World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
have the "WWII" prefix.
January
*
January 1
January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
– WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at
Stalingrad
Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...
, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured.
*
January 4
Events Pre-1600
*46 BC – Julius Caesar fights Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina.
* 871 – Battle of Reading: Æthelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred are defeated by a Danish invasion army.
1601–1900
*1649 – Engli ...
– WWII: Greek-Polish athlete and saboteur
Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz
Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz ( el, Γεώργιος Ιβάνωφ-Σαϊνόβιτς, ''Georgios Ivanof-Sainovits''; 14 December 1911 – 4 January 1943) was a Polish-Greek athlete who fought as a saboteur in the Greek Resistance during World War II a ...
is executed by the Germans at
Kaisariani
Kaisariani ( el, Καισαριανή) is a suburb and a municipality in the eastern part of the Athens agglomeration in Greece.
Geography
Kaisariani is located about southeast of Athens city centre, and of the Acropolis of Athens. The munic ...
.
*
January 11
Events Pre-1600
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalates into violence.
* 630 – Conquest of Mecca: The prophet Muhamma ...
** The United States and United Kingdom revise previously
unequal treaty
Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between China (mostly referring to the Qing dynasty) and various Western powers (specifically the British Empire, France, the ...
relationships with the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
.
** Italian-American anarchist
Carlo Tresca
Carlo Tresca (March 9, 1879 – January 11, 1943) was an Italian-American newspaper editor, orator, and labor organizer who was a leader of the Industrial Workers of the World during the 1910s. He is remembered as a leading public opponent of fas ...
is assassinated in New York City.
*
January 13
Events Pre-1600
* 27 BC – Octavian transfers the state to the free disposal of the Roman Senate and the people. He receives Spain, Gaul, and Syria as his province for ten years.
* 532 – The Nika riots break out, during the racing ...
– Anti-
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
protests in
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
result in 200 arrests and 36 executions.
*
January 14
Events Pre-1600
*1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence.
*1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.
1601–1900
*1639 – The "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, Fundamenta ...
Casablanca Conference
The Casablanca Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) or Anfa Conference was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, French Morocco, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. In attendance were U ...
:
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, President of the United States;
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; and Generals
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
and
Henri Giraud
Henri Honoré Giraud (18 January 1879 – 11 March 1949) was a French general and a leader of the Free French Forces during the Second World War until he was forced to retire in 1944.
Born to an Alsatian family in Paris, Giraud graduated from ...
of the
Free French forces
__NOTOC__
The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...
meet secretly at the Anfa Hotel in
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
,
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
, to plan the
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
European strategy for the next stage of the war.
*
January 15
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months.
* 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...
- WWII:
Guadalcanal Campaign
The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in th ...
–
Operation Ke
was the largely successful withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, concluding the Guadalcanal Campaign of . The operation took place between 14 January and 7 February 1943, and involved both Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial ...
:
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
forces begin to withdraw from
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...
in the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
.
*
January 16
Events Pre-1600
* 27 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.
* 378 – General Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spear ...
–
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
declares war on the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
.
*
January 18
Events Pre-1600
* 474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
* 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chi ...
** WWII:
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
officials announce that the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
has broken the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
's
siege of Leningrad
The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...
as part of
Operation Iskra
Operation Iskra (russian: операция Искра , translation = Operation Spark), a Soviet military operation in January 1943 during World War II, aimed to break the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad. Planning for the operation began shortl ...
, opening a narrow land corridor to the city.
Georgy Zhukov
Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( rus, Георгий Константинович Жуков, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ˈʐukəf, a=Ru-Георгий_Константинович_Жуков.ogg; 1 December 1896 – ...
is promoted to
Marshal of the Soviet Union
Marshal of the Soviet Union (russian: Маршал Советского Союза, Marshal sovetskogo soyuza, ) was the highest military rank of the Soviet Union.
The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in 19 ...
.
** The first
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's ...
begins: several days engagement with the Germans limits the number of Jews deported at this time.
*
January 21
Events Pre-1600
* 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.
* 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Co ...
– WWII:
Pan Am Flight 1104
Pan Am Flight 1104, trip no. 62100, was a Martin M-130 flying boat nicknamed the ''Philippine Clipper'' that crashed on the morning of January 21, 1943, in Northern California. The aircraft was operated by Pan American Airways and was carrying t ...
–
Pan American Airways
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
Martin M-130
The Martin M-130 was a commercial flying boat designed and built in 1935 by the Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore, Maryland, for Pan American Airways. Three were built: the ''China Clipper'', the ''Philippine Clipper'' and the ''Hawaii Clipp ...
flying boat
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
crashes about southwest of
Ukiah, California
Ukiah ( ; Pomo: ''Yokaya'', meaning "deep valley") is the county seat and largest city of Mendocino County, California, with a population of 16,607 at the 2020 census. With its accessible location along the U.S. Route 101 corridor, Ukiah serves ...
. All 10 passengers and 9 crew aboard are killed, including Admiral Robert H. English (at this time
COMSUBPAC
Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC) is the principal advisor to the Commander, United States Pacific Fleet ( COMPACFLT) for submarine matters. The Pacific Submarine Force (SUBPAC) includes attack, ballistic missile and aux ...
).
*
January 22
Events Pre-1600
* 613 – Eight-month-old Constantine is crowned as co-emperor (''Caesar'') by his father Heraclius at Constantinople.
* 871 – Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vi ...
** WWII:
Battle of Buna–Gona
The battle of Buna–Gona was part of the New Guinea campaign in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. It followed the conclusion of the Kokoda Track campaign and lasted from 16 November 1942 until 22 January 1943. The battle was fought by ...
: American and Australian forces secure control of the
territory of Papua
The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1975. In 1883, the Government of Queensland annexed this territory for the British Empire. The United Kingdom Government refused to ratify the a ...
.
**
The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
:
Round up of Marseille
The Marseille roundup was the systematic deportation of the Jews of Marseille in the Old Port between 22 and 24 January 1943 under the Vichy regime during the German occupation of France. Assisted by the French police, directed by René Bousquet, ...
begins – Over 4,000 Jews are detained in Nazi-occupied
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
as part of "Action Tiger", before being transported to
extermination camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
s in Poland.
*
January 23
Events Pre-1600
* 393 – Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
* 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
*1264 & ...
** WWII: British forces capture
Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
from the
Italians
, flag =
, flag_caption = The national flag of Italy
, population =
, regions = Italy 55,551,000
, region1 = Brazil
, pop1 = 25–33 million
, ref1 =
, region2 ...
.
** American critic and commentator
Alexander Woollcott
Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (January 19, 1887 – January 23, 1943) was an American drama critic and commentator for ''The New Yorker'' magazine, a member of the Algonquin Round Table, an occasional actor and playwright, and a prominent radio p ...
suffers an eventually fatal heart attack, during a regular broadcast of the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
Radio round-table program ''People's Platform''.
*
January 27
Events Pre-1600
* 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule the Roman Empire will reach its maximum extent.
* 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to becom ...
– WWII: 50 bombers mount the first all American air raid against Germany:
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...
is the target.
*
January 29
Events
Pre-1600
* 904 – Sergius III is elected pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
* 946 – Caliph Al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Emir Mu'izz al-Dawla, ruler o ...
** Nazi German police arrest alleged
necrophiliac
Necrophilia, also known as necrophilism, necrolagnia, necrocoitus, necrochlesis, and thanatophilia, is sexual attraction towards or a sexual act involving Cadaver, corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the World Health Organization (WHO) ...
and
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
Bruno Lüdke
Bruno Lüdke (3 April 1908 – 8 April 1944) was a German alleged serial killer. Police officials connected him to at least 51 murder victims, mainly women, killed in a 15-year period, which began in 1928 and ended with his arrest in 1943. ...
.
** The
United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve
United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve (Reserve) was the World War II women's branch of the United States Marine Corps Reserve. It was authorized by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 30July 1942. ...
(MCWR) is created.
*
January 29
Events
Pre-1600
* 904 – Sergius III is elected pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
* 946 – Caliph Al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Emir Mu'izz al-Dawla, ruler o ...
Battle of Rennell Island
The took place on 29–30 January 1943. It was the last major naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II. It occurred in the South Pacific between Rennell Is ...
– The
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...
, in the last major
naval battle
Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large lan ...
of the
Guadalcanal Campaign
The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in th ...
.
*
January 29
Events
Pre-1600
* 904 – Sergius III is elected pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
* 946 – Caliph Al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Emir Mu'izz al-Dawla, ruler o ...
Battle of Wau
The Battle of Wau, 29 January – 4 February 1943, was a battle in the New Guinea campaign of World War II. Forces of the Empire of Japan sailed from Rabaul and crossed the Solomon Sea and, despite Allied air attacks, successfully reached Lae, w ...
– Australian forces, with United States support, resist a Japanese advance in the
New Guinea campaign
The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded the Australian-administered Mandated Territory of New Guinea (23 Jan ...
.
*
January 30
Events Pre-1600
*1018 – Poland and the Holy Roman Empire conclude the Peace of Bautzen.
*1287 – King Wareru founds the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, and proclaims independence from the Pagan Kingdom.
1601–1900
*1607 – An estimated ...
– WWII: German General
Friedrich Paulus
Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus (23 September 1890 – 1 February 1957) was a German field marshal during World War II who is best known for commanding the 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad (August 1942 to February 1943). The battle ended ...
is promoted to the rank of Field Marshal and instructed to fight to the death in
Stalingrad
Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...
, while
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz (sometimes spelled Doenitz; ; 16 September 1891 24 December 1980) was a German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, holding the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government follo ...
is promoted to Commander in Chief of the German Navy, replacing Erich Raeder.
February
*
February 2
Events Pre-1600
* 506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths, promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (''Breviarium Alaricianum'' or ''Lex Romana Visigothorum''), a collection of "Roman law".
* 880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King ...
– WWII: In Russia, the
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...
comes to an end, with the surrender of the German 6th Army.
*
February 3
Events Pre-1600
* 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
*1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
*1488 – ...
– WWII: The
Four Chaplains
The Four Chaplains, also referred to as the Immortal Chaplains or the ''Dorchester'' Chaplains, were four World War II chaplains who died rescuing civilian and military personnel as the American troop ship sank on February 3, 1943, in what has ...
of the U.S. Army are among those drowned when their ship, , is struck by a German
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...
in the North Atlantic.
*
February 5
Events Pre-1600
* 62 – Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.
* 1576 – Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.
* 1597 – A group of early Japanese Christians ar ...
– Lt. General
Frank M. Andrews
Lieutenant General Frank Maxwell Andrews (February 3, 1884 – May 3, 1943) was a senior officer of the United States Army and one of the founders of the United States Army Air Forces, which was later to become the United States Air Force. ...
is selected to command the U.S. armies in Europe, while General
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
is assigned command in North Africa. Andrews will serve only 3 months, before dying in an airplane crash.
*
February 6
Events Pre-1600
* 1579 – The Archdiocese of Manila is made a diocese by a papal bull with Domingo de Salazar being its first bishop.
1601–1900
* 1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of ...
Oran
Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...
February 7
Events Pre-1600
* 457 – Leo I becomes the Eastern Roman emperor.
* 987 – Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II.
* 1301 &nd ...
– WWII: North Atlantic
convoy SC 118
Convoy SC 118 was the 118th of the numbered series of World War II slow convoys of merchant ships from Sydney, Cape Breton Island, to Liverpool. The ships departed New York City on 24 January 1943Hague 2000 p.135 and were met by Mid-Ocean Escor ...
is attacked by
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
s, who sink 8 ships.
*
February 9
Events Pre-1600
* 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
* 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland.
* 1539 – The first recorded race is hel ...
** WWII: The
Guadalcanal Campaign
The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in th ...
in the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
ends with United States forces in command of
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...
, the evacuation of Japanese forces in
Operation Ke
was the largely successful withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, concluding the Guadalcanal Campaign of . The operation took place between 14 January and 7 February 1943, and involved both Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial ...
having been completed two days earlier.
** WWII:
Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia
The massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia ( pl, rzeź wołyńska, lit=Volhynian slaughter; uk, Волинська трагедія, lit=Volyn tragedy, translit=Volynska trahediia), were carried out in German-occupied Poland by the ...
by the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( uk, Українська повстанська армія, УПА, translit=Ukrayins'ka povstans'ka armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan formation. During World ...
begin, with the
Parośla I massacre
The Parośla I massacre was committed during World War II by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) under the command of Hryhorij Perehijniak "Dowbeszka-Korobka" on 9 February 1943 against the ethnic Polish residents of the village of Parośla (named ...
within the
Reichskommissariat Ukraine
During World War II, (abbreviated as RKU) was the civilian occupation regime () of much of Nazi German-occupied Ukraine (which included adjacent areas of modern-day Belarus and pre-war Second Polish Republic). It was governed by the Reich Min ...
.
**
The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
:
Rue Sainte-Catherine Roundup
The rue Sainte-Catherine Roundup was a Nazi raid and mass arrest of Jews in Lyon's Sainte-Catherine street by the Gestapo. The raid, ordered and personally overseen by Klaus Barbie, took place on 9 February 1943 at the (Federation of Jewish Soc ...
– The
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
, directed by
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus "Klaus" Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German operative of the SS and SD who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured prisoners—primari ...
, arrest 86 Jews in
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
.
*
February 10
Events Pre-1600
* 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
* 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, sparkin ...
–
March 3
Events Pre-1600
* 473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
* 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan.
* 1575 &nd ...
–
Mohandas Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
(under arrest by forces of the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
in
Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...
as a member of the
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...
) keeps a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment.
*
February 14
Events Pre-1600
* 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
* 842 – Charles the Bald and Louis ...
– WWII:
Rostov-on-Don
Rostov-on-Don ( rus, Ростов-на-Дону, r=Rostov-na-Donu, p=rɐˈstof nə dɐˈnu) is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East Eu ...
in Russia is liberated.
*
February 14
Events Pre-1600
* 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
* 842 – Charles the Bald and Louis ...
Battle of Sidi Bou Zid
The Battle of Sidi Bou Zid /Operation Spring Breeze) took place during the Tunisia Campaign from 14–17 February 1943, in World War II. The battle was fought around Sidi Bou Zid, where a large number of US Army units were mauled by German and I ...
: In the
Tunisia Campaign
The Tunisian campaign (also known as the Battle of Tunisia) was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African campaign of the World War II, Second World War, between Axis powers, Axis and Allies of World War II, Allied ...
, German
Panzer division
A Panzer division was one of the armored (tank) divisions in the army of Nazi Germany during World War II. Panzer divisions were the key element of German success in the blitzkrieg operations of the early years of World War II. Later the Waffe ...
s commanded by
Hans-Jürgen von Arnim
Hans-Jürgen Bernard Theodor von Arnim (; 4 April 1889 – 1 September 1962) was a German general in the Nazi Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded several armies. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Early life ...
are victorious over the United States Army.
*
February 16
Events Pre-1600
* 1249 – Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire.
* 1270 – Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Kar ...
– WWII: The
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
reconquers
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Third Battle of Kharkiv.
*
February 18
Events Pre-1600
* 1229 – The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
* 1268 &ndas ...
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
declares a "
total war
Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-combata ...
" against the Allies, tacitly admitting that
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
faces serious dangers.
** The
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
arrest the members of the
White Rose
The White Rose (german: Weiße Rose, ) was a Nonviolence, non-violent, intellectual German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students (and one professor) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, ...
German Resistance German resistance can refer to:
* Freikorps, German nationalist paramilitary groups resisting German communist uprisings and the Weimar Republic government
* German resistance to Nazism
* Landsturm, German resistance groups fighting against France d ...
movement.
*
February 19
Events Pre-1600
* 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.
* 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan ...
Battle of Kasserine Pass
The Battle of Kasserine Pass was a series of battles of the Tunisian campaign of World War II that took place in February 1943 at Kasserine Pass, a gap in the Grand Dorsal chain of the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia.
The Axis forces, ...
: German General
Erwin Rommel
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...
's
Afrika Korps
The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...
and other
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
*Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...
forces launch an offensive against
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
defenses in
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
; it is the United States' first major battle defeat of the war. On February 22, an Anglo-American force halts the German advance near Thala, forcing the Germans to retreat, US bombers harass the retreating Panzers.
*
February 20
Events Pre-1600
*1339 – The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.
*1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland ...
** American
movie studio
A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...
executives agree to allow the
Office of War Information
The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...
Parícutin
Parícutin (or Volcán de Parícutin, also accented Paricutín) is a cinder cone volcano located in the Mexican state of Michoacán, near the city of Uruapan and about west of Mexico City. The volcano surged suddenly from the cornfield of loca ...
volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...
begins to appear in a cornfield in Mexico.
*
February 21
Events Pre-1600
* 452 or 453 – Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, is martyred in Palestine.
* 1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery.
* 1440 – The Prus ...
– WWII: North Atlantic
convoy ON 166
Convoy ON 166 was the 166th of the numbered ON series of merchant ship convoys Outbound from the British Isles to North America. Sixty-three ships departed Liverpool 11 February 1943 and were met the following day by Mid-Ocean Escort Force Gr ...
is attacked by
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
s, who sink eleven ships.
*
February 22
Events Pre-1600
* 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
* 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdina ...
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
White Rose
The White Rose (german: Weiße Rose, ) was a Nonviolence, non-violent, intellectual German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students (and one professor) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, ...
are executed in
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
*
February 23
Events Pre-1600
* 303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.
* 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a ...
Orphanage
An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...
, an
industrial school
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
at
Cavan
Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...
, Ireland, are killed in a fire in their dormitories. A subsequent inquiry absolves the
Poor Clares
The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...
of blame.
*
February 28
Events Pre-1600
*202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty.
* 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.
*1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on ...
–
Operation Gunnerside
The Norwegian heavy water sabotage ( nb, Tungtvannsaksjonen; nn, Tungtvassaksjonen) was a series of Allied-led efforts to halt German heavy water production via hydroelectric plants in Nazi Germany-occupied Norway during World War II, involvi ...
: 6 Norwegians, led by
Joachim Rønneberg
Joachim Holmboe Rønneberg (30 August 1919 – 21 October 2018) was a Norwegian Army Officer (armed forces), officer and broadcaster. He was known for his Norwegian resistance movement, resistance work during World War II, most notably commandin ...
Vemork
Vemork is a hydroelectric power plant outside Rjukan in Tinn, Norway. The plant was built by Norsk Hydro and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to fix nitrogen for the production of fertilizer. At opening, it was the world's largest power pl ...
.
March
*
March
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...
– Exiled French aviator
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...
's self-illustrated children's
novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...
, ''
The Little Prince
''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 an ...
'', is published in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
March
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...
–
December
December is the twelfth and final month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is also the last of seven months to have a length of 31 days.
December got its name from the Latin word ''decem'' (meaning ten) because it was or ...
–
History of computing hardware
The history of computing hardware covers the developments from early simple devices to aid calculation to modern day computers. Before the 20th century, most calculations were done by humans.
The first aids to computation were purely mechan ...
: British prototype Mark I
Colossus computer
Colossus was a set of computers developed by British codebreakers in the years 1943–1945 to help in the cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher. Colossus used thermionic valves (vacuum tubes) to perform Boolean and counting operations. Colossus ...
is constructed (the world's first totally ''electronic'' programmable computing device) to assist in
cryptanalysis
Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic sec ...
of German signals at
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...
.
*
March 1
Events Pre-1600
*509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first Roman triumph, triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia.
* 293 – Emperor ...
– Heinz Guderian becomes Inspector-General of the Armoured Troops for the German Army (Wehrmacht), German Army.
*
March 1
Events Pre-1600
*509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first Roman triumph, triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia.
* 293 – Emperor ...
–March 2, 2 – WWII: Koriukivka massacre – 6,700 inhabitants of Koriukivka are murdered in the Ukraine, by a Nazi Germany, German SS unit.
* March 2 – WWII: Battle of the Bismarck Sea – United States and Australian forces sink Japanese convoy ships, then strafe survivors in the water.
*
March 3
Events Pre-1600
* 473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
* 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan.
* 1575 &nd ...
– 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station, Bethnal Green, London.
* March 4
** As part of The Holocaust in Bulgarian-occupied Greece, almost all Jews in the region are rounded up to be taken to Treblinka extermination camp.
** The 15th Academy Awards ceremony is held in Los Angeles. ''Mrs. Miniver'' wins the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Picture Award.
* March 4–March 6, 6 – WWII: Battle of Fardykambos – Greek partisans and armed civilians force the surrender of an Italian army battalion.
* March 5 – The Gloster Meteor, the first
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
Fighter aircraft#Jet-powered fighters, jet fighter, makes its first flight, in England.
* March 9–March 10, 10 – WWII: North Atlantic convoy SC 121 is attacked by
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
s sinking seven ships.
* March 9 – Şükrü Saracoğlu forms the new government of Turkey (14th government; Şükrü Saracoğlu had served twice as a prime minister).
* March 10 – Banco Bradesco is founded in Marília, São Paulo, Brazil.
* March 12 – WWII: Italian occupation of Greece: The Italian occupying forces abandon the town of Karditsa to the partisans. On the same day, an Italian motorized column razes the village of Tsaritsani, burning 360 of its 600 houses and shooting 40 civilians.
* March 13 –
The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
: Nazi Germany, Nazi German forces liquidate the Jews of the Kraków Ghetto, in Occupation of Poland (1939–45), Occupied Poland.
* March 14 – WWII: British submarine HMS Thetis (N25), HMS ''Thunderbolt'' is sunk off Sicily by an Italian corvette, the second time this vessel has been lost with all hands.
* March 15 – WWII:
** Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci (1939), Italian submarine ''Leonardo da Vinci'' sinks Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian Pacific Ocean liner, liner RMS Empress of Canada (1920), RMS ''Empress of Canada'' off Sierra Leone. Nearly half of the 392 fatalities are Italian prisoners of war.
** German forces recapture
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
troops, ending the month-long Third Battle of Kharkiv.
* March 16–March 19, 19 – WWII: 22 ships from Convoys HX 229/SC 122 and one U-boat are sunk in the largest North Atlantic U-boat "Wolfpack (naval tactic), wolfpack" attack of the war.
* March 17 (Saint Patrick's Day) – Éamon de Valera, Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, makes the speech "The Ireland That We Dreamed Of", commonly called the "comely maidens" speech, in Dublin Castle.
* March 22 – WWII: Khatyn massacre – The entire population of Khatyn, Belarus is burnt alive by German occupation forces.
* March 23 – The drugs Vicodin and Lortab are first produced in Germany.
* March 26 – WWII: Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands, the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese troops attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
* March 27 – WWII: British Royal Navy escort carrier is destroyed by an accidental explosion in the Firth of Clyde, killing 379 of the crew of 528.
* March 28 – In Italy a ship full of weapons and ammunition explodes in the port of Naples, killing 600.
April
* April 3 – Shipwrecked steward Poon Lim, BEM, is rescued by Brazilian fishermen after being adrift for 133 days.
* April 13 – WWII: Radio Berlin announces the discovery by
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
of mass graves of Poles killed by Soviets in the Katyn massacre.
* April 19
** History of lysergic acid diethylamide: Albert Hofmann self-administers the psychedelic drug LSD (which he first synthesized in 1938) for the first time in history and records the details of his experience.
**
The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
: The
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's ...
begins when Nazi troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up remaining Jews.
* April 21 – WWII:
** Aberdeen, Scotland, experiences its worst bombing, with 125 people killed.
** The first German Tiger I tank is captured in North Africa by British forces.
* April 25 – Easter occurs on the latest possible date (last time 1886; next time 2038) in the Western Christianity, Western Christian Church.
* April 27 – The U.S. Federal Writers' Project ceases operation.
May
* May 6 – WWII: Six U-boats are sunk, after sinking 12 ships from Convoy ONS 5, in the last major North Atlantic U-boat "Wolfpack (naval tactic), wolfpack" attack of the war.
* May 9–May 12, 12 – Japanese troops carry out the Changjiao massacre in Changjiao, Hunan, China.
* May 11 – WWII: American troops invade Attu Island, Attu in the Aleutian Islands, in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
* May 12 – The Washington Conference (1943), Third Washington Conference ("Trident") begins in Washington, D.C., with
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
and
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
taking part.
* May 13 – WWII: German
Afrika Korps
The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...
and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
forces.
* May 14
** AHS Centaur, Australian Hospital Ship ''Centaur'' is sunk off the coast of Queensland by , killing 268 of the 332 medical personnel and civilian crew aboard.
** The 358th Bombardment Squadron, 303d Bombardment Group Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress variants#B-17F, B-17F ''Hell's Angels'' is the first USAAF bomber to complete 25 missions.
* May 15 – The Comintern is dissolved in Moscow.
* May 16–May 17, 17 – WWII: Operation Chastise (the 'Dambuster Raid') takes place: No. 617 Squadron RAF use bouncing bombs to breach German dams in the Ruhr Valley.
* May 16 – Holocaust: The
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's ...
ends. 13,000 Jews have been killed in the ghetto and almost all the remaining 50,000 residents are deported to Majdanek concentration camp, Majdanek and Treblinka extermination camps.
* May 17 – WWII:
** The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the computer ENIAC.
** The ''Memphis Belle (aircraft), Memphis Belle's'' crew becomes the first aircrew in the 8th Air Force to complete its 25-mission tour of duty. The aircraft and crew are the first to return to the U.S. intact for a War Bond drive.
* May 19 –
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
addresses a joint session of the United States Congress.
* May 23 – WWII: The battleship is commissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
* May 27 – The port city of Maizuru is founded in Japan.
* May 29 – Norman Rockwell's illustration of 'Rosie the Riveter' first appears, on the cover of ''The Saturday Evening Post''.
* May 30
**
The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
: Dr. Josef Mengele begins his position as a medical officer in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
** WWII: The Battle of Attu ends in the Aleutian Islands with an American victory over the Japanese forces there.
June
* June 1 – BOAC Flight 777, a scheduled passenger flight, is shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s; all 17 persons aboard perish, including actor Leslie Howard (actor), Leslie Howard.
* June 3
** The Zoot Suit Riots erupt between military personnel and Mexican-American youths in East Los Angeles.
** The French Committee of National Liberation (''Comité Français de Libération Nationale'', CFLN) is formed with headquarters in Algiers and Generals
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
and
Henri Giraud
Henri Honoré Giraud (18 January 1879 – 11 March 1949) was a French general and a leader of the Free French Forces during the Second World War until he was forced to retire in 1944.
Born to an Alsatian family in Paris, Giraud graduated from ...
as co-presidents.
* June 4 – A military 1943 Argentine coup d'état, coup d'état in Argentina ousts Ramón Castillo.
* June 8 – WWII: Japanese battleship Mutsu, Japanese battleship ''Mutsu'' is destroyed by an accidental magazine explosion, in Hashirajima anchorage.
* June 8–June 9, 9 – WWII: Battle of Porta: The Royal Italian Army is defeated by the Greek People's Liberation Army.
* June 20–June 23, 23 – The Detroit race riot of 1943 in the United States kills 34 people (25 African Americans, 9 whites), wounds hundreds more and damages and destroys property worth millions.
* June 21 – WWII: As part of Operation Animals, British Special Operations Executive saboteurs destroy the railway bridge over the Asopos River in "Operation Washing", and guerrillas of the Greek People's Liberation Army ambush and destroy a German convoy at the Battle of Sarantaporos (1943), Battle of Sarantaporos.
* June 22 – WWII: The 45th Infantry Division (United States), U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division lands in North Africa, prior to training at Arzew, French Morocco.
* June 30
** The United States Civilian Conservation Corps is abolished.
** WWII: The New Georgia campaign begins in the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
, an Allied offensive against the Japanese forces stationed there.
* June (late) –
The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
: The last trainload of Jewish prisoners is moved from Bełżec extermination camp in Occupation of Poland (1939–45), Occupied Poland (for gassing at Sobibór extermination camp, Sobibór), and for the remainder of the year the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
make efforts to obliterate the site.
July
* July 1 – The United States Women's Army Corps (WAC) is converted to full status.
* July 4 – 1943 Gibraltar B-24 crash: The aircraft carrying General Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile, crashes, killing him and 15 others, leading to Władysław Sikorski's death controversy, a lasting controversy over the circumstances.
* July 5 – WWII:
**
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
commences Operation Citadel. It will eventually lead to the Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history.
** A fleet sets sail for the Allied invasion of Sicily.
** The National Bands Agreement is concluded in Greece.
* July 6 – WWII: Americans and Japanese fight the Battle of Kula Gulf off Kolombangara.
* July 10
** (0245 GMT (4:45 a.m. local time)) – WWII: Allied invasion of Sicily – The
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
invasion of
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
*Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...
-controlled Europe begins, with landings on the island of Sicily off mainland Italy by the Seventh United States Army and the Eighth Army (United Kingdom), British Eighth Army, including the 1st Canadian Infantry Division.
**
The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
: Jedwabne pogrom – At least 340 Polish Jews are marched to a local barn, locked inside and subsequently burned to death.
* July 11 – WWII:
** United States Army forces make an assault on Piano Lupo, just outside Gela, Sicily.
**
Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia
The massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia ( pl, rzeź wołyńska, lit=Volhynian slaughter; uk, Волинська трагедія, lit=Volyn tragedy, translit=Volynska trahediia), were carried out in German-occupied Poland by the ...
by the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( uk, Українська повстанська армія, УПА, translit=Ukrayins'ka povstans'ka armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan formation. During World ...
within the
Reichskommissariat Ukraine
During World War II, (abbreviated as RKU) was the civilian occupation regime () of much of Nazi German-occupied Ukraine (which included adjacent areas of modern-day Belarus and pre-war Second Polish Republic). It was governed by the Reich Min ...
(Volhynia) peak.
* July 12 – WWII: Main engagement of the Battle of Prokhorovka – The
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
and the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
fight to a draw in one of the largest tank battles in military history.
* July 19 – WWII: Rome is bombed by the Allies of World War II, Allies, for the first time in the war.
* July 24 – WWII: Operation Gomorrha: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night; American planes bomb the city by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 42,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
* July 25 – Benito Mussolini, Fascist Prime Minister of Italy since 1922, is arrested after the Grand Council of Fascism withdraws its support. "Il Duce" is replaced by General Pietro Badoglio.
August
* August 1 – Operation Tidal Wave: 177 B-24 Liberator bombers from the U.S. Army Air Force bomb oil refineries at Ploiești, Ploiești, Romania.
* August 2 – WWII: John F. Kennedy's PT boat Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109, ''PT-109'' is run down by Japanese destroyer Japanese destroyer Amagiri (1930), ''Amagiri''.
* August 4 – WWII: The aircraft carrier is launched at Newport News, Virginia.
* August 5 – WWII:
** United States Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) are formed, consolidating the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WFTD).
** John F. Kennedy and crew are found by
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
coastwatchers Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, with their dugout canoe.
* August 6 – WWII: Battle of Vella Gulf: Americans defeat a Japanese convoy off Kolombangara, as the United States Army, U.S. Army drives the Japanese out of Munda airfield on New Georgia.
* August 14
** WWII: Rome is declared an open city by the Italian government, with Italy offering to demilitarize the capital, in return for an Allied agreement not to bomb the city further.
** The Quebec Conference, 1943, Quadrant Conference begins in Quebec City; Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie King meets with
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
and
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
.
* August 17 – WWII:
** The Seventh United States Army, Seventh U.S. Army, under General George S. Patton, meets the Eighth Army (United Kingdom), Eighth British Army under Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, B. L. Montgomery in Messina, Sicily, completing the Allied invasion of Sicily
** Operation Hydra (1943), Operation Hydra: The British Royal Air Force sets out to bomb the Peenemünde Army Research Center, to disrupt the German V-weapons programme.
* August 21 – 1943 Australian federal election: John Curtin's Australian Labor Party, Labor Curtin Government, Government defeats the National Party of Australia, Country/United Australia Party, UAP Coalition (Australia), Coalition, led by former Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister Arthur Fadden. Labor achieves its greatest ever electoral result, including winning every seat (except one) outside of the eastern states. Notably, this election marked the first time that a woman has been elected to both the Australian Senate, Senate and the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. Fadden will step down from the Opposition leadership, handing it over to Robert Menzies, who will go on to dissolve the UAP and form the Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal Party shortly after.
* August 23 – WWII: The Battle of Kursk ends, with a strategic defeat for the German forces.
* August 24 – Heinrich Himmler is named Reichsminister of the Interior in Germany.
* August 26 – WWII: Louis Mountbatten is named Supreme Allied Commander for Southeast Asia.
* August 28 – WWII: King Boris III of Bulgaria dies under suspicious circumstances; his 6-year-old son, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Simeon II, ascends to the throne.
* August 29 – WWII: Denmark in World War II, Occupation of Denmark – Germany dissolves the Danish government, after it refuses to deal with a wave of strikes and disturbances to the satisfaction of the German authorities.
September
* September 3 – WWII: Allied invasion of Italy
** Armistice of Cassibile: The Kingdom of Italy surrenders to the Allies of World War II, Allies in a document signed on Sicily but not made public at this time.
** Operation Baytown: Mainland Italy is invaded by Allied forces under General Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Bernard Montgomery, for the first time in the war.
* September 5 – WWII: The 503rd Parachute Regiment (under American General Douglas MacArthur) lands and occupies Nadzab, just east of the port city of Lae, in northeastern Papua New Guinea.
* September 7 – Gulf Hotel fire: A fire at the Gulf Hotel in Houston, Texas kills 55.
* September 8
** WWII: United States General
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies of World War II, Allies.
** WWII: Frascati air raid: The USAAF bombs the German General Headquarters for the Mediterranean zone.
** The first classes commence at Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska.
* September 9 – Bertolt Brecht's play ''Life of Galileo'' () receives its first theatrical production, at the Schauspielhaus Zürich.
* September 12 – WWII: Gran Sasso raid – German paratroopers rescue Mussolini from imprisonment, in ''Unternehmen Eiche'' ("Operation Oak").
* September 16 – WWII: Salerno Mutiny – Soldiers of the British Army's X Corps (United Kingdom), X Corps refuse postings to new units.
* September 17 – WWII: Villefranche-de-Rouergue Mutiny – A group of pro-Yugoslav Partisans, Partisan soldiers, led by Ferid Džanić and others within the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian), training in Occupied France, rise against Nazi Germany, Nazi German troops in the Division; the revolt is rapidly suppressed.
* September 21–September 26, 26 – WWII: Massacre of the Acqui Division – German soldiers of the 1st Mountain Division (Wehrmacht) kill over 5,100 Italian military internees resisting disarmament on the Greek island of Cephalonia.
* September 22–October 2 – WWII: Landing at Scarlet Beach on the Huon Peninsula of New Guinea by Allied forces, the first time Australian troops have made an opposed amphibious landing since the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915.
* September 23 – WWII: The Italian Social Republic ("Republic of Salò") is founded in northern Italy as a puppet state of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
* September 25 – WWII: The Russian city of Smolensk is liberated by Soviet forces as part of the successful Smolensk operation against German defenders.
* September 27 – WWII: Four days of Naples begins: a popular uprising drives German occupying forces from the city.
October
* October 1 – WWII: United States forces enter liberated Naples.
* October 3 – WWII: Nazi
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
forces commit the Lyngiades massacre in northwest Greece as an arbitrary reprisal.
* October 6 – WWII: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Vella Lavella.
* October 7 – WWII: The 1943 Naples post-office bombing, Naples post-office bombing kills 100.
* October 10
** WWII: Double Tenth incident (Japanese occupation of Singapore): The Japanese military police, the Kempeitai, arrest and torture more than 50 civilians and civilian internees, on false suspicion of their involvement in a raid on Singapore Harbour during Operation Jaywick.
** The Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Soviet Union), Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky is instituted in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
* October 13 – WWII: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies of World War II, Allies and declares war on Germany.
* October 14
** WWII: During the Second Raid on Schweinfurt, the United States Eighth Air Force suffers so many losses, that it loses air supremacy over Germany for several months.
**
The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
: Uprising in Sobibór extermination camp; about half the inmates escape. Three days later, the camp is closed.
** Jose P. Laurel, José P. Laurel takes the oath of office as President of the Philippines (Second Philippine Republic).
* October 16 – The Holocaust: Raid of the Ghetto of Rome – Over a thousand Jews are rounded up in Rome by the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
; only 16 will survive their deportation to Auschwitz concentration camp. The public silence of Pope Pius XII and the Raid of the Ghetto of Rome, Pope Pius XII on the raid becomes a matter of historical controversy.
* October 17 – WWII:
** The last commerce raider, German auxiliary cruiser Michel, German auxiliary cruiser ''Michel'', is sunk off Japan by United States submarine USS Tarpon (SS-175), ''Tarpon''.
** The Burma Railway is completed between Bangkok, Thailand and Yangon, Rangoon, Burma (modern-day Myanmar) () by the Empire of Japan, to support its forces in the Burma campaign, using the forced labour of Asian civilians and
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
Prisoners of war.
* October 18 – Chiang Kai-shek takes the oath of office as President of the Republic of China, Chairman of the National Government of China.
* October 19 – WWII: Allied aircraft sink the German-controlled cargo ship in the Mediterranean, killing over 2,000 people, mostly Italian military internees.
* October 21 – Lucie Aubrac and others in her French Resistance cell liberate Raymond Aubrac from
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
imprisonment.
* October 22 – WWII: Bombing of Kassel in World War II: The British Royal Air Force delivers a highly destructive airstrike on the German industrial and population center of Kassel; at least 10,000 are killed and 150,000 are made homeless.
* October 24 – WWII: British Royal Navy destroyer is sunk by a mine in the Aegean Sea, with the loss of 119 of the ship's company and 134 troops.
* October 30
** WWII: Signing of Moscow Declarations: the Declaration of the Four Nations on general security, by the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union and Republic of China; and the Declarations on Italy, Austria and Atrocities by the first three governments.
** The Merrie Melodies animated cartoon ''Falling Hare'', one of the only Short film, shorts with Bugs Bunny getting out-smarted, is released in the United States.
November
* November 1 – WWII: Operation Goodtime: United States Marines land on Bougainville Island in the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
.
* November 2 – WWII:
** Battle of Empress Augusta Bay off Bougainville Island: American and Japanese ships fight to a draw.
** WWII: British troops in Italy reach the Garigliano River.
* November 3–November 4, 4 –
The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
: ''Aktion Erntefest'' ("Operation Harvest Festival") – The largest single day massacre of Jews in the entire war takes place when over 43,000 Jews are shot-gunned to death by the SS, the ''Ordnungspolizei'' and the "Trawniki men" (Ukrainian collaborators) in ''Sonderdienst'' formations at the Majdanek concentration camp, Majdanek, Trawniki concentration camp, Trawniki and Poniatowa concentration camp, Poniatowa concentration camps in the General Government territory of occupied Poland.
* November 5 – WWII: First Bombing of the Vatican – Four bombs are dropped on the neutral Vatican City; the aircraft responsible is never certainly identified.
* November 6 – WWII: The Ukrainian capital of Kiev is liberated by Soviet forces from its German occupiers as part of the Battle of Kiev (1943), Battle of Kiev.
* November 9 An agreement for the foundation of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration is signed by 44 countries in the White House, Washington, D.C.
* November 10 – The Lübeck martyrs, four men of religion, are executed for supposedly treasonable views.
* November 14 – Leonard Bernstein, substituting at the last minute for ailing principal conductor Bruno Walter, directs the New York Philharmonic in its regular Sunday afternoon broadcast concert, over
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
Radio. The event receives front-page coverage in ''The New York Times'' the following day.
* November 15 – Porajmos: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Romani people, Gypsies be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in Nazi concentration camps."
* November 16 – WWII:
** After flying from Britain, 160 American bombers Norwegian heavy water sabotage, strike a hydro-electric power facility and heavy water factory in German-controlled
Vemork
Vemork is a hydroelectric power plant outside Rjukan in Tinn, Norway. The plant was built by Norsk Hydro and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to fix nitrogen for the production of fertilizer. At opening, it was the world's largest power pl ...
, Norway.
** A Japanese submarine sinks the surfaced U.S. submarine , near Chuuk Lagoon (Truk).
* November 18 – WWII: Battle of Berlin (RAF campaign), Battle of Berlin – The British Royal Air Force opens its bombing campaign against Berlin with 440 planes, causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses 9 aircraft and 53 aviators.
* November 19 –
The Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
: Inmates of Janowska concentration camp, near Lwów (at this time in History of Poland (1939–45), German-occupied Poland), stage a failed uprising, after which the SS liquidates the camp, resulting in at least 6,000 deaths.
* November 20 – WWII: Battle of Tarawa: United States Marines land on Tarawa Atoll, Tarawa and Makin (islands), Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands (Kiribati from 1979) and take heavy fire from Japanese shore guns.
* November 22–November 26, 26 – WWII: Cairo Conference ("Sextant") – President of the United States
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
and Chairman of the National Government of China Chiang Kai-shek meet at Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan in the Pacific War.
* November 22 – Lebanon gains independence, upon the ending of the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, French Mandate.
* November 23 – The Deutsches Opernhaus on Bismarckstraße, in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg, is destroyed in an air raid (it is reopened in 1961, as the Deutsche Oper Berlin).
* November 25 – WWII: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Cape St. George, between Buka Island, Buka and New Ireland (island), New Ireland.
* November 26 – WWII: British troopship HMT Rohna, HMT ''Rohna'' is sunk off the north African coast by a ''Luftwaffe'' Henschel Hs 293 radio controlled glide bomb, killing 1,015.
* November 27 – The 1943 Tosya–Ladik earthquake in Turkey kills thousands.
* November 28 – WWII: Tehran Conference: U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meet in Tehran, to discuss war strategy. On November 30, they establish an agreement concerning a planned June 1944 invasion of Europe, codenamed Operation Overlord.
* November 29 – The second session of AVNOJ, the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia, is held in Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to determine the post-war ordering of the country.
December
* December 2 – WWII: Bari#The 1943 chemical warfare disaster, Bari chemical warfare disaster: A surprise Luftwaffe air raid on Bari, Italy sinks 28
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
ships in the harbor, including the American Liberty ship , releasing its secret cargo of mustard gas bombs, inflating the number of casualties.
* December 3
** In reprisal for an act of sabotage, the SS and
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
execute 100 Warsaw Tramway workers.
** Edward R. Murrow delivers his classic "Orchestrated Hell" broadcast over
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
Radio, describing a Royal Air Force nighttime bombing raid on Berlin.
* December 4
** WWII: In Yugoslavia, resistance leader Marshal Josip Broz Tito, Tito proclaims a provisional democratic Yugoslav government-in-exile.
** With unemployment figures falling fast due to WWII-related employment, U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
closes the Works Progress Administration.
** WWII: Bolivia declares war on Romania and Hungary.
* December 7 – Chiara Lubich starts the humanitarian Focolare Movement in Trento, Italy.
* December 13 – WWII: Massacre of Kalavryta – The occupying 117th Jäger Division (Wehrmacht) machine-guns all adult males from Kalavryta, Greece, subsequently burning the town.
* December 15 – WWII: American and Australian forces begin the Battle of Arawe as a diversion before a larger landing at Cape Gloucester (Papua New Guinea), Cape Gloucester on New Britain, in Papua New Guinea.
* December 20 – A military coup is staged in Bolivia.
*December 20–December 28, 28 – WWII: Italian Campaign – Battle of Ortona: Canadian infantry defeat elite German paratroops.
* December 24 – WWII: U.S. General
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
becomes Supreme Allied Commander Europe. He establishes the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in London.
* December 26 – WWII: Battle of the North Cape – German battleship Scharnhorst, German battleship ''Scharnhorst'' is torpedoed and sunk in a night action north of the Arctic Circle by British battleship HMS Duke of York (17), HMS ''Duke of York'' and her escorts with the loss of all but 36 of the German crew of 1,943 (including Admiral Erich Bey); this is the war's last action between big-gun capital ships of Britain and Germany.
* December 30 – Subhas Chandra Bose sets up a pro-Japanese Indian government at Port Blair, India.
* December 31 - The Times Square Ball in Times Square, New York City isn't dropped a second time. Instead, there was a moment of silence at midnight, followed by the sound of bells playing from sound trucks at the base of One Times Square.
Date unknown
* Bengal famine of 1943, Bengal Famine.
* History of the cooperative movement: Father José María Arizmendiarrieta sets up a polytechnic school at Mondragón in the Spanish Basque Country (predecessor of the University of Mondragón), which inspires creation of the Mondragon Corporation.
* Arana Hall, a residential college of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, is founded.
* Jacques-Yves Cousteau co-invents, with Émile Gagnan, the first commercially successful open circuit type of Scuba set, scuba diving equipment, the Aqua-lung.
* Martin Noth's groundbreaking work of Old Testament scholarship, , is published.
Births
January
*
January 1
January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
– Jimmy Hart, American wrestling manager
* January 2 – Barış Manço, Turkish singer, television personality (d. 1999)
*
January 4
Events Pre-1600
*46 BC – Julius Caesar fights Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina.
* 871 – Battle of Reading: Æthelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred are defeated by a Danish invasion army.
1601–1900
*1649 – Engli ...
– Doris Kearns Goodwin, American writer
* January 5 – James Goldstein, LA businessman, NBA basketball aficionado
* January 6 – Terry Venables, English footballer and manager
* January 7 – Sadako Sasaki, Japanese leukemia, atomic bomb sickness victim (d. 1955)
* January 9 – Scott Walker (singer), Scott Walker, American-born singer, composer and record producer (d. 2019)
* January 10 – Jim Croce, American surburbia musician (d. 1973)
*
January 14
Events Pre-1600
*1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence.
*1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.
1601–1900
*1639 – The "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, Fundamenta ...
** Mariss Jansons, Latvian conductor (d. 2019)
** José Luis Rodríguez (singer), José Luis Rodríguez, Venezuelan singer
** Ralph M. Steinman, Canadian immunologist, cell biologist and Nobel laureate (d. 2011)
** Holland Taylor, American actress
*
January 15
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months.
* 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...
** Kirin Kiki, Japanese actress (d. 2018)
** Dame Margaret Beckett, British politician
* January 17
** Daniel Brandenstein, American astronaut
** René Préval, 2nd Prime Minister of Haiti, 38th and 40th President of Haiti (d. 2017)
*
January 18
Events Pre-1600
* 474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
* 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chi ...
** Paul Freeman (actor), Paul Freeman, English actor
** Kay Granger, American politician
* January 19
** Janis Joplin, American rock singer (d. 1970)
** Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
*
January 22
Events Pre-1600
* 613 – Eight-month-old Constantine is crowned as co-emperor (''Caesar'') by his father Heraclius at Constantinople.
* 871 – Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vi ...
** Tamás Cseh, Hungarian composer, singer and actor (d. 2009)
** Marília Pêra, Brazilian actress (d. 2015)
* January 24
** Janice Raymond, American second-wave feminist activist
** Sharon Tate, American actress and model (d. 1969)
* January 25
** Roy Black (singer), Roy Black, German singer (d. 1991)
** Tobe Hooper, American film director (d. 2017)
* January 26 – Soad Hosny, Egyptian actress (d. 2001)
February
*
February 2
Events Pre-1600
* 506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths, promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (''Breviarium Alaricianum'' or ''Lex Romana Visigothorum''), a collection of "Roman law".
* 880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King ...
– Erkan Geniş, Turkish artist
*
February 3
Events Pre-1600
* 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
*1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
*1488 – ...
** Blythe Danner, American actress
** Dennis Edwards, American soul, R&B singer (d. 2018)
** Eric Haydock, British musician (d. 2019)
* February 4 – Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese politician
*
February 5
Events Pre-1600
* 62 – Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.
* 1576 – Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.
* 1597 – A group of early Japanese Christians ar ...
** Nolan Bushnell, American video game pioneer
** Michael Mann (director), Michael Mann, American film director, writer and producer
** Craig Morton, American football player
*
February 7
Events Pre-1600
* 457 – Leo I becomes the Eastern Roman emperor.
* 987 – Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II.
* 1301 &nd ...
– Gareth Hunt, English actor (d. 2007)
* February 8 – Creed Bratton, American actor, musician
*
February 9
Events Pre-1600
* 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
* 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland.
* 1539 – The first recorded race is hel ...
** Joe Pesci, American actor (''Goodfellas'')
** Joseph E. Stiglitz, American economist, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Nobel Prize laureate
*
February 10
Events Pre-1600
* 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
* 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, sparkin ...
– Walter B. Jones Jr., American politician (d. 2019)
* February 11 – Mohammad Rafiquzzaman, Bangladeshi lyricist
* February 12 – Wacław Kisielewski, Polish pianist (d. 1986)
*
February 14
Events Pre-1600
* 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
* 842 – Charles the Bald and Louis ...
– Maceo Parker, American musician (James Brown, P-Funk)
* February 15 – Elke Heidenreich, German author, TV presenter and journalist
*
February 18
Events Pre-1600
* 1229 – The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
* 1268 &ndas ...
– Graeme Garden, Scottish writer, comedian and actor
*
February 19
Events Pre-1600
* 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.
* 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan ...
** Homer Hickam, American aerospace engineer and writer
** Tim Hunt, British biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
*
February 20
Events Pre-1600
*1339 – The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.
*1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland ...
** Moshe Cotel, American composer, pianist (d. 2008)
** Antonio Inoki, Japanese professional wrestler (d. 2022)
** Mike Leigh, British film director
*
February 21
Events Pre-1600
* 452 or 453 – Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, is martyred in Palestine.
* 1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery.
* 1440 – The Prus ...
** David Geffen, American record executive, film producer
** Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Russian novelist
*
February 22
Events Pre-1600
* 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
* 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdina ...
** Horst Köhler, President of Germany, President of the Federal Republic of Germany
** Eduard Limonov, Russian writer, poet, publicist, and political dissident (d. 2020)
*
February 23
Events Pre-1600
* 303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.
* 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a ...
– Fred Biletnikoff, American football player, coach
* February 24 – Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer
* February 25
** Boediono, Indonesian economist, 11th Vice President of Indonesia
** George Harrison, English singer, guitarist (''The Beatles'') (d. 2001)
* February 26
** Bill Duke, American actor, director
** Bob Hite, American singer, musician (Canned Heat) (d. 1981)
** Darcus Howe, Trinidadian-born British civil rights activist (d. 2017)
* February 27 – Morten Lauridsen, American composer
*
February 28
Events Pre-1600
*202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty.
* 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.
*1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on ...
– Donnie Iris, American rock singer, guitarist (The Jaggerz, Wild Cherry (band), Wild Cherry, Donnie Iris, Donnie Iris and the Cruisers)
March
*
March 1
Events Pre-1600
*509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first Roman triumph, triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia.
* 293 – Emperor ...
** Gil Amelio, American entrepreneur
** Richard H. Price, American physicist
* March 2
** Zygfryd Blaut, Polish footballer (d. 2005)
** Tony Meehan, British drummer (The Shadows) (d. 2005)
** Peter Straub, American author (d. 2022)
*
March 3
Events Pre-1600
* 473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
* 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan.
* 1575 &nd ...
– Trond Mohn, Norwegian billionaire
* March 4
** Lucio Dalla, Italian singer-songwriter (d. 2012)
** Zoltán Jeney, Hungarian composer (d. 2019)
* March 5
** Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, Nigerian Army major general (d. 1997)
** Lucio Battisti, Italian singer-songwriter (d. 1998)
* March 8
** Lynn Redgrave, English-American actress (d. 2010)
** Susan Clark, Canadian actress (''Webster (TV series), Webster'')
* March 9
** Bobby Fischer, American chess player (d. 2008)
** Charles Gibson, American television journalist
* March 11 - Ma'ruf Amin, Indonesian Islamic cleric and 13th Vice President of Indonesia
* March 12 – Ratko Mladic, Serbia military leader
* March 13 – André Téchiné, French film director
* March 14
** Anita Morris, American actress, singer and dancer (d. 1994)
** Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner, American guitarist (Ohio Players) (d. 2013)
* March 15
** David Cronenberg, Canadian film director
** Kohji Moritsugu, Japanese actor (Ultraseven)
** Sly Stone, African-American singer (Sly and the Family Stone)
* March 16
** Helen Armstrong (violinist), Helen Armstrong, American violinist (d. 2006)
** Kim Mu-saeng, South Korean actor (d. 2005)
* March 18
** Kevin Dobson, American actor (d. 2020)
** Lowrell Simon, American singer (d. 2018)
* March 19
** Mario J. Molina, Mexican chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2020)
** Mario Monti, 54th Prime Minister of Italy
* March 20
** Gerard Malanga, American poet, photographer
** Douglas Tompkins, American conservationist, businessman (d. 2015)
* March 21
** Luigi Agnolin, Italian football referee (d. 2018)
** István Gyulai, Hungarian sports official (d. 2006)
** Vivian Stanshall, British comedy writer, artist, broadcaster and musician (d. 1995)
** Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
* March 22
** George Benson, African American guitarist and singer-songwriter
** Keith Relf, British rock musician (d. 1976)
* March 23 – Lee May, American baseball player (d. 2017)
* March 24 – Kate Webb, New Zealand-born Australian war correspondent (d. 2007)
* March 25 – Paul Michael Glaser, American actor
* March 26 – Bob Woodward, American journalist
* March 28 – Conchata Ferrell, American actress (d. 2020)
* March 29
** Eric Idle, English comedian, actor, author and musician (''Monty Python's Flying Circus'')
** John Major, British politician, 70th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
** Vangelis, Greek musician, composer (''Chariots of Fire'', ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, Cosmos'') (d. 2022)
* March 30
** Dennis Etchison, American author and editor (d. 2019)±
** Jay Traynor, American singer (Jay and the Americans) (d. 2014)
* March 31
** Motiur Rahman Nizami, Bangladeshi politician, convicted war criminal (d. 2016)
** Christopher Walken, American actor
April
* April 2 – Caterina Bueno, Italian singer (d. 2007)
* April 4 – Isabel-Clara Simó, Spanish journalist and writer (d. 2020)
* April 5
** Jean-Louis Tauran, French cardinal (d. 2018)
** Max Gail, American actor (''Barney Miller'')
* April 6 − Susan Tolsky, American actress and voice actress
* April 8
** Miller Farr, American football player
** Jack O'Halloran, American boxer and actor
* April 10
** Andrzej Badeński, Polish athlete (d. 2008)
** Margaret Pemberton, English writer
* April 11 – Harley Race, American professional wrestler, promoter and trainer (d. 2019)
* April 13 – Doreen Tracey, British-born American actress (d. 2018)
* April 15
** Robert Lefkowitz, American physician and biochemist
** Mighty Sam McClain, American singer, songwriter (d. 2015)
* April 16 – Petro Tyschtschenko, German businessman
* April 17 – Bobby Curtola, Canadian singer (d. 2016)
* April 19 – Claus Theo Gärtner, German actor
* April 20 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor
* April 21 – Napsiah Omar, Malaysian educator, politician (d. 2018)
* April 22
** Louise Glück, American poet, 12th US Poet Laureate, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature
** Gabriel López Zapiain, Mexican footballer (d. 2018)
* April 23
** Dominik Duka, Czech Roman Catholic bishop, theologian
** Gail Goodrich, American basketball player
** Fighting Harada, Japanese boxer
** Frans Koppelaar, Dutch painter
** Hervé Villechaize, French-born actor (''Fantasy Island'') (d. 1993)
* April 24 – Richard Sterban, American singer (''The Oak Ridge Boys'')
* April 25
** Alan Feduccia, American paleornithologist
** James G. Mitchell, Canadian computer scientist
* April 26 – Gary Wright, American singer, songwriter, musician and composer
* April 28 – John Oliver Creighton, John O. Creighton, American astronaut
* April 29 – Sir Ian Kershaw, English historian
* April 30
** Frederick Chiluba, Zambian politician, 2nd President of Zambia (d. 2011)
** Bobby Vee, American singer (d. 2016)
May
* May 1
**Ian Dunn (activist), Ian Dunn, Scottish gay and paedophile rights activist (d. 1998)
**Vassal Gadoengin, Nauruan politician (d. 2004)
* May 2 – Mustafa Nadarević, Yugoslav and Bosnian actor and comedian (d. 2020)
* May 3 – Jim Risch, American politician
* May 5 – Michael Palin, English comedian, actor, and television presenter (''Monty Python's Flying Circus'')
* May 6 – Grange Calveley, British writer, artist (d. 2021)
* May 7 – Orlando Ramírez (footballer), Orlando Ramírez, Chilean footballer (d. 2018)
* May 8 – Danny Whitten, American musician (d. 1972)
* May 10 – Richard Darman, American federal government official, businessman (d. 2008)
* May 13 – Kurt Trampedach, Danish artist (d. 2013)
* May 14
** Jack Bruce, British musician, songwriter (d. 2014)
** Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, 5th President of Iceland
* May 16 – Dan Coats, American politician and diplomat
* May 17
** Mark W. Olson, American economist, politician (d. 2018)
** Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, King of Malaysia
* May 20 – Imata Kabua, Marshallese politician, 2nd List of Presidents of the Marshall Islands, President of the Marshall Islands (d. 2019)
* May 22 – Betty Williams (Nobel laureate), Betty Williams, Northern Irish political activist, co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 2020)
* May 24 – Gary Burghoff, American actor (''M*A*S*H'')
* May 25 – Jessi Colter, American singer, composer
* May 26 – Erica Terpstra, Dutch swimmer, politician and president of the Dutch Olympic Committee
* May 27
** Bruce Weitz, American actor
** Cilla Black, English singer, entertainer (d. 2015)
* May 29 – Ion Ciubuc, Moldovan politician (d. 2018)
* May 30 – James Chaney, African-American civil rights worker (d. 1964)
* May 31
** Sharon Gless, American actress
** Joe Namath, American football player
June
* June 1
** Kuki Gallmann, Kenyan writer, poet
** Richard Goode, American pianist
** Lorrie Wilmot, South African cricketer (d. 2004)
* June 2 – Ilayaraaja, Indian composer
* June 3
** John Burgess (host), John Burgess, Australian game show host, actor
** Billy Cunningham, American basketball player and coach
* June 4 – Joyce Meyer, Christian author, speaker
* June 6 – Richard Smalley, American chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
* June 7
** Chan Hung-lit, Hong Kong actor (d. 2009)
** Nikki Giovanni, American poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator
** Ken Osmond, American actor (d. 2020)
* June 8
** Colin Baker, British actor
** Şahan Arzruni, Armenian pianist
* June 11 – Henry Hill, American gangster (d. 2012)
* June 13 – Malcolm McDowell, English actor
* June 14 – Jim Sensenbrenner, American politician
* June 15
** Johnny Hallyday, French pop singer, actor (d. 2017)
** Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, 23rd Prime Minister of Denmark
* June 16
** Raymond Ramazani Baya, Congolese politician (d. 2019)
** Joan Van Ark, American actress
* June 17
** Newt Gingrich, American politician, author and historian
** Barry Manilow, American pop musician
* June 18
** Raffaella Carrà, Italian singer, dancer and actress (d. 2021)
** Barry Evans (actor), Barry Evans, English actor (d. 1997)
* June 21 – Marika Green, French-Swedish actress
* June 22
** Klaus Maria Brandauer, Austrian actor
** J. Michael Kosterlitz, Scottish-born condensed matter physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate
* June 23
** Patrick Bokanowski, French filmmaker
** James Levine, American conductor (d. 2021)
** Vint Cerf, American internet pioneer
* June 25
** Carly Simon, American singer-songwriter
* June 26
** John Beasley (actor), John Beasley, American actor
** Warren Farrell, American educator, activist and author on gender issues
* June 27 – Rico Petrocelli, American baseball player
* June 28
** Jens Birkemose, Danish painter
** Klaus von Klitzing, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate
* June 29
** Maureen O'Brien, British actress
** Leopold Grausam, Austrian footballer
** Frank Zweerts, Dutch field hockey player
* June 30
** Cees Kurpershoek, Dutch sailor
** Daniel Kablan Duncan, Ivorian politician
** Florence Ballard, African-American singer, founder of The Supremes (d. 1976)
** Dieter Kottysch, West German Olympic boxer (d. 2017)
** Dani Litani, Israeli musician and actor
July
* July 3
** Judith Durham, Australian singer (d. 2022)
** Kurtwood Smith, American actor (''That '70s Show'')
** Norman Thagard, American astronaut
* July 4
** Conny Bauer, Konrad "Conny" Bauer, German trombonist
** Geraldo Rivera, American reporter, talk show host
**Alan Wilson (musician), Alan Wilson, American musician (Canned Heat) (d. 1970)
* July 5
** István Gáli, Hungarian boxer
** Curt Blefary, American baseball player (d. 2001)
** Robbie Robertson, Canadian musician (''The Band'')
* July 6
** Kim Kye-gwan, North Korean diplomat
** Tamara Sinyavskaya, Russian mezzo-soprano
** Rosemary Forsyth, Canadian-American actress, model
** Muhammad Iqbal Gujjar, Pakistani politician
* July 7
** Jürgen Geschke, German track cyclist
** M. Karathu, Malaysian football player, manager
** Robert East (actor), Robert East, Welsh theatre, TV actor
** Joel Siegel, American film critic (d. 2007)
** Miguel Vila Luna, Dominican architect, painter (d. 2005)
* July 8
** Guido Marzulli, Italian painter
** Carmine Preziosi, Italian road bicycle racer
* July 9
** Suzanne Rogers, American actress
** Soledad Miranda, Spanish actress (d. 1970)
* July 10
** Arthur Ashe, African-American tennis player (d. 1993)
** Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika, Zambian politician
* July 11
** Edna Madzongwe, Zimbabwean politician
** Tom Holland (filmmaker), Tom Holland, American screenwriter, actor and filmmaker
** Luciano Onder, Italian journalist
* July 12
** Christine McVie, British musician (''Fleetwood Mac'') (d. 2022)
** Walter Murch, American film editor, sound designer
* July 14
** George Thomas Coker, United States Navy commander
** Harold Wheeler (musician), Harold Wheeler, American orchestrator, composer, conductor, arranger, record producer and music director
** David Burden, British Army officer
* July 15 – Jocelyn Bell Burnell, British astrophysicist
* July 16 – Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban writer (d. 1990)
* July 17
** Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israeli diplomat, politician and historian
** Alfredo Mantica, Italian politician
* July 18 – Jerry Chambers, American basketball player
* July 19
** Carla Mazzuca Poggiolini, Italian journalist and politician
** David Griffin (actor), David Griffin, British actor
* July 20
** Christopher Murney, American actor, vocal artist
** Wendy Richard, British actress (d. 2009)
* July 21
** Michael Caton, Australian actor, comedian and television presenter
** Edward Herrmann, American actor (d. 2014)
** Henry McCullough, Northern Irish musician (''Paul McCartney & Wings'') (d. 2016)
** Bob Shrum, American political consultant
* July 22 – Kay Bailey Hutchison, American attorney, television correspondent, politician and diplomat
* July 23
** Tony Joe White, American singer, songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
** Zvonimir Vujin, Serbian amateur boxer (d. 2019)
** Bob Hilton, American game show host
* July 24 - John Bryson, American businessman and Former 37th US Secretary of Commerce (2011–12)
* July 25 – Erika Steinbach, German politician
* July 26 – Mick Jagger, English rock singer (''The Rolling Stones'')
* July 28
** Mike Bloomfield, American guitarist and composer (d. 1981)
** Bill Bradley, American basketball player and politician
** Richard Wright (musician), Richard Wright, British musician (d. 2008)
* July 29 – Bob Brunning, British musician (d. 2011)
* July 30 – Giovanni Goria, Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1994)
August
* August 2 – Max Wright, American actor (d. 2019)
* August 3
** Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson, Princess Christina of Sweden
** Clarence Wijewardena, Sri Lankan musician (d. 1996)
* August 4
** Vicente Álvarez Areces, Spanish politician (d. 2019)
** Barbara Saß-Viehweger, German politician, lawyer and civil law notary
** Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper
* August 5 – Nelson Briles, American baseball player (d. 2005)
* August 6 – Jim Hardin, American baseball pitcher (Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves) (d. 1991)
* August 8 – Luc Rosenzweig, French journalist (d. 2018)
* August 9 – Ken Norton, African-American boxer, actor (d. 2013)
* August 10
** Frédéric Kyburz, Swiss judoka (d. 2018)
** Ronnie Spector, American singer (d. 2022)
* August 11
** Abigail Folger, American heiress, murder victim (d. 1969)
** Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general, leader and 10th President of Pakistan (d. 2022)
* August 13 – Roberto Micheletti, President of Honduras
* August 15 – Glória Maria, Brazilian journalist, reporter and television host
* August 17
** Robert De Niro, American actor
** Yukio Kasaya, Japanese ski jumper
* August 18
** Martin Mull, American actor and comedian
** Gianni Rivera, Italian footballer
* August 19 – Edwin Hawkins, African-American gospel musician, pianist (d. 2018)
* August 20 – Sylvester McCoy, Scottish actor
* August 22 – Nahas Angula, Prime Minister of Namibia
* August 23 – Pino Presti, Italian bassist, arranger, composer, conductor, record producer
* August 27 – Tuesday Weld, American actress
* August 28
** Surayud Chulanont, Thai politician, 24th Prime Minister of Thailand
** Lou Piniella, American baseball player, manager
** Jihad Al-Atrash, Lebanese actor, voice actor
* August 29 – Arthur B. McDonald, Canadian astrophysicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate
* August 30
** Tal Brody, American-born Israeli basketball player
** Robert Crumb, R. Crumb, American artist, illustrator
** Altovise Davis, American entertainer (d. 2009)
** Jean-Claude Killy, French skier
** John Kani, South African actor
* August 31 – Leonid Ivashov, Russian general
September
* September 5 – Dulce Saguisag, Filipino politician, former DSWD Secretary (d. 2007)
* September 6
** Harris Hines, American judge (d. 2018)
** Richard J. Roberts, English biochemist, molecular biologist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
** Roger Waters, English musician (''Pink Floyd'')
* September 7 – Lena Valaitis, Lithuanian-German Schlager singer
* September 9 – Art LaFleur, American actor (d. 2021)
* September 10
** Daniel Truhitte, American actor
** Neale Donald Walsch, American author (''Conversations with God'')
* September 11
** Mickey Hart, American percussionist and musicologist (''Grateful Dead'')
** Jaime Thorne León, Peruvian politician (d. 2018)
** Gilbert Proesch, Italian-born artist (''Gilbert and George'')
** Raymond Villeneuve, Canadian terrorist
* September 13 – Mildred D. Taylor, American writer
* September 14
** Irwin Goodman, Finnish singer (d. 1991)
** Tunde Idiagbon, Nigerian Army major general (d. 1999)
* September 16
** Tadamasa Goto, Japanese yakuza boss
** Oskar Lafontaine, German politician
* September 18 – Nina Wayne, American actress
* September 19 – Joe Morgan, American baseball player (d. 2020)
* September 20 – Sani Abacha, Nigerian Army officer and dictator (d. 1998)
* September 21
**Jerry Bruckheimer, American film and television producer
**David Hood, American session bassist and trombone player
**Mathew Prichard, British philanthropist, the only child of literary guardian Rosalind Hicks and the only grandchild of author Agatha Christie
* September 22 – Toni Basil, American musician, video artist ("Mickey (Toni Basil song), Mickey")
* September 23
** Ernie Ackerley, British footballer (d. 2017)
** Julio Iglesias, Spanish singer, songwriter
** Tanuja, Indian actress
* September 28 – J. T. Walsh, American actor (d. 1998)
* September 29
** Wolfgang Overath, German footballer
** Lech Wałęsa, President of Poland, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
* September 30
** Johann Deisenhofer, German biochemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate
** Ian Ogilvy, British-American actor
October
* October 1
** Jerry Martini, American musician
** Naushad Ali (cricketer), Naushad Ali, Pakistani cricketer
** Jean-Jacques Annaud, French film director
* October 2
** Franklin Rosemont, American poet (d. 2009)
** Henri Szeps, Australian actor
* October 3 – Jeff Bingaman, American politician
* October 4 – Buddy Roemer, American politician, investor and banker (d. 2021)
* October 5
** Bonnie Bryant (golfer), Bonnie Bryant, American golfer
** Ben Cardin, American politician
* October 6 – Michael Durrell, American actor
* October 7 – Oliver North, American military officer, military historian, political commentator, author and television host
* October 8
** Chevy Chase, American comedian, actor (''Saturday Night Live'')
** R. L. Stine, American novelist (''Goosebumps'')
* October 11
** John Nettles, English actor, writer
** Gene Watson, American country singer
* October 12
**Jeffrey R. MacDonald, American physician and United States Army Officer
**Köbi Kuhn, Swiss footballer and manager (d. 2019)
* October 14
** Lois Hamilton, American model, actress and artist (d. 1999)
** Mohammad Khatami, 5th President of Iran
** Lance Rentzel, American football player
* October 15 – Penny Marshall, American actress, director and producer (d. 2018)
* October 18
** Birthe Rønn Hornbech, Danish politician
** Christine Charbonneau, Canadian francophone singer, songwriter (d. 2014)
* October 22 – Catherine Deneuve, French actress
* October 24
** Theodor Stolojan, 54th Prime Minister of Romania
** José E. Serrano, American politician
* October 25 – Roy Lynes, English keyboardist
* October 27 – Carmen Argenziano, American actor (d. 2019)
* October 28 – Cornelia Froboess, German actress
* October 29 – Don Simpson, American film producer, screenwriter and actor (d. 1996)
November
* November 1 – Jacques Attali, French economist
* November 3 – Bert Jansch, Scottish folk musician (d. 2011)
* November 4
** Sundar Popo, Indo-Trinidadian Chutney music, chutney musician (d. 2000)
** Chuck Scarborough, American news anchor
* November 5
** Friedman Paul Erhardt, German-American pioneering television chef (d. 2007)
** Sam Shepard, American playwright, actor (d. 2017)
* November 7
** Stephen Greenblatt, American literary critic
** Nasirdin Isanov, 1st Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan (d. 1991)
** Joni Mitchell, Canadian musician (''Big Yellow Taxi'')
** Michael Spence, American economist, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Nobel Prize laureate
* November 8 – Martin Peters, English footballer (d. 2019)
* November 11 – Doug Frost (swimming coach), Doug Frost, Australian swimming coach
* November 12 – Wallace Shawn, American actor
* November 13
** Roberto Boninsegna, Italian footballer
** Jay Sigel, American golfer
* November 14
** Peter Norton, American software engineer, businessman
** Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero, Rafael Leonardo Callejas, President of Honduras (d. 2020)
* November 17 – Lauren Hutton, American actress, model
* November 19 – Aurelio Monteagudo, Cuban Major League Baseball player (d. 1990)
* November 20
** Mie Hama, Japanese actress
** Marek Tomaszewski, Polish pianist
* November 21 – Larry Mahan, American rodeo cowboy
* November 22
** Peter Adair, American filmmaker (d. 1996)
** Yvan Cournoyer, Canadian ice hockey player
** Billie Jean King, American tennis player
** William Kotzwinkle, American novelist, screenwriter
** Fouad Siniora, 32nd Prime Minister of Lebanon
* November 23 – Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of the Congo
* November 24
** Dave Bing, American mayor, longtime National Basketball Association, NBA player
** Kuniwo Nakamura, 6th President of Palau (d. 2020)
* November 25 – Dante Caputo, Argentine diplomat, politician (d. 2018)
* November 26 – Marilynne Robinson, American writer
* November 28 – Randy Newman, American musician
* November 30 – Terrence Malick, American film director
December
* December 2
** Wayne Allard, American politician
** William Wegman (photographer), William Wegman, American photographer
* December 5
** Eva Joly, Norwegian-born French magistrate
** Nicolae Văcăroiu, 55th Prime Minister of Romania
* December 8
** José Carbajal (Uruguayan musician), José Carbajal, Uruguayan singer, composer and guitarist (d. 2010)
** Larry Martin, American paleontologist (d. 2013)
** Jim Morrison, American rock musician (''The Doors'') (d. 1971)
** Bodo Tümmler, German Olympic middle-distance runner
* December 11 – John Kerry, American politician, 68th U.S. Secretary of State
* December 12
** Dickey Betts, American guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer (''The Allman Brothers Band'')
** Gianni Russo, American actor
** Phyllis Somerville, American actress (d. 2020)
** Grover Washington, Jr., African-American saxophonist (d. 1999)
* December 13
** David W. Huff, American rock singer, guitarist of (''David and the Giants'')
** Ferguson Jenkins, Canadian baseball player
* December 14
** Britt Allcroft, British television producer, creator of ''Thomas & Friends''
** António Simões, Portuguese footballer
* December 15 – Lucien den Arend, Dutch sculptor
* December 16 – Steven Bochco, American television producer (d. 2018)
* December 17
** Pak Doo-ik, North Korean footballer
** Ron Geesin, British musician, songwriter (''Pink Floyd'')
** Rick Nolan, American politician
* December 18 – Keith Richards, English rock guitarist, songwriter (''The Rolling Stones'')
* December 19
** Sam Kelly, English actor (d. 2014)
** Ross M. Lence, American political scientist (d. 2006)
** Jimmy Mackay, Australian football player (d. 1998)
* December 20 – Jacqueline Pearce, English screen actress (d. 2018)
* December 21 – Jack Nance, American actor (d. 1996)
* December 22 – Paul Wolfowitz, American political scientist
* December 23
** Elizabeth Hartman, American actress (d. 1987)
** Harry Shearer, American actor, comedian and screenwriter
** Queen Silvia of Sweden, Queen consort of Sweden
* December 24
** Tarja Halonen, 11th President of Finland
** James A. Johnson (politics), James A. Johnson, American business leader, philanthropist
* December 25 – Hanna Schygulla, German actress
* December 27 – Sam Hinds, 3-Time Prime Minister of Guyana
* December 28
** Keith Floyd, British chef (d. 2009)
** Chas Hodges, English musician and singer (d. 2018)
** Craig MacIntosh, American illustrator
** Billy Chapin, American child actor (d.2016)
** Richard Whiteley, English television presenter (d. 2005)
* December 31
** John Denver, American musician (d. 1997)
** Sir Ben Kingsley, British actor (''Gandhi (film), Gandhi'')
** Pete Quaife, English musician, artist and author (''The Kinks'') (d. 2010)
Deaths
January
* January 2
** Qazim Koculi, Albanian politician, acting Prime Minister of Albania (murdered) (b. 1887)
** Wilhelm Lorenz, German general (died of wounds) (b. 1894)
* January 3 – Bid McPhee, American baseball player, MLB Hall of Famer (b. 1859)
*
January 4
Events Pre-1600
*46 BC – Julius Caesar fights Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina.
* 871 – Battle of Reading: Æthelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred are defeated by a Danish invasion army.
1601–1900
*1649 – Engli ...
** Hàm Nghi, Emperor of Vietnam (b. 1872)
**
Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz
Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz ( el, Γεώργιος Ιβάνωφ-Σαϊνόβιτς, ''Georgios Ivanof-Sainovits''; 14 December 1911 – 4 January 1943) was a Polish-Greek athlete who fought as a saboteur in the Greek Resistance during World War II a ...
, Greek-born Polish athlete, resistance member (executed) (b. 1911)
** Kate Price (actress), Kate Price, Irish-born American actress (b. 1872)
* January 5 – George Washington Carver, African-American botanist (b. c. 1864)
* January 7
** George Washington Crile, founder of the Cleveland Clinic (b. 1864)
** Nikola Tesla, Croatian-born American electrical engineer, inventor (b. 1856)
* January 8 – Richard Hillary, Australian-born British Battle of Britain Supermarine Spitfire, Spitfire pilot, author (killed on active service in aviation accident) (b. 1919)
* January 9 – R. G. Collingwood, English philosopher, historian and archaeologist (b. 1889)
* January 10 – Lewis Hall (soldier), Lewis Hall, American soldier (killed on active service) (b. 1895)
*
January 11
Events Pre-1600
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalates into violence.
* 630 – Conquest of Mecca: The prophet Muhamma ...
– Agustín Pedro Justo, Argentinian military officer, diplomat and politician, 23rd President of Argentina (b. 1876)
* January 12 – Jan Campert, Dutch journalist, writer (in Neuengamme concentration camp) (b. 1902)
*
January 13
Events Pre-1600
* 27 BC – Octavian transfers the state to the free disposal of the Roman Senate and the people. He receives Spain, Gaul, and Syria as his province for ten years.
* 532 – The Nika riots break out, during the racing ...
** Henner Henkel, German tennis champion (killed in action) (b. 1915)
** Xavier Martinez, Mexican-born American painter (b. 1869)
** Else Ury, German writer, children's book author (b. 1877)
*
January 14
Events Pre-1600
*1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence.
*1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.
1601–1900
*1639 – The "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, Fundamenta ...
– Laura E. Richards, American author (b. 1850)
*
January 15
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months.
* 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...
– Eric Knight, American author (b. 1897)
*
January 16
Events Pre-1600
* 27 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.
* 378 – General Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spear ...
– Sir William Arbuthnot Lane, 1st Baronet, British surgeon (b. 1856)
* January 17
** Jane Avril, French dancer (b. 1868)
** Taj al-Din al-Hasani, Syrian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Syria and 6th President of Syria (b. 1885)
*
January 18
Events Pre-1600
* 474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
* 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chi ...
– Urban Jacob Rasmus Børresen, Norwegian admiral and industry leader (b. 1857)
* January 19 – William Pettigrew (missionary), William Pettigrew, British Christian missionary (b. 1869)
* January 20
** Giacomo Benvenuti, Italian composer (b. 1885)
** Baron Max Wladimir von Beck, former Minister-President of Austria (b. 1854)
*
January 21
Events Pre-1600
* 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.
* 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Co ...
** Aimo Cajander, 7th Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1879)
** Konstantinos Davakis, Greek army officer (died of wounds) (b. 1897)
** Robert Henry English, American admiral (killed in aviation accident) (b. 1888)
*
January 22
Events Pre-1600
* 613 – Eight-month-old Constantine is crowned as co-emperor (''Caesar'') by his father Heraclius at Constantinople.
* 871 – Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vi ...
– Gyula Peidl, 23rd Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1873)
*
January 23
Events Pre-1600
* 393 – Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
* 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
*1264 & ...
–
Alexander Woollcott
Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (January 19, 1887 – January 23, 1943) was an American drama critic and commentator for ''The New Yorker'' magazine, a member of the Algonquin Round Table, an occasional actor and playwright, and a prominent radio p ...
, American critic (b. 1887)
* January 26
** Harry H. Laughlin, American Eugenics, eugenicist (b. 1880)
** Nikolai Vavilov, Russian, Soviet botanist, geneticist (b. 1887)
*
January 29
Events
Pre-1600
* 904 – Sergius III is elected pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
* 946 – Caliph Al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Emir Mu'izz al-Dawla, ruler o ...
** Henriette Caillaux, French murderer, socialite and wife of former French prime minister (b. 1874)
** Vladimir Kokovtsov, 4th Prime Minister of Russia, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire (b. 1853)
February
* February 1 – Foy Draper, American Olympic athlete (killed in action) (b. 1911)
*
February 2
Events Pre-1600
* 506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths, promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (''Breviarium Alaricianum'' or ''Lex Romana Visigothorum''), a collection of "Roman law".
* 880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King ...
** Alfred Cavendish, British general (b. 1859)
** Ganga Singh, Maharaja of Bikaner (b. 1880)
* February 4
** Frank Calder, British-born Canadian ice hockey executive, first National Hockey League president (b. 1877)
** Senjūrō Hayashi, Japanese army commander, politician and 22nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1876)
*
February 5
Events Pre-1600
* 62 – Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.
* 1576 – Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.
* 1597 – A group of early Japanese Christians ar ...
** Sim Gokkes, Dutch composer (in Auschwitz concentration camp) (b. 1897)
** W. S. Van Dyke, American director (b. 1889)
*
February 9
Events Pre-1600
* 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
* 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland.
* 1539 – The first recorded race is hel ...
February 10
Events Pre-1600
* 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
* 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, sparkin ...
** Sverre Granlund, Norwegian general (b. 1918)
** James T. Powers (actor), James T. Powers, American actor (b. 1862)
* February 11 – Bess Houdini, American wife of Harry Houdini (b. 1876)
*
February 14
Events Pre-1600
* 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
* 842 – Charles the Bald and Louis ...
– David Hilbert, German mathematician (b. 1862)
* February 15 – Charles Bennett (actor), Charles Bennett, American actor (b. 1889)
*
February 16
Events Pre-1600
* 1249 – Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire.
* 1270 – Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Kar ...
– Paul Ranous Greever, American politician (b. 1891)
*
February 18
Events Pre-1600
* 1229 – The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
* 1268 &ndas ...
– Reginald Pinney, Sir Reginald Pinney, British army general (b. 1863)
*
February 19
Events Pre-1600
* 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.
* 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan ...
– Jan Piekałkiewicz, Polish economist, statistician and politician (b. 1892)
*
February 20
Events Pre-1600
*1339 – The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.
*1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland ...
** Ernest Guglielminetti, Swiss physician (b. 1862)
** Donald Haines, American actor (b. 1919)
*
February 22
Events Pre-1600
* 1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
* 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdina ...
** Tamara Drasin, Russian-born American singer, actress (b. 1905)
** Christoph Probst, German White Rose resistance member (executed) (b. 1919)
** Ben Robertson (journalist), Ben Robertson, American novelist, journalist and war correspondent (b. 1903)
** Hans Scholl, German White Rose resistance member (executed) (b. 1918)
** Sophie Scholl, German White Rose resistance member (executed) (b. 1921)
*
February 23
Events Pre-1600
* 303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.
* 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a ...
** Edward Heaton-Ellis, Sir Edward Heaton-Ellis, British vice-admiral (b. 1868)
** Grigory Kravchenko, Soviet test pilot and air force general (killed in action) (b. 1912)
** Karl Leopold von Möller, German officer, journalist, author and politician (b. 1876)
* February 26 – Theodor Eicke, German Nazi official (killed in action) (b. 1892)
* February 27 – Maria Josefa Karolina Brader, Swiss Roman Catholic religious professed and blessed (b. 1860)
March
*
March 1
Events Pre-1600
*509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first Roman triumph, triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia.
* 293 – Emperor ...
– Alexandre Yersin, Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist (b. 1863)
* March 2 – Gisela Januszewska, Austrian physician (in Theresienstadt concentration camp) (b. 1867)
*
March 3
Events Pre-1600
* 473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
* 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan.
* 1575 &nd ...
– Rafael López Nussa, Puerto Rican physician (b. 1885)
* March 6 – Jimmy Collins, American baseball player, MLB Hall of Famer (b. 1870)
* March 8
** Alma del Banco, German painter (suicide) (b. 1862)
** Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo, Indonesian independence leader (b. 1886)
* March 9 – Otto Freundlich, German painter, sculptor (killed in Majdanek concentration camp) (b. 1878)
* March 10
** Laurence Binyon, English poet and scholar (b. 1869)
** Tully Marshall, American character actor (b. 1864)
* March 12
** Czesława Kwoka, Polish Roman Catholic religious sister and blessed (killed in Auschwitz concentration camp) (b. 1928)
** Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor (b. 1869)
* March 13 – Jaap Nunes Vaz, Dutch journalist, writer and editor (killed in Sobibór extermination camp) (b. 1906)
* March 19 – Frank Nitti, Italian-born American gangster (suicide) (b. 1886)
* March 20
** Lizika Jančar, Slovene Partisan, national hero (killed by militia) (b. 1919)
** Heinrich Zimmer, German-born Indologist, historian (pneumonia) (b. 1890)
* March 22 – Hans Woellke, German Olympic athlete (killed by partisans) (b. 1911)
* March 23 – Mervyn Herbert, Viscount Clive, British peer, army officer (killed on active service in aviation accident) (b. 1904)
* March 27 – George Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, British politician, 5th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1882)
* March 28
** Ben Davies (tenor), Ben Davies, British tenor (b. 1858)
** Lorenzo Gasparri, Italian admiral (killed on active service in accidental explosion) (b. 1894)
** Edward Heron-Allen, British polymath, lawyer, scientist and scholar (b. 1861)
** Robert W. Paul, British film director (b. 1869)
** Sergei Rachmaninoff, Soviet composer (b. 1873)
* March 30 – Maria Restituta Kafka, German Roman Catholic religious sister and blessed (executed) (b. 1894)
* March 31 – Pavel Milyukov, exiled Russian politician, founder and leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party (b. 1859)
April
* April 1 – Vahida Maglajlić, Yugoslav partisan, national hero (killed in combat) (b. 1907)
* April 3 – Conrad Veidt, German actor (b. 1893)
* April 5 – W. G. Howard Gritten, British barrister, writer and conservative politician (b. 1870)
* April 6 – Alexandre Millerand, French politician, 41st Prime Minister of France and 11th President of France (b. 1859)
* April 7 – Auguste Audollent, French historian, archaeologist (b. 1864)
* April 8
** Harry Baur, French actor (b. 1880)
** Itamar Ben-Avi, Israeli activist (b. 1882)
** Tomás Garrido Canabal, Mexican politician, revolutionary (b. 1891)
** Otto and Elise Hampel, German anti-Nazi resistance members (executed) (b. 1897 & 1903)
** Richard Sears (tennis), Richard Sears, American tennis champion (b. 1861)
* April 9 – Philip Slier, Dutch Jewish typesetter (in Sobibór extermination camp) (b. 1923)
* April 11 – Kim Myeong-sik, Korean independence activist (b. 1890)
* April 13 – Oskar Schlemmer, German painter, sculptor, designer and choreographer (b. 1888)
* April 16 – Carlos Arniches, Spanish playwright (b. 1866)
* April 18 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (b. 1884)
* April 21 – Rihard Jakopič, Yugoslav painter (b. 1869)
* April 24
** Kenneth Whiting, United States Navy officer, submarine and naval aviation pioneer (b. 1881)
** Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, German general (b. 1878)
* April 30
** Eddy Hamel, American footballer (b. 1902; killed in Auschwitz)
** Otto Jespersen, Danish linguist, creator of Ido (language), Ido and Novial languages (b.1860)
** Beatrice Webb, British sociologist, economist, historian and social reformer (b. 1858)
May
* May 1 – Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian Christian leader, founder of Brunstad Christian Church (b. 1871)
* May 3 – Frank Maxwell Andrews, American general (plane crash) (b. 1884)
* May 4
** Cesira Ferrani, Italian soprano (b. 1863)
** Saverio Marotta, Italian naval officer (killed in action) (b. 1911)
* May 5
** Grzegorz Bolesław Frąckowiak, Polish Roman Catholic priest, martyr and blessed (executed) (b. 1911)
** Gordon Hewart, 1st Viscount Hewart, British politician, judge (b. 1870)
* May 7 – Fethi Okyar, Turkish diplomat, politician and 2nd Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1880)
* May 8 – Miroslav Šalom Freiberger, Yugoslav rabbi, writer and spiritual leader (killed at Auschwitz concentration camp) (b. 1903)
* May 14
** George, Crown Prince of Saxony, Catholic priest (b. 1893)
** Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer, author and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
* May 15 – Horst Hannig, German Luftwaffe fighter ace (b. 1921)
* May 17
** Johanna Elberskirchen, German feminist (b. 1864)
** Montagu Love, British actor (b. 1877)
* May 19 – Kristjan Raud, Soviet painter, drawer (b. 1865)
* May 20 – John Stone Stone, American physicist, inventor (b. 1869)
* May 22 – Helen Taft, First Lady of the United States (b. 1861)
* May 24 – Johannes Orasmaa, Estonian army general (in labour camp) (b. 1890)
* May 25 – Ali Rikabi, 1st Prime Minister of Syria, 2-time Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1864)
* May 26 – Edsel Ford, American businessman, president of Ford Motor Company (b. 1893)
* May 27 – Gordon Coates, 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1878)
* May 29 – Yasuyo Yamasaki, Imperial Japanese Army officer (killed in action) (b. 1891)
* May 31
** Prince Georg of Bavaria, Catholic priest (b. 1880)
** Helmut Kapp, German Gestapo official (killed by partisans)
June
* June 1
** István Bárczy, Hungarian politician (b. 1866)
** Leslie Howard, British actor (aircraft shot down) (b. 1893)
* June 2 – Nile Kinnick, American athlete, Heisman Trophy winner (died on active service in aviation accident) (b. 1918)
* June 3 – Osgood Hanbury, British pilot (killed on active service) (b. 1917)
* June 4
** Francesco Pianzola, Italian Roman Catholic priest and blessed (b. 1881)
** Kermit Roosevelt, American explorer, author (suicide) (b. 1889)
* June 10 – Sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco (b. 1878)
* June 11 – Heisuke Abe, Japanese general (b. 1886)
* June 12 – Hans Junkermann (actor), Hans Junkermann, German actor (b. 1872)
* June 26 – Karl Landsteiner, Austrian biologist, physician (b. 1868)
* June 28 – Pietro Porcelli, Italian sculptor (b. 1872)
* June 30 – Kristian Kristiansen (explorer), Kristian Kristiansen, Norwegian explorer (b. 1865)
July
* July 2 – Alice Mary Dowd, American educator and poet (b. 1855)
* July 4
** Cevat Abbas Gürer, Turkish army officer (b. 1887)
** Gordon Sidney Harrington, Canadian politician (b. 1883)
** Zofia Leśniowska, Polish army officer (aviation accident) (b. 1912)
** Władysław Sikorski, Polish prime minister in exile (aviation accident) (b. 1881)
** Charles Stevenson (actor), Charles Stevenson, American silent film actor (b. 1887)
* July 5
** Leonardo Ferrulli, Italian pilot (killed in action) (b. 1918)
** Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski, Polish actor (b. 1880)
* July 6
** Teruo Akiyama, Japanese admiral (killed in action) (b. 1891)
** Nazaria Ignacia March Mesa, Spanish-born Roman Catholic religious sister, canonized (b. 1889)
* July 8
** Jean Moulin, French resistance fighter (injuries from suicide attempt in custody) (b. 1899)
** Sir Harry Oakes, American-born British gold mine owner (murdered) (b. 1874)
* July 11 – Eugen Lovinescu, Romanian critic, academic and novelist (b. 1881)
* July 12
** Shunji Isaki, Japanese admiral (killed in action) (b. 1892)
** Cecilia Loftus, Scottish-born actress (b. 1876)
* July 13
** Lorenzo Barcelata, Mexican composer (b. 1898)
** Marianna Biernacka, Polish Roman Catholic religious sister, martyr and blessed (killed) (b. 1888)
** Luz Long, German long jump athlete (killed in action) (b. 1913)
** Alexander Schmorell, Russian-born German
White Rose
The White Rose (german: Weiße Rose, ) was a Nonviolence, non-violent, intellectual German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students (and one professor) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, ...
resistance member, Orthodox Church passion bearer and saint (executed) (b. 1917)
* July 14 – Mariya Borovichenko, Soviet medical officer (killed in action) (b. 1925)
* July 16 – Saul Raphael Landau, Polish Jewish lawyer, journalist, publicist and Zionist activist (b. 1870)
* July 19
** Martin Faust (actor), Martin Faust, American film actor (b. 1886)
** Giuseppe Terragni, Italian architect (b. 1904)
* July 20
** Maria Gay, Spanish opera singer (b. 1879)
** Charles Hazelius Sternberg, American fossil collector and paleontologist (b. 1850)
* July 21
** José Jurado de la Parra, Spanish journalist, poet and playwright (b. 1856)
** Charley Paddock, American sprinter (aviation accident) (b. 1900)
** Louis Vauxcelles, French art critic (b. 1870)
** Theodor von Guérard, German jurist, politician (b. 1863)
* July 23 – Mario Nicolis di Robilant, Italian general (b. 1855)
* July 26 – Luis Barros Borgoño, Chilean politician (b. 1858)
* July 28 – Charles Granval, French actor (b. 1882)
* July 29 – William Ewart Hart, Australian aviator, dentist (b. 1885)
* July 30 – Max Eitingon, Belarusian-German medical doctor and psychoanalyst (b. 1881)
* July 31
**Zdzisław Lubomirski, Polish aristocrat, landowner, lawyer, politician and activist (b. 1865)
**James MacLachlan, British flying ace (b. 1919)
**Hedley Verity, British cricketer (b. 1905)
**Rodger Young, American soldier, remembered in the song "The Ballad of Rodger Young" (killed in action) (b. 1918)
August
* August 1 – Martyrs of Nowogródek, Polish nuns, martyrs and blessed (executed) (b. 1888–1916)
**Lin Sen, Chinese chairman of the National Government of China (b. 1868)
* August 5
** Iosif Apanasenko, Soviet commander (killed in action) (b. 1890)
** Eva-Maria Buch, German resistance leader (executed) (b. 1921)
* August 9
** Franz Jägerstätter, Austrian conscientious objector, martyr and blessed (executed) (b. 1907)
** Chaïm Soutine, Russian-born painter (b. 1893)
* August 12 – Bobby Peel, English cricketer (b. 1857)
* August 14 – Joe Kelley, American baseball player, MLB Hall of Famer (b. 1871)
* August 18 – Hans Jeschonnek, German general (suicide) (b. 1899)
* August 21 – Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
* August 22 – Virgilio Dávila, Puerto Rican poet, educator, businessman and politician (b. 1869)
* August 24
** Ettore Muti, Italian Fascist politician (shot while under arrest) (b. 1902)
** Simone Weil, French philosopher (b. 1909)
* August 26 – Ted Ray (golfer), Ted Ray, British golfer (b. 1877)
* August 27
** William de Burgh (philosopher), William de Burgh, British philosopher (b. 1866)
** Constantin Prezan, Romanian general, Marshal of Romania (b. 1861)
* August 28 – King Boris III of Bulgaria (b. 1894)
* August 29 – Baba Nand Singh ji, Punjabi Sikh religious leader, saint (b. 1870)
* August 31 – Gustav Bachmann, German naval officer, admiral (b. 1860)
September
* September 1 – Charles Atangana, Cameroonian chief (b. c.1880)
* September 2 – Marsden Hartley, American modernism, American Modernist artist (b. 1877)
* September 6 – Reginald McKenna, British Chancellor of the Exchequer 1915–1916 (b. 1863)
* September 7
** Géza Grünwald, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1910)
** Karlrobert Kreiten, German pianist (executed) (b. 1916)
* September 8 – Julius Fučík (journalist), Julius Fučík, Czech resistance fighter (executed) (b. 1903)
* September 9
** Carlo Bergamini (admiral), Carlo Bergamini, Italian admiral (killed in action) (b. 1888)
** Salvatore John Cavallaro, American naval officer (killed in action) (b. 1920)
** Federico Martinengo, Italian pilot (killed in action) (b. 1899)
* September 13
** David Bacon (actor), David Bacon, American film actor (b. 1914)
** Ugo Cavallero, General of the Italian Army (suicide) (b. 1880)
* September 17 – (killed in Ponary massacre)
** Kazimierz Pelczar, Polish oncologist, academic (b. 1894)
** Mieczysław Witold Gutkowski, Polish lawyer (b. 1893)
* September 19 – Germaine Cernay, French mezzo-soprano (b. 1900)
* September 23
** Elinor Glyn, British writer, critic (b. 1864)
** Ernst Trygger, Swedish professor, politician and 19th Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1857)
* September 26 - Henri Fertet, French Resistance fighter (b. 1926)
* September 28
** Sam Ruben, American chemist (b. 1913)
** Filippo Illuminato, Italian partisan, Gold Medal of Military Valour (b. 1930)
* September 27 – Willoughby Hamilton, Irish tennis player (b. 1864)
* September 29 – Mariano Goybet, French army general (b. 1861)
* September 30
** Johan Ludwig Mowinckel, Norwegian businessman, Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1870)
** Adolf Paul, Swedish novelist, playwright (b. 1863)
October
* October 2
** Carlos Blanco Galindo, 32nd President of Bolivia (b. 1882)
** Muhamed Hadžiefendić, Yugoslav army officer (killed by partisans) (b. 1898)
* October 4 – Irena Iłłakowicz, Polish general (murdered) (b. 1906)
* October 5 – Leon Roppolo, American jazz clarinetist (b. 1902)
* October 6 – Ignaz Trebitsch-Lincoln, Hungarian adventurer (b. 1879)
* October 7 – Prince Christoph of Hesse (aviation accident) (b. 1901)
* October 8
**Marianne Golz, Austrian-born opera singer, World War II resistance member (executed) (b. 1895)
**Wilhelm Hegeler, German novelist (b. 1870)
* October 9 – Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
* October 12 – Max Wertheimer, Austro-Hungarian psychologist (b. 1880)
* October 14
** Rudolf Beckmann, German SS officer (Sobibór uprising) (b. 1910)
** Siegfried Graetschus, German SS officer (Sobibór uprising) (b. 1916)
** Johann Niemann, German SS officer (Sobibór uprising) (b. 1913)
* October 15 – William Penhallow Henderson, American painter, architect and furniture designer (b. 1877)
* October 18 – Margaret Bartholomew, American Civil Air Patrol officer (aviation accident on mission) (b. 1903)
* October 19 – Camille Claudel, French sculptor (b. 1864)
* October 21 – Dudley Pound, Sir Dudley Pound, British admiral (b. 1877)
* October 22 – William Reginald Hall, Sir Reginald Hall, British admiral (b. 1870)
* October 23
** André Antoine, French actor (b. 1858)
** Ben Bernie, American jazz violinist (b. 1891)
** Antonio Legnani, Italian admiral (automobile accident) (b. 1888)
** Franceska Mann, Polish dancer (killed in Auschwitz concentration camp) (b. 1917)
* October 24 – Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau, Canadian poet, lawyer (b. 1912)
* October 26 – Joseph E. Widener, American art collector and philanthropist (b. 1871)
* October 28 – Aurel Stein, Sir Aurel Stein, Hungarian-born British archaeologist (b. 1862)
* October 30 – Max Reinhardt, Austrian director (b. 1873)
November
* November 5
** Samad Abdullayev, Soviet army officer (killed in action) (b. 1920)
**Frank Campeau, American actor (b. 1864)
** Idhomene Kosturi, Albanian politician, acting Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1873)
* November 7 – Dwight Frye, American character actor (b. 1899)
* November 9 – Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia (b. 1877)
* November 10 – Blessed Lübeck martyrs, German Roman Catholic priests (executed):
** Johannes Prassek (b. 1911)
** Eduard Müller (martyr), Eduard Müller (b. 1911)
** Hermann Lange (b. 1912)
** Karl Friedrich Stellbrink (b. 1894)
* November 13 – Maurice Denis, French painter (b. 1870)
* November 14 – Gurie Grosu, Romanian Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox priest and metropolitan (b. 1877)
* November 19 – Baruch Lopes Leão de Laguna, Dutch painter (b. 1864)
* November 22
** Lorenz Hart, American lyricist (b. 1895)
** Keiji Shibazaki, Japanese admiral (killed in action) (b. 1894)
* November 23 – Charles Ray (actor), Charles Ray, American actor (b. 1891)
* November 24
** France Balantič, Yugoslav poet (killed in action) (b. 1921)
** Doris Miller, African-American sailor, Pearl Harbor survivor (killed in action) (b. 1919)
** Henry M. Mullinnix, American admiral (killed in action) (b. 1892)
* November 25 – Renato Cialente, Italian film actor (b. 1897)
* November 26
** Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (pilot), Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1909)
** Kiyoto Kagawa, Japanese admiral (killed in action) (b. 1895)
** Edward O'Hare, Edward "Butch" O'Hare, American fighter pilot (killed in action) (b. 1914)
* November 28 – Aleksander Hellat, Soviet politician (b. 1881)
* November 29 – Zsolt Harsányi, Hungarian author, dramatist, translator and writer (b. 1887)
December
* December 1
** Antonio de Viti de Marco, Italian economist (b. 1858)
** Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai prince, historian (b. 1862)
* December 2 – Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian poet, novelist, journalist and activist (killed in action as war correspondent) (b. 1902)
* December 6 – G. O. Smith, English sportsman (b. 1872)
* December 7 – Hamilton Lamb, Australian politician, soldier (in Japanese POW camp) (b. 1900)
* December 8 – Donald Mackintosh (bishop), Donald Mackintosh, British clergyman, Roman Catholic bishop and reverend (b. 1876)
* December 9
** George Cooper (actor), George Cooper, American silent film actor (b. 1892)
** Georges Dufrénoy, French post-impressionist painter (b. 1870)
* December 10 – Charles Belcher (actor), Charles Belcher, American film actor (b. 1872)
* December 13 – Erich Garske, German political activist (executed) (b. 1907)
* December 14 – John Harvey Kellogg, American physician, nutritionist (b. 1852)
* December 15 – Fats Waller, African-American jazz pianist (pneumonia) (b. 1904)
* December 18 – Hector Gray, British Royal Air Force officer (executed in Japanese Prisoner of War camp) (b. 1911)
* December 20 – Edward L. Beach Sr., American naval officer, author (b. 1867)
* December 22 – Beatrix Potter, British children's author, illustrator (b. 1866)
* December 23 – Frederic Fisher, Sir Frederic Fisher, British admiral (b. 1851)
* December 25 – William Irving (actor), William Irving, German-born American film actor (b. 1893)
* December 26 – Erich Bey, German admiral (killed in action) (b. 1898)
* December 27
** Rupert Julian, New Zealand actor, director (b. 1879)
** Creelman MacArthur, Canadian businessman, politician (b. 1874)
* December 30 – Hobart Bosworth, American film actor, director, writer and producer (b. 1867)
Nobel Prizes
* Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – Otto Stern
* Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – George de Hevesy
* Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Physiology or Medicine – Carl Peter Henrik Dam, Edward Adelbert Doisy
* Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – not awarded
* Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – not awarded
References
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Articles containing video clips