July 6 in Military History — On This Day

Battle of Fornovo

Alarmed at how easily Charles had taken Naples, the Italian states formed a league and caught his army crossing the Apennines on the way home. The fighting was brief and vicious, and by the standards of Italian warfare astonishingly bloody. The League held the field and claimed the victory; the French cut their way through and marched home with their loot.

Both sides celebrated, which tells you everything about the transition under way. Gonzaga commissioned a painting; Charles got his army out of Italy. Fornovo was the first serious battle of the wars and it demonstrated that the new fighting — foreign, mass, unchivalrous — killed in a few hours more men than a season of condottieri campaigning. Italy had been shown the future and could not match it.

Full battle details →

⚔️📍 Brest, Brittany, France1944

Siege of Brest Begins — WWII Normandy Campaign

U.S. forces began the siege of the heavily fortified port of Brest, held by 40,000 German troops under orders to defend it to the last. The siege would last 45 days despite the port's strategic importance for Allied supply lines.

Brest's destruction by the German garrison before surrender meant the port was useless for Allied supply — forcing dependence on the Red Ball Express truck system that strained Allied logistics.

Outcome

American victory after 45 days; port destroyed by Germans