Air Operations, Bismarcks

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack the Cape Hoskins airfield on New Britain. B-25s attack occupied villages, motor vehicles, and barges on New Britai. 3rd Light Bomb Group A-20s support US Marine ground forces at Cape Gloucester.
• 49 AirSols fighters stage through the Torokina airfield on Bougainville to sweep the Rabaul area.
• 348th Fighter Group P-47s down 10 D3A 'Val' dive bombers and 19 fighters in the Arawe area between 0830 and 0900 hours. 8th Fighter Group P-40s down 3 A6M Zeros near Arawe at 0840 hours. 2 VF-33 F6Fs down a Zero over Rabaul at 1140 hours. Marine Corps F4Us down 14 Zeros and a Ki-61 'Tony' fighter in the Rabaul area between 1005 hours and noon.

Air Operations, CBI

• 10 14th Air Force P-40s attack the airfield at Pailochi, rail facilities at Yoyang, and a river boat.
• 36 Japanese bombers and fighters attack Suichwan airfield. One B-25 and base facilities are destroyed.
• P-40s from the 23d Fighter Group’s 76th Fighter Squadron down 5 A6M Zeros over Suichwan at 1145 hours. 1 P-40 is lost.

• 4 14 Air Force P-40s attack the airfields at Dong Cuong and Phu Tho.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack Alexishafen, B-25s attack Madang and coastal targets on the Huon Peninsula, and V Fighter Command P-47s strafe road traffic near Bogia.
• Guided by an RAAF light bomber, 3rd Air Task Force P-40s armed with 500-pound bombs mount a precision bombing attack against an important Japanese Army strongpoint on Shaggy Ridge that has been holding up an Australian Army force charged with completely securing the Dumpu area.

Air Operations, Solomons

42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack the seaplane anchorage at Buka, supply dumps at Kahili, a bivouac at Kieta, and antiaircraft batteries. US Navy PVs attack barges and more than 70 AirSols SBDs and 16 P-38s attack antiaircraft batteries at Buka.

Bay of Biscay

The German blockade runner Alsterufer is sunk in the Bay of Biscay by Allied aircraft.

Eastern Front

In the Vitebsk sector troops of the Western Front under Gen Vasili D. Sokolovsky reach the Vitebsk-Polotsk railway.

The 1st Ukraine Front under Nikolai F. Vatutin pushes on, re-taking from the enemy the positions lost in the Korosten area.

After heavy fighting elements of the XLVIII Panzer Corps partially stabilize the Zhitomir sector. Hoth, using the XLVIII as his fire-fighting unit, directs the corps to the Berdichev sector, but the constant fighting inflicts a terrible price on the combat units, the corps being down to just 150 tanks.

Italy

Ortona falls to the Allies after 2 weeks of house-to-house fighting in the Italian city.

New Britain

The US beachhead near Cape Gloucester is extended with little resistance from the Japanese. The weather and the ground prove more of a problem. The Japanese General Iwao Matsuda, in command of the western New Britain sector, can call on about 10,000 men, partly deployed along the coast, particularly in defense of the airfield, and partly concentrated inland near Nakarop.

The American forces at Arawe receive reinforcements which make them fairly secure against counterattacks.

New Guinea

The Australians capture 'Pimple Hill' on the Huon Peninsula.

Images from December 27, 1943

US Troops Tow an Artillery Weapon, Italy, 27 December 1943

Men of the 401st Bomb Group look over a North American P-51 'Mustang' at an 8th Air Force base in England, 27 December 1943. The aircraft is from the 353rd FS, 354th FG.

Looking Over a North American P-51 'Mustang'

The Attack on the German Cargo Ship Alsterufer by Liberator BZ796 of 311 Sqn, 27 December 1943

Men of 99 Medium Battery, 74 Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery struggle to bring a 5.5 inch medium field gun into action through thick mud in the Camino area, Monte Camino, Italy - 1943

Royal Artillery Gun Crew

German Machine Gun Squad Firing an MG 42, Yugoslavia, December 1943