• 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 –
Ordonnance du 9 août 1944 relative au rétablissement de la légalité républicaine sur le territoire continental 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. ==Arts and literature==