June 14 in Military History

The Continental Congress established the Continental Army, the direct ancestor of today's US Army.

The Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution, establishing the Stars and Stripes as the national flag of the United States. June 14 is celebrated as Flag Day in the United States.

German troops marched into Paris unopposed after France declared the capital an open city. The Wehrmacht paraded down the Champs-Élysées, and the swastika was raised over the Arc de Triomphe.

Germany conducted the first test launch of the A-4 rocket (later designated V-2) at Peenemünde, though it failed. The V-2 would become the world's first ballistic missile and the ancestor of all modern rockets.

Remington Rand delivered the first UNIVAC I computer to the U.S. Census Bureau, the first commercially produced electronic digital computer in the United States. Military variants powered atomic weapons calculations at the Atomic Energy Commission and ballistic computations at the Army Ballistic Research Laboratory through the 1950s.

Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut, laid the keel of USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the world's first nuclear-powered submarine. Her design and reactor development, led by Captain Hyman Rickover, established the industrial and propulsion base that has powered every U.S. submarine and aircraft carrier since.

Argentine forces on the Falkland Islands surrendered to British forces, ending the 74-day Falklands War. Over 11,000 Argentine troops laid down their arms in Port Stanley.

British 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (2 Para) captured Goose Green settlement after a 36-hour battle that killed Colonel H. Jones and 17 other British soldiers. The victory over a numerically superior Argentine garrison demonstrated British infantry capability and shaped the tactical tempo of subsequent Falklands operations.

The 17-day TWA Flight 847 hijacking ended with the release of the remaining 39 American hostages in Beirut. The crisis reshaped U.S. counterterrorism doctrine, prompted the establishment of dedicated hostage-rescue capability at Joint Special Operations Command, and drove FAA security upgrades across commercial aviation.

A gunman opened fire on Republican members of Congress practicing for a charity baseball game in Alexandria, Virginia, critically wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise before being shot by Capitol Police.