May 27th, 1944 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: The Allies
abandon plans to land paratroopers on the central Cotentin peninsula following
"Ultra" intelligence of heavy German reinforcements in the area.
Frigate HMS Enard Bay laid down.
The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies three missions:
- Mission 373: 1,126 bombers and 710 fighters in six forces are dispatched against rail targets in France and Germany and gun batteries in France; 24 bombers and 7 fighters are lost; the fighters claim 35.5-1-5 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 9-0-2 on the ground:
1. 344 B-17 Flying Fortresses are dispatched to marshalling yards at Ludwigshafen (150 bomb) and Mannheim (125 bomb); 18 hit Lachen/Apeyerdorf, 19 hit the Mannheim area and 6 hit targets of opportunity; 12 B-17s are lost.
Personal Memory: On this mission Beiser and I were assigned to position number six in the low squadron "Purple Heart Corner." The target was Mannheim, Germany, a heavily defended city on the Rhine River. Our secondary target was nearby Ludwigshafen if Mannheim was socked in. The 303rd Bomb Group supplied thirty Seven (!) B-17s, all loaded with ten 500 pound bombs. Ten minutes before the target the codeword for visual bombing (Studhorse) was given. This means that the 41st Wing would separate and bomb by groups instead of Wing for an all or nothing hit. Flak was quite heavy and the air sparkled with chaff that we and others had dropped, but the weather was CAVU and the Germans preferred to aim visually instead of by radar. In my diary I have underlined "Very Lucky" as we didn't get a scratch! A Milk run to a Flak City in my diary. We were over enemy territory over three and a half hours. Score: Three Milk Runs and one other. (Dick Johnson)
2. 269 B-17s are dispatched to marshalling yards at Karlsruhe (98 bomb) and Strasbourg, France (49 bomb) and aviation factory at Strasbourg/Meinau, France (53 bomb); seven B-17s are lost.
3. 69 of 86 B-24s bomb an aviation factory at Woippy, France; three others hit targets of opportunity.
4. 369 B-24s are dispatched to marshalling yards at Saarbrucken (145 bomb), Neunkirchen (66 bomb) and Kons/Karthus (72 bomb); 3 others hit targets of opportunity; five B-24s are lost.
5. 36 of 40 B-17s bomb Fecamp gun battery, France without loss.
6. 18 of 18 B-24s bomb St Valery, France without loss.
Escort is provided by 170 P-38s, 238 P-47 Thunderbolts and 302 P-51 Mustangs; one P-38 is lost; P-47s claim 1-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 2-0-0 on the ground without loss; P-51s claim 34.5-1-4 aircraft in the air and 7-0-2 on the ground with the loss of six P-51s. 425 Ninth Air Force aircraft also support the mission; they claim 4-0-0 with the loss of one.
- Mission 374: 24 P-47s hit a barge convoy between Willenstadt and Meerije,
The Netherlands; two barges are destroyed.
- Mission 375: three B-17s drop leaflets in Belgium and France without loss.
The USAAF's Ninth Air Force in England dispatches about 590 B-26 Marauders to attack railroads, bridges, and marshalling yards in France. P-47s bomb targets in northwestern Europe.
HMCS Rosthern departed Londonderry to begin training ship duties in Halifax. (Tom Carlson)
GERMANY:
BALTIC SEA: U-24 fought a surface battle with 2 Soviet patrol boats, losing 1 man dead and 2 wounded. [Matrosenobergefreiter Johann Wölbitsch].
ITALY: Artena is held by the 3rd Division in the face of German counterattacks.The USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force dispatches almost 700 bombers to hit France; B-17s bomb the marshalling yard at Avignon while B-24s bomb airfields at Montpellier and Salon and marshalling yards at Nimes, Marseille/St Charles and Marseille/La Blancharde; escort is provided by P-38s and P-51s.
NEW GUINEA: The US 41st Division lands at Biak.
Operation HORLICKS commences. The USAAF's Fifth Air Force dispatches 170+ B-24s and B-25s to bomb Babo Airfield and Biak Island. This is followed by a naval bombardment by heavy and light cruisers and destroyers of the U.S. Navy's Task Groups 77.2 and 77.3. The U.S. 41st Infantry Division (minus) then lands on Biak Island in Geelvink Bay. The first wave lands exactly as planned, but strong currents carry subsequent units well west of their designated landing beaches. Fortunately, only nominal Japanese resistance is encountered because the landings catch the Japanese flat-footed. After securing the beachhead, the soldiers gain control of a trail over ridges to the inland plateau to the north.
CANADA:
Frigate HMCS Fort Erie (ex-HMCS La Tuque) launched Levis, Province of Quebec.
Tug HMCS Beaverton commissioned Montreal, Province of Quebec.
Corvette HMCS St Lambert commissioned.
Tug HMCS Luceville assigned to Pictou , Nova Scotia.
Tug HMCS Colville assigned to Sydney , Nova Scotia.
Corvette HMCS Rosthern departed Londonderry for training ship duties Halifax
U.S.A.: Coast Guard manned Army vessel FS-178 was commissioned. On 1 August 1945, she had finished discharging a cargo of chemical warfare equipment from Morotai, and was ordered dry-docked in ARD-9, Humboldt Bay, Hollandia, New Guinea, to clean and paint the hull. She departed drydock on the 3rd and on the 8th was underway for Milne Bay, New Guinea, where she arrived on the 12th and loaded 39 tons of life rafts for Finschaven and Hollandia arriving at the former place on the 14th to discharge 20 rafts and pick up mail and at the latter place on the 18th to unload the remainder before anchoring until the 28th at Challenge Cove, Hollandia. On that date she received a cargo of mail for Biak and proceeded there independently arriving at Sorido Lagoon on the 30th to discharge mail and load ammunition for Zamboanga, Philippine Islands. She departed next morning for Zamboanga, Philippine Islands. (The above is believed to furnish a fairly representative cross section of the day-to-day operations of Coast Guard manned FS's in the Southwest Pacific area.) The FS-178 was decommissioned on 16 October 1945.
Submarine USS Toro laid down
Escort carriers USS Attu and Munda launched
Destroyer escorts USS Halloran and Hodges commissioned
Frigates USS Pueblo and Grand Island commissioned
Submarine USS Becuna commissioned
Minesweeper USS Counsel commissioned.