1944

Years: 1941 1942 1943 - 1944 - 1945 1946 1947

Decades: 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s

Events of 1944

(Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.)

January

• January 4 - WWII: The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.
• January 5
  • WWII: Murder of Danish priest, poet and playwright Kaj Munk.
  • The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper.
• January 14 - WWII: The Soviet troops start the offensive at Leningrad and Novgorod.

• January 15 **WWII: The 27th Polish Home Army Infantry Division recreated, marking the start of Operation Tempest by the Polish Home Army.
  • An earthquake hits San Juan, Argentina killing an estimated 10,000 people in the worst natural disaster in Argentina's history.
• January 17 - WWII:
  • British forces, in Italy, cross the Garigliano River.
  • Meat Rationing ends in Australia.
  • Soviet Union ceases the production of Mosin-Nagant 1891/30 sniper rifle.
• January 20 - WWII: The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin. The U.S. Army 36th Infantry Division, in Italy, attempts to cross the Rapid River.
• January 22 - WWII: Allies begin Operation Shingle, the assault on Anzio, Italy. The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division stand their ground at Anzio against violent assaults for 4 months.
• January 27 - WWII: The two year Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
• January 29 - WWII: The Battle of Cisterna takes place.
• January 30 - WWII: United States troops invade Majuro, Marshall Islands.
• January 31 - WWII: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

February

• February 1 - WWII: United States troops land in the Marshall Islands.
• February 3 - WWII: United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.
• February 7 - WWII: In Anzio, Italian forces launch a counteroffensive.
• February 14 - WWII:
  • SHAEF headquarters established in Britain by General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
  • Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.
• February 15 - WWII: Battle of Monte Cassino - the monastery atop Monte Cassino is destroyed by Allied bombing.
• February 17 - WWII: Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ended in an American victory on February 22.
• February 20 - WWII:
  • "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
  • The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
• February 23 - WWII: The Chechens and Ingush are forcibly deported to Central Asia.
• February 29 - WWII: The Admiralty Islands are invaded by U.S. forces in the Battle of Los Negros and Operation Brewer.

March

• March - WWII: The Japanese launch an offensive in central and south China.
• March 1 - WWII:
  • USS Tarawa and USS Kearsarge laid down.
  • Anti-fascist strike in northern Italy.
• March 2 - WWII: Train stalls inside a railway tunnel outside Salerno, Italy - 521 choke to death
• March 3 - WWII: The Order of Nakhimov and the Order of Ushakov were instituted in USSR
• March 4 - In Ossining, New York, Louis Buchalter, the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing, along with Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss, and Louis Capone.
• March 6 - WWII: Soviet Army planes attack Narva in Estonia, destroying almost the entire old town.
• March 9 - WWII: Soviet Army planes attack Tallinn, Estonia.
• March 10 - WWII: In Britain the Education Act lifts the ban on women teachers marrying.
• March 12 - WWII: The Creation of the politic Committee of national liberation in Greece.
• March 15 - WWII:
  • Battle of Monte Cassino - Allied aircraft bomb German-held monastery and stage an assault.
  • The National Council of the French Resistance approves the Resistance programme.
• March 19 - WWII: German forces occupy Hungary.
• March 18 - The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy kills 26 and causes thousands to flee their homes.
• March 20 - WWII: RAF Flight Sergeant Nicholas Alkemade's bomber is hit over Germany and he has to bail out without a parachute from the height of over 4000 meters. Tree branches interrupt his fall and he lands safely on deep snow
• March 23 - WWII: Italian partisans attack Germans marching in via Rasella (Massaker an der Via Rasella).

April

• April 28 - WWII: 749 American troops are killed in Exercise Tiger at Start Bay, Devon, England.

May

• May 5 - WWII: Mohandas Gandhi released in India.
• May 9 - WWII: In the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol, Soviet troops had completely driven out the German forces. The besieged German troops had been ordered by Hitler to “fight to the last Man.”
• May 12 - WWII: Soviet troops finalize the liberation of Crimea.
• May 18 - WWII:
  • Battle of Monte Cassino - Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.
  • Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.
• May 30 - Princess Charlotte Louise Juliette Louvet Grimaldi of Monaco, heir to the throne resigns from her rights in favor of her son Prince Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi, later reigning Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

June

• June 1 - WWII: The BBC transmits a coded message (the first line of a poem by Paul Verlaine) to underground resistance fighters in France warning that the invasion of Europe is imminent.
• June 2 - WWII: The provisional French government is established.
• June 4 - WWII:
  • A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German submarine U-505, marking the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
  • Rome falls to the Allies. It is the first capital of an Axis nation to fall.
• June 5 - WWII:
  • More than 1000 British bombers drop 5000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.
  • At 10:15 p.m. local time, the BBC transmits the second line of the Paul Verlaine poem to the underground resistance indicating that the invasion of Europe is about to begin.
  • The German navy's Enigma messages are decoded almost in real time.
• June 6 - WWII: Battle of Normandy begins - Operation Overlord, code named D-Day, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France.
• June 7 - WWII: Bayeux liberated by British troops.
• June 9 - WWII: Stalin launches an offensive against Finland with the intent of defeating Finland before pushing for Berlin.
• June 13 - WWII: Germany launches a V1 Flying Bomb attack on England.
• June 15 - WWII:
  • Battle of Saipan: The United States invades Saipan.
  • American forces push back Germans in St. Lo, capturing the city.
• June 17
  • WWII: The proclamation of the Republic of Iceland.
  • Iceland declares full independence from Denmark.
• June 22 - WWII:
  • Operation Bagration: General attack by Soviet forces to clear the German forces from Belarus which resulted in the destruction of the German Army Group Centre, possibly the greatest defeat of the Wehrmacht during WWII.
  • Burma Campaign: The Battle of Kohima ends in a British victory.
• June 25 - WWII: The Battle of Tali-Ihantala between Finnish and Soviet troops begins. Largest battle ever to be fought in the Nordic countries.
• June 26 - WWII: American troops enter Cherbourg.

July

• July 1 - Start of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
• July 3 - WWII:
  • Soviet troops liberate Minsk.
  • Battle of Imphal: Japanese forces call off their advance, ending the battle in a British victory.
• July 6 - Hartford Circus Fire: More than 100 children died in one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the United States.
• July 9 - WWII: British and Canadian forces capture Caen.
• July 10 - WWII: Soviet troops start the operations for occupying the Baltic countries.
• July 13 - WWII: Liberation of Vilnius.
• July 16 - WWII: Arrival of the first contingent of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in Italy.
• July 17 - WWII:
  • The largest convoy of the war embarks from Halifax, Nova Scotia under Royal Canadian Navy protection.
  • SS E.A.Bryan, loaded with ammunition, explodes in the Port Chicago naval base - 320 dead.
• July 18 - WWII: Hideki Tojo resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.
• July 20 - WWII: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt. See Claus von Stauffenberg
• July 21 - WWII:
  • Battle of Guam - American troops land on Guam starting the battle (ends on August 10).
  • The creation of the Polish Committee for national liberation.
• July 22 - End of Bretton Woods conference and signing of Agreements.
• July 25 - WWII: Operation Spring - One of the bloodiest days for Canadians during the war: 18,444 casualties, including 5,021 killed.

August

• August 1 - WWII: Warsaw Uprising begins.
• August 2 - WWII:
  • Turkey ends diplomatic and economic relations with Germany.
  • the First Assembly of ASNOM was held in the Prohor Pchinski monastery
• August 7 - IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).
• August 9 - The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey the Bear for the first time.
• August 12 - WWII:
  • Allies capture Florence, Italy.
  • World's first undersea oil pipeline laid, between England and France in Operation Pluto
• August 15 - WWII: Operation Dragoon lands Allies in southern France. U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division participates in its fourth assault landing at St. Maxime, spearheading the drive for the Belfort Gap.
• August 19 - WWII: Start of Victorious insurrection in Paris.
• August 20 - WWII: American forces successfully defeat German forces at Chambois. This victory closed the Falaise Gap.
• August 23 - WWII: Ion Antonescu, prime minister of Romania, is arrested and a new government is established. Romania exits the war against Soviet Union joining the Allies.
• August 24 - WWII: Allies liberate Paris, therefore ending The Battle of Normandy.
• August 25 - WWII: Hungary decides to continue the war together with Germany.
• August 29 - WWII: Slovak National Uprising against Axis powers begins.
• August 31 - The Mad Gasser of Mattoon resumes his mysterious attacks in Mattoon, Illinois.

September

• September 1 - WWII: In Bulgaria, the Bagrianov government resigns.
• September 3 - WWII: Allies liberate Brussels.
• September 4 - WWII:
  • The British 11th Armored Division liberates the city of Antwerp in Belgium.
  • Finland breaks off relations with Germany.
• September 5 - WWII: The Soviets declare war on Bulgaria.
• September 7 - WWII: The Belgian government returns from exile in Britain.
• September 8 - WWII:
  • London is hit by a V2 rocket for the first time.
  • The French town of Menton is liberated from Germany.
• September 9 - WWII: Insurrection in Sofia.
• September 11 - WWII: Northern and Southern France invasion forces link up near Dijon.
• September 17 - WWII: Operation Market Garden begins.
• September 19 - WWII: Armistice between Finland and Soviet Union signed. (End of the Continuation War)
• September 20 - WWII: Jüri Uluots, prime minister in capacity of president of Estonia, escapes to Sweden. Two days later, Tallinn is taken over by the Red Army.
• September 24 - WWII: The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division takes the strongly defended city of Epinal before crossing the Moselle River and entering the western foothills of the Vosges.
• September 26 - WWII: Operation Market Garden ends in an Allied withdrawal.
  • On middle front of Gothic Line Brazilians troops controlled the Serchio valley region after ten days of fighting.

October

• October 5 - WWII: Royal Canadian Air Force pilots shoot down the first German jet fighter over France.
• October 6 - WWII: Battle of Debrecen starts on the Eastern Front (lasts until October 29).
• October 9 - WWII: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin begin a nine-day conference in Moscow to discuss the future of Europe.
• October 12 - WWII:
  • Germany carried out the Reugen nuclear test.
  • The Allies land at Athens.
• October 13 - WWII: Riga, the capital of Latvia is taken over by the Red Army.
• October 14 - WWII: German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.
• October 18 - WWII: Volkssturm founded on Hitler's orders.
• October 20 - WWII:
  • Belgrade is liberated by Yugoslav Partisans and the Red Army.
  • LNG explosion destroys a square mile (2.6 km²) of Cleveland, Ohio.
  • Landed by the American forces in Red Beach in Palo, Leyte, since general Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines with the Philippine Commonwealth president Sergio Osmeña with the Philippine generals of the Armed Forces of the Philippines are general Basilio Valdes and general Carlos P. Romulo.
  • The United States and Filipino troops with the Filipino guerillas started in the Battle of Leyte.
  • Gorla Massacre
• October 21 - WWII: Aachen,the first German city to fall, is captured by the Americans.
• October 23 - WWII: Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines begins (lasts until October 26).
• October 25
  • Florence Foster Jenkins recital in the Carnegie Hall
  • WWII: Red Army liberates Kirkenes, the first town in Norway to be liberated from German occupation.

November

• November 7
  • U.S. presidential election, 1944: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey to become the only U.S. president to be elected to a fourth term.
  • Passenger train derails in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico due to excessive speed in a declining hill. 16 killed; 50 injured.
• November 22 - William Lyon Mackenzie King introduces conscription in Canada (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
• November 24 - The entire territory of Estonia is taken over by the Red Army.

December

• December 30 - WWII: Edward Stettinius Jr. becomes the last United States Secretary of State of the Roosevelt administration, by filling the seat left by Cordell Hull.
• December 3 - WWII: Civil war breaks out in a newly-liberated Greece, between Communists and royalists.
• December 12 and 13 - WWII: British units attempt to take the hilltop town of Tossignano; they are repulsed.
• December 14 - Soviet government change Turkish names of place to Russian in Crimean
• December 15 - A private airplane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller disappears in heavy fog over the English Channel while flying to Paris.
• December 16 - WWII:
  • Germany begins the Ardennes offensive, later to become known as Battle of the Bulge.
  • General George C. Marshall becomes the first Five-Star General.
• December 22 - WWII: Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe, commander of the U.S. forces defending Bastogne, refuses to accept demands for surrender by sending a one-word reply, "Nuts!", to the German command.
• December 24 - WWII: The Bulge reaches its deepest point at Celles.
• December 26 - WWII: American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne.
• December 30 - WWII: King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving his throne vacant.
• December 31 - WWII: Hungary declares war on Germany.
• December 31 - WWII: over hundreds of thousands of the Japanese Imperial forces killed in action, after the battles from the Filipino and American military forces are victory after the Battle of Leyte.

Births

• May 28 - Rudy Giuliani, American politician
• August 25 - Conrad Black, former newspaper magnate

Deaths

• May 4 - Elmer J. Garner, publisher and defendant at the Great Sedition Trial of 1944 (b. 1864)
• October 14 - Erwin Rommel, German field marshall (b. 1891)
• November 30 - Eoin O'Duffy, founder of the Blue Shirts in Ireland (b. 1892)