1944 - Wikipedia

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

Years: 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 - 1944 - 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

World War II

January 4 - The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.
January 17 - British forces, in Italy, cross the Garigliano River.
January 20 - The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin; the US 36th Infantry Division, in Italy, attempts to cross the Rapido River.
January 22 - Allies begin Operation Shingle, the assault on Anzio[?], Italy.
January 27 - The two year Siege of Leningrad[?] is lifted.
January 29 - The Battle of Cisterna takes place.
January 30 - United States troops invade Majuro, Marshall Islands.
January 31 - American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
February 3 - United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.
February 7 - In Anzio[?], Italian forces launch a counteroffensive.
February 14 - Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.
February 15 - Battle of Monte Cassino - the monastery atop Monte Cassino is destroyed by Allied bombing.
February 17 - Battle of Eniwetok Atoll[?] begins. The battle ended in an American victory on February 22.
February 20 - "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
February 20 - The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
February 29 - The Admiralty Islands are invaded in the American General Douglas MacArthur-led Operation Brewer[?].
March 15 - Battle of Monte Cassino - Allied aircraft bomb German-held monastery and stage an assault.
March 18 - German forces occupy Hungary.
May 17 - Type IX U-boat: U-884[?] is launched.
May 18 - Battle of Monte Cassino - Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.
June 5 - Rome falls to the Allies, becoming the first Axis capital to fall.
June 6 - D-Day; Allied invasion of Normandy begins.

June 9 - Stalin launches an offensive against Finland with the intent of defeating Finland before pushing for Berlin.
June 25 - The Battle of Tali-Ihantala[?] between Finnish and Soviet troops begins. Largest battle ever to be fought in the Nordic countries.
July 20 - Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt. See Claus von Stauffenberg
August 12 - Allies capture Florence, Italy.
August 15 - Operation Dragoon lands Allies in southern France.
August 24 - Allies enter Paris.
September 2 - Allies liberate Brussels.
September 11 - Northern and southern France invasion forces link up near Dijon.
September 15 - The Long Range Desert Group makes the first of its raids.
September 17 - Operation Market Garden begins.
September 19 - Armistice between Finland and Soviet Union signed. (End of the Continuation War)
September 26 - Operation Market Garden ends in a withdrawal.
October 5 - Canadian Air Force pilots shoot down the first German jet fighter over France.
October 20 - Belgrade is liberated by Yugoslav Partisans and the Red Army.
October 23 - Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines begins.
October 26 - Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines ends.
December 16 - Germany begins Ardennes offensive[?], later to become known as Battle of the Bulge.
December 17 - German troops carry out the Malmédy massacre.
December 24 - The Bulge reaches its deepest point at Celles.
December 26 - American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne.
December 31 - Hungary declares war on Germany

Other events

January 5 - The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper.
March 4 - In Ossining, New York[?], Louis Buchalter[?], the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing Prison[?].
June 17 - Iceland declares full independence from Denmark.
November 7- Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Thomas E. Dewey in the U.S. presidential election.
December 26 - The play The Glass Menagerie[?] by Tennessee Williams was first publicly performed.
December 30 - King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving his throne vacant.

In Sweden, the law of 1864 that criminalizes homosexuality is abolished.
Swedish author of children's books Astrid Lindgren publishes her first book Pippi Longstocking.
In Sweden, Erik Wallenberg and Ruben Rausing invent a way to package milk in paper and start the company Tetra Pak.

Art, Culture & Fashion

1944 in film
- Going My Way
- Double Indemnity
1944 in literature
- An American Dilemma by Gunnar Myrdal[?]
- Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes[?]
1944 in music
- January 18 - The Metropolitan Opera House[?] in New York City for the first time hosts a jazz concert; the performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.
1944 in sports[?]
1944 in television
- May 22 - The FCC increases its limits for single ownership of television stations from three to five.

Births

January 6 - Bonnie Franklin[?], actress
January 12 - Joe Frazier, boxing champion
January 16 - Jim Stafford[?], singer
January 23 - Rutger Hauer, actor
January 24 - Neil Diamond, singer
January 26 - Angela Davis, feminist and activist
February 3 - Dave Davies[?], musician
February 5 - Michael Mann, director, writer, producer
February 5 - Al Kooper[?], musician
February 9 - Alice Walker, writer
February 10 - Vernor Vinge (science fiction novelist)
February 11 - Bert Greene[?] golfer.
February 11 - Buddhadev Dasgupta[?], film director.
February 11 - Michael G Oxley[?], American politician.
February 13 - Jerry Springer, television host
February 14 - Alan Parker[?], director, writer
February 14 - Carl Bernstein[?], journalist
February 16 - Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
February 22 - Jonathan Demme, director
February 23 - Johnny Winter[?], musician
March 1 - Roger Daltrey, musician ("The Who")
March 6 - Kiri Te Kanawa[?], opera singer
March 15 - Sly Stone, singer
March 15 - Elisabeth Plessen[?], writer
March 17 - John Sebastian, singer-songwriter, also a member of the Lovin' Spoonful
March 19 - Sirhan Sirhan, assassin
March 26 - Diana Ross, singer
April 3 - Tony Orlando[?], musician
April 7 - Gerhard Schröder, German Bundeskanzler (chancellor) since 1998
May 5 - John Rhys-Davies, actor
May 8 - Gary Glitter, singer
May 9 - Richie Furay, musician ("Poco[?]", "Buffalo Springfield")
May 10 - Jim Abrahams[?], director
May 13 - Armistead Maupin, author
May 14 - George Lucas, film director and producer
May 18 - Justus Frantz[?], pianist
May 20 - Joe Cocker, British singer
May 20 - Boudewijn de Groot[?], Dutch singer
May 25 - Frank Oz, puppeteer, director
May 28 - Rudy Giuliani, mayor of New York City, 1993-2001
May 28 - Gladys Knight singer
July 21 - Paul Wellstone, U.S. Senator: A Democrat from Minnesota
August 8 - Peter Weir, film director
October 9 - John Entwistle, bassist, The Who
October 15 - David Trimble, Ulster Unionist and Nobel Prize winner
December 17 - Jack L. Chalker science fiction novelist
Rem Koolhaas, Dutch architect

Deaths

February 11 - Carl Meinhof, German linguist
February 11 - Ivan Sollertinski[?], friend of Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich[?].
March 12 - Werner Drechsler[?], of U-118[?]
March 24 - Orde Wingate[?], British soldier
March 28 - Rick Barry[?], basketball star
May 12 - Max Brand[?], author
May 12 - Q, British writer
May 16 - George Ade[?], author
July 31 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer
August 8 - Chaim Soutine, painter
November 2 - Thomas Midgley, chemist and inventor
Heath Robinson, British cartoonist and illustrator

Nobel Prizes

Physics - Isidor Isaac Rabi
Chemistry - Otto Hahn
Medicine - Joseph Erlanger[?], Herbert Spencer Gasser[?]
Literature - Johannes Vilhelm Jensen
Peace - International Committee of the Red Cross.