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.