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History on the 21st of February

History
Date Text
21 Feb 1109 RELIGIOUS Death of Anselm of Canterbury, 76, priest and theologian. Best remembered for his 1099 classic, "Cur Deus Homo" ("Why God Became Man"), Anselm is regarded as the most original thinker in the Catholic Church since Augustine. His most often quoted saying was: 'I believe, in order that I may understand.'
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21 Feb 1173 RELIGIOUS Pope Alexander III canonized Thomas Becket (1118-70). As Archbishop of Canterbury, Becket had been martyred three years earlier on orders of English King Henry II a former friend until Becket was elevated to Archbishop in 1162.
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21 Feb 1795 RELIGIOUS Freedom of worship was established in France under the constitution that came out of the French Revolution of 1789.
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21 Feb 1910 WW2 WW2 RAF fighter ace Douglas Bader was born at St. John's Wood, London, England, United Kingdom. 
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21 Feb 1912 WW2 Zhaohe completed her trials in Britain. 
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21 Feb 1913 WW2 Settsu arrived at Sasebo, Japan. 
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21 Feb 1913 WW2 Settsu departed Mako, Hoko Prefecture, Taiwan to patrol the South China Sea along the Chinese coast. 
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21 Feb 1915 WW2 The French army decided to introduce a steel helmet in place of the steel skull cap worn under the kepi. The first design by Georges Scott proved too costly to manufacture, and a simplified pattern, the Adrian helmet, was produced on the orders of a Supply Department official of that name. 
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21 Feb 1916 WW1 Begin of Battle of Verdun
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21 Feb 1918 WW2 Russian General Mikhail Alekseev's exhausted Volunteer Army, its situation untenable and sadly in need of recruits and supplies, was forced to evacuate Rostov, Russia and retreated into the steppes south of the Don. 
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21 Feb 1919 WW2 The first US-designed fighter to enter full-scale production, the Thomas Morse MB-3 biplane, made its maiden flight. 
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21 Feb 1920 WW2 Robert Johnson was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, United States. 
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21 Feb 1923 WW2 S-32 was commissioned into service. 
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21 Feb 1930 WW2 Chen Shaokuan spoke over the Chinese government radio, lobbying for funding for a 600,000-ton Chinese Navy. 
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21 Feb 1933 WW2 Battle of the Great Wall: Japanese troops, supported by Manchurian troops, attacked Rehe, China. 
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21 Feb 1934 WW2 German President Paul von Hindenburg approved the wearing of Nazi badges by German soldiers. 
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21 Feb 1935 WW2 British firm Rolls-Royce conducted the first flight test of the PV-12 engine, which would later be known as Merlin. 
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21 Feb 1937 WW2 The League of Nations Non-Intervention Committee banned foreign nationals from fighting in the Spanish Civil War. 
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21 Feb 1938 WW2 Douglas MacArthur's son, Arthur MacArthur IV, was born in Manila, Philippine Islands. 
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21 Feb 1939 WW2 Battleship King George V was launched. 
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21 Feb 1940 WW2 The British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Gurkha (Commander A. W. Buzzard) and the French destroyer La Fantasque shared in the depth charging and destruction of the 753-ton German submarine U-53. 
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21 Feb 1940 WW2 German submarine U-50 torpedoed and sank Dutch ship Tara 50 miles southwest of Cape Finisterre, Spain at 0300 hours. The entire crew escaped harm. 
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21 Feb 1940 WW2 German submarine U-57 damaged British steamer Loch Maddy 25 miles southeast of Wick, Scotland, United Kingdom, killing 4. She would be sunk by U-23 on the following day. 35 survivors were picked up by destroyer HMS Diana. 
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21 Feb 1940 WW2 The Finnish V-line on the Karelian Isthmus continued to be overwhelmed; Soviet penetrations in the line now began to move toward Viipuri, Finland. 
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21 Feb 1940 WW2 Adolf Hitler authorized the Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway. Lieutenant General Falkenhorst was ordered to submit his final invasion plan by 1700 hours on the same day. Having no clue he was to be assigned this commanding role prior to the meeting and given little time to prepare, Falkenhorst purchased a traveler's guide to Norway and used it to design a general invasion plan; the general plan he would devise in his hotel room in the next few hours would generally agree with the plan the OKW had come up with thus far. 
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21 Feb 1940 WW2 The future site of Auschwitz Concentration Camp was found in Poland. 
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21 Feb 1940 WW2 Emergency measures were introduced in Britain to deal with a coal shortage caused by the severe winter. On the railways, passenger train services are cut back. 
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21 Feb 1941 WW2 Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom was attacked for the third consecutive and final day as bombers flew over the port city from 1950 hours until after midnight. Over the course of the three days, 35,000 incendiary bombs and 800 high explosive bombs were dropped on Swansea, killing 230 and wounding 409, but the strategically important docks and nearby oil refineries were relatively unaffected. 
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21 Feb 1941 WW2 German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer sank British ship Canadian Cruiser 575 miles west of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. Before being taken prisoner, the crew radioed for help, which was received by British cruiser HMS Glasgow. 
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21 Feb 1941 WW2 British antisubmarine trawler HMT Lincoln City shot down a German bomber but was then bombed and sunk at Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, a constituent country of Denmark, killing 8. 
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21 Feb 1941 WW2 British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, in the Red Sea awaiting transit through the Suez Canal while it was swept for mines, launched 7 Albacore aircraft to attack the harbor of Massawa, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, causing little damage. 
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21 Feb 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Ursula attacked an Italian convoy it was en route between Trapani, Sicily, Italy and Tripoli, Italy. Italian ship Sabbia was damaged, but Ursula was damaged after being counterattacked by Italian torpedo boat Montanari. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese Navy Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi, commanding officer of Carrier Division 2, distributed copies of his plans for a new offensive against Hawaii beginning in early 1943. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 US Navy Admiral Ernest King presented plans to US President Franklin Roosevelt for conducting the war in the South Pacific for the following 18 months. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 US ship Delplata, fatally damaged on the previous day in the Caribbean Sea by German submarine U-156, was sunk by seaplane tender USS Lapwing after all 53 survivors were rescued. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 Italian transports departed Messina, Sicily, Italy and Corfu, Greece; they would rendezvous in the Mediterranean Sea to form convoy K7 with the destination being Tripoli, Libya. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-67 sank Norwegian tanker Kongsgaard 7 miles off Curaçao in the Caribbean Sea at 1532 hours; 38 were killed, 8 survived. 20 miles west of Trinidad, U-161 sank British tanker Circe Shell at 2313 hours; 1 was killed, 57 survived. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-432 sank US freighter Azalea City 125 miles southeast of Ocean City, Maryland, United States at 0123 hours, killing all 38 aboard. At 1044 hours, 300 miles southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, U-107 damaged Norwegian tanker Egda; Egda was able to return to port despite the torpedo damage. Finally, German submarine U-504 sank US tanker Republic off Florida, United States, killing 5 of 29 aboard. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 The 2nd Burma Frontier Force, who had been placed north of the Kyaikto track to warn against outflanking, were heavily engaged by the Japanese 215th Regiment and forced to withdraw north-west, crossing the Sittang River by country boats, and proceeding to Pegu. No report of this contact ever reached the divisional commander "Jackie" Smyth who was still hearing rumours of a threatened parachute landing to the west. To the south, British 7th Armored Brigade arrived at Rangoon by sea from Egypt. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 USS Marblehead arrived at Trincomalee, Ceylon. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 Akagi arrived at Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 Kaga arrived at Staring Bay near Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Scheer, cruiser Prinz Eugen, and 5 destroyers departed Brunsbüttel, Germany for Bergen, Norway. RAF Coastal Command attempted to intercept them, but most of the aircraft failed to find them, and the lone bomber that did was shot down. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 Bernard Kuehn was arrested in Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 Susan Kuehn was arrested in Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 Friedel Kuehn was arrested in Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two P-40 fighters in the Gambut and Fort Acroma area in Libya at 1210 hours and 1218 hours; they were his 49th and 50th kills. 
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21 Feb 1942 WW2 Robert Johnson married Barbara Morgan in Benton, Missouri, United States. 
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21 Feb 1943 WW2 The Red Army of the Soviet Union celebrated its 25th Birthday. 
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21 Feb 1943 WW2 Axis troops pushed American troops back toward Thala, Tunisia and threatened to cross the Tunisian-Algerian border. By this date, the Americans had lost 100 tanks, 55 heavy guns, and 80 trucks. 
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21 Feb 1943 WW2 In the Russell Islands, US Marine Corps 3rd Raider Battalion landed at Pepesala Point, Pavavu while US Army 43rd Infantry Division landed on Banika. 
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21 Feb 1943 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze departed Gasmata, New Britain, Bismarck Islands to escort transport Gokoku Maru to Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands. 
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21 Feb 1943 WW2 The German submarine U-623 was sunk by a torpedo from RAF Coastal Command Liberator "T" aircraft of No. 120 Squadron flown by Squadron Leader Isted in the Atlantic Ocean. 
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21 Feb 1943 WW2 USS Greenling departed Brisbane, Australia with Australians and New Britain natives on board; they were to serve on New Britain as coast watchers. 
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21 Feb 1943 WW2 USAAF 33rd Fighter Group and its remaining 13 flyable P-40 fighters arrived in the rear area at Agadir, Morocco. 
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21 Feb 1943 WW2 US Marine Aircraft Group 21 was transferred to USS Nassau at Ford island (with 54 Wildcat fighters) for further transfer to the South Pacific. 
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21 Feb 1943 WW2 USS Wahoo was drydocked at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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21 Feb 1943 WW2 The Red Army's 25th anniversary was celebrated in London, England, United Kingdom with a massed gathering at the Albert Hall. Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden represented the government while other notable celebraties present included Dame Sybil Thorndike and Commander Ralph Richardson RNVR. 
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21 Feb 1943 WW2 Submarine Bluefish was launched at Groton, Connecticut, United States, sponsored by the wife of Robert Y. Menzie. 
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21 Feb 1944 WW2 Submarine Sea Cat was launched, sponsored by Mrs. E. L. Cochrane. 
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21 Feb 1944 WW2 USS Iowa was assigned to escort the Fast Carrier Task Force during a raid in the Mariana Islands. 
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21 Feb 1944 WW2 USS Cero damaged a Japanese transport north of Dutch New Guinea, hitting her with 2 of 9 torpedoes fired. 
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21 Feb 1944 WW2 Three Italian motor torpedo boats attacked the Allied beachhead at Anzio, Italy, damaging USS PC-545 and USS Pioneer before dawn. 
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21 Feb 1944 WW2 While at sea, USS Alabama's secondary gun mount No. 9 accidentally fired into secondary gun mount No. 5, killing 5 and wounding 11. 
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21 Feb 1944 WW2 At 1440 hours, 15 B-25 aircraft modified for strafing attacked a Japanese convoy carrying military evacuees from Rabaul, New Britain. Submarine chaser CH-48, transport Kokai Maru, and converted gunboat Kowa Maru were sunk; submarine chaser CH-38 was damaged. 
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21 Feb 1945 WW2 Air Group 80 from USS Hancock flew one strike in support of operations on Iwo Jima; 1 aircraft was lost. 
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21 Feb 1945 WW2 The Japanese Army and Navy launched a combined tokko attack, dispatching 4 and 21 suicide aircraft, respectively. The fleet carrier USS Saratoga and escort carrier USS Lunga Point were hit and damaged, while escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea was sunk. 
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21 Feb 1945 WW2 The first semi-navalised Hawker Sea Fury (SR661) prototype aircraft made its maiden flight. It was fitted with a Centaurus XII engine and four-bladed Rotol airscrew. 
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21 Feb 1945 WW2 Filipp Golikov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the second time. 
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21 Feb 1945 WW2 Aleksandr Vasilevsky was awarded the Order of Lenin for the third time. 
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21 Feb 1945 WW2 Vasily Chuikov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the third time. 
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21 Feb 1945 WW2 Submarine I-369 arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. 
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21 Feb 1945 WW2 USS Astoria provided naval gunfire support at Iwo Jima, Japan. 
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21 Feb 1945 WW2 Boris Shaposhnikov was awarded his third Order of Lenin. 
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21 Feb 1945 WW2 Georgy Zhukov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the third time. 
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21 Feb 1945 WW2 Kliment Voroshilov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the fourth time. 
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21 Feb 1945 RELIGIOUS Death of Eric Liddell, 43, Scottish Olympic champion runner. Later a missionary to China, Liddell was captured by the Japanese during WWII and died of a brain tumor while still imprisoned. (His college running days were portrayed in the 1981 British film, "Chariots of Fire.")
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21 Feb 1946 WW2 Submarine R-1 sank in 6.4 meters of water at Key West, Florida, United States. 
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21 Feb 1946 WW2 In Nürnberg, Germany, Hans Fritzsche was shown a Soviet documentary about the destruction of Eastern European cities in the war and broke down. 
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21 Feb 1948 WW2 USS Boarfish departed Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California, United States. 
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21 Feb 1988 RELIGIOUS During a live TV broadcast, televangelist Jimmy Swaggert, 52, admitted to visiting a prostitute, then announced he would be leaving his ministry for an unspecified length of time. (Defrocked in April by the Assemblies of God, he was ordered to stay off TV for a year, but returned after only three months.)
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