Timeline September 1944

Events in September 1944 14

• 1861 – 1944 Aristide Maillol (1861-1944) Died 27 September 1944, aged 82 French sculptor known for monumental classical female nudes such as The Mediterranean. He began as a painter and tapestry designer before turning to sculpture. He died after a car accident near his home in Banyuls-sur-Mer.
• 1890 – 1944 Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944) Died 27 September 1944, aged 53 Canadian-born American Pentecostal evangelist and a pioneer of radio preaching. She founded the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and built Angelus Temple in Los Angeles. Her mysterious 1926 disappearance was a national sensation.
• 1914 – 1944 Noor Inayat Khan (1914-1944) Died 13 September 1944, aged 30 British SOE agent of Indian descent and the first female wireless operator sent into occupied France. She was betrayed and arrested by the Gestapo in Paris. She was executed at Dachau and posthumously awarded the George Cross.
• 1944 Operation Dragoon Allied landings in southern France American 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.
• 1944 Miles Davis moves to New York Juilliard Studies at Juilliard and seeks out Charlie Parker.
• 1944 The Benelux Union Small nations together Exiled governments sign the customs union that becomes Benelux — a model and forerunner for wider European integration.
• 1944 First V-2 rocket strikes London The world's first long-range ballistic missile attack A German V-2 rocket hit Chiswick in west London, killing three people. The supersonic missiles arrived without warning and could not be intercepted. More than a thousand V-2s fell on England before the launch sites were overrun in 1945.
• 1944 Bulgarian coup d'état Fatherland Front takes power The communist-led Fatherland Front overthrew the Bulgarian government as the Red Army entered the country. Bulgaria then declared war on Germany. The coup began communist control over the country.
• 1944 – 2003 Barry White (1944-2003) Died 4 July 2003, aged 58 Barry White was a singer, songwriter and producer whose deep bass-baritone and lush orchestral arrangements drove hits such as 'Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe' and 'You're the First, the Last, My Everything'. He sold more than 100 million records and died of kidney failure while awaiting a transplant.
• 1944 Battle of Peleliu Costly US assault in the Palau Islands US Marines and Army troops fought for over two months to take the small coral island of Peleliu. Japanese defenders fought from fortified caves instead of making mass charges, and US casualties were very high. The battle is still debated because the island had little strategic value.
• 1944 Operation Market Garden A bridge too far The Allied airborne assault to seize the Rhine bridges fails at Arnhem, leaving the north under occupation through the deadly Hunger Winter of 1944–45.
• 1944 Operation Market Garden A bridge too far — Arnhem falls Operation Market Garden, September 17-25, 1944, was the largest airborne operation in history, aimed at seizing bridges in the Netherlands and crossing the Rhine. The operation failed at Arnhem, delaying the end of the war.
• 1944 Operation Market Garden Allied airborne attempt to cross the Rhine fails Allied airborne divisions landed in the Netherlands to seize a series of bridges, which would let ground forces advance into Germany. The British 1st Airborne Division was overwhelmed at Arnhem after the relieving armour failed to reach it. The failure ended hopes of finishing the war in 1944.
• 1944 – 2016 Gene Wilder dies Willy Wonka and Young Frankenstein star, age 83 Gene Wilder, best known for his roles in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Young Frankenstein, died on August 29, 2016, aged 83, from complications of Alzheimer's disease.