January: After 2 years the Siege of Leningrad is lifted. It has cost the lives of 2 million Russians & millions more sick or injured.

February: Sue S. Dauser, Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps, becomes first female commissioned Captain in the history of the U.S. Navy.

March: 76 Royal Air Force POWs escape from Stalag Luft III by tunnel they name 'Harry'. 3 will make it home & 50 will be executed.

April: Rudi Vrba & Alfred Wetzler escape from Auschwitz. Their report gives first detailed information about the atrocities.

May: USS England (DE-635), a Buckley-class destroyer escort sinks 6 Japanese submarines in 12 days, an unparalleled feat.

June: 155,000 Allied troops arrive on the beaches of Normandy. D-Day landings are the largest amphibious operation in history.

July: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt by Claus von Stauffenberg, the bomb only slighty injures him.

August: The Polish resistance begin the Warsaw Uprising. After 63 days they will be defeated due to a lack of outside support.

September: The British 11th Armoured Division liberates Antwerp in Belgium & the exiled Belgian government returns to Brussels.

October: Field Marshal Erwin Rommel commits suicide rather than face trial & certain execution for conspiring against Hitler.

November: After previous attacks, Operation Catechism a force of 32 Lancaster bombers finally sink the German battleship Tirpitz.

December: An airplane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller disappears over the English Channel. He was traveling to entertain troops in France.