Air Operations, Aleutians

6 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s, 6 B-25s, and 4 343rd Fighter Group P-38s attack Kiska.

Air Operations, CBI

24 51st Fighter Group P-40s attack warehouses, fuel and ammunition dumps in Waingmaw.

Air Operations, Europe

It is announced by Bomber Command that Allied air forces have made 2,000 sorties in the last 48 hours.

• 24 Venturas attack shipping at Dunkirk without a loss.

• 91 aircraft lay mines in the Frisians and of Texel.
• 1 Halifax is lost.
• 6 Mosquitos are sent to the Ruhr and there are 2 OTU sorties.

Air Operations, New Guinea

43rd Heavy Bomb Group B-17s attack the airfield at Finschhafen, and B-25s attack villages occupied by the Japanese Army.

Air Operations, Solomons

• AirSols aircraft attack small craft off Vella Lavella.
• 347th Fighter Group P-40s down 1 A6M2-N 'Rufe' fighter-bomber and 1 F1M 'Pete' reconnaissance plane in separate engagements during the day.
• A VMSB-144 radioman-gunner downs an A6M Zero over Kolombangara Island during the afternoon.

Battle of the Atlantic

S-65, S-68, S-81 and S-85 of the German 5th Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla attack Convoy WP-300 in Lyme Bay. The British steamer Modavia (4858t) and the British trawlers Harstad and Lord Hailsham are sunk. 18 are lost on the Lord Hailsham.

Eastern Front

The Donetz Basin continues to see some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The counterattacks by the Germans of Army Group South under von Manstein win a major success with the recapture of Lozovaya. The Germans are also threatening Kramatorsk. Von Manstein's forces attacking from the south are now on a line from Lozovaya to Kramatorsk. The object of von Manstein's counteroffensive is to improve as much as possible the lines held by the Wehrmacht on the Donetz before the spring thaw.

The recapture Pavlograd southwest of Kharkov near the Dniepr River.

After heavy fighting Lozovaya falls to the SS Panzer Corps. The XLVIII Panzer Corps is now attacking alongside the SS but has suffered heavy losses during the recent fighting.

The Stavka orders the 1st Guards and 6th Armies back behind the Donets in the face of heavy German attacks. The 3rd Tank Army is ordered south to strike the Germans between Krasnograd and Lozovaya.

Mediterranean

The British submarine Tigris is sunk by the German anti-submarine vessel UJ-2210 south of Naples with the loss of her entire crew of 63.

New Guinea

As part of the arrangements for the relief and reinforcement of the Allied forces in preparation for the final attack to drive the Japanese out of the island, the American 162nd Regt of the 41st Div arrives at Milne Bay.

Aerial view of G4M1 Betty bombers parked at Poeloeti Airfield (Penfui) being strafed by 31 Squadron Beaufighters 27 February 1943. (AWM 1281)

Parked G4M1 Betty Bombers Being Strafed

North Africa

In the Battle of Hunt's Gap, which will last until March 2, Kampfgruppe Lang ('Battlegroup') containing Tiger tanks and Panzergrenadiers attempts to drive west through the Sidi Nsir valley but is defeated by a lone British infantry brigade.

In the British 1st Army's V Corps area, hard fighting continues around Bédja, but the enemy is unable to advance. In the US II Corps area, the 9th Div relieves the 1st Div at El Ma el Abiod and Dernaia Pass, northwest of Fériana, and the 1st Div assembles east of Tébessa.

German prisoners captured during an Allied raid on German-Italian position in Sened, Tunisia on February 27, 1943. The hatless soldier stated that he was only twenty years old. (AP Photo)

Captured German Soldiers