Editing 1944

==Events==
===[[World War II]]===
====January====
* [[January 4]] - The [[Battle of Monte Cassino]] begins.
* [[January 5]] - Murder of [[Denmark|Danish]] playwright [[Kaj Munk]].
* [[January 14]] - The Soviet troops start the offensive at [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]] and [[Novgorod]].
* [[January 15]] - The [[27th Polish Home Army Infantry Division]] recreated, marking the start of [[Operation Tempest]] by the Polish [[Home Army]].
* [[January 17]] - [[United Kingdom|British]] forces, in [[Italy]], cross the [[Garigliano River]].
* [[January 17]] - Meat Rationing ends in [[Australia]].
* [[January 20]] - The [[Royal Air Force]] drops 2,300 tons of bombs on [[Berlin]]. The [[US 36th Infantry Division|U.S. Army 36th Infantry Division]], in Italy, attempts to cross the [[Rapido River]].
* [[January 22]] - [[Allies]] begin [[Operation Shingle]], the assault on [[Anzio]], [[Italy]]. The [[U.S. 45th Infantry Division|U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division]] stand their ground at Anzio against violent assaults for 4 months.
* [[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 [[Japan]]ese-held [[Marshall Islands]].

====February====
* [[February 1]] - [[United States]] troops land in the [[Marshall Islands]].
* [[February 3]] - [[United States]] troops capture the [[Marshall Islands]].
* [[February 7]] - In [[Anzio]], [[Italy|Italian]] forces launch a counteroffensive.
* [[February 14]] - [[SHAEF]] headquarters established in Britain by General [[Eisenhower]]
* [[February 14]] - Anti-[[Japan]]ese revolt on [[Java (island)|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 [[Germany|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====
* [[March]] - The Japanese launch an offensive in central and south [[China]].
* [[March 1]] - [[USS Tarawa (CV-40)|USS Tarawa]] and [[USS Kearsarge (CV-33)|USS Kearsarge]] laid down.
* [[March 1]] - Anti-[[fascist]] [[Strike action|strike]] in northern [[Italy]].
* [[March 2]] - [[Train]] stalls inside a railway tunnel outside [[Salerno]], [[Italy]] - 426 choke to death
* [[March 3]] - The [[Order of Nakhimov]] and the [[Order of Ushakov]] were instituted in [[USSR]]
* [[March 10]] - In Britain the [[Education Act]] lifts the ban on women [[teacher]]s marrying.
* [[March 12]] - The Creation of the politic Committee of national liberation in [[Greece]].
* [[March 15]] - [[Battle of Monte Cassino]] - [[Allies|Allied]] aircraft bomb German-held monastery and stage an assault.
* [[March 15]] - The National Counsil of the [[French Resistance]] approves the [[Resistance movement|Resistance]] programme.
* [[March 17]] - The hitlerists assassinate at [[Rîbniţa]] almost 400 prisoners, Soviet citizens and anti-[[fascist]] Romanians.
* [[March 18]] - [[Germany|German]] forces occupy [[Hungary]].
* [[March 20]] - [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] Flight Sergeant [[Nicholas Alkemade]]'s bomber is hit over Germany and he has to bail out without a [[parachute]] from the height of over 4000 meters. Tree branches interrupt his fall and he lands safely on deep snow
* [[March 23]] - members of the [[Italian Resistance]] attack [[Nazis]] marching in [[via Rasella]]. 33 Nazis are killed.
* [[March 24]] - the [[Fosse Ardeatine]] massacre in Rome, Italy. 335 Italians are killed, including 75 Jews and over 200 members of the [[Italian Resistance]] from various groups.

====May====
* [[May 5]] - [[Mohandas Gandhi]] released in [[India]].
* [[May 9]] - Soviet troops liberate [[Sevastopol]].
* [[May 12]] - Soviet troops finalize the liberation of [[Crimea]].
* [[May 18]] - [[Battle of Monte Cassino]] - Germans evacuate [[Monte Cassino]] and [[Allies|Allied]] forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.
* [[May 18]] - Deportation of [[Crimean Tatars]] by the [[Soviet Union]] government.

====June====
[[image:NormandySupply.jpeg|thumb|300px|Allied troops land on the beaches of Normandy during [[D-Day]].]].
* [[June 2]] - The provisional [[France|French]] government is established.
* [[June 4]] - A hunter-killer group of the [[United States Navy]] captures the [[Germany|German]] submarine [[Unterseeboot-505|U-505]], marking the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at [[sea]] since the [[19th century]].
* [[June 4]] - American, English and French troops enter [[Rome]].
* [[June 5]] - [[Rome]] falls to the [[Allied powers|Allies]]. It is the first capital of an [[Axis powers|Axis]] nation to fall.
* [[June 5]] - More than 1000 [[United Kingdom|British]] bombers drop 5000 tons of bombs on [[Germany|German]] gun batteries on the [[Normandy]] coast in preparation for [[D-Day]].
* [[June 6]] - [[Battle of Normandy]] begins - ''Operation Overlord'', code named [[D-Day]], commences with the landing of 155,000 [[Allies|Allied]] troops on the beaches of [[Normandy]] in [[France]]. The allied soldiers quickly break through the [[Atlantic Wall]] and push inland in the largest amphibious [[military]] operation in history.
* [[June 7]] - [[Bayeux]] liberated by British troops.
* [[June 9]] - [[Stalin]] launches an offensive against [[Finland]] with the intent of defeating Finland before pushing for [[Berlin]].
* [[June 10]] - 642 men, women and children are killed in the [[Oradour-sur-Glane]] Massacre in [[France]].
* [[June 13]] - [[Germany]] launches a [[V1 Flying Bomb]] attack on [[England]].
* [[June 15]] - [[Battle of Saipan]]: The [[United States]] invades [[Saipan]].
* [[June 17]] - The proclamation and discovery of the Republic of [[Iceland]].
* [[June 22]] - [[Operation Bagration]]: General attack by [[Soviet]] forces to clear the [[Germany|German]] forces from [[Belarus]] which resulted in the destruction of the German [[Army Group Centre]], possibly the greatest defeat of the Wehrmacht during WWII.
* [[June 22]] - [[Burma Campaign]]: The [[Battle of Kohima]] ends in a British victory.
* [[June 25]] - The [[Battle of Tali-Ihantala]] between Finnish and Soviet troops begins. Largest battle ever to be fought in the [[Nordic countries]].
* [[June 26]] - American troops enter [[Cherbourg]].

====July====
* [[July 3]] - Soviet troops liberate [[Minsk]].
* [[July 3]] - [[Battle of Imphal]]: Japanese forces call off their advance, ending the battle in a [[United Kingdom|British]] victory.
* [[July 9]] - [[United Kingdom|British]] and [[Canada|Canadian]] forces capture [[Caen]].
* [[July 10]] - Soviet troops start the operations for freeing the Baltic countries.
* [[July 13]] - Liberation of [[Vilnius]].
* [[July 17]] - The largest convoy of the war embarks from [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]] under [[Royal Canadian Navy]] protection.
* [[July 17]] - SS ''E.A.Bryan'', loaded with ammunition, explodes in the [[Port Chicago]] naval base - 320 dead
* [[July 18]] - [[Hideki Tojo]] resigns as [[Prime Minister]] of [[Japan]] due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.
* [[July 20]] - [[Adolf Hitler]] survives an [[July 20 Plot|assassination attempt]]. See [[Claus von Stauffenberg]]
* [[July 21]] - [[Battle of Guam]] - [[United States|American]] troops land on [[Guam]] starting the battle (ends on [[August 10]]).
* [[July 21]] - The creation of the Polish Committee for national liberation.
* [[July 25]] - [[Operation Spring]] - One of the bloodiest days for [[Canada|Canadian]]s during the war: 18,444 casualties, including 5,021 killed.

====August====
[[Image:Warsaw Uprising boyscouts.jpg|right|thumb|[[Szare Szeregi]] Scouts also fought in the Warsaw Uprising.]]
* [[August 1]] - [[Warsaw Uprising]] begins.
* [[August 2]] - [[Turkey]] ends diplomatic and economic relations with [[Germany]].
* [[August 7]] - [[IBM]] dedicates the first program-controlled [[calculator]], the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the [[Harvard Mark I]]).
* [[August 12]] - Allies capture [[Florence]], [[Italy]].
* [[August 12]] - World's first undersea [[oil pipeline]] laid, between [[England]] and [[France]] in [[Operation Pluto]]
* [[August 15]] - [[Operation Dragoon]] lands Allies in southern [[France]]. [[U.S. 45th Infantry Division|U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division]] participates in its fourth assault landing at St. Maxime, spearheading the drive for the Belfort Gap.
* [[August 19]] - (August 25) Victorious insurrection in [[Paris]].
* [[August 23]] - [[Ion Antonescu]], prime minister of [[Romania]], is arrested and a new government is established. [[Romania]] exits the war against [[Soviet Union]] joining the [[Allies]].
* [[August 24]] - Allies enter [[Paris]].
* [[August 25]] - [[Hungary]] decides to continue the war together with [[Germany]].
* [[August 29]] - [[Slovak National Uprising]] begins

====September====
*[[September 1]] - In [[Bulgaria]], the [[Bagrianov]] government resigns.
*[[September 2]] - Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz. They arrive three days later.
*[[September 3]] - Allies liberate [[Brussels]].
*[[September 4]] - The [[United Kingdom|British]] 11th Armored Division liberates the city of [[Antwerp]] in [[Belgium]].
*[[September 4]] - Finland breaks off relations with [[Germany]].
*[[September 5]] - The Soviets declare war on [[Bulgaria]].
*[[September 7]] - The Belgian government returns from exile in Britain.
*[[September 8]] - [[London]] is hit by a [[V2 rocket]] for the first time.
*[[September 8]] - The French town of [[Menton]] is liberated from [[Germany]].
*[[September 9]] - Insurrection in [[Sofia]].
*[[September 11]] - Northern and southern France invasion forces link up near [[Dijon]].
*[[September 17]] - [[Operation Market Garden]] begins.
*[[September 19]] - Armistice between Finland and Soviet Union signed. (End of the [[Continuation War]])
*[[September 20]] - [[Jüri Uluots]], prime minister in capacity of president of [[Estonia]], escapes to [[Sweden]]
*[[September 24]] - The [[U.S. 45th Infantry Division|U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division]] takes the strongly defended city of [[Epinal]] before crossing the [[Moselle River]] and entering the western foothills of the Vosges.
*[[September 26]] - [[Operation Market Garden]] ends in an Allied withdrawal.

====October====
* [[October 2]] - [[Warsaw Uprising]] ends.
* [[October 5]] - [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] pilots shoot down the first [[Germany|German]] [[Jet aircraft|jet fighter]] over [[France]].
* [[October 6]] - [[Battle of Debrecen]] starts on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] (lasts until [[October 29]])
* [[October 9]] - [[United Kingdom|British]] Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] and [[Soviet Union]] Premier [[Joseph Stalin]] begin a nine-day conference in [[Moscow]] to discuss the future of [[Europe]].
* [[October 12]] - The Allies land at [[Athens]]. 
* [[October 13]] - [[Riga]], the capital of [[Latvia]] is liberated by the [[Red Army]].
* [[October 14]] - [[Germany|German]] [[Field Marshal]] [[Erwin Rommel]] committed suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against [[Adolf Hitler]].
* [[October 18]] - [[Volkssturm]] founded on [[Hitler]]'s orders.
* [[October 20]] - [[Belgrade]] is liberated by Yugoslav Partisans and the [[Red Army]].
* [[October 20]] - [[LNG]] explosion destroys a [[square mile]] (2.6 km²) of [[Cleveland, Ohio]]
* [[October 21]] - [[Aachen]] is the first [[Germany|German]] city to fall.
* [[October 23]] - Naval [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]] in the [[Philippines]] begins (lasts until [[October 26]]).
* [[October 25]] - [[Florence Foster Jenkins]] recital in the [[Carnegie Hall]]
* [[October 25]] - [[Red Army]] liberates [[Kirkenes]], the first town in [[Norway]] to be liberated from German occupation. 
* [[October 31]] - Mass murderer [[Marcel Petiot]] is apprehended in [[Paris metro]] station

====November====
* [[November 3]] - Two supreme commanders of the [[Slovak National Uprising]], Generals [[Ján Golian]] and [[Rudolf Viest]] are captured, tortured and later executed by German forces.

====December====
* [[December 16]] - Germany begins the Ardennes offensive, later to become known as [[Battle of the Bulge]].
* [[December 16]] - General [[George C. Marshall]] becomes the first [[General of the Army (United States)|Five-Star General]].
* [[December 17]] - German troops carry out the [[Malmédy massacre]].
* [[December 24]] - The Bulge reaches its deepest point at [[Celles]].
* [[December 26]] - American troops repulse [[Germany|German]] forces at [[Bastogne]].
* [[December 30]] - King [[George II of Greece]] declares a regency, leaving his throne vacant.
* [[December 31]] - [[Hungary]] declares war on [[Germany]].

===Other events===
====January-July====
* [[January 5]] - The ''[[Daily Mail]]'' becomes the first transoceanic [[newspaper]].
* [[January 15]] - Earthquake in [[San Juan, Argentina]], kills 8000-10000 people.
* [[February 26]] - - Shooting begins of the [[Nazism|Nazi]] propaganda film, "The Fuehrer Gives a Village to the Jews" in [[Theresienstadt]].
* [[March 1]] - [[USS Tarawa (CV-40)|USS Tarawa]] laid down
* [[March 4]] - In [[Ossining (village), New York|Ossining, New York]], [[Louis Buchalter]], the leader of [[1930s]] crime syndicate [[Murder, Inc.]], is executed at [[Sing Sing (prison)|Sing Sing]].
* [[March 24]] - In the Polish village of [[Markowa]], German police kill Józef and Wiktoria Ulm, their six children and eight Jewish people they were hiding.
* [[April 25]] - The [[United Negro College Fund]] is incorporated.
*[[May 30]] - [[Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois|Princess Charlotte Louise Juliette Louvet Grimaldi]] of [[Monaco]], heir to the throne resigns from her rights in favor of her son [[Rainier III, Prince of Monaco|Prince Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi]], later reigning Prince [[Rainier III, Prince of Monaco|Rainier III of Monaco]].
* [[June 17]] - [[Iceland]] declares full independence from [[Denmark]].
* [[July 1]] - Start of the [[United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference]] at [[Bretton Woods, New Hampshire]].
* [[July 6]] - A fire broke out during a performance of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus in Hartford, Connecticut, resulting in the deaths of 168 people, most of them children. See ''[[Hartford Circus Fire]]''
* [[July 17]] - [[Port Chicago disaster]]: Near the [[San Francisco Bay]], two ships laden with [[ammunition]] for the war explode in [[Port Chicago, California]] killing 232.
* [[July 22]] - End of Bretton Woods conference and signing of Agreements.

====August-November====
* [[August 4]] - [[Holocaust]]: A tip from a [[Netherlands|Dutch]] informer leads the [[Gestapo]] to a sealed-off area in an [[Amsterdam]] warehouse where they find [[Jew]]ish diarist [[Anne Frank]] and her family.
* [[August 5]] - Holocaust: [[Poland|Polish]] insurgents liberate a [[Germany|German]] [[labor camp]] in [[Warsaw]], freeing 348 [[Jew]]ish 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.
* [[September 2]] - [[Holocaust]]: Diarist [[Anne Frank]] and her family are placed on the last transport train from [[Westerbork]] to [[Auschwitz]]. They arrive three days later.
* [[October 2]] - Holocaust: [[Nazism|Nazi]] troops end the [[Warsaw Uprising]].
* [[October 8]] - The [[radio]] show, ''[[The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet]]'' debuts.
* [[October 10]] - [[Holocaust]]: 800 [[Roma (people)|Gypsy]] children are systematically murdered at [[Auschwitz]] death camp
* [[November 7]] - [[U.S. presidential election, 1944]]: [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt]] wins reelection over [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] challenger [[Thomas E. Dewey]] to become the only U.S. president to be elected to a fourth term.
* [[November 22]] - [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] introduces [[conscription]] in [[Canada]] (see [[Conscription Crisis of 1944]]).
====December====
* [[December 3]] - [[Civil war]] breaks out in a newly-liberated [[Greece]], between [[Communism|Communists]] and royalists.
* [[December 1]] - [[Edward Stettinius Jr.]] becomes the last [[United States Secretary of State]] of the [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] administration, by filling the seat left by the [[Cordell Hull]].
* [[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.

===Unknown dates===
* 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]].
* [[Barbados]] General election - [[Grantley Adams]], black lawyer, first majority party leader in the House of Assembly, as leader of [[Barbados Labour Party]]
* [[Hans Asperger]] publishes his paper on [[Asperger's syndrome|Asperger's Syndrome]]
* [[The Mad Gasser of Mattoon]] carries out a series of mysterious attacks in [[Mattoon, Illinois]].
* [[National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence]] established.

===Ongoing events===
* [[Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)|Sino-Japanese War]] ([[1937]]-[[1945]])
* [[World War II|Second World War]] ([[1939]]-[[1945]])


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