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.

• 34 3rd Bomb Division B-24s attack a sighals depot in Brussels.
• 12 B-24s attack several targets of opportunity, but 79 bombers dispatched on this mission return to base after being thwarted by low-lying haze.

• 20 3rd Bomb Division B-24s attack the coastal batteries at Gravelines.
• 193 VIII Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack rail targets and traffic south of Amiens nad Rouen.
• 4 fighters and their pilots are lost

• 9th Air Force fighters and fighter-bombers attack military installations, gun emplacements, and other tactical targets in and around the expanding battle area.
• IX TAC fighter pilots down 8 Luftwaffe fighters over France between 1220 and 2130 hours.
• During the night, IX TAC fighter-bombers seed selected road junctions in the German Army area of operations with delayed-action bombs.

• During the night, XII TAC A-20s attack motor vehicles and lights encountered while on area patrol over northern Italy.

• 366 15th Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack armaments factories in and around Budapest.
• 24 B-24s attack a marshalling yard at Pecs.
• 14 Axis fighters are downed between 0933 and 1013 hours by pilots of the 52nd, 325th, and 332nd Fighter Groups.

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.
• The US submarine Dace (SS-247) attacks a Japanese convoy about 90 miles south of Zamboanga and sinks the fleet tanker No.2 Kyoei Maru (1157t).

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 POWs in Coutances

At a Sniper School in a Normandy Village

Searching a German POW

Snipers Training

Moving Up to the Front Line on Guam

Passing Out GI Mail

Receiving Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation

First Gloster Meteor Sortie

Browning Maching Gun Ready

Soviet Soldiers in Lviv

Searching for a German Sniper

Wounded Marines Being Transferred to Hospital Ship