The following events occurred in October 1944:
October 1, 1944 (Sunday) The Battle of Tornio began between German and Finnish forces. Operation Undergo ended in Allied victory. Putten raid happened from October 1st to 2nd 660 men were taken away after a failed attack on a German official in November 1944 After a four-day battle, the U.S. Fifth Army captured Monte Battaglia on the Gothic Line in Italy, helped by the Italian partisans. The II and the IV Corp of the Army launch an offensive towards Bologna, that will end in a month with heavy losses and a limited gain of ground. Richard McCreery replaced Oliver Leese as Commander-in-Chief of the Eighth Army. The St. Louis Browns won the American League pennant on the final day of the season by beating the New York Yankees 5-2. The Browns, who had never won a pennant in franchise history and would not win another as a St. Louis team, were helped immensely by the wartime roster depletion across baseball that happened to affect them less than the other ballclubs. The average major league team had ten 4-F players on its roster, but the Browns had eighteen. Died: Rudolf Schmundt, 48, German Army officer (died of wounds sustained in the 20 July bomb plot)
October 2, 1944 (Monday) The Warsaw Uprising was put down after two months by Nazi occupation forces. The Battle of Aachen began between American and German forces in and around Aachen, Germany. The Battle of the Scheldt began in northern Belgium and the southwestern Netherlands. Born: Vernor Vinge, computer scientist and author, in Waukesha, Wisconsin (d. 2024)
October 3, 1944 (Tuesday) The Japanese submarine I-177 was shelled and sunk in the Pacific Ocean by the destroyer escort Samuel S. Miles. The American submarine USS Seawolf went missing, probably sunk in the Molucca Sea by the U.S. destroyer escort Richard M. Rowell in a friendly fire accident. Finnish forces captured Taivalkoski in northern Finland. In Lenno, on Lake Como, some partisans attempted to kidnap Guido Buffarini Guidi, the fascist Italian Social Republic's Minister of the Interior. The action ended tragically, with the deaths of five partisans.
October 4, 1944 (Wednesday) In Finnish Lapland the Germans moved from Operation Birke to Operation Nordlicht, an organized retreat using scorched earth tactics. The Battle of Morotai ended in Allied victory, although intermittent fighting continued there until the end of the war. Allied planes bombed Prague for the first time. German submarines U-92, U-228 and U-437 were all rendered inoperable by an air raid on Bergen by RAF aircraft. Milan Nedić's collaborationist puppet government of the Axis powers, the Government of National Salvation in Nazi-occupied Serbia, was disbanded. Born: Danilo Abbruciati, nicknamed “the chameleon”, Italian gangster and hit man, member of the “Banda della Magliana”, in Rome d. 1982, killed by a security guard while he was carrying out an attack on Roberto Calvi’s behalf; Tony La Russa, baseball player and manager, in Tampa, Florida; Ross Milne, Australian Olympic Alpine skier, in Myrtleford, Victoria, Australia (d. 1964, training crash at Winter Olympics) Died: Al Smith, 70, American statesman, Governor of New York and 1928 Democratic presidential candidate
October 5, 1944 (Thursday) Japanese forces captured Fuzhou, the last seaport under Chinese control. The Battle of Memel began on the Eastern Front. Joseph Goebbels announced a reduction in food rations. The incomplete Italian aircraft carrier Sparviero was scuttled at Genoa by Axis forces. In Italy, the IV Corp of the Fifth Army launched an attack towards La Spezia. End of the Marzabotto massacre, on the Apennines over Boronia, aimed to repress the support of the villagers to partisan brigade Red Star. In a week, the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, headed by Walter Reder, had slaughtered 770 civilians (women and children included) in the territories of Marzabotto, Grizzana and Monzuno, with episodes of inenarrable sadism. Five pilots of No. 401 Squadron RCAF participated in the shooting down of a Messerschmitt Me 262 over the Netherlands, marking the first time that a jet fighter had been shot down by enemy fire. The stage musical Bloomer Girl with music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Yip Harburg and book by Sig Herzig and Fred Saidy premiered at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway. Born: Gianni Mazza, Italian conductor and composer of jazz and pop music, in Rome; Cesare Nosiglia, Archbishop of Turin, in Rossiglione (Genoa)
October 6, 1944 (Friday) The Dutch submarine Zwaardvisch torpedoed and sank German submarine U-168 in the Java Sea. Milan Nedić, president of the Serbian collaborationist puppet state of the Axis powers, the Government of National Salvation, fled from Belgrade in Nazi-occupied Serbia by air together with other Serbian collaborators and German officials, via Hungary to Austria. The Battle of Debrecen began in Hungary. The Dumbarton Oaks Conference concluded. Born: Mylon LeFevre, singer, in Gulfport, Mississippi (d. 2023)
October 7, 1944 (Saturday) The Dumbarton Oaks Conference concluded. Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon signed the Alexandria Protocol, leading to the establishment of the Arab League on March 22, 1945. The Red Army began the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive against Axis forces in Finland and Norway. On the Italian front, the V Corps of the British Eighth Army launched an offensive beyond the river Rubicon. Sonderkommando revolt: The Sonderkommando (Nazi death camp prisoners deployed to remove corpses from the gas chambers and burn them) at Auschwitz-Birkenau revolted with makeshift weapons. Three SS guards were killed, but more than 200 members of the Sonderkommando died in the fighting. Hundreds of prisoners escaped but were all soon captured and executed. "You Always Hurt the One You Love" by The Mills Brothers topped the Billboard singles charts. Dead: Arnaldo Faustin, 72, Italian polar geographer.
October 8, 1944 (Sunday) The Battle of Crucifix Hill was fought outside the German village of Haaren, resulting in American victory. The Battle of Tehumardi was fought at night on the Estonian island of Saaremaa between retreating German troops and a Soviet Estonian rifle division. Both sides fought blindly, firing into the darkness or feeling for the enemy by touch. The Battle of Tornio ended in German retreat. The Battle of Turda ended in Romanian-Soviet victory. Battle of the Nijmegen salient ended - the Germans were unable to recover lost ground taken by the Allies during Operation Market Garden. Sir William Jowitt was appointed Britain's first Minister of National Insurance. Died: Nicolò Cortese, 37, Italian priest, killed in Trieste by the Gestapo’s torturers for his help to Jews and partisans; called "the Italian Father Kolbe"; Wendell Willkie, 52, American lawyer, corporate executive and 1940 Republican presidential candidate (heart attack).
October 9, 1944 (Monday) The Fourth Moscow Conference began. Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and U.S. ambassador W. Averell Harriman met to discuss the future of Europe. Operation Loyton ended. During the Battle of the Scheldt, the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade made an amphibious landing on the south bank of the Western Scheldt. The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the St. Louis Browns 3-1 to win the 1944 World Series, four games to two. Born: John Entwistle, bass player for The Who, in Chiswick, London, England (d. 2002); Nona Hendryx, musician, in Trenton, New Jersey
October 10, 1944 (Tuesday) Six Japanese midget submarines were bombed and sunk at Unten, Okinawa by Grumman F6F Hellcats from the carrier USS Bunker Hill. Allied commando unit Z Special Unit began Operation Rimau, an attack on Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbor. Porajmos: 800 Romani children were murdered at Auschwitz. A delegation of Austrian industrialists and officers asked Reichsstatthalter Baldur von Schirach to declare Vienna an open city. On the Italian front, while the Wehrmacht stopped the offensive of the II American Corp on the Bologna Apennines in Livergnano, the V English Corp passed the Rubicon and conquers Longiano and Savignano. In Genoa, the explosion of a German ammunition deposit in the San Benigno quarter (caused by lightning or, according to some never confirmed theories, by a partisan attack) caused hundreds of deaths. The victims included German soldiers, Genoese civilians living in the area and refugees in air-raid shelters. In Piedmont, a coalition of "blue" (monarchist) and "red" (communist) partisans occupied Alba, without fighting; the blue ranks included the future writer Beppe Fenoglio, who would describe the event in his novels. The town became the most important urban center freed by the Resistance's forces, before being reconquered by the Fascists a month later. Ramón Grau took office as President of Cuba. Born: Eurig Wyn, Welsh politician (died 2019)
October 11, 1944 (Wednesday) The U.S. Air Force bombed Okinawa. The Soviets annexed the Tuvan People's Republic. The Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front captured Cluj and Szeged. A secret Hungarian delegation signed a ceasefire agreement in Moscow. Hungary agreed to declare war on Germany and give up all territory gained since 1937. Italian front: While the tenacious opposition of the Wehrmacht stopped the American offensive on the Boronia hills in Livergnano and at Monte Battaglia, on Romagna the British, Indian and Canadian troops passed the Rubicon at many points, directed to Cesena; the New Zealanders conquered Gatteo. The film noir Laura directed by Otto Preminger and starring Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews was released. The Howard Hawks-directed wartime romance/adventure film To Have and Have Not starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan and Lauren Bacall (in her film debut) premiered in New York City. Died: Fritz Feßmann, 30, German military officer (killed near Tilsit by a Soviet shell)
October 12, 1944 (Thursday) The Battle of Rovaniemi began between German and Finnish forces. The British destroyer Loyal struck a mine in the Tyrrhenian Sea and was rendered a constructive total loss. The attacks of the American Fifth Army were stopped at Mount Cavallara; the offensive to Bologna was temporarily suspended, at by the target. The Japanese Kido Butai and the entire Japanese air forces launched nearly everything they had left at the American invasion force heading to Leyte, as part of their Sho 1 plan to repel American invasion toward Japan. The IJN planes failed to do any significant damage and were nearly wiped out. This was the final concerted action by Japanese planes, airforce or navy, except for the desperate and scattered kamakaze attacks. After this, the Kido Butai ceased to be a significant force .. although that was a fact unknown to the USA's Admiral Halsey during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Canadian Arctic explorer Henry Larsen reached Vancouver after sailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia through the Northwest Passage in just 86 days. Born: Renzo Imbeni, Italian Communist politician, Mayor of Bologna, in Bologna. (d. 2005) Angela Rippon, British television presenter in Plymouth, England Died: Alfredo Di Dio, 24, Italian Catholic partisan, commander of the Brigate Fiamme Verdi (Green Flames Brigades), fallen in the combat for the defense of the Ossola Republic; Andrew Haldane, 27, U.S. Marine (killed during the Battle of Peleliu); Jack J. Pendleton, 26, U.S. Army soldier and recipient of the Medal of Honor (killed in action at Bardebnerg, Germany)
October 13, 1944 (Friday) Allied forces liberated Athens from German occupation. The Germans launched V-1 and V-2 flying bombs at Antwerp in an attempt to deny use of its crucial port to the Allies. The Battle of Rovaniemi in Finland ended in German retreat.Ahto (1980) pp. 220–221See Lothar Rendulic, Gekämpft, gesiegt, geschlagen, Welsermühl, Wels-Heidelerg, 1952, p. 306; J.H. Palokangas, "Kohtalokkailla Retkillä", in the military journal "Kansa Taisteli", Helsinki, 1965.