27 February 1939

1933

GERMANY: A huge fire destroys the Reichstag, the seat of German government. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch Communist, is arrested after he is found bare to the waist inside the Reichstag. During interrogation, the young radical confesses that he set the fire "As a protest," but denies any connection with the Communist Party and swears he alone had set the fires inside the Reichstag.

Rudolf Diels, chief of the Prussian political police, tells Hitler that van der Lubbe's confession rings true, but Hitler refuses to believe the arsonist had acted alone and blames the Communist movement as a whole for the troubles that continue to plague Germany. Hitler and Goebbels work from midnight to dawn at the "Vlkischer Beobachter"offices preparing the next day's edition, which accuses the Reds of a plot to seize power and setting fire to the Reichstag. (Andy Etherington and Gene Hanson)

February 27th, 1939 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London. Britain recognizes Franco's regime in Spain. France also recognizes the regime.

POLAND: ORP Gryf commissioned.

27 February 1940

February 27th, 1940 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Fighter Command: Firth of Forth - One Luftwaffe aircraft shot down.
Northumberland coast - One Luftwaffe aircraft shot down.
Four North Sea trawlers attacked by Luftwaffe aircraft - No damage - One bomber severely damaged by machine-gun fire from trawlers.

RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group. Leaflets and Reconnaissance - Berlin. 51 Sqn. One aircraft. Moderate opposition.

The first volunteers leave to aid the Finnish forces.

First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill claims half of the German U-boat strength has been destroyed.

SCANDINAVIA: Sweden and Norway again refuse Finland's request for transit rights for foreign troops.

FINLAND: The two reinforced battalions of SFK man the front around Märkäjärvi in Salla, freeing five Finnish battalions to the desperate battles in and around the western shore of Gulf of Viipuri in south-eastern Finland's coast. Of SFK's third battalion only a company and a battery made it to the front just before the end of the hostilities. (203)

GIBRALTAR: U.S. freighter SS Sundance is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities.

27 February 1941

February 27th, 1941(THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: London: At a meeting of the British War Cabinet, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies agrees to send Australian troops to Greece.

Destroyer HMS Brecon laid down.

NETHERLANDS: Amsterdam: Martial law is declared as 389 Jews, arrested last week, are deported to Buchenwald camp.

GERMANY:

U-559 commissioned.

U-603, U-604 laid down.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: The force being sent to occupy Castellorizo, sailed from Alexandria on 27 Feb, covered by the cruisers HMAS PERTH and HMS BONAVENTURE. The troops were landed from the destroyers on the night of the 27/28th. However the Italians had landed some 300 troops and also continued heavy bombing attacks on the island and British forces. The situation was seen as hopeless and all British forces were withdrawn a few hours later. They had suffered 50 casualties. All in all an unsatisfactory operation by the British. Cunningham wrote that they had underestimated the Italian ability and will to respond decisively. The commandoes were underarmed with 'Tommy guns and knuckle dusters' and that he sent '25 marines bristling with machine guns' but 'some fool' had ordered them to re-embark in LADYBIRD. (Ric Pelvin)

TURKEY: Ankara: Britain and Turkey today reached full agreement on Balkan and eastern Mediterranean problems. A delegation led by Anthony Eden flew here from Cairo for discussions with the Turkish Prime Minister, Dr Saydam, and Mr. Sarajoglu, the Foriegn Minister. General Sir John Dill, the CIGS, and Marshal Chakmak, the Turkish Chief of Staff, also took part. the talks were so successful that there is no need for a further conference and, according to the official spokesman, both sides "expressed deep gratification at the tenor of the conversations."

Ankara Radio said tonight that Mr Eden "is the champion of civilization and humanity against the Axis powers."

INDIAN OCEAN: The East Indies Command under Vice-Adm R. Leatham continually supports the East African land campaign. After breaking out of Massawa, Italian Armed Merchant Cruiser 'Ramb 1' is located off the Maldives and sunk by New Zealand cruiser HMS Leander. 103 men are captured.

TERRITORY OF HAWAII: The Japanese Consulate in Honolulu sends a message to Tokyo stating that “apparently the (U.S.) Fleet goes to sea for a week of training and stays in Pearl Harbor one week. Every Wednesday, those at sea and those in the harbor change places. This movement was noted on last Wednesday, the 26th.”

U.S.A.: The 1940 Academy Awards are presented at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. "Rebecca" takes the Best Picture Award; James Stewart takes the Best Actor Award for his performance in "The Philadelphia Story"; Ginger Rogers takes the Best Actress Award for her performance in "Kitty Foyle"; Walter Brennan wins the Best Supporting Actor Award for "The Westerner;"; Jane Darwell wins Best Supporting Actress and John Ford takes the Best Director Award for "The Grapes of Wrath."

The Bell XFL-1 Airabonita fighter is delivered to the US Navy for evaluation.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Scharnhorst and Gneisenau refuel from tankers Ermland and Friedrich Breme and head to the Canary Islands. (Navy News)

27 February 1942

February 27th, 1942 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Anthony Eden, the foreign secretary, speculates in his diary that Churchill has had a stroke.

FRANCE: In a daring raid on France tonight Parachute Regiment soldiers seized top-secret German RDF (radar) equipment. The paras had been trained for this operation, jumping from their Whitley transports of No. 51 Squadron RAF (led by Wg./Cdr. P. C. Pickard, at night into snow near the clifftop target at Bruneval, near Le Havre.

The leader, Major John Frost, blew four blasts on his whistle to signal the attack and charged with four men through the front door of the enemy chateau overlooking the site, shooting as he went. Royal Engineers, guarded by paratroopers, tore out the aerial and other essential parts of the Würzburg tracking device with crowbars. Enemy bullets hit the equipment as they worked. For a time afterwards it seemed as if the escape route down a cliff to a beach rendezvous was blocked by a clifftop machine-gun post, whose bullets hit Sergeant-Major Strachan in the stomach. Then a team of paras which had landed off the drop zone joined the fight after a forced march. Hit by crossfire - and a Gaelic battle cry as the enemy attacked - the German gunners fled.

On the beach, survivors of the raid waited, but at first no-one responded to Frost's signals calling in the boats. As his men prepared to fight to the last round, the word was passed: "The ruddy Navy's here!" The paras embarked with the secret equipment and, as instructed, brought with them a captured RDF operator. They lost three dead and six captured.

Links1 Aerial photo of the Wurzburg Radar

Paris: Stülpnagel is succeeded as Military Governor of Paris (Militärefehlshaber) by his cousin, General Heinrich von Stülpnagel, transferred from the Wiesbaden Armistice Commission.

GERMANY: RAF Bomber Command fly three missions during the night of the 27th-28th: 68 aircraft, 33 Wellingtons, 17 Manchesters and 18 Hampdens, are dispatched to bomb the drydock at Kiel; the area is completely cloud-covered and only 50 aircraft bombed the approximate position of Kiel but, although Kiel reports hearing the planes, no bombs dropped in the town. No aircraft were lost. (2) In a second mission, 33 aircraft are dispatched to bomb the battleship Scharnhorst , which is believed to be at Wilhelmshaven, but the cloud was present here also; 26 aircraft drop their bombs but Wilhelmshaven reports only three bombs exploding, in the water of the harbor; three Whitleys are lost. (3) In the final mission, 11 Hampdens and four Manchesters lay mines in the Frisian Islands without loss.

BAY OF BENGAL: Japan raids the Andaman Islands.

INDIA: General Archibald Wavell arrives in New Delhi from Java and assumes his post as Commander in Chief India.

NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: 9 Japanese bombers flying from Kendari find the carrier USS Langley (CV-1) in route to Tjilatjap. After 5 hits, the Langley is scuttled and survivors are rescued by the 2 destroyer escort. The Langley was ferrying 32 P-40 fighters for the defence of Java.

US freighter SS Sea Witch delivers 27 crated USAAF P-40s to Tjilatjap, Java, but the planes will be destroyed on the docks to deny their use by the Japanese.

USS Whipple (DD-217) and USS Edsall (DD-219) departed Tjilatjap to rendezvous with Langley (AV-3) off the south coast of Java. Making contact at 0629, the destroyers took up screening positions to escort the vulnerable Langley carrying a load of aircraft to bolster the sagging defenses of Java into Tjilatjap.

JAVA SEA: Allied air and naval units try to stop a convoy of some 80 Japanese ships approaching Java from the northeast. All available USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses, A-24 Dauntlesses, P-40s and LB-30 Liberators are put into the air but achieve only insignificant results.

At 1150, lookouts spotted nine high-level bombers approaching from the east. Four minutes later, a stick of bombs splashed around Langley clearly the object of Japanese attention. During a second attack shortly after noon, all three ships put up brisk antiaircraft fire. At 1212, the Japanese, undaunted by Langley's evasive manoeuvres, struck hard. A stick of bombs fell on or near the former aircraft carrier and set her afire.

Langley was abandoned at 1325, and Whipple proceeded close aboard to rescue survivors, using two of the destroyer's life rafts, a cargo net slung over the side, and a number of lines trailed over the side. Staying some 25 yards off the sinking seaplane tender Whipple picked up some 308 men from Langley's crew and embarked Army personnel for the vital P-40 fighters carried on the doomed ship's abbreviated flight deck. At 1358, the task at hand completed, Whipple backed off and stood out to destroy the derelict, opening fire at 1429 with her 4-inch main battery. After nine rounds of 4-inch and two torpedoes, Langley settled lower and lower but refused stubbornly to sink. Soon orders arrived directing Whipple and her sister ship to clear the area prior to any more bombing attacks. Whipple accordingly vacated the vicinity and subsequently rendezvoused with Pecos (AO-6) in the lee of Christmas Island to transfer the Army pilots to the oiler. (Ron Babuka)

Dutch Admiral Karel Doorman leads a combined Dutch, British and US fleet against the Japanese forces arrayed for the invasion of Java. He is ordered to sea today from Surabaya to seek out and attack the Japanese convoy carrying the invasion force for Java, which was then off eastern Java. He has at his command cruisers HsMs De Ruyter, HMS Exeter, HMAS Perth, HsMs Java and USS Houston. Escorting this force are three British (HMS Electra, Jupiter and Encounter), two Dutch (Witte de With and Kortenaer) and four US destroyers (USS J.D.Edwards, Alden, John D. Ford and Paul Jones). The Japanese forces for the Battle of the Java Sea is commanded by Rear Admiral Takeo Takagi with heavy cruisers Nachi and Haguro, two light cruisers (Naka and Jintsu) and fifteen destroyers. The battle begins at 4:00 pm. For the first hour the Japanese destroyers are unsuccessful with their torpedoes and gunfire from their cruisers is ineffective. Likewise the ABDA force is ineffective. Destroyer HMS Electra is struck by 5-inch gunfire from the Japanese cruiser Asagumo and loses power shortly at 6.45pm. This is south-west of Bawean Island. 54 survivors are rescued by the US submarine S.38, but 90 die. Dutch destroyer Kortenaer sinks from a torpedo hit , which struck during the manoeuvring after the hit on Electra. There are 113 survivors. This happened at 5.35pm 43 miles south of Bawean Island with the torpedo coming from the Japanese cruiser Haguro. The action during the next 4 hours is uneventful. Manoeuvring to avoid the light of flares from Japanese aircraft at 9.20 pm the British destroyer HMS JUPITER hits a Dutch mine in the minefield Soerabaja, and sinks four hours later. Then at 11:30 pm as the two fleets run parallel 40 miles off Bawean Island, a wide spread of Japanese torpedoes from the Japanese cruisers Nachi and Haguro strike HsMs Java and HsMs De Ruyter sinking both. 344 men are lost in the DE RUYTER.

4.12pm: Fleets sight each other

4.16pm: Japanese open fire

4.17pm: Exeter opens fire

4.18pm: Houston opens fire

4.25pm: Perth opens fire on Japanese 4th Destroyer Flotilla

4.30pm: 1st Japanese torpedo attack 34 launched, no hits

4.31pm: DeRuyter hit in boiler room by 8-in shell, a dude, no damage

4.32pm: Japanese make smoke.

5.14pm: Exeter hit in boiler room by an 8-in shell from Nachi (Morison places the hit as coming from Haguro). six of eight boilers are put out of action. The ship hauls out of line, and the following ships interpret this as a formal manoeuvre and follow.

5.15pm: Japanese make second torpedo attack, 68 launched, one hit on the Kortenaer,

5.15pm: Kortenaer blows up, capsizes and sinks.

5.25pm: Perth and the British destroyer cover the withdrawal of Exeter with a torpedo attack through the smoke.

5.30pm: Electra is hit by Japanese gunfire, and left dead in the water.

5.25pm: Exeter withdraws, escorted by Witte de With.

5.30pm: Japanese continue to fire over the smoke, with aerial spotters.

5.40pm: The Fleets resight each other. 19,500 yard distant.

5.45pm: Japanese cruiser Haguro, hit by Perth. destroyer Asagumo is also left dead in the water.

5.50pm: Third Japanese torpedo attack, 24 are launch for no result.

6.00pm: Electra rolls over and sinks.

6.00pm: T.H. Binford, commander of the USN destroyer division makes a torpedo attack which scores no hits, while Doorman retires with the rest of the fleet.

6.30pm: contact lost.

7.27pm: Fleets find each other at a range of 9,000 yards.

7.33pm: Houston opens fire.

7.34pm: Japanese launch fourth torpedo attack, 4 only torpedoes, no hits

7.40pm: contact lost

9.00pm: The American destroyers, with no torpedoes left, broke off and headed for Surabaya to refuel.

9.25pm: Jupiter hits a mine, and is left dead in the water.

10.00pm: The fleet finds the survivors of Kortenaer in the water and Encounter picks up 113 men and returns to Surabaya.

10.55pm: Two Japanese cruisers close with the fleet.

11.00pm: Japanese launch 5th torpedo attack twelve are launched.

DeRuyter and Java are both hit multiple times

11.00pm: DeRuyter and Java both blow up and sink.

11.15pm: Waller, aboard Perth assumes command and retires. Perth and Houston make good their escape to Tanjong Priok The other ships, Exeter, Witte De With, Encounter and the four US Destroyers arrive at Surabaya. (Jim Patterson and Massimiliano Stola)

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: A Japanese force consisting of an infantry battalion and a field artillery battery lands at Calapan on north-eastern Mindora Island, and the town and airfield are overrun. No effort is made to secure the rest of the island. The Japanese blockade about the Philippines is thus tightened.

CANADA:

Corvette HMCS Chicoutimi departed Londonderry as escort for Convoy ON-71.

Corvette HMCS Rosthern departed Argentia with Convoy HX-177 to Londonderry.

U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order authorizing the creation of the Joint Mexican-U.S. defence Commission.

Submarine USS Aspro laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1035, SS Macgregor, dispersed from convoy ON-60, was sunk by gunfire by U-156 about 25 miles NW of Cape Viejos, Puerto Rico. One crewmember was lost. The master, 23 crewmembers and six gunners were picked up by a San Domingo Coast Guard cutter and landed at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

At 0636, the unescorted tanker SS RP Resor was hit by one torpedo from U-578 about 20 miles east of Manasquan Inlet, New Jersey, while steaming blacked out on a zigzag course at 12.5 knots. The torpedo struck on the port side just forward of amidships and blew oil over the entire length of the ship and into the water. The oil ignited and flames rapidly spread 500 feet around the tanker as the eight officers, 33 crewmen and eight armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in gun) tried to abandon ship. One boat with about 30 occupants was launched successfully but was soon engulfed in flames, other men perished as they tried to swim through the oil. One crewman and one armed guard were picked up by the US Coast Guard picketboat USS CG-4344 and landed at the Manasquan Coast Guard Station. The burning tanker stayed afloat until tug USS Sagamore attempted to salvage her. She capsized after the stern grounded in 122 feet of water and sank almost 48 hours after the torpedo hit about 31 miles east of Barnegat, New Jersey.

Destroyer USS Jacob Jones departed New York alone to patrol and search the area between Barnegat Light and Five Fathom Bank. She then received orders to concentrate her patrol activity in waters off Cape May and Delaware Capes. In the afternoon, the destroyer spotted the burning wreckage of the RP Resor, which had been torpedoed by U-578 the same day. The destroyer circled the tanker for two hours, searching for survivors before resuming her southward course.

At 0625, the unescorted and unarmed SS Marore was hit on the port side amidships by one torpedo from U-432 3.5 miles off Wimble Shoals. After 15 minutes, the eight officers and 31 crewmen abandoned ship in three lifeboats, just as the U-boat began shelling the ship until 0700. As the bulk carrier rolled over and slowly sank the U-boat left the area at 0720. A USCG motor surfboat from the Big Kinnakeet Lifeboat Station helped seven survivors from the third boat to get ashore, while USCGC CG-3843 rescued the master and 13 survivors from the same boat. The survivors in the other two boats were picked up by the John D. Gill and landed at Norfolk. The master, Charles Ernest Nash, experienced another sinking when his next ship, the Christopher Newport, was sunk in convoy PQ-17 on 4 Jul 1942.

27 February 1943

February 27th, 1943 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Corvette HMCS Long Branch (ex-HMS Candytuft) laid down Glasgow.

Frigate HMS Trent commissioned.

ENGLISH CHANNEL: ASW Trawler HMS Lord Hailsham sunk by E-boats.

GERMANY: Count Konrad von Preysing, Catholic Bishop of Berlin, has made another attack on Nazi rule. In a pastoral letter issued throughout Germany he protests against totalitarianism, the execution of hostages and the Jewish persecution.

"In the other world nobody, not even Germans, has rights or wrongs," he declared. "It is a Divine principle that the life of an innocent individual, whether an unborn child or an aged person, is sacred, and that the innocent shall not be punished with the guilty, or in place of the guilty. Neither the individual nor the community can create a law against this."

The pastoral letter was published yesterday in the Swedish weekly, Trots Allt.

Daily Herald.

Berlin: Jewish slave workers in arms factories are deported to Auschwitz.

U-312, U-672, U-673 launched.

U-281 commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: MS "T-403 "Gruz"" - by shnellboat, close to cape Mishako and GB "Krasnaya Gruziya" - by field artillery and aviation, close to cape Mishako (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

German troops regain Lozovaya.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Submarine HMS Tigris is located and depth charged by German A/S vessel UJ2210, 6 miles SE of Capri. There are no survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)

U.S.A.:

Minesweepers USS Tumult, Pioneer and Heed commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS St Margaret sunk by U-66 at 27.38N, 43.23W.

Motor tanker Seminole in Convoy TE-16 damaged by U-565 at 35.33N, 02.33W.

Submarine tender HNLMS Colombia was inbound to Simonstown to dock, escorted by HMS Genista and several RAF aircraft. At 1141, U-516 fired a spread of three torpedoes from a distance of 1500 meters on a ship near Simonstown, which was identified as a passenger-cargo ship of the Blue Star Line of 10.000 tons. Four minutes later, one torpedo struck the Colombia at #2 hold, just before the bridge and a large column of water arose beside the ship, while the deckplanks were thrown in all directions. All hands immediately abandoned ship, apparently without any casualties and the ship sank after ten minutes. A headcount showed that eight men were missing. Almost 60 survivors in one whaleboat were picked up by a RAF air-sea-rescue launch. The corvette initially launched a counter-attack, but she returned soon and picked up the remaining survivors.

27 February 1944

February 27th, 1944 (SUNDAY)

FINLAND: 600 Soviet bombers raid Helsinki for 12 hours last night.

EAST CHINA SEA: Submarine USS Grayback sunk by a Japanese carrier-based aircraft. There are no survivors.

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS English launched.

Submarine USS Besugo launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: Sailing ship Rod el Farag sunk by U-407 at 33.48N, 34.51E.

Sloop HMS Woodpecker foundered while under tow to port after torpedo damage.

27 February 1945

February 27th, 1945 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Aircraft carrier HMS Powerful launched Belfast. (Construction suspended 15 May 46).

Submarine HMS Vagabond commissioned.

ENGLISH CHANNEL: U-1018 is sunk Channel south of Penzance, in position 49.56N, 05.20W, by depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Loch Fada. 51 dead and 2 survivors.

U-1208 is sunk in the west part of the Channel, in position 49.46N, 05.47W, by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Labuan, Loch Fada and the sloop Wild Goose. 49 dead (all hands lost).

(Alex Gordon)

U-327 sunk in the west part of the Channel, in position 49.46N, 05.47W, by depth charges from frigates HMS Labuan, Loch Fada and sloop HMS Wild Goose. 46 dead (all hands lost).

GERMANY: Berlin: Another daylight USAAF raid, the biggest ever, in which 1,102 bombers rained fire-bombs on Berlin, set the city ablaze yesterday. And today 38 RAF Mosquitoes rekindled the fires which the suffering civilians had scarcely started to put out. The total quantity of high explosive dropped there represents one ton for every 60 inhabitants, a cumulative total of 60,000 tons. The aim is to create chaos.

U-3033 commissioned.

LEBANON: Beirut: The Lebanese declare war on both Germany and Japan.

BAY OF BENGAL: Submarine HMS Seadog - rescued four US airmen from a raft. Later Seadog rendezvoused with an RAF Catalina to transfer these survivors.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Manila: An official ceremony formally re-establishes the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Victoriaville departed Halifax to join EG C-9 and escort Convoy SC-168.

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