"UNION"
U-Boats would sink 6,596 merchant vessels.
Atlantic
of Britain
Destruction
of Shanghai
Allied anti-submarine effort eventually eliminates U-Boat threat.
Atlantic
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| Developement of the Vertical Battlefield | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21 September 1861, United States Army Balloon Corps deploys the Balloon "Union" to 1,000 feet with a telegraph cable and US Army Signall Corps telegraph key set. They then called in Union artillery fire on Confederate Positions in Battle of Falls Church Va. Fire was accurate and effective. Union batteries and Confederate targets were not in visual contact. First Air Combat mission in history. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Balloon "UNION" |
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17 February 1864, Confederate States Submarine HUNLEY sinks 3,000 ton Union warship USS HOUSATONIC in Charleston bay. Though HUNLEY and crew were lost, the attack is still considered the first successful engagement by a submersible vessel. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CSS HUNLEY | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 5 September 1914, U-21 makes the first successful attack on a target with a self-propelled torpedo, sinking the cruiser HMS PATHFINDER. During the course of the First World War 274 U-Boats would sink 6,596 merchant vessels. |
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| 1st Battle of the Atlantic |
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| 19 January 1915, 1st German aerial bombing of Britain by two Zeppelins. 13 June 1917, 14 German Gotha bombers perform first heavier-than-air-craft daylight bombing raid on civilian targets in London, England. Night bombing campaign begins in August and lasts through May 1918. During WW1 Germany would drop 214 tons of bombs on Britain--56 tons on London alone. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WWI Bombings of Britain |
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| 1925. Japan refuses to sign the Geneva Protocol banning Chemical and Biological Warfare. The Japanese were the first to use WMD in WWII. Biological attacks in China were so severe that 1,700 Japanese soldiers alone would die from their own germ weapons. The Japanese would also launch 1,131 recorded chemical attacks. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weapons of Mass Destruction |
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| 26 April 1937, Guernica Spain, Spanish Civil War. The German "Legion Condor", in support of General Franco's fascist government in Spain, specifically target civilian population centers. Sets the tone for aerial combat in WW II. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Terror Bombing of Guernica | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 13 August 1937, Shanghai, China. Japan seeks to expand its control in China. Begins large-scale bombing operations on civilian centers in one of the most densely populated cities on Earth. Like Western Fascists, they have demonstrated that they will stop at nothing to achieve military objectives even in offensive operations. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Terror Bombing of Shanghai |
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| Germany begins second submarine campaign in 22 years designed to ruin British economy. As in WWI, campaign comes close to success. Allied anti-submarine effort eventually eliminates U-Boat threat. |
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| 2nd Battle of the Atlantic |
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| 1940, invasion of Great Britain by Germany is predicated on air battle alone. Entire invasion effort is abandon after failure to establish air superiority over the English Channel. England is never invaded and no Axis soldier ever sets foot on English soil. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Battle of Britain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 May 1941. First airbonre invasion in history. German paratroopers and glider troops invade Greek island of Crete. "Operation Mercury" was succesful but losses so great that large scale airborne ops were never again attempted by the Wermacht. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Invasion of Crete | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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