The following events occurred in October 1944:
October 1, 1944 (Sunday) The Battle of Tornio began between German and Finnish forces. Operation Undergo ended in Allied victory. Putten raid happened from October 1st to 2nd 660 men were taken away after a failed attack on a German official in November 1944 After a four-day battle, the U.S. Fifth Army captured Monte Battaglia on the Gothic Line in Italy, helped by the Italian partisans. The II and the IV Corp of the Army launch an offensive towards Bologna, that will end in a month with heavy losses and a limited gain of ground. Richard McCreery replaced Oliver Leese as Commander-in-Chief of the Eighth Army. The St. Louis Browns won the American League pennant on the final day of the season by beating the New York Yankees 5-2. The Browns, who had never won a pennant in franchise history and would not win another as a St. Louis team, were helped immensely by the wartime roster depletion across baseball that happened to affect them less than the other ballclubs. The average major league team had ten 4-F players on its roster, but the Browns had eighteen. Died: Rudolf Schmundt, 48, German Army officer (died of wounds sustained in the 20 July bomb plot)
October 2, 1944 (Monday) The Warsaw Uprising was put down after two months by Nazi occupation forces. The Battle of Aachen began between American and German forces in and around Aachen, Germany. The Battle of the Scheldt began in northern Belgium and the southwestern Netherlands. Born: Vernor Vinge, computer scientist and author, in Waukesha, Wisconsin
October 3, 1944 (Tuesday) The Japanese submarine I-177 was shelled and sunk in the Pacific Ocean by the destroyer escort Samuel S. Miles. The American submarine USS Seawolf went missing, probably sunk in the Molucca Sea by the U.S. destroyer escort Richard M. Rowell in a friendly fire accident. Finnish forces captured Taivalkoski in northern Finland. In Lenno, on Lake Como, some partisans attempted to kidnap Guido Buffarini Guidi, the fascist Italian Social Republic's Minister of the Interior. The action ended tragically, with the deaths of five partisans.
October 4, 1944 (Wednesday) In Finnish Lapland the Germans moved from Operation Birke to Operation Nordlicht, an organized retreat using scorched earth tactics. The Battle of Morotai ended in Allied victory, although intermittent fighting continued there until the end of the war. Allied planes bombed Prague for the first time. Moscow requested permission for their troops to enter Bulgarian territory. German submarines U-92, U-228 and U-437 were all rendered inoperable by an air raid on Bergen by RAF aircraft. Milan Nedić's collaborationist puppet government of the Axis powers, the Government of National Salvation in Nazi-occupied Serbia, was disbanded. Born: Danilo Abbruciati, nicknamed “the chameleon”, Italian gangster and hit man, member of the “Banda della Magliana”, in Rome; d. 1982, killed by a security guard while he was carrying out an attack on Roberto Calvi’s behalf. Tony La Russa, baseball player and manager, in Tampa, Florida Ross Milne, Australian Olympic Alpine skier, in Myrtleford, Victoria, Australia (d. 1964, training crash at Winter Olympics) Died: Al Smith, 70, American statesman, Governor of New York and 1928 Democratic presidential candidate
October 5, 1944 (Thursday) Japanese forces captured Fuzhou, the last seaport under Chinese control. The Battle of Memel began on the Eastern Front. Joseph Goebbels announced a reduction in food rations. The incomplete Italian aircraft carrier Sparviero was scuttled at Genoa by Axis forces. In Italy, the IV Corp of the Fifth Army launched an attack towards La Spezia. End of the Marzabotto massacre, on the Apennines over Boronia, aimed to repress the support of the villagers to partisan brigade Red Star. In a week, the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, headed by Walter Reder, had slaughtered 770 civilians (women and children included) in the territories of Marzabotto, Grizzana and Monzuno, with episodes of inenarrable sadism. Five pilots of No. 401 Squadron RCAF participated in the shooting down of a Messerschmitt Me 262 over the Netherlands, marking the first time that a jet fighter had been shot down by enemy fire. The stage musical Bloomer Girl with music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Yip Harburg and book by Sig Herzig and Fred Saidy premiered at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway. Born: Gianni Mazza, Italian conductor and composer of jazz and pop music, in Rome; Cesare Nosiglia, Archbishop of Turin, in Rossiglione (Genoa)