Year '1944' ('
MCMXLIV') was a
leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the
Gregorian calendar.
Events of 1944
:: ''(Below, events of
World War II have the "
WWII" prefix.)''
January
★
January 4 -
WWII: The
Battle of Monte Cassino begins.
★
January 5
★
★
WWII: Murder of
Danish playwright
Kaj Munk.
★
★ The ''
Daily Mail'' becomes the first transoceanic
newspaper.
★
January 14 -
WWII: The Soviet troops start the offensive at
Leningrad and
Novgorod.
★
January 15
★
★
WWII: The
27th Polish Home Army Infantry Division recreated, marking the start of
Operation Tempest by the Polish
Home Army.
★
★ An
earthquake hits
San Juan, Argentina killing an estimated 10,000 people in the worst
natural disaster in Argentina's history.
★
January 17 -
WWII:
★
★
British forces, in
Italy, cross the
Garigliano River.
★
★ Meat Rationing ends in
Australia.
★
★
Soviet Union ceases the production of
Mosin-Nagant 1891/30 sniper rifle.
★
January 20 -
WWII: The
Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on
Berlin. The
U.S. Army 36th Infantry Division, in Italy, attempts to cross the
Rapid River.
★
January 22 -
WWII:
Allies begin
Operation Shingle, the assault on
Anzio,
Italy. The
U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division stand their ground at Anzio against violent assaults for 4 months.
★
January 27 -
WWII: The two year
Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
★
January 29 -
WWII: The
Battle of Cisterna takes place.
★
January 30 -
WWII:
United States troops invade
Majuro, Marshall Islands.
★
January 31 -
WWII: American forces land on
Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the
Japanese-held
Marshall Islands.
February
★
February 1 -
WWII:
United States troops land in the
Marshall Islands.
★
February 3 -
WWII:
United States troops capture the
Marshall Islands.
★
February 7 -
WWII: In
Anzio,
Italian forces launch a counteroffensive.
★
February 14 -
WWII:
★
★
SHAEF headquarters established in Britain by General
Eisenhower.
★
★ Anti-
Japanese revolt on
Java.
★
February 15 -
WWII:
Battle of Monte Cassino - the monastery atop
Monte Cassino is destroyed by Allied bombing.
★
February 17 -
WWII:
Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ended in an American victory on
February 22.
★
February 20 -
WWII:
★
★ "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on
German aircraft manufacturing centers.
★
★ The
United States takes
Eniwetok Island.
★
February 23 -
WWII: The
Chechens and
Ingush are forcibly deported to
Central Asia.
★
February 26 - - Shooting begins of the
Nazi propaganda film,
"The Fuehrer Gives a Village to the Jews" in
Theresienstadt.
★
February 29 -
WWII: The Admiralty Islands are invaded by U.S. forces in the
Battle of Los Negros and
Operation Brewer.
March
★ March -
WWII: The Japanese launch an offensive in central and south
China.
★
March 1 -
WWII:
★
★
USS Tarawa and
USS Kearsarge laid down.
★
★ Anti-
fascist strike in northern
Italy.
★
★
USS Tarawa is laid down.
★
March 2 -
WWII:
Train stalls inside a railway tunnel outside
Salerno,
Italy - 426 choke to death
★
March 3 -
WWII: The
Order of Nakhimov and the
Order of Ushakov were instituted in
USSR
★
March 4 - In
Ossining, New York,
Louis Buchalter, the leader of
1930s crime syndicate
Murder, Inc., is executed at
Sing Sing.
★
March 6 -
WWII: Soviet Army planes attack
Narva in
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 Creation of the politic Committee of national liberation in
Greece.
★
March 15 -
WWII:
★
★
Battle of Monte Cassino -
Allied aircraft bomb German-held monastery and stage an assault.
★
★ The National Council of the
French Resistance approves the
Resistance programme.
★
March 17 -
WWII: The hitlerists assassinate at
Rîbniţa almost 400 prisoners, Soviet citizens and anti-
fascist Romanians.
★
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 the height of over 4000 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. 33 Nazis are killed.
★
March 24 -
WWII:
★
★ 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.
★
★ In the Polish village of
Markowa, German police kill Józef and Wiktoria Ulm, their six children and eight Jewish people they were hiding.
April
★
April 25 -
WWII: The
United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
★
April 28 -
WWII: 749 American troops are killed in
Exercise Tiger at
Start Bay,
Devon,
England.
May
★
May 5 -
WWII:
Mohandas Gandhi released in
India.
★
May 9 -
WWII: In the Ukrainian city of
Sevastopol, Soviet troops had completely driven out the German forces. The besieged German troops had been ordered by
Hitler to “fight to the last Man.”
[1]
★
May 12 -
WWII: Soviet troops finalize the liberation of
Crimea.
★
May 18 -
WWII:
★
★
Battle of Monte Cassino - Germans evacuate
Monte Cassino and
Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.
★
★ Deportation of
Crimean Tatars by the
Soviet Union government.
★
May 30 -
Princess Charlotte Louise Juliette Louvet Grimaldi of
Monaco, heir to the throne resigns from her rights in favor of her son
Prince Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi, later reigning Prince
Rainier III of Monaco.
June
Allied troops land on the beaches of Normandy during
D-Day.
★
June 1 -
WWII: The
BBC transmits a coded message (the first line of a poem by
Paul Verlaine) to
underground resistance fighters in
France warning that the invasion of
Europe is imminent.
★
June 2 -
WWII: The provisional
French government is established.
★
June 4 -
WWII:
★
★ A hunter-killer group of the
United States Navy captures the
German submarine
U-505, marking the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at
sea since the
19th century.
★
★ American, English and French troops enter
Rome.
★
June 5 -
WWII:
★
★
Rome falls to the
Allies. It is the first capital of an
Axis nation to fall.
★
★ More than 1000
British bombers drop 5000 tons of bombs on
German gun batteries on the
Normandy coast in preparation for
D-Day.
★
★ At 10:15 p.m. local time, the
BBC transmits the second line of the
Paul Verlaine poem to the
underground resistance indicating that the invasion of
Europe is about to begin.
★
June 6 -
WWII:
Battle of Normandy begins - ''Operation Overlord'', code named
D-Day, commences with the landing of 155,000
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. This operation was used to help liberate
France from
Germany. It also weakens
Nazi Germany hold on
Europe.
★
June 7 -
WWII:
Bayeux liberated by British troops.
★
June 9 -
WWII:
Stalin launches an offensive against
Finland with the intent of defeating Finland before pushing for
Berlin.
★
June 10 -
WWII: 642 men, women and children are killed in the
Oradour-sur-Glane Massacre in
France.
★
June 13 -
WWII:
Germany launches a
V1 Flying Bomb attack on
England.
★
June 15 -
WWII:
★
★
Battle of Saipan: The
United States invades
Saipan.
★
★
American forces push back
Germans in
St. Lo, capturing the city.
★
June 17
★
★
WWII: The proclamation of the Republic of
Iceland.
★
★
Iceland declares full independence from
Denmark.
★
June 22 -
WWII:
★
★
Operation Bagration: General attack by
Soviet forces to clear the
German forces from
Belarus which resulted in the destruction of the 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 25 -
WWII: The
Battle of Tali-Ihantala between Finnish and Soviet troops begins. Largest battle ever to be fought in the
Nordic countries.
★
June 26 -
WWII: American troops enter
Cherbourg.
July
★
July 1 - Start of the
United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference at
Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
★
July 3 -
WWII:
★
★ Soviet troops liberate
Minsk.
★
★
Battle of Imphal: Japanese forces call off their advance, ending the battle in a
British victory.
★
July 6
★
★
Hartford Circus Fire: More than 100 children died in one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the
United States.
★
★
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 -
WWII: Soviet troops start the operations for occupying the Baltic countries.
★
July 13 -
WWII: Liberation of
Vilnius.
★
July 17 -
WWII:
★
★ The largest convoy of the war embarks from
Halifax, Nova Scotia under
Royal Canadian Navy protection.
★
★ SS ''E.A.Bryan'', loaded with ammunition, explodes in the
Port Chicago naval base - 320 dead.
★
July 18 -
WWII:
Hideki Tojo resigns as
Prime Minister of
Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.
★
July 20 -
WWII:
Adolf Hitler survives an
assassination attempt. See
Claus von Stauffenberg
★
July 21 -
WWII:
★
★
Battle of Guam -
American troops land on
Guam starting the battle (ends on
August 10).
★
★ The creation of the Polish Committee for national liberation.
★
July 22 - End of Bretton Woods conference and signing of Agreements.
★
July 25 -
WWII:
Operation Spring - One of the bloodiest days for
Canadians during the war: 18,444 casualties, including 5,021 killed.
August
★
August 1 -
WWII:
Warsaw Uprising begins.
★
August 2 -
WWII:
Turkey ends diplomatic and economic relations with
Germany.
★
August 4 -
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 - 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:
★
★ Allies capture
Florence,
Italy.
★
★ World's first undersea
oil pipeline laid, between
England and
France in
Operation Pluto
★
August 15 -
WWII:
Operation Dragoon lands Allies in southern
France.
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) -
WWII: Victorious insurrection in
Paris.
★
August 20 -
WWII: American forces successfully defeat
German forces at
Chambois. This victory closed the
Falaise Gap.
★
August 23 -
WWII:
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 -
WWII: Allies liberate
Paris, therefore ending The
Battle of Normandy.
★
August 25 -
WWII:
Hungary decides to continue the war together with
Germany.
★
August 31 -
The Mad Gasser of Mattoon resumes his mysterious attacks in
Mattoon, Illinois.
September
★
September 1 -
WWII: In
Bulgaria, the
Bagrianov government resigns.
★
September 2 -
WWII: 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 -
WWII: Allies liberate
Brussels.
★
September 4 -
WWII:
★
★ The
British 11th Armored Division liberates the city of
Antwerp in
Belgium.
★
★ Finland breaks off relations with
Germany.
★
September 5 -
WWII: The Soviets declare war on
Bulgaria.
★
September 7 -
WWII: The Belgian government returns from exile in Britain.
★
September 8 -
WWII:
★
★
London is hit by a
V2 rocket for the first time.
★
★ The French town of
Menton is liberated from
Germany.
★
September 9 -
WWII: Insurrection in
Sofia.
★
September 11 -
WWII: Northern and Southern France invasion forces link up near
Dijon.
★
September 17 -
WWII:
Operation Market Garden begins.
★
September 19 -
WWII: Armistice between Finland and Soviet Union signed. (End of the
Continuation War)
★
September 20 -
WWII:
Jüri Uluots, prime minister in capacity of president of
Estonia, escapes to
Sweden. Two days later,
Tallinn is taken over by the
Red Army.
★
September 24 -
WWII: The
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 -
WWII:
Operation Market Garden ends in an Allied withdrawal.
October
★
October 2 -
WWII:
★
★
Warsaw Uprising ends.
★
★ Holocaust:
Nazi troops end the
Warsaw Uprising.
★
October 5 -
WWII:
Royal Canadian Air Force pilots shoot down the first
German jet fighter over
France.
★
October 6 -
WWII:
Battle of Debrecen starts on the
Eastern Front (lasts until
October 29).
★
October 8 - The
radio show, ''
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' debuts.
★
October 9 -
WWII:
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 10 -
Holocaust: 800
Gypsy children are systematically murdered at
Auschwitz death camp
★
October 12 -
WWII: The Allies land at
Athens.
★
October 13 -
WWII:
Riga, the capital of
Latvia is taken over by the
Red Army.
★
October 14 -
WWII:
German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face execution for allegedly conspiring against
Adolf Hitler.
★
October 18 -
WWII:
Volkssturm founded on
Hitler's orders.
★
October 20 -
WWII:
★
★
Belgrade is liberated by Yugoslav Partisans and the
Red Army.
★
★
LNG explosion destroys a
square mile (2.6 km²) of
Cleveland, Ohio.
★
October 21 -
WWII:
Aachen is the first
German city to fall.
★
October 23 -
WWII: Naval
Battle of Leyte Gulf in the
Philippines begins (lasts until
October 26).
★
October 25
★
★
Florence Foster Jenkins recital in the
Carnegie Hall
★
★
WWII:
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 Métro station
November
★
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
★
★
U.S. presidential election, 1944:
Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection over
Republican challenger
Thomas E. Dewey to become the only U.S. president to be elected to a fourth term.
★
★
Passenger train derails in
Aguadilla,
Puerto Rico due to excessive speed in a declining hill. 16 killed; 50 injured.
★
November 22 -
William Lyon Mackenzie King introduces
conscription in
Canada (see
Conscription Crisis of 1944).
★
November 24 - The entire territory of
Estonia is taken over by the
Red Army.
December
★
December 30 -
WWII:
Edward Stettinius Jr. becomes the last
United States Secretary of State of the
Roosevelt administration, by filling the seat left by
Cordell Hull.
★
December 3 -
WWII:
Civil war breaks out in a newly-liberated
Greece, between
Communists and royalists.
★
December 12 and
13 -
WWII: British units attempt to take the hilltop town of Tossignano; they are repulsed.
★
December 15 - A private airplane carrying bandleader
Glenn Miller disappears in heavy fog over the
English Channel while flying to
Paris.
★
December 16 -
WWII:
★
★ Germany begins the Ardennes offensive, later to become known as
Battle of the Bulge.
★
★ General
George C. Marshall becomes the first
Five-Star General.
★
December 17 -
WWII: German troops carry out the
Malmedy massacre.
★
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.
★
★ Premiere of ''
The Glass Menagerie'' by
Tennessee Williams.
★
December 30 -
WWII: King
George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving his throne vacant.
★
December 31 -
WWII:
Hungary declares war on
Germany.
Undated
★ 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.
★
Hans Asperger publishes his paper on
Asperger's Syndrome
★
National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence established.
★
Canadian Arctic explorer Henry Larsen becomes the first person to successfully navigate the
Northwest Passage in both directions in a schooner. He would chronicle the event in his
autobiography, entitled “The Big Ship” ().
[1]
Ongoing
★
Sino-Japanese War (
1937-
1945)
★
Second World War (
1939-
1945)
Births
''For more 1944 births see ''
January-February
★
January 1 -
Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir, President of the
Sudan
★
January 2 - Prince
Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian politician
★
January 6
★
★
Bonnie Franklin, American actress
★
★
Rolf M. Zinkernagel, Swiss immunologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
★
January 9 -
Jimmy Page, English guitarist (
Led Zeppelin)
★
January 12 -
Joe Frazier, American boxer
★
January 17 -
Françoise Hardy, French singer
★
January 18 -
Paul Keating, twenty-fourth
Prime Minister of Australia
★
January 19 -
Shelley Fabares, American actress and singer
★
January 23 -
Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor
★
January 25 -
Anita Pallenberg, Italian model and actress
★
January 26 -
Angela Davis, American feminist and activist
★
January 27
★
★
Mairead Corrigan, Northern Irish activist, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize
★
★
Nick Mason, English drummer (
Pink Floyd)
★
January 28
★
★
Susan Howard, American actress
★
★
John Tavener, British composer
★
February 3 -
Dave Davies, British musician (
The Kinks)
★
February 5 -
Al Kooper, American musician (
Blood, Sweat, and Tears)
★
February 9 -
Alice Walker, American writer
★
February 10 -
Vernor Vinge, American writer
★
February 11 -
Michael G. Oxley, American politician
★
February 12 -
Moe Bandy, country music singer
★
February 13
★
★
Stockard Channing, American actress
★
★
Jerry Springer, English-born television host
★
February 14
★
★
Carl Bernstein, American journalist
★
★
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
★
★
Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player
★
February 23 -
Johnny Winter, American 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
March-April
★
March 1
★
★
John Breaux, U.S. Senator from Louisiana
★
★
Roger Daltrey, English musician (
The Who)
★
March 2 -
Uschi Glas, German actress
★
March 4
★
★
Harvey Postlethwaite, British engineer and race car designer (d.
1999)
★
★
Mary Wilson (singer), American singer
★
★
Bobby Womack, American singer and songwriter
★
March 6 -
Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand soprano
★
March 11 -
Don Maclean, British comedian
★
March 15 -
Sly Stone, American singer
★
March 17 -
John Sebastian, American singer and songwriter (
The Lovin' Spoonful)
★
March 19
★
★
Said Musa,
Prime Minister of Belize
★
★
Sirhan Sirhan, Palestinian assassin of
Robert F. Kennedy
★
March 24 -
R. Lee Ermey, U.S. Marine and actor
★
March 26 -
Diana Ross, American singer (The Supremes)
★
March 28 -
Rick Barry, American basketball player
★
March 29 -
Denny McLain, baseball player
★
April 3 -
Tony Orlando, American musician
★
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)
★
★
Odd Nerdrum, Norwegian painter
★
April 11 -
John Milius, American film director, producer, and screenwriter
★
April 13 -
Jack Casady, American musician (
Jefferson Airplane and
Hot Tuna)
★
April 15 -
Dzhokhar Dudayev, Chechen leader, the first President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, an unrecognized breakaway state in the North Caucasus.
★
April 19 -
James Heckman, American economist,
Nobel Prize laureate
★
April 22 -
Steve Fossett, American millionaire adventurer
★
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
May-June
★
May 1 -
Suresh Kalmadi, Indian politician
★
May 4 -
Paul Gleason, American actor (d.
2006)
★
May 5 -
John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor
★
May 8 -
Gary Glitter, English singer
★
May 9 -
Richie Furay, American musician (
Poco and
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 singer
★
★
Boudewijn de Groot, Dutch singer
★
★
Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian businessman
★
May 21 -
Mary Robinson,
President of Ireland
★
May 23
★
★
John Newcombe, Australian tennis player
★
★
Avraham Oz, Israeli Professor of Theatre, translator, and political activist
★
May 25 -
Frank Oz, English puppeteer and film director
★
May 28
★
★
Rudy Giuliani, Mayor of New York City
★
★
Gladys Knight, American singer
★
★
Patricia Quinn, Northern Irish actress
★
May 30 -
Meredith MacRae, American actress (d.
2000)
★
June 1 -
Robert Powell, English actor
★
June 3 -
Edith McGuire, American sprinter
★
June 5
★
★
Tommie Smith, American athlete
★
★
Colm Wilkinson, Irish singer
★
June 6 -
Phillip Allen Sharp, American scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
★
June 8 -
Mark Belanger, baseball player (d.
1998)
★
June 24
★
★
Jeff Beck, British musician
★
★
John "Charlie" Whitney, British rock guitarist (
Family)
★
June 29 -
Gary Busey, American actor
★
June 30 -
Raymond Moody, parapsychologist
July-August
★
July 13 -
Ernő Rubik, Hungarian inventor
★
July 17 -
Mark Burgess,
New Zealand cricket captains
★
July 21
★
★
Tony Scott, English film director
★
★
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
★
★
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
★
★
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 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
★
★
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
September-October
★
September 1 -
Leonard Slatkin, American conductor
★
September 7
★
★
Earl Manigault, American basketball player (d.
1998)
★
★
Bora Milutinovic, Serbian football coach
★
September 12
★
★
Leonard Peltier, U.S. Presidential candidate
★
★
Barry White, American singer (d.
2003)
★
September 16 -
Betty Kelley, American singer (Martha and the Vandellas)
★
September 17 -
Reinhold Messner, Italian Mountaineer
★
September 19 -
Ismet Özel, Turkish poet
★
September 21 -
Hamilton Jordan, Carter's first
Chief of Staff
★
September 22 -
Frazer Hines, British actor
★
September 25 -
Michael Douglas, American actor
★
September 26 -
Anne Robinson, British television host
★
September 30 -
Jimmy Johnstone, Scottish footballer
★
October 9
★
★
John Entwistle, English musician (
The Who) (d.
2002)
★
★
Nona Hendryx, singer (
LaBelle)
★
★
Peter Tosh, Jamaican singer and musician (d.
1987)
★
October 15
★
★
David Trimble, Northern Irish politician, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize
★
★
Şerif Gören, Turkish film director
★
October 28
★
★
Dennis Franz, American actor
★
★
Ian Marter, British actor (d.
1986)
November-December
★
November 7 -
Joe Niekro, baseball player (d.
2006)
★
November 10 -
Silvestre Reyes, American politician
★
November 11 -
Kemal Sunal, a master of comedy in the Turkish history of cinema
★
November 12
★
★
Booker T. Jones, American musician, singer, and songwriter (
Booker T. and the M.G.'s)
★
★
Al Michaels, American sportscaster
★
November 17
★
★
Danny DeVito, American actor
★
★
Rem Koolhaas, Dutch architect
★
★
Lorne Michaels, Canadian film producer
★
★
Tom Seaver, baseball player
★
November 18 -
Wolfgang Joop, German artist, fashion designer and art collector
★
November 21 -
Richard Durbin, American politician
★
November 24 -
Ibrahim Gambari, Nigerian scholar and diplomat
★
November 25 -
Ben Stein, American law professor, actor, and author
★
December 2 -
Ibrahim Rugova, first
President of Kosovo (d.
2006)
★
December 6 -
Jonathan King, British music producer
★
December 7 -
Daniel Chorzempa, American organist
★
December 12 -
Kenneth Cranham, Scottish born actor
★
December 21
★
★
Michael Tilson Thomas, American conductor
★
★
Bill Atkinson, English footballer
★
December 22 -
Steve Carlton, baseball player
★
December 23
★
★
Wesley Clark, U.S. general and NATO Supreme Allied Commander
★
★
Ingar Knudtsen, Norwegian writer
★
December 25 -
Jairzinho, Brazilian football player
★
December 28 -
Kary Mullis, American chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
For more 1944 deaths see
January - March
★
January 1 -
Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b.
1862)
★
January 6 -
Ida Tarbell, American journalist (b.
1857)
★
January 10 -
William Emerson Ritter, American biologist (b.
1856)
★
January 11 -
Edgard Potier, Belgian spy (b.
1903)
★
January 20 -
James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist (b.
1860)
★
January 23 -
Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (b.
1863)
★
January 31
★
★
Jean Giraudoux, French writer (b.
1882)
★
★
William Allen White, American journalist (b.
1868)
★
February 1 -
Piet Mondriaan, Dutch painter (b.
1872)
★
February 4 -
Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b.
1867)
★
February 11 -
Carl Meinhof, German linguist (b.
1857)
★
February 21 -
Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-born race car driver (b.
1873)
★
March 4 -
Louis Buchalter, Jewish American mobster, head of Murder, Inc. (b.
1897)
★
March 5 -
Max Jacob, French poet (b.
1876)
★
March 22 -
Pierre Brossolette, journalist and French Resistance fighter (b.
1903)
★
March 24 -
Orde Wingate, British soldier (b.
1903)
April - June
★
April 9 -
Evgeniya Rudneva, Soviet World War II heroine (b.
1920)
★
April 17 -
J.T. Hearne English cricketer (b.
1867)
★
April 25 -
George Herriman, American cartoonist (b.
1880)
★
April 28 -
Paul Poiret, French couturier (b.
1879)
★
April 29 -
Bernardino Machado,
President of Portugal (b.
1851)
★
May 12 -
Max Brand, American author (b.
1892)
★
May 12 -
Q, British writer (b.
1863)
★
May 16 -
George Ade, American author (b.
1866)
★ June -
Joseph Campbell, Northern Irish poet and lyricist (b.
1879)
★
June 27 -
Milan Hodža, Slovak politician, champion of regional integration in Europe (b.
1878)
July - September
★
July 6
★
★
Andrée Borrel, French World War II heroine (executed) (b.
1919)
★
★
Vera Leigh, English World War II heroine (executed) (b.
1903)
★
★
Sonia Olschanezky, German World War II heroine (executed) (b.
1923)
★
★
Diana Rowden, English World War II heroine (executed) (b.
1915)
★
July 7 -
Georges Mandel, French politician and World War II hero (executed) (b.
1885)
★
July 26 -
Reza Pahlavi,
Shah of Iran (b.
1877)
★
July 31 -
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer (b.
1900)
★
August 1 -
Manuel L. Quezon, Philippine president (b.
1878)
★
August 4 -
Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, Polish poet,
Warsaw Uprising
★
August 8 -
Chaim Soutine, Russian painter (b.
1893)
★
August 12 -
Suzanne Spaak, Belgian World War II heroine (executed)
★
August 19 -
Henry Wood, British conductor (b.
1869)
★
August 23 -
Abdul Mejid II, Caliph of the Ottoman Empire (b.
1868)
★
August 26
★
★
Adam von Trott zu Solz, German diplomat (executed) (b.
1909)
★
★
Hans Leesment, Estonian general (b.
1873)
★
August 27 -
Princess Mafalda of Savoy (executed) (b.
1902)
★
September 6
★
★
Gustave Biéler, Swiss World War II hero (executed) (b.
1904)
★
★
Jan Franciszek Czartoryski, Polish RC priest, executed during the
Warsaw Uprising
★
★ Bishop
James Cannon, Jr, American religious and
temperance movement leader (b.
1864)
★
September 9 -
Robert Benoist, French race car driver and war hero (executed) (b.
1895)
★
September 11
★
★
Yolande Beekman, French World War II heroine (executed) (b.
1911)
★
★
Madeleine Damerment, French World War II heroine (executed) (b.
1917)
★
★
Noor Inayat Khan, Indian princess and World War II heroine (executed) (b.
1914)
★
September 13 -
Heath Robinson, British cartoonist and illustrator (b.
1872)
★
September 14
★
★
John Kenneth Macalister, Canadian World War II hero (executed) (b.
1914)
★
★
Frank Pickersgill, Canadian World War II hero (executed) (b.
1915)
★
★
Roméo Sabourin, Canadian World War II hero (executed) (b.
1923)
★
September 16 -
Gustav Bauer,
Chancellor of Germany (b.
1870)
★
September 25 -
Eugeniusz Lokajski, Polish athlete, gymnast and photographer,
Warsaw Uprising
October - December
★
October 4 -
Al Smith, American politician (b.
1873)
★
October 8 -
Wendell Willkie, American politician (b.
1892)
★
October 14 -
Erwin Rommel, German Field Marshal (b.
1891)
★
October 21 -
Alois Kayser, German missionary (b.
1877)
★
October 23 -
Charles Glover Barkla, English physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1877)
★
October 24 -
Shoji Nishimura, Japanese
Vice admiral (b.
1889)
★
October 26
★
★
HRH The Princess Beatrice, youngest and last living child of
Queen Victoria (b.
1857)
★
★
William Temple,
Archbishop of Canterbury (b.
1881)
★
November 2 -
Thomas Midgley, American chemist and inventor (b.
1889)
★
November 5 -
Alexis Carrel, French surgeon and biologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1873)
★
November 7 -
Hannah Szenes, Hungarian World War II heroine (executed) (b.
1921)
★
December 2 -
Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist (b.
1874)
★
December 4 -
Roger Bresnahan, baseball player (b.
1879)
★
December 13 -
Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born artist (b.
1866)
★
December 30 -
Romain Rolland, French writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1866)
★ ''date unknown'' -
Gerald Haxton secretary and lover of the famous novelist and playwright
W. Somerset Maugham (b.
1892)
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.
Ship events
★
Ship launches
★
Ship commissionings
★
Ship decommissionings
★
Shipwrecks
Notes
1. "Year by Year 1944" -- History Channel International
2. "Year by Year 1944" -- History Channel International
External links
Table of contents
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