1944 History Events: What Happened in 1944

The world was thrown into disorder by World War II in 1944. German E-boats assaulted US troops training for the Normandy Landings in April. June saw the formation of the Provisional French Government and the fall of Rome, the first Axis capital to fall to the Allies. The German Navy’s Enigma Code, which had delayed Allied efforts for the majority of the war, is decrypted virtually in real time by June 5th, and British bombers attack the Normandy shore in preparation for the Normandy Landings the following day. On the 6th of June, 155,000 Allied troops land on the Normandy coast, making it the world’s greatest amphibious military operation. The Allies pushed through to Paris during the next two months, liberating the French capital and weakening Nazi Germany’s grip on Western Europe.

On March 2nd, Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca wins Best Picture at the 16th Academy Awards, and Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit, which includes his most famous statement, “Hell is other people,” is published in May. Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, a well-known play, opened in Chicago in December.

The Summer Olympics in London are cancelled, and the Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Northern Italy, are also cancelled due to World War II. On June 3rd, Austrian podiatrist Hans Asperger published his article on Asperger Syndrome, which described the signs of autism in detail. Friedrich Hayek, another Austrian scholar, wrote The Road to Serfdom in March, which had a huge impact on conservative and libertarian philosophy.

In 1944, Led Zeppelin musician Jimmy Page, American director and writer George Lucas, South Korean politician and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and Swiss immunologist and Nobel Laureate R.M. Zinkernagel were all born.

Continue reading to discover more about the events of 1944.

Event
(March 26, 1944) Diana Ross, an American pop singer and actress, was born. She rose to international fame as the leader of the vocal group the Supremes and later as a solo artist.
Advertisements (June 06, 1944) An Allied fleet of ships, planes, and landing craft, led by US General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and approximately 156,000 men began the invasion of northern France from England on this day in 1944—the legendary "D-Day" of World War II.
(June 10, 1944) Joe Nuxhall, 15, of the Cincinnati Reds, becomes the youngest player ever to play in a major-league game.
(June 20, 1944) The MW 18014 V-2 rocket, the world's first man-made object to reach space, achieves a height of 176 kilometres.
(October 21, 1944) The first kamikaze attack on HMAS Australia occurs when a Japanese aircraft carrying a 200 kg (441 lb) bomb strikes the superstructure above the bridge. 30 crew members were killed in the attack, which inflicted major damage to the ship but did not destroy it due to the bombs' failure to explode. photo source: wikimedia.org
Advertisements (October 25, 1944) During the Combat of Leyte Gulf, the Imperial Japanese Navy and the US Third and Seventh Fleets engage in the greatest naval battle in history, the Japanese use kamikaze suicide bombers on American vessels for the first time. photo source: wikimedia.org