On this day in military history....in 1812 and others

On this day in military history....in 1812. Napoleon did what Hitler was unable to do and enter Moscow after defeating the Czar's armies at the battle of Borodino the week before. Unfortunately, entering Moscow did not bring the Russia bear to it's knees, so after a month, the French were forced to abandon Moscow and return to France in one of most infamous retreats in modern history. Napoleon lost over 400,000 men during the invasion and lucky for the Russians, Hitler didn't remember this when he decided to invade in 1941.

On this day in military history....in 1944. Speaking of ignoble victories, the US launches Operation Stalemate, the invasion of the Peleliu, one of the islands of the Palau archipelago. This invasion was to support the invasion of the Phillipines later that year by MacArthur. The 1st Marine Division was tasked to take the island, but the Japanese were well prepared and hidden in the islands numerous caves and tunnels. By the time that the Army arrived to relieve the Marines, the 1st MarDiv had lost 9,000 men and was bled dry. Instead of trying to root out the Japanese defenders, the Army decided to erect barbwire around the area where the Japanese were still holding out, call it a POW camp and declare the battle over.