Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
Years: 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 - 1944 - 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
- January 4 - The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.
- January 17 - British forces, in Italy, cross the Garigliano River.
- January 20 - The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin; the US 36th Infantry Division, in Italy, attempts to cross the Rapido River.
- January 22 - Allies begin Operation Shingle, the assault on Anzio, Italy.
- 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.
- February 3 - United States troops capture the Marshall Islands.
- February 7 - In Anzio, Italian forces launch a counteroffensive.
- February 14 - Anti-Japanese revolt on Java.
- February 15 - Battle of Monte Cassino - the monastery atop Monte Cassino is destroyed by Allied bombing.
- February 17 - Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins. The battle ended in an American victory on February 22.
- February 20 - "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
- February 20 - The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
- February 29 - The Admiralty Islands are invaded in the American General Douglas MacArthur-led Operation Brewer.
- March 15 - Battle of Monte Cassino - Allied aircraft bomb German-held monastery and stage an assault.
- March 18 - German forces occupy Hungary.
- May 17 - Type IX U-boat: U-884 is launched.
- May 18 - Battle of Monte Cassino - Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.
- June 5 - Rome falls to the Allies, becoming the first Axis capital to fall.
- June 6 - D-Day; Allied invasion of Normandy begins.
- June 9 - Stalin launches an offensive against Finland with the intent of defeating Finland before pushing for Berlin.
- June 25 - The Battle of Tali-Ihantala between Finnish and Soviet troops begins. Largest battle ever to be fought in the Nordic countries.
- July 9 - British and Canadian forces capture Caen.
- July 17 - The largest convoy of the war embarks from Halifax, Nova Scotia under Royal Canadian Navy protection.
- July 18 - Hideki Tojo resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.
- July 20 - Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt. See Claus von Stauffenberg
- July 21 - Battle of Guam - American troops land on Guam starting the battle (ends on August 10).
- July 25 - Operation Spring - One of the bloodiest days for Canadians during the war: 18,444 casualties, including 5,021 killed.
- August 12 - Allies capture Florence, Italy.
- August 15 - Operation Dragoon lands Allies in southern France.
- August 24 - Allies enter Paris.
- September 2 - Allies liberate Brussels.
- September 11 - Northern and southern France invasion forces link up near Dijon.
- September 15 - The Long Range Desert Group makes the first of its raids.
- September 17 - Operation Market Garden begins.
- September 19 - Armistice between Finland and Soviet Union signed. (End of the Continuation War)
- September 26 - Operation Market Garden ends in a withdrawal.
- October 5 - Canadian Air Force pilots shoot down the first German jet fighter over France.
- October 20 - Belgrade is liberated by Yugoslav Partisans and the Red Army.
- October 23 - Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines begins.
- October 26 - Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines ends.
- December 16 - Germany begins Ardennes offensive, later to become known as Battle of the Bulge.
- December 17 - German troops carry out the Malmédy massacre.
- December 24 - The Bulge reaches its deepest point at Celles.
- December 26 - American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne.
- December 31 - Hungary declares war on Germany
Other events
- January 5 - The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper.
- March 4 - In Ossining, New York, Louis Buchalter, the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing Prison.
- June 17 - Iceland declares full independence from Denmark.
- July 17 - Port Chicago disaster: Near the San Francisco Bay, two ships laden with ammunition for the war explode in Port Chicago, California killing 232.
- August 4 - Holocaust: A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse where they find Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family.
- November 7- Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Thomas E. Dewey in the U.S. presidential election.
- December 26 - The play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams was first publicly performed.
- December 30 - King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving his throne vacant.
- In Sweden, the law of 1864 that criminalizes homosexuality is abolished.
- Swedish author of children's books Astrid Lindgren publishes her first book Pippi Longstocking.
- In Sweden, Erik Wallenberg and Ruben Rausing invent a way to package milk in paper and start the company Tetra Pak.
Art, Culture & Fashion
- 1944 in film
- 1944 in literature
- An American Dilemma by Gunnar Myrdal
- Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
- 1944 in music
- January 18 - The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City for the first time hosts a jazz concert; the performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.
- 1944 in sports
- 1944 in television
Births
- January 6 - Bonnie Franklin, actress
- January 12 - Joe Frazier, boxing champion
- January 16 - Jim Stafford, singer
- January 23 - Rutger Hauer, actor
- January 24 - Neil Diamond, singer
- January 26 - Angela Davis, feminist and activist
- February 3 - Dave Davies, musician
- February 5 - Michael Mann, director, writer, producer
- February 5 - Al Kooper, musician
- February 9 - Alice Walker, writer
- February 10 - Vernor Vinge (science fiction novelist)
- February 11 - Bert Greene golfer.
- February 11 - Buddhadev Dasgupta, film director.
- February 11 - Michael G Oxley, American politician.
- February 13 - Jerry Springer, television host
- February 14 - Alan Parker, director, writer
- February 14 - Carl Bernstein, journalist
- February 16 - Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
- February 22 - Jonathan Demme, director
- February 23 - Johnny Winter, musician
- March 1 - Roger Daltrey, musician ("The Who")
- March 6 - Kiri Te Kanawa, opera singer
- March 15 - Sly Stone, singer
- March 15 - Elisabeth Plessen, writer
- March 17 - John Sebastian, singer-songwriter, also a member of the Lovin' Spoonful
- March 19 - Sirhan Sirhan, assassin
- March 26 - Diana Ross, singer
- April 3 - Tony Orlando, musician
- April 7 - Gerhard Schröder, German Bundeskanzler (chancellor) since 1998
- May 5 - John Rhys-Davies, actor
- May 8 - Gary Glitter, singer
- May 9 - Richie Furay, musician ("Poco", "Buffalo Springfield")
- May 10 - Jim Abrahams, director
- May 13 - Armistead Maupin, author
- May 14 - George Lucas, film director and producer
- May 18 - Justus Frantz, pianist
- May 20 - Joe Cocker, British singer
- May 20 - Boudewijn de Groot, Dutch singer
- May 25 - Frank Oz, puppeteer, director
- May 28 - Rudy Giuliani, mayor of New York City, 1993-2001
- May 28 - Gladys Knight singer
- July 21 - Paul Wellstone, U.S. Senator: a Democrat from Minnesota
- August 8 - Peter Weir, film director
- October 9 - John Entwistle, bassist, The Who
- October 15 - David Trimble, Ulster Unionist and Nobel Prize winner
- December 17 - Jack L. Chalker science fiction novelist
- Rem Koolhaas, Dutch architect
Deaths
- January 20 - James McKeen Cattell, first professor of psychology in U.S.
- February 11 - Carl Meinhof, German linguist
- February 11 - Ivan Sollertinski, friend of Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich.
- March 12 - Werner Drechsler, of U-118
- March 24 - Orde Wingate, British soldier
- March 28 - Rick Barry, basketball star
- May 12 - Max Brand, author
- May 12 - Q, British writer
- May 16 - George Ade, author
- July 31 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer
- August 8 - Chaim Soutine, painter
- November 2 - Thomas Midgley, chemist and inventor
- Heath Robinson, British cartoonist and illustrator
- Physics - Isidor Isaac Rabi
- Chemistry - Otto Hahn
- Medicine - Joseph Erlanger, Herbert Spencer Gasser
- Literature - Johannes Vilhelm Jensen
- Peace - International Committee of the Red Cross.