1944 in France

Events from the year 1944 in France.

Incumbents

• Chairman of the Provisional Government: Philippe Pétain (until 20 August), Charles de Gaulle (starting 20 August)
• Vice-President of the Council of Ministers: Pierre Laval (until 20 August), Charles de Gaulle (starting 20 August)

Events

• 15 March – The National Council of the French Resistance approves the Resistance programme.
• 1 June – BBC transmits coded messages (including the first line of a poem by Paul Verlaine) to underground resistance fighters in France warning that the invasion of Europe is imminent.
• 2 June – The provisional French government is established.
• 5 June
• More than 1000 British bombers drop 5000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.
• At 10:15 p.m. local time, the BBC transmits coded messages including the second line of the Paul Verlaine poem to the underground resistance indicating that the invasion of Europe is about to begin.
• 6 June
• Battle of Normandy begins – Operation Overlord, code named D-Day, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy.
• Battle of Cherbourg begins.
• 7 June – Bayeux liberated by British troops.
• 9 June – Over 200 people are killed by 2nd SS Panzer Division ("Das Reich") in the Tulle massacre
• 10 June
• 642 people are killed by 2nd SS Panzer Division ("Das Reich") in the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre.
• Battle of Carentan begins.
• 13 June – Battle of Bloody Gulch, near Carentan, United States forces victory.
• 14 June – Battle of Carentan ends with Allied victory.
• 26 June – American troops enter Cherbourg.
• 30 June – Battle of Cherbourg ends with the fall of the strategically valuable port to American forces.
• 9 July – British and Canadian forces capture Caen.
• 9 August – ' declares the Constitutional Law of 1940 issued by the Provisional Government void ab initio.
• 12 August – The world's first undersea oil pipeline is laid, between England and France in Operation Pluto.
• 15 August – Operation Dragoon lands Allies in southern France.
• 19 August – Liberation of Paris: The city rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
• 20 August – American forces defeat German forces at Chambois. This victory closed the Falaise Gap.
• 24 August – Liberation of Paris: The Allies enter Paris, successfully completing Operation Overlord.
• 25 August
• German surrender of Paris: General Dietrich von Choltitz surrenders Paris to the Allies, in defiance of Hitler's orders to destroy it.
• Maillé massacre: 129 civilians (70% women and children) are massacred by the Gestapo at Maillé, Indre-et-Loire.
• The Red Ball Express convoy system begins operation, supplying tons of materiel to Allied forces in France.
• 26 August
• Toulon liberated in Battle of Toulon (1944).
• Ordonnance instituting Indignité nationale.
• 28 August – Marseille liberated in Battle of Marseille.
• 8 September – Menton is liberated from Germany.
• 11 September – Northern and Southern France invasion forces link up near Dijon.
• 24 September – The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division takes the strongly defended city of Epinal before crossing the Moselle River and entering the western foothills of the Vosges.
• 5 October – Royal Canadian Air Force pilots shoot down the first German jet fighter over France.
• 31 October – Mass murderer Marcel Petiot is apprehended in a Paris Métro station.
• 9 November – Collaborationist Georges Suarez becomes the first journalist executed during the épuration légale.
• 23 November – Liberation of Strasbourg.
• 19 December – Newspaper Le Monde first published in Paris.
• Toymaker Jouef established.