This Day in History: 0000-12-17

17 Dec 1637 – 15 Apr 1638 – Having persecuted Japanese Christians for decades, the Tokugawa Shogunate crushed the Shimabara peasant rebellion, annihilating over 37,000 peasants, mostly Christians, including women and children (1637-1638).
17 Dec – Kampfgruppe Peiper, part of the 1st SS Panzer Division under Joachim Peiper, massacred 84 American prisoners of war near Malmedy, Belgium, in the Battle of the Bulge (1944).
17 Dec – Davina Thompson survived the first heart, lung and liver transplant in history (1986).