US 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 farm house 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 the a bitter battle of Korean War as the American-led troops break out of the Chosen Reservoir area, based onthe attempt by vastly larger force of the 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 classic shows is born in West Plains, Missouri.

Today in History, December 13th, Sandy Kozel, the Associated Press.