On June 22 1940, the French signed an armistice with invading German forces that would officially end the Battle of France in the early morning hours of the 25th. Over the course of six weeks the invading Huns had battled French, Belgian and Commonwealth forces in a dynamic and fluid campaign.

​On this day in 1941 German paratroopers (Fallschirmjägers) fulfilled what would become a traditional airborne task: airfield seizure. They also demonstrated what an absolute nightmare airborne operations can be, especially with the technique still in its infancy at the time.
 
First, with the good (well good for the Nazis… so bad?). After leaping into the sky above the island of Crete the day prior, German forces eventually captured one of their key objectives, Maleme Airfield. This allowed them to rapidly fly in reinforcements to support the paratroopers who had been fighting pretty much on their own. This success was due in large part to the absolute confusion by thousands of paratroopers descending at multiple points all over the island almost at once, and exacerbated by Allied communication issues. 

On May 12th 1846, a group of nine wagons carrying the Reed and Donner families left Independence Missouri on their journey west. Along the way the size of the group swelled as they joined up with other settlers heading to California for new life. They decided to take a recently scouted path named “Hastings Cutoff”, which promised a more direct route than the main trail. Unfortunately, this trail had not been properly cleared for wagons and was exceedingly treacherous. It also required them to cross the Great Salt Lake Desert, causing a number of oxen to become crazed from thirst and break free from the yokes.
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Things escalated further when a physical altercation between James Reed and another turned deadly. After Reed stopped the man from beating one of his oxen, the man turned the whip on Reed (and possibly his wife). Reed retaliated by stabbing him to death. This resulted in him being banished from the group, and forced to ride on ahead and alone leaving his family behind

On this day in history in 1865 President Abraham Lincoln toured the still smoldering Confederate capitol of Richmond, VA with his son Tad. While more lives were doomed to be lost, the American Civil War was almost at its end.
Following an increasing number of defeats the Confederate government fled Richmond on April 2nd 1865 in the face of advancing Union forces. As they left, rebel troops burned bridges, arsenals and warehouses in a bid to hamper Union movement and prevent war material from falling into Northern hands. This ultimately pointless gesture (Lee would surrender the Army of Northern Virginia only one week later) quickly got out of control and devastated portions of the city.

On this date in 1941 the Lend-Lease Act was signed into law. This program was designed to support Allied Nations in their fight against the Axis. While it was still 9 months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States had (arguably) ended its official neutrality and threw the “Arsenal of Democracy” behind the Allies

Ahh... The classic American rifles of WW1. The m1903, the m1917 the... wait... is that a Mosin-Nagant???
To those of you who are incredulous I say: Sure is! While Mosin-Nagant pattern rifles are most closely associated with Eastern European militaries, some saw a brief stint in U.S. Military service during and immediately after WW1.

This day is history, in 1939, rear-echelon elements of the Finnish army defeated an overwhelming surprise Soviet attack with the assistance of... sausage soup and American made rifles???