May 10 in Military History — On This Day

⚔️📍 Lake Champlain, New York1775

Fort Ticonderoga Captured — Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys

Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys surprised the sleeping British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga at dawn, demanding surrender 'in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress.' The fort fell without a shot; its cannons would be dragged to Boston to force a British evacuation.

Ticonderoga's capture provided the Continental Army with badly needed artillery and was the first offensive American action of the Revolutionary War.

Outcome

American victory; 78 cannons captured for siege of Boston

Fall of France

Germany bypassed France's Maginot Line by driving armored columns through the 'impassable' Ardennes Forest, cutting Allied forces in two. 338,000 Allied troops were evacuated from Dunkirk in a desperate naval operation using everything from destroyers to fishing boats. France signed an armistice on June 22nd; Paris fell without a fight. In six weeks Germany had done what it couldn't do in four years of WWI.

The most stunning military campaign of WWII. France's collapse left Britain alone against Nazi-dominated Europe. Churchill became Prime Minister; his refusal to consider peace terms was Britain's defining decision of the war. The miracle of Dunkirk saved the nucleus of the British army.

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Battle of Hamburger Hill (Dong Ap Bia)

US and South Vietnamese forces launched 11 frontal assaults over ten days to capture a heavily fortified NVA hilltop position in the A Shau Valley. 'Hamburger Hill' earned its nickname from soldiers who felt they were being fed into a meat grinder. The hill was taken on May 20th — and abandoned nine days later as having no strategic value.

The battle that turned soldiers against the war. Men in the field began to question why they were dying for a hill that would be abandoned. The phrase 'what are we fighting for?' took on new meaning. Congressional criticism intensified; Hamburger Hill accelerated the shift to Vietnamization — turning the fighting over to South Vietnamese forces.

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