11 December 1282 - The Battle of Orewin Bridge.

Welsh independence was all but ended with the Treaty of Conway signed in 1277 (see 9 November) all that remained under the control of Llywelyn II, Prince of Wales was the mountainous north west. 

In 1282 Llywelyn rose up in revolt against his English overlord and was enjoying some success when on a recruiting drive into mid Wales in December when he learnt of an English army advancing on Builth Castle which they intended to seize. Llywelyn with around 1000 men placed himself on the north side of the river Irfon at Orewin Bridge which the English had to cross.

The exact circumstances of the battle are unclear, but it is certain that for some reason Llywelyn with a small bodyguard rode away from his army in the direction of Builth presumably to gather more men to face the English who were several times his number. While he was away the English under Baron Mortimer of Wigmore had crossed the river by a previously unknown ford led there by a traitor in the Welsh camp and fell upon the unsuspecting Welsh from the rear. As Llywelyn returned hearing the sound of battle he ran into a body of English soldiers, taken by surprise he was engaged in single combat with one Adam de Frankton and was killed. 

Without their leader the Welsh fled and all but ended Welsh resistance against the English. His brother Dafydd assumed the title Prince of Wales and attempted to carry on the fight, but was captured six months later and executed bringing to an end Welsh independence. 

Llywelyn II, Baron Mortimer of Wigmore, Dafydd, all added to my Great Names List. I am running out of room on my list because Mark keeps posting this Welsh stuff. The Baron Mortimer of Wigmore brought back flashes of another Mortimer with a last name of Snerd. 

Is this the link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SgEf9jqTPU ? You can post the link, if you cannot post a video.

If I'm not mistaken Lord Louis Mountbatten accepted the surrender of more Japanese troops in South-East Asia than the Americans did in the Pacific. I bet you don't teach that at school.  

Stillwell had a psychotic hatred of Brits, why I don't know. He was a strange and weird character who worshipped China, their culture, and everything the Chinese did. He did his very best to support them and make excuses for their pathetic performances against the Japs. He revelled in any British defeat, no matter how small and being a General, abused and insulted every British officer who was unfortunate to come before him. This ended when Mountbatten was given command of the Brits and he outranked him. He made a habit of, how can I say? Putting him in his place, because Mountbatten had his measure from head to toe.

If I'm not mistaken Lord Louis Mountbatten accepted the surrender of more Japanese troops in South-East Asia than the Americans did in the Pacific. I bet you don't teach that at school.  

No, we were taught the Pacific Theater was an American War. Must have been because of Pearl Harbor. 

It mostly was, but on the mainland India, Burma etc it was mostly British and Empire troops. 

12 December 1937 - The Panay Incident.

The USS Panay was a 482 ton river gunboat with a crew of 59, one of six US Navy vessels of the Yangtze Patrol, an agreement with China that US vessels could patrol the waters of the Yangtze river to protect the trade routes to and from the inland treaty ports.

In 1937 the Japanese invaded China advancing on Nanjing where the Panay was assigned to evacuate Westerners from the city. On 11 December she steamed out of Nanjing with 73 on board, 59 crew and 14 civilians, accompanied by three Standard Oil tankers heading for Shanghai and the East China Sea. 

28 miles out of Nanjing the convoy was attacked by Japanese aircraft with the Panay hit by several bombs and strafed by gunfire. Unable to proceed the captain ordered abandon ship. The three tankers were sunk with many Chinese passengers killed. On board the Panay two US servicemen and two civilians were killed. Survivors from all four vessels were rescued by American and British ships.  

13 December 2003 - Operation Red Dawn, The Capture of Saddam Hussein.

Following the fall of Baghdad to Allied troops in April 2003 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein disappeared eight months making only audio appeals for resistance to the occupying armies. In December information was received as to his location - a remote farm south of Tikrit. 

US Special Forces descended on the area and located Hussein in a so-called spider hole. He offered no resistance despite being armed with two guns, he also was found with $750,000 in banknotes. 

He was handed over the the Iraqi authorities for trial which took two years to organize and another year to be completed. Found guilty of war crimes he was executed at the end of December 2006.    

14 December 1812 - The last French troops left Russia.

Napoleon's ill-fated invasion of Russia began in June 1812 when around 450,000 troops of whom half were from countries allied to France crossed the river Nieman, the border between Russia and Prussia, heading for Moscow. The plan was for a two year campaign wintering in Moscow before moving on St Petersburg. More troops followed later bringing the total numbers to over 650,000.

However the Russian tactics of falling back after every battle, which the French mostly won, and setting Moscow ablaze plus refusing to enter into any peace talks forced Napoleon to retreat as winter set in. Battle losses, disease, starvation and desertions reduced the French to a fraction of their initial size with no more than 10,000 returning across the Nieman in some form of order in December, although more remained prisoner in Russia. 

Napoleon himself went on ahead on 5 December returning to Paris on 18 December.