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)
What a GREAT headline today!
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.