On this day

January 4, 1944

Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.

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Headlines from January 4, 1944

Notable Births

Gary Stevens (rugby league)

1944Gary Stevens, Australian rugby league player[†]

Gary Stevens was an Australian rugby league footballer, a hard tackling second-row forward, of the 1960s and 1970s for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Australian national representative side. He is the grandson of Souths club great Arthur Oxford.

1944Alan Sutherland, New Zealand rugby player (died 2020)[†]

Alan Richard Sutherland was a New Zealand rugby union player. A number 8 and lock, Sutherland represented Marlborough at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1968 to 1976. He played 64 matches for the All Blacks, of which three were as captain, including 10 internationals.

Notable Deaths

Kaj Munk

1944Kaj Munk, Danish playwright and pastor (born 1898)[†]

Kaj Harald Leininger Munk was a Danish playwright and Lutheran pastor, known for his cultural engagement and his martyrdom during the Occupation of Denmark of World War II. He is commemorated as a martyr in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on 14 August, alongside Maximilian Kolbe.

Historical Events

World War II

1944World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.[†]

World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.