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1944#Births

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2019}}

{{Events by month|1944}}

{{Year dab|1944}}

{{Year nav|1944}}

{{C20 year in topic}}

{{Year article header|1944}}

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Events

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

=January=

{{Main article|January 1944}}

File:Landing at Anzio.jpg during Operation Shingle, late January 1944.]]

=February=

{{Main article|February 1944}}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2005-0004, Italien, Monte Cassino.jpg in ruins after being destroyed by Allied bombing, February 1944.]]

=March=

{{Main article|March 1944}}

File:Mt Vesuvius Erupting 1944.jpg.]]

=April=

{{Main article|April 1944}}

  • April 1 – The Swiss city of Schaffhausen is accidentally bombed by the United States causing serious damage to the city and killing or wounding more than 100 people.{{cite book |title=Air University Review |date=1976 |publisher=Department of the Air Force |page=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=py6oImEZoDMC&pg=RA3-PA20 |language=en}}
  • April 2 – WWII: Ascq massacre: Members of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend shoot 85 civilians suspected of blowing up their train on its approach to the Gare d'Ascq in France.
  • April 4 WWII:
  • Allied bombardment of Bucharest, Romania begins. The United States Air Force and British Royal Air Force, with approximately 3,640 bombers of different types, accompanied by about 1,830 fighters bomb Romania for the following 4½ months. As collateral damage, 5,524 inhabitants are killed, 3,373 injured, and 47,974 left homeless.
  • An Allied photoreconnaissance aircraft of 60 Squadron SAAF photographs part of Auschwitz concentration camp.
  • April 10
  • The Holocaust: Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escape from Auschwitz concentration camp; on April 25–27 they prepare the Vrba–Wetzler report, one of the earliest and most detailed descriptions of the extermination of Jews in the camp.
  • WWII: As part of the Odessa Offensive, the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front liberated the city of Odessa in Southern Ukraine.{{cite web |url=http://books.stonebooks.com/wardiary/19440410/ |title=War Diary for Monday, 10 April 1944 |website=Stone & Stone Second World War Books |access-date=April 15, 2023}}
  • April 14
  • Bombay Explosion: Freighter SS Fort Stikine, carrying a mixed cargo of ammunition, cotton bales and gold, explodes in harbour at Bombay (India), sinking surrounding ships and killing around 800 people.
  • WWII: As part of the Japanese-supported Axis forces led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, fighting for India's liberation from British rule, Col. Shaukat Ali Malik of the Bahadur Group of the Indian National Army enters Moirang in modern-day Manipur in northeastern India and raises the flag of the Azri Hukumat e-Azad Hind for the first time on Indian soil. This is considered to be one of the first times in British Indian history where an army of liberation raises the national flag on Indian mainland.{{Cite web|url=https://bishnupur.nic.in/tourist-place/ina-memorial-moirang/|title=INA Memorial Moirang | Bishnupur District, Government of Manipur | India|accessdate=April 15, 2023}}
  • April 15 – Italian fascist philosopher Giovanni Gentile is assassinated in Florence by Bruno Fanciullacci, a member of the partisan Gruppi di Azione Patriottica.
  • April 16 – WWII: Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people. This bombing falls on the Orthodox Christian Easter.
  • April 19 – WWII:
  • The Japanese launch the Operation Ichi-Go offensive in central and south China.
  • Semaine rouge: American and British planes bomb the city of Rouen.
  • April 20
  • Members of the Slovene Home Guard swear an oath to Hitler on his birthday at Bežigrad Stadium.
  • April 22 – WWII: Battle of Hollandia: American forces disembark at Tanahmerah Bay and at Yos Sudarso Bay, near Hollandia. The landings are undertaken simultaneously with the amphibious invasion of Aitape ("Operation Persecution") to the east.Morison, S.E. (1960). New Guinea and the Marianas: March 1944 – August 1944, p. 84. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Volume VIII. Boston: Little, Brown. {{OCLC|174795561}}.
  • April 25
  • The Holocaust: SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann opens "blood for goods" negotiations with Joel Brand, to offer the release of thousands of Jews from eastern Europe to the Hungarian Aid and Rescue Committee, in exchange for supplies for the German Eastern Front.
  • The United Negro College Fund is incorporated in the United States.
  • April 26 – WWII:
  • German General Kreipe is kidnapped on Crete, Greece.
  • American submarine {{USS|Jack|SS-259|6}} torpedoes Japanese cargo carrier {{SS|Yoshida Maru No. 1||2}}; 2,649 drown.{{cite web|url=http://www.jsu.or.jp/siryo/sunk/pdf/take.pdf|title=Convoy Take Ichi|publisher=All Japan Seamen's Union|access-date=2011-11-17}}
  • April 28 – WWII: Allied convoy T4, forming part of amphibious Exercise Tiger (a full-scale rehearsal for the Normandy landings) in Start Bay, off the Devon coast of England, is attacked by E-boats, resulting in the deaths of 749 American servicemen from LSTs.{{cite book|last1=Small|first1=Ken|first2=Mark|last2=Rogerson|title=The Forgotten Dead – Why 946 American Servicemen Died off the Coast of Devon in 1944 – and the Man who Discovered their True Story|location=London|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=1988|isbn=978-0-7475-0309-5}}

=May=

{{Main article|May 1944}}

File:CommonwealthPrimeMinisters1944.jpg, May 1, 1944.]]

=June=

{{Main article|June 1944}}

File:NormandySupply edit.jpg.]]

File:LVTs move toward Saipan, past bombarding cruisers, on 15 June 1944 (80-G-231838).jpg heading for shore on June 15, 1944, during the Battle of Saipan.]]

=July=

{{Main article|July 1944}}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-025-12, Zerstörte Lagerbaracke nach dem 20. Juli 1944.jpg to kill Hitler.]]

File:19440816 soviet soldiers attack jelgava.jpg, summer 1944.]]

File:Medics helping injured soldier in France, 1944 - NARA - 535973.tif

=August=

{{Main article|August 1944}}

{{multiple image

| direction = vertical

| width = 250

| header=

| image1 = Polish Boy Scouts fighting in the Warsaw Uprising.jpg

| caption1 = Szare Szeregi Scouts also fought in the Warsaw Uprising.

| image2 = Jewish prisones of KZGesiowka liberated by Polish Soldiers of Home Army Warsaw1944.jpg

| caption2 = Jewish prisoners of Gęsiówka liberated by Polish soldiers from Batalion Zośka, August 5, 1944.

| image3 = Crowds of French patriots line the Champs Elysees-edit2.jpg

| caption3 = Crowds of French people line the Champs Élysées following the Liberation of Paris, August 26, 1944.}}

  • August 1
  • WWII: The Warsaw Uprising begins.
  • WWII: Soviet forces liberated Kaunas.
  • August 2 – WWII:
  • Turkey ends diplomatic and economic relations with Germany.
  • The First Assembly of ASNOM (the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the People's Liberation of Macedonia) is held in the Prohor Pčinjski monastery.
  • August 3 – The Education Act in the United Kingdom, promoted by Rab Butler, creates a Tripartite system of education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E_qyia33-PwC&q=The%20Education%20Act%20in%20the%20United%20Kingdom%2C%20promoted%20by%20Rab%20Butler%2C%20creates%20a%20Tripartite%20system%20of%20education%20in%20England%2C%20Wales%20and%20Northern%20Ireland&pg=PA221|title=Ulster Since 1600: Politics, Economy, and Society|last=Kennedy|first=Liam|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=9780199583119|pages=221}}
  • August 4 – WWII:
  • The Holocaust: A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse, where they find Jewish diarist Anne Frank, her family, and others in hiding. All will die in captivity, except for Otto Frank, Anne's father.{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/01/opinion/prose-anne-frank-final-diary-entry|title=Anne Frank's final entry|first=Francine|last=Prose|author-link=Francine Prose|date=2014-08-01|publisher=CNN|quote=On Friday, August 4, 1944... a car pulled up in front of a spice warehouse at 263 Prinsengracht in Amsterdam. Inside the car were an Austrian Gestapo officer and his Dutch subordinates, who, acting on a tip-off (whose source has never been identified), had come to arrest the eight Jews who had been hiding for two years in an attic above the warehouse. The eight prisoners were taken to a deportation camp, from where they were sent to Auschwitz. Only one of them, Otto Frank, would survive.|access-date=2014-08-01}}
  • The Finnish Parliament, by derogation, elects Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim as President of Finland to replace Risto Ryti, who has resigned.{{cite web|url=https://www.apu.fi/artikkelit/suomen-presidentit-sarja-mannerheim-oli-vaaran-ajan-paamies|title=Suomen presidentit -sarja: Mannerheim oli väärän ajan päämies|work=Artikkelit|date=December 6, 2017|publisher=Apu–lehti|access-date=August 3, 2021|language=fi}}
  • August 5 – WWII:
  • The Warsaw Uprising:
  • The Wola massacre begins. Between now and August 12, 40,000 to 50,000 Polish civilians will be indiscriminately massacred by occupying SS troops.
  • The Holocaust: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
  • Cowra breakout: Over 500 Japanese prisoners of war attempt a mass breakout from the Cowra camp in Australia. In the ensuing manhunt, 231 Japanese escapees and four Australian soldiers are killed.
  • 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 the first posters featuring Smokey Bear.
  • August 12 – WWII:
  • The Allies capture Florence, Italy.
  • Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre: The Waffen-SS and Black Brigades paramilitaries murder about 560 civilians and refugees (including more than 100 children) in the Italian village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema, burn their bodies, and leave their houses semi-derelict.{{cite book|first1=Claudia|last1=Buratti|first2=Giovanni|last2=Cipollini|title=Vite bruciate: La strage di Sant'Anna di Stazzema 1944–2005|location=Rome|year=2006}}
  • In the Kara Sea, a German submarine U-365 torpedoes the passenger-cargo ship Marina Raskova. 618 people died.
  • Operation Pluto: The world's first undersea oil pipeline is laid between England and France.
  • August 15 – WWII: Operation Dragoon lands Allies in southern France. The U.S. 45th Infantry Division participates in its fourth assault landing at Sainte-Maxime, spearheading the drive for the Belfort Gap.
  • August 18 – WWII: American submarine {{USS|Rasher|SS-269|6}} sinks Teia Maru, Eishin Maru, Teiyu Maru, and aircraft carrier {{Ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Taiyō||2}} from Japanese convoy HI71, in one of the most effective American "wolfpack" attacks of the war.{{cite book|last=Cressman|first=Robert J.|title=The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in WWII|url=https://archive.org/details/TheOfficialChronologyOfTheUSNavyInWorldWarII/page/248|publisher=Naval Institute Press|year=2000|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=978-1-55750-149-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/TheOfficialChronologyOfTheUSNavyInWorldWarII/page/248 248]}}
  • August 19 – WWII:
  • American submarine {{USS|Spadefish|SS-411|6}} torpedoes Japanese landing craft depot ship {{ship||Tamatsu Maru}}; more than 4,400 Japanese servicemen drown.{{cite web|url=http://www.jsu.or.jp/siryo/sunk/pdf/hi71.pdf|title=Convoy Hi-71 (ヒ71船団)|publisher=All Japan Seamen's Union|access-date=2011-11-17}}
  • Liberation of Paris starts with resistance forces staging an insurrection against the German occupiers.
  • August 20 – WWII:
  • American forces successfully defeat Nazi forces at Chambois, closing the Falaise Pocket.
  • 168 captured Allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused of being "terror fliers" by the Gestapo, arrive at Buchenwald concentration camp, where they form the KLB Club.
  • August 21
  • The Dumbarton Oaks Conference (Washington Conversations on International Peace and Security Organization) opens in Washington, D.C.: U.S., British, Chinese, French and Soviet representatives meet to plan the foundation of the United Nations.
  • WWII: Operation Tractable concludes, when Canadian troops relieve the Polish and link with the Americans, capturing remaining German forces in the Falaise Pocket, and securing the strategically important French town of Falaise, in the final offensive of the Battle of Normandy.
  • August 22 – WWII:
  • {{ship||Tsushima Maru}}, an unmarked Japanese passenger/cargo ship, is sunk by torpedoes launched by the submarine {{USS|Bowfin|SS-287|6}} off Akuseki-jima, killing 1,484 civilians, including 767 schoolchildren.
  • Holocaust of Kedros: German Wehrmacht infantry begin an intimidatory razing operation, killing 164, against the civilian residents of nine villages in the Amari Valley on the occupied Greek island of Crete.
  • August 23 – WWII:
  • King Michael's Coup: Ion Antonescu, Conducator of Romania, and Mihai Antonescu, Foreign Minister of Romania, are arrested and a new military government established. Romania leaves the war against the Soviet Union, joining the Allies. General Constantin Sanatescu is the "armed force" of the coup d'état and will be appointed by King Michael of Romania as prime minister of Romania on September 1.
  • Padule di Fucecchio massacre: At least 174 Italian civilians are killed by members of the 23rd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) as a reprisal for the wounding of two soldiers.
  • August 24 – WWII:
  • Liberation of Paris: Forces of Free France are the first of the Allies to enter Paris.
  • As part of the Second Jassy–Kishinev offensive, the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front liberated the city of Chișinău.
  • At Buchères in France, men of the 51st SS-Brigade massacre 68 civilians (half of them women) aged from 6 months to above seventy years.{{cite book|last=Bruge|first=Roger|year=1994|title=1944 – Le temps des Massacres: Les crimes de la Gestapo et de la 51e Brigade SS|publisher=Albin Michel|isbn=2-226-06966-6}}
  • Japanese vessels attack and sink the submarine {{USS|Harder|SS-257|6}} off Luzon.
  • August 25 – WWII:
  • German surrender of Paris:The Allies enter Paris in force and General Dietrich von Choltitz surrenders the city to them, in defiance of Hitler's orders to destroy it. This successfully completes Operation Overlord.
  • Maillé massacre: 129 civilians (70% women and children) are massacred by the Gestapo at Maillé, Indre-et-Loire.
  • Hungary decides to continue the war together with Germany.
  • The Red Ball Express convoy system begins operation, supplying tons of materiel to Allied forces in France.
  • August 29 – WWII: The Slovak National Uprising against the Axis powers begins.
  • August 31 –
  • WWII: The Romanian capital Bucharest is captured by the Red Army.
  • The Mad Gasser of Mattoon apparently resumes his mysterious attacks in Mattoon, Illinois for two weeks.

=September=

{{Main article|September 1944}}

File:Waves of paratroops land in Holland.jpg in September 1944.]]

=October=

{{Main article|October 1944}}

File:Henry Larsen on St Roch.jpg becomes the first person successfully to navigate the Northwest Passage in both directions, July–October 1944.]]

File:7th Cavalry Leyte Island 20 10 1944.jpeg

File:USS Princeton (CVL-23) 1944 10 24 1.jpg {{USS|Princeton|CVL-23|6}} afire, east of Luzon, October 24, 1944.]]

File:Volkssturm armband.svg founded in October 1944.]]

File:Douglas MacArthur lands Leyte1.jpg begins – General MacArthur returns to the Philippines, October 20, 1944.]]

File:USS Princeton (CVL-23) burning on 24 October 1944 (80-G-287970).jpg between United States and Japan, October 23, 1944.]]

=November=

{{Main article|November 1944}}

=December=

{{Main article|December 1944}}

File:Bodies of U.S. officers and soldiers slain by the Nazis after capture near Malmedy, Belgium. - NARA - 196544.jpg]]

=Date unknown=

Births

{{BDToC|births}}

=January=

File:Omar al-Bashir, 12th AU Summit, 090202-N-0506A-137.jpg]]

File:Jimmy Page at the Echo music award 2013.jpg]]

File:Carlos Villagr% 3Fn Eslava.jpg]]

File:Keating Paul BANNER.jpg]]

File:Angela Davis (15852241216) (cropped).jpg]]

=February=

File:Stockard Channing 1984 crop.JPG]]

File:Djokhar Doudaïev (cropped).jpg]]

File:Jerry Springer Musto Party 2011 Shankbone 10.JPG]]

=March=

File:Roger Daltrey - May 2016.jpg]]

File:Uschi Glas (Berlinale 2012) (cropped).jpg]]

File:RLeeErmeyCrop.jpeg]]

File:DRossLongleat010722 (9 of 43) (52189231585) (cropped).jpg]]

File:Nana Akufo Addo, Jan. 2020.jpg]]

=April=

File:Craig T. Nelson at PaleyFest 2013.jpg]]

File:Makoto Kobayashi-press conference Dec 07th, 2008-2b.jpg]]

File:Gerhard Schröder profile 2014.jpg]]

File:HE Thein Sein, President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (9292476975) (cropped).jpg]]

File:Princess Benedikte of Denmark -2.jpg]]

=May=

File:(John Rhys-Davies) 2018-02-11 15-35-40 ILCE-6500 DSC07150 (31235662177) (cropped).jpg]]

File:George Lucas cropped 2009.jpg]]

File:Danny Trejo by Gage Skidmore.jpg]]

File:Mary Robinson (2014).jpg]]

File:Patti Labelle.jpg]]

File:Rudy Giuliani (49279859833) (cropped).jpg]]

File:Gladys Knight 1997.jpg]]

File:Locke HS Yearbook.jpg]]

=June=

File:Michelle Phillips 1966 press book headshot Dunhill.jpg]]

File:Tommie Smith-modified (cropped).jpg]]

File:Ban Ki-moon February 2016.jpg]]

File:Cadena 12 (34186610605) cropped.jpg]]

File:Kinks.jpg]]

File:CUN2008 Oscar party Gary Busey.jpg]]

=July=

File:Italian part - Citizens’ Corner debate- Brexit – Europe’s Big Bang theory. Where did it start? (26772636523).jpg]]

File:Jeffrey Tambor June 2015.jpg]]

File:David Hemery 1968.jpg]]

File:Geraldine Chaplin en Seminci 2016.jpg]]

File:Robert Merton November 2010 03(1).jpg]]

=August=

File:Director Robert S. Mueller- III.jpg]]

File:TIFF 2018 Samuel Elliott (44592132581) (cropped).jpg]]

File:Ian McDiarmid Brussels Comic Con 2020.jpg]]

File:Rajiv Gandhi (1987).jpg]]

=September=

File:Peter Cetera - 2017356211027 2017-12-22 Night of the Proms - Sven - 1D X MK II - 0562 - B70I8057.jpg]]

File:Yoweri Museveni 2015 2.jpg]]

File:Michael Douglas César 2016 3.jpg]]

=October=

File:Arnhim Eustace.jpg]]

File:Donald Tsang WEF.jpg]]

File:Dale Dye.jpg]]

File:BushDoctor1978.jpg]]

File:Elizabeth Loftus-TAM 9-July 2011.JPG]]

File:KovacsKatiKossuth-díj.jpg]]

=November=

File:Askar Akaev MoscowRia 08-2016.jpg]]

File:Danny DeVito cropped and edited for brightness.jpg]]

File:Lorne Michaels 2021 Kennedy Center Honors (cropped).jpg]]

File:Ben Stein 2011.jpg]]

=December=

File:John Densmore 1971.png]]

File:Dennis Wilson 1971 cropped.jpg]]

File:Flickr - Saeima - 10.Saeimas deputāts Andris Bērziņš (ievēlēts no Vidzemes apgabala).jpg]]

File:FraGiacomoDallaTorre (cropped).jpg]]

File:Brenda Lee.png]]

File:Bernard Hill2_(cropped).jpg]]

File:Tim Reid at USDA Black History Month celebration.jpg]]

File:Jairzinho 1970s.jpg]]

= Date unknown =

Deaths

{{BD ToC|deaths}}

=January=

File:Kaj Munk.jpg]]

File:Andrey Toshev.png]]

File:Musinga.jpg]]

File:Portrett av Edvard Munch (cropped).jpg]]

File:Mère Teresa Michel.png]]

=February=

File:Piet Mondriaan.jpg]]

File:Margaret Woodrow Wilson 1912.jpg]]

File:Pehr Evind Svinhufvud (cropped).jpg]]

=March=

File:PaulEmileJanson.jpg]]

File:Otto von Below LOC.jpg]]

=April=

File:Retrato do Dr. Bernardino Machado.jpg]]

=May=

File:Leon Kozłowski.PNG]]

File:Edel Quinn.png]]

File:Патриарх Сергий.jpg]]

File:Thomas Curtis.jpg]]

=June=

File:Berinkey Dénes.jpg]]

=July=

File:Carl-mayer.jpg]]

File:LC-DIG-ggbain-37582.jpg]]

File:Сестра Тарсикія Мацьків.jpg]]

File:Reza shah uniform.jpg]]

=August=

File:J%C4%99drzej Moraczewski.jpg]]

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2008-0184, Berlin, Berthold Schenk Graf v. Stauffenberg.jpg]]

File:Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Navy.JPG]]

File:Teresa Bracco.jpg]]

=September=

File:Robert Benoist Monza 1927 (cropped).jpg]]

File:Joseph Mueller (Priester).jpg]]

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J0113-0500-001, Gustav Bauer(cropped).jpg]]

File:Hendrik Colijn (1925).jpg]]

File:David Dougal Williams (artist).jpg]]

=October=

File:Stefanina Moro.jpg]]

File:Ramoncastillo.jpg]]

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1977-018-13A, Erwin Rommel(brighter).jpg]]

File:Jose de la Riva Aguero y Osma.jpg]]

=November=

File:Andrzej Szeptycki (a).jpg]]

File:Carl Lampert (1918).jpg]]

File:(Joseph Caillaux) - (photographie de presse) - (Agence Rol).jpg]]

File:Florence Foster Jenkins.jpg]]

American mathematician]

=December=

File:Prince_Andrew_of_Greece.JPG]]

File:Vassily-Kandinsky.jpeg]]

File:Lupe Vélez in 1941.jpg]]

File:Sara Salkahazi.jpg]]

Nobel Prizes

References

{{Reflist|32em}}

{{Events by month links}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1944}}

Category:Leap years in the Gregorian calendar