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History on the 17th of October

History
Date Text
17 Oct 1483 RELIGIOUS Pope Sixtus IV launched the Spanish Inquisition, placing it under joint direction of the Church and state. Tomas de Torquemada, 63, was appointed Grand Inquisitor in charge of removing Jews and Muslims from Spain.
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17 Oct 1582 RELIGIOUS Birth of German scholar Johann Gerhard, most influential of the 17th century Lutheran theologians. His writings attained a European circulation second only to the Bible and Thomas a Kempis' "Imitation of Christ."
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17 Oct 1651 RELIGIOUS French scientist Blaise Pascal wrote in a letter: 'Jesus Christ suffered and died to sanctify death and suffering; he has been all that was great, and all that was abject, in order to sanctify in himself all things except sin, and to be the model of every condition.'
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17 Oct 1792 RELIGIOUS Birth of John Bowring, English statesman, linguist, merchant, theologian and author of the hymn, "In the Cross of Christ I Glory."
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17 Oct 1812 RELIGIOUS In Washington Co., PA, the first of seven eventual conferences convened, leading ultimately to the founding in 1836 of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States.
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17 Oct 1916 WW2 USS Arizona was commissioned into service with Captain John McDonald in command. 
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17 Oct 1917 WW2 The Russian battleship Slava was scuttled after being badly damaged in action with the German dreadnought König. 
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17 Oct 1918 WW2 George Patton was promoted to the temporary rank of colonel. 
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17 Oct 1918 WW2 The British Army entered Lille, France, ending four years of German occupation. 
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17 Oct 1922 WW2 Lieutenant V. C. Griffin flying a Vought VE-7SF aircraft made the first take-off from an American aircraft carrier (USS Langley). 
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17 Oct 1937 WW2 Light carrier Hosho transferred all of her aircraft to carrier Ryujo and departed Chinese waters. 
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17 Oct 1937 WW2 The Guanxi Army arrived in Shanghai, China to reinforce the Chinese forces. 
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17 Oct 1939 WW2 Tribune was commissioned into service. 
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17 Oct 1939 WW2 Germans forced back French troops in Saarland, Germany. 
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17 Oct 1939 WW2 Reinhard Heydrich ordered all Gypsy populations to cease travelling or face a concentration camp. 
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17 Oct 1939 WW2 The Ministerial Council for the Defence of the Reich issued the "Decree relating to a special Jurisdiction in Penal Matters for members of the SS and for members of Police Groups on Special Tasks" which, in effect, was to free the armed SS from the legal jurisdiction of the Wehrmacht. 
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17 Oct 1939 WW2 German aircraft attacked the British naval base at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom, damaging the training ship HMS Iron Duke. 
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17 Oct 1940 WW2 German submarine U-93 attacked Allied convoy OA-228 300 miles northwest of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom, sinking Norwegian ship Dokka at 0317 hours (10 killed, 7 survived) and British ship Uskbridge at 0339 hours (2 killed, 6 survived); U-93 was depth charged at 0400 hours by HMS Folkestone, depth charged at 1015 hours, and attacked by aerial bombs in the evening; none of the attacks caused damage. Meanwhile, German submarine U-48 fired 3 torpedoes at Allied convoy SC-7 400 miles northwest of Ireland at 0553 hours, sinking British ship Scoresby and damaging British tanker Languedoc; British corvette HMS Bluebell scuttled Languedoc with gunfire and rescued the 39 survivors from Scoresby and 39 survivors from Languedoc. At 1052 hours, German submarine U-38 sank Greek ship Aenos with the deck gun in the Atlantic Ocean; 4 were killed and 25 survived. In the North Sea, German motor torpedo boats S-24 and S-27 attacked Allied convoy FN.311 10 miles off Lowestoft, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom; British ship Hauxley was damaged by a torpedo, killing 1, sinking on the next day. In England, British minesweeper HMS Dundalk hit a mine 20 miles northeast of Harwich, killing 4 and wounding 7; she was towed into the harbor for repairs, but she would sink on the next day. Finally, also on this date, 4 German destroyers and 6 torpedo boats departed from Brest, France to attack shipping in the Bristol Channel, but they were detected by British reconnaissance aircraft at 0719 hours; British cruiser HMS Newcastle, cruiser HMS Emerald, and 5 destroyers were dispatched from Plymouth at 1100 hours to intercept; at 1600 hours, the British ships found their targets and exchanged fire at the range of 11 miles; no hits were made by either side. 
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17 Oct 1940 WW2 A message from Joachim von Ribbentrop to Joseph Stalin to invite Vyacheslav Molotov to Berlin, Germany to speak about the recent deterioration of German-Soviet relations was delivered, at a few days delay, to Vyacheslav Molotov. Ribbentrop was not happy regarding the delay, and the fact that the letter was delivered to the Soviet foreign ministry rather than to Stalin himself. 
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17 Oct 1940 WW2 The German Luftwaffe mounted four raids against southern England, United Kingdom during the day. Meanwhile, at 1530 hours, at the Air Council room at the Air Ministry in London, British fighter commanders including Portal, Douglas, Dowding, Park, Bader, and others gathered to discuss strategy; specifically, Park's approach was attacked by some of the others. Overnight, London, Liverpool, and Birmingham were heavily bombed. 
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17 Oct 1941 WW2 American destroyer USS Kearney, escorting Allied convoy SC-48, was damaged by a torpedo from German submarine U-568 off Iceland, killing 11. On the same day, U-432 and U-558 each sank three freighters in this convoy. 
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17 Oct 1941 WW2 The first transport of deported Czech Jews departed for various locations in Eastern Europe. 
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17 Oct 1941 WW2 German submarine U-97 attacked a small Allied convoy 50 miles west of Alexandria, Egypt at 0325 hours, sinking Greek ship Samos (31 killed, 3 survived) and British tanker Pass of Balmaha (all 20 aboard were killed). 
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17 Oct 1941 WW2 German SS Reich and 10th Panzer Divisions made slow advances along the Moscow Highway and Minsk Highway toward the Soviet capital of Moscow, Russia. The Soviet 5th Army slowly fell back toward Mozhaysk, Russia. 
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17 Oct 1941 WW2 British cruiser HMS Latona and destroyers HMS Jackal, HMS Havock, and HMS Nizam departed Alexandria, Egypt for Tobruk, Libya. 
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17 Oct 1941 WW2 The US began evacuating non-essential personnel from Guam, Mariana Islands. 
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17 Oct 1941 WW2 Harold Stark informed Husband Kimmel that in his personal opinion that while he expected Japan to take action some time in the near future, an attack on Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii was not likely. 
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17 Oct 1941 WW2 The German propaganda ministry declared Luxembourg Judenfrei, "Free of Jews". 
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17 Oct 1941 WW2 German troops captured Taganrog in southern Russia, a port city on the Sea of Azov. 
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17 Oct 1942 WW2 Battleships Yamato and Mutsu transferred 4,500 tons of fuel oil to empty oiler Kenyo Maru to refuel other ships. 
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17 Oct 1942 WW2 Japanese cruisers bombarded Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. 
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17 Oct 1942 WW2 Joseph Stilwell arrived in Delhi, India. 
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17 Oct 1942 WW2 Oberst Ernst Kühl, commanding officer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing, was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
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17 Oct 1942 WW2 Kaname Harada was shot down in combat over Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, but he would survive his injuries and the trek through the jungle to reach a Japanese submarine base on the coast. 
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17 Oct 1942 WW2 94 British Lancaster bombers attacked the Schneider armament factory at Le Creusot in central France in daylight; 1 bomber was lost on this mission. 
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17 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Wahoo arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her first war patrol. 
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17 Oct 1942 WW2 All daylight air raids on Malta were abandoned by the Axis following heavy losses and bombing was now restricted to night-time operations only. The Axis had lost 270 aircraft this year over Malta. 
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17 Oct 1942 WW2 USS Grayback fired four torpedoes at a Japanese transport off New Ireland; all torpedoes missed. 
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17 Oct 1943 WW2 USS Puffer arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her first war patrol. 
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17 Oct 1943 WW2 US Army Colonel Lewis Pick assumed command of the Allied road building effort in India and Burma. 
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17 Oct 1943 WW2 The F-5 aircraft flown by Lieutenant William Southard, escorted by two P-38 fighters, conducted a photographic reconnaissance mission over Rabaul, New Britain. 
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17 Oct 1943 WW2 56 A6M fighters attacked Dobodura Airfield and Oro Bay in Australian Papua; 43 P-38 and 3 P-40 fighters rose to defend. The Japanese lost 8 A6M fighters and the Americans lost 4 P-38 and 1 P-40 fighters. 
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17 Oct 1943 WW2 US Marine Corps squadrons VMF-214 and VMF-221 conducted a fighter sweep over Kahili Airfield on Bougainville island in the morning. More than 30 A6M fighters of Japanese Navy Air Group 201 rose to defend. VMF-214 pilots would claim 9 Japanese aircraft shot down, while VMF-221 claimed 2; Japanese records would later reveal that only 2 aircraft were lost on this day. The Japanese pilots claimed 3 US aircraft shot down, but the Americans only suffered 2 aircraft lightly damaged and 1 aircraft heavily damaged and written off after its return. 
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17 Oct 1943 WW2 The two sections of the infamous Burma railway met south of the Three Pagodas Pass. Most of the Allied prisoners of war were then transferred to Japan. 
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17 Oct 1943 WW2 Shokaku sortied from Truk, Caroline Islands to Eniwetok, Marshall Islands with Combined Fleet under Admiral Koga's command in response to US Task Force 16 carrier raids on Wake Island. 
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17 Oct 1943 WW2 Yamato sortied from Truk to Brown Atoll, Eniwetok in response to radio traffic that suggested a potential American strike on Wake Island. 
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17 Oct 1943 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: About 0010, a small float-type monoplane was picked up by the searchlight of NAS, Barber's Point. The plane, presumably a Japanese reconnaissance plane, attempted to dodge the searchlights, and sped out to sea at a low altitude . One staff officer of Task Group 19.13 on board. 
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17 Oct 1943 WW2 The British 42nd Armoured Division was disbanded; its infantry formations being assigned to the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division and its armoured formations to the 79th Armoured Division. 
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17 Oct 1943 WW2 USS Scorpion refueld at Midway Atoll. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 Pavel Haas passed away. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 Adolf Eichmann returned to Hungary. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 USS Croaker damaged a small Japanese sampan with the deck gun. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi took command of the 1st Air Fleet based in the Philippine Islands. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 The US coastal minesweeper YMS-70 was lost in a storm off Leyte, Philippine Islands. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 USS Hawkbill arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her first war patrol. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 Lavrentiy Beria informed Joseph Stalin that Viktor Abakumov had transferred 100 SMERSH personnel to reinforce the staff of the Main Information Directorate (under Piotr Kozuszko) of the Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 Karl von Le Suire was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht daily radio report. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 The major Soviet attacks near Debrecen, Hungary, were held off by German troops. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Sasebo, Japan. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 USS Escolar sent her final ship-to-ship message to her wolfpack mates USS Perch, after which she was never heard from again. She was probably mined in the Yellow Sea on or shortly after this day. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 USS Columbia supported landing operations at Dinagat Islands, Philippine Islands. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 Roza Shanina visited her family in Arkhangelsk, Russia. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 B-29 bombers of 40th Bombardment Group attacked Takao harbor, Taiwan. 
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17 Oct 1944 WW2 Bulgarian troops captured Kursumlija, Yugoslavia. 
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17 Oct 1945 WW2 A coup d'etat put Colonel Juan Peron at the helm of Argentina. 
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17 Oct 1945 WW2 Cachalot was decommissioned from service. 
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17 Oct 1945 WW2 Darlowo, Poland (formerly Rügenwalde, Germany) began deporting its German citizens. 
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17 Oct 1945 WW2 Miklós Horthy met with Thomas Dodd in Nürnberg, Germany. 
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17 Oct 1945 WW2 Norris Bradbury succeeded Robert Oppenheimer as the director of the Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States facility of the Manhattan Project. 
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17 Oct 1945 WW2 USS Enterprise entered the Hudson River in New York, New York, United States in preparation of the Navy Day holiday celebrations. 
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