As the major Allied offensive masterminded by Robert Nivelle was failing miserably on the Western Front, British forces in Palestine make their second attempt to capture the city of Gaza from the Ottoman army on April 17, 1917.

In the wake of the failed British assault on Gaza of March 26, 1917, Sir Archibald Murray, commander of British forces in the region, misrepresented the battle as a clear Allied victory, claiming Turkish losses to be triple what they actually were; in truth, at 2,400 they were significantly lower than the British total of 4,000. This led London’s War Office to believe their troops were on the verge of a significant breakthrough in Palestine and to order Murray to renew the attack immediately.

Though the previous assault had caught the Turks by surprise, the second one did not: the German general in charge of the troops at Gaza, Friedrich Kress von Kressenstein, was by now well aware of British intentions. By the time the British launched their second round of attacks on April 17, the Turks had accordingly strengthened their defenses and extended their forces along the road from Gaza to the nearby town of Beersheba.

Still, as in the First Battle of Gaza, British soldiers outnumbered Turkish troops by a ratio of two to one. Moreover, the British employed eight heavy Mark-1 tanks and 4,000 gas shells (used for the first time on the Palestine front) to ensure victory. The tanks proved unsuitable for the hot, dry desert conditions; however, three of them were captured by Turkish forces, which again put up a blisteringly effective defense despite their inferior numbers. After three days and heavy losses—the British casualty figure, of 6,444 men, was three times that of the Turks—Murray’s subordinate commander, Sir Charles Dobell, was forced to call off the British attacks, ending the Second Battle of Gaza with the city still firmly in Turkish control.

As a result of this second failure to capture Gaza, the Allies called in reinforcements, including Italian and French troops, which arrived from Europe in time to join the third and final Battle of Gaza that fall. Under the new regional command of Sir Edmund Allenby, the Allies finally broke through and gained control of Gaza in November 1917, leaving them free to move ahead toward Palestine’s capital city, Jerusalem, which fell into Allied hands on December 9.

Source: history.com

1850 US Congress passes Fugitive Slave Law as part of Compromise of 1850, requiring slaves be returned to their owners

Source: Onthisday.com

1789 First loan is raised to pay the salaries of the US President and Congress

1793 US President George Washington lays the cornerstone of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

1873 Government bond agent Jay Cooke & Co collapses, causing panic on Wall Street and the start of the Panic of 1873 and the Long Depression

1891 The Seneca tribe gives Harriet Maxwell Converse an honorary position as chief, making her the first white woman to become a Native American chief

1947 Central Intelligence Agency officially comes into existence after being established by President Truman in July

1394 – In France, Charles VI published an ordinance that expelled all Jews from France.

1778 – The United States signed its first treaty with a Native American tribe, the Delaware Nation.

1787 – The Constitution of the United States of America was signed by delegates at the Constitutional Convention.

1796 – U.S. President George Washington’s Farewell Address was read before the U.S. Congress.

1862 – The Battle of Antietam took place during the American Civil War. More than 23,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing. The Rebel advance was ended with heavy losses to both armies.

1872 – Phillip W. Pratt patented a version of the sprinkler system.

1911 – The first transcontinental airplane flight started. It took C.P. Rogers 82 hours to fly from New York City to Pasadena, CA.

1920 – The American Professional Football Association was formed in Canton, OH. It was the precursor to the National Football League (NFL).

1930 – Construction on Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam, began in Black Canyon, near Las Vegas, NV.

1932 – Sir Malcolm Campbell set a speed record when he reached 276.27 mph over a half mile.

1937 – At Mount Rushmore, Abraham Lincoln’s face was dedicated.

1939 – The Soviet Union invaded Poland. Germany had invaded Poland on September 1.

1944 – Operation “Market Garden” was launched by Allied paratroopers during World War II. The landing point was behind German lines in the Netherlands.

1947 – The first U.S. Secretary of Defense, James V. Forrestal, was sworn in to office.

1953 – Ernie Banks became the first black baseball player to wear a Chicago Cubs uniform. He retired in 1971 known as ‘Mr. Cub’.

1953 – The Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, LA, successfully separated Siamese twins. Carolyn Anne and Catherine Anne Mouton were connected at the waist when born.

1955 – “The Perry Como Show” moved to Saturday nights on NBC-TV.

1961 – The Minnesota Vikings were debuted as the new National Football League (NFL) team.

1962 – U.S. space officials announced the selection of Neil A. Armstrong and eight others as new astronauts.

1963 – “The Fugitive” premiered on ABC-TV. The show starred David Janssen.

1964 – “Bewitched” premiered on ABC-TV.

1965 – “Hogan’s Heroes” debuted on CBS-TV.

1966 – “Mission Impossible” premiered on CBS-TV.

1972 – “M*A*S*H” premiered on CBS-TV.

1976 – NASA unveiled the space shuttle Enterprise in Palmdale, CA.

1983 – Vanessa Williams, as Miss New York, became the first black woman to be crowned Miss America.

1983 – Johnny Bench (Cincinnati Reds) retired after 16 years as a catcher.

1983 – Carl Yastrzemski (Boston Red Sox) broke Hank Aaron’s major league record for games played when he started his 3,299th game. (MLB)

1984 – 9,706 immigrants became naturalized citizens when they were sworn in by U.S. Vice-President George Bush in Miami, FL. It was the largest group to become U.S. citizens.

1984 – Gordon P. Getty was named the richest person in the U.S. His fortune was $4.1 billion.

1984 – Reggie Jackson hit his 500th career home run. It was exactly 17 years from the day he hit his first major league home run.

1988 – Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril declared himself president of Haiti after President Henri Hamphy was ousted.

1991 – The United Nations General Assembly opened its 46th session. The new members were Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North and South Korea, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

1992 – Lawrence Walsh called a halt to his probe of the Iran-Contra scandal. The investigation had lasted 5 1/2 years.

1995 – Hong Kong held its last legislative election before being taken over by China in 1997.

1997 – Northern Ireland’s main Protestant party joined in peace talks. It was the first time that all of the major players had come together.

1998 – The United States government offered a reward for the capture of Haroun Fazil for his role in the U.S. bombing in Kenya on August 7, 1998.

1998 – The U.S. announced a plan that would compensate victims in the Kenya and Tanzania U.S. Embassy bombings on August 7, 1998.

2014 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all time high of 17,156.

 

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Indians and Loyalists burn German Flats, New York »