This day in history. Read about what happened today. A short and interesting account of historical events and facts about this day as well as any other day of the year. Find historical birthdays, deaths, tragedies, war events, disasters and sports events.

This year in history
In the year 1944

	January 9th	English musician, Jimmy Page, was born in London. He was one of the founding members of the legendary rock group Led Zeppelin and is widely considered as one of the most influential guitarists in rock music history.
	January 10th	American singer, Frank Sinatra, Jr., was born in New Jersey. He is the son of famed musician Frank Sinatra and brother to fellow singer Nancy Sinatra.
	January 12th	American boxer, Joe Frazier, was born in South Carolina. He was the world Heavyweight boxing champion and is considered one of the greatest boxers of the 20th century.
	January 18th	During the course of the Second World War, Soviet troops repelled the German army that had been besieging the city of Leningrad for three years.
	January 23th	Norwegian painter, Edvard Munch, died at the age of 81. He is considered as one of the most influential expressionist painters of the 20th century.
	January 29th	The battleship USS Missouri was launched. It was one of the most famous naval vessels of the 20th century. It was the last battleship built by the United States and was the site of the Japanese surrender during World War II.
	February 1st	Dutch painter, Piet Mondriaan, died at the age of 71. He is considered as one of the great painters of the 20th century.
	March 19th	Palestinian-born assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was born in Jerusalem. He was convicted of murdering Senator Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968.
	March 24th	76 prisoners broke out of the Stalag Luft III, nazi POW prison, in Poland, this event inspired the hit movie, The Great Escape.
	March 26th	American singer, Diana Ross, was born in Detroit, Michigan. She has had 18 singles song reach the number one spot in the US charts.
	April 14th	An explosion at the Bombay harbour killed over 700 people. The explosion resulted from a fire that ignited the munitions cargo, carried by the ship "SS Fort Stikine".
	April 21st	Women in France received voting rights for the first time.
	May 14th	American film director and producer, George Lucas, was born in Modesto California. He is one of the American film industry's most financially successful directors and producers.
	May 20th	British singer, Joe Cocker, was born in Sheffield, England.
	May 28th	Former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, was born in Brooklyn, New York. He gained enormous recognition due to the fact that he was mayor of New York City during the time of the infamous 9/11 terrorist attacks.
	June 5th	Allied planes dropped over 5000 tons of bombs on German positions along the coast of Normandy, in preparation for the landing of allied forces the following day.
	June 13th	Nazi aircraft launched the first V1 Flying Bomb attack on England. The V1 was the first "guided bomb" in history, although only a few actually managed to hit their targets.
	June 22nd	Austrian actor, Klaus Maria Brandauer, was born in Bad Aussee. He is most known for his participation in the films Never Say Never Again and Out of Africa.
	July 20th	An assassination attempt took place against Adolf Hitler. The plot was organized German Army colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
	July 22nd	British musician, Rick Davies, was born in Eastcott Hill, Swindon. He is most known for having been one of the founding members of the rock band, Supertramp.
	July 31st	French pilot and writer, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, died at the age of 43. He was a French writer and aviator and is most famous for creating Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince). He disappeared on the night of July 31, 1944 while flying on a mission to collect data on German troop movements.
	July 31st	American actress, Geraldine Chaplin, was born in Santa Monica, California. She was the daughter of Charlie Chaplin and his last wife Oona O'Neill.
	August 1st	An Uprising against the Nazi occupation took place in Warsaw, Poland.
	August 20th	The Battle of Romania began with a major Soviet offensive. The battle ended approximately one month later with a decisive Soviet victory.
	August 22nd	During the course of the Second World War Soviet troops invaded Romania.
	August 23th	A US air force bomber crashed into a school in Freckleton, England resutling in the death of killing 61 people, most of which were children.
	August 25th	During the course of the Second World War, the city of Paris was liberated by the Allies.
	August 26th	General Charles de Gaulle returned to Paris after its liberation by allied forces.
	September 8th	The first German V2 rocket hits London, England.
	September 17th	Allied troops parachuted into Holland as part of Operation Market Garden. The aim of the operation was to secure the bridges of the Rhine River. Although the operation was initially a success it had a devastating cost of lives lost for the allies and it failed to capture the bridge of Arnhem.
	September 25th	American actor and producer, Michael Douglas, was born in New Jersey, USA. He acquired fame through his participation in the television series 'The Streets of San Francisco' which ran between 1972 and 1976.
	October 14th	British troops marched into Athensm after the retreat of the German armies.
	October 14th	German field marshall, Erwin Rommel, died at the age of 53. He is considered as one of the great military minds of all time who was also part of a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was forced to commit suicide, presumably for his role in the failed assassination attempt.
	October 15th	President of Albania, Sali Berisha, was born in Vicidol, Albania. He was the first person to be elected president of Albania after the collapse of the communist regime in 1992.
	October 18th	The Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia.
	October 20th	Allied forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur liberated the Philippines from the Japanese during the Second World War.
	October 21st	The first ever Japanese kamikaze attack took place against the HMAS Australia. The plane that struck the ship was carrying a 200 kg bomb.
	October 24th	French, Louis Renault, died at the age of 67. He was a staunch industrialist and one of the foremost pioneers of the automobile industry. He built his first car in 1898.
	November 6th	Plutonium was produced for the first time at the Hanford Atomic Facility. It was later used in the atomic bomb that was dropped Nagasaki, Japan.
	November 17th	American actor, Danny DeVito, was born in New Jersey.
	November 24th	During the course of World War II an American fleet of bomber aircraft performed the first ever bombing of the city of Tokyo.
	December 13th	Russian artist, Wassily Kandinsky, died at the age of 78. He is one of the most famous artists of the 20th century.
	December 23th	American, Wesley Clark, was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was a general with the US Army, who was the commander of Operation Allied Force (Kossovo Conflict) and NATO's Supreme allied commander at the same time.
	December 31st	Hungary declared war on Germany.

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