, entered Palestine through the Sinai Desert.  The Egyptians then advanced through southern Palestine on two fronts: one along the coastal road for Tel-Aviv, and another through the central Negev for Jerusalem.

On June 11, 1948, the United Nations (UN) imposed a truce, which lasted for 28 days until July 8.  A UN panel arrived in Palestine to work out a deal among the warring sides.  The UN effort, however, failed to bring about a peace agreement.

By the end of the first weeks of the war, the Israeli Army had stopped the supposed Arab juggernaut that the Israelis had feared would simply roll in and annihilate their fledging nation.  Although the fighting essentially had ended in a stalemate, Israeli morale was bolstered considerably, as many Israeli villages had been saved by sheer determination alone.  Local militias had thrown back entire Arab
regular army units.

Earlier on May 26, Israeli authorities had merged the various small militias and a large Jewish paramilitary into a single Israeli Defense Force, the country’s regular armed forces.  Mandatory conscription into the military service was imposed, enabling Israel to double the size of its forces from 30,000 to 60,000 soldiers.  Despite the UN arms embargo, the Israeli government was able to purchase large quantities of weapons and military equipment, including heavy firearms, artillery pieces, battle tanks, and warplanes.

The Arabs were handicapped seriously by the UN arms restriction, as the Western countries that supplied much of the Arabs’ weapons adhered to the embargo.  Consequently, Arab soldiers experienced ammunition shortages during the fighting, forcing the
Arab armies to switch from offensive to defensive positions.  Furthermore, Arab reinforcements simply could not match in numbers, zeal, and determination the new Israeli conscripts arriving at the front lines.  And just as important, the war revealed the efficiency, preparedness, and motivation of the Israeli Army in stark contrast to the inefficiency, disunity, and inexperience of the Arab forces.

During the truce, the UN offered a new partition plan, which was rejected by the warring sides.  Fighting restarted on July 8, one day before the end of the truce.  On July 9, Israeli Army units in the center launched an offensive aimed at opening a corridor from Tel-Aviv to eastern Palestine, in order to lift the siege on Jerusalem.  The Israelis captured Lydda and Ramle, two Arab strongholds near Tel-Aviv, forcing thousands of Arab civilians to flee from their homes to escape the fighting.  The Israelis reached Latrun, just outside Jerusalem, where they failed to break the solid Jordanian defenses, despite making repeated assaults using battle tanks and heavy armored vehicles.  The Israelis also failed to break into the Old City of Jerusalem, and eventually were forced to withdraw.

On July 16, however, a powerful Israeli offensive in northern Palestine captured Nazareth and the whole region of lower Galilee extending from Haifa
in the coastal west to the Sea of Galilee in the east.  Further north, the Syrian Army continued to hold Mishmar Hayarden after stopping an Israeli attempt to take the town.

In southern Palestine, the Egyptian offensives in Negba (July 12), Gal (July 14), and Be-erot Yitzhak
were thrown back by the Israeli Army, with disproportionately high Egyptian casualties.  On July 18, the UN imposed a second truce, this time of no specified duration.

The truce lasted nearly three months, when on October 15, fighting broke out once more.  During the truce, relative calm prevailed in Palestine despite high tensions and the occasional outbreaks of small-scale fighting.  The UN also proposed new changes to the partition plan which, however, were rejected once more by the warring sides.

December 21, 1949 – The Netherlands recognizes the sovereignty of Indonesia

On July 6, 1949, upon their release, Indonesian nationalist leaders Sukarno and Hatta restored the revolutionary government in Yogyakarta, and one week later, they ratified the Roem-van Roijen Agreement.  In mid-August 1949, a ceasefire came into effect.  In a series of meetings, called the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference held at The Hague, Netherlands in August-November 1949, the Netherlands, the Indonesian Republic, and the Federal Consultative Assembly (Dutch: Bijeenkomst voor Federaal Overleg, which represented the six states and nine autonomous territories created by the Dutch under USI) agreed that USI be granted
independence under the Indonesian government, with Sukarno and Hatta as its President and Vice-President, respectively.  The Netherlands
and USI would form a loose association called the Netherlands-Indonesian Union under the Dutch monarchy.  A stipulation was that the Dutch military would leave USI, with security functions to be turned over to the Indonesian Armed Forces.  Two other difficult issues were settled: 1. the responsibility for
paying off the Dutch East Indies debt totaling 4.3 billion guilders was to be borne by USI, and 2. that West New Guinea, which formed part of the Dutch East Indies and claimed by the Indonesian Republic as belonging to USI by way of state succession, was agreed to remain with the Netherlands until future
negotiations regarding its future could be held within one year after USI’s independence.  On December 27, 1949, the Netherlands formally relinquished authority over USI, which also became a fully sovereign,
independent state.

Aftermath of the
Indonesian War of Independence

Indonesia’s independence war caused some 50,000-100,000 Indonesian deaths.  The Dutch military lost over 5,000 soldiers killed.  Some 1,200 British soldiers (mainly British Indians) also were killed in action.  Several million people were displaced.  Also in the 1950s, a diaspora of took place, with some 300,000 Dutch nationals leaving Indonesia for the Netherlands.

Indonesia in Southeast Asia.

(Taken from Indonesian War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

Sukarno’s proclamation of Indonesia’s independence de facto produced a state of war with the Allied powers, which were determined to gain
control of the territory and reinstate the pre-war Dutch government.  However, one month would pass before the Allied forces would arrive.  Meanwhile,
the Japanese East Indies command, awaiting the arrival of the Allies to repatriate Japanese forces back to Japan, was ordered by the Allied high command to stand down and carry out policing duties to maintain law and order in the islands.  The Japanese stance toward the Indonesian Republic varied: disinterested Japanese commanders withdrew their units to avoid confrontation with Indonesian forces, while those sympathetic to or supportive of the revolution provided weapons to Indonesians, or allowed areas to be occupied by Indonesians.  However, other Japanese commanders complied with the Allied orders and fought the Indonesian revolutionaries, thus becoming involved in the independence war.

In the chaotic period immediately after Indonesia’s independence and continuing for several months, widespread violence and anarchy prevailed (this period is known as “Bersiap”, an Indonesian word meaning “be prepared”), with armed bands called “Pemuda” (Indonesian meaning “youth”) carrying out murders, robberies, abductions, and other criminal acts against groups associated with the Dutch regime, i.e. local nobilities, civilian leaders, Christians such as Menadonese and Ambones, ethnic Chinese, Europeans, and Indo-Europeans.  Other armed bands were composed of local communists or Islamists, who carried out attacks for the same reasons.  Christian and nobility-aligned militias also were organized, which led to clashes between pro-Dutch and pro-Indonesian armed groups.  These so-called “social revolutions” by anti-Dutch militias, which occurred mainly in Java and Sumatra, were motivated by various reasons, including political, economic, religious, social, and ethnic causes.  Subsequently when the Indonesian government began to exert greater control, the number of violent incidents fell,
and Bersiap soon came to an end.  The number of fatalities during the Bersiap period runs into the tens of thousands, including some 3,600 identified and 20,000 missing Indo-Europeans.

The first major clashes of the war occurred in late August 1945, when Indonesian revolutionary forces clashed with Japanese Army units, when the latter tried to regain previously vacated areas.  The Japanese would be involved in the early stages of Indonesia’s independence war, but were repatriated to Japan by the end of 1946.

In mid-September 1945, the first Allied forces consisting of Australian units arrived in the eastern regions of Indonesia (where revolutionary activity was minimal), peacefully taking over authority from the commander of the Japanese naval forces there.  Allied
control also was established in Sulawesi, with the provincial revolutionary government offering no resistance.  These areas were then returned to Dutch
colonial control.

In late September 1945, British forces also arrived in the islands, the following month taking control of key areas in Sumatra, including Medan, Padang, and Palembang, and in Java.  The British also occupied Jakarta (then still known, until 1949, as Batavia), with Sukarno and his government moving the Republic’s capital to Yogyakarta in Central Java.  In October 1945, Japanese forces also regained control of Bandung and Semarang for the Allies, which they turned over to the British. In Semarang, the intense fighting claimed the lives of some 500 Japanese and 2,000 Indonesian soldiers.

December 20, 1989 – The start of the United States invasion of Panama to depose dictator Manuel Noriega

In the early morning of December 20, 1989, the United States invaded Panama.  Approval for the invasion was given on December 17, 1989, which had two major military objectives: to defeat the Panamanian forces and to capture General Noriega. 
In a nationwide address following the start of the invasion, President Bush gave the following reasons for ordering the invasion: to protect U.S. citizens in Panama, to re-establish democracy and defend human rights in Panama, to combat drug trafficking, and to uphold the Torrijos-Carter Treaties.  Some 300 U.S. planes carried out attacks on many targets across Panama, including airfields, army bases, and military-vital public infrastructures.

U.S. ground forces, numbering about 28,000 soldiers, advanced from their bases on the Pacific side of the Canal Zone for Panama City, as well as from the Caribbean end of the Canal for Colon.  Paratroopers also were airdropped at Tocumen, seizing Torrijos
airport.  Smaller-scale operations were carried out in Panamanian military and civilian targets in the Canal Zone interior.  In Panama City, U.S. air attacks concentrated on the Panamanian Army’s headquarters, which was located in the densely populated neighborhood of El Chorillo.  As a result, many civilians were killed and a large fire broke out, burning down the whole neighborhood and leaving thousands of residents without homes.

The Panamanian forces were caught by surprise and failed to mount effective opposition, except for small pockets of resistance.  The speed of the U.S. ground offensives also averted prolonged urban combat and thus greater civilian casualties.  By December 24, four days into the invasion, large-scale fighting had ended (although skirmishes continued to break out for several weeks more), and General Noriega had taken refuge inside the Apostolic
Nunciature (Vatican Embassy) in Panama City.  U. S. forces surrounded and blockaded the Embassy’s perimeter but did not enter the building, since doing so to make an arrest was a violation of international
law.  The Vatican initially was opposed to handing over General Noriega to the United States, as U.S. authorities requested, and instead tried to convince the Panamanian leader to surrender voluntarily.

U.S. authorities exerted diplomatic and psychological pressures, which included tanks rumbling noisily in the streets, helicopters hovering overhead, and 24-hour loud playing of rock music outside the Embassy building.  Strong persuasion exerted by Monsignor Jose Sebastian Laboa, the Papal Nuncio (Vatican Ambassador) to Panama, prevailed upon General Noreiga to surrender to the U.S. military on January 3, 1990.  Noriega was
turned over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) authorities, who transported him to the United
States to face trial.

The Panama Canal.

(Taken from United States Invasion of Panama – Wars of the 20th Century – 26 Wars in the Americas and the Caribbean)

Background

Since its independence, Panama had been ruled by a succession of civilian governments.  In 1968, military officers overthrew the government.  General Torrijos, the coup’s leader, established a de facto military regime that ruled behind a façade of a civilian government that was subservient to the military.  Then in December 1983, the Panamanian armed
forces came under the control of General Manuel Noriega who increased the military’s stranglehold over the country.  In general elections held in May 1984, General Noriega manipulated the results of the presidential race to allow his chosen candidate to win.

In the early 1980s, Central America became a major battleground of the Cold War.  In search of support, the United States was willing to ignore
General Noriega’s abuses of power and have the Panamanian strongman, a staunch anti-communist, as an ally.  General Noriega already had a long-standing relationship with the United States, having been an asset and informant of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since the early 1960s, and had even mediated for the U.S. government with Cuban leader
Fidel Castro for the release of American prisoners in Cuba.

General Noriega transformed Panama into a center for smuggling cocaine and other narcotics from Colombia to the United States and other
countries.  He masterminded and led these operations and later asserted that the CIA and other U.S. government agencies knew and even supported these activities.  Meanwhile in the United States, 
President Ronald Reagan was himself under pressure from an investigation by the U.S. Congress for possible involvement in the “Iran-Contra Affair”, a
covert operation where the U.S. government sold weapons to Iran (for the release of American hostages), and the proceeds were then used to fund pro-U.S. “contra” rebels in Nicaragua.

Soon, relations between General Noriega and the U.S. government deteriorated.  Then as more reports from Panama indicated General Noriega’s involvement in the drug trade, President Regan put
pressure on the Panamanian leader, even urging him to step down from office.  President Reagan also was
alarmed at the increasing military repression and political instability in Panama, generated by growing opposition to General Noriega’s rule and government
corruption.  General Noriega particularly was condemned by the local opposition following the murder of Hugo Spadafora, a government critic who had returned to Panama to present evidence of the
military leader’s involvement in the drug trade and other crimes.  In response to public opposition to his rule, the Panamanian strongman released his forces, resulting in violent confrontations where many civilians were beaten up in street protests.

In February 1988, grand juries in Miami and Florida filed drug smuggling, money laundering, and racketeering lawsuits against General Noriega.  Panamanian assets in the United States were frozen, which severely affected Panama that already was reeling as a result of the United States suspension of
military aid a year earlier.  In March 1988, a coup by security officers failed to overthrow General Noriega.
President Reagan also began to explore more forceful ways to depose the Panamanian leader, but preferably to be carried out by Panamanians, and
supported or led by the Panamanian military.

In January 1989, George H.W. Bush succeeded as the new U.S. President.  By then, the Cold War was
drawing to a close – at the end of 1989, Eastern Bloc countries had shed off communism for democracy, while the Soviet Union itself was on the verge of collapse.  In Central America, the ongoing Cold War conflicts also were winding down in response to the improving global security and political climates, and the United States felt less the need to continue funding its allies in the region.  For the United States, General Noriega’s many faults, which long had been set aside because of his strong anti-communist
position, now became too glaring to ignore.

Shortly after taking office, President Bush announced that one of his government’s domestic priorities was to tackle the growing drug problem with a so-called “war on drugs’, aimed at expanding a similar anti-drug campaign that had been in force since the previous administration.  A decade earlier, Bush had served as CIA Director (in 1976) and had dealings with Noriega, who was then Panama’s
intelligence chief and whose services would become vital for the United States in the heightened Cold War situation in Central America from the late 1970s
through most of the 1980s.

Now as U.S. head of state, President Bush sought to distance himself from General Noriega, and made a determined effort to remove the Panamanian leader from power.  In May 1989, Panama held general elections.  The U.S. government openly supported
the main opposition party, hoping that a new government would remove General Noriega as head of the newly created Panama Defense Forces (the Panamanian military and police forces).  As election
results showed a clear defeat for the government’s hand-picked presidential candidate, General Noriega stopped the tabulations and voided the elections, declaring that meddling by the United States (by supporting the opposition) had undermined the election’s legitimacy.  Panama’s electoral tribunal concurred, declaring that widespread fraud had taken place, tarnishing the results.  However, international poll observers, which included former U.S. President Carter, concluded that the elections generally were free and fair, and that the opposition’s wide lead in the results genuinely reflected the electorate’s choice.  Mass rallies and demonstrations broke out in Panama City; General Noriega responded by sending his paramilitary, called the Dignity Battalion, that attacked and broke up the crowds.  In the melee, leading opposition candidates were beaten up, scenes of which were caught by the television news media and aired in the United States.  Thereafter, the Organization of American States (OAS) condemned the violence and joined the United States in calling for General Noriega to resign which, however, was rejected by the Panamanian leader.

In October 1989, with partial U.S. support, a group of Panamanian military officers tried to overthrow General Noriega in a coup.  Loyal government forces, however, succeeded in rescuing the Panamanian leader, leading to the uprising’s collapse and execution of the coup plotters.  In the
aftermath, President Bush was criticized for what was perceived as his half-hearted support for the coup.

Meanwhile, as tensions rose between the United States and Panama, the U.S. military sent more troops and weapons to American bases in the Canal Zone.  The United States was preparing for a full invasion of Panama, aimed at overthrowing General Noriega. 
Throughout the summer of 1989, U.S. forces carried out continuous military exercises and maneuvers which Panamanians condemned as a deliberate
attempt at provoking an incident to start a war.  The increased U.S. military activity so provoked General Noriega that on December 15, 1989, while addressing the Panamanian National Assembly, he declared that a state of war existed between Panama and the United States.  At the same gathering, the country’s civilian authority was abolished when the legislators conferred on General Noriega the title of “líder máximo”, or maximum leader, i.e. absolute dictator.

As a result of General Noriega’s actions, President Bush believed that American citizens living in Panama
and the Panama Canal were in danger.  In the following days, a number of incidents between Panamanian and U.S. forces would precipitate the United States to start the invasion.  In one of these incidents, a U.S. Marine was killed when Panamanian security forces manning a roadblock fired on an American vehicle, while another U.S. officer and his wife were arrested, detained, and harassed by Panamanian soldiers.

December 19, 1946 – First Indochina War: The Battle of Hanoi begins

When French authorities demanded that the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) government relinquish control of Hanoi, on December 19, 1946, some 30,000 Viet Minh fighters attacked the French, and attempted to block access to the main French garrison in the city.  French authorities, who were informed of the plan, foiled the Viet Minh.  But the latter detonated explosives that shut down Hanoi’s power plant, cutting off electricity and plunging the city into darkness.

In the ensuing two-month long Battle of Hanoi, French and Viet Minh forces engaged in intense house-to-house fighting, but French military superiority, especially the use of heavy artillery and air firepower, forced Viet Minh forces to evacuate the city and retreat to their traditional strongholds in the Viet Bac region in the far north.  French forces then gained control of Hanoi.  By late 1946, the Viet Minh still controlled the areas around Haiphong, Hue, and Nam Dinh, but in March 1947, French operations cleared the roads to these major urban areas.

Present-day Southeast Asia.

(Taken from First Indochina War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

Early in the war, the Viet Minh suffered from a serious lack of weapons, and thus resorted to guerilla warfare.  But they took advantage of Vietnam’s
thickly covered jungle mountains for refuge and concealment.  Jungles and mountains comprised 40% of Vietnam’s territory, an invaluable asset for the Viet Minh, but also a formidable obstacle which French forces were unable to overcome in the war.  Throughout the war, while the French controlled the major urban areas, Viet Minh forces operated in much of the hinterland regions, where they established their influence, and gained the support of the residents in remote villages and settlements.

The French military in Indochina was organized as the French Far-East Expeditionary Corps (CEFEO; French: Corps Expéditionnaire Français en Extrême-Orient).  At its peak, CEFEO had a total strength of 200,000 troops, and consisted mostly of pro-French Vietnamese soldiers.  Small contingents also were brought in from French territories in Africa, as well as from the French Foreign Legion.  Early on, CEFEO suffered from inadequate or obsolete weapons, which nonetheless had more firepower than those used by the Viet Minh.

In October 1947, French authorities launched Operation Lea in Bac Can Province (located near the Chinese border) with three major aims: to stop the flow of weapons from China to the Viet Minh, destroy the Viet Minh organization, and capture the Viet Minh leadership.  Some 1,000 French commandos
were air-dropped in Viet Minh-held territory, while 15,000 ground troops were tasked to block Viet Minh escape routes.  The offensive inflicted some 9,000 Viet Minh casualties, but the French also suffered 1,000 killed and 3,000 wounded; large quantities of Viet Minh stores and equipment also were seized. 
But Ho Chi Minh and his commanders, as well as the bulk of the Viet Minh, slipped past the French cordon.

A second French offensive (Operation Ceinture) in November 1947 near Thai Nguyen and Tuyen Quang failed to battle the Viet Minh, which again escaped.  The Viet Minh implemented the policy of carrying out guerilla attacks in scattered areas in order to over-extend French forces and defeat the French in a protected war of attrition.  The French soon experienced dwindling military resources and were unable to launch more large-scale attacks, while the Viet Minh, by late 1947, had grown to some 250,000 fighters, and occupied areas that the French had abandoned.

By 1948, France realized that it could not anymore restore colonial rule in Indochina.  French authorities therefore opened talks with former Vietnamese emperor Bao Dai regarding establishing a pro-French Vietnamese state, which would accomplish the political objective of undermining
the Viet Minh and its DRV government.  Negotiations were successful, with the French government and Bao Dai signing two agreements: the First Hai Long Bay Agreement (December 1947), which stipulated Vietnam’s “independence within the French Union”, and the Second Hai Long Bay Agreement (June 1948), which provided for a clearer stipulation of Vietnam’s
independence. In both agreements, France would continue to administer Vietnam’s foreign policy decisions and external security functions.  As a result of the two agreements, Bao Dai formed a new government in Saigon.  However, within a short period, he abdicated and left Vietnam for Europe in frustration at not being granted genuine political power.

The French renegotiated with Bao Dai, which led to the signing in March 1949 of the Elysee Agreement, which stipulated the formation of the State of Vietnam comprising Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina.  However, the agreement also allowed France to continue to control Vietnam’s foreign policy and external security functions.  Bao Dai then returned to Vietnam and formed a new government.  Under French oversight, in July 1949, the “independent” Vietnamese state formed its own armed forces (the Vietnamese National Army), which thereafter fought alongside CEFEO.

During the first years of the war, the major world powers saw the conflict merely as an internal (i.e. colonial) matter of the French, or an independence struggle of the Vietnamese people.  In March 1947, U.S. President Truman delivered a speech, which eventually came to be known as the Truman Doctrine,
where he vowed to “contain” what he saw was the Soviet Union’s expansionist ambitions in Greece and Turkey.  This new American policy marked the start of
the Cold War.

During World War II and in the immediate aftermath, the U.S. government appeared opposed to restoring French rule in Indochina, for a number for reasons: Ho Chi Minh had been a U.S. ally in the war; pre-war French colonial rule had been repressive; and the United States was averse to colonialism.  But with the restoration of French rule, the United States
kept a hands-off policy in Indochina.

Two events changed U.S. policy toward Indochina and Asia.  First, in October 1949, Chinese communists, emerging victorious after a long civil war in China, established the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a communist state.  Second, in June 1950, North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and the
PRC, invaded U.S.-allied South Korea, triggering the Korean War.  President Truman became convinced that not only did the Soviet Union have expansionist ambitions in Europe, but that Soviet leader Josef Stalin and Chinese leader Mao Zedong also were determined to spread communism in Asia.  The next
U.S. President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, would introduce the Domino Principle, which stated that if the communists prevailed in Korea and Vietnam, the rest of the countries of Southeast Asia would be next to fall to communism, akin to a row of dominoes falling one after the other.

As a result, the United States strengthened its military presence in East Asia, reversing its post-World War II policy of withdrawing American forces from the region.  In February 1950, the U.S. government recognized the French-backed State
of Vietnam, which was led by Bao Dai.  In July 1950,
the first shipments of U.S. war supplies arrived.  Three months later (September 1950), after French and American military officials held talks in Washington, D.C., the United States established the Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG), tasked with serving as the liaison agency that would provide weapons, as well as military advice and training.  U.S. military support to the French would dramatically increase over the following years to a total of $3
billion.  By 1954, the United States would be supplying 80% of the total weapons used by French forces in Vietnam.  A total of 1,400 tanks, 340 planes, 240,000 small firearms, and 150 million bullets were sent.

December 18, 1972 – Vietnam War: The start of Operation Linebacker II, where U.S. warplanes undertake massive bombing attacks on North Vietnam

On December 14, 1972, the U.S. government issued a 72-hour ultimatum to North Vietnam to return to negotiations.  On the same day, U.S. planes
air-dropped naval mines off the North Vietnamese waters, again sealing off the coast to sea traffic.  Then on President Nixon’s orders to use “maximum effort…maximum destruction”, on December 18-29, 1972, U.S. B-52 bombers and other aircraft under Operation Linebacker II, launched massive bombing attacks on targets in North Vietnam, including Hanoi
and Haiphong, hitting airfields, air defense systems, naval bases, and other military facilities, industrial complexes and supply depots, and transport
facilities.  As many of the restrictions from previous air campaigns were lifted, the round-the-clock bombing attacks destroyed North Vietnam’s
war-related logistical and support capabilities.  Several B-52s were shot down in the first days of the operation, but changes to attack methods and the use of electronic and mechanical countermeasures greatly reduced air losses.  By the end of the bombing campaign, few targets of military value remained in North Vietnam, enemy anti-aircraft guns had been silenced, and North Vietnam was forced to return to negotiations.  On January 15, 1973, President Nixon ended the bombing operations.

One week later, on January 23, negotiations resumed, leading four days later, on January 27, 1973, to the signing by representatives from North Vietnam, South Vietnam, the Viet Cong/NLF through its Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG), and the United States of the Paris Peace Accords (officially titled: “Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam”), which (ostensibly) marked the end of the war.  The Accords stipulated a ceasefire; the release and exchange of prisoners of war; the withdrawal of all American and other non-Vietnamese troops from Vietnam within 60 days; for South Vietnam: a political settlement between the government and the PRG to determine the country’s political future; and for Vietnam: a gradual, peaceful reunification of North Vietnam and South Vietnam.  As in the 1954 Geneva Accords (which ended the First Indochina War), the DMZ did not constitute a political/territorial border.  Furthermore, the 200,000 North Vietnamese troops occupying territories in South Vietnam were allowed to remain in place.

Southeast Asia during the 1960s.

(Taken from Vietnam War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

To assuage South Vietnam’s concerns regarding the last two points, on March 15, 1973, President Nixon assured President Thieu of direct U.S.
military air intervention in case North Vietnam violated the Accords.  Furthermore, just before the
Accords came into effect, the United States delivered a large amount of military hardware and financial assistance to South Vietnam.

By March 29, 1973, nearly all American and other allied troops had departed, and only a small contingent of U.S. Marines and advisors remained.  A peacekeeping force, called the International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS), arrived in South Vietnam to monitor and enforce the Accords’ provisions.  But as large-scale fighting restarted soon thereafter, the ICCS became
powerless and failed to achieve its objectives.

For the United States, the Paris Peace Accords meant the end of the war, a view that was not shared by the other belligerents, as fighting resumed, with the ICCS recording 18,000 ceasefire violations between January-July 1973.  President Nixon had
also compelled President Thieu to agree to the Paris Peace Accords under threat that the United States would end all military and financial aid to South
Vietnam, and that the U.S. government would sign the Accords even without South Vietnam’s concurrence.  Ostensibly, President Nixon could fulfill his promise of continuing to provide military support to South Vietnam, as he had been re-elected in a landslide victory in the recently concluded November 1972 presidential election. However, U.S. Congress, which was now dominated by anti-war legislators, did not bode well for South Vietnam.  In June 1973, U.S. Congress passed legislation that prohibited U.S.
combat activities in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia,
without prior legislative approval.  Also that year, U.S. Congress cut military assistance to South Vietnam by 50%.  Despite the clear shift in U.S. policy, South
Vietnam continued to believe the U.S. government
would keep its commitment to provide military assistance.

Then in October 1973, a four-fold increase in world oil prices led to a global recession following the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposing an oil embargo in response to U.S. support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War.  South Vietnam’s economy was already reeling because of the U.S. troop withdrawal (a vibrant local goods and services economy had existed in Saigon because of the presence of large numbers of American soldiers) and reduced U.S. assistance.  South Vietnam experienced soaring inflation, high unemployment, and a refugee problem, with hundreds of thousands
of people fleeing to the cities to escape the fighting in the countryside.

The economic downturn also destabilized the South Vietnamese forces, for although they possessed vast quantities of military hardware (for
example, having three times more artillery pieces and two times more tanks and armor than North Vietnam), budget cuts, lack of spare parts, and fuel shortages meant that much of this equipment could not be used.  Later, even the number of bullets allotted to soldiers was rationed.  Compounding
matters were the endemic corruption, favoritism, ineptitude, and lethargy prevalent in the South Vietnamese government and military.

In the post-Accords period, South Vietnam was determined to regain control of lost territory, and in a number of offensives in 1973-1974, it succeeded in seizing some communist-held areas, but paid a high price in personnel and weaponry.  At the same time, North Vietnam was intent on achieving a complete military victory.  But since the North Vietnamese forces had suffered extensive losses in the previous years, the Hanoi government concentrated on first rebuilding its forces for a planned full-scale
offensive of South Vietnam, planned for 1976.

In March 1974, North Vietnam launched a series of “strategic raids” from the captured territories that it held in South Vietnam.  By November 1974, North Vietnam’s control had extended eastward from the north nearly to the south of the country.  As well, North Vietnamese forces now threatened a number of coastal centers, including Da Nang, Quang Ngai, and Qui Nhon, as well as Saigon.  Expanding its occupied areas in South Vietnam also allowed North Vietnam to shift its logistical system (the Ho Chi Minh Trail) from eastern Laos and Cambodia to inside South Vietnam itself.  By October 1974, with major road improvements completed, the Trail system was a fully truckable highway from north to south, and greater numbers of North Vietnamese units, weapons, and supplies were being transported each month to South Vietnam.

North Vietnam’s “strategic raids” also were meant to gauge U.S. military response.  None occurred, as at this time, the United States was reeling from the Watergate Scandal, which led to President Nixon resigning from office on August 9, 1974.  Vice-President Gerald Ford succeeded as President.

Encouraged by this success, in December 1974, North Vietnamese forces in eastern Cambodia
attacked Phuoc Long Province, taking its capital Phuoc Binh in early January 1975 and sending pandemonium in South Vietnam, but again producing no military response from the United States.  President Ford had asked U.S. Congress for military support for South Vietnam, but was refused.

December 17, 1918 – Latvian War of Independence: The Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic is formed

Under the patronage of Soviet Russia, on December 17, 1918, the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic led by Latvian communist Pēteris Stučka, was set up as a regime to rival the Latvian nationalist provisional government of Kārlis Ulmanis that had been formed one month earlier. Two Latvian governments now vied for legitimacy during the Latvian War of Independence.

Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania form the Baltic States.

(Taken from Latvian War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

Background

By the mid-19th century, as a result of the French Revolution (1789-1799), a wave of nationalism swept across Europe, a phenomenon that touched into Latvia as well.  The Latvian nationalist movement was led by the “Young Latvians”, a nationalist movement of the 1850s to 1880s that promoted Latvian identity and consciousness (as opposed to the prevailing Germanic viewpoint that predominated society) expressed in Latvian art, culture, language, and writing.  The Baltic German nobility used its political and economic domination of society to suppress this emerging Latvian nationalistic sentiment.  The Russian government’s attempt at “Russification” (cultural and linguistic assimilation into the Russian state) was rejected by Latvians.  The Latvian national identity also was accelerated by other factors: the abolition of serfdom in Courland in 1817 and Livonia
in 1819, the growth of industrialization and workers’ organizations, increasing prosperity among Latvians who had acquired lands, and the formation of Latvian
political movements.

The Russian Empire opposed these nationalist sentiments and enforced measures to suppress them.  Then in January 1905, the social and political unrest that gripped Russia (the Russian Revolution of 1905) produced major reverberations in Latvia, starting in January 1905, when mass protests in Riga were met with Russian soldiers opening fire on the demonstrators, killing and wounding scores of people.  Local subversive elements took advantage of
the revolutionary atmosphere to carry out a reign of terror in the countryside, particularly targeting the Baltic German nobility, torching houses and looting
properties, and inciting peasants to rise up against the ethnic German landowners.  In November 1905, Russian authorities declared martial law and brought in security forces that violently quelled the uprising, executing over 1,000 dissidents and sending thousands of others into exile in Siberia.

Then in July 1914, World War I broke out in Europe, with Russia allied with other major powers Britain and France as the Triple Entente, against Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire that comprised the major Central Powers.  In 1915, the armies of Germany and Austria-Hungary made military gains in the northern sector of the Eastern Front; by May of that year, German units had seized sections of Latvian Courland and Livonian Governorates.  A tenacious defense put up by the newly formed Latvian Riflemen of the Imperial Russian Army held off the German advance into Riga
for two years, but the capital finally fell in September 1917.

The Bolsheviks, on coming to power in the October Revolution, issued the “Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia” (on November 15, 1917), which granted all non-Russian peoples of the former Russian Empire the right to secede from Russia and establish their own separate states.
Eventually, the Bolsheviks would renege on this edict and suppress secession from the Russian state (now known as Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, or RSFSR).  The Bolshevik revolution also
had succeeded partly on the communists promising a war-weary citizenry that Russia would withdraw from World War I; thereafter, the Russian government declared its pacifist intentions to the Central Powers. 
A ceasefire agreement was signed on December 15, 1917 and peace talks began a few days later in Brest-Litovsk (present-day Brest, in Belarus).

However, the Central Powers imposed territorial demands that the Russian government deemed excessive.  On February 17, 1918, the Central Powers repudiated the ceasefire agreement, and the following day, Germany and Austria-Hungary restarted hostilities, launching a massive offensive with one million troops in 53 divisions along three fronts that swept through western Russia and captured Ukraine Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.  German forces also entered Finland,
assisting the non-socialist paramilitary group known as the “White Guards” in defeating the socialist militia known as “Red Guards” in the Finnish Civil War.  Eleven days into the offensive, the northern front of the German advance was some 85 miles from the Russian capital of Petrograd.

On February 23, 1918, or five days into the offensive, peace talks were restarted at Brest-Litovsk, with the Central Powers demanding even greater territorial and military concessions on Russia than in the December 1917 negotiations.  After heated debates among members of the Council of People’s Commissars (the highest Russian governmental body) who were undecided whether to continue or end the war, at the urging of its Chairman, Vladimir Lenin, the Russian government acquiesced to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.  On March 3, 1918, Russian and Central Powers representatives signed the treaty, whose major stipulations included the following: peace was restored between Russia and the Central Powers; Russia relinquished possession of Finland (which was engaged in a civil war), Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic territories of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – Germany and Austria-Hungary were to determine the future of these territories; and Russia also agreed on some territorial concessions to the Ottoman Empire.

German forces occupied Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland, establishing semi-autonomous governments in these territories that were subordinate to the authority of the German monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II.  The German occupation of the region allowed the realization of the Germanic vision of “Mitteleuropa”, an expansionist ambition aimed at unifying all Germanic and non-Germanic peoples of Central Europe into a greatly enlarged and powerful German Empire.  In support of Mitteleuropa, in the Baltic region, the Baltic German nobility proposed to set up the United Baltic Duchy, a semi-autonomous political entity consisting of present-day Latvia and Estonia that would be voluntarily integrated into the German Empire.  The proposal was not implemented, but German military authorities set up local civil governments under the authority of the Baltic German nobility or ethnic Germans.

Although the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 ended Russia’s participation in World War I, the war was still ongoing in other fronts – most notably on the Western Front, where for four years, German forces were bogged down in inconclusive warfare against the British, French and other Allied Armies.  After transferring substantial numbers of now freed troops from the Russian front to the Western Front, in March 1918, Germany launched the Spring Offensive, a major attack into France and Belgium
in an effort to bring the war to an end.  After four months of fighting, by July 1918, despite achieving some territorial gains, the German offensive had ground to a halt.

The Allied Powers then counterattacked with newly developed battle tactics and weapons and gradually pushed back the now spent and demoralized German Army all across the line into German territory.  The entry of the United States into the war on the Allied side was decisive, as increasing numbers of arriving American troops with the backing of the U.S. weapons-producing industrial power contrasted sharply with the greatly depleted war resources of both the Entente and Central Powers.  The imminent collapse of the German Army was greatly exacerbated by the outbreak of political and social unrest at the home front (the German Revolution of 1918-1919), leading to the sudden end of the German monarchy with the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II on November 9, 1918 and the establishment of an interim government (under moderate socialist Friedrich Ebert), which quickly signed an armistice with the Allied Powers on
November 11, 1918 that ended the combat phase of World War I.

As the armistice agreement required that Germany demobilize the bulk of its armed forces as well as withdraw the same to the confines of the German borders within 30 days, the German government ordered its forces to abandon the occupied territories that had been won in the Eastern Front.  After Germany’s capitulation, Russia
repudiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and made plans to seize back the European territories it previously had lost to the Central Powers.  An even far more reaching objective was for the Bolshevik government to spread the communist revolution to Europe, first by linking up with German communists who were at the forefront of the unrest that currently was gripping Germany.  Russian military planners intended the offensive to merely follow in the heels of the German withdrawal from Eastern Europe (i.e. to not directly engage the Germans in combat) and
then seize as much territory before the various local ethnic nationalist groups in these territories could establish a civilian government.

Germany’s defeat in World War I and the subsequent withdrawal of German forces from the
Baltic region produced a political void that local nationalist leaders rapidly filled.  In Latvia, on November 17, 1918, independence-seeking political leaders established a “People’s Council” (Latvian: Tautas padome), an interim legislative assembly, which in turn formed a provisional government under Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis.  The next day, November 18, the Latvian government declared independence as the Republic of Latvia.

Starting on November 28, 1918, in the action known as the Soviet westward offensive of 1918-1919, Soviet forces consisting of hundreds of
thousands of troops advanced in a multi-pronged offensive with the objective of recapturing the Baltic region, Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine.

The northern front of the Soviet offensive was directed at Latvia and Estonia.  In Latvia, the Red Army, as Soviet forces were called and which included the Red Latvian Riflemen (formerly the Latvian Riflemen of the Imperial Russian Army who had shifted their allegiance to Bolshevik Russia), made rapid progress and easily gained control of most of Latvian territory, including Valka, Valmiera, Rēzekne, Daugavpils, and the capital Riga, which was taken in April 1919.  The newly formed Latvian Army and pro-Latvia German militias retreated in disarray.  Under the sponsorship of Soviet Russia, on December 17, 1918, the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic
led by Latvian communist Pēteris Stučka, was set up as a regime to rival the Ulmanis Latvian nationalist provisional government that had been formed one
month earlier.

December 16, 1944 – World War II: The start of the Battle of the Bulge, where German forces attack through the Ardennes

On December 16, 1944, the Wehrmacht launched its Ardennes counter-offensive, codenamed “Operation Watch on the Rhine” (German: Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein), which involved 400,000 troops, 12,000 tanks, and 4,200 artillery pieces that had been brought up in utmost secrecy and had escaped Allied intelligence detection.  Spearheaded by panzer units, the Germans advanced rapidly to a distance of some 50 miles (80 km) to come within 10 miles (16 km) of the Meuse River.  The attack took the defending U.S. 1st Army completely by surprise.  Overcast weather also greatly aided the German advance, as Allied planes, which controlled the skies over the battlefield, were unable to launch counter-attacks in the heavy cloud cover.  The German penetration produced a salient, which the Allies called a “bulge” in their lines, leading to the Ardennes fighting being popularly called by Allied historians as the “Battle of the Bulge”.

The Allies quickly rallied and reorganized, and stopped the German advance in the north at Elsenborn Ridge and in the south at Bastogne.  German attempts to flank Bastogne also were stopped by increasing numbers of Allied forces being brought into the battle.  The German crossing of the Meuse River, which was the key to the advance to Antwerp, also failed, as the British held onto the bridges at Dinant, Givet, and Namur.  Aside from fierce Allied resistance, the Germans began encountering supply problems, and many of their tanks ground to a halt because of fuel shortages.  Then on December 23, 1944, improved weather conditions allowed the Allies to launch air attacks on German units and supply columns.  By December 24, the German offensive had effectively stalled.  Massing Allied armor bottled up the German tanks, threatening the latter with encirclement.

On January 1, 1945, the Germans launched a new offensive, Operation North Wind, this time directed at the Alsace-Lorraine region to the south, and surprised U.S. 6th Army Group which had been stretched thin in support of the Ardennes battle to the north.  The German attack, aimed at recapturing Strasbourg, initially achieved some success, inflicting heavy casualties on the American defenders, but soon sputtered from supply shortages, particularly fuel for the tanks.

On January 3, 1945, the Allies launched a counter-attack after a two-day delay, with U.S.
1st and 3rd Armies executing a pincers movement aimed at eliminating the salient and trapping the Germans inside the pocket.  The delay allowed most German units to escape, and on January 7, Hitler finally acquiesced to his commanders and ordered a general withdrawal.  Fighting continued until January 25, with the Germans conducting a fighting retreat, in
the process also being forced to abandon most of their tanks after running out of fuel, and the Allies retaking lost territory and eliminating the salient.  In February 1945, the Allies captured the Hurtgen Forest, finally breaching the Siegfried Line there.  For Hitler, the Ardennes counter-offensive was a strategic and costly failure, as Germany lost most of its manpower reserves and armored resources in the West in an ambitious gamble.  At the outset, the German High Command gave little chance for the Ardennes offensive to succeed.  Its failure also
severely weakened German strength on the Western Front against the Allied offensive later that year.

Battle for the Rhine River

(Taken from Defeat of Germany in the West: 1944-1945 – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

In February 1945, the Western Allies regained the
initiative, and attacked on a broad front toward the Rhine River (Figure 42).  This new offensive was
greatly alarming to Hitler in particular and Germany
in general, as the Rhine served as the physical and symbolic gateway to the German heartland.  To the north, British 21st Army Group attacked through the Reichswald Forest and reached the Rhine’s west bank, while to the south, U.S. 9th Army, which had been attached to 21st Army Group during the Ardennes battle, advanced for Dusseldorf and Cologne.  On February 8, the retreating Germans
destroyed the Ruhr dams, flooding the river valley below and stalling the Allied crossing of the Ruhr by two weeks.  On February 23, with flood waters receding, U.S. 9th Army crossed the Ruhr, and on March 2, it reached its objective on the Rhine’s west
bank.

Further to the south, U.S. 3rd Army reached the Rhine at Coblenz, U.S. 7th Army at Strastbourg, and the French Army at Colmar.  By early March 1945, the Allies had broken through to the Rhine’s west bank at many points.  Hitler refused the pleas by German field commanders to allow their troops to retreat to the east bank, and ordered that they should hold their ground and fight to the death.  Instead, some 400,000 German troops gave up and surrendered.  By then, the total number of captured Wehrmacht prisoners in the Western Front had grown to 1.3
million soldiers since the start of the Normandy
invasion.

General Eisenhower and the Allied High Command believed that attempting to cross the Rhine on a broad front would lead to heavy losses in personnel, and so they planned to concentrate Allied resources to force a crossing on the north in the British sector.  Here also lay the shortest route to Berlin, whose capture was definitely the greatest prize of the war.  Beating out the Soviets to Berlin
was greatly desired by Prime Minister Churchill and the British High Command, which at this point, the British and American planners believed could be
achieved.  With Allied focus on the British sector in the north, U.S. 12th and 6th Army Groups to the south were tasked with making secondary attacks
in their sectors, tying down German troops there and thus aiding the British offensive.

December 15, 1971 – Indian forces capture Dhaka in East Pakistan, ending the Bangladesh War of Independence and Indian-Pakistani War of 1971

On December 15, 1971, Indian forces entered Dhaka, the capital of East Pakistan, capturing over
90,000 Pakistani soldiers.  With the fall of East Pakistan, fighting in the western sector of the Indian-Pakistani War of 1971 ended.

Following the war, India and Pakistan entered into a number of agreements in the hope of resolving their differences.  India returned to Pakistan the 90,000 Pakistani prisoners of war, as well as areas in Pakistan that it had captured during the war.  In exchange, Pakistan agreed to recognize Bangladesh’s
independence.  Pakistani authorities then released Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the jailed Bengali leader, who returned to Bangladesh and subsequently became his country’s first president.

Bangladesh War of Independence and Indian-Pakistani War of 1971

(Taken from Bangladesh War of Independence and Indian-Pakistani War of 1971 – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

Background

In 1947, the Indian subcontinent was partitioned (previous article) into two new countries: the Hindu-majority India and the nearly exclusive Muslim Pakistan.  Much of India was formed from the subcontinent’s central and eastern regions, while Pakistan comprised two geographically separate
regions that became West Pakistan (located in the northwest) and East Pakistan (located in the southeast).

From its inception, Pakistan experienced a great disparity between West Pakistan and East Pakistan.  The national capital was located in West Pakistan, from where all major political and governmental decisions were made.  Military and foreign policies emanated from there as well.  West Pakistan also held a monopoly on the country’s financial, industrial, and social affairs.  Much of the country’s wealth entered, remained in, and was apportioned to the
West.  These factors resulted in West Pakistan being much wealthier than East Pakistan.  And all this despite East Pakistan having a higher population than West Pakistan.

In the 1960s, East Pakistan called for social and economic reforms and greater regional autonomy, but was ignored by the national government.  Then in 1970, the Amawi League, East Pakistan’s main political party, won a stunning landslide victory in the national elections, but was prevented from taking over the government by the ruling civilian-military coalition regime, which feared that a new civilian government would reduce the military’s influence on the country’s political affairs.

Leaders from East Pakistan and West Pakistan tried to negotiate a solution to the political impasse,
but failed to reach an agreement.  Having been prevented from forming a new government, Mujibur Rahman, East Pakistan’s leader, called on East Pakistanis to carry out acts of civil disobedience.

In Dhaka, the East Pakistani capital, thousands of residents undertook mass demonstrations that
paralyzed commercial, public, and civilian functions.  On March 25, 1971, the Pakistani Army arrested and jailed Mujibur, who then declared while in prison the secession of East Pakistan from Pakistan and the founding of the independent state of Bangladesh.  Mujibur’s supporters aired the declaration of
independence on broadcast radio throughout East Pakistan.

East Pakistanis then organized the Mukti Bahini, a guerilla militia whose ranks were filled by ethnic Bengali soldiers who had defected from the Pakistani Army.  As armed clashes began to break out in Dhaka, the national government sent more troops to East Pakistan.  Much of the fighting took place in April-May 1971, where government forces prevailed, forcing the rebels to flee to the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura.  The Pakistani Army then turned on the civilian population to weed out nationalists and rebel supporters.  The soldiers targeted all sectors of society – the upper classes of the political, academic, and business elite, as well as the lower classes consisting of urban and rural workers, farmers, and villagers.  In the wave of violence and
suppression that took place, tens of thousands of East Pakistanis were killed, while some ten million civilians fled to the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Bihar, and Meghalaya.

As East Pakistani refugees flooded into India, the
Indian government called on the United Nations (UN) to intervene, but received no satisfactory response.  As nearly 50% of the refugees were Hindus, to the Indian government, this meant that the causes of the unrest in East Pakistan were religious as well as political.  (During the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, a massive cross-border migration of Hindus and Muslims had taken place; by the 1970s, however, East Pakistan, still contained a significant 14% Hindu population.)

Since its independence, India had fought two wars against Pakistan and faced the perennial threat of fighting against or being attacked simultaneously from East Pakistan and West Pakistan. India therefore saw that the crisis in East Pakistan yielded one benefit – if the threat from East Pakistan was eliminated, India would not have to face the threat of a war on two fronts.  Thus, just two days into the uprising in East Pakistan, India began to secretly
support the independence of Bangladesh.  The Indian Army covertly trained, armed, and funded the East Pakistani rebels, which within a few months, grew to a force of 100,000 fighters.

In May 1975, India finalized preparations for an invasion of East Pakistan, but moved the date of the operation to later in the year when the Himalayan
border passes were inaccessible to a possible attack by the Chinese Army.  India had been defeated by China in the 1962 Sino-Indian War, and thus was wary of Chinese intentions, more so since China and Pakistan maintained friendly relations and both
considered India their common enemy.  As a result, India entered into a defense treaty with the Soviet Union that guaranteed Soviet intervention in case India was attacked by a foreign power.

In late spring and summer of 1971, East Pakistani rebels based in West Bengal entered East Pakistan and carried out guerilla attacks against the Pakistani Army.  These infiltration attacks included sabotaging military installations and attacking patrols, outposts, and other lightly defended army positions.  Government forces threw back the attacks and sometimes entered into India in pursuit of the rebels.

By October 1971, the Indian Army became involved in the fighting, providing artillery support for rebel infiltrations and even openly engaging the Pakistani Army in medium-scale ground and air battles along the border areas near Garibpur and Boyra (Map 14).