Title: 1944 Content: == Events == * January 4 – The Battle of Monte Cassino begins. * January 5 – Murder of Danish playwright Kaj Munk * January 17 – 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 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. 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 Japanese-held Marshall Islands. == Births == * January 9 - Jimmy Page, English guitarist (Led Zeppelin) * February 23 – Johnny Winter * March 1 - Roger Daltrey, English singer (The Who) * March 28 – Ken Howard (d. 2016) * April 7 – Gerhard Schröder * April 9 – Leila Khaled * May 8 – Gary Glitter * May 14 – George Lucas * May 19 – Peter Mayhew (d. 2019) * June 4 - Michelle Phillips, American singer and musician (The Mamas & the Papas) * July 13 – Ernő Rubik * July 19 - Tim McIntire (d. 1986) * August 21 - Peter Weir, Australian director * September 10 – Judit Pogány, Hungarian actress * September 18 - Veronica Carlson, British actor (d. 2022) * October 9 - John Entwistle, English bass guitarist (The Who) (d. 2002) * October 24 – Ray Downs * November 2 - Michael Buffer, American ring announcer * November 2 - Keith Emerson, English keyboardist (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) (d. 2016) * November 10 - Sir Tim Rice, English lyricist * November 25 – Ben Stein == Deaths == * 7 January 1944 – Lou Henry Hoover, First Lady of the United States * 21 July 1944 – Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, German army officer * 14 October 1944 – Erwin Rommel, German army officer * 26 October 1944 Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom Princess Henry of Battenberg youngest daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe - Coburg and Gotha == New books == *An American Dilemma – Gunnar Myrdal *Au rendez-vous allemand – (To the German Rendezvous) – Paul Éluard *A Bell for Adano – John Hersey *Beyond the Palisade (poetry) – James K. Baxter *The Book of Imaginary Beings – Jorge Luis Borges *Book of Naturalists – Charles William Beebe *The Case of Mrs. Wingate – Oscar Micheaux *Dangling Man – Saul Bellow *The Dawn Appears – Annie Greene Nelson *Friday's Child – Georgette Heyer *The Golden Fleece – Robert von Ranke Graves *The Horse's Mouth – Joyce Cary *Johnny Tremain – Esther Forbes *The Lost Weekend – Charles R. Jackson *Our Lady of the Flowers – Jean Genet *The Razor's Edge – W. Somerset Maugham *The Tall Book of Nursery Tales – Feodor Rojankovsky *Terras do Sem Fim (The Violent Land) – Jorge Amado *Thou That Dwellest in the Gardens – Hayyim Hazaz *Two Frontiers (poetry) – Edwin James Bradley ==Nobel prizes== * Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Joseph Erlanger, American doctor, (1874-1965), and Herbert Gasser, American doctor (1888-1963)