On 19 November 1942 the Red Army opened Operation Uranus, striking the Romanian armies on the flanks of Stalingrad and encircling the German Sixth Army within days. On the same date in 1863 Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address, and in 1941 HMAS Sydney and the German raider Kormoran sank each other off Western Australia.
Ocaña, 1809
A French army of about 30,000 under King Joseph and Marshal Soult attacked a Spanish army of more than 50,000 under General Areizaga on the open plain at Ocaña, south of Madrid. The French cavalry turned the Spanish right and fell on the infantry, the Spanish army broke and fled, and thousands of men laid down their arms.1
Read the full story of Ocaña, 1809 ›The Gettysburg Address, 1863
Abraham Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg after the orator Edward Everett, who had talked for two hours. His speech lasted about two minutes and ran to 272 words, and the National Park Service calls it the most famous piece of oratory in American history.2
Read the full story of The Gettysburg Address, 1863 ›HMAS Sydney and the Kormoran, 1941
Off Western Australia the cruiser HMAS Sydney closed on what looked like a Dutch merchant ship; it was the German raider Kormoran in disguise, and at close range it opened fire. Both ships were mortally hit and sank, and none of Sydney's 645 men survived.3
Read the full story of HMAS Sydney and the Kormoran, 1941 ›Operation Uranus, 1942
On 19 November Soviet armies struck the Romanian Third Army on the Don, northwest of Stalingrad, and a second blow fell south of the city the next day. Within days the two pincers closed, trapping the German Sixth Army together with the remnants of two Romanian armies.4
Read the full story of Operation Uranus, 1942 ›
