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History on the 3rd of February

History
Date Text
03 Feb 1913 WW2 Heinrich Hoffmann's wife Therese gave birth to their daughter Henriette. 
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03 Feb 1915 WW1 Begin of Defence of the Suez Canal
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03 Feb 1917 WW2 The United States broke off Diplomatic Relations with Germany. 
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03 Feb 1920 WW2 Henry Heimlich was born in Wilmington, Delaware, United States.
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03 Feb 1937 WW2 Spanish Nationalist and Italian volunteer forces reached the outskirts of Malaga, Spain. 
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03 Feb 1938 WW2 Japanese Special Naval Landing Force troops captured Yantai, Shandong Province, China. Japanese gunboats immediately entered the harbor to help eliminate the last pockets of Chinese resistance. 
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03 Feb 1940 WW2 German bombers attacked British minesweepers Sphinx, Speedwell, and Skipjack at 0930 hours near the mouth of the Moray Firth in northern Scotland. Sphinx was struck by a bomb on the aft deck, killing many including the captain. Survivors were taken to HMS Speedwell, and Sphinx capsized 19 hours later. Total loss of lives with the sinking of HMS Sphinx amounted to 54 men. 
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03 Feb 1940 WW2 German submarine U-25 torpedoed and sank British steamer Armanistan at 1432 hours about 100 miles west of Lisbon, Portugal. The entire crew was rescued by Spanish vessel Monte Abril and brought to the island of Tenerife of the Canary Islands. 
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03 Feb 1940 WW2 The first enemy aircraft to crash in England was a Heinkel He 111 aircraft shot down near Whitby, North Yorkshire by Flight Lieutenant Peter Townsend flying a Hurricane fighter of 43 Squadron. Two of the four German crewmen were killed. After the war Townsend became a household name for his ill-fated romance with Princess Margaret. 
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03 Feb 1940 WW2 The British Air Ministry issued specification E.28/39 to the Gloster Aircraft Company to prepare an airframe for flight testing the pioneering W.1 gas turbine designed by Frank Whittle and built by Power Jets Ltd. 
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03 Feb 1940 WW2 Japanese 26th Division captured Wuyuan, Suiyuan Province, China. 
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03 Feb 1940 WW2 USS Helena departed Montevideo, Uruguay. 
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03 Feb 1940 WW2 German submarine U-58 chased Estonian vessel Reet for 13 hours, sinking her with torpedoes in the North Sea halfway between Stavanger, Norway & Aberdeen, Scotland, killing 18. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 Mussolini sent Fascist Party leaders to the Albanian front to bolster morale. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 General Erwin Rommel was appointed as the head of an unit temporarily named "German Army Troops in Africa"; it would later become the Afrika Korps. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 Italian troops in Eritrea, Italian East Africa withdrew into towns in the mountains. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-107 sank British ship Empire Citizen 300 miles south of Iceland at 0223 hours; 77 were killed, 5 survived. At 2333 hours, U-107 struck again, sinking British ship HMS Cirspin; 20 were killed, 121 survived. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 German submarine U-93 attacked British ship Dione II 50 miles northwest of Ireland at 1410 hours; the torpedo missed. A German Fw 200 aircraft arrived later in the day and bombed the ship, causing damage. At 2300 hours, U-93 surfaced near Dione II and engaged in a brief gun battle. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 British minesweeping trawler HMT Arctic Trapper was sunk by German bombing off Ramsgate, Kent, England, United Kingdom; 17 were killed, 3 were wounded. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 German military leaders presented detailed plans for Operation Barbarossa to Adolf Hitler. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps Air Station Ewa was commissioned in US Territory of Hawaii after five months of conversion work; it had previously been a US Navy airship base. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 USS Arizona arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 The US Marine Corps established an airfield near the Ewa villages at Kapolei, Honolulu County, US Territory of Hawaii with the aircraft of Marine Aircraft Group 2 originally based at Naval Air Station Ford Island, also on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 Vsevolod Merkulov was named the People's Commissar of State Security of the Soviet NKGB with responsibilities to oversee espionage and intelligence activities. The new ministry NKGB would last only until the German invasion when it would be merged back into the NKVD. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 Kliment Voroshilov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the third time. 
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03 Feb 1941 WW2 Henry Arnold was promoted to the permanent rank of major general. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 German forces counterattacked toward Vyazma, encircling several Soviet divisions. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese naval land attack planes bombed ABDA operating base at Surabaya. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Henry Stimson appeared before the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives of the US Congress and successfully convinced the congressmen to approve a US$500,000,000 loan for the Chinese. This was done as a favor for Chiang Kaishek, who was considering to accept an American request for him to launch an offensive into northern Burma. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 US submarine Trout delivered 3,500 rounds of 3 inch anti-aircraft ammunition to Corregidor, Philippine Islands. Upon departure, the submarine evacuated 20 tons of Philippine gold and silver. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 The last of the Australian Gull Force on Ambon, Dutch East Indies surrendered the town of Kudamati to the Japanese. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Lieutenant Tadaichi Noda led a group of Japanese troops to the Tol plantation on the southern coast of the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain and captured 180 Australian troops hiding there; the Australians were given hot meals, the first they had for several days; the prisoners, however, did not realize that most of them would only have days to live. Hours later, after sundown, Australian Catalina aircraft flew over Rabaul, New Britain and were engaged by Japanese A5M4 fighters; all aircraft on both sides survived this first dogfight over Rabaul since Japanese conquest. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Tenryu departed Kavieng, New Ireland and provided support for the landings at nearby Gasmata, New Britain. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Six Japanese flying boats from Rabaul, New Britain bombed the Seven Mile airfield near Port Moresby, British Territory of Papua at 0300 hours, killing 1 Australian Army sergeant; the damage done to the airfield was minor. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Burmese 2nd Infantry Brigade and a part of the Indian 17th Division withdrew from Martaban, Burma toward the Bilin River. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 Shokaku arrived at Yokosuka, Japan and remained there for the remainder of the month. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 In Libya, British 1st Armoured Division evacuated Mechili while Indian 4th Division evacuated Derna. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 He 111 bombers of German Luftwaffe I./KG 4 attacked Soviet rail stations in central Russia during the night. 
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03 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-103 sank Panamanian freighter San Gil 25 kilometers off Virginia, United States, killing 2 of 40 aboard. 
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03 Feb 1943 WW2 British Colonial Secretary Stanley announced that 5,000 Jews, 4,500 of them children, would be allowed to migrate from Bulgaria to Palestine. Additionally, 30,000 immigration certificates were made available for use by any Jewish children in southeastern Europe for Palestine. Unfortunately, most of the 35,000 allotments were not used, as the Red Cross refused to accompany children on the ships in poor condition that were made available for the transportation to Palestine. 
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03 Feb 1943 WW2 While stalking a Japanese tanker at dawn, USS Tunny was discovered by the enemy but continued to pursue the target. Under gunfire, she fired multiple volleys of torpedoes at the tanker; one hit, but it failed to explode. After nightfall, she detected another ship at 2005 hours, fired 3 torpedoes, and claimed sinking it. 
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03 Feb 1943 WW2 BOAC began a high speed delivery service between Leuchars, Scotland, United Kingdom and Stockholm, Sweden using a fleet of ten Mosquito aircraft. 
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03 Feb 1943 WW2 Over lunch, Dwight Eisenhower informed George Patton that Patton had been chosen to help plan the invasion of Sicily, Italy. 
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03 Feb 1943 WW2 German submarine U-255 sank US freighter Greylock of Allied convoy RA-52; all 70 aboard survived. 
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03 Feb 1943 WW2 USS Grayback arrived at Brisbane, Australia, ending her fifth war patrol. 
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03 Feb 1943 WW2 During the day, the German OKW issued an announcement to inform the German public of the defeat at Stalingrad, Russia. The message, read over the radio, was preceded by a solemn drum roll and was followed by the 2nd movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's 5th symphony. 
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03 Feb 1943 WW2 Nachi departed Yokosuka, Japan. 
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03 Feb 1943 WW2 12 He 111 aircraft, with supplies on board, flew over the northern pocket of Stalingrad, Russia before dawn. Of the 11 aircraft that reached the intended drop zone, only 3 dropped some of their cargo, as they found no German activity. 
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03 Feb 1943 WW2 The keel of Rochester was laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Company at Quincy, Massachusetts, United States. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk and departed later on the same day. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 The concentration camp at Szebnie, Poland was closed, and its prisoners deported or executed; Amon Göth was placed in charge of this operation. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 German Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt issued additional orders that supported swift severe reprisals against any acts of resistance. The orders also explicitly attribute any potential innocent civilian casualties the fault of resistance group and not of the German occupation. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 Italian Fascists violated Vatican City sovereignty by dispatching troops to arrest several Jews hiding within Vatican City borders. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 Savo Island was commissioned into service. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 673rd Bomb Squadron (flying A-20 aircraft) of USAAF 417th Bomb Group was transferred from Cape Sudest Airfield to Dobodura Airfield, Australian Papua. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 The Drancy Concentration Camp in Paris, France sent its 67th transport for Auschwitz Concentration Camp with more than 1,000 Jews. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Part of ARGUS-22 departed. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 The American attempt to break out of the Anzio beachhead in Italy was halted, followed by the first German counterattack against the beachhead. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 Yamato undocked from Drydock No. 4 at Kure, Japan. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 Allied convoy RA-56 departed at the Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 USS Mingo departed Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, United States after her overhaul. 
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03 Feb 1944 WW2 USS Whale arrived at Midway Atoll, ending her sixth war patrol. 
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03 Feb 1945 WW2 US forces engaged Japanese troops in Manila, Philippine Islands. 
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03 Feb 1945 WW2 Soviet troops captured Landsberg, Germany. 
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03 Feb 1945 WW2 The Soviet State Defense Committee (GKO) ordered all German males between the ages of 17 and 50 in Soviet-occupied territories to be deported to the Soviet Union as forced laborers. 
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03 Feb 1945 WW2 Frank Messervy ordered his Indian 4th Corps to attack Chauk and Pagan, Burma. 
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03 Feb 1945 WW2 Judge Roland Friesler, the fanatical Nazi who condemned to death the July plotters against Hitler, was killed during an air raid on Berlin, Germany. 
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03 Feb 1945 WW2 BBC war correspondent Guy Byam was killed when the Flying Fortress bomber in which he was reporting on a daylight raid on Berlin, Germany was shot down. 
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03 Feb 1945 WW2 USS Tunny departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her eighth war patrol. 
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03 Feb 1945 WW2 Allied convoy JW-64 departed Clyde, Scotland, United Kingdom. 
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03 Feb 1946 WW2 Friedrich Jeckeln was found guilty and was executed in Riga, Latvia. 
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03 Feb 1947 WW2 Marc Mitscher passed away. 
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