What Happened in May 1944

Historical Events

Going My Way

May 3 "Going My Way", directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby premieres in New York (Academy Award for Best Picture, 1945)

May 3 Meat rationing ends in US

Gaslight

May 4 MGM releases film adaptation of "Gaslight", starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, and an 18-year-old Angela Lansbury in her film debut

Gandhi Freed

May 5 Mahatma Gandhi freed from prison (again)

Pacifist and Spiritual Leader Mahatma Gandhi

May 5 Soviet offensive against Sebastopol, Crimea
May 6 70th Kentucky Derby: Conn McCreary aboard Pensive wins in 2:04.2
May 6 KJR-AM in Seattle Washington swaps calls with KOMO

Attatck on Tito Hideout

May 7 German assault on Tito's hideout in Drvar Bosnia

President of Yugoslavia and Revolutionary Josip Broz Tito

May 8 33 communist resistance fighter sentenced to death
May 9 1st eye bank opens in New York
May 9 Country singer Jimmie Davis becomes Governor of Louisiana
May 9 Dutch resistance fighter Gerard Musch arrested

NY Yankees Manager Returns

May 9 Joe McCarthy returns as New York Yankees manager after an illness

May 9 Russians recapture Crimea by taking Sevastopol
May 10 Chinese offensive in West-Yunnan
May 10 Smith v Allwright (excluding Blacks from primary voting) is illegal
May 11 Opposition group surprise attack post office Washer
May 12 900+ 8th US Air Force bombers attack Zwikau, Bohlen & Brux
May 12 Crimea purged of Nazi troops
May 12 German police arrest Dutch resistance member Gerrit van der Veen and later execute him
May 13 69th Preakness: Conn McCreary aboard Pensive wins in 1:59.2
May 14 91 German bombers harass Bristol
May 14 British troops occupy Kohima

Attempt to Assassinate Hitler

May 14 General Rommel, Speidel & von Stulpnagel attempt to assassinate Hitler

Munkacs Jews to Auschwitz

May 15 14,000 Jews of Munkacs, Hungary, deported to Auschwitz

May 15 Cincinnati Red Clyde Shoun no-hits Boston Braves, 1-0

D-Day Planning

May 15 Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, Winston Churchill and King George VI discuss the plan for D-Day

34th US President and WWII General Dwight D. Eisenhower

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

May 15 Sergei Aleksi becomes guardian of the Patriarch Throne of the Russian Orthodox Church
May 16 1st of 180,000+ Hungarian Jews reach Auschwitz
May 17 -18] Allied air raid on Surabaja, Java
May 17 Chinese and US armed forces take Myitkyina Airport, Burma
May 17 Operation Straightline: Allies land in Dutch New Guinea

D-Day Date Set

May 17 US General Dwight Eisenhower sets D-Day for June 5

Into the Jaws of Death by Robert F. Sargent

May 18 Expulsion of more than 200,000 Tartars from Crimea by Soviet Union begins, they are accused of collaborating with the Germans
May 18 Polish 2nd Army corps captures convent of Monte Cassino, Italy
May 19 240 gypsies transported to Auschwitz from Westerbork, Netherlands, including Sinti girl Settela Steinbach famously filmed by Jewish photographer Rudolf Breslauer [1]
May 19 German defense line in Italy collapses

Event of Interest

May 19 Writer and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois becomes 1st Black member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters

Civil Rights Activist and Sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois

May 20 US Communist Party dissolves
May 21 WWII: West Loch Disaster - explosion during munition loading kills at least 160 sailors, injures nearly 400, destroys six ships and damages 3 piers and several buildings at Pearl Harbor U.S. Naval Base in Oahu, Hawaii; details were kept classified until the early 1960s
May 23 British and Canadian troops occupy Pontecorvo, Italy
May 23 Chinese counter offensive at Hunan front
May 23 Operation Buffalo: Allied break out from Anzio bridgehead

Enver Hoxha

May 24 Enver Hoxha becomes head of Albania's anti fascists

May 24 Icelandic voters severe all ties with Denmark
May 25 Partisan leader Tito escapes Germans surrounding Bosnia
May 27 Allies land on Biak, Indonesia (operation Horlicks)
May 27 Japanese advance in Hangkhou, China

No Exit

May 27 Jean-Paul Sartres' existentialist play "Huis Clos" (No Exit) premieres in Paris

May 29 British troops occupy Aprilia, Italy
May 30 Transport No. 75 departs Drancy (France) internment camp, taking 1,000 French Jews to Auschwitz extermination camp in Nazi German occupied Poland; 627 killed upon arrival, approximately 99 survive the war

Events in 1944

Famous Birthdays

May 1 Suresh Kalmadi, Indian politician
May 2 Bob Henrit, English pop drummer (Argent - "Hold Your Head Up"; The Kinks), born in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England
May 2 Franz Innerhofer, Austrian writer (Beautiful Days), born in Krimml, Salzberg
May 2 John Verity, English rocker (Argent), born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England
May 2 Tony Lane, American art director (Rolling Stone magazine), and Grammy Award-winning album cover art designer (Carly Simon - Boys in the Trees; Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water; Michael Jackson - Bad), born in New York City (d. 2016)
May 3 Ian Peter Leslie Smith, British journalist, born in Bristol, England (d. 1997)
May 3 Pete Staples, British rock bassist (Troggs - "Wild Thing"; "Love Is All Around"), born in Andover, Hampshire, England
May 4 Peggy Santiglia, American singer-songwriter (Angels), born in Belleville, New Jersey
May 5 Bo Larsson, Swedish football striker (70 caps; Malmö FF 310 games 119 goals, VfB Stuttgart), born in Malmö, Sweden (d. 2023)
May 5 Jean-Pierre Léaud, French actor (Detective), born in Paris, France
May 5 John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor (Sir Edward-Quest, Sliders), born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
May 5 Roger Rees, Welsh Tony winning stage and screen actor (Cheers - "Robin Colcord"), born in Aberystwyth (d. 2015)
May 6 Anton Furst, American production designer (Batman), born in London (d. 1991)

Masanori Murakami (79 years old)

May 6 Japanese baseball player in major leagues, born in Ōtsuki, Yamanashi, Japan

May 6 Mike Coulman, English rugby union prop (9 Tests England, 1 British & Irish Lions; Moseley RUFC) and rugby league front rower (3 Tests GB, 5 England; Salford RLFC), born in Stafford, England (d. 2023)
May 7 Alison Bauld, Australian composer, born in Sydney, Australia
May 7 Eva Norvind, Norwegian-Mexican actress, born in Trondheim, Norway (d. 2006)
May 7 Richard O'Sullivan, British comedy actor (Man About the House), born in Chiswick, London
May 7 Sivi Aberg, Swedish actress (Batman TV show), born in Gävle, Sweden
May 8 Bill Legend [Fifield], British musician and rock drummer (T. Rex), born in Barking, Essex
May 8 Dorothy Combs (Morrison), American gospel, session and touring singer (Edwin Hawkins Singers - "Oh Happy Day"; The Combs Sisters; Blues Broads), born in Longview, Texas

Gary Glitter (79 years old)

May 8 British glam rocker (Rock and Roll, Parts 1 and 2), and convicted sex offender, born in Banbury, England

May 9 Don Dannemann, American musician (Cyrkle), born in Brooklyn, New York
May 9 Richard Furay, American singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Buffalo Springfield; Poco), born in Yellow Springs, Ohio
May 10 Abdul Kadir, cricketer (Pakistani batsman-keeper in 4 Tests 1964-65)
May 10 Jackie Lomax, British singer-songwriter (Is This What You Want?; Sour Milk Sea), born in Liverpool, England (d. 2013)
May 10 Jim Abrahams, Shorewood WI, director (Hot Shots, Top Secret)
May 10 Marie-France Pisier, Daclat, Vietnam, French actress and writer (Love on the Run, Cousin cousine)
May 11 Dave Nicoll, English motocross racer (Trans-AMA motocross series 1970) and official (FIM world championship Clerk of the Course 1997-2023), born in Cambridge, England (d. 2023)
May 11 John Benaud, Australian cricket batsman (3 Tests, 1 x 100; NSW CA), born in Sydney, Australia
May 12 Eva Demski, German writer, born in Regensburg
May 12 James Purify, American R&B singer ("I'm Your Puppet"), born in Pensacola, Florida (d. 2021)
May 12 Orestes Vilató, Cuban-American percussionist and timbalero, born in Camagüey, Cuba
May 12 Titti Sotto, Cuban singer and composer (La Esquina Habanera), born in Havana, Cuba (d. 1992)
May 13 Armistead Maupin, American author (Tales of the City series), born in Washington D.C.
May 13 Betsy Finley Ashton, American broadcast journalist, author and lecturer, born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
May 13 Carolyn Franklin, American singer-songwriter ("Angel"), born in Memphis, Tennessee (d. 1988)
May 13 Clive Radley, English cricketer (batsman in 8 Tests)
May 13 Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, British explorer and genealogist
May 14 Francesca Annis, actress (Madame Bovary, Dune), born in London, England
May 14 Gene Cornish, Canadian rock bassist/vocalist (Fotomaker, Rascals - "Good Lovin'"), born in Ottawa, Ontario

George Lucas (79 years old)

May 14 American film director, screenwriter, and producer (Star Wars; Indiana Jones; American Graffiti), born in Modesto, California

May 14 Russi Taylor, American voice actress (6th Minnie Mouse, 1986-2019), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d. 2019)
May 15 Bill Alter, Missouri State Senator
May 15 Gunilla Hutton, Goteborg Sweden, actress (Petticoat Junction)
May 15 Miruts Yifter 'Yifter the Shifter', Ethiopian runner (Olympic golds 1980), born in Adigrat (d. 2016)
May 15 Tich [Ian Amey], British rock musician (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich), born in Salisbury, England
May 16 Billy Cobham, Panamanian-American jazz drummer (Mahavishnu Orchestra), born in Colón, Panama
May 16 Danny Trejo, American actor
May 17 Arif Butt, Pakistani cricket pace bowler (3 Tests, 14 wickets; Lahore, Pakistan Railways), born in Lahore, Pakistan (d. 2007)
May 17 Canon P B Price, general secretary, USPG
May 17 Jesse Winchester, singer/songwriter (Learn to Love it), born in Shreveport, Louisiana (d. 2014)
May 18 Albert Hammond, British singer-songwriter ("It Never Rains In Southern California"), born in London, England
May 18 Peter Ryan, British national director (Police Training)
May 18 W. G. Sebald, German-born writer (Austerlitz), born in Wertach, Germany (d. 2001)
May 19 Peter Mayhew, British-American actor (Chewbacca in Star Wars), born in London, England (d. 2019)

Joe Cocker (1944-2014)

May 20 English rock vocalist ("With A Little Help From My Friends"; "Cry Me A River"; "You Are So Beautiful"), born in Sheffield, England

May 20 Boudewijn de Groot, Dutch folk singer ("Sleep Well, Mr. President"), born in a Japanese concentration camp, near Batavia, occupied Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta, Indonesia)
May 20 Cipa Dichter, Brazilian pianist, and wife of Misha Dichter, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
May 20 David M Walker, Capt USN/astron (STS 51-A 30, 53, 69), born in Columbus, Georgia

Dietrich Mateschitz (1944-2022)

May 20 Austrian businessman (founder, owner Red Bull Racing; FC Red Bull Salzburg, RB Leipzig; co-creator Red Bull energy drink), born in Sankt Marein im Mürztal, Austria

May 20 Joseph Benz, Swiss bobsledder (Olympic gold 2-man 1980; World C'ship gold 4-man 1975; 2-man 1978, 79), born in Zurich, Switzerland (d. 2021)
May 20 Keith Fletcher, cricket captain (Essex & England)
May 21 Janet Dailey, American Romance author, born in Storm Lake, Iowa (d. 2013)
May 21 Manual Pina, Spanish fashion designer (d. 1994)
May 21 Marcie Blane [Blank], American pop singer (Bobby's Girl), born in Brooklyn, New York
May 21 Mary Robinson, Irish politician, President of the Republic of Ireland (1990-97), born in Ballina, Ireland
May 23 Giles Smith, TV journalist

John Newcombe (79 years old)

May 23 Australian tennis player (7 Grand Slam singles, 17 Grand Slam doubles titles), born in Sydney, Australia

May 23 Ramon "Tiki" Fulwood, American funk drummer (Parliament-Funkadelic; Miles Davis), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1979)
May 24 Patti LaBelle [Holte], American pop, R&B, and disco singer (LaBelle - "Lady Marmalade"), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 25 Bob Payton, American pizza magnate (The Chicago Pizza Pie Factory), born in Miami, Florida (d. 1994)
May 25 Frank Oz, American muppetteer (Grover-Sesame Street, Muppet Show), born in Hereford, England
May 25 Herbert Worthington lll, American photographer and album cover artist (Stevie Nix; Fleetwood Mac), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2013)
May 25 John Bunnell, former Sheriff of Multnomah County, Oregon and TV personality (World's Wildest Police Videos), born in Pendleton, Oregon
May 25 Robert MacPherson, American mathematician (invention of intersection homology with Mark Goresk), born in Lakewood, Ohio
May 26 (Terence) Verden Allen, Welsh rock keyboardist (Mott the Hoople - "All Young Dudes"), born in Crynant, Neath, Wales
May 26 Sam Posey, American auto racer (12 Hours of Sebring 1975; 24 Hours of Le Mans 1971 3rd) and TV commentator (ABC Sports), born in New York City
May 27 Billy Adamson, Scottish drummer (The Searchers, 1969-98), born in Peebles, Scotland (d. 2013)
May 27 Chris Dodd, American politician (Senator-D-Connecticut, 1981-2011), born in Willimantic, Connecticut
May 27 Pleun Strik, Dutch soccer defender (8 caps, FIFA World Cup 1974 runner-up; PSV Eindhoven 270 games), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 2022)
May 28 Adriaan T "Ad" Zuiderent, poet/critic (On the Droge)
May 28 Billy Vera, American rock singer-songwriter (Billy & The Beaters - "At This Moment"; "Into the Night"), born in Riverside, California
May 28 Faith Brown, British actress and impressionist
May 28 Gary Stewart, American country singer ("She's Actin' Single"), born in Jenkins, Kentucky (d. 2003)

Gladys Knight (79 years old)

May 28 American singer known as the Empress of Soul (The Pips - "Midnight Train to Georgia"), born in Atlanta, Georgia

May 28 Patricia Quinn, Lady Stephens, Northern-Irish actress, voice artist and singer (The Rocky Horror Picture Show), born in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Rudy Giuliani (79 years old)

May 28 American Mayor of New York City (Republican: 1994-2001) at the time of the September 11 attacks, born in New York City

May 28 Sondra Locke, American actress (The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter; Willard), and director (Impulse), born in Shelbyville, Tennessee (d. 2018)
May 29 Helmut Berger [Steinberger], Austrian film actor (Ludwig; Ash Wednesday; The Damned; Dorian Gray), born in Bad Ischl, Austria
May 29 Quentin Davies, British MP (C & L), born in Oxford, England
May 30 John Casado, American graphic artist (MacIntosh; New Line Cinema), album cover designer (Doobie Brothers, Aaron Neville, Barry White, and photographer, born in East Los Angeles, California
May 30 Lenny Davidson, British rock guitarist (Dave Clark Five - "Glad All Over"), born in London, England

Born in 1944

Famous Deaths

May 5 Bertha Benz [Cacilie Bertha Ringer], German inventor, automotive pioneer and wife of fellow automotive inventor Karl Benz, dies at 95
May 9 Ethel Smyth, English composer, dies at 86
May 11 Henk Hos, Dutch resistance fighter, executed at 37
May 11 Walter Oesau, German fighter pilot (WWII), dies at 30
May 12 Arthur Quiller-Couch, Cornish novelist and editor (The Oxford Book Of English Verse 1250–1900), dies at 80
May 16 Ferdinand Alphons Marie van der Ham, Dutch WW II resistance fighter, dies at 27
May 16 George Ade, American playwright, writer and humorist (Counsel Widow, Fables in Slang), dies at 78
May 16 Leone Sinigaglia, Italian composer, dies at 75
May 16 Max Brand [Frederick Schiller Faust], western author, dies
May 17 Félix Éboué, French colonial administrator, dies at 60
May 19 Godfrey Wilson, British Anthropologist of social change and colonial problems in Africa, commits suicide as a conscientious objector in WW II
May 26 Barend Busnac, Dutch office clerk and resistance fighter, executed by Nazi police in Haaren, Nethrlands at 22
May 26 Cyril Francois, South African cricket all-rounder (5 Tests, 252 runs, 6 wickets), dies in a motor accident at 46
May 26 Henricus Verbunt, Dutch civil servant and resistance fighter, executed by German forces at 34
May 26 Jacob J. Hage, Dutch farmer and WW II resistance fighter, executed at 23
May 26 Robert van Spaendonck, Dutch resistance fighter, dies at 27
May 28 Katri Vala, Finnish poet, dies at 42
May 30 Jessie Ralph, American stage, silent and sound screen actress (The Good Earth; San Francisco: The Bank Dick), dies at 79

On This Day