27 March 1939

1794: U.S.A.: President George Washington and the US Congress authorize creation of the US Navy. (Drew Halevy)

1933: JAPAN: Japan gives notice of its withdrawal from the League of Nations. Japan occupied Mukden and other places in Manchuria in September 1931 and in December, the League of Nations sent a commission headed by British diplomat Victor Lytton to investigate the Japanese/Chinese conflict. The commission accused Japan of being the aggressor and despite Japanese protests, the League adopted the Report in February 1933 recommending, in effect, economic sanctions against Japan. The lack of consequences demonstrated the weakness of the League against a determined aggressor.

1935: JAPAN: Japan ceases to be a Member of the League of Nations.

March 27th, 1939 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The BBC Television service broadcasts its first musical production when it shows 'Magyar Melody' from Her Majesty's Theatre, London. More...

SPAIN: General Franco's Fascist troops enter Madrid.

AUSTRALIA: The first Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) Wirraway army co-operation aircraft, A20-3, makes its maiden flight at Fisherman's Bend, Victoria.

27 March 1940

March 27th, 1940 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Coastal Command: German patrol vessel bombed and sunk in North Sea.

FRANCE: The government asks the USSR to recall its ambassador in Paris.

GERMANY: Heinrich Himmler orders the building of Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. (Michael Ballard)

U.S.A.: The motion picture 'Rebecca' premieres at the Four Star Theater in Los Angeles, California. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this romantic thriller, based on Daphne Du Maurier's novel, stars Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson, Nigel Bruce, Reginald Denny and Leo G. Carroll.

27 March 1941

March 27th, 1941 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The naval base in Trinidad is leased to the United States for 99 years. (Michael Ballard)

GERMANY: Berlin: Hitler flew into a blind rage when he heard that the Yugoslavs had overthrown their pro-Axis government. He ordered military leaders to come to then chancellery in Berlin at once, and for several hours harangued them about the terrible punishment that would be visited on the Yugoslavs.

Demanding an immediate invasion, he said that Yugoslavia must be destroyed with "merciless harshness". Von Ribbentrop, the foreign minister, was sent off to tell Italy, Hungary and Romania that they would be given pieces of Yugoslav territory. Only the pro-German Croats would be allowed to survive with a puppet state. Hitler then dashed off a midnight letter to Mussolini.

"Today's reports leave no doubts as to the imminent turn in foreign policy in Yugoslavia. Therefore I have arranged for all necessary measures ... I consider it necessary, Duce, that you should reinforce your forces on the Italian-Yugoslav front with all available means and with the utmost speed.

As Germany's military chiefs set about implementing the Fuhrer's new orders, their misgivings increased. Hitler had closed his stormy session by revealing a potentially significant decision. because of the Yugoslav campaign, the launching of Operation Barbarossa would have to be postponed by four weeks.

Berlin
Daily Keynote from the Reich Press Chief:

The sensational news from Belgrade, that King Peter has been placed on the throne by a military coup, should not be reported until the situation is clarified.

BALKANS: Germany send about 500 Luftwaffe aircraft to Bulgaria and Romania.

YUGOSLAVIA: Belgrade: At 2.30 this morning the Yugoslav regency council, headed by Prince Paul resigned; his nephew, King Peter, who is 17, took over and appointed as his prime minister General Dusan Simovich, the chief of the air staff. Simovich organized the coup after two days of anti-Nazi demonstrations. Soon after a radio announcement of the successful coup, King Peter was wildly cheered as he drove through Belgrade. A seething mass of people surged along the streets chanting "Now we are free". Outside the Soviet legation the crowd were shouting "Long live Britain!", "Long live Russia!" and "Down with Hitler!"

Belgrade:

The British Reuters News Agency announced:

Prince Paul of Yugoslavia has fled. Former premier Cvetkovich, who signed Yugoslavia's entry into the Tripartite Pact, has been imprisoned [by his own people in a coup d'état], as have other members of the former government.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Battle of Cape Matapan: As ships of the Mediterranean Fleet cover troop movements to Greece, intelligence is received from German and Italian sources that an Italian battle-fleet with one battleship, six heavy and two light cruisers plus destroyers is sailing to attack the convoy routes. 'Ultra' indicates that aerial reconnaissance is being arranged in the eastern Mediterranean. Vice-Admiral Pridham-Wippell with cruisers HMS Ajax, HMS Gloucester and HMS Orion and the Australian HMAS Perth and destroyers sails from Greek waters for a position south of Crete. Adm Cunningham with HMS Formidable, HMS Warspite, HMS Barham and HMS Valiant leaves Alexandria to meet the cruisers. (Peter Beeston)

During the battle ADMIRAL CARLO CATTANEO, commander of the Navy's 1st Division (heavy cruisers Zara, Pola, and Fiume plus destroyers) is killed. He went down with his flagship at the battle of Matapan, in which all three of the aforementioned heavy cruisers were sunk. In a dusk attack by British aircraft, Pola had been torpedoed, and left dead in the water and without electrical power. In the confusion and falling darkness, the ship was not initially missed. When its absence was noted, the Italian fleet commander, Admiral Iachino (who was heading home with his own flagship, the battleship Vittorio Veneto, damaged by an earlier torpedo), believing the pursuing British were much further away, detached Cattaneo with his entire division to search for the cruiser, and, if possible, bring it back to port. Searching for the Pola in the dark (and with his division inexplicably adopting a line-ahead formation that put the cruisers in front with no destroyer screen), Cattaneo ran unsuspecting into the main British battle fleet, which had picked him up on radar (the Italians had no radar at this stage) and was laying in ambush. In an action at point-blank range by naval standards (a little over a mile and a half, or 2,800 yards), Admiral Cunningham's British battleships and cruisers rapidly sank the Zara and Fiume, along with two destroyers, with the Italians literally unable to fire a shot in their own defence (later that night Cunningham's force found and sunk the Pola as well). (Michael F. Yaklich)

A flying boat dispatched by Cunningham sights 3 Italian cruisers on a south-easterly heading approximately 320 miles south west of Crete, and Ultra reports confirm the sighting. Cunningham orders British vessels in Alexandria to sail and then conspicuously leaves the port carrying his golf clubs in order to mislead enemy agents. He returns secretly and boards Warspite.

LIBYA: The German 8th Machine Gun Battalion is moved to El Agheila to free the 3rd Reconnaissance Unit for preliminary reconnaissance for the attack on Marsa Brega.

ERITREA: Keren: The Battle of Keren is over. After a 52-day siege against Italian Bersaglieri, Alpini and Caribineri and Eritrean colonials, the British and Free French have won. The Italians have won much respect from those who defeated them. Swiss Radio spoke of the Italian's "gallant resistance".

At first the Italians were outnumbered. Even after General Nicolangelo Carmineo brought in reinforcements, their numbers were only equal to the Allies, and they were far worse armed, but the Italian positions were rarely surrendered, and were usually only taken at great cost.

Today the British broke through, leaving a route covered with the bodies of Cameron Highlanders and Savoia Grenadiers. It has cost 536 British lives and 3,229 wounded, and around 3,000 Italian lives and 4,500 wounded.

GREENLAND: German bombers sighted over Greenland’s east coast. The sightings are interpreted as evidence that weather reports are being transmitted from the island to the Luftwaffe.

AUSTRALIA: The Australian Shipbuilding Board is established to begin a program of building "River" class frigates of 1,420 tons; these vessels are similar to the Royal Navy's "River" class frigates. The intention is to built 60 ships at a rate of 12 a year but only six are commissioned during the war and two others in 1946.

U.S.A.: Washington: Congress approves spending $7,000 million in Lend-Lease aid. (US $ 79,545 billion in year 2000 dollars. Jack McKillop)

Washington: The secret Anglo-US staff talks (ABC1) which began in January ended today with broad agreement on plans for strategic co-operation in the event of US entry into the war against Germany or Japan or both.

In fourteen meetings since 29 January the two sides have discussed the American plan, put forward by Captain Turner of the US Navy and Colonel McNarney of the US Army, carefully reviewed by the President. The result is plan ABC1. Its main thrust is that Germany must be defeated first. the US would give strategic priority to the Atlantic and to Europe, although the US navy would be used offensively in the Pacific as British staff officers have drawn attention to the vulnerability of Singapore. One US general said: "If we lose in the Atlantic we lose everywhere."

Carrying a prototype centimetric air-interception radar, a B-18 Bolo makes the first air-to-air contact by a US radar system. Flying over the ocean off Cape Cod, the system showed that it could also register surface targets. (Cris Wetton)

TRINIDAD: Britain leases defence bases in Trinidad in the West Indies to the U.S. for 99-years.

27 March 1942

March 27th, 1942 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: A Handley-Page Halifax (V 9977) bomber is the first RAF aircraft to be fitted with the H2S blind-bombing radar device. (22)

The first General Aircraft Hamilcar heavy-lift glider is flown today. This aircraft is the largest and heaviest glider to be used by Allied forces, it can carry a 7-ton tank. The Hamilcar has a crew of two and a hinged nose so vehicles can be driven straight out on landing.(22)

Admiral Sir James Somerville assumes command of the Far East Fleet in Ceylon.

BELGIUM: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 12 Bostons during the day to attack the Ostend power station; there are no losses but their bombs fell into fields short of the target.

NETHERLANDS: During the night of the 27th/28th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches eight Blenheims to attack airfields; two attack Schipol and two attack Soesterburg; one Blenheim attacking the latter target is lost.

FRANCE: Paris: The first transport of Jews leaves for Auschwitz. Georges Wellers, who was himself deported in 1944, describes how the column of prisoners made their way from Drancy to the nearby railway station "in front of numerous local people who stood watching in silence, somber, preoccupied, but discreetly making gestures of encouragement and sympathy. The deportees, particularly thin, their complexion earth-coloured, and their gait tottering, had a shattering effect on the crowd. Nobody was yet used to such sights ..."

In the attack on St. Nazaire, France, Lieutenant-Commander Beattie was in command of HMS Campbeltown. Under intense fire directed on the bridge from a range of about 100 yards, and in the full blinding glare of many searchlights, the lieutenant-commander steamed Campbeltown into the lock gates, as instructed, and beached and scuttled her in the correct position. (Victoria Cross)

The St. Nazaire Raid. RAF Bomber Command dispatches 35 Whitleys and 27 Wellingtons to bomb German positions around St Nazaire in support of the naval and Commando raid to destroy the dry-dock gates in the port. The aircraft were ordered to bomb only if the target had clear visibility. Conditions were bad, however, with 10/10ths cloud and icing, and only 4 aircraft bomb at 2330 hours. One aircraft bombs Lannion Airfield

GERMANY: During the night of the 27th/28th, 13 of 15 RAF Bomber Command Hampdens lay mines off the northwest German coast; three aircraft are lost.

BURMA: The Chinese 200th Division continues to resist the Japanese onslaughts against Toungoo. On the Irrawaddy River front, the Japanese are massing forces south of Prome.

INDIA: RAF planes withdraw from Akyab Airfield as a result of heavy enemy bombing.

AUSTRALIA: Elements of the Australian 6th Division arrive in Perth, Western Australia, from the Middle East.
     General Sir Thomas Blamey is named Commander-in-Chief of Australian Military Forces.
   Philippine President Manuel Quezon and members of his cabinet, recently evacuated from Corregidor by the submarine USS Swordfish (SS-193), arrive at Fremantle, Western Australia,. He subsequently goes to the U.S. and forms a government in exile but could do no more than try to boost the morale of the people he left behind. While in the U.S., Quezon serves as a member of the Pacific War Council. He dies of tuberculosis in Saranac Lake, New York, U.S.A., on 1 August1944, 18 days short of his 64th birthday.
     The air echelon of the USAAF 30th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) transfers from Melbourne, Victoria, to Cloncurry, Queensland, with B-17 Flying Fortresses; the ground echelon is on Bataan and Mindanao, Philippine Islands.

PACIFIC: Submarine USS Gudgeon (SS-211) sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship in the East China Sea about 140 miles (225 kilometres) west northwest of Sasebo, Japan.
A Japanese collier is sunk by Dutch aircraft off Koepang, Timor, Netherlands East Indies.

U.S.A.: The U.S. Army’s War Plans Division Issues “Plan for Operations in Northwest Europe,” in which a tentative timetable for an invasion of France is offered. The plan calls for (1) a limited cross-Channel attack in the autumn of 1942 (Operation SLEDGEHAMMER) as an emergency measure if Soviet forces show signs of collapsing or (2) the main Anglo-American invasion (Operation ROUNDUP) in the spring of 1943 if SLEDGEHAMMER is not required. The build-up of U.S. forces and supplies in the U.K. for the major cross-Channel attack is coded Operation BOLERO.
One of radio's first important 15-minute daily soap operas ends today. “Myrt and Marge,” featuring the trials and tribulations of two Chicago chorus girls, premiered on CBS in 1931 and became an immediate hit. Myrtle Vail, who conceived of and starred in the show, convinced chewing-gum maker Wrigley Company to sponsor the show and gave the characters names inspired by gum flavors (Myrtle Spear and Margie Minter).

Clearwater, Florida: Mayor George R. Seavy issued a proclamation today urging all Clearwater residents to cooperate in the RUnified Salvage for Victory" program which was started today. Previous efforts will he expanded to make available for war use all materials the Clearwater area

can provide. Collection centers for scrap metal, old rubber and rags have been established at the Parker Paper company, 921 Lakeview Ave., and at the Gulf service station, Cleveland Street and Osceola Avenue. Boy scouts will collect waste paper.

The program is under the supervision of the upper Pinellas County defense council of which R.R.Orcutt is chairman for the Clearwater area.

Materials wanted include waste paper, old newspapers, wrapping paper, cartons and boxes, ,aper bags, magazines, advertising material and old rags. Also wanted is clothing, especially shirts and underwear, draperies, mattresses, pillows, flour and sugar bags, carpets and burlap bags.

Everything made of metal, except tin cans, is valuable war industries. (Bill Howard)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: HF/DF ("Huff Duff"), radio-location by high-frequency direction finding is used successfully by a British convoy to sink a submarine for the first time.

While covering convoy WS17 in the UK approaches, HMS Leamington sinks U-587 (Type VIIC), in position 47.21N, 21.39W. Also involved are British escort destroyers HMS GROVE and ALDENHAM, and the destroyer HMS VOLUNTEER. 42 crewmen die (all hands). USS Twiggs (DD-127), was commissioned as HMS Leamington (G-19) on 23 Oct. 1940, part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. (Ron Babuka and Alex Gordon)

Aboard the battleship USS Washington (BB-56) en route from Portland, Maine, U.S.A., to Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, Commander Task Force Thirty Nine (TF 39), Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox, taking an unaccompanied walk on deck of his flagship is washed overboard and disappears in a heavy sea. Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen becomes task force commander upon Wilcox's death.
TheUSN“Q-ship” USS Atik (ex SS Carolyn) is torpedoed and sunk with all 141 crewmen by German submarine U-123 about 350 miles (563 kilometres) east of Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.A., after the "Q-ship's" gunfire damages the U-boat in a spirited encounter. Atik is the only U.S. Navy warship disguised as a merchantman that is lost to enemy action during World War II.

27 March 1943

March 27th, 1943 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Clyde estuary: The escort carrier HMS DASHER sinks after an accident in which one of her petrol tanks explodes. There are 379 casualties and 149 survivors. Location 5 miles off Cumbrae Light 55 37N 05 00W. Wreck was located on 12 January 1944, and at the last official survey in April 1984, Dasher was found to be lying in 170m of water with a large debris field. (Alex Gordon)(108)

TUNISIA: Twelfth Air Force fighters attack German installations.
US forces begin an assault against Fondouk Pass. (Michael Ballard)

Soldiers of the New Zealand Corps have broken through the Axis lines after an overnight attack which has outflanked German defences now retreating from the Mareth Line 30 miles further east. The New Zealanders - 27,000 men and 200 tanks - attacked a gap in the hills at Tebaga at 4pm yesterday as the sun set over the desert.

The 8th Armoured Brigade and the New Zealand infantry made up the advance wave, followed by the 1st Armoured Division. Their movements were given some cover not only by the encroaching dusk but also by a sandstorm which obscured the vision of the anti-tank guns ranged to defend Tebaga. By daybreak today the Allies had blasted through the gap, ensuring the ultimate breach of the Mareth Line.

Montgomery will push back the Axis forces, now commanded by General Jurgen von Arnim who has replaced Rommel, from two sides: the inland column established through Tebaga, and a direct coastal assault via Gabes. Arnim plans to deploy tanks of the 15th Panzer Division to hold off the Allies in order to allow his infantry time to retreat from the doomed Mareth Line to new defensive positions.

BURMA: Five Tenth Air Force B-24s mine the Rangoon River during the night of 27/28 March.

KOLOMBANGARA ISLAND: Thirteenth Air Force P-39s and US Navy aircraft attack Vila Airfield.

KURILE ISLANDS: The Japanese force retiring from the Battle of the Komandorski Islands reaches Paramushiru. The heavy cruiser Nachi has been hit five times and the light cruiser Tama was hit twice. Japanese casualties are 15 dead and 27 wounded on HIJMS Nachi and one wounded on HIJMS Tama.

MOLUCCAS ISLANDS: Fifth Air Force B-24s hit the harbour and shipping on Tanimbar Island.

NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force B-24s and B-25s attack targets on the north coast.

27 March 1944

March 27th, 1944 (MONDAY)

FRANCE: 701 Eighth Air Force B-17s and B-24s, escorted by 960 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s attack 11 airfields. Ninth Air Force dispatches 53 B-26s to hit V-1 sites in northern France; only 18 attack due to bad weather.

VICHY FRANCE: The government authorises Frenchmen to enrol in the SS.

ROMANIA: German troops rush to reinforce the country as Soviet forces approach the border.

U.S.S.R.: The Red Army takes Kamenets-Podolski, in the Ukraine.

LITHUANIA: Kovno: Starting today SS troops round up and shoot dead all Jewish children under 13 years of age.

ITALY: Twelfth Air Force A-20s, A-36s, B-25s, P-40s and P-47s attack railway tracks, bridges, command posts and supply dumps.

BURMA: 130+ Tenth Air Force A-31s B-24s, B-25s, P-38s and P-51 attack supply dumps, troop concentrations, bridge and rail facilities.

Air Commando Combat Mission N0. 38 2:45 Flight Time Hailakandi, Assam to Meza, Burma. Bombed and destroyed bridge. The Japs repair this bridge as fast as we blow it up.

'Notes: Had a 2 day break after coming back from Broadway and no record of what we did?. A sort of PX was put into operation. Remember that Zippo lighters were in short supply and sold only by lottery. Officers got a liquor ration and enlisted got a beer ration. We tried cooling our beer in a hypo solution liberated from the photo lab. Cooled the beer but left an awful taste on the cans. (Chuck Baisden)

CHINA: 60+ Fourteenth Air Force P-38s, P-40s and P-51s attack bridges, warehouses and ground troops.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Six B-25s attack rail cars, a bridge and two factories near Viet Tri.

NEW GUINEA: Nearly 200 Fifth Air Force A-20s, B-24s, B-25s, P-39s, P-40s and P-47s attack a wide range of targets along the coast.

BOUGAINVILLE ISLAND: 8 Thirteenth Air Force P-40s hit a fuel dump.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force B-24s and B-25s attack Maloelap, Mille, Wotje and Jaluit Atolls.

NEW BRITAIN ISLAND: 23 Thirteenth Air Force B-25s and 34 fighters hit Wunapope with incendiaries.

Gilbert Islands: 9th Troop Carrier Squadron moves from Hawaii to Abemama and then to Saipan on 4 Aug 44.

27 March 1945

March 27th, 1945 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: A V-2 bomb kills 131 people in a London block of flats; 2,745 civilians have been killed by the bombs, and 2,900 aircrewmen have died in the campaign against them. What will be the last V-2 rocket to land in England, lands SE of London at Orpington, Kent.

FRANCE: General Dwight D. Eisenhower told reporters in Paris that German defenses on the Western Front had been broken. (Michael Ballard)

BURMA: 80+ Tenth Air Force fighters attack troops and supplies along the Japanese front lines.

CHINA: 25 Fourteenth Air Force B-25s attack towns, rail, road and river traffic at several locations.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: 28 Fourteenth Air Force fighters attack power facilities, trucks, trains and river traffic.

JAPAN: XXI Bomber Command Mission 46: In support of the Okinawa invasion 151 B-29s bomb airfields and an aircraft factory on Kyushu. During the night of 27/28 March, 97 B-29s mine Shimonoseki Straight.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: Fifth and Thirteenth Air Force A-20s, B-24s, B-25s and fighters attack targets on Luzon and Cebu.

RYUKYU ISLANDS: Task Force 58 and Task Group attack preinvasion targets on Okinawa. Royal Navy aircraft of Task Force 57 attack targets in the Sakishima Islands.

BONIN ISLANDS: Seventh Air Force P-51s attack Chichi Jima. During the night. B-24s bomb an airfield on the island.

Argentina: Buenos Aires: Today's declaration of war on Germany and Japan is backed by a powerful ground-swell of popular support. Though by no means traditional allies of the British, the Argentinian people have been showing their sympathy for the Allied cause with generous donations to PoWs through the Red Cross and other funds. It is also reported that the government in Buenos Aires is in the process of studying British laws with the intention of incorporating some elements in a reformed electoral system in the country.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-905 (type VIIC) is sunk in the Minch Canal in position 58.34N, 05.46W by depth charges from the British frigate HMS Conn. 45 dead (all hands lost).

U-722 (type VIIC) is sunk near the Hebrides, in position 57.09N, 06.55W, by depth charges from the British frigates HMS Fitzroy, Redmill and Byron. 44 dead (all hands lost). (Alex Gordon)

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