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August 27th, 1939 (SUNDAY)

The cabinet learns from Lord Halifax of 'Mr D', Birger Dahlerus, and his efforts.

GERMANY:
Midnight - Dahlerus is back in Berlin.

Flugkapitan Erich Warsitz makes the first jet-propelled flight in a Heinkel He-178. Warsotz circled Marienehe Airfield but the flight was cut short because (1) the landing gear would not retract and (2) a bird was sucked into the engine intake but Warsitz made a safe dead stick landing. Unfortunately this famous aircraft was sent to the Berlin Air Museum and was destroyed in a 1943 Allied bombing raid.

POLAND:
Colonel Beck agrees to consider an exchange of population between the predominantly German and predominantly Polish areas.

U.S.S.R.:
Khalkin-Gol: Trapped Japanese forces attempt a breakout, it fails.
Southern Group captures Peschanaya Heights and Zelenaya Hill and clear the left bank of the Khailastyn-Gol.

U.S.A.: The New York World's Fair sets daily attendance record when 306,480 people attend the events on this Sunday.

Light cruiser USS Helena launched.

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August 27th, 1940 (TUESDAY)

The base was at Kaldadarnes, Iceland, 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Reykjavik, and the squadron was No. 98 Squadron equipped with Battle Mk Is. The ground echelon had arrived on 31 July and the air echelon arrived today.

RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - industrial targets at Turin and Milan - aircraft factory at Augsburg - marshalling yards at Mannheim.
51 Sqn. Five aircraft to Augsburg. Three bombed primary.
58 Sqn. Six aircraft to Turin and Milan. Three bombed primaries, two bombed alternative targets.
78 Sqn. Five aircraft to Mannheim. Three bombed primary, two bombed alternative targets.

Battle of Britain:
RAF Fighter Command: Weather restricts enemy action. At night widely scattered raids hit airfields and industrial areas.
Losses: Luftwaffe, 9; RAF, 1.

London: An air raid stops play at Lord's cricket ground.

Biggin Hill, Kent: Sqn-Ldr Eric Laurence Moxey (b. 1894), RAFVR, volunteered to tackle two unexploded bombs. He was killed when one went off. (George Cross)
Cranfield, Bedfordshire: AC Vivian Hollowday (1916-77) pulled two men from a crashed and burning plane, but they and a third man were dead. He made a similar rescue attempt in July. (George Cross)

HMS Dunvegan Castle proceeding independently to Belfast is attacked and sunk by U-46, 120 miles south-west of Ireland at 55 05N 11 00W. However, she remains afloat long enough for the survivors to be taken off by HMS Harvester and Primrose. (Alex Gordon)(108)

LUXEMBOURG: German currency and foreign exchange controls are applied to the country. 


VICHY FRANCE:
Laws forbidding anti-Semitism in the press are repealed.

HUNGARY: Locotenent Aviator de reserva [Romanian for Reserve Flight Lieutenant, more or less] Nicolae Polizu of Escadrila 51 of the Royal Romanian Air Force, score Romania's first aerial victory of the war (as well as a military decoration), when he intercepts a flight of Caproni Ca 135's (of the 3/III. Bombazoosztaly, or #3 Squadron, Third Bomber Group, Hungarian Air Force). Despite overwhelming odds, Polizu shot up and forced down one of the bombers. (Greg Kelley)

FRENCH CAMEROON: Free French emissaries LeClerc and Boislambert depart Victoria, British Cameroons, in native canoes for Douala, French Cameroon where the Government Palace is occupied without resistance. The next day LeClerc travels by train to Youande to accept the transfer of power from the Vichy authorities. 


CHINA: Britain completes the withdrawal of troops from Shanghai.

NEW ZEALAND: The 3rd Echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force departs for Egypt; they arrive on 29 September.

CANADA: The 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade with the Calgary Highlanders, embarks for the United Kingdom; they arrive in Scotland on 4 September.

U.S.A.: US President Franklin D Roosevelt signs a joint resolution authorizing the callup of Army Reserve and National Guard units for a period of one year. 

The induction of National Guard units will begin on 16 September and continue for a seven-month period until March 1941. 

Attorney General Robert H. Jackson gives President Franklin D. Roosevelt a ruling in which the legal framework for the transfer of destroyers to the British can be accomplished. During the day, Roosevelt confers with Secretary of the Navy Knox, Secretary of War Stimson and Secretary of State Hull concerning a compromise to resolve the impasse that has arisen over the proposed destroyers-for-bases agreement. Subsequently, Roosevelt meets with Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, Secretary of the Navy Knox and Secretary of State Hull, and British Ambassador Lord Lothian; these men review the proposal arrived at earlier that day. Admiral Stark certifies that the destroyers involved are no longer essential to the defence of the United States, thus clearing the way for their transfer.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: AMC HMS Dunvegan Castle sunk by U-46 in Convoy SL-43.

U-37 sank SS Theodoros T.

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August 27th, 1941 (WEDNESDAY)

FRANCE: Versailles: Pierre Laval, the vice-premier of Vichy's council of state until last December, has been almost killed in an assassination attempt. The shooting took place today while Laval was seeing off the first members of the Legion des Volontaires Français contre le Bolshevisme on their way to the Russian front. Marcel Deat, the editor of the fascist L'Ouvre, was also wounded. Paul Colette, aged 21, has been arrested.

Laval was close to death when a German officer told him: "your assassin has been arrested; we are about to shoot him." Always a politician, he replied: "Don't do that. You do not know the French reaction as I do." He had a bullet just half a centimetre from his heart when he said this and his teeth were discoloured by blood. 

Few are upset by the shooting. Laval - who rose from peasant prime minister, and favours strong collaboration with Germany - is not popular in France as Marshal Petain is. "An audouillette is like a government," Laval once said of black pudding, "you need some dung in it, but not too much."

This is not the first act of violence by the French Resistance. Last week a German officer cadet called Moser was shot in the Paris metro. Six Communists have been executed in reprisal.

U.S.S.R.: LATVIA: The German attack on Tallinn reaches its climax as the Soviet X Coors starts to evacuate by sea the units that have been holding the city. (Jeff Chrisman)

The German submarine U-570 is captured by the British in the Atlantic. U-570 had left Trondheim, Norway, 23 August 1941 to operate in the North Atlantic on her first operational patrol. At 1100 hours, the captain raised the periscope and saw nothing and thus surfaced his almost stationary boat. Directly above the submarine, in its periscope "blind spot," was an RAF Hudson, aircraft "S" of No. 269 Squadron based at Kaldadarnes, Iceland. The  pilot noticed the dream target and placed several well placed depth charges all around U-570 severely damaging her so severely that she could not submerge. Shortly after the initial attack, the submarine crew began waving a white flag from the conning tower indicating surrender. The Hudson pilot contacted his superiors and was told to fly watch while they figured out how they could get vessels to the area. The Hudson was relieved by a Catalina flying boat in the evening and finally after 12 hours the H.M. Trawler Northern Chief showed up but the weather was too bad to capture her at that time so she waited for reinforcements that arrived during the night in the form of the H.M. Trawlers Kingston Agate, Windermere and Wastwater and the destroyer HMS Burwell. The last ship to the scene was the Canadian destroyer HMCS Niagara [ex USS Thatcher (DD-162)]. The German had ample time to destroy all secret documents and internal fittings before the British boarded her. U-570 was towed to Iceland and beached there while being hastily repaired before she was towed to Britain where she was to be commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Graph on 29 September 1941. As HMS Graph she even later fired a torpedo towards U-333 but missed. She later ran aground on the Island of Islay of Scotland in 1944 and was wrecked. HMS Graph was broken up in 1961.

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August 27th, 1942 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies Mission 6: 7 B-17s bomb the shipyards at Rotterdam, the Netherlands at 1740 hours without loss.

Aircraft carrier HMS Glory laid down.

Frigate HMS Moyola launched.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: US Army Middle East Air Force B-24s bomb a convoy, hitting 1 merchant ship which is reported sinking.

GERMANY: Rastenburg: Hitler orders the release of 800 French PoWs as a reward for the "exemplary conduct" of the people of Dieppe during the Allied raid.

U-637 commissioned.

POLAND: Nine Lancasters of 106 Squadron, Bomber Command, were dispatched on a dangerous long-range raid against Gdynia in occupied Poland, where the German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was being fitted out. The Lancasters were equipped with special Capital Ship bombs, designed to attack the target below the waterline. Seven of the Lancasters managed to find Gdynia after a 950-mile flight, but heavy haze prevented them from locating Graf Zeppelin, and they were forced to bomb targets of opportunity in the dockyard. All nine aircraft returned safely from an epic flight, notwithstanding the disappointing result.

U.S.S.R.: Germany Army Group B continues the battle for Stalingrad.

Army Group A attacks southward into the Caucasus. 3rd Panzerdivision (GM Hermann Breith) bypasses Prokhladny on August 20, moved east along the north bank of the Terek River and captured Mozdok on August 25. (Jeff Chrisman)

In Siberia, the Kriegsmarine attacks the Arctic Russian town and port of Dikson, named after the Swedish Baron Oscar Dickson. The German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, accompanied by two U-boats, destroys Dikson and a large icebreaker by shelling. The attack is part of Operation WUNDERLAND, aiming to stop Soviet convoys sent from Asian ports to support the Soviet Northern Fleet. Dikson was a strategic link on this route. No Soviet attempts to retaliate are known but as a result of WUNDERLAND the Soviet High Command orders an initiative to reinforce the Arctic coast. Therefore the NKVD, in charge of traffic and exploitation in Siberia, starts to plan a railway along the coast to make army operations possible in the area.

NEW GUINEA: Six USAAF B-26s  of 22 Bomb Group and P-400 Airacobras of the Allied Air Forces bomb Buna Airfield while P-40Es of No. 75 Squadron RAAF strafe the beachhead and fuel dumps at Milne Bay. The air battle was co-ordinated by Wing Commander Bill Garing RAAF, later to be closely involved in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. The allied air attacks appear to have little effect, however, they also coincided with a Japanese air raid on the Allied positions and appear to have shot down one of the escorting Zekes - with at least two to go down to the Kittyhawks when they "jumped" them strafing the downed Zeke to destroy it. (Jack McKillop, Daniel Ross and Michael Mitchell)

The Australian 2/10th is led fighting the Japanese. Led by Col. Dobbs, the CO of 2/10 told his men not to drag the Boys guns with them because they were a very heavy weapon for an infantryman to carry through the bush. The Boys guns were anti-tank weapons that fired a 0.5 inch slug that would penetrate a light tank and shower the inside of the tank with metal splinters. 2/10 carried some "Stick Bombs" with them, and several men made heroic attempts to stick them to the sides of the Japanese tanks, but without success. (Jim Miller)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The "Tokyo Express" lands 128 IJA troops northwest of Taivu Point on Guadalcanal. 
     The rear echelon of the USAAF's 67th Fighter Squadron, fourteen P-400 Airacobras, arrives at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, from Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides Islands. 

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The US 11th Air Force sends 4 B-17 Flying Fortresses, 6 B-24 Liberators, and 2 P-38 Lightnings to fly weather, reconnaissance and patrol missions over Kiska and Atka Islands.
The Japanese begin to transfer the Attu Island garrison to Kiska Island, which is completed on 16 September.

CANADA: The Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service is established. 

Minesweeper HMCS Truro commissioned.

The Battle of the St. Lawrence begins. U-517, OLtzS Paul Hartwig, CO sighted the five-ship Sydney to Greenland convoy SG-6F while it transited the Gulf of St. Lawrence escorted by the USCG A-class 165-foot cutters Algonquin and Mohawk. U-517 attacked SS Chatham, a 5,649-ton troopship carrying 562 passengers and crew, and hit her with two torpedoes. Although Chatham sank in an hour, only 13 lives were lost. The next morning, the Wickes-class destroyer USS Bernadou rescued 16 fully loaded lifeboats. She was assisted by HMCS Trail, a Flower-class corvette, Lt. George Stanley HALL, RCNR, CO.

U.S.A.: The battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) is launched at the US Navy Yard, New York.

Albert Monmouth Jones is promoted to major general (permanent). (Greg Kelley)

The motion picture "The Talk of the Town" is released today. This romantic comedy, directed by George Stevens, stars Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman, Edgar Buchanan and Glenda Farrell; Lloyd Bridges has an uncredited bit part. The plot has a political activist (Grant) accused of arson and murder hiding out in the home of his childhood sweetheart (Arthur) who has just rented a room to an unsuspecting law professor (Colman). Grant and Arthur try to convince Colman that there's a human side to the law. The film is nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture.

Submarine USS Dorado laid down.

Submarine USS Sickle launched.

CUBA: The Cuban Navy and Air Force join the allied anti-submarine campaign. 

CARIBBEAN SEA: Corvette HMCS Oakville LCdr Clarence Aubrey King DSC, RCNR, CO, with Catalina a/c of VP-92 sank U-94 Kp/Lt Otto Ites CO, 17-40N 74-30W, West Indies. Sighted by the USN PBY which attacked with four 650lb depth charges and forced her to the surface, Oakville rammed and sank U-94, 2 officers including the CO, 9 senior and 15 junior ratings of 45 crew were rescued. LCdr Clarence Aubrey King a 56-year old veteran of WW I, during which he sank a U-boat while commanding a 'Q'-ship. The action between Oakville and U-94 was extremely hot and was directed by two able and experienced commanders. U-94 was making a night approach from ahead on the northbound 29-ship tanker convoy TAW-15. The convoy had already lost two ships on the evening of 25 Aug to two other U-boats. Ites was making a surfaced approach with his hull awash and had just eluded HMCS Snowberry, when he was detected and attacked by the patrol a/c at 0257. His after diving planes were smashed and worse, the a/c had dropped marker flares. Oakville was soon on the scene and after a depth charge attack that was probably errant, sighted U-94 at a distance of about 600 yards. Ites skilfully manoeuvred his boat and Oakville managed only two glancing blows in her first attempts to ram, one of which opened a large gash that caused flooding into her own engine room. The third attempt was successful and the intervals between the collisions were filled with exchanges of gunfire, depth charges from projectors, and even soda bottles thrown from the bridge. King ordered a boarding party onto the U-boat by jumping from the forecastle. As they prepared to jump, the captain of the 4-inch mounting cleared a misfire by shooting just past the assembled group, which stunned all but two of the party. Undeterred, S/Lt Harold 'Hal' Ernest Thomas Lawrence and SPO Arthur James Powell jumped onto the U-boat and a short-range gun battle ensued that resulted in two Germans being shot. After the German crew exited the U-boat, Lawrence entered in search of codes or encryption devices but the boat was sinking and he had to swim to the ladder in order to clamber out. The majority of the survivors, German and Canadian, were subsequently recovered by destroyer USS Lea. Otto Ites was wounded three times during the action but survived the ordeal. Oakville was seriously damaged and had to detach for temporary repairs in Guantanamo Bay. She made her way to Halifax, by way of New York City, for an extended refit. She returned to service in Dec 43 and had an extremely active career for the rest of the war. The weakened escort for the convoy was unable to counter further attacks made by U-511, which resulted in three more ships being sunk. LCdr King went on to participate in the sinking of three more U-boats during his command of the frigate Swansea. He was given command of an Escort Group and reached the rank of Captain. For the sinking of U-94, Cdr King was awarded the DSO and the United States Legion of Merit, S/Lt Lawrence was awarded the DSC, and Powell was awards the DSM. Part b. 

GREENLAND: The German ship "Sachsen" anchors in Hansa Bay, Sabine Island, Northeast Greenland, and a landing party sets up a weather station, code name "Holzauge." 

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-517 sank SS Chatham with two torpedoes in Sydney-Greenland Convoy SG-6F of 5 ships escorted by USCG Algonquin and Mohawk. The 5,649-ton Chatham was a troopship carrying 562 passengers and crew and sank within an hour. 13 lives were lost.

German U-Boat sinks two ships off Newfoundland.

U-516 damaged SS Port Jackson.

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August 27th, 1943 (FRIDAY)

ÉIRE: An RAF Coastal Command Liberator Mk. V, RAF s/n BZ802, aircraft "V" of No. 86 Squadron based at Aldergrove, County Antrim, Ireland, crashes at Kilmacown, County Cork. Seven crewmen are killed.

UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command and VIII Bomber Command both fly missions.

- The VIII Air Support Command flies Missions 36A and 36B against targets in FRANCE: 
(1) 35 B-26Bs bomb Nord Airfield at Poix at 0826 hours. 
(2) 21 B-26Bs are dispatched to the Rouen Power Station but the mission is aborted because of bad weather and extremely heavy enemy fighter opposition.

- The VIII Bomber Command flies Mission 87: 187 B-17s bomb the German rocket-launching site construction at Watten, France between 1846 and 1941 hours; they claim 7-0-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; 4 B-17s are lost. The mission escort consists of 173 P-47 Thunderbolts; they claim 8-1-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-47 is lost. This is the first of the Eighth Air Force's missions against V-weapon sites (later designated NOBALL targets).

The last Westland Wallace (K 4344) biplane target-tug is 'struck off charge' by the RAF. (22)

FRANCE: Ex French president Lebrun is arrested by the Gestapo. Lebrun deferred to the National Assembly's 10 July 1940 vote approving Marshal Henri Petain as head of state and then he retired to Vizille in the Italian zone of occupation. He was arrested after the Germans moved in and deported to Austria from 1943 to 1945. He survived the war and met with de Gaulle shortly after the war ended to acknowledge the General's leadership.

Whilst on A/S duties in the Bay of Biscay sloop HMS Egret is attacked by 13 Dornier aircraft one of which released an Hs.293 glider bomb. When the smoke of the initial explosion cleared, all that could be seen of Egret was her upside down bow section. Egret was thus the first ship to be sunk by a guided missile. (Alex Gordon)(108)  

GERMANY: Field Marshal von Manstein tells Adolf Hitler that his Army Group South can't hold off the Soviet offensives in southern Russia and Ukraine. He urges falling back to the Dnieper, the largest river in the western Soviet Union. Hitler insists the Donets area must be held.

U-367 commissioned.

U-294 and U-396 launched.

POLAND: The rising tide of Jewish resistance and the growth of the Jewish Fighting Organization has failed to stop the mass murder of the Jews. The 25,000 survivors in the Bialystok ghetto have been deported to the extermination camps at Treblinka and Majdanek.

The entire population was herded into Jurowiecka Square, where an attempted rising was swiftly crushed. A few hundred resisters are defending their hiding places in the city's sewers and makeshift bunkers, but the SS is slowly and surely rooting them out for deportation. Only the Lodz ghetto now remains to face Hitler's "final solution" for Poland's Jews.

Bialystok Jews were the last to arrive at Treblinka, the scene of an armed rebellion earlier this month. A team of Jews who lives have been extended by a few weeks is busy pulling down the huts. A final trainload of clothes taken from the dead has left for Germany.

ITALY: A British reconnaissance group lands at Bova Marina and finds the toe of the Italian boot has been deserted by German and Italian forces and is open for invasion. 
     The Badoglio government secretly moves former dictator Benito Mussolini to a mountaintop resort in the Apennine mountains 70 miles (112.7 kilometres) east of Rome. For the past month, Mussolini's guards have moved him from place to place to foil German rescue schemes. 
    

While being escorted by 150 P-38 Lightnings, 69 Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb two targets in Sulmona, 52 bomb the marshalling yard, losing one aircraft, and 17 hit armaments; meanwhile, NASAF medium bombers hit the Benevento and Caserta marshalling yards. Northwest African Tactical Air Force B-25 Mitchells, B-26 Marauders and A-20 Havocs, and fighters attack targets in southern Italy, including Cantanzaro rail and road junction, guns near Reggio di Calabria, Sibari rail junctions, Cetraro marshalling yard, barracks at Tarsia, train and repair shops at Paola, and a barge at Diamante.  

SLOVENIA: German and Croatian troops attack the Italian garrison at Ljubljana.

U.S.S.R.: Kotleva is captured by Vatutin's troops and Sevsk by Rokossovsky's Central Front.

Moscow: The USSR and China give limited recognition to the French Committee of National Liberation.

MANCHURIA: Mukden: British PoW camp commander, Major Robert Peaty, asks the Japanese for permission to contact the International Committee of the red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva. Permission is denied, according to an entry in Peaty's diary. (151)(Linda Goetz Holmes)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The U.S. 172d Infantry Regiment of the 43d Infantry Division lands on Arundel Island off the northwest tip of New Georgia Island. The regiment meets determined opposition by the Japanese. 
     Ten USAAF Thirteenth Air Force B-24 Snoopers, i.e., B-24s Liberators equipped with radar devices that permit blind bombing, begin operations from Carney Field, Guadalcanal. Twelve B-25s, 8 P-40s, and 8 USMC F4U Corsairs strafe barges and shoreline targets at Kakasa on Choiseul Island; and P-39Airacobras strafe barges and shore targets at Ringa Cove on New Georgia Island. 
     The USN's Fighting Squadron Thirty Three (VF-33), equipped with F6F-3 Hellcats, lands on Guadalcanal for shore-based duty. These are the first F6Fs deployed to the war zone. 

U.S.A.: Two motion pictures are released today.

* "Phantom of the Opera," a horror thriller based on the novel by Gaston Leroux and directed by Arthur Lubin, stars Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster, Claude Rains, Leo Carrillo and Hume Cronyn. The plot involves a ghost who haunts the Paris Opera House. The film is nominated for four technical Academy Awards and wins two.

* "Watch on the Rhine," a drama based on the Lillian Hellman play, is directed by Herman Shumlin and stars Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lucile Watson, Beulah Bondi and Donald Woods. German Lukas and his American wife Davis return to Washington where it is discovered that he is part of the German underground. He is forced to shoot a German count and then flee where he is pursued by German agents. The film is nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor (Lukas) and Best Supporting Actress (Watson). Lukas wins the Best Actor Award.  

Escort carrier USS Anzio (ex Coral Sea) commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Eldridge commissioned.

Minesweeper USS Jubilant commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Varian laid down.

Frigate USS Barbados launched.

BRAZIL: A Junkers Ju.52/3m, msn 5459, registered PP-SPD to the Brazilian airline VASP (Viacao Aerea Sao Paulo S.A.), strikes a building and crashes at Rio de Janeiro; 3 of the 21 aboard the aircraft survive. 

ATLANTIC OCEAN: USN Composite Squadron One (VC-1) in the escort aircraft carrier USS Card (CVE-11) has a busy day with German submarines. TBF Avengers and F4F Wildcats attack U-508 but the sub escapes. Later, they sink U-847 in the Sargasso Sea, in position 28.19N, 37.58W, by air-launched (Fido) torpedoes. All hands, 62 men, on the U-boat are lost.

U-354 damaged SS Petrovskij.

Bay of Biscay: The British sloop HMS EGRET and the Canadian destroyer HMCS ATHABASKAN are hit by German radio-controlled glider bombs, HS293s, nicknamed "chase-me-charlies".

Sloop HMS Egret, HMCS Athabaskan, a Tribal-class destroyer, Capt. G.R. Miles, OBE, RCN, in company with three other British warships, was attacked in the Bay of Biscay by 16 German Dornier Do-217 bombers, each carrying one HS-293 radio-controlled bomb. HMS Egret, the name ship of her class of sloops, was hit and sunk, the first kill by the HS-293 weapon. Three missiles were launched at Athabaskan. Two were near misses - one missed astern and the other skimmed over the bridge and landed to starboard. The third hit the port side abaft ‘B-turret’, flew straight through the wheelhouse and the CPO’s Mess, exited the starboard side and exploded after hitting the water. There was extensive damage from the missile, exploding cordite in the gun house, and shrapnel. Amazingly, only four men were killed and another 36 were wounded. Athabaskan was dead in the water for about two hours. She was transferred the survivors from Egret and detached for Plymouth, which she reached under her own power on 30 August after a very difficult voyage. Two German Do-217s were shot down and another was damaged in this engagement. Athabaskan was under repair until 01 Jan 44. HM ships Grenville, the flotilla leader for the U-class fleet destroyers, Rother and Jed, both River-class frigates, were undamaged in the engagement.

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August 27th, 1944 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Escort carrier HMS Nabob made port under her own power. Declared a constructive total loss.

The US Eighth Air Force in England flies two major missions against Berlin and strategic targets in northern and central Germany; 3 bombers and 10 fighters are lost:

- Mission 583: 426 B-17s are dispatched but encounter very high clouds over Denmark and northern Germany and are recalled; 5 hit Ausum Airfield, 4 hit targets of opportunity and 1 hits Flensburg marshalling yard; 2 B-17s are lost; escort is provided by 180 P-51 Mustangs; 3 P-51s are lost. 

- Mission 584: 777 bombers and 351 fighters, in 2 forces are dispatched. 
(1) B-17s bomb Esbjerg Airfield (60), Emden marshalling yards and docks (37), Wilhelmshaven (34), Heligoland Island (11), Island of Fano (1) and Island of Sylt (1); 1 B-17 is lost; escort is provided by 156 P-51s; they claim 2-0-0 aircraft; 7 P-51s are lost. 
(2) 34 B-24s hit Heligoland Island; escort is provided by 169 P-38s and P-51s. 

- Mission 585: 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France and the Netherlands during the night.

- 316 P-47 Thunderbolts fly fighter-bomber missions against transport in eastern France; they claim 14-0-4 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-47 is lost. 

     In southern France, the French 2d Corps continues to clear the environs of Toulon but halts when the Germans agree to surrender the peninsula tomorrow. At Marseille, Fort St. Nicolas surrenders, but scattered opposition remains. In the evening, the German command requests an interview to discuss surrender terms.

While in combat at the town of Montelinar in the Rhone Valley. Sergeant Stephen R. Gregg, 143rd Infantry, 36th Infantry Division (US), and his platoon advance toward a German position on a hill. The Germans react with hand grenades which fell seven G.I.'s and heavy enemy fire prevents medics from reaching them. "We were close by, and you could hear the men that were hit calling for medics," he told the New York Times in 2000. "I said, God! I've got to do something here.' I don't know what got into me, but I picked up this gun. "I kept firing and firing. I was just thinking, 'I've got to get as many as I can before they get me.' I never thought I'd come out of this thing alive, to be frank with you. The Lord was with me." Sergeant Gregg had picked up a machine gun, and with a medic following him, he headed up the hill toward the Germans, firing from the hip in the face of a hand-grenade barrage. His covering fire enabled the medic to remove the wounded. After he used up his ammunition, he was confronted by four German soldiers who ordered him to surrender. Platoon members opened fire on the Germans, and as they hit the ground, Sergeant Gregg escaped to an American machine-gun position. He fired away once more, routing the Germans and enabling the Americans to take the hill. The next day, when the Germans counterattacked with tanks, Sergeant Gregg directed a mortar barrage, and then he charged a mortar position the Germans had overrun, capturing it by hurling a hand grenade. (MOH) (John Collins)
     In northern France, the USAAF Ninth Air Force's IX Bomber Command attacks troop concentrations in the Rouen area, Rouen bridge, the Boursin navigational beam station at Boulogne-sur-Mer, and Bucy-les-Pierrepont and Foret de Samoussy fuel dumps; fighters cover ground forces and fly sweeps and armed reconnaissance in the Senlis area and south of the Loire River claiming 16 aircraft (11 in the air) destroyed, and losing 6. 
     In south-eastern France and Italy, the USAAF Twelfth Air Force sends B-25s and B-26s to hit gun emplacements in the Marseille area. In Italy, medium bombers attack bridges at Berceto; fighter-bombers continue armed reconnaissance in the Po Valley and over roads leading north from the battle line north of the Arno River; A-20 Havocs bomb targets of opportunity in the Po Valley during the night of 26/27 August, fly armed reconnaissance and during the day hit ammunition stores in north central Italy. 

Provins: Retreating German soldiers massacre 22 villagers. Two days ago 126 civilians were murdered by the SS at Maille, Indre-et-Loire.

Paris: Eisenhower promises to supply de Gaulle with food, uniforms and military supplies.

Whilst attempting the clearance of a German minefield 5 miles off the coast between Fecamp and Cap d’Antifer, Minesweeper HMS Hussar of the 1^st Minesweeping Flotilla is sunk by rockets fired by RAF Typhoons of 263 and 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron. There are 55 casualties.

In the same incident, Minesweeper HMS Britomart is also sunk with 22 casualties.

MS Salamander was so seriously damaged that she was beyond repair, and 2 other ships were damaged. In all 78 officers and ratings were killed and 149 wounded, in what was the most serious “friendly fire” incident involving RN ships of WW2. (Alex Gordon)(108)

In northern France, the US Ninth Air Force's IX Bomber Command attacks troop concentrations in the Rouen area, Rouen bridge, the Boursin navigational beam station at Boulogne-sur-Mer, and Bucy-les-Pierrepont and Foret de Samoussy fuel dumps; fighters cover ground forces and fly sweeps and armed reconnaissance in the Senlis area and south of the Loire River claiming 16 aircraft (11 in the air) destroyed, and losing 6.

In south-eastern France and Italy, the US Twelfth Air Force sends B-25s and B-26s to hit gun emplacements in the Marseille area. 

Two hundred twenty one RAF Bomber Command aircraft bomb the Mimoyecques V-1 site at Marquise while 24 Lancasters bomb two ships in Brest Harbor and claimed hits on both. 

GERMANY: 216 Halifaxes, 14 Mosquitoes and 13 Lancasters, made a daylight attack on the Rheinpreussen synthetic oil refinery at Meerbeek in the Ruhr today. This raid was escorted by nine squadrons of Spitfires on the outward flight and seven squadrons on the withdrawal. One Me110 is seen; the Spitfires drove it off. There was intense flak over the target but no bombers were lost. The bombing was based on Oboe marking but 5-8/10ths cloud produced difficult conditions, though some accurate bombing was claimed through gaps in the clouds.  This is the RAF's first large-scale daylight raid on Germany since 12 August 1941, and emphasises the importance of these targets. Germany is running out of oil. The Panzers, whose Tiger tanks gobble fuel at two gallons a mile, are running dry, while the Luftwaffe which needs 160,000 tons of high-octane fuel a month, is getting only 10,000 tons a month. The factories are still making planes and tanks in record numbers, but they cannot move without fuel.

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August 27th, 1945 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: 542 Squadron, RAF, (Photo Reconnaissance) is disbanded at RAF Benson. (Bob Hart)(137)

BURMA:  Contact has been established with the Japanese troops in the Sittang valley and they now await specific surrender instructions. 

JAPAN: The US Twentieth Air Force B-29 Superfortresses begin supplying prisoners-of-war and internee camps in Japan, China, and Korea with medical supplies, food, and clothing. The first supply drop (to Weihsien Camp near Peking, China) is followed by a concentrated effort of 900 sorties in a period of less than a month. 4,470 tons of supplies are dropped to about 63,500 prisoners in 154 camps. 

A USN PB4Y-2 Privateer lands at Atsugi Airfield, Japan because of mechanical problems. The Japanese do not approach the aircraft and the plane returns to Iwo Jima the same day. 

Halsey moves his fleet into Sagami Bay, southwest of Yokohama. At 6:00 AM the 4th Marines land to begin dealing with harbour defences.

With most surrender and occupation arrangements made, the Allied fleet prepares to enter Sagami Wan (Bay) and the adjacent Tokyo Bay. To facilitate this operation, the Japanese destroyer HIJMS Hatsukakura brings out several Japanese naval officers to provide piloting services. Fear of treachery remained strong, so the visitors are carefully searched and treated sternly. However, there are no hostile incidents, and the pilots safely bring the U.S. and British warships into their anchorages. Part of this armada is the USN's Third Fleet under Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. The Third Fleet consists of 23 aircraft carriers, 12 battleships, 26 cruisers, 116 destroyers and destroyer escorts and 12 submarines.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: An armed truce has been declared throughout New Britain Island. 

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Isolated Japanese garrisons are reported to be ignorant of the ceasefire. 

 U.S.A.: President Harry S. Truman says that the situation in the Pacific continues to have many elements of danger and urges Congress to continue the draft (conscription) for a further two years. 

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