October 27th, 1944 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The first Avro Anson Mk XII (NL 153) makes its maiden flight. (22)
Also the prototype Bristol Buckmaster three-seat advanced trainer, (TJ 714) makes its maiden flight. (22)
NORTH SEA: German submarine U-1060 (Type VIIF), not a boat but a torpedo transport operating mainly to the Norwegian bases, is driven ashore and grounded about 87 nautical miles (15 kilometers) west-southwest of Bronnøysund, Norway, in position 65.24N, 11.59E after damages by rockets and depth charges from a Firefly Mk. I and two Barracuda Mk. IIs in the British aircraft carrier HMS Implacable (86). The submarine is later destroyed by two RAF Halifax Mk. IIs, aircraft of No. 503 Squadron based at Stornoway, Hebrides Islands, U.K.; and two RAF (B-24) Liberator Mk. Vs, aircraft of No. 311 (Czech) Squadron based at Tain, Ross-shire, Scotland. There are 43 survivors of the 55 men in the sub. (Alex Gordon)
NETHERLANDS: The Canadian attacks
in the Beveland continues. Inland, Bergen-op-Zoom is captured.
A sharp German counterattack is mounted near Venlo, against the British
2nd Army Sector and British troops capture Tilburg.
In the Canadian First Army's II Corps area, forward elements of the Canadian 2d Division reach the Beveland Canal, at the western end of the Beveland Isthmus, and cross during the night of 27/28 October. The 52d Division expands the Baarland bridgehead to Oudelande. In the British I Corps area, Bergen-op-Zoom falls to the Canadian 4th Armoured Division. The 413th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 104th Infantry Division, assisted by effective artillery preparation and attached British tanks, takes Zundert by storm.
In the British Second Army's VIII Corps area, the Germans, following a heavy artillery barrage, open a strong tank-infantry attack toward Asten in an effort to divert Allied strength from the main battle front, penetrating lightly held positions of the U.S. 7th Armored Division along the Canal de Deurne and Canal du Nord, west of Venlo. The Germans take Meijel, near the junction of the two canals, and penetrate the line at Heitrak, on the Meijel- Deurne highway, and near Nederweert. Combat Command A of the U.S. 7th Armored Division seals off the penetration near Nederweert.
During the night of 27/28 October, eight USAAF Eighth Air Force aircraft drop leaflets over the country.
FRANCE: In the U.S. Third Army's XX Corps area, the 357th Infantry Regiment of the 90th Infantry Division, employing four small teams, again attempts in vain to take Hotel de Ville in Maizières-lês-Metz.
In the U.S. Seventh Army's VI Corps area, the 3d Infantry Division presses slowly in on St Die against heavy fire. The 36th Infantry Division’s isolated and surrounded battalion (1st Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment) is too weak to break out, but some progress toward it is made by troops of the 442d Infantry Regiment (Nisei). First efforts to drop supplies by air fail. Subsequent attempts achieve some success.
In the French First Army area, General Jean Lattre de Tassigny, commander of the First Army, at conference with Lieutenant General Jacob Devers, Commanding General Sixth Army Group, at Vittel, presents his plan for offensive toward Belfort and gains Devers' approval. The French drive is to coincide with general Allied offensive in November and is to open on the 13th.
The USAAF XII Tactical Air Command flies supply dropping missions (to VI Corps near Saint-Die).
GERMANY: Martin Bormann, Head of the Nazi Party Chancellery and private secretary of Chancellor Adolf Hitler, writes to Alfred Rosenberg, Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, informing him that Hitler has rejected the idea of using clergymen for forced labor.
During the night of 27/28 October, RAF Bomber Command Mosquitos bomb seven cities without loss: 58 hit Berlin, three each attack Pforzheim and Rheine, two each bomb Dusseldorf and Essen, and one each hit Mannheim and Schweinfurt.
U-3015 launched.
U-2539 laid down.
HUNGARY: Troops of the Soviet Fourth Ukrainian Front take Ungvar (Uzhorod) on the northeastern border. This completes the Soviet conquest of Carpatho-Ukraine (Ruthenia before March 1939).
LATVIA: A renewed Soviet attacks begins.
ITALY: As winter sets in the Allied advance bogs down.
In the U.S. Fifth Army's British XIII Corps area, the 26th Armoured Brigade Group, following up the German withdrawal on the right flank of the corps, occupies Rocca St. Casciano, on Highway 67.
In the British Eighth Army's Polish II Corps area, elements of the 5th Kresowa Division recapture Predappio Nuovo. In the V Corps area, the Indian 10th Division crosses additional elements over the Ronco River during the night of 27/28 October. In the Canadian I Corps area, plans to relieve the Canadian 1st Division and 5th Armoured Division cannot be carried out at this time because of weather conditions. Advance elements of the corps across the Bevano River in the coastal sector are withdrawn.
Weather curtails operations of the USAAF Twelfth Air Force; fighter-bombers on armed reconnaissance in the Genoa-Novi Ligure-Turin area hit communications and transportation targets.
There is one sing they do not - by order - play on the British Forces Broadcasting Service in Italy. The German Lili Marlene remains top of the Eighth Army hit parade, with Glenn Miller running a close second. The frowned-upon song (sung to the tune of Lili Marlene) is based on the alleged, and since denied, remark by a British MP, Lady (Nancy) Astor, and runs:
We are the D-Day dodgers,
out in Italy.
- always on the vino,
always on the spree;
Eighth Army scroungers
and their tanks.
We live in Rome among the Yanks.
We are the D-Day dodgers,
In Sunny Italy.
Sunny Italy it is not. Once again the Eighth Army is faced with a winter which has allied itself with the Germans, while west of the Apennines the US Fifth Army today called off its latest offensive. Despite huge casualty lists - more than 20,000 men have been killed, wounded or taken prisoner since Cassino - the Allied armies here have had little share in the world headlines since the Anzio landings, and are feeling forgotten.
INDIA: Headquarters USAAF Tenth Air Force is reassigned from Army Air Forces, India-Burma Sector to Army Air Forces, India-Burma Theater.
CHINA: The Japanese renew their offensive to take U.S. air bases in eastern China (Operation ICHIGO), heading toward Kweilin and Liuchow.
USAAF Fourteenth Air Force fighters bomb and strafe the town of Mengmao and nearby hill positions, river traffic, troops, and horses from Tanchuk to Tengyun, bridges northeast of Hsinganhsien, the town of Kaotienhsu, troops in the Kweilin area, rail traffic west of Puchi, and airfields at Siangtan and Changsha.
VOLCANO ISLANDS: During the night of 27/28 October, a USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberator on a snooper mission hits Iwo Jima.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Buri Airfield is captured by the US 7th Division on Leyte. Admiral Shermans task group of US TF 38 strikes Japanese shipping around Luzon, Philippine Islands. Strikes are also sent against Luzon Island. The battleship, USS California is damaged by the Japanese.
In the U.S. Sixth Army's X Corps area on Leyte, the 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, advances to the Mudburon River without opposition. After night-long shelling of Pastrana, the 19th Infantry Regiment enters the town and mops up. In the XXIV Corps area, the 382d Infantry Regiment of the 96th Infantry Division again attacks Tabontabon. Two battalions push through the northwestern part of the town to positions about 1 mile (1,6 kilometers) to the northwest, but a battalion is held up in the town and establishes a night perimeter in center of it. The 383d Infantry Regiment patrols in the vicinity of San Vicente and San Vicente Hill in an effort to locate Japanese positions. The 32d Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, against surprisingly light resistance, clears Buri airstrip by 1130 hours. The 17th Infantry Regiment, reinforced by a platoon of engineers to repair bridges, continues a drive on Dagami, reaching positions some 2,200 yards
(2 012 meters) south of the town.
Task Group 38.3 (Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman) and TG 38.4 (Rear Admiral Ralph E. Davison) attack Japanese ships and installations in the Visaya Islands and the northern Luzon area.
Off Leyte, battleship USS California (BB-44) is damaged by strafing; submarine chaser (rescue) PCER-848 is damaged by horizontal bomber; and motor torpedo boat PT-523 is damaged by dive bomber. U.S. freighter SS Benjamin Ide Wheeler is damaged by a kamikaze that crashes the ship, killing one merchant sailor and one of the 27-man Armed Guard (whose heavy gunfire damages the inbound suicider) and sets fire to the gasoline cargo; salvage ship USS Cable (ARS-19) comes alongside and extinguishes the blaze while some of the ship's complement and passengers are transferred temporarily to nearby amphibious command ship USS Wasatch (AGC-9).
USN submarine USS Nautilus (SS-168) lands men and supplies on the east coast of Luzon.
EAST INDIES: USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24 Liberators attack Malili and Palopo on Celebes Island.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Australian Beauforts again attack Rabaul on New Britain Islands concentrating on targets in the northern part of town.
CAROLINE ISLANDS: Two USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators on armed reconnaissance from Saipan Island bomb Yap Island.
PACIFIC OCEAN:
At 0400 hours, two USN submarines sink Japanese merchant vessels. In the East China Sea, USS Burrfish (SS-312) sinks a cargo ship about 185 nautical miles (343 kilometers) north-northeast of Naha, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, in position 29.08N, 128.45E. In the South China Sea, USS Bergall (SS-320) sinks an oiler and a fleet tanker about 89 nautical miles (165 kilometers) north-northeast of Jesselton, British North Borneo, in position 07.17N, 116.45E. (Skip Guidry)
Navy carrier-based planes sink destroyers HIJMS Fujinami and Shiranui about 29 nautical miles (54 kilometers) north-northwest of Roxas, Panay, Philippine Islands,, in position 12.00N, 122.30E.
In the Camotes Sea, over 40 USAAF Far East Air Forces fighter-bombers, operating in three waves, hit shipping off Cebu Island and west of Mactan Island in the Philippine Islands. They sink a Japanese motor sail ship off Mactan Island.
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Fort Erie commissioned.
U.S.A.:
Destroyer USS Henderson laid down Seattle, Washington.
Destroyer minelayer USS Tolman commissioned.
Destroyer USS Duncan launched.
Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-319 was commissioned at New York with LTJG Sterling M. Anderson, USCG, as her first commanding officer. She departed New York on 11 December 1944 for the Southwest Pacific where she operated at Finschhafen, Auguson, etc., during the war.