Today in History: France signed terms of surrender with Germany in 1940

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on June 22:

1633 - Galileo Galilei recants his "heretical" position that the Earth orbiting the Sun was at odds with the Bible and church teaching (Vatican apologizes in Oct 1992 for how it handled the case).

1940 – France’s General Charles Huntziger signed the terms of surrender with Germany at Compiegne in World War Two, in the same railway carriage in which General Foch had received the German surrender in 1918.

1941 - operation barbarossa: Nazi Germany and its allies invade the Soviet Union during WWII, the largest military operation in history.

1969 – The American film actress and singer Judy Garland died; she is famed for her roles in “The Wizard of Oz”, “Meet Me in St Louis” and “A Star is Born”.

1974 – French composer Darius Milhaud died. He is known for the wide variety of styles in which he composed, such as the jazz themes used in his ballet “La Creation du Monde”.

1987 – The American actor, dancer and singer Fred Astaire died. He starred in many stage musicals and films, 10 of them with his dancing partner Ginger Rogers.

2001 – Turkey’s Constitutional Court banned the main opposition Islamist Virtue Party for anti-secular activity.

2001 – The Egyptian film star Soad Hosni died aged 57. Hosni made 83 films during a career that started in the early 1960s.

2001 – Fatal train crash in Calicut, India as carriages plunge off bridge.

2003 – Atal Behari Vajpayee began the first visit to China by an Indian prime minister in a decade.

2011 – Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei released on bail.

2012 – Paraguay’s President Fernando Lugo is removed from office by impeachment.

2015 – Afghanistan parliament members are evacuated during attack.

(Reuters)