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History on the 24th of December

History
Date Text
24 Dec 1784 RELIGIOUS Methodism was officially organized in the newly
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24 Dec 1818 RELIGIOUS In St. Nicholas Church at Oberndorf, Austria, church organist Franz Gruber, 31, composed a melody on guitar for the poem, "Stille Nacht," written earlier by pastor Joseph Mohr, 26. This evening the world heard "Silent Night" sung for the very first time.
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24 Dec 1871 RELIGIOUS The Northside Tabernacle in Chicago was dedicated by evangelist Dwight L. Moody. It became the original structure of what is today the Moody Memorial Church.
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24 Dec 1916 WW2 USS Arizona arrived at Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, United States for post-shakedown overhaul. 
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24 Dec 1917 WW2 A conference at the Supreme Allied Council discussed the possibility of organizing a Ukrainian Army to open a campaign in Romania. 
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24 Dec 1924 WW2 Albania was declared a republic. 
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24 Dec 1928 WW2 Erwin Rommel's son Manfred was born in Stuttgart, Germany. 
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24 Dec 1932 WW2 The keel of battleship Dunkerque was laid down at Brest Navy Yard, France. 
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24 Dec 1933 WW2 Adolf Hitler granted amnesty to the about 27,000 prisoners currently being held in concentration camps; Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler would both circumvent this order, resulting in far fewer actually being released. 
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24 Dec 1935 WW2 Henry Arnold was made the Assistant Chief of the US Army Air Corps. 
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24 Dec 1936 WW2 General Zhang Xueliang succeeded in achieving an uneasy alliance between the Nationalist and Communist forces against the common foe, Japan. 
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24 Dec 1937 WW2 The Maachi C.200 Saetta (Lightning) aircraft made its maiden flight in prototype form. Designed by Dr. Mario Castoldi, the C.200 Saetta was the first monoplane fighter with fully-retractable undercarriage and enclosed cockpit to enter service with the Italian Air Force. 
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24 Dec 1938 WW2 German SS leader Reinhard Heydrich advised Gestapo leaders to investigate reasons for arrests, as there were now more prisoners than the space available in concentration camps. 
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24 Dec 1939 WW2 Finnish Army Group Talvela pushed Soviet 75th and 139th Divisions back across the Russian border. Meanwhile, Soviet 163rd Division tried unsuccessfully to break out of Suomussalmi, Finland; the Soviet 44th Division failed to move in to provide support for the 163rd Division. 
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24 Dec 1939 WW2 Pope Pius XII made a Christmas Eve appeal for peace. 
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24 Dec 1940 WW2 German submarine U-65 sank British tanker British Premier 50 miles off Sierra Leone, British West Africa at 1641 hours, killing 32. 9 survivors were picked up by cruiser HMS Hawkins on 3 Jan 1941; another lifeboat of 4 survivors was not discovered until 3 Feb 1941. 
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24 Dec 1940 WW2 German 1st Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron attacked a British convoy in the North Sea off Aldeburgh, England, United Kingdom. S-28 sank British minesweeping trawler HMT Pelton, killing 20. British destroyer HMS Verdun reported sinking one of the torpedo boats. 
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24 Dec 1940 WW2 German cruiser Admiral Hipper detected Allied convoy WS.5 700 miles west of Cape Finisterre, Spain late in the afternoon. The convoy was consisted of 19 troopships and freighters; not noticing that it was escorted by two carriers, three cruisers, and four corvettes, the German commander Admiral Wilhelm Meisel prepared the crew for an attack in the morning. 
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24 Dec 1940 WW2 Greek submarine Papanikolis sank the 3,952-ton troop transport Firenze near Sazan Island in the southern Adriatic Sea. 
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24 Dec 1940 WW2 The US 1st Marine Aircraft Wing completed its transfer to the west coast of the United States. On the same day, the 2nd Marine Brigade was activated under the command of Colonel Henry L. Larsen at Camp Elliott, California, United States. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 Atlanta was commissioned into service. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops penetrated the final Allied defensive line, "The Ridge", at the Stanley Peninsula on Hong Kong island. At St. Stephen's College Emergency Hospital, 56 wounded soldiers, doctors, and nurses were bayoneted while a number of female civilians were raped. Near the coast, British destroyer HMS Thracian was damaged by Japanese aircraft and was forced to run aground to prevent sinking. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 Dutch submarine K XVI sank Japanese destroyer Sagiri with two torpedoes off Borneo; 121 were killed, 120 survived and were rescued by destroyer Shirakumo and a minesweeper. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 German submarine U-568 sank British corvette HMS Salvia 50 miles northeast of Mersa Matruh, Egypt at 0135 hours, killing all aboard, which included 106 crew members and an unknown number of passengers. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 Joseph Goebbels broadcasted a Christmas Eve message over radio, urging for Germans to follow the lead of Adolf Hitler and to work and fight for a German victory. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 Winston Churchill broadcasted a Christmas Eve message over radio, wishing for one evening of happiness throughout the English-speaking world during this time of global conflict. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 Destroyer Yukikaze escorted the Japanese invasion force for Lamon Bay, Luzon, Philippine Islands. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 The Free French seized the French islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, off the southern coast of Newfoundland, and deposed the governor. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 ShCh-401 attacked an enemy ship with four torpedoes off Bosfjord, Norway at 2003 hours; all torpedoes missed. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 Isoroku Yamamoto met with his top lieutenants aboard battleship Nagato. It was possibly in this meeting that he began discussing the possibility of a strike on the Americas with aircraft launched from a submarine. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 Clive Caldwell damaged the German Bf 109 fighter piloted by Oberleutnant Erbo von Kageneck over Agedabia, Libya. Kageneck would die of the wounds sustained in this engagement in a military hospital in Naples, Italy on 12 Jan 1942. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 HMS Salvia (Lieutenant Commander J. I. Miller) was torpedoed and sunk west of Alexandria, Egypt by the German submarine U-568. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese submarine I-17 shelled unarmed American freighter Absaroka about 26 miles off San Pedro, California, United States. To the north, off Monterey Bay, Japanese submarine I-23 shelled American steamship Dorothy Philips. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 A Japanese submarine damaged dredge Sacremento by gunfire 3,000 yards south of Palmyra Atoll. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 7,000 troops of Japanese 16th Division landed at Lamon Bay, Luzon, Philippine Islands and marched toward Manila, which was only 50 miles away to the northwest. Near Ligayen Gulf on the western side of Luzon, the 26th Filipino Cavalry initially held up the Japanese invaders near Binalonian, but were forced to withdraw after suffering heavy losses; meanwhile, the Japanese landed an additional 10,000 men at Lingayen Gulf. In Manila, General Douglas MacArthur met with various leaders to organize the retreat into the Bataan peninsula per WPO-3; the 4th Marine Regiment was ordered to Mariveles at the peninsula's tip before going to Corregidor island. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 Nachi provided support for the landings at Jolo, Philippine Islands. She departed Philippine waters later in the day for Palau Islands. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 94 Soviet prisoners of war and 23 political prisoners died in Auschwitz Concentration Camp. On the same day, 37 prisoners from block 20 of Auschwitz were killed by heart phenol injection. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 Japanese troops captured the town Kuching, Sarawak at 1600 hours after heavy fighting against troops of the Indian 15th Punjab Regiment. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 Naka arrived at Mako, Pescadores islands. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 US Marine Corps formed the 2nd Marine Brigade under Colonel Henry Larsen at Camp Elliott, California, United States for the defense of American Samoa. It was consisted of the 3rd Marine Regiment, the 2nd Battalion, the 10th Marine Regiment, and the 2nd Defense Battalion. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 American seaplane tender Wright disembarked US Marine reinforcements at Midway. 
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24 Dec 1941 WW2 100 officers and men arrived at Midway Atoll as reinforcement from Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. 
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24 Dec 1942 WW2 The Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet was transferred from the Combined Fleet to the Southeast Area Fleet; it had the strength of four air groups, three air groups, a seaplane tender, two destroyers, and six transports. Rear Admiral Yoshimasa Nakahara was named its new chief of staff. 
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24 Dec 1942 WW2 Submarine Cabrilla was launched, sponsored by Mrs. L. B. Combs. 
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24 Dec 1942 WW2 USS S-35 entered Kuluk Bay, Adak, Aleutian Islands to vent smoke caused by the series of electrical fires suffered since 21 Dec 1942. 
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24 Dec 1942 WW2 French Admiral François Darlan was assassinated in Algiers, French Algeria by monarchist Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle. 
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24 Dec 1942 WW2 Satoru Anabuki, flying Ki-43 fighter "Fubuki", shot down three Hurricane fighters over Magwe, Burma, increasing his score to 12. 
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24 Dec 1942 WW2 Soviet troops launched an offensive against the German Armeegruppe Don near Stalingrad, Russia, piercing Romanian 4th Army's lines. 
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24 Dec 1942 WW2 Soviet tanks broke German defensive lines at Tatsinskaya Airfield in Rostov Oblast, southern Russia, an important airfield flying supplies into Stalingrad, Russia; 124 Ju 52/3m aircraft were able to take into the air to escape, but 46 other aircraft were either damaged, destroyed, or abandoned as the Soviets captured Tatsinskaya. Elsewhere in Rostov Oblast, a similar attack was conducted on Morozovsk Airfield, but the Germans were able to repulse that attack. 
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24 Dec 1942 WW2 Submarine Cisco was launched at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine, United States, sponsored by Mrs. A. C. Bennett through her proxy Mrs. N. Robertson. 
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24 Dec 1943 WW2 Sir Henry Maitland was designated Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean, with General Harold Alexander as the Commander-in-Chief of Allied Armies in Italy under him. 
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24 Dec 1943 WW2 50 Allied aircraft (Australian Kittyhawk fighters and US F6F fighters) conducted a fighters sweep over Rabaul, New Britain. A raid by heavy bombers followed the fighter sweep. 
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24 Dec 1943 WW2 New Zealand 5th Infantry Brigade engaged in combat along the Gustav Line in Italy. In Ortona, Italy, German troops counterattacked against Canadian positions and caused heavy casualties. 
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24 Dec 1943 WW2 General Nikolai Vatutin launched another winter offensive, starting with the capture of Berdychiv, Ukraine. 
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24 Dec 1943 WW2 US Army General Dwight Eisenhower was named the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. 
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24 Dec 1943 WW2 While in Britain, Oliver Leese received orders to take command of British Eighth Army in Italy. 
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24 Dec 1943 RELIGIOUS German theologian and Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter from prison: 'Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy.'
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 The troopship Leopoldville, carrying 2,000 American soldiers across the English Channel, was torpedoed by German submarine U-486. Escorting warships lifted off many soldiers, although quite a few who suffered broken bones jumping onto the wildly pitching steel decks, but 819 men perished. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Ticonderoga arrived at Ulithi, Caroline Islands together with other ships of Task Group 38.3. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Astoria arrived at Ulithi, Caroline Islands. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Alabama arrived at Ulithi, Caroline Islands. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Cero arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her sixth war patrol. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Boarfish departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Air Group 90 departed. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 Fighting between German and Soviet forces began inside of Budapest, Hungary. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Kete departed Saipan, Mariana Islands, resuming her first war patrol. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Barbero sank Japanese tanker Junpo Maru and damaged a transport in the South China Sea, hitting them with 9 of 14 torpedoes fired. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 Fifty German Heinkel bombers air-launched V1 flying bombs from off the eastern coast of Britain targeting the Manchester area. Most fell harmlessly all over the north of England but a handful came down in the Oldham area, killing 42 and injuring more than 100. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Missouri arrived at San Francisco, California, United States. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Hackleback arrived at the Fleet Sonar School at Key West, Florida, United States. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 USS Finback arrived at Midway Atoll, ending her eleventh war patrol. 
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24 Dec 1944 WW2 Soviet UKR operatives attached to Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front arrested Russian monarchist Vasili Shulgin, who had not been active in politics for many years, in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. 
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24 Dec 1946 WW2 The French Fourth Republic was found. 
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24 Dec 1946 WW2 Polish Brigadier General Leopold Okulick, the former commander-in-chief of the Polish Home Army, died in Butyrka Prison Hospital in Moscow, Russia. 
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24 Dec 1949 WW2 Deng Xihou received an invitation via telegraph from the communists. 
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24 Dec 1951 RELIGIOUS "Amahl and the Night Visitors," a Christmas musical, had its TV debut. Written by composer Gian Carlo Menotti, it was the first musical to be broadcast over television.
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23rd December 25th December
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