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History on the 23rd of February

History
Date Text
23 Feb 0155 RELIGIOUS Martyrdom of Polycarp, an early Church Father who was a disciple of the Apostle John. Arrested at age 86, Polycarp was burned at the stake for refusing to deny the Christian faith.
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23 Feb 1744 RELIGIOUS Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'There is a God in heaven who over-rules all things for the best; and this is the comfort of my soul.'
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23 Feb 1775 RELIGIOUS Anglican hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'How great and honorable is the privilege of a true believer! That he has neither wisdom nor strength in himself is no disadvantage, for he is connected with infinite wisdom and almighty power.
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23 Feb 1834 RELIGIOUS Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in his journal: 'Rose early to seek God and found Him whom my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?'
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23 Feb 1915 WW2 Paul Tibbets was born. 
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23 Feb 1918 WW2 Arthur Scherbius patented the idea of a cipher machine; it was to be introduced to the commercial market as the Enigma machine in 1923. 
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23 Feb 1918 WW2 Although the Red Army was declared by the Council of People's Commissars (the Soviet governing body) one month prior, this date was considered the birth of the Red Army. 
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23 Feb 1919 WW2 Benito Mussolini formed the Fascist Party in Italy. 
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23 Feb 1928 WW2 Cumberland was commissioned into service. 
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23 Feb 1929 WW2 Henry Stimson stepped down from his position as the Governor-General of the Philippines. 
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23 Feb 1931 WW2 USS S-28 arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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23 Feb 1932 WW2 Light carrier Hosho launched aircraft to attack airfields near Hangzhou, China. 
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23 Feb 1933 WW2 Adolf Hitler announced his wish to gain Lebensraum for German people. 
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23 Feb 1934 WW2 Leopold III became the King of Belgium. 
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23 Feb 1935 WW2 Kliment Voroshilov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the first time. 
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23 Feb 1937 WW2 Heinrich Himmler issued the directive to arrest about 2,000 "professional and habitual criminals" in Germany on 9 Mar 1937 in one swift strike; they were to be sent to concentration camps. 
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23 Feb 1939 WW2 A group of fighters flown by Soviet volunteers intercepted 57 Japanese bombers near Lanzhou, Gansu, China, shooting down 6 Japanese bombers and turning back the rest of the formation. 
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23 Feb 1940 WW2 Sweden denied British and French troops passage across her borders with Finland. 
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23 Feb 1940 WW2 In return for withdrawing from Petsamo, USSR demanded ceding of Karelian Isthmus and shores of Lake Ladoga, along with a 30-year lease on the Hangö Peninsula and a mutual assistance treaty. 
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23 Feb 1940 WW2 British destroyer HMS Gurkha sank German submarine U-53 by depth charges 25 miles south of the Faroe Islands in the North Sea, killing the entire crew of 42. 
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23 Feb 1940 WW2 The Imperial Regalia of the Holy Roman Empire, including relics of Christian mythology, were removed from public display in Nürnberg, Germany. They were moved after dark to a secret location for safe storage. 
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23 Feb 1940 WW2 The citizens of London, England, United Kingdom cheered the officers and men of HMS Exeter and HMS Ajax as they returned from South American waters. 
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23 Feb 1941 WW2 British monitor HMS Terror sank off the Libyan coast at 0420 hours after receiving fatal damage from German aircraft on the previous day. 
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23 Feb 1941 WW2 A German Fw 200 Condor aircraft led German submarines U-69, U-73, U-96, U-107, and U-123 and Italian submarines Bianchi and Barbarigo to Allied convoy OB-288 300 miles south of Iceland. Just before midnight, U-69 sank British ship Marslew (13 killed, 23 rescued) and U-96 sank British ship Anglo-Peruvian (29 lost, 17 rescued). U-107 and Bianchi damaged and chased British ocean boarding vessel HMS Manistee through the night. 
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23 Feb 1941 WW2 British submarine HMS Upright sank Italian ship Silvia Tripcovich 50 miles off Sfax, Tunisia. 
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23 Feb 1941 WW2 Prime Minister Alexandros Korizis of Greece accepted British offer of aid, but British and Greek commanders debated on the defense strategy against a German invasion through Bulgaria. The Greeks preferred to dig in along the Metaxas Line, while the British argued for a line further southwest along the Vermion Mountains and the Haliacmon River. 
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23 Feb 1941 WW2 Joachim von Ribbentrop hosted Hiroshi Oshima in his home in Germany, where Ribbentrop attempted to persuade the Japanese ambassador that it was the time for Japan to strike British territories in Asia. Ribbentrop argued that there was little worry regarding the United States as American possessions in Asia could be bypassed easily, but should the Americans decide to go to war, the Japanese Navy was vastly superior to the US Navy. 
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23 Feb 1941 WW2 British 12th African Division marched up the Juba River in Somaliland, Italian East Africa toward the Abyssinian border while the motorized British Nigerian Brigade of the 11th African Division drove up the coastal road toward Mogadishu. 
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23 Feb 1941 WW2 Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg chemically identified the recently discovered new element Plutonium in the 60-inch cyclotron at the University of California at Berkeley, California, United States. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 As the war games conducted by Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki aboard Yamato were completed, Ugaki noted that a simulated attack on British Ceylon had failed. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Air Marshal Arthur T. "Bomber" Harris took command of RAF Bomber Command. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Trident attacked German cruiser Prinz Eugen with a torpedo, destroying her stern with a hit. Prinz Eugen was able to later reach Trondheim, Norway for temporary repairs. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Erwin Rommel was named the commanding officer of Heeresgruppe Afrika. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 The Sittang railway bridge in Burma was blown up to prevent its capture by the Japanese, even though most of General Smyth's command was still on the east bank. Smyth salvaged from the catastrophe 3,484 infantry, 1,420 rifles, 56 Bren guns and 62 Thompson submachine guns. Nearly 5,000 men, 6,000 weapons and everything else was lost. Despite many men making it back across the river without their weapons, 17th Indian was now a spent force. It would take the Japanese a fortnight to bring up bridging equipment which permitted the Europeans in Rangoon to make their escape from the doomed city. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 German submarine U-129 sank US freighter Lihue east of Martinique while German submarine U-502 sank Panamanian tanker Thalia and damaged another tanker off Aruba. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was informed taht he was to be awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valor of Italy. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Just after 0000 hours, six B-17 bombers of US 14th Reconnaissance Squadron were launched from Garbutt Field at Townsville, Australia to attack Rabaul, New Britain. 5 bombers reached and attacked Rabaul at 0647 hours, causing little damage. Four bombers returned to Townsville safely at 1430 hours; 1 crash landed in the Agaiambo Swamp in New Guinea. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Soviet submarine ShCh-213 sank Turkish vessel Çankaya in the Black Sea. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Tenryu gave up her search for American raiders and returned to Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Japanese aircraft struck Allied airfields on Java, Dutch East Indies. Meanwhile, Colonel William Leggatt's Australian troops surrendered at Koepang, Dutch West Timor at 0900 hours, while the Australian troops outside of Koepang were bombed by Japanese aircraft at 1000 hours. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 George Brett departed Java, Dutch East Indies for Australia. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 HMS Eagle arrived at Gibraltar and was assigned to Force H. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS P38 attempted to attack Italian convoy K7 90 miles east of Tripoli, Libya at 1000 hours, but she was detected by Italian torpedo boat Circe which counterattacked with depth charges, sinking P38 at 1050 hours, killing all 32 aboard. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 The last of the "Nikolai Rychagov conspiracy" arrestees were executed in the Soviet Union. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 Turkish troops boarded the disabled passenger ship Struma at Istanbul, Turkey; Struma had departed Romania in Dec 1941 with 769 Romanian Jewish refugees on board and had been at Istanbul for two months. The Turkish troops prepared Struma for towing, and before the day ended she was towed through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea, where she was abandoned with all passengers still aboard. 
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23 Feb 1942 WW2 The American mainland was attacked for the first time in WW2 as Japanese submarine I-17 opened fire on an oil refinery at Ellwood near Santa Barbara, California. 
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23 Feb 1943 WW2 US carrier aircraft attacked Japanese installations in the Mariana Islands. 
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23 Feb 1943 WW2 Erwin Rommel ordered his forces in western Tunisia to move east to avoid being attacked on both sides. 
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23 Feb 1943 WW2 German U-boats using acoustic homing torpedoes sank seven tankers in a North Atlantic convoy. 
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23 Feb 1943 WW2 Yekaterina Budanova was awarded the Order of the Red Star. 
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23 Feb 1943 WW2 HMCS Trillium rescued 58 survivors of US merchant ship Chattanooga City and 53 survivors of US merchant ship Expositor, both of which were sunk by German submarine U-606 in the North Atlantic on the previous day. 
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23 Feb 1943 WW2 German submarine U-603 sank Norwegian merchant ship Glittre in the North Atlantic. 
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23 Feb 1943 WW2 HMS Dianthus rescued 34 survivors of Norwegian merchant ship Glittre in the Atlantic Ocean. 
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23 Feb 1943 WW2 Lydia Litvyak was awarded the Order of the Red Star and was promoted to the rank of junior lieutenant. 
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23 Feb 1943 WW2 Japanese Navy Yokosuka 7th Special Naval Landing Force disembarked 1,807 men at Kolombangara, New Georgia. 
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23 Feb 1943 WW2 Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Harusame at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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23 Feb 1943 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Armory turned over to station. 
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23 Feb 1943 WW2 USS Wahoo departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for Midway Atoll. 
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23 Feb 1944 WW2 USS Cod sank a Japanese merchant ship by torpedo. 
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23 Feb 1944 WW2 USS Tang sank Japanese transport Yamashimo Maru with four torpedoes. 
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23 Feb 1944 WW2 USS Snook attacked a large Japanese convoy in the Pacific Ocean. After sneaking past 11 escort vessels, she fired five torpedoes, two of which hit and sank the passenger-cargo ship Koyo Maru. 
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23 Feb 1944 WW2 A British Swordfish aircraft sank German submarine U-713 near Allied convoy JW-57; all 50 aboard were killed. 
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23 Feb 1944 WW2 Three Italian motor torpedo boats attacked the Allied beachhead at Anzio, Italy before dawn, causing no damage and losing two boats. 
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23 Feb 1944 WW2 USS Sunfish attacked a Japanese convoy off the Mariana Islands, sinking transports Kunishima Maru and Shinyubari Maru, hitting them with 7 of 13 torpedoes fired. 
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23 Feb 1944 WW2 39 Polish boys between the age of 13 to 17 originally from the Zamosc region were brought from Auschwitz II-Birkenau to block 20 at Auschwitz I. They were told that they would be trained to be nurses, but that evening they were killed with phenol heart injections given by SS-Unterscharführer Scherpe. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 Fortress Posen (now Poznan, Poland) was captured by Soviet troops after a month-long siege. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 Fighting at the Intramuros district of Manila, Philippine Islands began. On the same day, the US 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, freed the captives of the Los Baños internment camp in the Philippine Islands. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 23 German Ju-88 bombers attacked an Allied convoy from Murmansk in northern Russia to Scotland, United Kingdom. American liberty ship Henry Bacon shot down three and damaged two, setting a liberty ship record, but was eventually hit by a torpedo and sank. 23 men, including the skipper Alfred Carini, were killed. She became the last Allied vessel to be sunk by the Germans. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 South African pilot Captain Edwin Swales with the 582 squadron of the RAF Bomber Command held steady his heavily damaged Lancaster bomber so that the crew could parachute out of the doomed bomber. He was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously, the last to receive this reward posthumously from the Bomber Command. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 USS Hoe collided with USS Flounder underwater at the depth of 60 feet, incurring light damage. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 USS Wake Island refueled east of Iwo Jima, Japan. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 Troops of Soviet 6th Army entered southern districts of Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland). 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 Chiang Kaishek unexpectedly withdrew all Chinese forces from Burma. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 A raid of 379 British bombers attacked the German town of Pforzheim, killing 17,000 people and destroying 80% of the town's buildings. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 Ba 349 prototype aircraft conducted its first unmanned vertical launch with rocket power. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 The Verona Philharmonic Theatre in Italy was bombed by Allied forces. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 US Marines and a Navy corpsman raised an American flag atop Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima, Japan. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 USS Wasp's aircraft attacked targets in the Tokyo, Japan area. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 Turkey declared war on Germany and Japan, effective 1 Mar 1945. 
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23 Feb 1945 WW2 USS Permit arrived at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, United States. 
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23 Feb 1946 WW2 Japanese General Yamashita executed by hanging at Los Banos Prison Camp near Manila. 
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23 Feb 1946 WW2 USS Gabilan was decommissioned from service at New London, Connecticut, United States and was assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. 
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23 Feb 1970 RELIGIOUS The Holy Eucharist was distributed by women for the first time in a Roman Catholic service.
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22nd February 24th February
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