April 29 in Military History

Major General Benjamin Butler's Union forces completed the occupation of New Orleans, four days after Flag Officer David Farragut's fleet had forced the surrender of the Confederacy's largest city. Butler's draconian occupation policies would earn him the nickname "Beast".

Flag Officer David Farragut's squadron anchored off the New Orleans waterfront after running past Confederate Forts Jackson and St. Philip five days earlier. The Union fleet's presence completed the strategic envelopment that would give Federal forces control of the lower Mississippi.

After a 147-day siege, the British garrison at Kut-al-Amara in Mesopotamia surrendered to Ottoman forces. Major General Townshend and 13,000 British and Indian troops became prisoners, roughly 4,000 of whom died in captivity. It was one of the worst British defeats of WWI.

US forces liberated Dachau, discovering 32,000 survivors and thousands of dead. Dachau was the first concentration camp (established 1933) and its liberation provided incontrovertible evidence of the Holocaust.

In the Führerbunker beneath Berlin, Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun in a brief civil ceremony as Soviet shells pounded the city above. Less than 40 hours later, both committed suicide. Hitler also dictated his last will and political testament.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara submitted a memorandum to President Johnson questioning further troop escalation in Vietnam and recommending a ceiling of 470,000 US personnel. The memo marked a turning point in Johnson administration war strategy.

The US military launched the largest helicopter evacuation in history, airlifting approximately 7,000 Americans and Vietnamese from Saigon as North Vietnamese forces closed in. The iconic images of helicopters on rooftops became defining symbols of the Vietnam War.

Los Angeles riots erupted after the acquittal of four LAPD officers in the Rodney King beating trial. California Governor Pete Wilson mobilized 6,000 National Guard troops; President Bush activated 2,000 federal troops under the Insurrection Act.

CBS News "60 Minutes II" broadcast the first photographs of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, triggering a global scandal that reshaped US military detention policy. Seven US Army Reserve soldiers faced courts martial over the following year.

Prince William married Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey with a military procession involving 1,900 British Armed Forces personnel. The ceremony represented the largest royal military parade in London since the 1952 funeral of King George VI.

USS Theodore Roosevelt returned to sea after a six-week shore quarantine on Guam during which approximately 1,300 crew members tested positive for COVID-19 and one sailor died. The crisis reshaped US Navy pandemic response protocols.