Air Operations, Carolines

• VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.
• 19 XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Sorol and Yap atolls.
• XIII Bomber Command B-24s attack targets in the Woleai Atoll while conducting armed-reconnaissance flights.

Air Operations, CBI

• 8 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s airlift fuel to Kamaing.

• 341st Medium Bombt Group B-25s and 14th Air Force fighter-bombers complete more than 160 sorties against river and road traffic, port facilities, Japanese Army ground troops, artillery positions, and numerous targets of opportunity in the Tungting Lake region.
• 4 11th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack shipping in the Formosa Strait.
• In the first mission of its kind in the theater, Japanese Army aircraft drop supplies to Japanese Army ground forces at Sung Shan on the Salween River front.

• 52 10th Air Force B-25s airlift ammunition to Imphal.

Air Operations, Europe

• 104 Halifaxes of No. 4 Group and 5 Mosquitos and 2 Lancasters of the Pathfinders attack the V-weapon site at Mimoyecques. Bombing conditions are good and 2 large explosions are seen on the ground.
• There are no losses.

• 721 aircraft attack 6 flying bomb sites. In this total are 477 Lancasters, 207 Halifaxes and 37 Mosquitos. All raids are believed to have been successful.
• 3 Lancasters are lost.
• 214 Lancasters and 9 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 5 and 8 Groups attack the Vaires and Vitry railway yards. The No. 8 Group on Vaires is particularly accurate, but the Vitry yards are only hit on the western end.
• 4 Lancasters are lost, 2 from each raid.

• 8 Halifaxes lay mines off the Biscay ports, 14 Halifaxes are on Resistance operations, and there are 61 Mosquito patrols and 22 RCM sorties.
• 2 Mosquitos are lost but the patrols claim 6 night fighters shot down.

Air Operations, Marianas

• Task Force 58 carrier aircraft attack shipping in Apra Harbor, Guam.
• 318th Fighter Group P-47s attack Japanese Army ground forces and other targets on Rota, Saipan, and Tinian.
• A VF(N)-101 F4U night-fighter downs a Ki-21 'Sally' bomber over the US carriers at 2035 hours.
• During the night, 6 G4M 'Betty' bombers from Palau Island, 3 G4M 'Bettys' from the Truk Atoll, and 2 B6N 'Jill' torpedo bombers from Guam mount a coordinated attack against Isely Field on Saipan and US ships off Saipan. Of more than 20 bombs dropped, none finds a target and 2 of the bombers are downed.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, A-26s, and A-20s, and V Fighter Command P-47s and P-40s attack various targets at Babo, Biak Island, Manokwari, Moemi, Noemfoor Island, Ransiki, and Waren.
• 5th Air Force and RAAF light bombers and fighter-bombers attack numerous targets in the Wewak area.
• V Bomber Command B-24s assigned to attack Noemfoor Island are grounded by bad weather over the Nadzab-area bases.

Atlantic

During the night the German armed trawlers M.4611 and V.213 gallantly engage the destroyers Eskimo and Huron off Jersey.

Axis Diplomacy

The Germans announce that they have concluded successful talks with the Finns and promised them help against the Russians. On June 28 Keitel arrives in Finland to organize this.

Eastern Front

The Soviet advance goes on. Near Vitebsk the German pocket is whittled down still more. In the center of the offensive Orsha is taken by troops of the 3 Belorussian Fronts commanded by Marshal Zhukov. Orsha was one of the main bastions of the German line, and is on the direct rail and highway to Minsk. To the left the Dniepr is crossed north and south of Mogilev and near Bobryusk another pocket is surrounded.

The Soviet 7th Army captures Petrozavodsk as the Finns continue to fall back east of Lake Ladoga.

The last remnants of the German LIII Corps - 35,000 troops - are wiped out. As XII, XXVII and XXXIX Corps of the German 4th Army withdraw, a tank battle erupts between the 5th Panzer Div and 5th Guards Tank Army near Borisov. Meanwhile, a breakout attempt by 9th Army's XXXV Corps from Bobruisk is shattered by the Soviet 3rd Army and 16th Air Army. The 9th Army itself is being torn apart.[MORE]

Germany, Home Front

The first large Type XXI electro-submarine is commissioned: U-2501. [ | ]

Italy

The British X Corps advances in the sector contained between the east bank of Lake Trasimene and the Tiber River, following the general retreat of the German 10th Army from the 'Albert' Line.

Marianas

On Saipan the Americans capture some positions in the Purple Heart Peak sector, west of Mount Tapotchau. In the south, all Japanese resistance comes to an end at Point Nafutan where more than 500 Japanese bodies are counted.

New Guinea

On Biak the Americans complete the mopping up of the western caves so putting an end to surprise attacks. Minor skirmishes occur in the sectors of the other beachheads, Sarmi and Aitape.

Western Front

The capture of Cherbourg is completed and at last the Allies have access to a major port. It will, however, be some time before the port can be made operational because of booby traps and demolitions. Units of the 4th and 9th Divs advance toward Cap-Lévy, east of town, and Cap de la Hague, the extreme northwest of the Cotentin peninsula.

In the British 2nd Army sector the attack of the 49th Div of XXX Corps west of Caen continues with the capture of Rauray. A counterattack by the 9th Panzer SS Div is repulsed. East of the 49th Div the British VIII Corps succeeds in establishing a small bridgehead over the Odon, adding to the threat to the enemy in the area of Grainville. This is the beginning of Operation EPSOM, which aims at taking Caen from the south.

Images from June 27, 1944

British Troops Marching Through Bayeux, with the Cathedral in the Background, 27 June 1944

A British casualty is brought back to a Universal Carrier being used to evacuate wounded, 49th (West Riding) Division, Operation 'Epsom', Normandy, 27 June 1944

Evacuating the Wounded

A Marine pauses in a Japanese shrine garden on Saipan to make faces at a "mad lion" statue which seems to have escaped the rain of shells and bullets in that area

A Marine Pauses in a Japanese Shrine Garden

27 June 1944: German PoWs Being Held in One of the Forts in Cherbourg

A Loyd carrier and 6-pdr anti-tank gun of the Durham Light Infantry, 49th (West Riding) Division parked alongside a knocked-out German Panther tank during Operation 'Epsom', 27 June 1944.

A Loyd Carrier and 6-pdr Anti-tank Gun

Men of the Durham Light Infantry, 49th (West Riding) Division 'advance' past a knocked-out German Panther tank during Operation 'Epsom', 27 June 1944

Men of the Durham Light Infantry

A Panther ausf.A. tank up-ended during the Allied heavy bomber attack at the start of Operation 'Epsom,' June 1944

Destroyed German Tank

German remote-controlled tracked vehicle used to deliver a demolition charge, captured by 51st Highland Division troops at Benouville, 27 June 1944

German Remote-controlled Tracked Vehicle

A motorcycle despatch rider passes a knocked-out Sherman tank and behind, a German Panther at Fontenay-le-Pesnel, 27 June 1944

Despatch Rider in Fontenay-le-Pesnel

A 6-pdr anti-tank gun crew of the Durham Light Infantry, 49th (West Riding) Division inspect a knocked-out German Panther tank during Operation 'Epsom', 27 June 1944

A 6-pdr Anti-tank Gun Crew

A 17-pdr anti-tank gun in position at Norrey-en-Bessin during Operation 'Epsom', 27 June 1944. The crew had just destroyed a Panther tank from 3.Kompanie 12th SS-Hitlerjugend during a German counter-attack

A 17-pdr Anti-tank Gun in Position

Entrance to the East Caves, near the village of Mokmer on Biak. Likely taken on or after 27 June 1944, when the Japanese were evicted from the area

Entrance to the East Caves