December 22, 1944

1944Mary Archer, English chemist and academic^[†]

Mary Doreen Archer formally styled Lady Archer of Weston-super-Mare and more commonly known as Dame Mary Archer,, is a British scientist specialising in solar energy conversion.

1944Steve Carlton, American baseball player^[†]

Steven Norman Carlton is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher for six different teams from 1965 to 1988, most notably as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies with whom he won four Cy Young Awards as well as the 1980 World Series. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994 in his first year of eligibility.

1944Barry Jenkins, English drummer^[†]

Colin Ernest "Barry" Jenkins was an English musician, best known for being a drummer for the Animals during both of that 1960s group's incarnations.

1944Harry Langdon, American actor, comedian, and vaudevillian (born 1884)^[†]

Henry Philmore "Harry" Langdon was an American actor and comedian who appeared in vaudeville, silent films, and talkies.

1944World War II: Battle of the Bulge: German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: "Nuts!"^[†]

The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during the Second World War, taking place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. The offensive was intended to stop Allied use of the Belgian port of Antwerp and to split the Allied lines, allowing the Germans to encircle and destroy each of the four Allied armies and force the western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis powers' favor.

1944World War II: The People's Army of Vietnam is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Indochina, now Vietnam.^[†]

The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army, also recognized as the Vietnamese Army, the People's Army or colloquially the Troops, is the national military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed wing of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). The PAVN is the backbone component of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and includes: Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Border Guard and Coast Guard. Vietnam does not have a separate and formally-structured Ground Force or Army service. Instead, all ground troops, army corps, military districts and special forces are designated under the umbrella term combined arms and belong to the Ministry of National Defence, directly under the command of the CPV Central Military Commission, the Minister of National Defence, and the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army. The military flag of the PAVN is the National flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam defaced with the motto Quyết thắng added in yellow at the canton.