Explore 6096 historical events from 1940–1949.
On 10 June 1944, four days after D-Day, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne in Nazi-occupied France was destroyed when 642 civilians, including non-combatant men, wome…
World War II: Six hundred forty-three men, women and children massacred at Oradour-sur-Glane, France
Distomo is a town in western Boeotia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Distomo-Arachova-Antikyra, of which it is the seat and a munici…
World War II: In Distomo, Boeotia, Greece, 228 men, women and children are massacred by German troops
The 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, also known as Svoboda's Army, was a military formation of the Czechoslovak Army in exile fighting on the Eastern Front alongside the Soviet Red Arm…
World War II: Units of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps enter Czechoslovakia during the Battle of the Dukla Pass.
The Tuvan People's Republic (TPR), known simply as Tuva, was a partially recognized socialist republic that existed between 1921 and 1944 in North Asia. It was located in the same …
The Tuvan People's Republic is annexed by the Soviet Union.
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play …
In baseball, 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds becomes the youngest player ever in a major-league game
USS Missouri (BB-63) is an Iowa-class battleship built for the United States Navy (USN) in the 1940s and is now a museum ship. Completed in 1944, she is the last battleship commiss…
USS Missouri, the last battleship built by the United States Navy and future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrum
The Battle of Carentan was an engagement in World War II between airborne forces of the United States Army and the German Wehrmacht during the Battle of Normandy. The battle took p…
World War II: Battle of Carentan: American paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division secure the town of Carentan, Norm
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: The Battle of Villers-Bocage: German tank ace Michael Wittmann ambushes elements of the British 7th Armou
The 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Götz von Berlichingen" was a German Waffen-SS division that saw action on the Western Front during World War II. It was formed in October 1943…
World War II: German combat elements, reinforced by the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, launch a counterattack on Amer
The Riga offensive was part of the larger Baltic offensive on the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place late in 1944, and drove German forces from the city of Riga.
World War II: The Soviet Riga Offensive captures the city.
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel, known as The Desert Fox, was a German Generalfeldmarschall during World War II. He served in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany, as well as in the Reichsweh…
World War II: The state funeral of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel takes place in Ulm, Germany.
Juan Federico Ponce Vaides was the acting President of Guatemala from 4 July 1944 to 20 October 1944. He was overthrown by a popular uprising on 20 October 1944 that began the Guat…
A coup is launched against Juan Federico Ponce Vaides, beginning the ten-year Guatemalan Revolution.
Operation Perch was a British offensive of the Second World War which took place from 7 to 14 June 1944, during the early stages of the Battle of Normandy. The operation was intend…
World War II: After several failed attempts, the British Army abandons Operation Perch, its plan to capture the German-o
The Battle of Saipan was an amphibious assault launched by the United States against the Empire of Japan during the Pacific campaign of World War II between 15 June and 9 July 1944…
World War II: The United States invades Saipan, capital of Japan's South Seas Mandate
The 1944 Saskatchewan general election, the tenth in the history of the province, was held on June 15, 1944 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. The Co-ope…
In the Saskatchewan general election, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, is elected and forms the first socialist government
Iceland is a Nordic island country between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Europe and North America. It is culturally and p…
Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic
The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a major naval battle of World War II on 19–20 June 1944 that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier act…
World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U
The Nemmersdorf massacre was a civilian massacre perpetrated by Red Army soldiers in the late stages of World War II. Nemmersdorf was one of the first prewar ethnic German settleme…
World War II: The Nemmersdorf massacre against German civilians takes place.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved.
World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf begins.
USS Shark (SS-314), a Balao-class submarine, was the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the shark, a large marine predator.
World War II: The USS Shark (SS-314) was lost with all 87 hands in the Bashi Straits after torpedoing the Japanese…
The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a F…
World War II: During the Continuation War, the Soviet Union demands unconditional surrender from Finland during the begi
MW 18014 was a German A-4 test rocket launched on 20 June 1944, at the Peenemünde Army Research Center in Peenemünde. It was the first man-made object to reach outer space, attaini…
The experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reaches an altitude of 176 km, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer sp
Operation Bagration was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation, a military campaign fought between 22 June and 19 August 1944 in Soviet Byeloru…
World War II: Opening day of the Soviet Union's Operation Bagration against the Army Group Centre
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving US president and the…
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