October 1944

October

• 01

  • The Hungarian delegation in MoscowOn 1 October 1944 a secret delegation sent by Regent Horthy and led by General Gábor Faraghó reached Moscow to negotiate a Hungarian–Soviet armistice.
  • The Red Army in YugoslaviaAt the turn of September and October 1944 the Red Army crossed the Danube and entered eastern Serbia, as Tito had agreed beforehand with Stalin.
• 02

  • Key eventThe surrender of the Warsaw UprisingOn 2 October 1944 an agreement ending the Warsaw Uprising was signed at Ożarów. The Home Army received combatant rights; the city's people were expelled.
  • The attack on AachenOn 2 October 1944 the US XIX Corps attacked the West Wall on the Wurm north of Aachen, opening the manoeuvre to encircle the city.
  • The Allies in Crete and the PeloponneseIn autumn 1944 the British entered Patras and Corinth, while the Germans on Crete fell back around Chania, where they held out until May 1945.
• 03

  • The capture of HiiumaaOn 2 October 1944 the Red Army landed on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa. The Germans withdrew to Saaremaa, and by 3 October the whole island was taken.
• 05

  • The Canadians in the NetherlandsOn 5 October 1944 the Canadian 2nd Infantry Division took Putte and entered the Netherlands, as the battle to open the port of Antwerp on the Scheldt went on.
• 06

  • At the Dukla PassOn 6 October 1944 troops of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps and the 38th Army crossed the Dukla Pass into Slovakia after a month of bloody fighting.
  • The Battle of Debrecen beginsOn 6 October 1944 the 2nd Ukrainian Front advanced on Debrecen. Pliyev's group broke the Hungarian Third Army, but the Germans held Oradea.
• 07

  • Key eventThe Sonderkommando revolt at AuschwitzOn 7 October 1944 Sonderkommando prisoners at Birkenau rose against the SS and set Crematorium IV on fire. About 450 prisoners and three SS men died.
• 09

  • Key eventThe Moscow Conference of 1944On 9 October 1944 Churchill flew to Moscow. Talks with Stalin brought the percentages agreement on the Balkans, a clash over Poland and a pledge on Japan.
• 10

  • The Red Army on the BalticOn 5 October 1944 the 1st Baltic Front struck from Šiauliai towards Klaipėda; on 10 October its tanks reached the Baltic, cutting off Army Group North.
• 12

  • The liberation of AthensOn 12 October 1944 the Germans left Athens and EAM and ELAS took the streets; the British arrived on 14 October and Papandreou's government on 18 October.
  • The raids on FormosaOn 12–16 October 1944 Halsey's carriers crushed Japanese air power over Formosa. Tokyo announced 11 carriers sunk – in reality, not one.
  • XXIII Corps in EuropeIn the autumn of 1944 the headquarters of the US XXIII Corps, formed in January 1944, reached Europe. It never saw battle – in 1945 it occupied the Rhineland.
• 14

  • Rommel's suicideOn 14 October 1944 Field Marshal Rommel, accused of complicity in the 20 July plot, was forced to take poison. The regime said he had died of his wounds.
• 15

  • Key eventThe Arrow Cross coup in HungaryOn 15 October 1944 Horthy broadcast a request for an armistice with the USSR. The Germans abducted his son, forced his abdication and installed Szálasi.
• 16

  • The attack on East PrussiaOn 16 October 1944 the 3rd Belorussian Front began the Gumbinnen–Goldap operation – the first attempt to take East Prussia, halted before Gumbinnen.
• 18

  • The VolkssturmOn 18 October 1944 at Bartenstein in East Prussia Himmler announced the creation of the Volkssturm – a levy en masse of men aged 16 to 60.
• 20

  • Key eventThe landing on LeyteOn 20 October 1944 the US Sixth Army landed on Leyte. General MacArthur waded ashore and told the Filipinos by radio: “I have returned”.
  • Key eventThe liberation of BelgradeOn 20 October 1944, after a week of street fighting, the Red Army and Tito's Partisans drove the Germans from Belgrade, free after 3.5 years of occupation.
• 21

  • Key eventThe capture of AachenOn 21 October 1944, after three weeks of fighting and shelling, Colonel Gerhard Wilck surrendered Aachen – the first large German city taken by the Allies.
• 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 recognition of de Gaulle's governmentOn 23 October 1944 the USA, Britain, the USSR and Canada formally recognised de Gaulle's administration as the Provisional Government of the French Republic.
  • B-29s in the MarianasIn autumn 1944 B-29 bombers arrived on Saipan to raid Japan. The first landed on 12 October; the first raid on Tokyo came on 24 November. Tinian opened in 1945.
  • 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.
• 25

  • The Battle off SamarOn 25 October 1944 three actions were fought in the Battle of Leyte Gulf – in the Surigao Strait, off Samar and off Cape Engaño. Kamikaze attacks began.
  • The liberation of RomaniaOn 25 October 1944 Romanian and Red Army troops took Carei and Satu Mare. Northern Transylvania, ceded to Hungary in 1940, returned to Romanian hands.
• 27

  • The fighting in the Hürtgen ForestThe Hürtgen Forest fighting, begun on 19 September 1944, went on in late October; in November and December it became one of the US Army’s bloodiest battles.