Air Operations, CBI

• In the first mission of its kind in the theater, 2 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s based at the airfield at Nanning, China mount a low-altitude anti-shipping sweep over the Tonkin Gulf. 1 of the B-25s attacks a freighter, which the crew abandons. However, the second B-25 crashes into the sea with the loss of 2 crewmen.

Air Operations, Europe

The US 8th Air Force bombs Emden.

• 678 aircraft are sent to Hannover. In this total are 312 Lancasters, 231 Halifaxes, 111 Stirlings and 24 Wellingtons. 5 American B-17s also take part.
• Faulty forecast winds cause the Pathfinders to miss the center of Hannover again. The bombing is concentrated but falls on an area 5 miles north of the city center. One of the targets for this and other raids on the city is the Continental tire works, but these and other war-related industrial sites remain intact. There are no reports from the ground, but RAF photographic evidence indicates that most of the bombs fall in open country or in villages north of the city.
• 17 Halifaxes, 10 Lancasters, 10 Stirlings and 1 Wellington are lost.
• 21 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitos of No. 8 Group carry out a diversionary raid on Brunswick which is successful in attracting somt of the nightfighters. 218 people are killed in Brunswick.
• 1 Lancaster is lost.

• 9 Mosquitos carry out an additional diversionary raid on Emden, 5 Mosquitos on Oboe tests are sent to Aachen, 19 aircraft lay mines in the Kattegat and in the Frisians and there are 4 OTU sorties.
• There are no losses.

Members of No 97 Squadron pose for a photograph on this day. The squadron was probably in action over Hannover during the night.

No 97 Squadron

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command bombers attack Finschhafen twice during the day.
• 117 V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s, escorted by 129 V Bomber Command P-38s and P-40s, attack airfields and shipping throughout the Wewak area with more than 160 tons of bombs. An estimated 40 Japanese aircraft are destroyed on the ground and 10 ships and 12 smaller vessels are claimed as sunk or severely damaged. 3 B-25s are lost to antiaircraft fire.
• A P-39 with the 35th Fighter Group’s 41st Fighter Squadron downs a Ki-21 'Sally' bomber over Finschhafen at 0835 hours. 8th and 475th Fighter group P-38s down 4 Ki-61 'Tony' fighters and 3 A6M Zeros over Wewak between 1000 and 1010 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 27 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Kahili area while XIII Bomber Command P-39s attack barges around Choiseul.
• VMF-213 and VMF-214 F4Us down 7 A6M Zeros over Kahili at 1230 hours.

Battle of the Atlantic

During a series of attacks on 6 convoys by 21 U-boats over the next week and a half only 2 ships are sunk for the loss of 6 U-boats.

Corfu

The Germans take full control of the island, having practically wiped out the Italian garrison.

Diplomatic Relations

At Brindisi the Allied Generals Bedell Smith, Macmillan and Murphy meet the Italian delegates, Badoglio, Ambrosio and Acquarone to make final arrangements for the meeting of Badoglio and Eisenhower at which the final text of the armistice will be signed.

Eastern Front

The Red Army moves into the suburbs of Dnepropetrovsk and in the Kuban the Germans enclave is further reduced as the Russians occupy the north bank of the Kuban River and capture of Temryuk the last port they have held.

The Soviet bridgehead at Bukrin comes under heavy attack from the XLVIII Panzer Corps but the German assault fails to destroy it.

The XLVIII Panzer Corps launches a ferocious counterattack at Bukrin. The Soviet forces in the bridgehead were not expecting an attack of this strength and in the subsequent fighting are almost wiped out. Only through sheer stubbornness do they maintain a small bridgeh3ead on the west bank. Farther southe the Southwest Front enters Dnepropetrovsk but becomes embroiled in bitter fighting with Fretter Pico's XXX Corps.

In the Kuban the Germans give up Temryuk.

Italy

Advance detachments of 8th Army enter Foggia and capture the airfields without a fight. Melfi is taken by Canadian units. The main body of 8th Army is still not ready to move.

The people of Naples rise against the Germans, who have made the city into one of their 'game preserves', plundering shops, requisitioning public transport and rounding up thousands of citizens to be sent to forced labor. The rising begins in the afternoon, when German soldiers try yet again to plunder a large shop in the main street in the city center, the Via Roma, and some men there are driven to resist, forming a line and shooting at the Germans. The Germans retreat and fire back, shooting at random and killing a youth walking by. The fighting quickly spreads through the whole city. Through the streets, from the windows, from the roofs of houses, hundreds of improvised resistance fighters start shooting at the Germans. The fighting goes on for 3 days with the people taking heavy losses. The battle only ends as the Allied armies approach.

New Guinea

There are heavy Allied air attacks on the Japanese airfields around Wewak.

Pics from September 27, 1943

A B-25D-1 over Taisei Maru in Victoria Bay off Kairuru.

A B-25D-1 over Taisei Maru

On September 27, 1943, 5 US aircraft bomb the But airfield in the Wewak area, destroying 40 aircraft. In the image, a Kawasaki Ki-45, 13 Sentai, under the bombs.

US Aircraft Bomb the But Airfield

Parafrag bomb falls near revetments with Ki-48 Lily at But Airfield September 27, 1943. (Credit: USAAF, 5th AF, 38th BG Date)

Parafrag Bomb Falls near Ki-48 Lily