On This Day ... in 1646 & Others
Sir John Lord Byron surrendered Chester to the Parliamentarians, as the Royalist cause continued to collapse across England & Wales.
1690: The Crown colony of Massachusetts issued the first paper money in America
1807: A British military force, under Brig-Gen. Sir Samuel Auchmuty captured the city of Montevideo, then part of the Spanish Empire, now capital of Uruguay
1783: Spain recognised the newly created United States
1915: Turkish attempts to capture the Suez canal, vital to Allied shipping, were repulsed largely by Indian troops
At the start of the First World War Egypt was officially part of the Ottoman Empire, but since 1882 had been ruled by the British. Free and secure access to the Suez Canal was vital to the British Empire. The most valuable parts of the Empire were east of Suez, as were the dominions of Australia and New Zealand and their invaluable volunteers. At the start of 1915 crucial reinforcements were travelling through the canal on their way to the Western Front, where the Australian and New Zealand divisions would soon be considered to be amongst the best troops available to Britain.
General Sir John Maxwell, the British commander in Egypt, had 70,000 troops at his disposal at the start of 1915, although many of them were either in training or transit. On the canal Major-General A. Wilson had 30,000 men, most from the Indian Army but with some Egyptian artillery, spread out along the length of the canal. Wilson also had access to a number of French and British airplanes, and a small naval squadron. It had been decided to conduct an essentially passive defence of the canal. The main British defences were on the western bank, with a few fortified posts on the eastern bank.
At the start of 1915 the Turks decided to launch an expedition towards the Suez Canal. It would be commanded by Djemal Pasha, the Minister of Marine and one of the triumvirate that ruled the Ottoman Empire. He was also governor of Syria and Palestine and commander of the Ottoman Fourth Army. He was ably supported by his German chief of staff, Baron Kress von Kressenstein.
Djemal Pasha was faced with a formidable set of problems. His army was only 20,000 strong, so he would be outnumbered at the canal. To get to the canal zone his army would have to cross the Sinai desert, a potentially difficult journey. There were only three possible routes across the desert, of which the northern coastal route and the central route were the most favourable. Most dangerously for the Turks, the purpose of the expedition was unclear. At the time Djemal Pasha seems to have been hoping for a revolt to break out in Egypt at the approach of his army, and despite being outnumbered by more than three to one was planning an invasion. In the aftermath of the campaign, he consistently claimed that he had never intended to invade Egypt, only to make a reconnaissance in force and to damage to canal.
The expedition was well planned. The main force, 15,000 strong, took the central route across the desert. The remaining 5,000 troops were sent along the northern and southern coastal routes. Pontoons had been built in German and smuggled through Bulgaria to Turkey. The main force took ten days to march across the desert, moving at night in an attempt to hide their movements. By 1 February the main force of 15,000 men was close to the canal.
By then any hope of surprise was gone. The two flanking forces had launched feint attacks at Kantara to the north and Kubri to the south on 26-27 January. Warned by this that a Turkish army was in the area, British and French aircraft had then located the main force. The attack was to be made towards Ismailia in the middle of the canal.
The attack was made at 3 a.m. on 3 February. The Turkish troops came under heavy fire as they attempted to cross over the canal, and only three pontoons and their crews reached the west bank, where they were quickly killed or captured. A series of attacks followed during the day, but were no more successful. On the next day Djemal Pasha ordered a retreat back to his base at Beersheba.
The British had seen off the attack on the canal, but they would now pay for their passive defence. Two companies of Ghurkhas attempted a counterattack on 3 February, but otherwise the Turks were allowed to escape. Even so, Djemal Pasha’s men had suffered around 1,400 casualties (according to his own figures). British losses were only 150, but the policy of defending the western bank of the canal came under attack. The next Turkish probe towards the canal would be met in the Sinai, at the battle of Rumani
1917: The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, which had announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare
1930: The Communist Party of Vietnam was established
1939: The first group of Canadian volunteers from the Spanish Civil War return to Halifax.
There is a great controversy over whether they should have even been allowed back in the country. By fighting in the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion the volunteers broke Canadian law prohibiting enlistment in foreign armies.
1942 - Port T, a top secret British naval base on Addu Atoll, in the Indian Ocean, became operational
1943: Bomber Command dispatched 263 aircraft against Hamburg. The weather proved most unfavourable. Many aircraft were forced to abort after encountering heavy icing over the North Sea. The Pathfinders attempted to use H2S radar for blind bombing marking over the city, but did not enjoy much success, and such aircraft of the Main Force as did find the target caused relatively little damage. 16 bombers failed to return, most victims of Luftwaffe nightfighters.
Australians forces lauched a counter-attack at Wau, having held it against repeated Japanese attacks, forcing them into retreat. At the end of the fighting some 1,200 Japanese had been killed as had some 300 Australians.
1944: United States warships shelled Paramushiru Island, the first navy attack on Japanese home territory. Also in the Pacific, US forces captured the Marshall Islands
1945: The Soviet Union agreed to enter the Pacific Theatre conflict against Japan. Over Berlin, 1,000 B-17s continued the bombing of the German capital as part of Operation Thunderclap
1960: The Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, has had a frosty reception from politicians in South Africa after speaking frankly against the country's system of apartheid.
In a speech to MPs in the Houses of Parliament in Cape Town, Mr Macmillan spoke of the "wind of change" blowing through the continent of Africa, as more and more majority black populations in the colonies claim the right to rule themselves.
1969: In Cairo, Yasser Arafat was appointed Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress
1989: After suffering a stroke, P.W. Botha resigned both party leadership and the presidency of South Africa