April 21 in Military History

General Sam Houston's 900 Texan soldiers defeated Santa Anna's 1,300 Mexican troops in an 18-minute surprise attack, winning Texas independence. Santa Anna was captured the next day.

Roughly 800 US Marines and sailors of the Atlantic Fleet stormed ashore at Veracruz, Mexico, seizing the customs house and rail yard after a dispute with the Huerta government. The landing drew the US to the edge of war with Mexico and produced dozens of Medals of Honor.

Baron Manfred von Richthofen, history's most famous fighter ace with 80 confirmed aerial victories, was killed by a single .303 bullet while pursuing Canadian pilot Wilfrid May over the Somme valley. Whether the fatal shot came from Captain Roy Brown's Sopwith Camel or Australian ground gunners remains debated.

Admiral Chester Nimitz formally approved Operation Vengeance, the P-38 Lightning intercept of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's transport over Bougainville. Code breakers had decoded Yamamoto's itinerary with minute-by-minute precision for a two-day inspection tour.

Lead elements of Marshal Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front reached the northeastern suburbs of Berlin while Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front enveloped the city from the south. Over 2.5 million Soviet troops began the final assault on the Nazi capital.

After five days of street fighting, the US 3rd and 45th Infantry Divisions secured Nuremberg, the ceremonial capital of Nazi Party rallies. American troops raised the US flag over the Zeppelin Field grandstand where Hitler had reviewed massed rallies.

US 1st Infantry Division and ARVN forces launched Operation Birmingham, a search-and-destroy sweep through War Zone C near the Cambodian border. The 26-day operation produced running engagements with North Vietnamese Army battalions in the Michelin rubber plantation.

A group of Greek Army colonels led by Georgios Papadopoulos seized power in a military coup, imposing martial law and establishing a junta that would rule Greece until 1974. The coup exploited NATO contingency plans for suppressing communist insurgency.

Astronauts John Young and Charles Duke landed the lunar module Orion in the Descartes Highlands, beginning the Apollo program's fifth manned lunar surface mission. Both were serving US Navy and Air Force officers flying a DoD-supported NASA mission.

USS Iowa returned to Naval Station Roosevelt Roads two days after a powder flash in the center gun of Turret Two killed 47 sailors during Caribbean gunnery exercises. The investigation would shape naval ordnance safety and hasten battleship retirement.