- Jan 1 Army defeats Navy 10-7 in football "Arab Bowl," Oran, North Africa
Clark Replaces Patton
Jan 1 General Clark replacesGeneral Patton as commander of the US 7th Army
- Jan 1 The first feature-length foreign movie, "African Journey," is shown on TV in New York City
Flying Ace Shot Down
Jan 3 World War II: Top US flying ace MajorPappy Boyington shot down in his Corsair by Japanese Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Zero (survives as POW)
- Jan 4 Operation Carpetbagger begins (aerial dropping of supplies and weapons to resistance fighters in Europe)
1st African American at the State Department
Jan 4Ralph Bunche is appointed as the first African American official in the US State Department
Churchill and De Gaulle Meet in Marrakesh
Jan 12 British Prime MinisterWinston Churchill and French GeneralCharles de Gaulle begin a two-day wartime conference in Marrakesh
Eisenhower Allied Commander
Jan 15 GeneralEisenhower arrives in England to take up his command as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force[1]
- Jan 15 Vught Concentration Camp puts 74 women in 1 cell, 10 die
- Jan 16 GeneralEisenhower takes command of Allied Invasion Force in London
- Jan 16 US Coast Guard pilot Stewart Graham first to fly a helicopter from a ship, taking off for a surveillance mission from British freighter SS Daghestan, part of a convoy sailing from New York to Liverpool, England
- Jan 17 British corvette HMS Violet sinks U-641 in Atlantic Ocean
- Jan 18 1st Chinese naturalized US citizen since repeal of exclusion acts
Met's First Jazz Concert
Jan 18 The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City hosts a jazz concert for the first time; performers includeLouis Armstrong,Billie Holiday, Lionel Hampton,Mildred Bailey, Red Norvo, Roy Eldridge, Jack Teagarden, andBenny Goodman via remote hookup[1]
- Jan 20 RAF drops 2,300 ton of bombs on Berlin
- Jan 21 447 German bombers attack London
- Jan 21 649 British bombers attack Magdeburg
- Jan 22 Allied forces begin landing at Anzio on the Italian mainland
- Jan 23 Detroit Red Wings score 15 goals against New York Rangers with an NHL record 37 points; also record consecutive goals & most lopsided game, 15-0
- Jan 24 Allied troops occupy Nettuno Italy
Braves Lose Manager, Gain Owners
Jan 27Casey Stengel, manager of the Boston Braves since 1938, resigns Lou Perini, Guido Rugo, & Joseph Maney buy control of Boston Braves
Siege of Leningrad
Jan 27 Siege of Leningrad lifted by the Soviets after 880 days and more than 2 million Russians killed
Jeremiah
Jan 28Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 1 "Jeremiah" premieres, with the composer conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Jan 28 WWII: 683 British RAF bombers attack Berlin, Germany
- Jan 28 WWII: German submarines U-271 is sunk by US Navy air patrol and U-571 by Australian plane off the coast of Ireland
- Jan 29 USS Missouri, the last battleship commissioned by the US Navy, is launched
- Jan 29 World War II: 285 German bombers attack London
- Jan 29 World War II: About 38 men, women, and children die in the Koniuchy massacre in Poland
- Jan 29 World War II: The Battle of Cisterna takes place in central Italy
- Jan 30 The Battle of Cisterna begins in central Italy
- Jan 30 World War II: United States troops land on Majuro, Marshall Islands
- Jan 31 U-592 sunk off Ireland
- Jan 31 US forces invade Kwajalein Atoll
- Feb 1 Supreme Soviet increases Soviet republics' autonomy
- Feb 1 US 7th Infantry/4th Marine Division lands on Kwajalein/Roi/Namur
- Feb 2 4th US marine division conquers Roi, Marshall Islands
- Feb 2 Allied troops 1st set foot on Japanese territory
- Feb 2 Baseball meets in NYC to discuss postwar action
- Feb 2 Edward Chodorov's play "Decision" premieres in NYC
- Feb 3 World War II: United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.
- Feb 4Jean Anouilh's play "Antigone" premieres in Paris
- Feb 4 US 7th Infantry Division captures Kwajalein, in the Pacific
Captain America
Feb 5 "Captain America" serial film premieres starring Dick Purcell, first appearance of a Marvel superhero outside of a comic book
- Feb 5 358 RAF bombers attack Stettin
Swinging on a Star
Feb 7Bing Crosby records "Swinging on a Star" for Decca Records (Academy Award Best Original Song)
- Feb 7 Germans launch counteroffensive at Anzio, Italy
- Feb 8 1st African American reporter accredited to White House, Harry McAlpin
- Feb 8 German submarine U-762 sunk off Ireland by British forces with the loss of all 50 crewmen
- Feb 9 U-734/U-238 sunk off Ireland
- Feb 10 Belgian resistance fighter and author Kamiel van Baelen arrested
- Feb 10 U-666/U-545/U-283 sink off Ireland
- Feb 11 German troops reconquer Aprilia, Italy
- Feb 11 U-424 sunk off Ireland
- Feb 12 Wendell Wilkie enters the race to be the Republican nominee for US President
- Feb 14 Anti-Japanese revolt on Java
- Feb 14 Carl Wick publishes "Salmon Trolling for Commercial & Sport Fishing"
- Feb 15 891 British bombers attack Berlin in the largest raid by the RAF against the city
- Feb 15 Allies begin attack on Axis held Monte Cassino monastery, Italy
Battle of Eniwetok
Feb 17 Battle of Eniwetok begins with US forces landing on Canna and Camelia islets in the Pacific
- Feb 17 Operation Hailstone: US begins night bombing of Truk island in the Pacific
- Feb 18 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall signs a contract to play baseball with the Cincinnati Reds just one day after playing in a high school basketball game; debuts later that year
- Feb 18 Maastricht resistance fighter JAJ Janssen arrested
- Feb 19 823 British bombers attack Berlin
- Feb 19 U-264 sinks off Ireland
- Feb 20 Batman & Robin comic strip premieres in newspapers
- Feb 20 Battle of Eniwetok: US forces take Enewetak Atoll at the cost of 37 Americans killed or missing and 94 wounded; Japanese losses are 800 dead and 23 prisoners
- Feb 20 World War II: The "Big Week" began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers
- Feb 21 "War As It Happens" news show premieres on NBC-TV, in New York City only
- Feb 22 World War II: US Army Air Forces accidentally bomb Dutch town of Nijmegen, around 800 civilians die
- Feb 23 Battle of Eniwetok ends as US forces complete the capture of Parry Island from the Japanese 1st Amphibious Brigade
- Feb 23 Forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people to Central Asia.
Coup d'état
Feb 24 Minister of WarJuan Perón leads a coup in Argentina
- Feb 25 Alexander Gretchaninov's "Missa Oecumenica" (Ecumenical Mass) premieres in Boston with Serge Koussevitzky conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra; the composer wrote the work in memory of the conductor's wife Natalie (1880-1942)
- Feb 25 US 1st Army completes invasion plan
- Feb 26 First female US Navy captain, Sue Dauser of the Nurse Corps, appointed
- Feb 28 Arrests of the ten-Boom family in Nazi occupied Netherlands (Haarlem) through a Dutch collaborator on charges of hiding Jews
- Feb 29 5 leaders of Indonesia Communist Party sentenced to death
Future Pope Run Down by Nazi Truck
Feb 29 Karol Wojtyla, future PopeJohn Paul II, is run down and injured by a Nazi truck in Kraków
- Feb 29 US troop land on Los Negros, Admiralty Islands
- Mar 1 Massive strikes in northern Italian towns
- Mar 1 U-358 sinks in Atlantic
Casablanca's Academy Award Win
Mar 2 16th Academy Awards: "Casablanca",Jennifer Jones &Paul Lukas win
- Mar 2 Fumes from locomotive stalled in a tunnel suffocate 521 in Italy
Barber's 2nd Symphony
Mar 3 Premiere performance of US Army CorporalSamuel Barber's 2nd Symphony by the Boston Symphony, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky in Boston, Massachusetts
- Mar 4 1st US bombing of Berlin
- Mar 4 Anti-Germany strikes in North Italy
Piston's 2nd Symphony
Mar 5 1st performance ofWalter Piston's 2nd Symphony by the National Symphony, in Washington, D.C.
- Mar 6 USAAF begins daylight bombing of Berlin
- Mar 6 WWII: British and Canadian sailors boards abandoned German U-boat U-774 seeking Enigma code machine, but are forced to scuttle the sub when efforts to tow it fail
- Mar 7 Japan begins offensive in Burma
- Mar 8 US resumes bombing Berlin
- Mar 10 U-575 sinks British corvette HMS Asphodel in the Atlantic Ocean killing 92 of the 97 men aboard
- Mar 11 Dutch resistance fighter Joop Westerweel arrested
USSR Recognizes Government
Mar 13 USSR recognizes Italian government ofPietro Badoglio
- Mar 15 Italian town of Cassino destroyed by Allied bombing
- Mar 16 French Vichy Internal minister Pierre Pucheu sentenced to death for treason
- Mar 17 Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupts after months of volcanic unrest, destroying several towns near the volcano
- Mar 18 Nazi Germany occupies Hungary
- Mar 19 British composer Michael Tippett's oratorio "A Child of Our Time" premieres at the Adelphi Theatre in London, England
- Mar 20 2,500 women trample guards and floorwalkers to purchase 1,500 alarm clocks announced for sale in a Chicago Illinois department store
- Mar 20 Bus falls off bridge into Passaic River NJ, killing 16
- Mar 21 US GeneralEisenhower postpones invasion of the south of France until after Normandy
- Mar 22 600+ 8th Air Force bombers attack Berlin
James Stewart's Combat Mission
Mar 22 American movie starJames Stewart flies his 12th combat mission, leading the 2nd Bomb Wing in an attack on Berlin
Ardeatine Massacre
Mar 24 Ardeatine massacre: Nazis led by SS officers Herbert Kappler,Erich Priebke and Karl Hass execute 335 civilians and political prisoners in occupied Rome in retaliation for the previous day's Via Rassela bombing that killed 33 Germans[1]
- Mar 24 RAF rear gunner Nicholas Alkemade survives a jump from his Lancaster bomber 18,000 feet over Germany without a parachute; his fall is broken by pine trees and soft snow, and he suffers only a sprained leg
- Mar 25 Germany troop executes 335 residents of Rome
- Mar 26 705 British bombers attack Essen, Germany
- Mar 27 2,000 Jews are murdered in Kaunas Lithuania
- Mar 27 40 Jewish policemen in Riga, Latvia, ghetto are shot by the Gestapo
- Mar 27 Children's Aktion-Nazis collect all the Jewish children of Lovno
Event of Interest
Mar 28Astrid Lindgren sprains ankle and begins writing "Pippi Longstocking"
Shostakovich's 8th Symphony
Apr 2Dmitri Shostakovich's 8th Symphony premieres in NY
Communist Leader Returns
Apr 2Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party returns to Italy from the Soviet Union
- Apr 2 Soviet Army marches into pro-German Romania
- Apr 3 British dive bombers attack German battleship Tirpitz at Kåfjorden, Norway
- Apr 3 US Supreme Court (Smith v Allwright) "white primaries" unconstitutional
- Apr 4 Allied Bucharest bombings targeting railroads kills 5,000
- Apr 4 British troops capture Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Free France
Apr 4 French GeneralCharles de Gaulle forms new regime in exile, with communists
- Apr 5 World War II: 145 RAF Lancasters bomb German aircraft factory in Toulouse, France
- Apr 5 World War II: 270 inhabitants of the Greek town of Kleisoura are executed by the Germans
- Apr 6 Jewish nursery at Izieu-Ain, France, overrun by Nazis
- Apr 7 World War II: General Montgomery speaks to generals at St. Paul's School about his vision for the upcoming D-Day landings
Searching Wind
Apr 12Lillian Hellman's "Searching Wind" premieres in NYC
- Apr 13 New Zealand and the Soviet Union establish diplomatic relations
- Apr 13 South Carolina rejects black suffrage
- Apr 13 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 5-4 in overtime for a 4-0 series sweep; Canadiens' first SC triumph since 1931
- Apr 13 Transport No. 71 departs Drancy (France) internment camp, taking 1,500 French Jews toAuschwitz concentration camp in Nazi German occupied Poland; up to 1,260 killed upon arrival, an estimated 130 survived
- Apr 14 1st Jews transported from Athens arrive atAuschwitz
- Apr 14 Freighter "Fort Stikene" explodes in Bombay India, killing 1,376
- Apr 14 GeneralEisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force
- Apr 14 Greek Colonel Venizelos forms government
Izieu Children's Home Raid
Apr 16 Nazis led byKlaus Barbie raid Izieu Jewish children's home, near Lyon, taking 44 children and seven adults to exterminations camps[1]
Fancy Free
Apr 18Leonard Bernstein andJerome Robbins' ballet "Fancy Free" premieres at the Metropolitan Opera House, NYC
- Apr 19 1944 NFL Draft: Angelo Bertelli from University of Notre Dame first pick by Boston Yanks
- Apr 19 Allied fleet attack Sabang Sumatra
- Apr 20 Dutch Communist Party resistance fighter John Postma sentence to death
- Apr 20 NFL legalizes coaching from bench
- Apr 21 NFL Chic Cardinals & Pittsburgh Steelers merge (dissolves on Dec 3)
- Apr 22 Allies land near Hollandia, New Guinea
Fascist Leaders' Salzburg Conference
Apr 22 Fascist leadersAdolf Hitler andBenito Mussolini meet at their Salzburg conference
- Apr 24 1st Boeing B-29 arrives in China "over the Hump"
- Apr 25 United Negro College Fund incorporates
- Apr 26 First B-29 is attacked by Japanese fighters, one fighter shot down
- Apr 26 Papandreou government in Greece forms
- Apr 27 Boston Brave Jim Tobin no-hits Bkln Dodgers, 2-0
- Apr 28 Exercise "Tiger" ends with 750 US soldiers dead in D-Day rehearsal after their convoy ships were attacked by German torpedo boats off Slapton Sands, Devon.
Stalin Meets Orlemanski
Apr 28 Soviet leaderJoseph Stalin meets Polish-American priest Stanislaus Orlemanski in Moscow to discuss religion and the future of post-war Poland
- May 1 Pulitzer prize awarded to American Martin Flavin for his novel "Journey in the Dark"
- May 1 Surprise attack on Weteringschans, Amsterdam, fails
- May 2 WABD (WNEW, now WNYW) TV channel 5 in NYC (DUM/MET/FOX) 1st broadcast
- May 3 "Going My Way," directed by Leo McCarey and starringBing Crosby, premieres in New York (Academy Award for Best Picture, 1945)
- May 3 Meat rationing ends in US
Gaslight
May 4 MGM releases film adaptation of "Gaslight", starring Charles Boyer,Ingrid Bergman, and an 18-year-oldAngela Lansbury in her film debut
Gandhi Freed
May 5Mahatma Gandhi freed from prison (again)
- May 5 Soviet offensive against Sebastopol, Crimea
- May 6 KJR-AM in Seattle Washington swaps calls with KOMO
NY Yankees Manager Returns
May 9Joe McCarthy returns as New York Yankees manager after an illness
- May 9 Russians recapture Crimea by taking Sevastopol
- May 10 Chinese offensive in West-Yunnan
- May 10 Smith v Allwright (excluding Blacks from primary voting) is illegal
- May 11 Opposition group surprise attack post office Washer
- May 12 900+ 8th US Air Force bombers attack Zwikau, Bohlen & Brux
- May 12 Crimea purged of Nazi troops
- May 12 German police arrest Dutch resistance member Gerrit van der Veen and later execute him
- May 14 91 German bombers harass Bristol
- May 14 British troops occupy Kohima
- May 15 14,000 Jews of Munkacs, Hungary, deported toAuschwitz
- May 15 Cincinnati Red Clyde Shoun no-hits Boston Braves, 1-0
- May 15Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, Winston Churchill and King George VI discuss the plan for D-Day
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