WHAT HAPPENED IN 1944.
Look what happened the 1944.

World War II: Top Ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington is shot down in his Vought F4U Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Mitsubishi A6M Zero. (3. January 1944)

World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins. (4. January 1944)

The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper. (5. January 1944)

World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties. (17. January 1944)

The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City hosts a jazz concert for the first time. The performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden. (18. January 1944)

World War II: Soviet forces liberate Leningrad, effectively ending a three-year Nazi siege, known as the Siege of Leningrad. (18. January 1944)

World War II: The Allies commence Operation Shingle, an assault on Anzio, Italy. (22. January 1944)

Florence Li Tim-Oi is ordained in China, becoming the first woman Anglican priest. (25. January 1944)

World War II: The 900-day Siege of Leningrad is lifted. (27. January 1944)

World War II: Approximately 38 people are killed and about a dozen injured when the Polish village of Koniuchy (present-day Kaniūkai, Lithuania) is attacked by Soviet partisan units. (29. January 1944)

In Bologna, Italy, the Anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio is destroyed in an air-raid. (29. January 1944)

World War II: The Battle of Cisterna, part of Operation Shingle, begins in central Italy. (30. January 1944)

World War II: American troops land on Majuro. (30. January 1944)

World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands. (31. January 1944)

World War II: During the Anzio campaign the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy. (31. January 1944)

World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison. (3. February 1944)

World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied Operation Shingle. (7. February 1944)

World War II: Anti-Japanese revolt on Java. (14. February 1944)

World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy, begins. (15. February 1944)

World War II: The Narva Offensive begins. (15. February 1944)