Air Operations, CBI

• During the night 5 B-24s of the 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s mine the Rangoon River.

Air Operations, East Indies

V Bomber Command B-24s attack Saumlakki in the Molucca Islands.

Air Operations, Europe

• 5 Mosquitos reach and bomb their target, the engineering factory at Hengelo. 7 other Mosquitos do not reach their targets. There are no losses.

• 396 aircraft are sent on a raid to Berlin. Included in the total are 191 Lancasters, 124 Halifaxes and 81 Stirlings.
• The bombing force approach the target from the southwest, but the Pathfinders establish two separate target areas, both well short of the city. Most of the bombs fall 7 to 17 miles short of the aiming point which was to be the city center. In the area that receives most of the bomb loads is located a Luftwaffe stores depot that is hit. A large quantity of valuable radio, radar and other technical stores is destroyed.
• 4 Halifaxes, 3 Lancasters and 2 Stirlings are lost.

• 24 aircraft lay mines in the Frisians and off Texel and there are 4 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 90th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack shipping at Bogia.
• V Bomber Command B-25s attack Lae and Salamaua.

Air Operations, Solomons

US Navy land-based aircraft and XIII Fighter Command P-39s attack the Vila airfield on Kolombangara.

Atlantic

The British escort carrier Dasher is lost in the Clyde Estuary following an accidental petrol explosion and fire with the loss of 378 of her crew. 149 men are rescued.

Battle of the Atlantic

A U-boat is sunk by an RAF Fortress bomber as happened 2 days previous.

Britain Command

Adm Sir Henry Harwood, Victor of the Battle of the River Plate, December 12-13, 1939, and Commander-in-Chief of the eastern sector of the Mediterranean, is obliged to retire from the service on health grounds.

North Africa

In the early hours of the morning the Germans manage to construct a weak defensive front around El Hamma which holds the British off until the Axis infantry from Mareth escape toward Wadi Akarit. There is also a new American attack near Fondouk by the US 34th Div.

Infantry demonstrate how they used ladders to scale the sides of Wadi Zigzuoa on the Mareth line, 27 March 1943.

Using Ladders to Scale Wadi Zigzuoa

In the US II Corps area, the 34th Div, in its first action as a division, begins a drive on Fondouk Gap, moving astride the road from Hadjeb el Aïoun with 2 regiments abreast, the 135th on the left and the 168th on the right. Frontal and enfilading fire from the heights ahead halt the attack short of the objective. The 135th Infantry attempts to advance at night but falls back under heavy fire. The 133rd Infantry, less 1 battalion at Algiers, remains at Sbeïtla to defend it. In the Southeast Algerian Command area, camel troops occupy Sabria and Rhidma, about 25 and 18 miles, respectively, southwest of Kebili.

In the British 8th Army area, the Mareth Line collapses under the blows of the X And New Zealand Corps on the western flank, but the enemy retains El Hamma and an escape corridor through which the main body withdraws during the night. Axis efforts to strengthen the western flank are belated and ineffective. The 1st Armored Div continues toward El Hamma and repels 2 counterattacks. The New Zealanders complete the difficult task of mopping up during the night. The Indian 4th Div, XXX Corps, completes operations to open the Médenine-Bir Soltane road.

March 27, 1943. Chaos following an attack by the resistance movement on the city population register at the Plantage Kerklaan in Amsterdam. The purpose of the attack was to sabotage the impending deportation of Amsterdam's Jews to transit camp Westerbork and death camps in Germany and Poland. (ANP Historisch Archief Community)

Resistance Movement Attack in Amsterdam