September 1944

[September 1], 1944 (Friday)

• The Battle of Lone Tree Hill ended in American victory.
• Soviet forces took Călărași and reached the Bulgarian frontier at Giurgiu. Moscow requested permission for their troops to enter Bulgarian territory.
• The First Canadian Army captured Dieppe, the site of the failed 1942 commando raid, and pressed on along the northern French coast.
• German submarine U-247 was depth charged and sunk in the English Channel by Canadian warships.
• The Frank Capra-directed dark comedy film Arsenic and Old Lace starring Cary Grant premiered at the Strand Theatre in New York City.
• Born: Leonard Slatkin, conductor and composer, in Los Angeles, California

  [September 2], 1944 (Saturday)

• Konstantin Muraviev became Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
• The First Canadian Army took Saint-Valery-en-Caux and reached the River Somme.
• Finland severed diplomatic relations with Germany and ordered all Germans to leave the country.
• German submarine U-394 was sunk southeast of Jan Mayen by a Fairey Swordfish of 825 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm and gunfire from British warships.
• Lipniak-Majorat massacre: German troops carried out a massacre of around 450 Poles, including many women and children, in the village of Lipniak-Majorat in occupied Poland.
• The Spanish-language family magazine ¡Hola! was founded in Barcelona.
• Born: Gilles Marchal, singer and songwriter, in Paris, France
• Died George W. Norris, American politician

  [September 3], 1944 (Sunday)

• Finland and the Soviet Union agreed on a ceasefire to take effect at 8:00 a.m. the next morning.
• The British Second Army captured Brussels while the U.S. First Army took Tournai.
• Gerd von Rundstedt was restored as Oberbefehlshaber West, replacing Walter Model.
• The Germans began Operation Birke to protect access to nickel in Finnish Lapland.
• Prime Minister Muraviev halted the execution of political prisoners in Bulgaria.
• Born: Ty Warner, toy manufacturer, businessman and actor, in Oak Brook, Illinois
• Died: Emil Lang, 35, German flying ace

  [September 4], 1944 (Monday)

• Soviet troops in Romania captured Brașov and Sinaia.
• The Battle of Gemmano began in Italy as part of the Allied assault on the Gothic Line.
• The British Guards Armoured Division took Kortenberg and Leuven.
• The U.S. Seventh Army took Bourg-en-Bresse.

  [September 5], 1944 (Tuesday)

• The Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria, which never attacked the USSR but was aligned with the Axis.
• The Battle of Turda began in Romania.
• Štefan Tiso replaced Vojtech Tuka as Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic.
• The Cornwall–Massena earthquake along the Saint Lawrence rift system in North America did $2 million damage.
• Sweden said it would bar entry to Nazis attempting to flee.
• German submarine U-362 was depth charged and sunk in the Kara Sea by Soviet minesweeper T-116.
• Died: Gustave Biéler, 40, French spy

  [September 6], 1944 (Wednesday)

• The Tartu Offensive ended in Soviet victory.
• The French 2nd Corps captured Chalon-sur-Saône.
• Polish forces liberate Ypres in Belgium from occupying German forces.
• All four carrier groups of Task Force 38 began air strikes on Japanese positions in the Palau Islands.
• The British government relaxed blackout restrictions and suspended compulsory training for the Home Guard.
• Born: Christian Boltanski, artist, in Paris France ; Swoosie Kurtz, American Actress
• Died: Jan Franciszek Czartoryski, 47, Polish noble, military chaplain and one of the 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs of World War II ; Ted T. Tanouye, 24, Japanese American soldier and posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor

  [September 7], 1944 (Thursday)

• Hungary declared war on Romania and crossed into southern Transylvania.
• Members of Vichy France's collaborationist government were relocated to Germany where an enclave was established for them in Sigmaringen Castle.
• Shin'yō Maru incident: The Japanese cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Sulu Sea by American submarine USS Paddle while carrying 750 American prisoners of war aboard. 688 perished.
• Born: Earl Manigault, street basketball player, in Charleston, South Carolina ; Bora Milutinović, footballer and manager, in Bajina Bašta, Yugoslavia; Sam Sloan, American perennial candidate and former broker-dealer.

  [September 8], 1944 (Friday)

• On the Eastern Front, the Battle of the Dukla Pass began for the Dukla Pass at the border of Poland and Slovakia.
• The Belgian government in exile led by Hubert Pierlot returned to Brussels from London.
• Bulgaria accepted an armistice with the Soviet Union.
• The first V-2 flying bomb to reach British soil landed in Chiswick, west London, demolishing eleven houses and killing three people immediately. The British government did not acknowledge the new German weapon until November.
• The Italian ocean liner was sunk at Trieste by an air raid of Bristol Beaufighters from No. 272 Squadron RAF.

  [September 9], 1944 (Saturday)

• A coup d'état in Bulgaria overthrew the government of Konstantin Muraviev after one week in power and replaced it with a government of the Fatherland Front led by Kimon Georgiev.
• German submarine U-484 was depth charged and sunk northwest of Ireland by British warships.
• U-865 was lost sometime after this date to unknown causes after leaving Trondheim, Norway.
• Miss District of Columbia Venus Ramey was crowned Miss America 1944.
• Died: Robert Benoist, 59, French racing driver and member of the French Resistance

  [September 10], 1944 (Sunday)

• RAF Bomber Command began Operation Paravane, another attack on the German battleship Tirpitz anchored in northern Norway.
• The U.S. 3rd Armored Division occupied St. Vith and reached the German border.
• Liberation of Luxembourg.
• German submarines U-20 and U-23 were scuttled in the Black Sea to prevent capture by the advancing Soviets.

  [September 11], 1944 (Monday)

• Elements of the First Canadian Army reached the Belgian coastal village of Zeebrugge.
• Communist leader Bolesław Bierut assumed the presidency of a new provisional government of Poland.
• German submarine U-19 was scuttled in the Black Sea.
• US troops crossed the border into Nazi Germany for the first time. At 16:30 hours, a 7-person patrol led by Sgt. Warner W. Holzinger of the 2nd Platoon, Troop B, 85th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 5th Armored Division, crossed the river Our at Stolzembourg, Luxembourg and reached Keppeshausen. They studied the pillbox area, and returned safely to Stolzembourg at 18:50 having encountered no German military personnel. This was also the first advance through enemy lines in Germany.

  [September 12], 1944 (Tuesday)

• The Second Quebec Conference began in Quebec City, Canada.
• Romania signed an armistice with the Allies in Moscow. Romania agreed to provide twelve divisions to fight Germany, provide goods and raw materials to the USSR, ban all fascist organizations, repeal anti-Jewish laws and revert to their 1940 borders. The Soviet Union took control of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina.
• About 12,000 German troops surrendered as the First Canadian Army captured Le Havre.
• In the Apennine Mountains, the U.S. Fifth Army joined in the assault on the Gothic Line.
• The Japanese passenger ship Rakuyō Maru was sunk in the South China Sea by American submarine USS Sealion while transporting 1,317 Australian and British prisoners of war. A total of 1,159 POWs died.
• Japanese destroyer Shikinami was sunk south of Hong Kong by the American submarine Growler.
• Born: Leonard Peltier, Native American activist and convicted murderer, in Grand Forks, North Dakota; Barry White, composer, singer and songwriter, in Galveston, Texas

  [September 13], 1944 (Wednesday)

• The Battle of Rimini began in Italy.
• The 47th Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front took the Warsaw suburb of Praga.
• Soviet aircraft began dropping supplies to the Home Army in Warsaw overnight.
• The American destroyer USS Warrington sank off the Bahamas in the Great Atlantic hurricane.
• The Battle of Meligalas between the Greek People's Liberation Army and the Security Battalions begins in Greece.
• Born: Carol Barnes, television newsreader and broadcaster, in Norwich, England ; Jacqueline Bisset, actress, in Weybridge, Surrey, England; Peter Cetera, singer, songwriter, bassist and original member of rock band Chicago, in Chicago, Illinois
• Died: Yolande Beekman, 32, Madeleine Damerment, 26, and Noor Inayat Khan, 30, SOE agents ; W. Heath Robinson, 72, English cartoonist and illustrator

  [September 14], 1944 (Thursday)

• The Soviets began the Baltic Offensive and the Riga Offensive.
• Operation Dragoon ended in Allied victory.
• The Battle of Păuliș began in Romania between Hungarian and Soviet/Romanian forces.
• Canadian and British troops pushing through the Gothic Line captured Coriano.
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded the third highest water level of Woods Hole, MA to date at 1.488 meters.
• Died: John Kenneth Macalister, 30, Frank Pickersgill, 29, and Roméo Sabourin, 21, Canadian spies

  [September 15], 1944 (Friday)

• The Lapland War begins between Germany and Finland.
• The Germans carried out Operation Tanne Ost to capture the Finnish island of Suursaari before it could fall into Soviet hands. The operation was a complete failure for the Germans with the Finns taking 1,231 prisoners.
• German frogmen carried out a successful raid on the floodgates at Antwerp and rendered the port unusable to the Allies for six weeks.
• The Battle of Gemmano in Italy ended in Allied victory.
• The Battle of Peleliu began between U.S. and Japanese forces on the island of Peleliu.
• The Battle of Morotai between Allied and Japanese forces began in the Maluku Islands.
• The French provisional government in Paris said it would try Vichy war criminals and issued warrants for the arrests of Philippe Pétain and his cabinet.
• The Great Atlantic Hurricane made landfall on Long Island and Rhode Island.
• The Battle of Meligalas between the Greek People's Liberation Army and the Security Battalions ends, and is followed by a massacre of the captive Security Battalionists.