On This Day: 6 June

6 June in Indian history

• 1674Shivaji, who led a resistance to free the Maratha from the Bijapur Sultanate and the Mughal Empire, was crowned the first chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire.India

6 June in world history

• 2023Russo-Ukrainian war: The Kakhovka Dam is destroyed.
• 2017Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces opened the Second Battle of Raqqa, the final phase of the Raqqa campaign, capturing the de facto capital of the Islamic State four months later.
• 1985The remains of Josef Mengele, a Nazi physician notorious for performing human experiments on Auschwitz inmates, were exhumed in Embu das Artes, Brazil.
• 1982Falklands War: The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cardiff engaged and destroyed a British Army helicopter in a friendly-fire incident.
• 19821982 Lebanon War: The war begins as forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon during Operation Peace for the Galilee, eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.
• 1976Chief Minister of Sabah Faud Stephens, Peter Joinud Mojuntin, and several other politicians are killed in a plane crash near Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Malaysia.
• 1971Vietnam War: Australian forces attacked a heavily fortified North Vietnamese base camp at the Battle of Long Khánh.
• 1971Hughes Airwest Flight 706 collided with a US Marine Corps jet near Duarte, California, killing 50 people.
• 1971Soyuz 11 is launched. The mission ends in disaster when all three cosmonauts, Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev are suffocated by uncontrolled decompression of the capsule during re-entry on 29 June.
• 1966March Against Fear: African-American civil rights activist James Meredith is wounded in an ambush by white sniper James Aubrey Norvell. Meredith and Norvell are photographed by Jack R. Thornell, whose photo will receive the 1967 Pulitzer Prize in Photography,
• 1944World War II: Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious military operation in history, began with Allied troops landing on the beaches of Normandy in France.
• 1942World War II: The United States Navy's victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway is a major turning point in the Pacific Theater. All four Japanese fleet carriers taking part—Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū and Hiryū—are sunk, as is the heavy cruiser
• 1918World War I: U.S. Marine Corps suffers its worst single day's casualties during the Battle of Belleau Wood while attempting to recapture the wood at Château-Thierry (the losses are exceeded at the Battle of Tarawa in November 1943).
• 1894Governor Davis H. Waite orders the Colorado state militia to protect and support the miners engaged in the Cripple Creek miners' strike.
• 1862American Civil War: The First Battle of Memphis, a naval engagement fought on the Mississippi River, results in the capture of Memphis, Tennessee by Union forces from the Confederates.
• 1859Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales. The date is still celebrated as Queensland Day.
• 1513War of the League of Cambrai: Milanese forces with Swiss mercenaries defeated the French in Novara, forcing them to withdraw from the Duchy of Milan and Italy.

Born on 6 June

• 1959Colin Quinn, American comedian and actor
• 1936D. Ramanaidu, Indian actor, director, and producer, founded Suresh Productions (died 2015)India
• 1929Sunil Dutt, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician (died 2005)India
• 1929James Barnor, Ghanaian photographer
• 1891Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, Indian author and academic (died 1986)India
• 1850Karl Ferdinand Braun, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate in 1909 for physics (died 1918)

Died on 6 June

• 2013Esther Williams, American swimmer and actress (born 1921)
• 2009Jean Dausset, French-Spanish immunologist and academic; awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his studies of the genetic basis of immunological reaction (born 1916)
• 1861Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Italian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Italy (born 1810)
• 1548João de Castro, Portuguese soldier and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (born 1500)India

Frequently asked questions

What happened on 6 June in history?

2023: Russo-Ukrainian war: The Kakhovka Dam is destroyed. 2017: Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces opened the Second Battle of Raqqa, the final phase of the Raqqa campaign, capturing the de facto capital of the Islamic State four months later. 1985: The remains of Josef Mengele, a Nazi physician notorious for performing human experiments on Auschwitz inmates, were exhumed in Embu das Artes, Brazil. 1982: Falklands War: The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cardiff engaged and destroyed a British Army helicopter in a friendly-fire incident.

What happened on 6 June in Indian history?

1674: Shivaji, who led a resistance to free the Maratha from the Bijapur Sultanate and the Mughal Empire, was crowned the first chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire.

Which famous people were born on 6 June?

Colin Quinn, American comedian and actor (1959); D. Ramanaidu, Indian actor, director, and producer, founded Suresh Productions (died 2015) (1936); Sunil Dutt, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician (died 2005) (1929); James Barnor, Ghanaian photographer (1929).

Which day is observed on 6 June?

D-Day Invasion Anniversary; Engineer's Day in Taiwan; Korean Children's Union Foundation Day in North Korea; Memorial Day in South Korea; National Day of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union and the coronation of King Gustav Vasa.