Dashed left edge = started before August 1944 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond August 1944
Events in August 1944 21
1869 – 1944Henry Wood (1869-1944)Died 19 August 1944, aged 75English conductor who led the Promenade Concerts in London for nearly fifty years, starting in 1895. He introduced British audiences to many new works. The Proms are held in his memory as the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts.
1881 – 1944Erwin von Witzleben (1881-1944)Died 8 August 1944, aged 62German field marshal chosen by the 20 July conspirators to be commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht. He was tried in a show trial before Roland Freisler's People's Court. He was hanged at Plötzensee Prison.
1882 – 1944Günther von Kluge (1882-1944)Died 19 August 1944, aged 61German field marshal who commanded Army Group Centre on the Eastern Front and then the German forces in the West. He was suspected of involvement in the 20 July plot and was dismissed during the Falaise encirclement. He took cyanide rather than return to Berlin.
1886 – 1944Ernst Thälmann (1886-1944)Died 18 August 1944, aged 58Leader of the Communist Party of Germany during the Weimar Republic and a presidential candidate in 1925 and 1932. He was arrested in 1933 and held in solitary confinement for eleven years. He was shot at Buchenwald on Hitler's orders.
1915 – 1944Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (1915-1944)Died 12 August 1944, aged 29US Navy pilot and eldest son of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., who had been groomed for a political career. He was killed when his explosive-laden drone aircraft blew up over Suffolk during Operation Aphrodite. His death shifted the family's political ambitions onto his brother John.
1944Operation BagrationSoviet offensive destroys German Army Group CentreThe Red Army launched a massive summer offensive in Belarus. It shattered German Army Group Centre and inflicted one of the worst defeats in German military history. Soviet forces advanced hundreds of kilometres to the Vistula and the edge of East Prussia.
1944Battle of GuamUS forces retake GuamUS Marines and Army troops landed on Guam and recaptured it from Japan after three weeks of fighting. The island had been a US territory until Japan seized it in December 1941. Guam became a major base for the bombing campaign against Japan.
1944US Championships 1944Men: Frank Parker · Women: Pauline Betz
1944Warsaw UprisingPolish Home Army fights for 63 daysThe Polish Home Army rose up against German occupation in Warsaw on August 1, 1944, fighting for 63 days. Stalin halted the Soviet advance to allow the Germans to crush the uprising. 200,000 Polish civilians were killed.
1944Warsaw UprisingPolish Home Army rises against German occupationThe Polish Home Army launched an uprising to liberate Warsaw before the Red Army arrived. After 63 days of fighting with little outside help, the insurgents surrendered on 2 October. Around 150,000 to 200,000 civilians were killed and the Germans then systematically razed the city.
1944Anne Frank arrestedThe Secret Annex in Amsterdam is raidedThe German Security Police raided the hidden annex at Prinsengracht 263, arresting Anne Frank, her family and four others who had been in hiding for two years. They were deported via Westerbork to Auschwitz. Anne's diary was saved by Miep Gies and published after the war.
1944Harvard Mark I dedicatedIBM's Automatic Sequence Controlled CalculatorThe electromechanical Harvard Mark I, designed by Howard Aiken and built by IBM, was formally presented to Harvard University. It was over 15 metres long and read its instructions from punched paper tape. Grace Hopper was one of its first programmers, and it was used for calculations for the Manhattan Project.
1944 – 2026Robert Mueller (1944-2026)Died 20 March 2026, aged 81American law enforcement official who directed the FBI from 2001 to 2013 and served as special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
1944Falaise PocketGerman forces trapped in NormandyAllied armies encircled the German Seventh Army and Fifth Panzer Army near Falaise. Tens of thousands of German soldiers were killed or captured before the gap was closed. The defeat ended the Battle of Normandy and opened the route to the Seine.
1944Operation DragoonAllied landings in southern FranceAmerican and Free French forces landed on the Provence coast between Toulon and Cannes. They quickly liberated Marseille and Toulon and advanced up the Rhône valley. They linked up with forces from Normandy near Dijon in mid-September.
1944Liberation of ParisEnd of OccupationAllied forces and the French Resistance reclaimed the capital from Nazi German occupation.
1944Liberation of ParisFrench Resistance and Allied troops free the capitalAn uprising by the French Forces of the Interior began on 19 August, and the French 2nd Armoured Division entered the city with US support. The German garrison commander Dietrich von Choltitz surrendered on 25 August, disobeying Hitler's order to destroy the city. Charles de Gaulle made his famous speech at the Hôtel de Ville that evening.
1944Dumbarton Oaks ConferenceAllies draft the blueprint for the United NationsDelegations from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and China met in Washington, D.C. to draft proposals for a postwar international organisation. They agreed a structure that included a Security Council with permanent members. Their proposals became the basis for the UN Charter adopted in 1945.
1944King Michael's CoupRomania switches to the Allied sideKing Michael I of Romania had dictator Ion Antonescu arrested. Romania then left the Axis and declared war on Germany. The coup opened the Balkans to the Red Army and is estimated to have shortened the war.
1944Paris liberatedDe Gaulle leads triumphant march down Champs-ÉlyséesParis was liberated on August 25, 1944, after four years of German occupation. General de Gaulle led a triumphant march down the Champs-Élysées the following day as jubilant crowds lined the streets.
1944Slovak National UprisingArmed revolt against the Tiso regimeSlovak army units and partisans rose against Germany and the collaborationist Slovak state, with their centre at Banská Bystrica. German forces put down the uprising after two months. Resistance continued as guerrilla warfare in the mountains.