4 Feb 1881
Ukraine
Ukraine
- Kliment Voroshilov was born in the settlement of Verkhnye in the Bakhmut district of Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire (now part of Lysychansk, Ukraine); his birth date was recorded as 23 Jan 1881 in the Russian Old Style.
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4 Feb 1906
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born.
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4 Feb 1920
- Pierre van Ryneveld and Quintin Brand departed England on a flight to South Africa.
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4 Feb 1924
- Iwane Matsui was named the commanding officer of the 35th Infantry Brigade.
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- Major General Kinzo Watanabe was named the chief of staff of the Taiwan Army.
4 Feb 1925
- Memphis was commissioned into service.
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4 Feb 1930
Photo(s) dated 4 Feb 1930
Photo(s) dated 4 Feb 1930
4 Feb 1933
- A German emergency decree outlawed gathering of people against the national government and outlawed publication of any writing against the national government.
4 Feb 1937
Photo(s) dated 4 Feb 1937
Photo(s) dated 4 Feb 1937
4 Feb 1938
- Adolf Hitler took direct control of the German military.
» In-depth article - The German cabinet met for the last time.
- Walther von Brauchitsch was promoted to the rank of Generaloberst.
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- Franz von Papen received a call at his office in Vienna, Austria from Hans Lammers in Berlin, Germany, noting that Papen was to be relieved of his duties in Austria. Within days, however, Papen would return to duty as Adolf Hitler noticed an opportunity to take Austria.
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- Japanese troops inspected the buildings of Ginling College, a school for women, in Nanjing, China, and took at least 20 women for their comfort houses.
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4 Feb 1939
- U-52 was commissioned into service.
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4 Feb 1940
- Members of the Balkan Entente (Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey) declared neutrality.
» In-depth article - Japanese 26th Division captured Linhe, Suiyuan Province, China.
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4 Feb 1941
- The United Service Organizations, USO, was established to maintain the morale of American military personnel.
- The Italians began evacuating Benghazi, Libya. At dawn, British 7th Armoured Division departed from Mechili, Libya to move across the desert toward Jebel El Akhdar 150 miles away in an attempt to cut off the Italian retreat.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-93, having damaged British ship Dione II on the previous day with gunfire northwest of Ireland, sank the ship at 0440 hours with the deck gun and the anti-aircraft gun; 28 were killed, 5 survived.
- German submarine U-52 sank Norwegian ship Ringhorn 500 miles west of Ireland at 0838 hours; 14 were killed, 5 survived.
- German submarine U-123 sank British ship Empire Engineer 1,000 miles west of Ireland at 1644 hours; the entire crew of 39 was lost, some during the sinking while others, aboard rafts, were never found.
- British bombers attacked Düsseldorf, Germany.
» In-depth article - German pocket battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau broke out into the Atlantic Ocean via the Denmark Strait undetected by the British Royal Navy.
» In-depth article - Erich Raeder thought that the US entry into the war might be advantageous for the Germans as it would force Japan into belligerency.
» In-depth article
- The American newspaper Chicago Tribune featured an article on the US government's secret plan for war, including details such as a 10,000,000-strong military, half of which were to be destined for the to-be-established American Expeditionary Force for fighting in Europe.
4 Feb 1942
- British forces seized the Egyptian royal palace in Cairo to force the abdication of the 22-year old King Farouk who was sympathetic to the Axis Powers.
- Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Kwajalein to tend to personnel wounded on an American strike on 1 Feb; departed later on the same day.
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» Tabular Record of Movement - Believing that reinforcements were on their way, the British Authorities in Singapore turned down a Japanese demand for the unconditional surrender.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-103 sank US tanker India Arrow 50 kilometers east of Delaware, United States, killing 26 of 38 aboard.
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- Japanese troops under Lieutenant Tadaichi Noda executed 130 Australian prisoners of war by bayoneting and machine gunning at the Tol Plantation on the southern coast of Gazelle Peninsula in New Britain; there were only 6 survivors; Noda ordered a message to be posted on the door of Tol noting that Australian Lieutenant Colonel J. J. Scanlan was responsible for these deaths for not having surrendered his command to the Japanese.
» In-depth article
- 9 Japanese flying boats from Rabaul, New Britain attacked Port Moresby, British Territory of Papua, destroying one house and two commercial buildings.
- The American-Dutch fleet which departed Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies on the previous day was detected by the Japanese aircraft at 0949 hours in the Bali Sea. The Japanese aircraft, originally flying to bomb Surabaya, attacked the fleet instead, hitting US cruiser USS Marblehead with 2 bombs (killing 15), US cruiser USS Houston with 1 bomb (killing 48), and Dutch destroyer HNLMS De Ruyter (7 killed); 4 Japanese aircraft were lost during the attack. The Allied fleet abandoned its original plans to intercept a Japanese invasion convoy due to the damage suffered.
» In-depth article - US submarine USS Sculpin attacked Japanese destroyer Sukukaze at mouth of Staring Bay near Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies, causing damaging to the destroyer and killing 9 of her crew.
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- Tatsuta Maru arrived at Pusan, Korea.
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» Tabular Record of Movement
- US submarine Seadragon evacuated 21 military personnel, 23 torpedoes, spare submarine parts, and radio equipment from Corregidor, Philippine Islands.
» In-depth article - US tanks once again attacked the Japanese beachheads at Quinauan Point, Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands, nearly successfully in wiping out several positions.
» In-depth article
4 Feb 1943
- Soviet naval infantry thwarted a German attempt to land at Malaya Zemlya. Nearby, later on the same day, Soviet troops landed near Novorossiysk, southern Russia.
» In-depth article - A transport of 890 Jews from Westerbork Concentration Camp in the Netherlands arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. 48 of the 312 males and 52 of the females were registered; the remaining 790 were sent to the gas chambers.
» In-depth article - Rear Admiral Shintaro's destroyers extracted 3,921 Japanese soldiers from Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands successfully, but four of his destroyers were damaged by air attack from Henderson Field.
» In-depth article - British 8th Army entered Tunisia.
- In Germany, three days of national mourning began over the disaster at Stalingrad, Russia. All theatres, cinemas and night clubs were closed.
» In-depth article - USS Tunny's crew found a six feet long black and yellow striped snake aboard and disposed of it. Later on the same day, she detected a hospital ship and chose not to take any action.
» In-depth article - Destroyer Yukikaze evacuated troops from Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.
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- Winston Churchill visited Tripoli, Libya and inspected British 8th Army.
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4 Feb 1944
- German troops began operations to relieve the Korsun/Cherkassy pocket in Ukraine.
- Orde Wingate issued the guidelines for the second Chindit operation.
» In-depth article - USS Puffer departed Fremantle, Australia for her third war patrol.
» In-depth article - Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Moji, Japan.
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- USS Cero departed Milne Bay, Australian Papua for her third war patrol.
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- German troops penetrated Allied lines at the Anzio beachhead in Italy.
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4 Feb 1945
- The Yalta Conference commenced in Southern Ukraine.
» In-depth article - Belgium was reportedly free of German forces as of this date.
» In-depth article - The first of seven Ruhr dams in Germany was captured by the US First Army.
» In-depth article - 15 Lancaster bombers and 12 Halifax bombers conducted minelaying operations off Helgoland and at the mouth of River Elbe, Germany.
- The US submarine Barbel was sunk by Japanese aircraft southwest of Palawan, Philippine Islands.
» In-depth article - Second Lieutenant Danilo of 1st Brazilian Fighter Group was shot down in flames whilst attacking trains to the Southwest of Treviso, Italy. Baling out Lieutenant Danilo walked for twenty-four days, across enemy territory before joining the partisans and finally getting through the front lines to rejoin his comrades.
- USS Springer departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii.
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- USS Franklin arrived at San Francisco, California, United States.
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4 Feb 1947
- Grayson was decommissioned from service.
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4 Feb 1948
- Ceylon was granted independence with Dominion status.
4 Feb 1951
- German industrialist Alfried Krupp was released from imprisonment; US$45,000,000 worth of his fortunes previously confiscated were to be returned to him.
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4 Feb 1952
United States
United States
- USS Cero was recommissioned into service at New London, Connecticut, United States.
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4 Feb 1954
- USS Pompon completed her tour with the US Navy 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea.
» In-depth article
4 Feb 2010
Photo(s) dated 4 Feb 2010
Photo(s) dated 4 Feb 2010
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
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