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History on the 17th of September

History
Date Text
17 Sep 1656 RELIGIOUS Massachusetts enacted severe laws against Quakers. (At the time, government and religion were intricately interwoven; the line between blasphemy and treason was virtually nonexistent; and non-sacramental Quakerism gave the impression that the denomination was anti-government.)
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17 Sep 1717 RELIGIOUS The first synod of the Presbyterian Church in America met in Philadelphia.
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17 Sep 1776 RELIGIOUS Along the western coast of North America, a party of 247 Spanish colonists consecrated their newly-founded mission, known as San Francisco.
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17 Sep 1787 RELIGIOUS The U.S. Constitution -- ratified on this date -- contained the following code under Article 6, Section 3: 'No religious tests shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.'
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17 Sep 1868 RELIGIOUS Birth of Walter Gowans, Canadian missions pioneer. In 1893 he helped found the Sudan Interior Mission in Toronto. Today, SIM works with African nationals and specializes in church planting, medicine and broadcasting.
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17 Sep 1917 WW2 Arthur Coningham was awarded the Military Cross medal. 
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17 Sep 1929 WW2 Lorraine began a period of refitting. 
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17 Sep 1932 WW2 HMS Hermes departed Weihai, Shandong Province, China, a British leased territory for Nagasaki, Japan. 
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17 Sep 1935 WW2 The Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber design took its maiden flight. 
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17 Sep 1938 WW2 USS Arizona became the flagship of Battleship Division 1's Rear Admiral Chester Nimitz. 
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17 Sep 1938 WW2 Adolf Hitler assigned an OKW officer to the Sudeten Freikorps. 
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17 Sep 1939 WW2 German submarine U-29 torpedoed British carrier HMS Courageous off Ireland. Courageous sank in 20 minutes, taking down 518 of the crew of 1,200, including the captain. 
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17 Sep 1939 WW2 German submarine U-29 sank British carrier Courageous southwest of Ireland, killing 500. 
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17 Sep 1939 WW2 Japanese 101st Division (Lieutenant General Masatoshi Saito) and 106th Division (Lieutenant General Ryotaro Nakai), having recently captured strategic locations in Jiangxi Province, China as a preparation, began marching toward Changsha in the neighboring Hunan Province. Meanwhile, 3rd Division (Lieutenant General Shinichi Fujita), 6th Division (Lieutenant General Shiro Inaba), 13th Division (General Shizuichi Tanaka), and 33rd Division (Lieutenant General Shigetaro Amakasu) attacked targets in northern Hunan Province. In support of this attack, Japanese Navy's China Area Fleet dispatched 13th Gunboat Unit of 11th Battle Squadron, Shanghai Special Naval Landing Force, and 4th Guard Unit. 
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17 Sep 1939 WW2 Friedrich Ruge was awarded clasp to his Iron Cross 2nd Class medal. 
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17 Sep 1939 WW2 Adolf Hitler arrived in Berlin, Germany. 
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17 Sep 1939 WW2 Garland suffered an accidental detonation of her own depth charges while underway in the Mediterranean Sea, badly damaging the aft end. 
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17 Sep 1939 WW2 In Poland, German troops captured Kutno west of Warsaw. East of Warsaw, Heinz Guderian's XIX Panzerkorps of Army Group North made contact with XXII Panzerkorps of Army Group South, just to the south of Brest-Litovsk; virtually the whole Polish Army (or what remained of it) was now trapped within a gigantic double pincer. In Russia, Joseph Stalin declared that the government of Poland no longer existed, thus all treaties between the two states were no longer valid; Soviet troops poured across the border to join Germany in the invasion, ostensibly to protect Ukrainian and Byelorussian interests from potential German aggression. 
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17 Sep 1939 WW2 In Romania, the Polish government was interned after attempting to obtain asylum. On the same day, one hundred Polish Air Force planes, as well as 50 civilian aircraft, flew to safety in Romania; many of the escaping airmen would eventually make their way to Britain to continue the fight. 
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17 Sep 1939 WW2 Lavrentiy Beria, head of the Soviet NKVD, established the Directorate for Prisoners of War and Interned Persons (UPVI), which would run camps for 240,000 Polish prisoners of war in the near future. 
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17 Sep 1939 WW2 US aviator Charles Lindbergh made an address over radio against any American intervention in the European War. 
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17 Sep 1940 WW2 Battleship Bismarck exited the Kiel Canal at 1448 hours, then arrived at Scheerhafen, Kiel. 
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17 Sep 1940 WW2 Franco-Japanese negotiations for Indochina re-opened; the Japanese increased their demands and openly threatened France with military action. 
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17 Sep 1940 WW2 German submarine U-48 attacked British passenger liner City of Benares 400 miles west of Scotland, United Kingdom; City of Benares was evacuating 90 British children and their families to Canada but this fact was unknown to the German captain; both torpedoes missed and U-48 would continue to stalk her prey. German submarines U-99 sank British ship Crown Arun of Allied convoy HX-71 200 miles west of the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, United Kingdom at 0832 hours; the entire crew of 25 were rescued by destroyer HMS Winchelsea. German submarines U-65 sank British ship Tregenna of Allied convoy HX-71 200 miles west of the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, United Kingdom at 1626 hours; 33 were killed and 4 were rescued by British ship Filleigh. 
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17 Sep 1940 WW2 British Swordfish torpedo bombers from carrier HMS Illustrious attacked the port of Benghazi, Libya, bombing shipping and laying mines. Italian destroyer Borea was sunk by torpedoes and destroyer Aquilone was damaged by a mine. Italian merchant ships Gloria Stella and Maria Eugenia were also sunk. 
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17 Sep 1940 WW2 British cruiser HMS Kent was damaged by a torpedo launched by an Italian aircraft at 1155 hours, killing 31. 
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17 Sep 1940 WW2 British destroyers HMS Janus and HMS Juno departed Alexandria, Egypt and bombarded Italian positions at Sidi Barrani, Egypt at 1100 hours. At 1130 hours, British gunboat HMS Ladybird bombarded the coastal highway near Sollum, Egypt. 
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17 Sep 1940 WW2 Hitler postponed Operation Sealion via order Nr. 00 761/40 g. Kdos., ordering that no new barges would arrive, but those that were already there (1700 barges and 200 ships, capable of carrying 500,000 men) would remain. British intelligence would continue to think that a German invasion was still probable; as a result, Churchill announced to the Parliament on this date that the next few weeks would be "grave and anxious". 
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17 Sep 1940 WW2 No. 29 Squadron RAF became fully operational with the Beaufighter IF fighters. Meanwhile two more Squadrons (Nos. 600 and 640) were working up with the type. 
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17 Sep 1940 WW2 Hans-Joachim Marseille was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class. 
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17 Sep 1940 WW2 At 1400 hours, German Ju 88 bombers attempted to attack factories in Bristol, England, United Kingdom but were turned back by Spitfire fighters of No. 152 Squadron RAF. At 1530 hours, a formation of converted Bf 109 fighter-bombers attacked Kent; 4 were shot down by British fighters without doing much damage. In Berlin, Adolf Hitler postponed Operation Seelöwe indefinitely, but Hermann Göring was allowed to continue the aerial attacks on Britain. Meanwhile, in London, Winston Churchill announced that 2,000 civilians were killed and 8,000 were wounded during the Blitz thus far. Overnight, more than 350 tons of bombs were dropped on London, South Wales, and Liverpool. 
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17 Sep 1940 WW2 James Lacey was shot down over Ashford, England, United Kingdom by Bf 109 fighters. 
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17 Sep 1941 WW2 Japanese troops crossed the Sinchiang River during advance on Changsha, China. 
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17 Sep 1941 WW2 At a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, German physicist Werner Heisenberg warned his mentor Niels Bohr that Germany had embarked on atomic weapon research and gave him a drawing of a reactor as proof. 
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17 Sep 1941 WW2 Australian 9th Division continued to be withdrawn from Tobruk, Libya. Relieving them was the British 70th Infantry Division, currently in Beirut in the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon awaiting transportation by British cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Neptune, and HMS Hobart which had just departed from Alexandria, Egypt. After sundown, British minelaying cruiser HMS Abdiel and destroyers HMS Jervis, HMS Jaguar, and HMS Hasty made a roundtrip from Alexandria to Tobruk with supplies for the besieged city. 
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17 Sep 1941 WW2 The first operation conducted by a British Mosquito aircraft was launched to take photographs of German-controlled ports. 
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17 Sep 1941 WW2 At Adolf Hitler's Wolfsschanze headquarters in East Prussia, Germany, Erich Raeder once again asked Hitler for permission to attack American shipping; Hitler again rejected him. 
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17 Sep 1941 WW2 The general deportation of German Jews began. 
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17 Sep 1941 WW2 Light carrier Hosho departed Hashirajima, Japan and arrived at Kure, Japan later on the same day. 
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17 Sep 1941 WW2 The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 337 adult male, 687 adult female, and 247 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 1,271 people. 4 Communists were also executed in Vilnius by Jager's Einsatzgruppen on this date. 
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17 Sep 1941 WW2 Admiral Thomas Hart proposed to move his naval forces in the Philippine Islands south to combine with the British allies to better counter the more powerful Japanese Navy should it attack. He would change his mind on this plan before the start of the Pacific War. 
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17 Sep 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Singapore. 
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17 Sep 1942 WW2 The American beachhead on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands was by this date 5 miles wide and 2.5 miles deep. 
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17 Sep 1942 WW2 USS Gar began her fourth war patrol. 
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17 Sep 1942 WW2 Submarine Hoe was launched, sponsored by Miss Helen Hess. 
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17 Sep 1942 WW2 British submarine HMS United sank Italian salvage vessel Rostro and Italian auxiliary submarine chaser V39/Giovanna off Misrata, Libya. 
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17 Sep 1942 WW2 At 0625 hours, German submarine U-515 sank US ship Mae 41 miles north of Georgetown, Guyana; 1 was killed, 40 survived. At 1314 hours, U-109 sank British collier Peterton 200 miles northwest of the Cape Verde Islands; 9 were killed, 34 survived but 1 (the captain) was captured. 
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17 Sep 1942 WW2 The same Ascension Island-based US B-24 Liberator bomber that had attacked German submarines rescued survivors of sunken British troopship Laconia on the previous day attacked the submarines again, forcing U-506 to dive while 142 survivors were still on the deck; later in the day, French cruiser Gloire, sloop Annamite, and sloop Dumont d'Urville arrived to take on 415 Italian and 668 Allied survivors from the German submarines. 
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17 Sep 1942 WW2 Australian troops fell back from Ioribaiwa Ridge to Imita Ridge along the Kokoda Track in Australian Papua, 25 miles from Port Moresby; the Australians were surprised that the Japanese did not pursue in force. 
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17 Sep 1942 WW2 German Navy Admiral Karl Dönitz, who had previously supported rescuing survivors of submarine targets, ordered his submarine commanders to cease such actions in light of the Laconia incident on the previous day where an American bomber attacked a German submarine, full of survivors, flying a large red cross flag. 
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17 Sep 1942 WW2 Archibald Wavell ordered Noel Irwin to prepare an offensive from India into the Arakan Peninsula in Burma. 
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17 Sep 1942 WW2 In Stalingrad, Russia, German and Soviet troops engaged in heavy fighting at the Mamayev Kurgan hill, the Central Station, the grain elevator, and the apartment building soon to be named Pavlov's House. Also in the city, German troops advanced along the Tsaritsa River toward the banks of the Volga River where Soviet reinforcements were arriving from the other side. 
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17 Sep 1942 WW2 Leslie Groves was given charge of overseeing the Manhattan Project. 
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17 Sep 1943 WW2 USS Puffer attacked a Japanese convoy in the Dutch East Indies, damaging a transport and sinking another; she expended 6 torpedoes and observed 3 hits. 
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17 Sep 1943 WW2 US Marine Corps squadron VMF-214 moved from the Russell Islands to Munda Airfield on New Georgia. 
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17 Sep 1943 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Black top on landing mat completed. Part of Fighting Squadron 25 (VF-25; Model F6F-3); Torpedo Squadron 25 (VT-25; Model TBF-1), on board. Part of Bombing Squadron 25 (VB-25; Model SBD-5) on board. 
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17 Sep 1943 WW2 British Eighth Army linked up with US troops near Salerno in Italy; Albert Kesselring issued the order to break off the counteroffensive at Salerno and form a defensive line. 
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17 Sep 1943 WW2 Yolande Beekman departed Britain in a Lysander aircraft. 
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17 Sep 1943 WW2 USS Tunny arrived at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, California, United States. 
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17 Sep 1944 WW2 US 85th Division captured Monte Altuzzo, Italy; other US units captured Monte Pratone. To the east, Indian 4th Division attacked German 278th Infantry Division in San Marino. 
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17 Sep 1944 WW2 USS Guam was commissioned with Captain Leland P. Lovette in command. 
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17 Sep 1944 WW2 Hans Thurner was awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
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17 Sep 1944 WW2 The Red Army broke through near Narva, Estonia. 
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17 Sep 1944 WW2 The siege of Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, France began. With 1 Corps grounded from lack of transport, the only available formation was 3rd Canadian Division, less one brigade, but reinforced with some armour and medium regiments of artillery. Despite being smaller than Le Havre, Boulogne proved to be a hard nut to crack, with deep underground fortifications, as well as surrounding forts, minefields and anti-tank ditches. Heavy bombing on the opening day failed to destroy the many German gun batteries, making the siege more difficult than expected. 
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17 Sep 1944 WW2 Lorraine departed waters off southern France. 
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17 Sep 1944 WW2 USS Tunny arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her seventh war patrol. 
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17 Sep 1944 WW2 The Allies launched Operation Market Garden, an airborne-ground combined attack to penetrate into northern Germany via the Netherlands, capturing Sint-Oedenrode and Veghel. US 56th Fighter Group lost sixteen out of thirty-nine P-47D Thunderbolt aircraft on flak suppression duties in support of the operation. 
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17 Sep 1944 WW2 Soviet newspaper Unichtozhim Vraga credited Roza Shanina with 51 kills. 
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17 Sep 1944 WW2 British Blackout regulations, which had been in force since the start of the war, were finally abolished. 
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17 Sep 1945 WW2 Nationalist Chinese forces re-entered Beiping, China. 
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17 Sep 1945 WW2 Joseph Kramer, Camp Commandant at Belsen, and 44 other SS officers were put on trial at Lüneburg, Germany for mass murders at Belsen and Auschwitz. Kramer and 10 others were sentenced to hang, while others received prison sentences. 
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17 Sep 1945 WW2 Shigeru Yoshida was named the Foreign Minister of Japan. 
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17 Sep 1945 WW2 US Army took control of the Japanese Army base in Busan (Pusan), Korea and soon renamed it Camp Hialeah. 
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17 Sep 1945 WW2 USS Whale departed the Panama Canal Zone. 
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17 Sep 1948 WW2 Folke Bernadotte was killed by a radical Israeli gunman in Jerusalem of the newly-formed nation of Israel. 
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17 Sep 1948 WW2 Jan Smuts was named the Colonel-in-chief of the Regiment Westelike Provinsie of South Africa. 
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16th September 18th September
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