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History on the 23rd of December

History
Date Text
23 Dec 1648 RELIGIOUS Birth of Robert Barclay, Scottish Quaker theologian. He published his most famous work, "An Apology for the True Christian Divinity," in 1676, making him the most prominent theologian in the early Quaker Church.
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23 Dec 1790 RELIGIOUS Birth of Jean Francois Champollion, French Egyptologist. In 1822 he successfully decoded the hieroglyphics of the Rosetta Stone (uncovered in 1799), and is recognized today as the founder of modern Egyptology.
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23 Dec 1841 RELIGIOUS Birth of Handley C.G. Moule, Anglican theologian. He succeeded B.F. Westcott in 1901 as Bishop of Durham. A profound scholar, he could nevertheless speak and write for ordinary people, and published commentaries on nearly all of Paul's letters in the New Testament.
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23 Dec 1862 RELIGIOUS Birth of Amos R. Wells, American Christian educator. He was first editorial secretary of the newly organized Christian Endeavor Society (forerunner of modern church "youth fellowships") from 1891 until his death in 1933.
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23 Dec 1915 WW2 Lieutenant G. S. M. Insall of the British Royal Flying Corps was awarded the Victoria Cross for valour whilst flying his Vickers F.B.5 aircraft. 
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23 Dec 1919 WW2 Prince Hiroyasu's first child, Prince Hiroyoshi, married Prince Tokiko Ichijo. 
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23 Dec 1931 WW2 Gorizia was commissioned into service. 
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23 Dec 1931 WW2 The prototype GL-831 HY floatplane took its maiden flight. 
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23 Dec 1931 WW2 Prince Kotohito was named the Chief of the Japanese Army General Staff. 
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23 Dec 1935 WW2 Chief of Staff General Malin Craig summoned Henry Arnold to Washington DC, United States. 
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23 Dec 1936 WW2 In Spain, the Council of Aragon, which was dominated by the CNT (Confederacion Nacional de Trabajo ), was recognised by the Republican Government. 
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23 Dec 1936 WW2 McDougal was commissioned into service. 
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23 Dec 1938 WW2 Having cut the Spanish Republican forces into two the Spanish Nationalists now launched an offensive against Catalonia. A frontal assault by six Nationalist armies proved too much for the already exhausted Republicans, who would soon retreat towards Barcelona. 
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23 Dec 1939 WW2 German SS organization decreed that Polish workers who left their workplace without permission were to be arrested and sent to concentration camps. 
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23 Dec 1939 WW2 The British Military Intelligence Section 9 (MI9) was established under the command of Major Norman Crockatt. It was charged with aiding resistance fighters in enemy occupied territory and recovering Allied troops, including downed airmen and prisoners of war. 
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23 Dec 1939 WW2 At 0630 hours, 4 Finnish divisions counterattacked on a 28-mile front on the west side of the Karelian Isthmus, trying to trap resting Soviet forces in a massive encirclement; without support of anti-tank weapons or artillery pieces, it was repulsed by tanks; Finnish General Öhqvist called off the attack at 1440 hours after suffering 1,300 casualties. Meanwhile, Captain Mäkinen's 2 machine gun companies in the Finnish 9th Division attacked forward elements of the Soviet 44th Division, tying down the entire column of 15,000 troops and equipment. 
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23 Dec 1939 WW2 An IRA gang stole the Irish Army's entire reserve of small arms ammunition - more than one million rounds - from an ammunition fort in Phoenix Park, Dublin. Most of it was recovered over the following days. 
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23 Dec 1940 WW2 Anthony Eden was appointed Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom. 
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23 Dec 1940 WW2 Greek submarine Papanikolis sank the Italian motor ship Antonietta. 
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23 Dec 1940 WW2 In Albania, Greek forces pushed back Italian troops another 20 miles up the Ionian coast. 
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23 Dec 1940 WW2 In Libya, Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa General Rodolfo Graziani replaced General Mario Berti of Italian 10th Army with his Chief of Staff General Giuseppe Tellera after the failures in the initial stages of the British Operation Compass offensive. 
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23 Dec 1940 WW2 British destroyer HMS Havock collided with battleship HMS Valiant during gunnery practice, causing the destroyer to be out of commission for repairs until 20 Feb 1941. 
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23 Dec 1940 WW2 British Lord Haw Haw warned of a second night of bombing for Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Overnight, from 1915 until 0129 hours the next day, 171 German aircraft attacked the still-burning Manchester with 195 tons of high explosive bombs and 893 incendiary bombs. In two nights, 363 civilians were killed and 1,183 were wounded. 
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23 Dec 1940 WW2 Light carrier Hosho was deemed not suitable for modern carrier aircraft 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 In the Philippine Islands, as Japanese 48th Division marched south toward Manila, US Army General Douglas MacArthur began withdrawing to Bataan, declaring Manila an open city. On the same day, USAAF B-17 bombers attacked Japanese ships at Lingayen Gulf and Davao in the Philippine Islands, while P-35 and P-40 fighters strafed landing ships in San Miguel Bay, Luzon, damaging destroyer Nagatsuki. On Mindanao, the 9 US B-17 bombers originally from Australia refueled and took off to attack Japanese ships in Davao Gulf and Lingayen Gulf, damaging Japanese destroyer Kuroshio. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarines I-71 and I-72 shelled American facilities at Palmyra Atoll. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 54 Japanese bombers escorted by 24 fighters attacked Rangoon, Burma in the late morning, killing 1,250; of those who became wounded as the result of this raid, 600 died. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Three Curtiss-Wright CW-41B fighters, assembled by the Chinese Aircraft Manufacturing Company at Loiwing (now Leiyun) in Yunnan Province, China on the border with Burma, crashed into a mountain whilst being delivered to the A.V.G. at Rangoon, Burma. Two of the pilots were killed. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Allied troops in Hong Kong withdrew to the final line, "The Ridge", at the Stanley Peninsula. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarines I-71 and I-72 again bombarded the US Naval Air Station on Palmyra Atoll. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Trucks brought in 786 tons of food into Leningrad, Russia across the frozen Lake Ladoga; for the second day in a row, enough food was brought in to feed the population. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-559 sank British passenger ship Shuntien 29 miles east of Tobruk, Libya at 1902 hours, killing 6 crew members and 700 passengers, who were mostly Axis prisoners of war. 64 crew members and 400 POWs were rescued by British corvette HMS Salvia and destroyer HMS Heythrop. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 British destroyers HMS Hasty and HMS Hotspur sank German submarine U-79 with depth charges 40 miles north of Sollum, Egypt; all 44 aboard survived. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Song Ziwen was named the Minister of Foreign Affairs. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Three CW-21 fighters crashed in poor weather while being ferried from Rangoon, Burma to Kunming, China. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 U-576 arrived at Saint-Nazaire, France, ending her second war patrol. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Akagi returned to Hashirajima, Japan. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Shokaku returned with Akagi, Kaga, and Zuikaku to Hashirajima island in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Yokosuka, Japan on her first voyage for the Japanese Navy. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Rear Admiral Matome Ugaki inspected food transport ship Irako at Hashirajima, Japan. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Kaga arrived at Hashirajima in Hiroshima Bay, Japan. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 USS Permit fired two torpedoes at a Japanese destroyer in the South China Sea; both torpedoes missed. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops landed at Kuching, Sarawak. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-21 sank American tanker Montebello about four miles south of the Piedras Blancas Light Station at Point Piedras Blancas, California, United States. Survivors were machine-gunned by I-21, but none of the survivors were hurt by the fire. Elsewhere, southwest of Cape Mendocino, California, Japanese submarine I-17 shelled American tanker Larry Doheny. 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Churchill and Roosevelt met at the White House, Washington DC during the First Washington Conference (Arcadia). 
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23 Dec 1941 WW2 Before dawn, at 0235 hours, 1,500 troops of the Japanese Maizuru Second Special Naval Landing Force landed on Wake Island and Wilkes Island in the Wake Atoll; from the air, carrier aircraft from Soryu and Hiryu provided support by attacking targets on Wilkes, Peale, and Wake Islands. Given that defeat was now imminent, acting commander of the US Navy Pacific Fleet Vice Admiral William Pye recalled Task Force 14 with USS Saratoga; the force was originally dispatched to reinforce Wake. At 0800, the Americans surrendered. On Wilkes Island, the Americans attempted one final counterattack, killing 100 Japanese troops at the cost of 11 US Marines killed and 5 wounded. 
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23 Dec 1942 WW2 Tatsuta Maru arrived at Manila, Philippine Islands. 
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23 Dec 1942 WW2 Manstein's troops began to withdraw to Kotelnikovo, Russia where they started their offensive. 
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23 Dec 1942 WW2 Bob Hope agreed to entertain US airmen in Alaska; it was the first of the traditional Christmas shows. 
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23 Dec 1942 WW2 German 10th Panzer Division took back American and British territorial gains in Tunisia made on the previous day. 
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23 Dec 1942 WW2 Hubert Lanz was awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. 
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23 Dec 1942 WW2 Satoru Anabuki, flying Ki-43 fighter "Fubuki", shot down an aircraft over Burma, his eighth victory. After dark, he shot down a Blenheim aircraft over Magwe, Burma, increasing his score to nine. 
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23 Dec 1942 WW2 Submarine Rock was laid down by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Wisconsin, United States. 
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23 Dec 1943 WW2 British Home Fleet Admiral Bruce Fraser dispatched battleship HMS Duke of York, cruiser HMS Jamaica, and 4 destroyers (3 British and 1 Norwegian) north in anticipation of German interception of Allied convoy JW-55B, which was sailing toward Murmansk, Russia. 
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23 Dec 1943 WW2 Guavina was commissioned into service. 
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23 Dec 1943 WW2 Galeazzo Ciano made his final diary entry at the prison at Verona, Italy. 
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23 Dec 1943 WW2 24 US Army Air Force bombers conducted an attack on Lakunai Airfield at Rabaul, New Britain, escorted by 48 US Navy F6F and US Marine Corps F4U fighters; 1 F6F and 2 F4U aircraft were shot down by ground fire during the bombing mission. Shortly after, 48 USMC F4U fighters and a number of USAAF P-38 fighters conducted a fighter sweep over Rabaul. 99 Japanese A6M fighters rose to defend against the sweep. USMC airmen claimed 21 Japanese shot down, and USAAF 8; Gregory Boyington of USMC squadron VMF-214 alone claimed 4; Japanese records would later reveal that only 6 aircraft were lost during the fighter sweep. 
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23 Dec 1943 WW2 501st Bomb Squadron of USAAF 345th Bomb Group was transferred out of Dobodura Airfield, Australian Papua. 
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23 Dec 1943 WW2 379 RAF aircraft (364 Lancaster, 7 Halifax, and 8 Mosquito) attacked Berlin, Germany; 16 Lancaster bombers were lost. 
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23 Dec 1943 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: More of CASU-20 arrived. 
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23 Dec 1943 WW2 In Italy, Candian troops attacked Villa Grande while Indian troops captured Vezzano and British troops attacked toward Orsogna. 
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23 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Blenny reported sinking a Japanese transport with torpedoes. 
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23 Dec 1944 WW2 Adolf Eichmann fled Budapest, Hungary before dawn. 
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23 Dec 1944 WW2 Destroyer Yuzuki was sunk by US Marine Corps aircraft 105 kilometers north-northwest of Cebu, Philippine Islands; 20 crewmen were killed, 217 survived and rescued by destroyer Kiri. 
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23 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Marcus Island arrived at the Admiralty Islands. 
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23 Dec 1944 WW2 Indian 2nd and 20th Divisions reached Pyingaing, Burma, which was not defended by the Japanese. 
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23 Dec 1944 WW2 While leading 16 Mustang fighters of 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron back from an attack on the Wuchang-Hankou ferry terminals in Hubei Province, China, Lieutenant Colonel Edward McComas strafed the Japanese airfields at Wuchang and Erdaokou, destroying (in less than an hour) five Ki-43 fighters in the air and another two Japanese aircraft on the ground. 
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23 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Whale sank four Japanese fishing trawlers with her deck gun off Nakano Shima in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. 
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23 Dec 1946 WW2 Prince Morihiro's daughter Princess Fumiko was born. 
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23 Dec 1948 WW2 Hideki Tojo passed away. 
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23 Dec 1948 WW2 Akira Muto passed away. 
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23 Dec 1948 WW2 Koki Hirota passed away. 
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23 Dec 1948 WW2 Kenji Doihara passed away. 
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23 Dec 1948 WW2 Seven Japanese convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East were executed at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan. 
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23 Dec 1948 WW2 Seishiro Itagaki was executed by hanging at Sugamo Prison, Tokyo, Japan. 
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23 Dec 1948 WW2 Iwane Matsui was executed by hanging at the Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan. 
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23 Dec 1950 RELIGIOUS Pope Pius XII declared that the tomb of St. Peter had been discovered beneath St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
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22nd December 24th December
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