Timeline April 1944

Events in April 1944 7

• 1875 – 1944 Giovanni Gentile (1875-1944) Died 15 April 1944, aged 68 Italian idealist philosopher who called himself the philosopher of Fascism. As education minister he carried out major reforms of the Italian school system. He was assassinated by communist partisans in Florence.
• 1879 – 1944 Paul Poiret (1879-1944) Died 30 April 1944, aged 65 French couturier who freed women's fashion from the corset in the early twentieth century. His designs drew on Orientalism and Art Deco. He was the leading Paris designer before the First World War but died in poverty.
• 1901 – 1944 Nikolai Vatutin (1901-1944) Died 15 April 1944, aged 42 Soviet army general who commanded fronts at Stalingrad, Kursk and the liberation of Kyiv. He was ambushed and badly wounded by Ukrainian nationalist insurgents in February 1944. He died of his wounds in Kyiv.
• 1944 The ANC Youth League is founded Mandela, Sisulu, Tambo and Lembede They pushed the older leadership from petitions toward boycotts, strikes and defiance.
• 1944 Woody Guthrie records for Moses Asch Folkways Hundreds of recordings, including This Land Is Your Land.
• 1944 Bombay explosion Burning freighter devastates the city docks The freighter SS Fort Stikine, carrying cotton, gold and explosives, caught fire and blew up in Bombay's Victoria Dock. The explosions killed around 800 people and sank or damaged many ships. India commemorates firefighters on 14 April each year in memory of the disaster.
• 1944 Exercise Tiger German E-boats attack a D-Day rehearsal German torpedo boats attacked a convoy of landing ships during a rehearsal for the Utah Beach landing off Slapton Sands in Devon. More than 700 American servicemen were killed. The disaster was kept secret for fear of revealing the invasion plans.