Eastern Europe
By the spring of 1944 the Soviets had relieved the siege of Leningrad
In early May 250,000 Germans where trapped in the Crimean Peninsula after the Germans retreated from the Ukraine.
On 9 June, the Soviet Union began the Fourth strategic offensive on the Karelian Isthmus that after three months would force Nazi Germany's co-belligerent Finland to an armistice. Finland's defence had been dependent on active, or in periods passive, support from the German Wehrmacht that also provided defence for the chiefly uninhabited northern half of Finland. After the Bagration Wehrmacht position weakened on the southern shores of the Gulf of Finland, Finland was able to negotiate an armistice without the threat of German occupation as had happened to Hungary. The armistice conditions included further territorial losses and the internment or expulsion of German troops on Finnish soil executed in the Lapland War, now as co-belligerents of the Allies.
Operation Bagration, a Soviet offensive involving 2.5 million men and 6,000 tanks, was launched on 22 June, destroying the German Army Group Centre and taking 350,000 prisoners.
The Warsaw Uprising was fought between 1 August and 2 October. Nearly 40,000 Polish resistance fighters seized control of the city.
Western Europe
On "D-Day" (6 June 1944) the western Allies invaded German-held Normandy in a successful amphibious assault. German resistance was stubborn and during the first month, the Allies measured progress in hundreds of yards and bloody rifle fights in the Bocage. An Allied breakout was effected at St.-Lô, and German forces were almost completely destroyed in the Falaise pocket while counter-attacking. Allied forces stationed in Italy invaded the French Riviera on 15 August and linked up with forces from Normandy. The clandestine French Resistance in Paris rose against the Germans on 19 August, and a French division under General Jacques Leclerc, pressing forward from Normandy, received the surrender of the German forces there and liberated the city on August 25.
Allied paratroopers attempted a fast advance into the Netherlands with Operation Market Garden in September but were repulsed. Logistical problems were starting to plague the Allies' advance west as the supply lines still ran back to the beaches of Normandy. A decisive victory by the Canadian First Army in the Battle of the Scheldt secured the entrance to the port of Antwerp, freeing it to receive supplies by late November 1944.
In December 1944, the German Army made its last major offensive in the West, known as the Battle of the Bulge. Hitler sought to drive a wedge between the frequently feuding Western Allies, causing them to agree to a favourable armistice, after which Germany could concentrate all her efforts on the Eastern front and have a chance to defeat the Soviets. The mission was unrealistic to begin with, since German plans largely relied on capturing Allied fuel dumps in order to keep their vehicles moving with the goal of capturing the vital port of Antwerp, and thus crippling the Allies. At first, the Germans scored successes against the unprepared Allied forces. In addition, the poor weather during the initial days of the offensive favoured the Germans because it grounded Allied aircraft. However, with clearing skies allowing Allied air supremacy to resume, the German failure to capture Bastogne, and the arrival of General Patton's Third Army, the Nazis were forced to retreat back into Germany. The offensive was defeated.
Italy and the Balkans
June 4 Rome falls to Allies.
Germany withdrew from the Balkans and held Hungary until February 1945.
Romania turned against Germany in August 1944 and Bulgaria surrendered in September.
East Asia and the Pacific
On 31 January 42,000 U.S. Army soldiers and U.S. Marines began the Battle of Kwajalein. Kwajalein fell on 3 February.
17 February to 23 February 1944 the Battle of Eniwetok on Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands was won by the U.S. Marines.
On 27 May the Battle of Biak began.
On 14 June the first B-29 raids on Japan begin from bases in China.
On 15 June Saipan invaded; it fell to the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions and 27th Infantry Division by 9 July.
On 19 June Battle of the Philippine Sea fought, famous for the Marianas "Turkey Shoot". After the battle the Japanese aircraft carrier force was no longer militarily effective.
On 21 July the Battle of Guam began. Guam was recaptured on 10 August.
On 24 July Tinian was invaded. The battle of Tinian saw the first use of napalm in battle. Tinian was captured on 1 August 1944
19 October General MacArthur returns to the Phillipines, landing on the island of Leyte.
Tthe Battle of Leyte Gulf was fought between 23 October and 26 October 1944, arguably the largest naval battle in history. The battle saw the first Kamakaze strikes.
Throughout 1944 Allied submarines and aircraft attacked Japanese merchant shipping, depriving Japan's industry of the raw materials it had gone to war to obtain. The effectiveness of this stranglehold increased as U.S. Marines captured islands closer to the Japanese mainland. In 1944 submarines sank 3 million tons of shipping while the Japanese built less than 1 million tons. tobe
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