1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday in the Gregorian calendar.
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century |
| Decades: | 1910s 1920s 1930s – 1940s – 1950s 1960s 1970s |
| Years: | 1941 1942 1943 – 1944 – 1945 1946 1947 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1944.
Events
change- 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
change- 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
change- 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
change- 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
change- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Joseph Erlanger, American doctor, (1874-1965), and Herbert Gasser, American doctor (1888-1963)