December 13th, 2003:

U.S. forces capture Iraq's ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, nearly nine months after the fall of Baghdad.

Saddam is caught while hiding in a hole under a farmhouse near his hometown of Tikrit.

In 2006, Saddam was sentenced to death and executed for the slaying of Iraqi Shiites during his regime.

1981:

Authorities in communist Poland impose martial law - to crack down on the Solidarity labor movement.

Martial law formally ends two years later. Communist rule in Poland crumbles by the end of the decade.

1950:

End of a bitter battle in the Korean War - as American-led troops break out of the Chosin Reservoir area.

They thwart an attempt by a vastly larger force of North Korean and Chinese troops to encircle them.

1862:

Union forces suffer a major defeat to Confederate troops at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

And, 1925:

Actor Dick Van Dyke - star of one of early TV's classic shows - is born in West Plains, Missouri.

Today in History, December 13th --- ___ ___, The Associated Press.