Air Operations, Europe

There are very heavy day and night raids on the marshalling yards in western Germany. Freiburg is severely damaged in a night raid.

• 169 Lancasters of No. 3 Group carries out a G-H raid on the Kalk Nord railway yards at Cologne. Good results are observed.
• 1 Lancaster is lost.

• 341 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitos of Nos. 1 and 8 Groups are sent to Freiburg. Freiburg is not an industrial town and has not been bombed before by the RAF. It is attacked on this night because it is a minor railway center and because many German troops are believed to be present in the town; American and French units are advancing in the Vosges, only 35 miles to the west. The marking of the medium-sized town is based on Oboe directed from caravans situated in France. Flak defences are light and 1,900 tons of bombs are dropped on Freiburg in 25 minutes. Photographs show that the railway targets are not hit but that the main town area is severely damaged.
• 1 Lancaster is lost.
• 290 aircraft including 173 Halifaxes, 102 Lancasters and 15 Mosquitos of Nos. 1, 6 and 8 Groups are sent to Neuss. The central and eastern districts of Neuss are heavily bombed and many fires are started.
• 1 Mosquito is lost.

• 67 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin, 7 each to Hallendorf and Ludwigshafen, and 5 to Nuremberg, 18 Halifaxes and 12 Lancasters lay mines off the Danish and Norwegian coasts, and there are 61 Mosquito patrols and 35 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.
• ??RAF Bomber Command uses the 12,000lb Tallboy bomb for the first time against a German city when it raids Munich. More than 600 buildings are destroyed or rendered useless.

Air Operations, Pacific

The second B-29 raid on the Musashi plant in Tokyo is carried out. The Japanese make a retaliatory strike against the Saipan base. Kamikazes attack US battleships in Leyte Gulf.

Atlantic

The prison ship Rigel, carrying 2,248 Russians, is sunk by British carrier planes off Norway. There are 415 survivors.

Britain, Home Front

4,000 tons of bombs explode in an underground dump at Hanbury, Burton-on-Trent, killing 70 people and hundreds of cattle.

China

Chiang Kai-shek refuses to permit US munitions to be shipped to Chinese Communist forces, as proposed by Gen Albert C. Wedemeyer.

Pacific

Two US submarines, the Escolar (SS-294) and the Shark (SS-314), are reported as presumed lost in the Pacific Ocean area.

Palau Islands

After months of warfare and guerilla war, hostilities finally end on Peleliu. Some 13,600 Japanese have lost their lives defending the islands - Peleliu, Anguar and the surrounding islets. The Americans of the 81st Div and the 1st Marines have lost 1,792 killed and over 8,000 wounded.

Philippines

On Leyte, the Americans counterattack all along the line. The Japanese are also preparing a powerful offensive with the object of recapturing the airfield in the area of Burauen, in the center of the island.

The battleship Colorado (BB-45) and 2 light cruisers, the St Louis (CL-49) and the Montpelier (CL-57), are damaged in suicide attacks in Leyte Gulf. The US submarine chaser SC-744 is sunk by a suicide plane in the Leyte Gulf area.

United States, Politics

Cordell Hull resigns his post as Secretary of State because of ill health. Edward Stettinius is appointed as his successor.

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Western Front

Units of the 2nd Arm Div, XIX Corps, 9th Army, complete mopping up in the Merzenhausen sector, while the 29th Div completes the same operation toward the Rur River

Mopping up operations also in the Weiseweiler-Frenz area, which the 104th Div of the VII Corps, 1st Army, reached the previous day.

In the US 3rd Army sector, the 10th Arm Div breaks off its action in the direction of Saarburg, in order to dislodge the German forces that had filtered into Tettingen. The 90th Div halts in the vicinity of the Saar and gets ready for the assault to force the passage of the river. The 95th Div makes rapid progress and patrols from the 377th Regt come within a mile or two of the German frontier. The 80th Div, XII Corps, enters St Avold on the Metz-Saarbrücken road.

Gen Eisenhower orders Gen Patch's 7th Army to turn north to support Patton's 3rd Army in the capture of the Saar basin. While the 100th Div, XV Corps, arrives in the Saarburg sector, the 3rd Div, VI Corps, replaces the French 2nd Arm Div at Strasbourg.

Images from November 27, 1944

Cock Inn Hanbury - Fauld explosion 27 November 1944. Staffordshire military accident.

Staffordshire Military Accident

Then all hell breaks loose on our city

Bombing of Freiburg

B-29s Burning at Isley Field, 27 November 1944

Aftermath of the Japanese Attack on Isley Field, 27 November 1944

A German V-2 rocket attack mortally wounds a young boy at an intersection in Antwerp, Belgium, 27 November 1944

German V-2 Rocket Attack on Antwerp

On November 27, 1944, the British laid a devastating bombing, the Old Town of Freiburg in ruins

Bombing of Freiburg

Liberators from the 93rd Bomb Group other way to bomb Nazi installations, 27 November 1944

Liberators from the 93rd Bomb Group

Large parts of the old town of Freiburg be destroyed, 27 November 1944

Bombing of Freiburg