Today in History for May 1944

Months in 1944: January February March April June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Events 1 - 58 of 58

1st - Messerschmitt Me 262 Sturmvogel, 1st jet bomber, makes 1st flight
1st - Pulitzer prize awarded to Martin Flavin (Journey in the dark)
1st - Surprise attack on Weteringschans Amsterdam, fails
2nd - WABD (WNEW, now WNYW) TV channel 5 in NYC (DUM/MET/FOX) 1st broadcast
3rd - "Meet Me in St Louis" opens on Broadway
3rd - Meat rationing ends in US
5th - Gandhi freed from prison
5th - Russian offensive against Sebastopol Krim
6th - 70th Kentucky Derby: Conn McCreary aboard Pensive wins in 2:04.2
6th - KJR-AM in Seattle Wash swaps calls with KOMO
7th - German assault on Tito's hideout in Drvar Bosnia
8th - 33 communist resistance fighter sentenced to death
9th - 1st eye bank opens in New York
9th - Country singer Jimmie Davis becomes governor of Louisiana
9th - Dutch resistance fighter Gerard Musch arrested
9th - Joe McCarthy returns as Yankee manager after an illness
9th - Russians recapture Crimea by taking Sevastopol
10th - Chinese offensive in West-Yunnan
10th - Smith v Allwright (excluding Blacks from primary voting) is illegal
Pacifist and Spiritual Leader Gandhi 11th - Opposition group surprise attack post office Washer
11th - Slomp Resistance fighter (Frits de Zwerver) freed from Arnhem prison
12th - 900+ 8th Air Force bombers attack Zwikau, Bohlen & Brux
12th - Krim purged of nazi troops
12th - Secret Police arrest Gerrit Van de Peat
13th - 70th Preakness: Conn McCreary aboard Pensive wins in 1:59.2
14th - 91 German bombers harass Bristol
14th - British troops occupy Kohima
14th - Gen Rommel, Speidel & von Stulpnagel attempt to assassinate Hitler
15th - 14,000 Jews of Munkacs Hungary deported to Auschwitz
15th - Cincinnati Red Clyde Shoun no-hits Boston Braves, 1-0
15th - Eisenhower, Montgomery, Churchill & George VI discuss D-Day plan
15th - Sergei Aleksi becomes guardian of Patriarch Throne
16th - 1st of 180,000+ Hungarian Jews reach Auschwitz
16th - Milt police attack gypsies
17th - -18] Allied air raid on Surabaja, Java
17th - Chinese/US arm forces take Myitkyina Airport, Burma
17th - General Eisenhower sets D-Day for June 5th
17th - Operation Straightline: Allies land in Neth New-Guinea
18th - Polish 2nd Army corps captures convent of Monte Cassino Italy
18th - Expulsion of more than 200,000 Tartars from Crimea by Soviet Union begins, they are accused of collaborating with the Germans
19th - 240 gypsies transported to Auschwitz from Westerbork Neth
19th - German defense line in Italy collapsed
20th - US Communist Party dissolves
21st - Hitler begins attack on English/US "terror pilots"
23rd - British/Canadian troops occupy Pontecorvo Italy
23rd - Chinese counter offensive at Hunan front
23rd - Operation-Buffalo: Allied jailbreak out Anzio-bridgehead
23rd - Polo Grounds host 1st NYC night game since 1941
24th - Enver Hoxha becomes head of Albania anti fascists
24th - Icelandic voters severe all ties with Denmark
25th - Partisan leader Tito escapes Germans surrounding Bosnia
26th - 82nd Airborne div D-day-landing at La Haye du Puits to Ste Mere Eglise
27th - Allies land on Biak, Indonesia (operation Horlicks)
27th - Japanese advance in Hangkhou China
Writer Jean-Paul Sartre 27th - Jean-Paul Sartres "Huis Clos," premieres in Paris
29th - British troops occupy Aprilia Italy
30th - Transport nr 75 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
31st - Allied breakthrough in Italy

Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 86 of 86

1st - Rita Coolidge, Nashville Tn, singer (Higher & Higher, We're All Alone)
1st - Suresh Kalmadi, Indian politician
2nd - F Innerhofer, writer
2nd - John Verity, rocker (Argent)
3rd - Ian Peter Leslie Smith, journalist
3rd - Peter Staples, rocker (Troggs-Wild Thing)
4th - Paul Gleason, Jersey City NJ, actor (Breakfast CLub, Die Hard)
4th - Peggy Santiglia McGannon, NJ, rocker (Angels)
5th - Jean-Pierre Leaud, Paris France, actor (Detective)
5th - John Rhys-Davies, Salisbury England, actor (Sir Edward-Quest, Sliders)
5th - Roger Raised, English actor (Nicholas Nickleby)
5th - Bo Larsson, Swedish footballer
6th - Anton Furst, American production designer (d. 1991)
6th - Masanori Murakami, First Japanese baseball player in major leagues
7th - Alison Margaret Bauld, composer
7th - John Heard, actor (Pelican Brief, CHUD, Radio Flyer, Big)
7th - Sivi Aberg, actress (Batman TV show)
7th - Eva Norvind, Mexican actress (d. 2006)
7th - Richard O'Sullivan, British actor
8th - Gary Glitter, [Paul Gadd], England, rocker (Rock & Roll Part II)
9th - Don Dannemann, rocker (Cyrkle)
9th - Richard Furay, Ohio, rock vocalist (Buffalo Springfield, Poco)
10th - Abdul Kadir, cricketer (Pakistani batsman-keeper in 4 Tests 1964-65)
10th - Anne-Marie Pisier
10th - Jackie Lomax, Liverpool, rocker (Is This What You Want)
10th - Jim Abrahams, Shorewood WI, director (Hot Shots, Top Secret)
10th - Kathy Farrer, LPGA golfer
10th - Marie-France Pisier, Daclat Vietnam, actress (Scruples, Midnight)
11th - John Benaud, cricketer (brother of Richie, Australian bat 1972-73)
12th - Eva Demski, writer
12th - James Purify, US singer (I'm Your Puppet)
13th - Betsy Finley Ashton, broadcast journalist/author/lecturer
13th - Carolyn Franklin, US singer/songwriter (Baby Baby Baby, Angel)
13th - Clive Radley, cricketer (England batsman in 8 Tests 1978)
13th - Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, British explorer/genealogist
13th - Armistead Maupin, American author
14th - Francesca Annis, London England, actress (Madame Bovary, Dune)
14th - Gene Cornish, Ottawa, rock bassist/vocalist (Fotomaker, Rascals)
Director George Lucas (14th) 14th - George Lucas, Modesto CA, director (Star Wars, Indiana Jones)
14th - Troy Shondell, rocker (Many Sides of Troy Shondell)
15th - Gunilla Hutton, Goteborg Sweden, actress (Petticoat Junction)
15th - Miruts Yifter, Ethiopia, 5K/10K runner (Olympic-gold-1980)
15th - Tich, rocker
15th - Bill Alter, Missouri State Senator
16th - Billy Cobham, Panama, jazz artist (Same Ole Love)
16th - Danny Trejo, American actor
17th - Arif Butt, cricketer (pace bowler for Pakistan in three Tests 1964-65)
17th - Canon P B Price, general secretary, USPG
17th - Jesse Winchester, Shreveport La, singer/songwriter (Learn to Love it)
17th - Paul Crossley, concert pianist
18th - Peter Ryan, British national director (Police Training)
18th - W. G. Sebald, German-born writer (d. 2001)
19th - Peter Mayhew, British-American actor
20th - Boudouin de Groot, Dutch singer (Good night mister president)
20th - Cipa Dichter, Rio de Janeiro Brazil, pianist/wife of Misha Dichter
20th - David M Walker, Columbus Ga, Capt USN/astron (STS 51-A 30, 53, 69)
Rocker Joe Cocker (20th) 20th - Joe Cocker, Sheffield England, rock vocalist (Little Help From My Friends)
20th - Keith Fletcher, cricket captain (Essex & England)
20th - Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian businessman
21st - Janet Dailey, US, author
21st - Manual Pina, fashion designer
21st - Marcie Blane, rocker
21st - Mary Robinson, pres of Republic of Ireland (Labour, 1990- )
21st - Mike Degett, horse trainer
23rd - General George Norman Johnson, US singer (Down at the Beach Club)
23rd - Giles Smith, TV journalist
23rd - Olga Maitland, MP
23rd - Ramon "Tiki" Fulwood, US drummer (Funkadelic, Knee Deep)
24th - Patti LaBelle, [Holt], Phila Pa, singer (LaBelle-Lady Marmalade)
25th - Frank Oz, Hereford England, American muppetteer (Grover-Sesame Street, Muppet Show)
25th - Frank Oz, Heresford England, puppeteer (Sesame St, Muppet Show)
25th - Robert Michael Payton, pizza magnate
25th - John Bunnell, former Sheriff of Multnomah County, Oregon and TV personality
25th - Robert MacPherson, American mathematician
26th - Verden "Phally" Allen, keyboardist (Mott the Hoople)
26th - Sam Posey, American race car driver, TV commentator and author
27th - Christopher J Dodd, (Gov/Sen-D-CT, 1981- )
28th - Adriaan T "Ad" Zuiderent, poet/critic (On the Droge)
28th - Billy Vera, musician (& Beaters-At This Moment, Into the Night)
28th - Gladys Knight, Atlanta Ga, singer, leader of Pips (Last Train)
28th - Rudy Giuliani, (Mayor-R/L-NYC, 1994- )
28th - Faith Brown, British actress
29th - Helmut Berger, actor (Ash Wednesday, Damned, Picture of Dorian Gray)
29th - Quentin Davies, MP (C)
30th - Larry Davidson, rocker (Dave Clark 5-Glad All Over)
31st - Mick Ralphs, guitarist (Mott the Hoople, Bad Company)

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 10 of 10

9th - Ethel Mary Smyth, composer, dies at 86
11th - Henk Hos, resistance fighter, executed at 37
12th - Arthur T Quiller-Couch [Q], British author/critic, dies at 80
16th - George Ade, US novelist/playwright (Counsel Widow), dies at 78
16th - Leone Sinigaglia, composer, dies at 75
16th - Max Brand, [Frederick Schiller Faust], western author, dies
16th - George Ade, American author (b. 1866)
26th - C M Francois, cricketer (WWII, 252 runs in 5 Tests for South Africa), dies
28th - Katri Vala, Finnish poet, dies at 42
30th - Jessie Ralph, actress (Good Earth, San Francisco), dies at 79