Historical Events in April 1944

Apr 2 Dmitri Shostakovich's 8th Symphony premieres in NY

Apr 2 Soviet Army marches into pro-German Romania
Apr 3 British dive bombers attack battle cruiser Tirpitz at Kåfjorden, Norway
Apr 3 US Supreme Court (Smith v Allwright) "white primaries" unconstitutional
Apr 4 British troops capture Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Apr 4 De Gaulle forms new regime in exile, with communists
Apr 4 Allied Bucharest bombings targeting railroads kills 5,000
Apr 5 140 Lancasters bomb aircraft factory in Toulouse
Apr 5 World War II: 270 inhabitants of the Greek town of Kleisoura are executed by the Germans
Apr 6 Jewish nursery at Izieu-Ain, France, overrun by Nazis

Apr 7 World War II: General Montgomery speaks to generals at St. Paul's School about his vision for the upcoming D-Day landings

Apr 9 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Orientals Ecclesiae

Apr 12 Lillian Hellman's "Searching Wind" premieres in NYC

Apr 13 South Carolina rejects black suffrage
Apr 13 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 5-4 in overtime for a 4-0 series sweep; Canadiens' first SC triumph since 1931
Apr 13 Transport #71 departs Drancy (France) internment camp, taking 1,500 French Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi German occupied Poland; an estimated 91 survived
Apr 13 New Zealand and the Soviet Union establish diplomatic relations
Apr 14 1st Jews transported from Athens arrive at Auschwitz
Apr 14 Freighter "Fort Stikene" explodes in Bombay India, killing 1,376

Apr 14 General Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force

Apr 14 Greek Colonel Venizelos forms government
Apr 17 48th Boston Marathon won by Gerard Cote of Canada in 2:31:50.4; second straight victory; 3rd of 4 titles
Apr 18 Leonard Bernstein & Jerome Robbins' ballet "Fancy Free" premieres in NYC
Apr 19 Allied fleet attack Sabang Sumatra
Apr 19 1944 NFL Draft: Angelo Bertelli from University of Notre Dame first pick by Boston Yanks
Apr 20 Dutch Communist Party resistance fighter John Postma sentence to death
Apr 20 NFL legalizes coaching from bench
Apr 21 NFL Chic Cardinals & Pittsburgh Steelers merge (dissolves on Dec 3)
Apr 22 Allies land near Hollandia, New Guinea

Apr 28 Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meets Polish-American priest Stanislaus Orlemanski in Moscow to discuss religion and the future of post-war Poland

Apr 28 Exercise "Tiger" ends with 750 US soldiers dead in D-Day rehearsal after their convoy ships were attacked by German torpedo boats off Slapton Sands, Devon.
Apr 29 Raid by Dutch Resistance on the National Printing Office in The Hague to procure 10,000 Dutch identity cards.
Apr 30 NY Giant Phil Weintraub gets 11 RBIs
Apr 30 NY Giant, Mel Ott scores 6 runs in 1 game drawing 5 walks for 4th time