1944 

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.