forces. The combined forces liberate Tacloban. Operation Pheasant begins – an offensive in the Netherlands which supports the ongoing Battle of the Scheldt. October 21 – WWII: Aachen, the first German city to fall, is captured by American troops. October 23–26 – WWII: Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines – In the largest naval battle in history by most criteria and the last naval battle in history between battleships, combined United States and Australian naval forces decisively defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy. This is the first battle in which Japanese aircraft carry out organized kamikaze attacks. October 24 Battle of Leyte Gulf: The is sunk by United States aircraft. The Allies recognise Charles de Gaulle's cabinet as the provisional government of France. October 25 WWII: The Red Army liberates Kirkenes, the first town in Norway to be liberated. WWII: is sunk in the Formosa Strait by one of her own torpedoes. Medal of Honor-winning submarine ace Richard O'Kane becomes a prisoner of war. 76-year-old American amateur soprano Florence Foster Jenkins gives a sell-out public recital in Carnegie Hall, New York. The audience and press are scathing: "she can sing everything except notes". 5 days later she suffers a fatal heart attack, dying at home on November 26. October 27 – WWII: German forces capture Banská Bystrica, the center of anti-Nazi opposition in Slovakia, bringing the Slovak National Uprising to an end. October 30 The Holocaust: Anne Frank and her sister Margot are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Appalachian Spring, a ballet by Martha Graham with music by Aaron Copland, debuts at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with Graham in the lead role. October 31 – Serial killer Dr Marcel Petiot is apprehended at a Paris Métro station after 7 months on the run. November November 1–December 7 – Delegates of 52 nations meet at the International Civil Aviation Conference in Chicago, to plan for postwar international cooperation, framing the constitution of the International Civil Aviation Organization. November 3 – WWII: Two supreme commanders of the Slovak National Uprising, Generals Ján Golian and Rudolf Viest, are captured, tortured and later executed by German forces. November 7 1944 United States presidential election: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey, becoming the only U.S. president elected to a fourth term. Election day rail accident in Puerto Rico: A passenger train derails at