1944 - What happened in 1944 ?

January 1944

Tuesday 04:

World War II: The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.

Wednesday 05:

The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper.

Thursday 20:

World War II: The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.

Saturday 29:

World War II: About 300 men, women, and children die in the Massacre in Koniuchy in Poland.

Monday 31:

World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

February 1944

Thursday 03:

United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.

Monday 07:

World War II: In Anzio, Italy Nazi forces launch a counteroffensive.

Thursday 17:

World War II: Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ended in an American victory on February 22.

Sunday 20:

World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.

Saturday 26:

Shooting begins of the Nazi propaganda film, "The Fuhrer Gives a Village to the Jews" in Theresienstadt.

March 1944

Saturday 04:

In Ossining, New York, Louis Buchalter, the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing.

Wednesday 15:

Allied aircraft bomb the Nazi-held monastery and stage an assault.

Sunday 19:

World War II: Nazi forces occupy Hungary.

April 1944

Friday 14:

Huge explosion rocks the Bombay harbour killing 300 and causing a loss of 20 million pounds at that time. See: Bombay Explosion (1944).

Friday 21:

Women in France receive the right to vote.

Saturday 22:

World War II: Operation Persecution initiated – Allied forces land in the Hollandia area of New Guinea.

Tuesday 25:

The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.

Saturday 29:

"Dancing Romeo," the last Our Gang film, premiers.

May 1944

Friday 05:

Mohandas Gandhi is freed from prison.

Thursday 11:

World War II: The Allies start a major offensive against the Axis Powers on the Gustav Line.

Wednesday 17:

Type IX U-boat: U-884 is launched.

Thursday 18:

World War II: SS troops burn down six villages in the Brkini hills in south western Slovenia.

June 1944

Monday 05:

World War II: More than 1000 British bombers drop 5000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.

Tuesday 13:

World War II: Germany launches a V1 Flying Bomb attack on England. Only four of the eleven bombs actually hit their targets.

Thursday 15:

In the Saskatchewan general election, 1944, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, is elected and forms the first socialist government of North America.

Monday 19:

The Battle of the Philippine Sea took place, where the United States Navy sank 3 Japanese aircraft carriers and shot down almost 400 aircraft in what was called The Marianas Turkey Shoot.

Thursday 22:

Opening day of the Soviet Union's Operation Bagration against Army Group Centre

July 1944

Sunday 09:

Americans take Saipan

Tuesday 11:

Franklin D. Roosevelt says he will run for a fourth term as President of the United States.

Friday 21:

American troops land on Guam starting the battle (ends on August 10).

Saturday 22:

The Polish Committee of National Liberation publishes its manifesto, starting the period of Communist rule in Poland

Tuesday 25:

One of the bloodiest days for Canadians during the war: 18,444 casualties, including 5,021 killed.

August 1944

Tuesday 01:

Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland.

Thursday 10:

World War II: American forces defeat the last Japanese troops on Guam.

Tuesday 15:

Allied forces land in southern France.

Saturday 19:

Paris rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.

Friday 25:

World War II: Paris is liberated by the Allies.

September 1944

Monday 04:

World War II: The British 11th Armoured Division liberate the Belgian city of Antwerp.

Friday 08:

World War II: Menton is liberated from Germany.

Saturday 09:

World War II: Bulgaria is occupied by Soviet Union.

Tuesday 19:

Armistice between Finland and Soviet Union signed. (End of the Continuation War)

Tuesday 26:

World War II: Operation Market Garden fails.

October 1944

Thursday 05:

Canadian Air Force pilots shoot down the first German Jet fighter over France.

Saturday 07:

Allies bombs sea dikes at Vlissingen.

Saturday 14:

World War II: Given the choice between a public treason trial and a certain death by firing squad or suicide with honor, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel chooses the latter.

Wednesday 18:

Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia

Thursday 19:

United States forces land in the Philippines.

November 1944

Wednesday 01:

The British Army land at Walcheren in the Netherlands.

Tuesday 07:

U.S. presidential election, 1944: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection over challenger Thomas E. Dewey, to become the only U.S. president to be elected to a fourth term.

Sunday 12:

World War II: The Royal Air Force launches one of the most successful precision bombing attacks of war and sinks the German battleship Tirpitz off the coast of Norway.

Friday 24:

The first bombing raid against the Japanese capital of Tokyo from the east and by land was made by 88 American aircraft.

Tuesday 28:

Albania is liberated by the Albanian partisans. German Nazi troops recede from Albania.

December 1944

Sunday 03:

Civil war breaks out in a newly-liberated Greece, between Communists and royalists.

Saturday 16:

World War II: A V-2 rocket hits the Rex Cinema in Antwerp killing 567 people.

Sunday 17:

In what became known as the Malmédy massacre, around 80 American POW are executed by Waffen-SS troops of Jochen Peiper’s Kampfgruppe.

Tuesday 26:

American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne

Saturday 30:

King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving his throne vacant