The Battle of Savo Island took place August 8–August 9, 1942, and was a naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II, between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval forces. The battle was the first of five major naval engagements of the Guadalcanal campaign. In the battle, a Japanese warship task force surprised and routed the Allied naval force, sinking one Australian and three American cruisers, while taking only moderate damage in return. The Japanese force consisted of seven cruisers and one destroyer, commanded by Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa. In response to Allied amphibious landings in the eastern Solomon Islands, Mikawa brought his task force down "the Slot" to attack the Allied amphibious fleet and its screening force. The screening force consisted of eight cruisers and fifteen destroyers, commanded by British Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley, but only five cruisers and seven destroyers were actually involved in the battle. As a result of the defeat, the remaining Allied warships and the amphibious force withdrew from the Solomon Islands. This temporarily conceded control of the seas around Guadalcanal to the Japanese. Allied ground forces had landed on Guadalcanal and nearby islands only the day before. The withdrawal of the fleet left them in a precarious situation, with barely enough supplies, equipment, and food to hold their beachhead.

The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during postwar and postcolonial Indonesia. It took place between Indonesia's declaration of independence in 1945 and the Netherlands' recognition of Indonesia's independence at the end of 1949.

The four-year struggle involved sporadic but bloody armed conflict, internal Indonesian political and communal upheavals, and two major international diplomatic interventions. Dutch military forces (and, for a while, the forces of the World War II allies) were able to control the major towns, cities and industrial assets in Republican heartlands on Java and Sumatra but could not control the countryside. By 1949, international pressure on the Netherlands, the United States threatening to cut off all economic aid for World War II rebuilding efforts to the Netherlands and the partial military stalemate became such that the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence. (Full article...)

• ... that in 1916, three members of a military band were killed in action during the Battle of Columbus in New Mexico?
• ... that the last commanding officer of the Rhodesian Light Infantry, Charlie Aust, described himself as "seedy moustache, glasses and intensely ugly" so soldiers knew how to identify him?
• ... that shortly after the Battle of Cape Hermaeum, most of the victorious Roman fleet was destroyed in a storm, with the loss of over 100,000 lives?
• ... that the fire of Landis' Missouri Battery helped clear the way for an infantry charge at the Second Battle of Corinth?
• ... that a number of Confederate cannons were captured at the Battle of Big Black River Bridge because battery horses were posted on the wrong side of the river?
• ... that Sampson Mathews was nicknamed the "master driver of cattle" for transporting more than 100 cattle 160 miles (260 km) through the Allegheny Mountains in 19 days for the Battle of Point Pleasant?

February 15

• 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
• 1898 - Spanish–American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing more than 260. This event leads the United States to declare war on Spain.
• 1942 - World War II: The Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom, Canadian and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.
• 1944 - World War II: Assault on Monte Cassino, Italy begins.
• 1950 - The Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China sign a mutual defense treaty.