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History on the 21st of June

History
Date Text
21 Jun 1639 RELIGIOUS Birth of Increase Mather, early American theologian. He published nearly 100 books, and is credited with helping end executions for witchcraft in colonial America.
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21 Jun 1821 RELIGIOUS Birth of Henry W. Baker, compiler of 'Hymns Ancient and Modern'
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21 Jun 1821 RELIGIOUS The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church was formally constituted in New York City. Nineteen clergymen were present, representing six African-American churches from New York City; Philadelphia; New Haven, CT and Newark, NJ.
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21 Jun 1928 WW2 The keel of Foch was laid down at Arsenal de Brest, France. 
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21 Jun 1934 WW2 German President Paul von Hindenburg, with Minister of War Werner von Blomberg at his side, met with Adolf Hitler. Hindenburg told Hitler to back down politically, or he would declare martial law, which would remove powers from Hitler, giving them to the military instead. 
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21 Jun 1936 WW2 Handley Page Hampden medium bomber took flight for the first time. 
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21 Jun 1937 WW2 Andres Nin, the leader of the Marxist POUM in Spain, was murdered by Soviet agents. 
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21 Jun 1937 WW2 Wolfgang Falck's son Klaus was born. 
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21 Jun 1937 WW2 Soviet official Valentin Trifonov, a former VCheKa member, was arrested and would be interrogated by members of the GUGB of the Soviet NKVD, including future Soviet counterintelligence chief Viktor Abakumov. 
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21 Jun 1938 WW2 The British Minister of Parliament for Derby P. J. Noel-Baker spoke at the House of Commons against aerial bombing of German cities based on moral grounds. "The only way to prevent atrocities from the air is to abolish air warfare and national air forces altogether." 
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21 Jun 1940 WW2 French cruisers El Djezair, El Kantara, El Mansour, Ville d'Oran, and Ville d'Alger arrived at Casablanca, French Morocco with 1,200 tons of French gold. 
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21 Jun 1940 WW2 French and German representatives met to negotiate peace at the 1918 Armistice site at Compiègne, France, using the very same rail carriage where the WW1 armistice, brought from a French museum, for the negotiations. Hitler personally attended the negotiation, but at 1530 hours abruptly left the meeting to show disrespect for the French. At 2030 hours, French General Huntzinger called his government and informed that the Germans allowed no room for negotiations and demanded harsh terms; he was told to accept the German terms. Meanwhile, in southern France, the 32 Italian divisions deployed on the French border marched through the Little Saint Bernard Pass in the Alps and along the French Riviera; some of the Italians were met with a heavy snow storm and the latter halted by a very small group of French troops at Menton, which was about 5 miles from the border. According to the diary of Galeazzo Ciano, Benito Mussolini was extremely embarrassed by the inability of his troops to break through the French lines. 
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21 Jun 1940 WW2 German submarine U-28 sank British decoy ship HMS Prunella south of Ireland. 2 men were killed, 54 were missing and would be never found, and 40 were rescued. 
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21 Jun 1940 WW2 An German Ar 196 aircraft from battlecruiser Scharnhorst mistook German submarine U-99 for an enemy submarine and damaged her with a bomb. U-99 was already en route back to Wilhelmshaven, Germany with a sick sailor; she would now require a longer time to complete repairs. 
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21 Jun 1940 WW2 The Estonian Independent Signal Battalion engaged in fighting with Soviet troops at Raua Street in Tallinn, Estonia. The Estonians would be defeated during the night. 
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21 Jun 1940 WW2 Erich Raeder met with Adolf Hitler to discuss the invasion of Britain. 
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21 Jun 1940 WW2 Heavy cruiser USS Wichita, with Commander Cruiser Division Seven Rear Admiral Andrew C. Pickens embarked, arrived at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil en route to join heavy cruiser USS Quincy at Montevideo, Uruguay. 
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21 Jun 1940 WW2 The first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage began at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 
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21 Jun 1940 WW2 Destroyer USS Herbert arrived at Casablanca, French Morocco. 
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21 Jun 1940 WW2 As the British evacuated from Guernsey, the control of the island was turned over to a Controlling Committee under the presidency of Attorney General Ambrose Sherwill. 
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21 Jun 1940 WW2 Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey James Murray Robert Harrison was withdrawn to Britain, leaving Bailiff Alexander Coutanche the sole civilian leader. 
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21 Jun 1940 WW2 Destroyer USS Dickerson departed Lisbon, Portugal for Bilbao, Spain. 
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21 Jun 1941 WW2 Soviet military attaché to France Major General Ivan Sousloparov warned his superiors in Moscow, Russia of a potential German invasion, which Joseph Stalin immediately disregarded as British provocation. Stalin's opinion was agreed by head of Soviet State Security Lavrentiy Beria, who told Joseph Stalin that Germany would not attack the Soviet Union in 1941. Georgy Zhukov disagreed, but it would not be until 1905 hours when the military attaché to Germany Mikhail Vorontsov provided concrete evidence of German movement when Stalin and the Politburo were finally convinced to organize two new wartime fronts (rather than peacetime military districts) to prepare the defenses. By the time the telegrams were deciphered many units would already be bombed by German aircraft. Elsewhere, in the evening, Soviet Foreign Minister Vycheslav Molotov met with German Ambassador Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg and asked him regarding the rumors of invasion, which Schulenburg denied as false. Within hours, however, to Schulenburg's surprise, he would receive orders from his superiors to destroy documents, code books, ciphers, and communications equipment, and he would receive a declaration of war to be delivered to Molotov in the morning. 
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21 Jun 1941 WW2 Vichy France enacted a law to exclude Jews from schools. 
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21 Jun 1941 WW2 Free French troops captured the city of Damascus in the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon, but fighting would continue in the surrounding villages. Elsewhere in the region, at the village of Mezze, the Indian 5th Infantry Brigade surrendered to Vichy French troops after being surrounded for two days; the victorious Vichy French troops, however, would fall back toward Beirut, allowing Australian troops to capture the village later on the same day. 
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21 Jun 1941 WW2 After dark, German bombers bombed Southampton, England, United Kingdom and dropped many naval mines in surrounding waters. The bombing caused a leak in the King George V Dry Dock, and demolished the down-line platform of the Southern Railway Central Station, blocking much rail traffic. 
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21 Jun 1941 WW2 In the afternoon, Adolf Hitler wrote a message to Benito Mussolini, informing him of the upcoming invasion of the Soviet Union. This message would not reach Mussolini until early in the next day, less than an hour before the operation began. 
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21 Jun 1941 WW2 Soviet aircraft engineer A. M. Isayev proposed to use compressed air rather than a pump to force propellant into the rocket engine that he was developing for a new fighter design. 
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21 Jun 1941 WW2 Over France, Oberstleutnant Adolf Galland was shot down for the first time after scoring his 68th and 69th victories, both of which were British Blenheim aircraft; the fighters that shot him down were British Spitfire fighters from No. 145 Squadron RAF; Galland crash landed his fighter in a grassy field, returned to base, and took off from another mission by the afternoon. After achieving his 70th kill in the afternoon, he was shot down again. This time he ditched the aircraft, his parachute barely opening before reaching ground, and was brought to a first aid station by French civilians using a horse-drawn cart. When he returned to base that evening, he found that he had been awarded Swords to his Knight's Cross for achieving 69 kills. 
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21 Jun 1941 WW2 Douglas Bader shot down a German Bf 109E aircraft off Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, France. 
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21 Jun 1941 WW2 Kaga departed Sasebo, Japan. 
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21 Jun 1941 WW2 Semyon Timoshenko belatedly ordered the manning of fortifications along the Molotov Line in Soviet-occupied Poland, but only some would be ready for fighting when the German invasion commenced in few hours time. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-27, which had run aground two days prior off Amchitka Island, Aleutian Islands, was discovered filled with chlorine gas, thus she was now regarded as officially abandoned. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 56 British RAF Bomber Command aircraft deployed naval mines in the Bay of Biscay west of France. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Italian destroyer Strale was damaged by British Fleet Air Arm Swordfish torpedo bombers off Cape Bon, Tunisia; she ran aground to prevent sinking. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Canadian minesweeper HMCS Georgia attacked a unidentified submarine by ramming off Newfoundland at 0300 hours, sinking what turned out to be British submarine HMS P-514, killing all 29 aboard. At 0400 hours, German submaine U-128 sank US ship West Ira 120 miles east of Barbados; all 49 aboard survived but 1 of them would die before being rescued.  
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Captured coast watcher Cornelius Page was transferred to Kavieng, New Ireland. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 USS S-44 sank Japanese gunboat Keijo Maru off Gavutu Island east of Tulagi, Solomon Islands. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 The "San Marco" naval infantry regiment of the Italian Navy formed the "Mazzuchelli" battalion; it would soon be renamed "N" (swimmer) battalion. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Hashirajima, Japan. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Naka arrived at Maizuru, Japan. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 At dawn, Allied troops attempted a breakout from Tobruk, Libya, but was met with failure. At 0645 hours, South African minesweeping whalder HMSAS Parktown was disabled by four Italian MAS torpedo boats just outside the harbor, killing many; Parktown would be scuttled after all survivors were rescued. At 0800 hours, the 35,000-strong Allied garrison (19,000 British, 13,400 South African, and 2,500 Indian) surrendered. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 An US PBY Catalina aircraft rescued two airmen who had lost their TBD Devastator torpedo bomber during the Battle of Midway. They were the last survivors to be rescued from the battle. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Adolf Hitler reluctantly decided to delay his summer offensive due to the heavy Soviet defense of Sevastopol, Russia. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 50 German Luftwaffe aircraft conducted a raid on Southampton, England, United Kingdom. 
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21 Jun 1942 WW2 Japanese submarine I-25 bombarded Fort Stevens, Oregon in northwestern United States at about 2330 hours, causing no damage. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 USS Cod was commissioned into service. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 Himmler ordered the liquidation of all Jewish ghettos in all Soviet territories controlled by Germany. On the same day, the Lvov Ghetto in Poland was liquidated; 10,000 to 20,000 Jews were massacred. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 RAF bombers attacked Krefeld in the Ruhr region of Germany. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 USS Hoe sank a Japanese ship, hitting her with 3 out of 4 torpedoes fired. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 Engstrom was commissioned into service. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 USS Scorpion arrived off Takarajima, Tokara Islands, Ryukyu Islands, Japan. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 Orde Wingate arrived in Delhi, India and met with various British officers. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 Takeo Takagi was named the commanding officer of the Japanese Navy 6th Fleet, which was centered around submarines. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 Chuichi Nagumo was named the commanding officer of the Kure Naval District. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 In Operation Toenails, US 4th Marine Raider Battalion was dispatched to Segi, New Georgia to assist coast watchers in the area who were threatened by a Japanese advance. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 Light carrier Ryuho arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 Naka arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 Gabriel Puaux was made the Resident-General of French Morocco, replacing Charles Hippolyte Noguès. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 USS Whale arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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21 Jun 1943 WW2 USS Luce was commissioned into service with Commander Donald C. Varian in command. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 Soviet forces began another offensive against the Finns between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega in northern Russia. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 Mussolini transformed the Partito Fascista Repubblicano into a military organization. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 USS Guitarro departed Darwin, Australia. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 USS Puffer arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her fourth war patrol. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 USS Harder arrived at Darwin, Australia and took on additional torpedoes. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 US Vice President Henry Wallace arrived in Chongqing, China. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 Finland attempted to negotiate for peace with the Soviet Union; Soviets expressed that they would only accept unconditional surrender. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 More than 1,300 US 8th Air Force bombers took off from airfields in Britain to attack Berlin, Lüne-Merseburg, and the hydrogenation plant at Ruhland in the Gau of Mark Brandenburg. The 163 that attacked Ruhland went on to Ukraine instead of returning to Britain, and this was noticed by the German Luftwaffe, which had plans to counter such an attempt for a shuttle bombing operation. He 111 bombers from various units of KG 4 (pathfinders), KG 53, and KG 55 took off for Poltava and Mirgorod (Myrhorod) Airfields in Ukraine. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 British XIII Corps engaged in heavy fighting with German forces at San Fatucchio, Italy. Further east, Polish II Corps reached the Chienti River. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 Nachi arrived at Yokosuka, Japan for refitting. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 USS Bluefish sank the Japanese transport she had been pursuing for several hours in the Makassar Strait, hitting her with 2 of 4 torpedoes fired. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 USS Wasp was attached to Willis Lee's battleship group, which was sent in pursuit of the retreating Japanese ships after the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The group would fail to find any targets. 
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21 Jun 1944 WW2 The keel of submarine Menhaden was laid down by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, United States. 
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21 Jun 1945 WW2 US troops captured Aparri, Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
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21 Jun 1945 WW2 Otto Skorzeny was interrogated by three Allied Generals regarding his role in the Ardennes Offensive in Wiesbaden, Germany. 
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21 Jun 1945 WW2 Operation Kikusui No. 10 was launched off Okinawa, Japan, participated by about 30 Japanese Navy and 15 Japanese Army special attack and escorting aircraft. 
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21 Jun 1945 WW2 Major George Laven became the last P-38 Lightning ace of the war with the destruction of a Japanese H8K flying boat. 
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21 Jun 1945 WW2 HMS Hildasay was wrecked off Kilindili, Kenya, British East Africa. 
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21 Jun 1945 WW2 USS Becuna departed for her fifth war patrol. 
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21 Jun 1945 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Maizuru, Japan and was drydocked for maintenance. 
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21 Jun 1945 WW2 USS Parche sank a Japanese freighter Hizen Maru in the Tsugara Strait between Aomori Prefecture and Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, hitting her with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired. 
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21 Jun 1945 WW2 USS Whale arrived at Saipan, Mariana Islands. 
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21 Jun 1945 WW2 USS Chub arrived at Subic Bay in central Luzon, Philippine Islands, ending her second war patrol. 
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21 Jun 1963 RELIGIOUS In Rome, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was elected Pope Paul VI, the 261st pontiff of the Catholic Church.
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21 Jun 1968 RELIGIOUS Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth wrote in a letter: 'Faith in God's revelation has nothing to do with an ideology which glorifies the status quo.'
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