As 1944 begins, Germany is in full retreat on the Eastern Front. Allied soldiers land in Anzio and the Red Army crosses into Poland. In the Pacific, Allied paratroopers land behind enemy lines in Burma. Allied forces struggle with Japanese Imperial troops in China and India is invaded. Meanwhile, US Marines continue to island-hop their way to Japan, while the US Navy continues to engage and defeat enemy fleets.

April 21
Chicago Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers merge for the 1944 football season.

June 5
Allies capture Rome.
 

June 13
Lacking the planes and men necessary to recreate the Blitz of 1940, the Nazi leadership experiments with a new terror weapon. Launched from the Pas-de-Calais area, German V1 (V for Vengeance) rocket-propelled bombs, begin to fall sporadically on London. Londoners will call these rockets Buzz Bombs and Doodlebugs. By September the Nazis, in full retreat, will be launching V2 rockets and, finally, V3 rockets upon targets in England and France. The V series’ firepower was more deadly with each successive generation. The rockets could not be used strategically (for striking military targets) as their guidance systems were primitive. Basically, they were used to simply destroy people and property at random.

June 22
GI Bill of Rights signed into law.

July 20
An assassination attempt on Hitler’s life during a planning session is made by disillusioned German officers. Unfortunately, though the briefcase bomb is placed under a table just a few feet away from the dictator, the heavy wood helps absorb the force of the blast and shields Hitler’s body. Shaken, and suffering an arm injury, Hitler orders the slow torture and death of the plotters to be filmed and shown after dinner.

July
In the Pacific, US forces take Saipan, Tinian and Guam in the Marianas. Since the start of the year, the US has pushed Japan off many captured islands and seriously damaged her navy. In Europe, advancing Red Army soldiers discover the abandoned Majdanek extermination camp, near Lublin, in Poland.
 

August 25
Allies liberate Paris (right). The French Army is allowed the honor of entering the city first, followed by American and British troops. Also in August, New Guinea is retaken as the Japanese surrender.

September
American reporters visit Lublin, Poland, and stories with pictures of a warehouse bursting with hundreds of thousands of pairs of shoes that had once belonged to Nazi victims are widely published.

October 25
The first suicide air attacks occur against US warships in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle of the war. Known as Kamikaze (Divine Wind"), young, inexperienced but fiercely loyal Japanese pilots fly ill equipped and outmoded planes which are little more than flying bombs. By the end of the war, Japan will have sent an estimated 2,257 aircraft, many flown by inexperienced pilots, to their doom. Most of the remaining Japanese fleet is destroyed.

December 16
Hitler gambles on the Western Front, and loses big. The "Battle of the Bulge" suddenly erupts in Belgium with a daring attack by powerful German Tiger tanks, large scale infantry assaults and subterfuge, in the form of English-speaking Nazi SS troops dressed in Allied uniforms. It is the largest land battle of the war and is the last German offensive campaign. The battle will be officially over by January 28, 1945. Hitler's once seemingly invincible stormtroopers are now in headlong retreat everywhere.

Also in 1944:

Ballpoint pen invented by Lazlo Biro (Argentina).

Chemists at General Electric, working with silicone, accidentally stumble across a substance that can be stretched, kneaded and bounced. This soft, plastic substance will be marketed in 1949 as "Silly Putty."

Going My Way wins Best Picture, Best Director (Leo McCarey) and Best Actor (Bing Crosby) at the 1944 Oscars. Barry Fitzgerald will take a Best Supporting Actor award for his role as the curmudgeonly Father Fitzgibbon in the feel-good musical about Father Chuck O’Malley, a young Catholic priest (Crosby) and his lighthearted song and dance approach to a range of social issues in contemporary New York City. The film also receives Oscars for Best Song, Best Screenplay, and Best Motion Picture Story.