On this day in military history, June 17: 0827 - Arab conquest of Sicily begins: Asad ibn al-Furat lands with c. 15,000 troops. 1053 - Battle of Civitate: Normans defeat a Papal-Lombard army. 1245 - Battle of San Lucia: Guelf-Ghibbeline clash in the Romagna. 1291 - Akko reconquered after 200 years by French crusaders, and destroyed. 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II in The Night Attack, and the latter is forced to retreat from Wallachia. 1497 - Battle of Deptford Bridge - Forces under King Henry VII soundly defeat troops led by Michael An Gof. 1565 - Matsunaga Hisahide assassinates the 13th Ashikaga shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru. 1580 - Battle at Hardenberg: Spanish troops beat rebels. 1583 - Brabant: Duke of Parma beats French mercenaries. 1665 - Battle at Viciosa: English and Portuguese army beat Spain. 1734 - French troops occupy Philipsburg at Rhine. 1744 - Battle of Velletri I: Neapolitans under Charles III raid Austrian lines. 1745 - American colonials capture Louisburg, Cape Breton I from French. 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bunker Hill - The battle actually takes place on Breed's Hill by mistake. British forces take Breed's Hill outside of Boston with heavy casualties. 1799 - Battle of the Trebbia, Day 1: Austro-Russians fight French forces. 1815 - Stephen Decatur captures Algerian frigate, Mashouda. 1848 - Austrian General Alfred Windischgratz crushed a Czech uprising in Prague. 1854 - The Red Turban revolt broke out in Guangdong, China. 1855 - Heavy French/British bombing of Sebastopol, 2000+ killed. 1861 - American Civil War: Battle of Boonville, MI-Brig General Lyon defeats Confederate forces. 1863 - American Civil War: Naval Engagement at Warsaw Sound GA-USS Weehawken vs CSS Atlanta. 1863 - American Civil War: Battle at Middleburg, Virginia. 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg Campaign. 1864 - American Civil War: Skirmish at Mud Creek/Noyes's (Nose) Creek, Georgia. 1864 - American Civil War: General John B Hood replaces General Johnston. 1864 - American Civil War: 640m long pontoon bridge over James River Virginia finished. 1864 - American Civil War: Confederate troops pull back out Solves/lost Mt, Georgia. 1870 - USS Mohican destroys the Mexican pirate ship, Forward. 1876 - Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud - 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory. 1877 - Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon - The Nez Perce defeat the US Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory. 1898 - The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established. 1913 - U.S. Marines set sail from San Diego to protect American interests in Mexico. 1917 - World War I: Portuguese army sees first action in Flanders. 1938 - Japan declares war on China. 1940 - World War II: Operation Ariel begins - Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation. 1940 - World War II: General De Gaulle departs Bordeaux for London. 1940 - World War II: Sinking of the RMS Lancastria by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. 1940 - The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union. 1942 - World War II: American expeditionary force lands in Africa (Gold Coast). 1944 - World War II: French troops landed on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean. 1944 - World War II: U.S. Navy air raids on Iwo Jima and the Bonin Islands. 1953 - Soviet tanks fought thousands of Berlin workers that were rioting against the East German government. 1965 - Vietnam War: Twenty-seven B-52’s hit Viet Cong outposts but lost two planes in South Vietnam. 1969 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese reoccupy Ap Bia Mountain. 1970 - North Vietnamese troops cut the last operating rail line in Cambodia. 1998 - USS Missouri ties up for the last time, Pearl Harbor.

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