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History on the 15th of August

History
Date Text
15 Aug 1096 RELIGIOUS The armies of the First Crusade set out from Europe to deliver Jerusalem from the occupying forces of Islamic Turks. Championed by Peter the Hermit in 1093, Pope Urban II had sanctioned the crusade at the Council of Clermont in 1095.
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15 Aug 1534 RELIGIOUS The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) was founded by Ignatius of Loyola, 43. Created to foster reform within Catholicism, and to undertake education and missionary work, this colorful religious order was formally approved by Pope Paul III in 1540.
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15 Aug 1549 RELIGIOUS The first Christian missionaries to reach Japan landed at Kagoshima (on the coast of Kyushu, southernmost of the four main islands of Japan). They were a band of Spanish Jesuits, led by pioneer Catholic missionary Francis Xavier, 43.
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15 Aug 1613 RELIGIOUS Birth of Jeremy Taylor, Anglican clergyman and devotional writer. Two of his works became classic expressions of Anglican spirituality: "The Rule and Exercise of Holy Living" (1650) and "The Rule and Exercise of Holy Dying" (1651).
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15 Aug 1790 RELIGIOUS Father John Carroll, 55, was consecrated by Pius VI as the first Roman Catholic bishop (later, in 1811, the first archbishop) of the United States.
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15 Aug 1923 WW2 Isuzu was commissioned into service. 
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15 Aug 1927 WW2 The new battleship, HMS Nelson, was commissioned into the British Royal Navy. One of two new battleships permitted by the Washington Treaty, HMS Nelson would become the flagship of the Home Fleet. 
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15 Aug 1931 WW2 Foch was commissioned into service. 
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15 Aug 1933 WW2 The keel of HMS Apollo was laid down at the Royal Dockyard in Devonport, England, United Kingdom. 
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15 Aug 1934 WW2 Oskar von Hindenburg, son of the recently deceased German President Paul von Hindenburg, falsely proclaimed that it was his father's wish to have Adolf Hiter succeeded him as the President of Germany. 
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15 Aug 1934 WW2 Captain G. Fraser was named the commanding officer of HMS Hermes, relieving Captain W. B. Mackenzie. 
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15 Aug 1935 WW2 Bernard Kuehn and his family arrived in Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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15 Aug 1937 WW2 A new political police force, the SIM (Servicio Investigacion Militar), was established in Republican Spain. It was controlled by the Communists and contained many Russian advisers. 
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15 Aug 1937 WW2 Japanese Army General Iwane Matsui, en route from Tokyo, Japan for China where he would pick up his newly assigned command over the Shanghai Expeditionary Force, he noted to War Minister Hajime Sugiyama that "here is no solution exception to break the power of Chiang Kaishek by capturing Nanjing. That is what I must do." 
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15 Aug 1937 WW2 In the afternoon, 8 P-26 fighters, 5 Gladiator fighters, and 13 Hawk II and Hawk III fighters of Chinese 8th, 17th, 28th, and 34th Squadrons intercepted a group of 20 Japanese G3M bombers en route to attack Nanjing, China; 4 bombers were destroyed and 6 bombers were damaged. 
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15 Aug 1937 WW2 The Japanese government announced its intention to eliminate anti-Japanese movements within Chinese borders; the utter disregard for Chinese sovereignty in this announcement made it an unofficial declaration of war to the Chinese. 
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15 Aug 1937 WW2 Rear Admiral Masakichi Okuma and his Japanese Navy Destroyer Squadron 5 were placed in charge of evacuating Japanese residents in Southern China to Taiwan. 
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15 Aug 1937 WW2 Japanese bombers conducted a raid on the Chinese capital city of Nanjing; it was the very first time this city was subjected to aerial bombing. 
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15 Aug 1937 WW2 Chiang Kaishek officially assumed the role of the commander-in-chief of the Chinese military for the duration of the Second Sino-Japanese War and issued orders to reorganize Chinese Communist forces under Nationalist command. 
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15 Aug 1937 WW2 Lieutenant Yue Yiqin of the 22nd Pursuit Squadron of the Chinese 4th Pursuit Group, flying a Hawk III biplane fighter, shot down four Japanese carrier-based A5M fighters over Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China at dawn. 
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15 Aug 1937 WW2 Liu Cuigang engaged in aerial combat over Shanghai, China flying a Hawk III fighter, claiming the downing of a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft. 
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15 Aug 1937 WW2 Iwane Matsui was recalled from the retirement list. 
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15 Aug 1938 WW2 Adolf Hitler announced to his military leaders that he intended to resolve the Czechoslovakian situation with force. 
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15 Aug 1939 WW2 Germany secretly canceled the upcoming annual Nazi Party rally in Nürnberg, Germany due to the planned war. 
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15 Aug 1939 WW2 German Ambassador to the Soviet Union Friedrich-Werner von der Schulenburg read a mesage from German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov regarding Germany's request to send a high-level diplomat to Soviet Union for talks. Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier ordered his representatives in Russia to quickly conclude the negotiations with the Soviet Union. 
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15 Aug 1939 WW2 Italy mobilized the "San Marco" naval infantry battalion. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 Roosevelt approved the National Defense Research Committee, which was a collection of civilian scientists working for the military. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 Italian troops continued the attack at Tug Argan, British Somaliland, taking another one of the six hills overlooking the main road. Overnight, British forces withdrew towards Berbera, with African troops, Indian troops, and troops of the Scottish regiment Black Watch forming a rearguard at Barkasan. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 Italian Air Force bombers attacked Greek destroyers Vasilissa Olga and Vasilevs Georgios I near the islands of Tinos and Syros. Meanwhile, Italian submarine Delfino sank WWI-era Greek cruiser Helle at anchor. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 German submarine U-A sank Greek ship Aspasia 700 miles west of Gibraltar at 2000 hours with two torpedoes, killing the entire crew of 19. Far to the north, 190 miles northwest of Rockall, Ireland, German submarine U-51 sank British tanker Sylvafield, which was carrying 7,860 tons of fuel oil, killing 3; 20 survivors were rescued by Belgian trawler Rubens and 16 survivors were rescued by British minesweeping trawler HMS Newland. In Germany, German Navy ordered the construction of 86 new submarines. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 Eric Wilson of British Somaliland Camel Corps manned his machine gun during the Italian attack at Tug Argan Gap, British Somaliland despite being overpowered. A retreat order had already been given but it never got to him. He was captured; he was subsequently freed and joined the Long Range Desert Group. He would later win the Victoria Cross for the action at Tug Argan Gap. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 British Prime Minister Churchill responded to US President Roosevelt's telegram of 13 Aug 1940 regarding the offer of destroyers, noting "moral value of this fresh aid from your Government and your people at this critical time will be very great and widely felt." 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 The US Navy established a Naval Air Station in Miami, Florida, United States with Commander Gerald F. Bogan in command. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 Destroyers USS Walke and USS Wainwright arrived at Bahia, Brazil. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 Oberstleutnant Hans Korte was named the commanding officer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 Elli was sunk by Italian submarine Delfino at Tinos island, Greece at 0825 hours; 9 were killed, 24 were wounded. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 As the weather over Britain cleared up, the German Luftwaffe launched a major strike, with aircraft from Norway and Denmark joining their counterparts based in France. A formation of 1,100 German aircraft crossed the Dover Strait before diverging to different targets, damaging aircraft, runways, hangars, and radar stations. At 1850 hours, German Bf 110 fighter-bombers bombed Croydon airfield south of London, England, United Kingdom by mistake, meeting stiff resistance; one of the shot down Bf 110 aircraft crashed into a London suburb, killing 60 and wounding 120. At the end of the day, 161 aircraft, mostly bombers, were lost, leading to the nicknaming of this day Black Thursday. The RAF lost 34 fighters and 18 pilots. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 US Assistant Chief of Naval Operations Rear Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, US Army Air Corps Major General Delos C. Emmons, and US Army Brigadier General George V. Strong arrived in London, England, United Kingdom for an informal meeting with British officers. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 James Lacey damaged a German Do 17 aircraft over Britain. 
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15 Aug 1940 WW2 The US Army contracted with the automobile manufacturer Chrysler to build the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant in Michigan, United States. It was to be the country's first government-owned contractor-operated facility. 
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15 Aug 1941 WW2 Douglas MacArthur oversaw the induction of the Philippine Army Air Corps. 
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15 Aug 1941 WW2 Orion reached Spanish territorial waters and disguised herself as the Spanish ship Contramestre Casado. 
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15 Aug 1941 WW2 In Germany it became a criminal offence for Jews not to wear the yellow Star of David. 
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15 Aug 1941 WW2 German parachutist Josef Jakobs, captured in Britain on 1 Feb 1941, was executed by firing squad at the Tower of London in England, United Kingdom at 0715 hours. He was the last person to be executed at that site. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 US 83rd Infantry Division was activated. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 Submarine Snook was launched, sponsored by the wife of Navy Cross winner Lieutenant James C. Dempsey. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 Submarine Pompon was launched, sponsored by Miss Katherine Mary Wolleson. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 German submarine U-705 attacked Allied convoy SC-95 570 miles west of Ireland at 0358 hours, sinking US ship Balladier; 13 were killed, 32 survived. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS Porpoise sank Italian merchant ship Lerici 140 miles west of Crete, Greece. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 German aircraft detected an Allied westbound convoy in the Kara Sea. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 Finnish patrol boat VMV 5 sank Soviet submarine M-97 with depth charges 3 miles off of the Estonian coast in the Gulf of Finland. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 Destroyers USS Colhoun, USS Gregory, USS Little, and USS McKean made the first supply mission for US Marines at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 131 British bombers attacked Düsseldorf, Germany in poor weather; one stray 4,000-pound bomb hit the town of Neuss, killing 1 civiliand and wounding 13; 4 bombers were lost on this mission. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 Tanker Ohio, under tow by three British destroyers and one British minesweeper, arrived at Malta at 0700 hours; she would later sink in Valetta Harbour, Malta from her damage after her cargo of fuel was unloaded. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 German troops attacked Grozny, the capital of Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in southern Russia; it was defended by troops of Soviet 9th Army and 37th Army. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 Troops of German 6th Army attacked the remnants of Soviet 4th Tank Army on the west bank of the Don River bend at 0430 hours. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 United States Marine Corps established the Air, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific at San Diego, California, United States. It was to organize personnel and supplies for the 1st and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wings and the 4th Marine Base Defense Battalion. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 The keel of submarine Hackleback was laid down by William Cramp and Sons in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 The 82nd Infantry Division became the US Army's first airborne division, and it was redesignated as the 82nd Airborne Division. 
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15 Aug 1942 WW2 USS Flying Fish departed Midway Atoll for her second war patrol. 
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15 Aug 1943 WW2 The Swedish government rescinded the previously given permission for German transports to cross Sweden. 
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15 Aug 1943 WW2 The German Luftwaffe mounted the heaviest raid on Plymouth, England, United Kingdom in two years with 91 aircraft. 
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15 Aug 1943 WW2 Supported by a massive bombardment from three battleships, cruisers and destroyers and under a protective umbrella of 170 aircraft, 35,000 American and Canadian troops stormed ashore on Kiska Island in the Aleutian Islands only to discover that the Japanese had fled nearly three weeks earlier. 
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15 Aug 1943 WW2 Louis Mountbatten met with Winston Churchill; to Mountbatten's surprise, Churchill rejected his request for a sea-going command, and instead appointed him the Allied supreme commander of Southeast Asia. Mountbatten was promoted to the rank of acting admiral to serve in this position. 
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15 Aug 1943 WW2 The 151st Airborne Tank Company was established by the US Army with the responsibility to operate M22 Locust air-portable tanks. The US Staff, however, saw little purpose in air-lifting tanks to the battlefield and the unit would remain in the United States for the duration. 
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15 Aug 1943 WW2 Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was named the commanding officer of the 2nd Group of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3. 
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15 Aug 1943 WW2 Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria visited Adolf Hitler; during the visit, Boris refused to change Bulgaria's neutral stance toward the Soviet Union. 
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15 Aug 1943 WW2 7 Ki-48 bombers and 34 Ki-43 fighters attacked the new US airfield at Tsili-Tsili, Australian Papua; the Americans did not detect the incoming aircraft until 0700 hours when the Japanese were only one mile away. A Japanese bomb hit the base chapel, killing the chaplain and 6 or 7 worshipers. The Japanese lost all 7 bombers while the Americans lost 4 P-39 fighters (1 killed) and 2 C-47 transport aircraft (17 killed). The Japanese failed to damage the airstrips. 
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15 Aug 1943 WW2 The US Northern Landing Force attacked Japanese positions on Vella Lavella island in the Barakoma airfield region near New Georgia, Solomon Islands. 
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15 Aug 1943 WW2 8 Corsair fighters of US Marine Corps squadron VMF-214 strafed Kahili Airfield on Bougainville island in the Solomon Islands just before sunset. The Americans claimed 3 Japanese aircraft shot down and several more damaged on the ground. 
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15 Aug 1943 WW2 USS Wahoo attacked a freighter in the Sea of Japan; all four torpedoes missed. 
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15 Aug 1943 WW2 USS Ray completed its training in Lake Michigan in northern United States. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 USS Trepang departed for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 Colonel General Gotthard Heinrici replaced Erhard Raus as the commander of the German 1.Panzerarmee. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, began. On the same day, Saint-Tropez, Var, France was captured by the 15th Infantry Regiment of 3rd US Infantry Division. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 Feldwebel Helmut Lennartz scored the Luftwaffe's first Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter kill on an American B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. Lennartz survived the war with eight Me 262 and five Bf 109 victories to his name. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 The Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet was reorganized to contain the 958th Air Group and the 105th Air Base Unit. The 13th Air Fleet was reorganized tow contain one air flotilla, one air group, and two air base units. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa was named the commanding officer of the 3rd Southern Expeditionary Fleet while still holding command of the Southwest Area Fleet. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 USS Marblehead bombarded Axis positions near Saint-Raphaël, France. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Part of Night Fighting Squadron 78 (VF(N)-78) departed. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze completed her repairs at Kure, Japan. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 Rear Admiral Chitoshi Ishizuka was named the chief of staff of Chinkai Guard District in southern Korea. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 Irako arrived at Mako, Pescadores Islands, Taiwan. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 Allied convoy JW-59 departed Liverpool, England, United Kingdom; it was consisted of 33 freighters. 
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15 Aug 1944 WW2 USS Wake Island arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, United States. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 The British government released details of one of most closely guarded secrets of war, radar. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 Seafire aircraft of 887 and 894 Naval Air Squadrons of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm downed seven A6M5 Zero fighters at the cost of one Seafire fighter. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 VJ Day was declared in Britain. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 USS Hoe arrived at Apra Harbor, Guam, Mariana Islands. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze was assigned to Destroyer Division 41, Escort Squadron 31, Combined Fleet. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 Chiang Kaishek made a radio address from the facilities of the Broadcasting System (forerunner of today's Broadcasting Corporation of China located in Taiwan, Republic of China) in Chongqing, China, noting that China must not seek revenge against the defeated Japan, for violence would only yield more violence. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 Air Group 87 aircraft from USS Ticonderoga were launched for a strike on Tokyo, Japan, but the mission was aborted while en route due to the Japanese surrender. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 Emperor Showa addressed his nation via radio, announcing the end of the war. Meanwhile, the Japanese government informed the Allies its willingness to meet the unconditional surrender terms. In response, the US government ordered all hostilities to cease in Asia. A group of Japanese Army officers made a coup d'état attempt by attacking the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan; it ended in failure. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 Marquis Hironobu was promoted to the rank of commander. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 Kiyoshi Ito saw his final combat mission of the war over central Japan. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 I-401 received conflicting orders, one from Emperor Showa ordering her to surrender, another from naval leadership ordering all submarines to carry out existing orders. Tatsunosuke Ariizumi, commanding officer of 6th Fleet who was aboard the submarine, chose to follow the latter. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 I-400 received orders from Emperor Showa to return to Japan to surrender to the Americans; Commander Toshio Kusaka, commanding officer of I-400, chose to obey the order despite receiving conflicting others from naval leadership. 
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15 Aug 1945 WW2 USS Wasp fired her anti-aircraft guns at attacking Japanese aircraft for the final time in the war. 
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15 Aug 1946 WW2 Allied repatriation ship Hikawa Maru completed its repairs and maintenance at Yokohama, Japan and was returned to civilian service. 
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15 Aug 1947 WW2 India was granted independence by the United Kingdom, forming the Republic of India. "Jai Hind", the battle cry of the Indian National Army, became India's first commemorative postal marking. 
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15 Aug 1949 WW2 McDougal was decommissioned from service. 
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