1944 significant event World War II
January
January 2 – WWII:
Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in North Africa.
Landing at Saidor: 13,000 US and Australian troops land on Papua New Guinea, in an attempt to cut off a Japanese retreat.
January 8 – WWII: Philippine Commonwealth troops enter the province of Ilocos Sur in northern Luzon and attack Japanese forces.
January 11
President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a Second Bill of Rights for social and economic security, in his State of the Union address.
The Nazi German administration expands Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp into the larger standalone Konzentrationslager Plaszow bei Krakau in occupied Poland.
January 12 – WWII: Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle begin a 2-day conference in Marrakech.
January 14 – WWII: Soviet troops start the offensive at Leningrad and Novgorod.
January 15
WWII: The 27th Polish Home Army Infantry Division is re-created, marking the start of Operation Tempest by the Polish Home Army, a resistance force.
1944 San Juan earthquake: An earthquake hits San Juan, Argentina, killing an estimated 10,000 people, in the worst natural disaster in Argentina's history.
January 17 – WWII:
The Battle of Monte Cassino begins in Italy. British forces cross the Garigliano River. U.S. Fifth Army troops, commanded by Lieutenant-General Mark W. Clark, arrive at the Garigliano, to begin their attack against the Gustav Line south of Rome. The French Expeditionary Corps, under command of General Alphonse Juin, moves into the mountains north of Monte Cassino.
The Soviet Union ceases production of the Mosin–Nagant 1891/30 sniper rifle.
January 20 – WWII:
The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
The United States 36th Infantry Division in Italy attempts to cross the Rapido River.
January 22 – WWII: Operation Shingle: The Allies begin the assault on Anzio, Italy. The U.S. 45th Infantry Division stand their ground at Anzio against violent assaults for four months.
January 25 – A total solar eclipse is visible in Pacific Ocean, South America, Atlantic Ocean and Africa, the 48th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.
January 27 – WWII:
The two-year Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
Light cruiser HMS Spartan is sunk by a Henschel Hs 293 guided missile, from a German aircraft off Anzio, western Italy, with the loss of 46 men.
January 29 – WWII: Koniuchy massacre – A unit of Soviet partisans accompanied by Jewish partisans kills at least 38 civilians in the village of Koniuchy in Nazi occupied Lithuania.
January 30 – WWII:
The Battle of Cisterna opens, as United States Army Rangers attempt to break out of the Anzio beachhead.
United States troops invade Majuro, Marshall Islands.
January 31 – WWII: Battle of Kwajalein: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands, in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.July
July–October – WWII: Germans are driven out of Lithuania leading to reimposition of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
July 1 – The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference begins at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States.
July 3 – WWII:
Soviet troops liberate Minsk.
Battle of Imphal: Japanese forces call off their advance, ending the battle with a British victory.
July 6 – 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 10–11 – WWII: Operation Jupiter during the Battle of Normandy of World War II: British strategic victory over German Panzer Corps.
July 10 – WWII: Soviet troops begin operations to liberate the Baltic countries from Nazi occupation.
July 12–21 – WWII: Dortan massacre – 35–36 French civilians are killed by Ostlegionen (Cossacks) serving with the Wehrmacht.
July 13 – WWII: Vilnius is freed by Soviet forces.
July 16 – WWII: The first contingent of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force arrives in Italy.
July 17 – WWII:
The largest convoy of the war embarks from Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia, under Royal Canadian Navy protection.
Port Chicago disaster: The SS E. A. Bryan, loaded with ammunition, explodes at the Port Chicago, California, Naval Magazine, killing 320 sailors and civilian personnel.
July 18 – WWII:
American forces push back the Germans in Saint-Lô, capturing the city.
British forces launch Operation Goodwood, an armoured offensive aimed at driving the Germans from the high ground to the south of Caen. The offensive ends 2 days later with minimal gains.
Hideki Tōjō resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort and is succeeded on July 22 by Kuniaki Koiso.
July 20
WWII: Adolf Hitler survives the 20 July plot to assassinate him led by Claus von Stauffenberg; he and his fellow conspirators in this and Operation Valkyrie are executed the following day.
The annular solar eclipse of July 20, 1944 is visible in Africa, Indian Ocean, Asia, Pacific Ocean and Australia, and is the 35th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 135.
July 21 – WWII:
Battle of Guam: American troops land on Guam (the battle ends August 10).
The Soviet-sponsored Polish Committee of National Liberation is created, in opposition to the Polish government-in-exile.
July 22
The Bretton Woods Conference ends with agreements signed to set up the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and International Monetary Fund.
The new Polish Committee of National Liberation publishes the PKWN Manifesto in Chełm, calling for a continuation of fighting against Nazi Germany, radical reforms including nationalisation of industry, and a "decent border in the West" (the Oder–Neisse line).
United States v. Masaaki Kuwabara, the only Japanese American draft avoidance case to be dismissed on a due process violation of the U.S. Constitution.
July 24 – The Holocaust: Majdanek concentration camp is liberated by the Soviet Red Army and much incriminating evidence of the atrocities committed there is found.
July 25 – WWII:
Operation Spring: One of the bloodiest days for Canadian forces during the war results in 1,550 casualties, including 450 killed, during the Normandy Campaign.
Operation Cobra: American forces launch a air and ground offensive against the German defenders in western Normandy, forcing them to retreat.
Battle of Tannenberg Line (or "Battle of the Blue Hills") in northeastern Estonia begins: The Red Army will gain a Pyrrhic victory by August 10.
July 26 – WWII: A Messerschmitt Me 262 becomes the first jet fighter aircraft to have an operational victory.
July 31 – WWII: American submarine USS Parche torpedoes Japanese troop transport Yoshino Maru; 2,495 drown.