February 1, 1944. Soviets advance beyond Leningrad.

The Red Army commenced the Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive on the Leningrad Front.

Kingisepp was taken on the first day.

The French Forces of the Interior (FFI), uniting all French Resistance movements, was formed.

Clothing restrictions were lifted in the United Kingdom.

"The butcher of Warsaw", Austrian Nazi SS-Brigadeführer Franz Kutschera, age 39, was assassinated by the Polish Home Army.  He was a figure in the repression of the region and was noted for his extreme harshness. The Poles had subjected him to a trial in absentia, and carried out the operation once his location in Poland was learned.  300 Poles were executed as a reprisal for his assassination.

He left behind a pregnant Norwegian girlfriend, Jane Lilian Gjertsdatter Steen, who was subsequently "posthumously married" to him, in a pagan ceremony.  Posthumous marriages had been introduced by Hitler during the war to legitimize the offspring of German soldiers under these circumstances.  She had been serving as a German Army nurse and remarried after the war and lived in Norway, in spite of the feelings of post-war Norwegians towards those who had sympathized with the Nazis. Their son, Sepp Kutschera, became a notable mountain climber.  

She had several more children by her second, Norwegian, husband.

Sarah Sundin notes:

Today in World War II History—February 1, 1944: Allied leaders issue Neptune Initial Joint Plan for D-day, including a 5-division front. US Marines land on Roi & Namur in Kwajalein Atoll in Marshall Islands.

Japanese fuel dump burning on Eniwetok, February 1, 1944.

The Umikaze was sunk off of Truk by the USS Guardfish.

The Bolu–Gerede earthquake killed nearly 4,000 people in northern Turkey.

1944 Mike Enzie born in Bermerton Washington.  His father was in the service at the time, and the family returned to Thermopolis after his father's discharge following World War Two.  He has served as a Senator for Wyoming since 1997.

Enzi has been a very popular Wyoming politician.  He was a successful businessman in Gillette, first in his family's shoe store business, and then as an accountant, prior to entering politics locally.

The entry above was obviously written while Enzi was still living.  He died, after a bicycle accident, in 2021, shortly after his retirement.

Enzi was a really decent guy who liked to work behind the scene in Wyoming's politics.  He was never flashy, he was highly intelligent, and he did not tend to be controversial.  He frankly is one of the politicians who would not fit in well into today's' GOP.

Enzi's term as Senator may have ironically, in retrospect, have been extended by Liz Cheney, who assumed he was retiring earlier than he intended to, and therefore ran briefly against him in 2014.  At least by appearances, when Cynthia Lummis ran to replace him, Cheney was still considering a Senatorial run in 2020 when Lummis announced, seemingly causing some animosity between them.  Had Cheney announced first, she might well be our Senator now, as it would be less likely that she would have been defeated in 2020, and Tim Stubson would have been our Congressman going into that election.