Timeline July 1944

Events in July 1944 15

• 1878 – 1944 Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878-1944) Died 26 July 1944, aged 66 Founder of the Pahlavi dynasty, who ruled Iran from 1925 and pushed through rapid modernisation and centralisation. He was forced to abdicate in 1941 after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, and his son Mohammad Reza succeeded him. He died in exile in Johannesburg.
• 1883 – 1944 Lesley J. McNair (1883-1944) Died 25 July 1944, aged 61 US Army general who organised and trained the American ground forces for the Second World War. He was killed in Normandy when American bombs fell short during Operation Cobra. He was one of the highest-ranking Americans killed in the war.
• 1887 – 1944 Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (1887-1944) Died 12 July 1944, aged 56 US Army brigadier general and eldest son of President Theodore Roosevelt. He was the only general to land with the first wave on D-Day, at Utah Beach. He died of a heart attack in Normandy weeks later and was awarded the Medal of Honor.
• 1900 – 1944 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) Died 31 July 1944, aged 44 French writer and aviator, author of The Little Prince, Night Flight and Wind, Sand and Stars. He disappeared over the Mediterranean on a reconnaissance flight for the Free French Air Force. Wreckage of his aircraft was found off Marseille in 2000.
• 1907 – 1944 Claus von Stauffenberg (1907-1944) Died 21 July 1944, aged 36 German army officer who planted the bomb at the Wolf's Lair in the 20 July attempt to kill Hitler. He was a leading figure in the military resistance. He was shot by firing squad in Berlin shortly after midnight when the coup failed.
• 1944 Battles of Imphal and Kohima Japanese invasion of India is defeated The Japanese 15th Army invaded northeast India, hoping to capture Imphal and Kohima. British and Indian forces held out through sieges and fierce close-quarter fighting. The failed offensive cost Japan tens of thousands of men and opened the way for the reconquest of Burma.
• 1944 Deportation of Hungarian Jews Over 430,000 sent to Auschwitz in eight weeks After Germany occupied Hungary, the Hungarian gendarmerie and Adolf Eichmann's unit organised the deportation of Jews from the provinces. Most of those deported were murdered on arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Regent Horthy halted the deportations in early July under international pressure.
• 1944 Battle of Saipan US forces capture a key Mariana island US Marines and Army troops captured Saipan after three weeks of heavy fighting. Nearly the entire Japanese garrison died, and many civilians killed themselves rather than surrender. The island brought the Japanese home islands within range of B-29 bombers, and its loss led to the fall of Tojo's government.
• 1944 Gloster Meteor enters RAF service The Allies' first jet fighter No. 616 Squadron receives the Meteor, the only Allied jet fighter to see combat in the Second World War, used first against V-1 flying bombs.
• 1944 – 2023 Ian Wilmut (1944-2023) Died 10 September 2023, aged 79 British embryologist who led the team that cloned Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.
• 1944 Port Chicago disaster Munitions explosion kills 320 at a California naval base Munitions being loaded onto a cargo ship exploded at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine, killing 320 people, most of them African American sailors. Weeks later, 50 Black sailors who refused to go back to unsafe loading work were convicted of mutiny. The case drew attention to racial segregation in the US Navy.
• 1944 20 July plot German officers fail to assassinate Hitler Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg planted a briefcase bomb at the Wolf's Lair headquarters in East Prussia, but Hitler survived with minor injuries. The attempted coup in Berlin collapsed within hours. Thousands were arrested and around 5,000 people were executed in the reprisals that followed.
• 1944 July 20 plot — Hitler assassination attempt Stauffenberg's bomb fails to kill Hitler Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg placed a bomb at Hitler's Wolf's Lair headquarters on July 20, 1944. Hitler survived with minor injuries. Over 4,900 people were executed in the subsequent crackdown.
• 1944 Battle of Guam US forces retake Guam US 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.
• 1944 Liberation of Majdanek First major Nazi camp reached by Allied troops Soviet forces reached the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp near Lublin. The Germans had not had time to destroy it, and gas chambers and crematoria were found largely intact. Reports and photographs of the camp gave the world early evidence of the Holocaust.