Natalia
Author
(823)1944
January
- 30
- The Homfreyganj massacreOn 30 January 1944 the Japanese shot 44 Indians accused of espionage at Homfreyganj in the Andamans, most of them Indian Independence League activists.
- The Brazzaville ConferenceOn 30 January 1944 de Gaulle opened a conference on the future of French Africa at Brazzaville. It promised reform but rejected even distant self-government.
February
March
- 01
- The keels of the carriers Tarawa and KearsargeOn 1 March 1944 the keels of two Essex-class carriers were laid at Norfolk and New York. Tarawa and Kearsarge entered service only after the war, in 1945–46.
- The second bombing of the VaticanOn 1 March 1944 six small bombs fell just outside the Vatican wall, killing a workman and damaging the Holy Office. The British privately admitted a mistake.
- 06
- Operation Thursday – the second Chindit expeditionOn the night of 5–6 March 1944 gliders of the US 1st Air Commando landed Wingate's Chindits deep in Burma. The second expedition behind Japanese lines began.
- The alarm in Western AustraliaOn 6 March 1944 the submarine USS Haddo reported Japanese warships near the Lombok Strait. The Allies put Perth and Fremantle on alert – in vain.
April
May
June
July
August
- 01
- Key eventThe Warsaw Uprising beginsAt 5 p.m. on 1 August 1944 Home Army units attacked the Germans in Warsaw to liberate the capital before the Red Army entered it.
- The end of the fighting on TinianOn 1 August 1944 the Americans declared Tinian taken. Almost the entire garrison was killed, and the island became one of the largest B-29 bases.
September
October
- 23
- Key eventThe Battle of Leyte Gulf beginsThe Battle of Leyte Gulf began on 23–24 October 1944. US submarines sank two of Kurita's heavy cruisers, and Halsey's aircraft sank the battleship Musashi.
- The liberation of Novi SadOn 23 October 1944 Yugoslav Partisans, followed by Red Army soldiers, entered Novi Sad, the capital of Bačka, which Hungary had seized in 1941.
November
December
- 15
- The landing on MindoroOn 15 December 1944 the Americans landed unopposed near San Jose on Mindoro. Airfields on the island were to cover the coming invasion of Luzon.
- The loss of RuhnuOn 15 December 1944 the Germans left Ruhnu in the Gulf of Riga, the last scrap of Estonia they held. Soviet troops took the island on 19 December.