Posted on 03/27/2015 4:25:31 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/2/27.htm
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)
The Nazis!
I thought they were long gone- or are they back now too,
never know these days
What a GREAT headline today!
600 Iwo Jima Casualties arrive in SF.
I would say that south of the Ruhr, the roof has officially caved in. Give credit to the Americans for leaping the Rhine immediately after clearing the west bank. The Germans had no time to reorganize, and now it’s off to the races.
North of the Ruhr, Monty took the time to create his “set piece” battle, which also allowed the Germans to organize. Progress there isn’t as fast. Not yet anyway. I suppose Monty has some “tidying up” to do on his battlefield before he can get on with winning the war.
Exactly right.
LSMs Fire Rocket Barrage; Invasion & Bombardment Of Kerama Retto, 03/27/1945
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTAUnM7_7w
Keeping the civilian populations alive was no small matter, and no small task.
http://marshallfoundation.org/library/digital-archive/memorandum-for-operations-division-5/
5-073 Memorandum for Operations Division, March 27, 1945
1945
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Date: March 27, 1945
Subject: World War II
Collection: Papers of George Catlett Marshall, Volume 5: The Finest Soldier
Summary
Memorandum for Operations Division
March 27, 1945 [Washington, D.C.]
Confidential
Prince Olaf of Norway spoke to me about a matter which he said had been taken up with General Eisenhower and, he thought, cleared by his Staff regarding the transfer of wheat and rye seed now in Sweden, to Norway, in time for spring planting. The issue apparently was whether or not the Germans would seize and eat it. The amounts I imagine are not large and it may be that some planting would be accomplished.
Please check up on this.1
Document Copy Text Source: George C. Marshall Papers, Pentagon Office Collection, Selected Materials, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia.
Document Format: Typed memorandum.
1. Major General John E. Hull replied that President Roosevelt favored the shipment of 6,700 tons of grain, including spring and fall wheat, fall rye, oats, and barley. The grain would be shipped as Swedish property and distributed through the Norwegian Corn Monopoly to farmers, a method that had not been interrupted previously by the Germans. (Hull Memorandum for Chief of Staff, March 29, 1945, GCMRL/G. C. Marshall Papers [Pentagon Office, Selected].)
Recommended Citation: ThePapers of George Catlett Marshall, ed.Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens(Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall Foundation, 1981- ). Electronic version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 5, “The Finest Soldier,” January 1, 1945-January 7, 1947 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), p. 103.
Germans launch last of their V-2s
On this day, in a last-ditch effort to deploy their remaining V-2 missiles against the Allies, the Germans launch their long-range rockets from their only remaining launch site, in the Netherlands. Almost 200 civilians in England and Belgium were added to the V-2 casualty toll.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-launch-last-of-their-v-2s
Some interesting insights about the intelligence we had about a possible German so-called “national redoubt.”
I still can’t get the contrast between Monty’s grandiose crossing of the Rhine and the humble, but very determined, French crossing out of my mind.
It occurred to me this morning, as I pondered the French national pride that will be so much on display in the next few weeks, that while we saved the French from their Nazi conquerors. truth be told, they’ve never forgiven us for that.
200 completely senseless deaths that had no impact on an irretrievable military situation.
Yeah, well, what else can you expect from calloused, evil, mass murderers?
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