- January 12
- British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle begin a two-day wartime conference in Marrakesh. [1]
- Failed resistance raid on distribution office of Borgerstraat, Amsterdam. [1]
- January 14
- Soviet army begins offensive at Oranienbaum/Wolchow. [1]
- January 15
- European Advisory Commission decides to divide Germany. [1]
- US General Dwight Eisenhower begins his command of Operation Overlord. [10]
- Vught Concentration Camp puts 74 women in one cell, ten die. [1]
- January 17
- Corvette Violet sinks German submarine U-641 in Atlantic Ocean. [1]
- January 18
- First Chinese naturalized US citizen since repeal of exclusion acts. [1]
- January 20
- British Royal Air Force drops 2300 ton bombs on Berlin, Germany. [1]
- The Soviet Red Army captures Novgorod. [10]
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- The German siege of Leningrad is lifted. [10]
- January 21
- 447 German bombers attack London, England. [1]
- 649 British bombers attack Magdeburg. [1]
- US General Dwight Eisenhower accepts the revised plan for Operation Overlord, with five divisions landing on fifty miles of Normandy beaches. Americans are to land on the west, aiming for Cherbourg, Brest, and ports around the Loire estuary. British and Canadian forces are to land on the east near Caen, seizing Caen on the first day. D-Day is set for June 5. [10]
- January 22
- Battle of Anzio (Italy); Allies stopped on the beach. [1]
- January 24
- Allied troops occupy Nettuno, Italy. [1]
- January 27
- Leningrad liberated from Germany in 880 days with 600,000 killed. [1]
- January 28
- 683 British bombers attack Berlin. [1]
- German submarines U-271 and U-571 are sunk off Ireland. [1]
- January 29
- 285 German bombers attack London, England. [1]
- January 30
- US invades Majuro, Marshall Islands. [1]
- January 31
- Operation Overlord (D-Day invasion of Normandy) postponed until June. [1]
- German submarine U-592 sunk off Ireland. [1]
- US forces invade Kwajalein Atoll. [1]
- February 1
- Supreme Soviet enlarges soviet republics' autonomy. [1]
- US 7th Infantry/25th Marine Division lands on Kwajalein/Roi/Namur. [1]
- February 2
- 4th US marine division conquerors Roi, Marshall Islands. [1]
- Allied troops first set foot on Japanese territory. [1]
- February 4
- US 7th Infantry Division captures Kwajalein. [1]
- February 5
- 358 RAF-bombers attack Stettin, Germany. [1]
- February 7
- Germans launch counter-offensive at Anzio, Italy. [1]
- February 8
- German submarine U-762 sunk off Ireland. [1]
- February 9
- German submarines U-734 and U-238 sunk off Ireland. [1]
- February 10
- German submarines U-666, U-545, and U-283 sink off Ireland. [1]
- February 11
- German troops re-conquer Aprilia Italy. [1]
- German submarine U-424 sunk off Ireland. [1]
- February 14
- Anti-Japanese revolt on Java. [1]
- February 15
- 891 British bombers attack Berlin, Germany. [1]
- (about 0945 hours) In Italy, about 230 Allied B-17 bombers based at Foggia drop 257 tons of 500 pound bombs and 59 tons of incendiaries on the monastery atop Monte Cassino. (In the afternoon, a further 283 1000-pound bombs are dropped. No German troops were based in the monastery, but the immediate area was used for tank patrols, observation post to direct fire, and an ammunition dump.) [10]
- February 17
- Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins; US victory on February 22. [1]
- US begins night bombing of Truk. [1]
- February 19
- 823 British bombers attack Berlin, Germany. [1]
- German submarine U-264 sinks off Ireland. [1]
- February 20
- US takes Eniwetok Island. [1]
- February 22
- US 8th Air Force bombs Enschede, Arnhem and Nijmegen by mistake/800+ die. [1]
- February 24
- Argentina coup by Juan Peron, minister of war. [1]
- February 29
- Five leaders of Indonesia Communist Party sentenced to death. [1]
- US troops land on Los Negros, Admirality Islands. [1]
- March 1
- Massive strikes in Northern Italian towns. [1]
- German submarine U-358 sinks in the Atlantic Ocean. [1]
- March 2
- Fumes from locomotive stalled in a tunnel suffocates 521 in Italy. [1]
- March 4
- First US bombing of Berlin. [1]
- March 6
- (evening) 267 British bombers attack the railway centre at Trappes, south-west of Paris. Enormous damage is inflicted, with no loss of planes. This is the first attack of the Allied Transportation Plan, to disrupt German reinforcement routes prior to an amphibious landing. [10]
- US Air Force begins daylight bombing of Berlin. [1]
- March 7
- Japan begins offensive in Burma. [1]
- March 8
- US resumes bombing Berlin, Germany. [1]
- March 13
- USSR recognizes Italian Badoglio government. [1]
- March 15
- Allies launch another attack on Cassino. Over eight hours, 1000 tons of bombs are dropped, and 190,000 shells are fired on the town. By nightfall, two-thirds of the town is in Allied hands. [10]
- Otto Skorzeny and other Germans find hidden treasure of the Cathars in a cavern in La Penne mountain in France. The treasure is believed to originate with Solomon's Temple, with gold valued at US$60 billion. [861.102]
- March 16
- Vichy Internal minister Pucheu sentenced to death. [1]
- March 18
- 2,500 women trample guards and floorwalkers to purchase 1,500 alarm clocks announced for sale in a Chicago, Illinois department store. [1]
- March 19
- German troops enter Budapest, Hungary. [10]
- March 20
- Operation Anvil is cancelled. The plan was for a landing in south France simultaneously with the landing in north France. [10]
- Mount Vesuvius, Italy explodes. [1]
- King Peter II of Yugoslavia marries Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark. [1268.87]
- March 22
- Pucheu, French Internal minister to Vichy, executed. [1]
- 600+ US 8th Air Force bombers attack Berlin, Germany. [1]
- March 23
- Bomb assassination against Southern Tirol congregation in Rome, 33 die. [1]
- March 24
- 76 Allied officers escape Stalag Luft 3 (Great Escape). [1]
- (evening) 811 British bombers attack Berlin, Germany. 72 planes are shot down, killing 392 crew members, and leaving 131 as prisoners. This is the final British air assault of the Battle of Berlin. Since August 1943, Bomber Command had flown over 10,000 sorties and dropped over 30,000 tons of bombs, making it the longest and most sustained bombing offensive against a single target in the war. (The British official history of the Battle of Berlin declares it an operational defeat for Britain.) [10]
- (night) The SS unit of Captain Erich Priebke rounds up 335 Italians, and machine-guns them in the Ardentine caves on the outskirts of Rome. The massacre is in reprisal for the killing of 33 German soldiers two days earlier by Italian resistance fighters. [10]
- March 25
- RAF Sergeant Nickolas Alkemade survives a jump from his Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute. [1]
- March 26
- 705 British bombers attack Essen, Germany. [1]
- March 27
- 1,000 Jews leave Drancy, France for Auschwitz Concentration Camp. [1]
- 2,000 Jews are murdered in Kaunas, Lithuania. [1]
- 40 Jewish policemen in Riga, Latvia ghetto are shot by the Gestapo. [1]
- Children's Aktion: Germans collect all the Jewish children of Lovno. [1]
- March 28
- In Sweden, Astrid Lindgren sprains her ankle and begins writing Pippi Longstocking. [1]
- Rabbi Chayyim Most Maggid of Kovono is killed by Germans. [1]
- March 30
- 781 British bombers attack Neurenberg, Germany. [1]
- March 31
- Hungary orders all Jews to wear yellow stars. [1]
- April 1
- Japanese troops conquer Jessami, East-India. [1]
- April 2
- CPI-leader Palmiro Togliatti returns to Italy. [1]
- Soviet Army marches into pro-German Romania. [1]
- April 3
- British dive bombers attack German battle cruiser Tirpitz. [1]
- April 4
- British troops capture Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. [1]
- Charles De Gaulle forms new French regime in exile, with communists. [1]
- April 5
- 140 Lancasters bomb airplane manufacturer in Toulouse. [1]
- April 6
- Jewish nursery at Izieu-Ain, France overrun by Germans. [1]
- April 7
- British General Bernard Montgomery speaks to generals about invasion plan. [1]
- April 9
- Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Orientals Ecclesiae. [1]
- April 10
- Soviet forces liberate Odessa from Germans. [1]
- April 11
- RAF bombs census bureau in The Hague. [1]
- April 14
- First Jews transported from Athens arrive at Auschwitz. [1]
- In the harbor in Bombay, India, American cargo ship SS Fort Stikine explodes. It was carrying 1395 tons of explosives, and gold for the Indian Treasury. Ten nearby ships are destroyed, 500 people are killed, and 8000 injured. [10]
- US General Dwight Eisenhower becomes head commander of Allied air fleet. [1]
- Greek Colonel Venizelos forms government. [1]
- April 19
- Allied fleet attacks Sabang Sumatra. [1]
- April 20
- Dutch Communist Party resistance fighter John Postma is sentenced to death. [1]
- April 22
- Allies land near Hollandia, New-Guinea. [1]
- April 24
- First Boeing B-29 arrives in China "over the Hump". [1]
- British Royal Air Force bombs Munich, Germany. [1]
- April 26
- First B-29 attacked by Japanese fighters, one fighter shot down. [1]
- Papandreou government in Greece forms. [1]
- April 28
- Exercise "Tiger" ends with 750 US soldiers dead in D-Day rehearsal after their convoy ships were attacked by German torpedo boats. [1]
- April 29
- Surprise attack by Van de Peat on General Landsdrukkerij in the Hague. [1]
- May 1
- Messerschmitt Me-262 Sturmvogel, first operational jet aircraft (twin-jet fighter), makes first flight. [1]
- Pulitzer prize awarded to Martin Flavin (Journey in the Dark). [1]
- Surprise attack on Weteringschans Amsterdam, fails. [1]
- May 3
- Meat rationing ends in US. [1]
- May 5
- Gandhi freed from prison. [1]
- Russian offensive against Sebastopol Krim. [1]
- May 7
- German assault on Tito's hideout in Drvar, Bosnia. [1]
- May 8
- First eye bank opens (New York City). [1]
- German submarine U-575 sinks ship Asphodel. [1]
- May 9
- Russians recapture Crimea by taking Sevastopol. [1]
- May 10
- Chinese offensive in West-Yunnan. [1]
- US court case Smith v Allwright: excluding Blacks from primary voting is illegal. [1]
- May 11
- Slomp, Resistance fighter (Frits de Zwerver), freed from Arnhem prison. [1]
- May 12
- 900+ 8th Air Force bombers attack Zwikau, Bohlen and Brüx. [1]
- Secret Police arrest Gerrit Van de Peat in the Netherlands. [1]
- May 14
- 91 German bombers harass Bristol, England. [1]
- British troops occupy Kohima. [1]
- May 15
- 14,000 Jews of Munkacs, Hungary deported to Auschwitz. [1]
- Dwight Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, Winston Churchill and King George VI discuss D-Day plan. [1]
- Sergei Aleksi becomes guardian of Patriarch Throne. [1]
- May 16
- First of 180,000+ Hungarian Jews reach Auschwitz. [1]
- May 17
- Allied air raid on Surabaja, Java. [1]
- Chinese/US armed forces take Myitkyina Airport, Burma. [1]
- General Eisenhower sets D-Day for June 5th. [1]
- Operation Straightline: Allies land in Netherlands New-Guinea. [1]
- May 18
- Expulsion of more than 200,000 Tartars from Crimea by Soviet Union begins; they are accused of collaborating with the Germans. [1]
- Polish 2nd Army Corps captures convent of Monte Cassino, Italy. [1] [392.42]
- May 19
- 240 gypsies transported to Auschwitz from Westerbork Netherlands. [1]
- German defense line in Italy collapses. [1]
- May 20
- US Communist Party dissolves. [1]
- May 21
- Adolf Hitler begins attack on English/US "terror pilots". [1]
- May 23
- British/Canadian troops occupy Pontecorvo, Italy. [1]
- Chinese counter offensive at Hunan front. [1]
- Operation-Buffalo: Allied jailbreak out Anzio-bridgehead. [1]
- May 24
- Enver Hoxha becomes head of Albania anti-fascists. [1]
- Icelandic voters sever all ties with Denmark. [1]
- May 25
- Partisan leader Tito escapes Germans surrounding Bosnia. [1]
- May 26
- US 82nd Airborne division D-day-landing at La Haye du Puits to Ste Mère Eglise. [1]
- May 27
- Allies land on Biak, Indonesia (operation Horlicks). [1]
- Japanese advance in Hangkhou, China. [1]
- May 29
- British troops occupy Aprilia, Italy. [1]
- May 31
- In Italy, retreating Germans burn two ships in a special museum near Lake Nemi outside Rome. The ships had been used in the lake as floating entertainment palaces in time of Caligula, about year 12-41. [10]
- June 4
- First submarine captured and boarded on high seas - German U-505. [1]
- In Italy, American forces take Rome. [10]
- June 5
- First B-29 bombing raid; one plane lost due to engine failure. [1]
- (evening) 1047 British bombers drop over 5,000 tons of bombs on French coastal batteries. This is the heaviest bombing of any night to date. Nine of ten main batteries are knocked out by a combination of American and British air and naval bombardment. [10]
- June 6
- (0000-0100 hours) Pathfinders of the United States 101st Airborne Division begin parachute landing in Normandy to set up the Drop Zones for the following main force. [10]
- (about 0230 hours) 822 C-47 Dakota aircraft drop the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions on Normandy, France. [10]
- (about 0630 hours) 300 men of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry, 4th Division, US 1st Army, land at Utah Beach, the first company of the Allies to land. They land a mile south of their target, and encounter little opposition. Twenty-eight of 32 Dual-Drive tanks reach the beach. (By noon, the beach is cleared at a cost of six men killed, 39 wounded.) [10]
- (about 0630 hours) The first tanks come ashore at Omaha beach, between Pointe de la Percée and Port-en-Bessin. [10]
- (0720 hours) The British 2nd Army under Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey begins landing on the beaches "Gold", "Juno", and "Sword", toward the River Orne. [10]
- (1500 hours) A group of British men of the 50th Division cross highway N-13, running from Caen to Cherbourg. This is the furthest penetration of any Allied unit during D-Day. [10]
- Over 90 km of Normandy coastline during the day, about 155,000 Allied troops land, incurring 11,000 casualties (2500 dead). 69,000 British soldiers land, with about 2,000 casualties. 14,000 Canadians land, with about 1,000 casualties, of which 350 are dead. American casualties total about 3,200. [10] [129]
- June 10
- In the town of Oradour-sur-Clone near Limoges, France, German SS units lock men in barns, women and children in a church, fire machine-guns on both, then set fire to them. About 1000 are killed; only six escape. This was done to deter the French population from helping the Maquis. [10]
- June 11
- First Serbian Orthodox cathedral in US, Cathedral of Saint Sava, New York City. [1]
- June 12
- (night) Germany launches the first V-1 flying bombs against Britain. From 55 launch sites, seven are able to launch a total of ten flying bombs during the night, of which three reach England. One destroys a railway bridge. [10] [861.50]
- June 13
- Marvin Camras is granted a patent to the wire recorder for audio recording. [457]
- June 15
- US forces begin invasion of Saipan in Pacific. [1]
- American B-29 Super Fortress bombers based in China begin bombing the Japanese home island of Northern Kyushu. [10]
- June 17
- Republic of Iceland proclaimed at Thingvallir, Iceland. [1841.827]
- June 19
- The Battle of the Philippine Sea takes place, over two days. Allied ships sink three Japanese aircraft carriers, damage two more, and destroy 426 of 473 planes. [10]
- June 22
- Soviet forces launch Operation Bagration, on German Army Group Centre. The Soviet force comprises about 1.2 million men, 166 rifle divisions, 2715 tanks, 24,000 guns, 5327 aircraft, and 700 heavy bombers. [10]
- June 23
- Four tornadoes strike Appalachia, killing 153. [1]
- June 26
- British bombers attack San Marino in the mistaken belief that German forces had taken refuge there. [501.156]
- June 27
- The German garrison at Cherbourg destroys the port facilities and surrenders. 6000 soldiers are taken prisoner. (This is the first major French city liberated.) [10]
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