On this day in 1863, Lincoln's War Department authorizes the raising of the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Infantry. Just 171 days later, the regiment will be in action in South Carolina.

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Five Leading Causes of Death for Soldiers in Napoleon’s Army

“Only about a 30 per cent of all fatalities occurred in combat.”

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🎭 A section of the seating in the Roman amphitheatre of ancient Tarraco (Tarragona, Spain). 2nd century CE.

📷 Photo by Mark Cartwright.

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👑 Bronze head from an over-life-sized statue of Augustus, found in the ancient Nubian site of Meroë in Sudan, 27 - 25 BCE. On display in the British Museum, London.

📷 Photo by Carole Raddato

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🔮 The Pyramid of the Magician, Uxmal, Mexico. The Maya temple was first built in the 6th century CE, with additions made up to the 10th century CE.

📷 Photo by G Concha C.

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In January of 1945, a soldier of the 94th Infantry Division dashes through a shell-torn orchard in Germany. 🪖

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In January of 1945, Pvt. Robert Long examines the damaged engine & propeller of a 6th Armored Division liaison plane after it toppled over while making a landing at an air strip in Belgium. ✈️

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On this day in 1933, Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. "We have the power," he announces. "Now our gigantic work begins."

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Today in 1945, a Soviet sub torpedoes the German ocean liner Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic Sea. An estimated 9,300 people (mostly refugees) drown. With six times as many dead as were lost on the Titanic, it remains history's deadliest ship sinking.

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Today in 1944, America's last battleship, the USS Missouri, is launched. Although already usurped by the aircraft carrier, the 'Mighty Mo' will serve in WW2, Korea & the 1991 Gulf War. Now a museum ship, her nine 16-inch guns could throw 12 tons of ordnance in a single broadside

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Wild Rides – Seven of the Strangest Bomber Raids of WW2

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In 1946, Colonel Paul Tibbets stands in front of his B-29 'Enola Gay' in Roswell, New Mexico. ✈️

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81 years ago today, soldiers of the 8th Army debark LCI-447 on the west coast of Luzon. ⚓️🪖

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In January of 1945, Sgt. William Showers cleans the snow from the breech of his 57-MM AT gun in the woods near Courtil, Belgium. 🪖

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In January of 1945, medics with the 90th Infantry Division lift the body of a wounded American soldier to place him on a ski litter in Luxembourg. 🪖

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81 years ago today, American soldiers examine the wreckage of a Spitfire LF Mk. VIII ZX-F (JF805) from RAF 145 Squadron near Nettuno, Italy. ✈️

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On this day in 1945, U.S. Army Rangers, Alamo Scouts & Filipino guerrillas rescue 552 Allied prisoners from the Japanese POW camp at Cabanatuan.

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Today in 1862, the US Navy's first ironclad warship, the USS Monitor, is launched. Considered a hi-tech marvel at the time, conditions aboard were dark, stuffy & miserable. "Any man who would stay on an ironclad by choice is a candidate for an insane asylum," recalled one sailor.

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Today 1968, communist infiltrators launch surprise attacks across South Vietnam marking the start of the Tet Offensive. Although the Viet Cong and NVA suffer staggering losses in the two-month campaign, the scale and ferocity of the onslaught erodes American support for the war.

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On this day in 1793, Revolutionary France declares war on Great Britain ushering in 22 years of almost continuous conflict between the two powers.

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On this day in 1945, a U.S. Army private named Eddie Slovik is shot at Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France for the crime of desertion. As many as 21,000 other GIs face courts martial for similar offences during WW2, but the 24-year-old Detroit native is the only one to be executed.

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