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 1944
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
[edit] Events of 1944
WWII begins on September 1, 1939 after Germany invades Poland.
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- (Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.)
[edit] January
[edit] February
[edit] March
- March - WWII: The Japanese launch an offensive in central and south China.
- March 1 - WWII:
- March 2 - WWII: A train stalls inside a railway tunnel outside Salerno, Italy; 521 choke to death.
- March 2 - The 16th Academy Awards ceremony is held.
- March 3 - WWII: The Order of Nakhimov and the Order of Ushakov are instituted in the USSR.
- March 4 - In Ossining, New York, Louis Buchalter, the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing, along with Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss, and Louis Capone.
- March 6 - WWII: Soviet Army planes attack Narva, Estonia, destroying almost the entire old town.
- March 9 - WWII: Soviet Army planes attack Tallinn, Estonia.
- March 10 - WWII: In Britain the Education Act lifts the ban on women teachers marrying.
- March 12 - WWII: The Political Committee of National Liberation is created in Greece.
- March 15 - WWII:
- March 17 - WWII: The Nazis assassinate almost 400 prisoners, Soviet citizens and anti-fascist Romanians at Rîbniţa.
- March 19 - WWII: German forces occupy Hungary.
- March 18 - The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy kills 26 and causes thousands to flee their homes.
- March 20 - WWII: RAF 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. 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:
- Fosse Ardeatine massacre: 335 Italians are killed, including 75 Jews and over 200 members of the Italian Resistance from various groups, in Rome.
- In the Polish village of Markowa, German police kill Józef and Wiktoria Ulm, their 6 children and 8 Jews they were hiding.
[edit] April
[edit] May
[edit] June
Allied troops land on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day.
[edit] July
[edit] August
- August 1 - WWII: The Warsaw Uprising begins.
- August 2 - WWII:
- Turkey ends diplomatic and economic relations with Germany.
- The First Assembly of ASNOM is held in the Prohor Pchinski monastery.
- August 4 - 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 and her family.
- August 5 - The Holocaust: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
- 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 posters featuring Smokey the Bear for the first time.
- August 12 - WWII:
- August 15 - WWII: Operation Dragoon lands Allies in southern France. The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division participates in its fourth assault landing at St. Maxime, spearheading the drive for the Belfort Gap.
- August 19 - WWII: An insurrection starts in Paris.
- August 20 - WWII: American forces successfully defeat Nazi forces at Chambois, closing the Falaise Gap.
- August 23 - WWII: Ion Antonescu, prime minister of Romania, is arrested and a new government established. Romania exits the war against Soviet Union, joining the Allies.
- August 24 - WWII: The Allies liberate Paris, succesfully completing Operation Overlord.
- August 25 - WWII: Hungary decides to continue the war together with Germany.
- August 29 - WWII: The Slovak National Uprising against the Axis powers begins.
- August 31 - The Mad Gasser of Mattoon resumes his mysterious attacks in Mattoon, Illinois.
[edit] September
[edit] October
- October 2 - WWII:
- October 5 - WWII: Royal Canadian Air Force pilots shoot down the first German jet fighter over Holland.
- October 6 - WWII: The Battle of Debrecen starts on the Eastern Front (it lasts until October 29).
- October 8 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio show debuts in the United States.
- October 9 - WWII: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin begin a 9-day conference in Moscow to discuss the future of Europe.
- October 10 - The Holocaust/Porajmos: 800 Gypsy children are systematically murdered at the Auschwitz death camp.
- October 12 - WWII: The Allies land in Athens.
- October 13 - WWII: Riga, the capital of Latvia, is taken by the Red Army.
- October 14 - WWII: German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel commits suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.
- October 18 - WWII: The Volkssturm is founded on Hitler's orders.
- October 20 - WWII:
- October 20 - The LNG explosion destroys a square mile (2.6 km²) of Cleveland, Ohio.
- October 21 - WWII: Aachen,the first German city to fall, is captured by American troops.
- October 23 - WWII: The Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines begins (lasts until October 26).
- October 25 - Florence Foster Jenkins gives a recital in Carnegie Hall.
- October 25 - WWII: The Red Army liberates Kirkenes, the first town in Norway to be liberated.
- October 30 - The Holocaust - Anne Frank and sister Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
- October 30 - 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 - Mass murderer Marcel Petiot is apprehended in Paris Métro station.
[edit] November
[edit] December
- December 3 - WWII: Fighting breaks out between Communists and royalists in newly-liberated Greece, eventually leading to a full-scale Greek Civil War.
- December 10 - Legendary 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. Conducting 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 hilltop town of Tossignano, but are repulsed.
- December 13 - Battle of Mindoro: United States, Australian and Philippine Commonwealth troops land in Mindoro Island, the Philippines.
- December 14 - The Soviet government changes Turkish place names to Russian in the Crimea.
- December 15 - A private airplane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller disappears in heavy fog over the English Channel while flying to Paris.
- December 16 - WWII:
- December 17 - WWII: German troops carry out the Malmedy massacre.
- December 19 - The entire territory of Estonia is taken by the Red Army.
- 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.
- December 24 - WWII: The Bulge reaches its deepest point at Celles.
- December 26 - WWII: American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne.
- December 26 - The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams premieres.
- December 30 - WWII:
- December 31 - WWII: Hungary declares war on Germany.
- December 31 - WWII: Battle of Leyte: Over hundreds of thousands of Japanese Imperial forces are killed in action, in a significant Filipino and Allied military victory.
[edit] Undated
[edit] Ongoing
[edit] Births
For more 1944 births see Category:1944 births
[edit] January–February
- January 1 - Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir, President of the Sudan
- January 2 - Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian politician
- January 3 - Chris von Saltza, American swimmer
- January 6 - Bonnie Franklin, American actress (One Day At A Time)
- January 6 - Rolf M. Zinkernagel, Swiss immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- January 9 - Ian Hornak, American painter, draughtsman and sculptor (d. 2002)
- January 9 - Jimmy Page, English guitarist (Led Zeppelin)
- January 12 - Joe Frazier, African-American boxer
- January 17 - Françoise Hardy, French singer
- January 18 - Paul Keating, 24th Prime Minister of Australia
- January 19 - Shelley Fabares, American actress and singer (Johnny Angel)
- January 23 - Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor
- January 25 - Anita Pallenberg, Italian model and actress
- January 26 - Angela Davis, African-American feminist and activist
- January 27 - Peter Akinola, Nigerian religious leader
- January 27 - Mairead Corrigan, Northern Irish activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- January 27 - Nick Mason, English rock drummer (Pink Floyd)
- January 28 - Susan Howard, American actress
- January 28 - John Tavener, British composer
- January 29 - Patrick Lipton Robinson, Jamaican judge
- February 3 - Dave Davies, British rock musician (The Kinks)
- February 5 - Al Kooper, American rock musician (Blood, Sweat, and Tears)
- February 9 - Alice Walker, African-American writer
- February 10 - Vernor Vinge, American writer
- February 11 - Michael G. Oxley, American politician
- February 12 - Moe Bandy, country music singer (Roll On Big Mama)
- February 13 - Stockard Channing, American actress
- February 13 - Jerry Springer, English-born American television host
- February 14 - Carl Bernstein, American journalist
- February 14 - Alan Parker, English-born film director, actor, and writer
- February 16 - Richard Ford, American writer
- February 17 - Karl Jenkins, Welsh composer
- February 20 - Willem van Hanegem, Dutch football player and coach
- February 22 - Jonathan Demme, American film director, producer, and writer
- February 22 - Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player
- February 23 - Johnny Winter, American rock musician
- February 24 - Nicky Hopkins, British musician (d. 1994)
- February 27 - Ken Grimwood, American writer (d. 2003)
- February 28 - Sepp Maier, German footballer
- February 29 - Dennis Farina, American actor
[edit] March–April
- March 1 - John Breaux, U.S. Senator from Louisiana
- March 1 - Roger Daltrey, English musician (The Who)
- March 2 - Uschi Glas, German actress
- March 4 - Harvey Postlethwaite, British engineer and race car designer (d. 1999)
- March 4 - Mary Wilson (singer), African-American singer (My Guy)
- March 4 - Bobby Womack, American singer and songwriter
- March 6 - Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand soprano
- March 8 - Buzz Hargrove, Canadian labour leader
- March 11 - Don Maclean, British comedian
- March 15 - Sly Stone, African-American singer (Everyday People)
- March 17 - John Sebastian, American singer and songwriter (The Lovin' Spoonful)
- March 19 - Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
- March 19 - Sirhan Sirhan, Palestinian assassin of Robert F. Kennedy
- March 24 - R. Lee Ermey, U.S. Marine and actor
- March 26 - Diana Ross, African-American singer (The Supremes)
- March 27 - Khosrow Shakibai, Iranian actor (d. 2008)
- March 28 - Rick Barry, American basketball player
- March 29 - Denny McLain, American baseball player
- April 3 - Tony Orlando, American musician (Tony Orlando and Dawn)
- April 4 - Magda Aelvoet, Belgian politician
- April 6 - Felicity Palmer, English soprano
- April 7 - Gerhard Schröder, Chancellor of Germany
- April 8 - Jimmy Walker, American professional basketball player (d.2007)
- April 8 - Odd Nerdrum, Norwegian painter
- April 11 - John Milius, American film director, producer, and screenwriter
- April 13 - Jack Casady, American rock musician (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna)
- April 15 - Dzhokhar Dudayev, Chechen leader, first President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, an unrecognized breakaway state in the North Caucasus (d. 1996)
- April 19 - James Heckman, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 22 - Steve Fossett, American aviator, sailor and millionaire adventurer (d. 2007)
- April 27 - Michael Fish, British TV weatherman
- April 28 - Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe, Belgian politician
- April 29 - Richard Kline, American actor and television director
- April 30 - Jill Clayburgh, American actress
[edit] May–June
- May 1 - Suresh Kalmadi, Indian politician
- May 4 - Paul Gleason, American actor (d. 2006)
- May 5 - John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor (Sliders)
- May 8 - Gary Glitter, English singer
- May 9 - Richie Furay, American musician (Poco, Buffalo Springfield)
- May 10 - Jim Abrahams, American film director
- May 12 - Sara Kestelman, British actor
- May 13 - Armistead Maupin, American author
- May 14 - George Lucas, American film director and producer
- May 20 - Joe Cocker, British rock singer (You Are So Beautiful)
- May 20 - Boudewijn de Groot, Dutch singer
- May 20 - Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian businessman
- May 21 - Mary Robinson, President of Ireland
- May 23 - John Newcombe, Australian tennis player
- May 23 - Avraham Oz, Israeli theater professor, translator, and political activist
- May 24 - Patti LaBelle, American singer (Lady Marmalade)
- May 25 - Frank Oz, English puppeteer and film director
- May 28 - Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City
- May 28 - Gladys Knight, African-American singer (Midnight Train To Georgia)
- May 28 - Patricia Quinn, Northern Irish actress
- May 28 - Rita MacNeil, Canadian folk singer
- May 30 - Meredith MacRae, American actress (d. 2000)
- June 1 - Robert Powell, English actor
- June 3 - Edith McGuire, American sprinter
- June 4 - Michelle Phillips, American singer (Mamas and the Papas) and actress
- June 5 - Tommie Smith, American athlete
- June 5 - Colm Wilkinson, Irish singer
- June 6 - Phillip Allen Sharp, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- June 8 - Boz Scaggs, American singer and guitarist
- June 8 - Don Grady, American actor and singer (My Three Sons)
- June 8 - Mark Belanger, American baseball player (d. 1998)
- June 17 - Bill Rafferty, American comedian and impressionist (Real People)
- June 24 - Jeff Beck, British rock musician
- June 24 - John "Charlie" Whitney, British rock guitarist (Family)
- June 29 - Gary Busey, American actor
- June 30 - Raymond Moody, American parapsychologist
- June 30 - Terry Funk, American professional wrestler
[edit] July–August
- July 3 - Michel Polnareff, French singer
- July 8 - Jeffrey Tambor, American actor
- July 13 - Ernő Rubik, Hungarian inventor (Rubik's Cube)
- July 17 - Mark Burgess, New Zealand cricket captains
- July 21 - Tony Scott, English film director
- July 21 - Paul Wellstone, U.S. Senator from Minnesota (d. 2002)
- July 23 - Alex Buzo, of Sydney, Australian playwright and author (d. 2006)
- July 27 - Tony Capstick, English comedian, actor, and musician (d. 2003)
- July 31 - Geraldine Chaplin, American actress
- July 31 - Robert C. Merton, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- August 2 - Jim Capaldi, British drummer, singer, and songwriter (Traffic) (d. 2005)
- August 4 - Richard Belzer, American actor and comedian (Law and Order)
- August 4 - Orhan Gencebay, Turkish musician, baglama virtuoso, composer, singer, arranger, music producer, music director, and actor
- August 8 - Brooke Bundy, American actress
- August 9 - Sam Elliott, American actor
- August 11 - Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor
- August 12 - Larry Troutman, American musician (d. 1999)
- August 13 - Kevin Tighe, American actor
- August 15 - Sylvie Vartan, Bulgarian singer
- August 19 - Bodil Malmsten, Swedish writer
- August 20 - Linda Clifford, American R&B and dance singer
- August 21 - Peter Weir, Australian film director
- August 21 - Kari S. Tikka, Finnish Professor of Finance (d. 2006)
- August 23 - Saira Banu, Indian actress
- August 26 - HRH Prince Richard of Gloucester
- August 31 - Roger Dean, British artist
- August 31 - Jos LeDuc, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 1999)
[edit] September–October
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