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History on the 20th of December

History
Date Text
20 Dec 1552 RELIGIOUS Death of Katherine von Bora, 53, a former nun and the widow of German reformer Martin Luther. They married in 1525, when Luther was 42 and Katie was 26, and bore six children. Luther died in 1546; Katie, six years later.
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20 Dec 1787 RELIGIOUS A revival broke out among the Shakers of New Lebanon, Indiana, soon igniting a religious fervor among other denominations, especially in Kentucky and other colonial frontier regions.
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20 Dec 1845 RELIGIOUS Baldwin Institute was chartered in Berea, Ohio, by the Methodists. Changing its name in 1854 to Baldwin University, the college merged in 1914 with German Wallace College and adopted its present name: Baldwin Wallace University.
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20 Dec 1856 RELIGIOUS Newberry College was chartered in Newberry, SC, under Lutheran auspices. The campus moved to Walhalla, SC, in 1868, but returned to Newberry in 1877.
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20 Dec 1914 WW2 Jean de Lattre de Tassigny was made a Chevalier of the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur. 
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20 Dec 1914 WW1 Begin of First Battle of Champagne
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20 Dec 1917 WW2 The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Speculation, Sabotage and Misconduct in Office (VCheKa) was established. The new security force would become a virtual law unto itself during the civil war, when an estimated 250,000 people were executed by its hands. 
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20 Dec 1920 WW2 Werner von Blomberg was promoted to the rank of Oberstleutnant. 
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20 Dec 1920 WW2 In the Soviet Union, the foreign intelligence section of OO (Special Department) was broken out, forming the INO (Foreign Department). 
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20 Dec 1924 WW2 Vice Admiral Eizaburo Fujiwara was named the commanding officer of the Mako naval port at Pescadores islands, Taiwan. 
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20 Dec 1931 WW2 The keel of Jean de Vienne was laid down by the Arsenal de Lorient in Lorient, France. 
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20 Dec 1934 WW2 In Germany a new law, "Law against malicious slander of state and party and to protect party uniforms", allowed for the arrest of anyone wearing uniforms without permission or making fun of them. 
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20 Dec 1935 WW2 Pierre Barjot was named the commanding officer of submarine Bévéziers. 
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20 Dec 1935 WW2 Jean de Lattre de Tassigny was made a Commandeur of the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur. 
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20 Dec 1936 WW2 Viktor Abakumov was promoted to the rank of State Security Junior Lieutenant. 
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20 Dec 1937 WW2 German Great War General Erich Ludendorff dies in Munich, Germany. 
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20 Dec 1937 WW2 Arashio was commissioned into service. 
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20 Dec 1937 WW2 The Japanese Domei News Agency reported that life in Nanjing, China, which was recently captured by Japanese troops, was returning to normal, and refugees who had fled the city prior and during the battle were starting to return. 
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20 Dec 1937 WW2 The British Royal Navy issued the order for the light cruiser to be named HMS Mauritius. 
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20 Dec 1938 WW2 Carabiniere was commissioned into service. 
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20 Dec 1939 WW2 Soviet Army called off the attack on Summa, Finland. 
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20 Dec 1940 WW2 15 British carrier aircraft from HMS Illustrious attacked an Italian convoy off Kerkennah islands, Tunisia between 0515 and 0615 hours, sinking two of the three ships in the convoy. 
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20 Dec 1940 WW2 Italian submarine Calvi sank British ship Carlton 300 miles west of Ireland, killing 31. 
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20 Dec 1940 WW2 British destroyer Berkeley hit a mine in the River Medway in southern England, United Kingdom; she was damaged but did not sink. 
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20 Dec 1940 WW2 US President Roosevelt named a four-member defense board under William A. Knudsen to prepare defense measures and to hasten the aid to the United Kingdom. 
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20 Dec 1940 WW2 Two Spitfire fighters of No. 66 Squadron from RAF Biggin Hill in London, England, United Kingdom carried out a sweep over Breck and Le Touquet in France, strafing power transformers, camps and road traffic. This marked a change in RAF fighter tactics to a more offensive role. 
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20 Dec 1940 WW2 The British Royal Navy battleship, HMS Warspite, arrived at Malta's Grand Harbour to a rapturous welcome from the islanders. 
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20 Dec 1940 WW2 The Defense Committee of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union officially adopted the PPSh-41 submachine gun. 
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20 Dec 1940 WW2 Liverpool, England, United Kingdom was bombed by the Luftwaffe. 42 were killed when two official shelters collapsed, 72 were killed when bombs destroyed a shelter in the Blackstock Gardens tenement, and a further 42 were killed when an unofficial shelter at Bentinck Street under railway arches was hit. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 Douglas MacArthur was promoted to the rank of general. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 German Armeegruppe Mitte reached a defensive line 100 kilometers to its west, where it was to stand and fight in accordance with Adolf Hitler's order after Hitler countermanded Franz Halder and Günther von Kluge's order to withdraw six days earlier. On the other side of the line, Soviet troops attacked west from Tula, Russia, aiming for the rail and road junction at Kaluga. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 Goebbels made the first radio broadcast appealing for winter clothing for troops on the Eastern Front. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 Pilots of the 1st American Volunteer Group, "Flying Tigers", saw their first combat with the Japanese in China. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops landed near Davao, Mindanao, Philippine Islands, seizing the nearby airfield. At Cavite in southern Luzon, Lieutenant Colonel J. P. Adams received orders to evacuate his Marines from the area. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-17 shelled, torpedoed, and sank American tanker Emidio about 25 miles west of Cape Mendocino, California, United States. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-23 shelled unarmed American tanker Agwiworld off the coast of California, United States. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy Admiral Ernest King was relieved of command from the Atlantic Fleet and was promoted to the Commander-in-Chief of US Fleets. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 HMS Kandahar was scuttled off the Libyan coast. She was severely damaged after hitting Italian naval mines early on the previous day. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 After holding off the Japanese troops at Wong Nai Chung Gap in central Hong Kong island for a day, Canadian and colonial Chinese troops begin falling back suffering heavy casualties. Out to sea, British motor torpedo boats MTB 12 and MTB 26 were sunk and MTB 7, MTB 11, and MTB 18 were damaged during an attempt to disrupt Japanese landing operations. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 Leutnant Fritz Bliesener and Hauptmann Rudolf Kiel of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Permit completed her first war patrol in Philippine waters. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 Two RAF Buffalo fighters attacked the Japanese barracks at Victoria Point, Burma near the border with Thailand, inflicting heavy casualties. Meanwhile, in Malaya, Japanese troops attempted to flank the Allied positions on the Perak River while another column marched along the Grik Road. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 Fighters of the 1st and 2nd Squadrons of the American Volunteer Group intercepted 10 Japanese bombers over Kunming, Yunnan, China, shooting down 9 bombers while losing 1 P-40 fighter. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy Task Force 8 with USS Enterprise departed from Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for waters between Johnston Island and Midway. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 US Navy battleships Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Tennessee, damaged during the attack earlier in the month, departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for shipyards on the west coast of the United States. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 Submarine tender Taigei was assigned to the Japanese Navy Kure Naval District as Reserve Ship No. 3, and was taken out of service for conversion under the supervision of Captain Tatsuo Kiyama. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 Nachi provided support for the landings at Davao, Philippine Islands. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied convoy PQ-6 arrived at Murmansk, Russia. 
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20 Dec 1941 WW2 The American garrison at Wake Atoll received its first guest since the start of the Pacific War as a US Navy PBY aircraft arrived from Midway Atoll. The PBY crew brought news that aircraft from Marine Fighter Squadron 221 and men from the 4th Defense Battalion were being prepared to reinforce Wake. 
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20 Dec 1942 WW2 Japanese aviation units began four days of bombarding on Calcutta, India. 
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20 Dec 1942 WW2 RAF used Oboe, an aid to bombing radar, operationally for the first time. 
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20 Dec 1942 WW2 Hiroaki Abe was relieved of his command of Japanese Navy Battleship Division 11 for his lack of aggressiveness during the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. He would be forced to retire within months. 
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20 Dec 1942 WW2 USS Gar fired three torpedoes at a Japanese ship; all torpedoes missed. 
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20 Dec 1942 WW2 The United States Marine Corps redesignated the Marine Barracks at New River, North Carolina, United States as Camp Lejeune. 
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20 Dec 1942 WW2 All of five of USAAF 59th Fighter Squadron's P-40F fighters were transferred to a French squadron in North Africa. 
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20 Dec 1942 WW2 Satoru Anabuki, flying Ki-43 fighter "Fubuki", shot down a Hurricane and a Blenheim aircraft over Magwe, Burma, his sixth and seventh victories. He sustained injury during combat. 
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20 Dec 1942 WW2 Ships of Allied convoy JW-51A began to arrive at Kola Inlet near Murmansk, Russia. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 A spy ring working for the Germans, led by a 19-year old Italian, was broken in Sicily. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 The Falangist Militia was dissolved in Spain. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 RAF made the heaviest raid of the war on Frankfurt, Germany, with 650 aircraft (390 Lancaster, 257 Halifax, and 3 Mosquito) dropping over 2,000 tons of explosives; less than an hour later, RAF Mosquito aircraft followed up in order to hamper firefighting efforts. 14 Lancaster and 27 Halifax bombers were lost. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 Allied convoy JW-55B departed Loch Ewe, Scotland, United Kingdom for Murmansk, Russia. It was consisted of 19 freighters escorted by 2 destroyers and 3 smaller warships. Further away, eight British destroyers provided distant support. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 USS Puffer sank Japanese destroyer Fuyo west of the Philippine Islands, hitting her with 2 of 4 torpedoes fired. She also fired 5 torpedoes at the convoy Fuyo was escorting, claiming two hits and the sinking of a freighter. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 Adolf Hitler ordered Wehrmacht officers to devote utmost effort to the production of Me 262 jet fighters. He stressed that these jets could serve as an anti-invasion weapon, dropping bombs on Allied beachheads. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for destroyer Amagiri at Truk, Caroline Islands. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 Joseph Stilwell departed Chongqing, China for Burma. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 USS Flier arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 Canadian troops assaulted "The Gully" in Italy, only to find that the German troops had already fallen back to Ortona. The Canadians attempted to advance to Ortona, but was driven back by heavy machine gun fire. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 Yamato departed Yokosuka, Japan for Truk, Caroline Islands escorted by Yamagumo and Tanikaze of Destroyer Division 4. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 USS Grayback attacked a six-freighter Japanese convoy after nightfall, sinking a total of one freighter and damaging another; nine or more torpedoes were expended in this attack. 
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20 Dec 1943 WW2 The Rapportführer of the quarantine camp at Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration camp (Sector BIIa) gave an order to flog the whole first row of prisoners for too little springy posture at the roll call, which took place during the cold wind and falling snow. Four prisoners were then transferred to the camp hospital due to the flogging. 
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20 Dec 1944 WW2 US 83rd Division, as part of the US First Army, was attached to the British 21st Army Group. 
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20 Dec 1944 WW2 Dwight Eisenhower was officially promoted to the rank of General of the Army, a 5-star general rank. 
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20 Dec 1944 WW2 Armored elements of German 6.SS-Panzerarmee captured Stavelot, Belgium, capturing the US fuel supply stored there for their own use. 
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20 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Preston guarded carriers while the carriers launched strikes against Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
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20 Dec 1944 WW2 Submarine Menhaden was launched at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, United States, sponsored by Miss Mirium R. Johnson. 
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20 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Dragonet arrived at Midway Atoll, ending her first war patrol. 
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20 Dec 1945 WW2 Picking was decommissioned from service. 
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20 Dec 1946 WW2 Radical ethnic Koreans attacked Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida at his official residence in Tokyo, Japan; Yoshida escaped harm. 
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20 Dec 1947 WW2 HMAS Hobart was decommissioned from service. 
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20 Dec 1961 RELIGIOUS Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth wrote in a letter: 'What God chooses for us children of men is always the best.'
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