Air Operations, Carolines

• Carrier aircraft from Task Group 58.2 and 58.3 attack various targets in the Palau Islands.
• Carrier aircraft from Task Group 58.1 attack and photograph Fais Island, Ngulu Island, and the Sorol, Ulithi, and Yap atolls.
• FEAF B-24s attack the Woleai Atolll.
• VII Bomber Command B-24s attack the Truk Atoll.

Air Operations, CBI

• More than 40 10th Air Force fighter-bombers attack Kamaing, Mogaung, Myitkyina, Taungni, and a bridge at Sahmaw.
• A US Army ground force captures Myitkyina airfield's northern airstrip.

• 17 14th Air Force P-40s attack shipping on the Yangtze River and Tungting Lake, road traffic near Changsha, and Japanese Army forces and facilities around Nanyo.
• 51st Fighter Group P-40s and a 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron P-51 down 3 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters in an afternoon engagement over the Tungting Lake area.

Air Operations, East Indies

• 80 22nd, 43rd, and 90th Heavy Bomb group B-24s, escorted by 4 P-38 squadrons, attack the Lolobata and Miti airfields at Halmahera.
• 44 38th and 345th Medium Bomb group B-25s, escorted by 2 P-38 squadrons, attack the Galela airfield at Halmahera from very low level.
• 345th Medium Bomb Group B-25s mount two anti-shipping sweeps over the Halmahera area.
• 4 P-38 squadrons attack the Halmahera airdromes. The only loss is a malfunctioning P-38 that ditches but whose pilot is rescued by a PBY.
• 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack the Cape Chater and Dili airfields on Timor.
• V Fighter Command P-38s down 14 Japanese Army fighters and 1 Ki-48 'Lily' bomber over the Molucca Islands between 1125 and 1300 hours.
• During the night, 63rd Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack targets on Ceram and Halmahera.

Air Operations, Europe

• 36 Lancaster, 24 Halifaxes and 12 Mosquitos of Nos. 3 and 8 groups attack 5 V-weapon sites. All targets are covered in cloud and most of the bombing is 'confused and scattered'. Some of the Stirlings on this raid, from No. 218 Squadron, are fitted with the G-H blind-bombing device and they use this in the attack on one of the sites. This is the first use of the 'G-H leader' technique.
• No aircraft are lost.

• 30 Mosquitos are sent to Stuttgart and 12 aircraft are on Resistance ops.
• There are no losses.

Air Operations, Marianas

41st Medium Bomb Group B-25 gunships and 318th Fighter Group P-47s support US Marine ground forces on Tinian.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-24s and B-25s attack Babo, Kaiboes Bay, Kokas, Moemi, and Ransiki.
• A-20s attack fuel dumps at Nabire.
• B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack numerous coastal targets around Aitape, Cape Moem, and Wewak.
• P-39s attack troops and small vessels near Geelvink Bay.
• The 13th Air Force’s 2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron, in OA-10s, flies its first rescue mission in the Geelvink Bay area.

Burma-China

The Chinese and Americans capture the airfield north of Myitkyina, where the garrison is beginning to show signs of weariness. On the Salween front the Chinese mop up the area of Lai-feng Peak, captured the previous day, counting 400 Japanese dead. The Chinese have lost 1,200 killed.

Eastern Front

In the northern sector units of the 2nd Baltic Front under Andrei Yeremenko capture Rezekne and Daugavpils on the Daugava River, in southern Latvia. The 2nd Belorussian Front under Matvei Zakharov, after a week of bloody fighting, seizes Bialystok, while armored columns form the 1st Ukraine Front under Konev takes takes Lvov and Stanislav 70 miles to the south. The German North Ukraine Army Group also has to fall back after sustaining severe losses.

The Soviet 4th Shock Army takes Daugavpils, and the 10th Guards Army captures Rezekne.

Attempts by the 3rd Panzer Army to hold Siauliai fail as the town is taken by the Soviet 51st Army.

The Soviet 28th, 65th and 70th Armies attack and encircle the German 2nd Army in Brest-Litovsk. As the Polish 1st Army joins the 2nd Tank Army to consolidate the bridgehead on the Vistula, the 69th Army reaches the river at Pulawy. Meanwhile, Lvov is abandoned by the Germans.[MORE]

Germany, Home Front

Hitler organizes a new mobilization effort 'to adapt in every respect the entire public life to the necessities of total warfare.' Göring is named director of mobilization, Goebbels as his assistant, and Himmler as 'dictator of the home front.'

Guam

The Marines slowly proceed with the mopping up of the Orote peninsula. They succeed in extending their northern beachhead in some sectors, but are held up just past the edge of the plateau that spreads inland from the Chonito bluffs. To speed up the linking of the 2 beachheads the 77th Div is ordered to take Mount Tenjo by assault; this important position lies between the 2 bridgeheads.

Italy

The Germans withdraw toward Florence, while the New Zealand 2nd Div captures San Casciano.

Pacific

US carrier-based aircraft sink the Japanese transports Nos. 1 and 150 in the Palau Islands area.

Tinian

The northern third of the island is in American hands. Work begins on the newly taken airfield at Ushi Point.

Western Front

US troops break through west of St Lô. In the western sector of the front the 79th Div overruns Lessay, the 80th pushes southward between Lessay and Périers, and the 90th Div occupies Périers and crosses the Taute River. Units of the VII Corps also continue to advance to the south.

Images from July 27, 1944

German soldiers, taken POW by the US 4th Armored Division, are under guard in the ruins of the French city of Coutances on July 27, 1944

German POWs in Coutances

A Sniper Applying Camouflage Face Cream at a Sniper School in a Normandy Village, 27 July 1944

MP Lt. Paul Unger, 2nd Armoured Division, searching the POW SS-Untersturmführer Kurt Peters, III. in the area of Notre Dame de Cenilly of Saint Lô, France. 27 July 1944

Searching a German POW

Snipers Training at a Sniper School in a French Village, 27 July 1944

Advancing Marines use a TD-18 diesel tractor pulling a trailer loaded with ammunition and water along a twisting road leading up to the front lines, Guam, 27 July 1944

Moving Up to the Front Line on Guam

Cpl, A. Franzaki Passes Out Mail to GIs in an Old Barn West of St. Lo, 27 July 1944

Lt-Gen Mark Clark of the 5th Army pins ribbon awards to each member of the 100th Infantry Battalion to designate the Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation. Vada Area, Italy. (27 July 1944)

Receiving Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation

First Gloster Meteor Sortie, Flying Officer Bill McKenzie RCAF of 616 Squadron, 27 July 1944

Private Sam J. Abbott of Chicago in position in a ditch, his finger on the trigger of his Browning machine gun. On 27 July 1944, after Operation COBRA breakthrough.

Browning Maching Gun Ready

Soviet Soldiers in Lviv, Toward the End of July 1944

Soldiers Searching for a German Sniper, 27 July, 1944

Wounded Marines are loaded aboard amphibious tractor or DUKW for transfer to hospital ship off Guam, following first aid on the beach. 27 July 1944

Wounded Marines Being Transferred to Hospital Ship