December 19 in Military History

General George Washington led his 12,000 half-starved, ill-equipped Continental Army soldiers into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, eighteen miles northwest of British-occupied Philadelphia. The soldiers arrived after the demoralizing defeats at Brandywine and Germantown, many without shoes, blankets, or adequate clothing. The ensuing six-month encampment would test the Continental Army's will to its absolute limit, and forge the force that would win the war.

General George Washington led 12,000 soldiers of the Continental Army into winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, twenty miles northwest of British-occupied Philadelphia. The six-month encampment that followed became a forge for the professional American army that emerged in the spring of 1778, reorganized and drilled under Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben's Prussian-style training program.

The Darr Mine coal dust explosion at Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania, killed 239 miners, the deadliest mining disaster in Pennsylvania history. The disaster, and the broader December 1907 month in which 702 miners died in American coal mines, triggered federal action that produced the Bureau of Mines in 1910 and the mining safety research that supported both World Wars' coal-driven industrial mobilization.

Adolf Hitler dismissed Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch and assumed direct personal command of the German Army (Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres) during the crisis before Moscow. The decision, driven by Hitler's fury at his generals' requests to retreat, would have catastrophic consequences as Hitler increasingly overruled professional military judgment for the remainder of the war.

Japanese forces returned to Wake Island with a reinforced task force eleven days after their initial assault had been repelled by the island's U.S. Marine garrison. Over the following four days, the defenders of Wake would hold off a significantly stronger landing force before being overwhelmed. The defense became one of the earliest American morale victories of the Pacific War even in eventual defeat.

News of the Malmedy Massacre, in which Waffen-SS troops had murdered 84 American prisoners of war near Malmedy, Belgium, on December 17, spread through Allied lines, galvanizing American troops and eliminating any inclination to surrender. Word of the atrocity hardened the resolve of GIs fighting in the Ardennes and contributed to the fierce American resistance that ultimately doomed the German offensive.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) of the newly formed North Atlantic Treaty Organization. His appointment signaled America's commitment to the collective defense of Western Europe against the Soviet threat and laid the foundation for the military alliance that would contain communism for the next four decades.

The Apollo 17 command module America splashed down in the Pacific Ocean southeast of American Samoa, ending the final crewed mission to the Moon of the twentieth century. Commander Eugene Cernan, command module pilot Ronald Evans, and lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt returned after 12 days with 243 pounds of lunar samples and the records of three long-duration surface excursions at the Taurus-Littrow valley.

The United States and United Kingdom launched Operation Desert Fox, a four-day bombing campaign against Iraqi military targets in response to Iraq's refusal to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors. The strikes targeted suspected weapons of mass destruction facilities, air defense systems, and Republican Guard installations using cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs.

The United States and the United Kingdom concluded Operation Desert Fox, a four-day bombing campaign against Iraqi weapons of mass destruction infrastructure and military command targets. More than 415 cruise missiles and 600 bomb deliveries struck 97 targets in the operation, which the Clinton administration launched after Iraq's expulsion of UNSCOM weapons inspectors in November.