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1944

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1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1944th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 944th year of the 2nd millennium, the 44th year of the 20th century, and the 5th year of the 1940s decade.

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

• January 2 – WWII:
  • Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in North Africa.
  • Landing at Saidor: 13,000 US and Australian troops land on Papua New Guinea, in an attempt to cut off a Japanese retreat.
• January 8 – WWII: Philippine Commonwealth troops enter the province of Ilocos Sur in northern Luzon and attack Japanese forces.
• January 11
  • President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a Second Bill of Rights for social and economic security, in his State of the Union address.
  • The Nazi German administration expands Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp into the larger standalone Konzentrationslager Plaszow bei Krakau in occupied Poland.
• January 12 – WWII: Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle begin a 2-day conference in Marrakech.
• January 14 – WWII: Soviet troops start the offensive at Leningrad and Novgorod.
• January 15
  • WWII: The 27th Polish Home Army Infantry Division is re-created, marking the start of Operation Tempest by the Polish Home Army, a resistance force.
  • 1944 San Juan earthquake: An earthquake hits San Juan, Argentina, killing an estimated 10,000 people, in the worst natural disaster in Argentina's history.
• January 17 – WWII:
  • The Battle of Monte Cassino begins in Italy. British forces cross the Garigliano River. U.S. Fifth Army troops, commanded by Lieutenant-General Mark W. Clark, arrive at the Garigliano, to begin their attack against the Gustav Line south of Rome. The French Expeditionary Corps, under command of General Alphonse Juin, moves into the mountains north of Monte Cassino.^[1]
  • The Soviet Union ceases production of the Mosin–Nagant 1891/30 sniper rifle.
• January 20 – WWII:
  • The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
  • The United States 36th Infantry Division in Italy attempts to cross the Rapido River.
• January 22 – WWII: Operation Shingle: The Allies begin the assault on Anzio, Italy. The U.S. 45th Infantry Division stand their ground at Anzio against violent assaults for four months.
• January 25 – A total solar eclipse is visible in Pacific Ocean, South America, Atlantic Ocean and Africa, the 48th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.
• January 27 – WWII:
  • The two-year Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
  • Light cruiser HMS Spartan is sunk by a Henschel Hs 293 guided missile, from a German aircraft off Anzio, western Italy, with the loss of 46 men.
• January 29 – WWII: Koniuchy massacre – A unit of Soviet partisans accompanied by Jewish partisans kills at least 38 civilians in the village of KoniuchyinNazi occupied Lithuania.
• January 30 – WWII:
  • The Battle of Cisterna opens, as United States Army Rangers attempt to break out of the Anzio beachhead.
  • United States troops invade Majuro, Marshall Islands.
• January 31 – WWII: Battle of Kwajalein: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands, in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

• The Zadran tribe rises up against the Afghan government, starting the Afghan tribal revolts of 1944–1947.^[2]
• February 2 – The first issue of Human Events is published in Washington, D.C.
• February 3 – WWII: United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.
• February 7 – WWII: At Anzio, German forces launch a counteroffensive.
• February 8 – WWII:
  • 2,765 drown when American submarine USS Snook torpedoes Japanese troop transport Lima Maru.^[3]
  • 2,670 drown when British submarine HMS Sportsman torpedoes German-captured Petrella carrying Italian prisoners of war.^[4]
• February 14 – WWII: An anti-Japanese revolt breaks out on Java.
• February 15 – WWII: Battle of Monte Cassino – The monastery atop Monte Cassino is destroyed by Allied bombing.
• February 17 – WWII: Pacific War – The Battle of Eniwetok begins when U.S. forces invade the atoll in the Marshall Islands.
• February 18 – WWII: British light cruiser HMS Penelope is torpedoed and sunk by U-410 in the Mediterranean; 417 of her crew, including the captain, go down with the ship; 206 survive.
• February 20 – WWII:
  • The "Big Week" begins, with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
  • The United States takes Eniwetok Atoll.
  • Norwegian heavy water sabotage: The Norwegian resistance sinks train ferry SFHydro which is carrying a shipment of heavy water from the Vemork plant to Germany along TinnsjåinTelemark.
• February 22 – WWII: The United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe is organized from the Eighth Air Force's strategic planning staff, subsuming strategic planning for all US Army Air Forces in Europe and Africa.
• February 23 – WWII:
  • Deportation of the Chechens and Ingush ("Operation Lentil"): Forced deportation of Chechens and Ingush people from North Caucasus to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia by the Soviet authorities begins.
  • The Battle of Eniwetok concludes when U.S. forces secure the last islands in the Eniwetok Atoll.
• February 24 – WWII: American submarine USS Rasher torpedoes Japanese transports Ryūsei Maru and Tango Maru; 7,998 drown.^[5]
• February 26
  • Kurt Gerron begins shooting the Nazi propaganda film TheresienstadtinTheresienstadt concentration camp. He and many others who are featured in it are transferred to Auschwitz and gassed upon the film's completion.
  • Sue S. Dauser becomes the first woman appointed to the substantive rank of captain, in the United States Navy Nurse Corps.
• February 29 – WWII: Pacific War – The Admiralty Islands campaign (Operation Brewer) opens when U.S. forces land on Los Negros Island in the Admiralty Islands.

• March – Austrian-born economist Friedrich Hayek publishes his book The Road to Serfdom in London.
• March 1 – WWII: American submarine USS Trout torpedoes Japanese merchant cruiser Sakito Maru; 2,495 drown.^[6]
• March 2 – The 16th Academy Awards Ceremony is held, the first Oscar ceremony held at a large public venue, Grauman's Chinese TheatreinHollywood. Casablanca, directed by Michael Curtiz, wins the Award for Best Picture.
• March 3 – WWII: The Order of Nakhimov and the Order of Ushakov are instituted in the USSR.
• March 4 – Louis Buchalter, the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing, in Ossining, New York, along with Emanuel Weiss and Louis Capone.
• March 6 – WWII: Soviet Army planes attack Narva, Estonia, destroying over 95% of the town.^[7]
• March 9 – WWII: Soviet Army planes attack Tallinn, Estonia, killing 757 and leaving 25,000 homeless.
• March 10
  • In Britain, the prohibition on married women working as teachers is lifted.^[8]
  • Resistance leader Joop Westerweel is arrested while returning to the Netherlands, having escorted a group of Jewish children to safety in Spain.
• March 12 – WWII: The Political Committee of National Liberation is created in Greece.
• March 15
  • WWII: Battle of Monte Cassino: Allied aircraft bomb the monastery, and an assault is staged.
  • WWII: The National Council of the French Resistance approves the Resistance programme.
  • The Soviet Union introduces a new anthem, replacing The Internationale.
• March 18
  • The last eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy kills 26, and causes thousands to flee their homes.
  • WWII: The Nazis execute almost 400 prisoners, Soviet citizens and anti-fascist Romanians at Rîbnița.
• March 19
  • WWII: Operation Margarethe: German forces occupy Hungary.
  • The secular oratorio A Child of Our TimebyMichael Tippett is premiered at the Adelphi Theatre in London.^[9][10]
• March 20 – WWII:
  • Landing on Emirau: 4,000 United States Marines land on Emirau Island in the Bismarck Archipelago to develop an airbase, as part of Operation Cartwheel.
  • British Royal Air Force Flight Sergeant Nicholas Alkemade's bomber is hit over Germany, and he has to bail out without a parachute from a height of over 4,000 meters (13,123 ft). Tree branches interrupt his fall and he lands safely on deep snow.
• March 23 – WWII: Members of the Italian Resistance attack Nazis marching in Via Rasella, killing 33.
• March 24 – WWII:
  • Ardeatine massacre: In Rome, 335 Italians are killed, including 75 Jews and over 200 members of the Italian Resistance from various groups.
  • InMarkowa, Poland, German police kill Józef and Wiktoria Ulm, their 6 children and 8 Jews they were hiding.
  • The "Great Escape": 76 Royal Air Force prisoners of war escape by tunnel "Harry" from Stalag Luft III in Silesia this night. Only 3 men (2 Norwegians and a Dutchman) return to the UK; of those recaptured, 50 are summarily executed soon afterwards, in the Stalag Luft III murders.^[11]
• March 27 – In Sweden, Ruben Rausing patents Erik Wallenberg's method of packaging milk in paper, origin of the international company Tetra Pak.^[12]

• April 1 – The Swiss city of Schaffhausenisaccidentally bombed by the United States causing serious damage to the city and killing or wounding more than 100 people.^[13]
• 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 aircraftof60 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 Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive, the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front capture the city of Odessa in Southern Ukraine.^[14]
• 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.^[15]
• April 15 – Italian fascist philosopher Giovanni Gentile is assassinated in FlorencebyBruno 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.^[16]
• 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 kidnappedonCrete, Greece.
  • American submarine USS Jack torpedoes Japanese cargo carrier Yoshida Maru No. 1; 2,649 drown.^[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.^{[18][19][20][21]}

• May – Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist drama No Exit (Huis Clos) premières in Nazi-occupied Paris.
• May 1 – WWII: Two hundred Communist prisoners are shot by the Germans at Kaisariani, Athens, Greece, in reprisal for the killing of General Franz Krech by Partisans at Molaoi.
• May 5 – WWII: Mohandas Gandhi is released from jail in India, on health grounds.
• May 9 – WWII: In the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol, Soviet troops completely drive out German forces, who had been ordered by Hitler to “fight to the last man.”^[22]
• May 12 – WWII: Soviet troops finalize the liberation of the Crimea.
• May 14 – The Holocaust: Predominantly Muslim Albanian troops of the 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg (1st Albanian) round up 281 Jews in Priština, and hand them over to the Germans for transportation to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
• May 15 – WWII: Allied military and political leaders, including Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton, Bernard Montgomery and more, meet for the final D-Day joint briefing at St. Paul's School.
• May 15–July 8 – The Holocaust: Hungarian Jews are deported to Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps.
• May 17 – WWII: Merrill's Marauders and Chinese troops (some 3,000 men) led by Brigadier General Frank Merrill capture Myitkyina airfield, after a 100-kilometer march over the Kumon Mountain range (using mules for carrying supplies).^[23]
• May 18 – WWII:
  • Battle of Monte Cassino: The Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces, led by Władysław Anders from Polish II Corps, take the stronghold after a struggle that has claimed 20,000 lives.
  • Crimean Tatars are deported by the Soviet Union.
• May 20 – WWII: Battle of Wakde: American forces of the 163rd Regimental Combat Team (some 1,500 men) under Brigadier General Jens Doe take the Japanese-held Wakde island (Dutch New Guinea).^[24]
• May 24 – WWII: West Loch disaster: Six LSTs are accidentally destroyed and 163 men killed, in Pearl Harbor.
• May 30 – Princess Charlotte Louise Juliette Louvet GrimaldiofMonaco, heir to the throne, resigns in favor of her son Prince Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi, who later reigns as Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
• May 31 – WWII: American destroyer escort USS England sinks the sixth Japanese submarine in two weeks. This anti-submarine warfare performance remains unmatched through the 20th century.

• June 1 – Two K-class blimps of the United States Navy complete the first transatlantic crossingbynon-rigid airships, from the U.S. to French Morocco, with two stops.^[25]
• June 2 – WWII: The Provisional Government of the French Republic is established.
• June 3 – Hans Asperger publishes his paper on Asperger syndrome.^[26][27]
• June 4 – WWII:
  • Rome falls to the Allies, the first Axis capital to fall.
  • A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German submarine U-505, marking the first time a U.S. Navy vessel has captured an enemy vessel at sea since the War of 1812. Some significant intelligence data is acquired.
• June 5 – WWII:
  • The German navy's Enigma messages are decoded in England almost in real time.
  • British Group Captain James Stagg correctly forecasts a brief improvement in weather conditions over the English Channel, which will permit the following day's Normandy landings to take place (having been deferred from today due to unfavourable weather).
  • At 10:15 p.m. local time, the BBC transmits coded messages including the second line of the Paul Verlaine poem "Chanson d'automne" to the French Resistance, indicating that the invasion of Europe is about to begin.^[28][29]
  • More than 1,000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast, in preparation for D-Day.
  • US and British airborne divisions drop into Normandy, in preparation for D-Day.
  • D-Day naval deceptions are launched.
• June 6 – WWII: D-Day: 155,000 Allied troops shipped from England land on the beaches of Normandy in northern France, beginning Operation Overlord and the Invasion of Normandy. The Allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland, in the largest amphibious military operation in history. This operation helps liberate France from Germany, and also weakens the Nazi hold on Europe.
• June 7 – WWII:
  • Bayeux is liberated by British troops.
  • Operation Perch, a British attempt to capture Caen from the Germans, commences; it is abandoned on June 14.
  • The steamer Danae (Greek: Δανάη), carrying 600 Cretans (including 350 Greek Jews) on the first leg of the journey to Auschwitz, is sunk, with no known survivors, off Santorini.
  • Joel Brand is intercepted by British agents in Aleppo.
• June 9 – WWII: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin launches the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive against Finland, with the intent of defeating Finland before pushing for Berlin.
• June 10 – WWII: Oradour-sur-Glane massacre: 642 men, women and children are killed in France.
• June 13 – WWII: Germany launches the first V-1 flying bomb attack on London.^[30]
• June 15 – WWII: Battle of Saipan: United States forces land on Saipan.
• June 15–16 – WWII: Bombing of Yawata – The United States Army Air Forces conduct the first air raid on the Japanese home islands.
• June 16 – At age 14, African-American teenage boy George Stinney Jr. becomes the youngest person ever executed by electric chair in the United States.
• June 17 – Iceland declares full independence from Denmark.
• June 19 – WWII: A severe storm badly damages the Mulberry harbours on the Normandy coast.
• June 20 – WWII: A V-2 rocket becomes the first man-made object to cross the Kármán line and reach the edge of space.^[31]
• June 22 – WWII:
  • Operation Bagration: A general attack by Soviet forces clears the German forces from Belarus, resulting in the destruction of 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 23 – The Holocaust: Maurice Rossel of the International Committee of the Red Cross visits Theresienstadt concentration camp, uncritically accepting the propaganda view of it presented by the Schutzstaffel.
• June 25 – WWII:
  • Battle of Tali-Ihantala (the largest battle ever in the Nordic countries): Finland is able to resist the Soviet attack, and thus manages to remain an independent nation.
  • Cherbourg is bombarded by ships of the United States Navy and British Royal Navy, in support of U.S. ground troops.
• June 26 – WWII: American troops enter Cherbourg.
• June 29 – WWII: American submarine USS Sturgeon torpedoes Japanese troop transport Toyama Maru; 5,400 drown.^[4]
• June 30 – WWII: American submarine USS Tang torpedoes Japanese troop transport SS Nikkin Maru; 3,219 drown.^[32]

• July–October – WWII: Germans are driven out of Lithuania leading to reimposition of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
• July 1 – The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference begins at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States.
• July 3 – WWII:
  • Soviet troops liberate Minsk.
  • Battle of Imphal: Japanese forces call off their advance, ending the battle with a British victory.
• July 6 – WWII: At Camp Hood, Texas, future baseball star and 1st Lt. Jackie Robinson is arrested and later court-martialed, for refusing to move to the back of a segregated U.S. Army bus (he is eventually acquitted).
• July 9 – WWII: British and Canadian forces capture Caen.
• July 10–11 – WWII: Operation Jupiter during the Battle of Normandy of World War II: British strategic victory over German Panzer Corps.
• July 10 – WWII: Soviet troops begin operations to liberate the Baltic countries from Nazi occupation.
• July 12–21 – WWII: Dortan massacre – 35–36 French civilians are killed by Ostlegionen (Cossacks) serving with the Wehrmacht.
• July 13 – WWII: Vilnius is freed by Soviet forces.
• July 16 – WWII: The first contingent of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force arrives in Italy.
• July 17 – WWII:
  • The largest convoy of the war embarks from Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia, under Royal Canadian Navy protection.
  • Port Chicago disaster: The SS E. A. Bryan, loaded with ammunition, explodes at the Port Chicago, California, Naval Magazine, killing 320 sailors and civilian personnel.
• July 18 – WWII:
  • American forces push back the Germans in Saint-Lô, capturing the city.
  • British forces launch Operation Goodwood, an armoured offensive aimed at driving the Germans from the high ground to the south of Caen. The offensive ends 2 days later with minimal gains.
  • Hideki Tōjō resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort and is succeeded on July 22byKuniaki Koiso.
• July 20
  • WWII: Adolf Hitler survives the 20 July plot to assassinate him led by Claus von Stauffenberg; he and his fellow conspirators in this and Operation Valkyrie are executed the following day.
  • The annular solar eclipse of July 20, 1944 is visible in Africa, Indian Ocean, Asia, Pacific Ocean and Australia, and is the 35th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 135.
• July 21 – WWII:
  • Battle of Guam: American troops land on Guam (the battle ends August 10).
  • The Soviet-sponsored Polish Committee of National Liberation is created, in opposition to the Polish government-in-exile.
• July 22
  • The Bretton Woods Conference ends with agreements signed to set up the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and International Monetary Fund.
  • The new Polish Committee of National Liberation publishes the PKWN ManifestoinChełm, calling for a continuation of fighting against Nazi Germany, radical reforms including nationalisation of industry, and a "decent border in the West" (the Oder–Neisse line).
  • United States v. Masaaki Kuwabara,^[33] the only Japanese American draft avoidance case to be dismissed on a due process violation of the U.S. Constitution.
• July 24 – The Holocaust: Majdanek concentration camp is liberated by the Soviet Red Army and much incriminating evidence of the atrocities committed there is found.^{[34][35][36][37]}
• July 25 – WWII:
  • Operation Spring: One of the bloodiest days for Canadian forces during the war results in 1,550 casualties, including 450 killed, during the Normandy Campaign.
  • Operation Cobra: American forces launch an air and ground offensive against the German defenders in western Normandy, forcing them to retreat.
  • Battle of Tannenberg Line (or "Battle of the Blue Hills") in northeastern Estonia begins: The Red Army will gain a Pyrrhic victory by August 10.
• July 26 – WWII: A Messerschmitt Me 262 becomes the first jet fighter aircraft to have an operational victory.^[38]
• July 27 – WWII: Soviet forces capture Lvov, and the following day enter Brest-Litovsk.
• July 31 – WWII: American submarine USS Parche torpedoes Japanese troop transport Yoshino Maru; 2,495 drown.^[6]

Szare Szeregi Scouts also fought in the Warsaw Uprising.

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

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

• August 1 – WWII: The Warsaw Uprising begins.
• 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.^[39]
• 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.^[40]
  • The Finnish Parliament, by derogation, elects Marshal C. G. E. MannerheimasPresident of Finland to replace Risto Ryti, who has resigned.^[41]
• 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 campinWarsaw, 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.
  • 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 sinks Teia Maru, Eishin Maru, Teiyu Maru, and aircraft carrier Taiyō from Japanese convoy HI71, in one of the most effective American "wolfpack" attacks of the war.^[42]
• August 19 – WWII:
  • American submarine USS Spadefish torpedoes Japanese landing craft depot ship Tamatsu Maru; more than 4,400 Japanese servicemen drown.^[43]
  • 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.^[30]
  • 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:
  • Tsushima Maru, an unmarked Japanese passenger/cargo ship, is sunk by torpedoes launched by the submarine USS Bowfin 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, prime 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.
  • AtBuchères in France, men of the 51st SS-Brigade massacre 68 civilians (half of them women) aged from 6 months to above seventy years.^[44]
  • Japanese vessels attack and sink the submarine USS Harder 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 – The Dutch famine ("Hongerwinter") begins, in the occupied northern part of the Netherlands.^[45]
• September 1 – WWII: In Bulgaria, the Bagryanov government resigns.
• September 2
  • The Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz concentration camp, arriving 3 days later.
  • ¡Hola! magazine is launched in Barcelona.
  • The last execution of a Finn in Finland will take place when soldier Olavi Laiho is executed by shooting in Oulu.^[46]
• September 3 – WWII: The Allies liberate Brussels.
• September 4 – WWII:
  • The British 11th Armoured Division liberates the city of Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Finland breaks off relations with Germany.
• September 5
  • WWII: The Soviet Union declares war on Bulgaria.
  • Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg constitute Benelux.
• September 6 – WWII: The Tartu OffensiveinEstonia concludes, with Soviet forces capturing Tartu.
• September 7 – WWII:
  • The Belgian government in exile returns to Brussels from London.
  • Members of Vichy France's collaborationist government are relocated to Germany where an enclave is established for them in Sigmaringen Castle.
  • Shin'yō Maru incident: Japanese cargo ship SS Shinyō Maru is torpedoed and sunk in the Sulu Sea by American submarine USS Paddle while carrying 750 American prisoners of war; 688 perish.
• September 8 – WWII:
  • The first V-2 rocket attack on London takes place, launched from The Hague.^[30]
  • The French town of Menton is liberated from German forces.
  • Bulgaria declares war on Germany.
• September 9 – WWII: The Bulgarian government is overthrown by the Fatherland Front coalition, which establishes a pro-Soviet government.
• September 10 – WWII: Liberation of Luxembourg.
• September 11 – WWII:
  • The Laksevåg floating dry dockatBergen (Norway) is sunk by British X-class submarine X-24.
  • An approaching formation of 36 US bombers is engaged by a German fighter squadron (Jagdgeschwader) in the Battle over the Ore Mountains. After the first German attack on the bombers, US Mustangs attack the German squadron in aerial dogfights.
• September 12 – WWII: Allied forces from Operation Overlord (in northern France) and Operation Dragoon (in the south) link up near Dijon.
• September 13 – WWII: The Battle of Meligalas begins, between the Greek Resistance forces of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) and the collaborationist Security Battalions.
• September 14 – The Great Atlantic hurricane makes landfall in the New York City area.
• September 15 – WWII: The Battle of Peleliu begins in the Pacific.
• September 17 – WWII: Operation Market Garden: Allied airborne landings begin in the Netherlands and Germany.
• September 17–20 – WWII: Italian Campaign – In the Battle of San Marino, British and Empire forces take the occupied neutral republic of San Marino from the German Army.
• September 18 – WWII:
  • British submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoes Japanese "hell ship" Jun'yō Maru; 5,620 drown.^[47]
  • After German forces declare the evacuation of Estonia the day before, the Estonian national government briefly resumes controlofTallinn before the Soviet advance.
• September 19 – WWII:
  • The Moscow Armistice between Finland and the Soviet Union is signed, ending the Continuation War.
  • The Battle of Hürtgen Forest begins, east of the Belgian–German border.
• September 22 – WWII: The Red Army captures Tallinn, Estonia. Prime Minister in Duties of the President of Estonia Jüri Uluots and 80,000 Estonian civilians manage to escape to Sweden and Germany. The evacuees include almost the entire population of Estonian Swedes. Soviet bombing raids on the evacuating ships sink several, with thousands on board.
• September 24 – WWII: The U.S. 45th Infantry Division takes the strongly defended city of Épinal in France 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 the middle front of the Gothic Line, Brazilian troops control the Serchio valley region after 10 days of fighting.

• October 2 – WWII: Nazi troops end the Warsaw Uprising. This is followed by the Destruction of Warsaw.
• October 4 – WWII: Milan Nedić's collaborationist puppet government of the Axis powers, the Government of National SalvationinNazi-occupied Serbia, is disbanded.
• October 5 – WWII: Royal Canadian Air Force pilots shoot down the first German Me 262 over the Netherlands.^{[clarification needed]}
• October 6
  • WWII: The Battle of Debrecen starts on the Eastern Front, lasting until October 29.
  • Milan Nedić, president of the Serbian collaborationist puppet state of the Axis powers, the Government of National Salvation, flees from BelgradeinNazi-occupied Serbia by air together with other Serbian collaborators and German officials, via Hungary to Austria.
  • The Holocaust: Members of the Sonderkommando (Jewish work units) in Auschwitz concentration camp stage a revolt, killing 3 SS men before being massacred themselves.
  • The Dumbarton Oaks Conference concludes.
• October 8 – The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio show debuts in the United States.
• October 9 – WWII: Fourth Moscow Conference: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin begin a 9-day conference in Moscow, to discuss the future of Europe.
• October 10
  • The Holocaust/Porajmos: 800 Romani children are systematically murdered at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
  • WWII: 10/10 Air Raid: Allied forces inflict significant losses upon Imperial Japanese Navy ships moored in Naha Harbor, destroying much of the city of Naha, Okinawa as well.
  • WWII: Soviet forces reach the Baltic Sea coast in Lithuania, cutting off German Army Group North and creating the Courland Pocket.
• October 11 – The Tuvan People's Republic is annexed into the Soviet Union.
• October 12
  • WWII: The Germans leave Athens, as the first Allied troops and Greek guerrillas enter the city

    

  • Canadian Arctic explorer Henry Larsen returns to Vancouver, becoming the first person successfully to navigate the Northwest Passage in both directions, in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner St. Roch. His westbound voyage is the first completed in a single season, and the first passage through the Prince of Wales Strait.^[22][48][49]
• October 13 – WWII:
  • Riga, the capital of Latvia, is taken by the Red Army.
  • The first V-2 rocket attack on Antwerp takes place.^[50]
• October 14 – WWII: German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel commits forced suicide rather than face public disgrace and execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.
• October 16 – WWII: American bombing of Salzburg destroys the dome of the city's cathedral and most of a Mozart family home.
• October 18 – WWII: The Volkssturm Nazi militia is founded, on Adolf Hitler's orders.
• October 19 – The Guatemalan Revolution begins with the overthrow of Federico Ponce Vaides by a popular leftist movement.
• October 20 – WWII:
  • Belgrade Offensive ends when Belgrade is liberated by Yugoslav Partisans, together with the Bulgarian Army and the Red Army, and the remnants of Nedić's collaborationist Serbian puppet state, the Government of National Salvation, are abolished.
  • American and Filipino troops (with Filipino guerrillas) begin the Battle of Leyte in the Philippines. American forces land on Red Beach in Palo, Leyte, as General Douglas MacArthur returns to the Philippines with Philippine Commonwealth president Sergio Osmeña and Armed Forces of the Philippines Generals Basilio J. Valdes and Carlos P. Romulo. American forces land on the beaches in Dulag, Leyte, accompanied by Filipino troops entering the town, and fiercely opposed by the Japanese occupation forces. The combined forces liberate Tacloban.
  • Operation Pheasant begins – an offensive in the Netherlands which supports the ongoing Battle of the Scheldt.
• October 21 – WWII: Aachen, the first German city to fall, is captured by American troops.
• October 23–26 – WWII: Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines – In the largest naval battle in history by most criteria and the last naval battle in history between battleships,^[51] combined United States and Australian naval forces decisively defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy. This is the first battle in which Japanese aircraft carry out organized kamikaze attacks.^[52]
• October 24
  • Battle of Leyte Gulf: The Japanese battleship Musashi is sunk by United States aircraft.
  • The Allies recognise Charles de Gaulle's cabinet as the provisional government of France.
• October 25
  • WWII: The Red Army liberates Kirkenes, the first town in Norway to be liberated.
  • WWII: USS Tang is sunk in the Formosa Strait by one of her own torpedoes. Medal of Honor-winning submarine ace Richard O'Kane becomes a prisoner of war.
  • 76-year-old American amateur soprano Florence Foster Jenkins gives a sell-out public recital in Carnegie Hall, New York. The audience and press are scathing: "she can sing everything except notes".^[53] 5 days later she suffers a fatal heart attack, dying at home on November 26.
• October 27 – WWII: German forces capture Banská Bystrica, the center of anti-Nazi opposition in Slovakia, bringing the Slovak National Uprising to an end.
• October 30
  • The Holocaust: Anne Frank and her sister Margot are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
  • Appalachian Spring, a ballet by Martha Graham with music by Aaron Copland, debuts at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with Graham in the lead role.
• October 31 – Serial killer Dr Marcel Petiot is apprehended at a Paris Métro station after 7 months on the run.

• November 1–December 7 – Delegates of 52 nations meet at the International Civil Aviation Conference in Chicago, to plan for postwar international cooperation, framing the constitution of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
• November 3 – WWII: Two supreme commanders of the Slovak National Uprising, Generals Ján Golian and Rudolf Viest, are captured, tortured and later executed by German forces.
• November 7
  • 1944 United States presidential election: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey, becoming the only U.S. president elected to a fourth term.
  • Election day rail accident in Puerto Rico: A passenger train derails at Aguadilla due to excessive speed on a downgrade; 16 are killed, 50 injured.
• November 10 – WWII: Ammunition ship USS Mount Hood disintegrates from the accidental detonation of 3,800 tons of cargo, in the Seeadler Harbor fleet anchorage at Manus Island. 22 small boats are destroyed, 36 nearby ships damaged, 432 men are killed and 371 more are injured.^[54]
• November 11
  • Operational ships of the French Navy re-enter their base at Toulon.^{[citation needed]}
  • The 1942–44 musicians' strike ends in the United States when RCA Victor and Columbia Records capitulate to the union's demands.
• November 12 – WWII: Operation Catechism – German battleship Tirpitz is sunk by British Royal Air Force Lancaster bombers near Tromsø in Norway.^[30] Estimated casualties range from 950 to 1,204.
• November 14 – WWII: American submarine USS Queenfish torpedoes Japanese aircraft carrier Akitsu Maru in the East China Sea; 2,246 drown.^[55]
• November 16 – WWII: U.S. forces begin the month-long Operation Queen in the Rur Valley.
• November 18
  • The Popular Socialist Youth is founded in Cuba.
  • WWII: American submarine USS Picuda torpedoes Japanese landing craft depot ship Mayasan Maru; 3,546 drown.^[55]
• November 22
  • Conscription Crisis: Prime Minister of Canada William Mackenzie King agrees a one-time conscription levy in Canada for overseas service.
  • Laurence Olivier's film Henry V, based on Shakespeare's play, opens in London. It is the most acclaimed and the most successful movie version of a Shakespeare play made up to this time, and the first in Technicolor. Olivier both stars and directs.^[56]
• November 24 – WWII: German forces evacuate from the West Estonian Archipelago.
• November 27
  • RAF Fauld explosion: Between 3,450 and 3,930 tons (3,500 and 4,000 tonnes) of ordnance explodes at an underground storage depot in Staffordshire, England, leaving about 75 dead and a crater 1,200 metres (1,300 yd) across and 120 metres (390 ft) deep. The blast is one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, and the largest on UK soil.^[57]
  • Operation Tigerfish: Royal Air Force bombing of Freiburg im Breisgau kills 2,800.
• November 29 – WWII: American submarine USS Archerfish sinks Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano, the largest carrier built to this date, and will remain through the twentieth century the largest ship sunk by a submarine.^[58]

• December 1 – Edward Stettinius, Jr. becomes the last United States Secretary of State of the Roosevelt administration, filling the seat left by Cordell Hull.
• December 3 – WWII:
  • Fighting breaks out between Communists and royalists in newly liberated Greece, eventually leading to a full-scale Greek Civil War.
  • The Home Guard (United Kingdom) is stood down.
• December 7
  • The Convention on International Civil Aviation is signed in Chicago, creating the International Civil Aviation Organization.
  • The Arab Women's Congress of 1944 is hosted by the Egyptian Feminist Union in Cairo, leading to establishment of the Arab Feminist Union.
  • An earthquake along the coast of Wakayama Prefecture in Japan causes a tsunami which kills 1223 people.^[59]
• December 10 – Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini leads a concert performance of the first half of Beethoven's Fidelio (minus its spoken dialogue) on NBC Radio, starring Rose Bampton. He chooses this opera for its political message: a statement against tyranny and dictatorship. Presenting it in German, Toscanini intends it as a tribute to the German people who are being oppressed by Hitler. The second half is broadcast a week later. The performance is later released on LP and CD, the first of 7 operas that Toscanini conducts on radio.
• December 12–13 – WWII: British units attempt to take the Italian hilltop town of Tossignano, but are repulsed.
• December 13 – WWII: Battle of Mindoro – United States, Australian and Philippine Commonwealth troops land on Mindoro Island in the Philippines.
• December 14
  • The Soviet government changes Turkish place names to Russian in the Crimea.
  • The film National Velvet is released in the United States, bringing a young Elizabeth Taylor to stardom.
• December 15 – A USAAF utility aircraft carrying bandleader Major Glenn Miller disappears in heavy fog over the English Channel, while flying to Paris.
• December 16 – WWII:
  • Germany begins the Ardennes offensive, later known as the Battle of the Bulge.
  • General George C. Marshall becomes the first U.S. Five-Star General.
• December 17 – WWII:
  • Malmedy massacre: German SS troops under Joachim Peiper machine gun American prisoners of war captured during the Battle of the Bulge near Malmedy, and elsewhere in Belgium.
  • Bombing of Ulm: 707 people are killed and 25,000 left homeless.
• December 18 – General Douglas MacArthur becomes the second U.S. Five-Star General.
• December 19 – The daily newspaper Le Monde begins publication in Paris.
• December 20
  • The United States Women Airforce Service Pilots are disbanded.
  • General Dwight D. Eisenhower is promoted to the rank of 5-star U.S. 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.
  • The Vietnam People's Army is formed in French Indochina.
• December 24
  • WWII: Troopship SS Léopoldville is sunk in the English ChannelbyGerman submarine U-486. Approximately 763 soldiers of the U.S. 66th Infantry Division, bound for the Battle of the Bulge, drown.^[60]
  • WWII: German tanks reach the furthest point of the Bulge at Celles.
  • WWII: Fifty German V-1 flying bombs, air-launched from Heinkel He 111 bombers flying over the North Sea, target Manchester in England, killing 42 and injuring more than 100 in the Oldham area.^[61][62]
  • WWII: Bande massacre: 34 men between the ages of 17 and 32 are executed by the Sicherheitsdienst near Bande, Belgium, in retaliation for the killing of 3 German soldiers.
  • The first complete U.S. production of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker is presented in San Francisco, choreographed by Willam Christensen. It will become an annual tradition there, and for the next ten years, the San Francisco Ballet will be the only company in the United States performing the complete work.
• December 24–26 – Agana race riotinGuam between white and black United States Marines.
• December 26
  • WWII: American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne.
  • The original stage version of The Glass MenageriebyTennessee Williams premieres in Chicago.
  • Esztergom, Hungary, is captured by Soviet forces, beginning the Siege of Budapest.
• December 30
  • King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving his throne vacant.
  • Stage Door Cartoon is the first cartoon produced by Eddie Selzer.
• December 31 – WWII: Battle of Leyte – Tens of thousands of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers are killed in action, in a significant Filipino/Allied military victory.

• The 1944 Summer Olympics, scheduled for London (together with the February Winter Olympics scheduled for Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy), are suspended due to WWII.
• National Committee for Education on Alcoholism, predecessor of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, is established in the United States by Marty Mann.
• Last known evidence of the existence of the Asiatic lion in the wild in Khuzestan Province, Persia.^[63]
• The BC Žalgiris professional basketball club is founded in Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.^[64]

• January 1
  • Omar al-Bashir, 7th President of Sudan
  • Mohammad Abdul Hamid, President of Bangladesh
  • Jumabek Ibraimov, 5th Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan (d. 1999)
  • Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Pakistani politician, 15th Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 2020)
  • Robert Lee Minor, American actor, stunt performer
• January 2
  • Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian politician (d. 2021)
  • Lowell M. Snow, General authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)
  • Willy Dobbe, Dutch television presenter and announcer
• January 3
  • Chris von Saltza, American swimmer
  • Raewyn Connell, Australian sociologist and professor
• January 4
  • Frank Alesia, American actor and television director (d. 2011)
  • Charlie Manuel, American baseball player and manager
  • Angela Harris, Baroness Harris of Richmond, British politician
• January 5 – Carolyn McCarthy, American nurse and politician
• January 6
  • Bonnie Franklin, American actress, singer, dancer and television director (d. 2013)
  • Rolf M. Zinkernagel, Swiss immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• January 7 – Mike Hebert, American volleyball coach (d. 2019)
• January 8
  • Terry Brooks, American fantasy fiction writer
  • Joan Lefkow, senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• January 9
  • Harun Farocki, German filmmaker, author and lecturer (d. 2014)
  • Ian Hornak, American painter, draughtsman and sculptor (d. 2002)
  • Jimmy Page, English rock guitarist (Led Zeppelin)
• January 10
  • Rory Byrne, South African engineer and car designer
  • William Sanderson, American actor
  • Frank Sinatra Jr., American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2016)^[65]
• January 11 – Jim McAndrew, American baseball player (d. 2024)
• January 12
  • Joe Frazier, African-American boxer (d. 2011)
  • Vlastimil Hort, Czechoslovak-born German chess Grandmaster
  • Carlos Villagrán, Mexican actor and comedian
  • Klaus Wedemeier, German politician
• January 13 – Chris von Saltza, American swimmer
• January 17
  • Jan Guillou, Swedish author
  • Françoise Hardy, French singer (d. 2024)
• January 18
  • Paul Keating, 24th Prime Minister of Australia
  • Alexander Van der Bellen, President of Austria
• January 19
  • Shelley Fabares, American actress, singer
  • Dan Reeves, American football player and coach (d. 2022)
• January 20
  • Isao Okano, Japanese judoka
  • Chuck Domanico, American jazz bassist (d. 2002)
• January 23
  • Sergei Belov, Soviet basketball player (d. 2013)
  • Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor, writer and environmentalist (d. 2019)
• January 24
  • David Gerrold, American screenwriter and novelist
  • Klaus Nomi, German singer (d. 1983)
• January 25
  • Sally Beauman, English journalist and novelist (d. 2016)
  • Evan Chandler, American screenwriter and dentist (suicide 2009)
• January 26
  • Angela Davis, African-American political activist, academic and author^[66]
  • Jerry Sandusky, American child molester, Penn State football coach
• January 27
  • Peter Akinola, Nigerian religious leader
  • Mairead Maguire, Northern Irish peace activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
  • Nick Mason, English rock drummer (Pink Floyd)
  • Sam Smith, American basketball player (d. 2022)
• January 28
  • Susan Howard, American actress
  • Rosalía Mera, Spanish fashion retailer (Zara) (d. 2013)
  • John Tavener, English composer (d. 2013)
• January 29 – Susana Giménez, Argentinian television presenter
• January 31 – Connie Booth, American writer, actress