Events from the year 1944 in the United Kingdom. The year was dominated by the Second World War.
Incumbents
Monarch – George VI
Prime Minister – Winston Churchill (Coalition) Parliament – 37th
Events
January – Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service officially formed
21–22 January – World War II: start of Operation Steinbock (the "Baby Blitz"), a nocturnal Luftwaffe bombing offensive chiefly targeted at the Greater London area (continues until May). On this attack, few aircraft reach the target area. 10 February – PAYE (pay as you earn) system of tax collection introduced. 20 February – World War II: destroyer HMS Warwick (1917) is torpedoed by German submarine U-413 off Trevose Head, Cornwall, sinking in 6 minutes with the loss of 66 men, over half her crew. 26 February – World War II: last heavy air-raids on London. 10 March – lifting of prohibition on married women working as teachers. 28 April – World War II: Allied convoy T4, forming part of amphibious Exercise Tiger (a full-scale rehearsal for the Normandy landings) in Start Bay off the Devon coast, is attacked by E-boats, resulting in the deaths of 749 American servicemen from LSTs. 3–8 May – World War II: Exercise Fabius, the last major Allied rehearsals for the Normandy landings, take place along the south coast of England. 29 May – thunderstorms lead to severe flooding, particularly around Holmfirth. 5 June – World War II: final preparations for the Normandy landings take place in the south of England. Group Captain James Stagg correctly forecasts a brief improvement in weather conditions over the English Channel which will permit the following day's landings to take place (having been deferred from today due to unfavourable weather). The BBC transmits coded messages (including the second line of a poem by Paul Verlaine) to underground resistance fighters in France warning that the invasion of Europe is about to begin. 6 June – World War II: D-Day for the Normandy landings: 155,000 Allied troops land on the beaches of Normandy in France, beginning Operation Overlord and the Invasion of Normandy.
13 June – World War II: the first V-1 flying bomb attack on London takes place. Eight civilians are killed in the blast. The bomb earns the nickname "doodlebug". 15 July – World War II: Park Street riot in Bristol, a confrontation between black G.I.s and U.S. Military Police. Summer Ministry of Works builds the first demonstration temporary prefab houses designed for postwar reconstruction (in Northolt and on Millbank in London). The 1944 Summer Olympics, scheduled for London, are not held due to World War II. 3 August – the Education Act, promoted by Rab Butler, creates a Tripartite System of secondary education in England and Wales with Secondary Modern, Technical, and Grammar schools, entrance being determined in most cases by the results of the Eleven plus exam. 12 August – World War II: the V-1 flying bomb campaign against London by the Germans reaches its 60th day, with more than 6,000 deaths, 17,000 injuries and damage or destruction to around 1 million buildings. 20 August – American Liberty ship is wrecked off the Nore in the Thames Estuary with around 1,400 tonnes of explosives on board, never recovered. 21 August – Dumbarton Oaks Conference opens in Washington, D.C.: American, British, Chinese, French and Soviet representatives meet to plan the foundation of the United Nations. 23 August – Freckleton air disaster: A USAAF Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber crashes into the village school at Freckleton, Lancashire, in a storm with 58 ground fatalities and 3 aircrew killed. 7 September – the Belgian government leaves the UK and returns to Belgium following the liberation of Brussels on 3 September (by the Guards Armoured Division). 8 September – World War II: the first V-2 rocket attack on London takes place, striking in the Chiswick district of the city and resulting in the deaths of three people. 17 September – World War II: restrictions imposed by the Blackout are relaxed. 25 September – World War II: V-2 rockets aimed at Ipswich and Norwich by the Germans miss their targets by a distance. 9 October – fourth Moscow Conference: Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin begin a nine-day conference in Moscow to discuss the future of Europe. 10 October – Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act makes arrangements for postwar provision of adequate housing for all who need it. 23 October – the Allies recognise Charles de Gaulle's cabinet as the provisional government of France.