Timeline

1944

Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in 1944, the largest amphibious invasion in history. Weeks later, the Allies liberated Paris from its Nazi occupiers. Meanwhile, Soviet forces battered the Nazis on WWII’s eastern front. In the U.S., Franklin Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth presidential term and Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall starred in their first film together, “To Have and Have Not,” introducing the immortal line, “You know how to whistle, don’t you?”

Feb

21

World War II

Japanese prime minister Hideki Tojo makes himself “military czar”

On February 21, 1944, Hideki Tojo, prime minister of Japan, grabs even more power as he takes over as army chief of staff, a position that gives him direct control of the Japanese military.

JAPAN – DECEMBER 08: On December 8Th 1942, General Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister Of The Japanese Empire, Gives A Speech For The First Anniversary Of The Beginning Of The Japanese Offensive On South-East Asia, Especially Indonesia And The Philippines. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Keystone-France / Gamma-Keystone / Getty Images

Jun

06

World War II

D-Day: Allies storm Normandy’s coast

On June 6, 1944, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the go-ahead for the largest amphibious military operation in history: Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of northern France, commonly known as D-Day.

Into the Jaws of Death

Colorized photo “Into the Jaws of Death,” photographed by Robert F Sargent of the United States Army First Infantry Division disembarking from a landing craft onto Omaha Beach during the Normandy Landings on D Day, June 6, 1944.

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

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