April 7 in Military History

Reinforced overnight by Buell's Army of the Ohio, Grant counterattacked at dawn and drove the Confederates from the field. General Beauregard retreated to Corinth, Mississippi, preserving federal control of western Tennessee.

Rear Admiral Du Pont led nine Union ironclads against Confederate fortifications guarding Charleston Harbor. The experimental ironclad USS Keokuk was hit 90 times and sank the next morning, and Du Pont withdrew after concluding his fleet could not reduce the defenses.

Royal Navy destroyers laid mines in Norwegian territorial waters to block the iron ore shipments from Swedish mines transiting Narvik, a provocative step that collided with a German invasion force already at sea. The encounter triggered the six-week Norwegian Campaign that ended with Wehrmacht occupation of the country.

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at Klessheim Castle near Salzburg to discuss Axis strategy following the catastrophic defeat at Stalingrad and the deteriorating situation in North Africa, underscoring growing tensions in the alliance.

Nearly 400 U.S. carrier aircraft sank the battleship Yamato, the largest warship ever built, during her one-way suicide mission to Okinawa, killing 2,498 of 2,700 crew.

U.S. 90th Infantry Division troops of Patton's Third Army discovered roughly 100 tons of gold, looted art, and millions in foreign currency stored by the Reichsbank in the salt mine at Merkers. The find represented the bulk of Germany's remaining gold reserves and triggered a massive logistical effort to secure and move the treasure.

Viet Minh forces continued their devastating siege of the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu with intense fighting around remaining strongpoints. The battle, which began March 13, would end in French surrender on May 7.

After the Geneva Accords committed the Soviet Union to withdrawing from Afghanistan, Pakistani intelligence and mujahideen commanders began staging forces around Jalalabad for what would become the first major conventional offensive of the post-Soviet war. The battle would later expose the durability of the Najibullah regime against direct ground assault.

The U.S. military began airdrops of food, blankets, and medical supplies to Kurdish refugees fleeing Saddam Hussein's forces in northern Iraq. Coalition aircraft established a no-fly zone above the 36th parallel, eventually enabling 500,000 Kurds to return home.

The 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade launched a second Thunder Run into Baghdad, this time with orders to stay. Colonel David Perkins's armored task force fought its way into downtown, captured the presidential palace and government ministries, and effectively ended Ba'athist control of the Iraqi capital.

A chlorine and reported sarin attack on the Damascus suburb of Douma killed dozens of civilians and prompted a coordinated American, British, and French cruise missile strike one week later. The retaliation, Operation Desert Cove, was the second major Western military action against Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons infrastructure.