On This Day ... in 1782 & Others
Off Dominica, near the group of small islands of Les Saintes, Admiral Rodney caught up with the French fleet under de Grasse which had been supporting the American Revolution. A collision a couple of nights earlier had left de Grasse with one ship badly damaged, which slowed him down considerably. Rather than abandon the lame duck, de Grasse offered Rodney battle, thirty French ships of the line against thirty-six Royal Navy vessels. Despite a disordered formation and their numerical inferiority, the French put up a creditable preformance at first, but a shift in the wind and superior British gunnery combined to allow Rodney to break their line in three places. Six French ships were captured, including de Grasse's flagship, Ville de Paris.
On the same day, thousands of miles away, French and Royal Navy squadrons were also engaged off Trincomalee, in the second of an epic, if usually inconclusive, series of fights between Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes and Chef d'Escadre de Suffren for control of the Indian Ocean.
1879: Captain Creagh of the Indian Army began a ten day defence of the village of Kam Dakka near Kabul, holding it with 150 men against ten times that number of raiders. Although eventually forced to retreat to the cemetery, he and his men held out until a relief force arrived. Creagh received the Victoria Cross.
1912: The creation of the Royal Flying Corps was authorised by Royal Warrant, forming one month later on 13 May.
1915: Private Merrow, Royal Irish Fusiliers, ignored continual artillery fire to rescue repeatedly men buried alive as a German barrage collapsed trenches. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, but was killed in action a fortnight later.
1916: In Mesopotamia, Naik (Corporal) Shahamad Khan commanded a machine-gun team that provided the sole defence of a gap in the British lines. The Turks made repeated efforts to exploit the weakness, but for over three hours, the Punjab machine-gun team held them off. The naik was eventually left manning the gun on his own, as the only other two surviving members of the team were fully occupied loading additional belts of ammunition for him. The machine-gun was finally hit and damaged, whereupon Shahamad Khan and his two belt-fillers resorted to rifles to continue to hold the position. Ordered to retire, they managed to carry back a badly wounded colleague plus all their equipment, including the damaged machine-gun. He received the Victoria Cross.
1917: Troops from The Prince of Wales' Leinster Regiment came under heavy enfilading fire during an attack on the Western Front, suffering heavy casualties. Corporal Cunningham managed to reach the objective with a Lewis Gun, but found himself practically alone. Nevertheless, he managed to bring effective fire to bear on the German positions. When his ammunition ran out, he attacked with hand grenades, suffering multiple wounds which subsequently proved fatal. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross
Comments
You gotta give props to anybody named "Admiral Rodney"!
Posted by: -keith in silicon valley | April 17, 2006 8:23 PM