WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO DECEMBER 1944
Find out what all happened April to December 1944

First flight of the Junkers Ju 287. (16. August 1944)

Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen. (1. April 1944)

Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic. (17. June 1944)

World War II: Marseille and Toulon are liberated. (28. August 1944)

Battle of Peleliu begins as the United States Marine Corps' 1st Marine Division and the United States Army's 81st Infantry Division hit White and Orange beaches under heavy fire from Japanese infantry and artillery. (15. September 1944)

World War II: the Battle of Normandy begins. D-Day, code named Operation Overlord, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history. (6. June 1944)

World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends with an overwhelming American victory. (26. October 1944)

Nazi German troops end the week-long Wola massacre, during which time at least 40,000 people were killed indiscriminately or in mass executions. (12. August 1944)

Wally Walrus, Woody Woodpecker's first steady foil, was debuted at the The Beach Nut, a Walter Lantz's cartoon. (16. October 1944)

World War II: American forces defeat the last Japanese troops on Guam. (10. August 1944)

World War II: Riga, the capital of Latvia is occupied by the Red Army. (13. October 1944)

World War II: The Allies begin a major offensive against the Axis Powers on the Gustav Line. (11. May 1944)

Georgios Papandreou becomes head of the Greek government-in-exile based in Egypt. (26. April 1944)

The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time. (9. August 1944)

World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German submarine U-505 – the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century. (4. June 1944)

World War II: Holocaust of Kedros in Crete by German forces (22. August 1944)

World War II: Operation Spring – one of the bloodiest days for the First Canadian Army during the war: 1,500 casualties, including 500 killed. (25. July 1944)

World War II: British agent Nancy Wake, a leading figure in the French Resistance and the Gestapo's most wanted person, parachutes back into France to become a liaison between London and the local maquis group. (29. April 1944)

The Hartford Circus Fire, one of America's worst fire disasters, kills approximately 168 people and injures over 700 in Hartford, Connecticut. (6. July 1944)

World War II: the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland. (1. August 1944)