USA: An overflow crowd of 55,000 Jews attend a protest rally against Adolf Hitler at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Parallel events are held in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia and 70 other locations.
Spotlight...
Anti-Nazi War Declarations and Protests
Jews in New York City held an anti-Hitler rally in Madison Square Garden under the leadership of Rabbi Stephen S Weis.
Before the meeting, Jewish newspapers in New York had been full of Jewish war declarations on Germany and verbal assaults against Hitler.
Jewish leaders in America will go on to debate the effectiveness of these rallies and protests and will conclude that they just might be making a bad situation for European Jews even worse, and will call off further public demonstrations.
Germany: The Enabling Act, which gives Hitler near-dictatorial powers, comes into effect.
CBI - China: Day 86 of 142 of the 1st Battle of Hebei.
1937 — , March 27
Spain: Day 254 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
1938 — , March 27
Spain: Day 619 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
CBI - China: Day 264 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 49 of 124 of the Battle of Henan.
Day 4 of 15 of the Battle of Taierzhuang. Japanese troops begin entering the town as Chinese troops force the Japanese to fight for every block.
Day 4 of 39 of the Battle of Xuzhou.
1939 — , March 27
UK: At a Foreign Policy Committee meeting of the British Cabinet, the Ministers decide to side with Poland, rather than try for a multi-nation agreement involving the Soviet Union.
Eastern Front: Day 5 of 13 of the Slovak-Hungarian War, aka the Little War.
Spain: Day 984 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
CBI - China: Day 629 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 11 of 54 of the Battle of Nanchang. Japanese troops capture Nanchang, Jiangxi Province.
1940 — , March 27
ETO - France: The French government makes a request to the Soviet Union to recall their ambassador to Paris.
CBI - China: Day 995 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 134 of 381 of the Battle of South Guangxi.
Day 60 of 67 of the Battle of Wuyuan. Chinese troops continue to evacuate Wuyuan.
1941 — , March 27
USA: Congress approves $7,000,000,000 for the Lend-Lease program.
USA: American and British representatives meet in Washington DC.
Atlantic: German sub U-98 sinks British ship KORANTON 400 miles southwest of Iceland, killing the entire crew of 34.
Atlantic: Oberleutnant (Senior Lieutenant) zur See Helmut Pöttgen of German sub U-46 falls overboard from the U-boat and is lost.
ETO - UK: Day 203 of 258 of the Blitz.
Germany: Adolf Hitler orders Operation BARBAROSSA to be postponed due to changing political situations in the Balkan Peninsula.
Germany: The Japanese Minister meets with the German Minister in Berlin. Germany tells Japan that the US is too intimidated by the Axis to go to war, even if Japan invades and takes British Asia.
MTO - Yugoslavia: A coup in Yugoslavia is led by General Simonic. They overthrow the pro-Germans giving control to Prince Paul and King Petar II, who forms a new cabinet. Hitler orders an invasion on Yugoslavia and instructs his ministers to rally support from Hungary, Bulgaria and Italy.
East Africa: Day 291 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt.
East Africa - Eritrea: Day 51 of 56 of the Battle of Keren. Allied tanks drive into Keren as the Italians flee toward Asmara.
PTO - Hawaii: Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa arrives at Hawaii aboard the passenger liner NITTA MARU under the guise of a diplomat.
CBI - China: Day 1,360 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 14 of 27 of the Battle of Shanggao.
CBI - Thailand: Day 178 of 221 of the Franco-Thai War (Vichy France vs Thailand).
1942 — , March 27
USA: "Voluntary evacuation" ends and the first mass-action against Japanese-Americans imposes travel restrictions and a mandatory night-time curfew between 8 pm and 6 am along the west coast.
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Dates related to civilian internment...
12 May 40: UK begins internment of German civilians
14 Jan 42: Japanese-Canadians ordered to vacate BC
14 Jan 42: FDR orders all aliens to register with government
Atlantic: Day 73 of 169 of Germany's Second "Happy Time," during which U-boats sink 609 Allied ships with little risk.
A German U-boat sinks the SS CAROLYN off the Virginia coast.
Germany: Joseph Goebbels writes in his diary that "a fairly barbaric process is utilized. Of the Jews themselves, not much remains."
Germany: The start of deportation of French Jews to Auschwitz begins.
Russian Front - North: Day 201 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 48 of 102 of the Battle of the Demyansk Pocket, another failed attempt to break the siege at Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 64 of 103 of the Battle of the Kholm Pocket. Another attempt to break the siege at Leningrad.
Russian Front - Center: Day 79 of 103 of the Battle of Vyazma, Russia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 79 of 103 of the Battle of Sychevsk, Russia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 25 of 49 of the Battle of Rzhev, Russia, a diversion to pull more German troops away from Moscow.
Russian Front - South: Day 149 of 248 of the Siege of Sevastopol, Crimean Peninsula.
CBI - Burma: Day 104 of 164 of Japan's Invasion of Burma. Japanese aircraft and artillery bombard the Chinese positions at Taungoo.
CBI - China: Day 1,725 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 94 of 99 of the 3rd Battle of Changsha.
PTO - Borneo: Day 102 of 107 of the Battle of Borneo.
PTO - Malaya: Day 37 of 357 of the Battle of Timor Island.
PTO - Philippines: Day 110 of 152 of the 1st Battle of the Philippines. 5th Air Force provides air support. Japanese Navy planes continue bombing Corregidor. The Filipino Government-in-exile arrives in Australia.
1943 — , March 27
Lithuania: The SS carries out a "Kinder Aktion" (Children Operation) in a concentration camp outside Vilnius, rounding up the majority of the camp's 250 children and transporting them away to be killed. German Major Karl Plagge, who had been discretely trying to care for and save them, is away on leave and is unable to prevent the atrocity.
Spotlight...
Major Karl Plagge, one of the good ones
Wehrmacht officer, engineer and Nazi Party member Major Karl Plagge used his position as a staff officer to employ and protect some 1,240 Jews - 500 men, the others women and children, in order to give them a better chance to survive the nearly total annihilation of Lithuania's Jews that took place between 1941-1944.
On being drafted into the Heer at the beginning of World War II, he was put in command of an engineering unit, HKP562, whose duties involved repairing military vehicles damaged on the eastern front. Plagge and his unit arrived in Vilnius (Vilna) in July 1941 and soon witnessed the genocide being carried out against the Jews of the area. Plagge would later testify that "I saw unbelievable things that I could not support... it was then that I began to work against the Nazis."
Plagge felt responsible for some of the horrors he witnessed and felt compelled to work against the genocidal machine. He supported his workers' survival by procuring extra food rations and supplying hot meals to the workers in his workshops (an unusual measure) to supplement their starvation rations. He also allowed his Jewish male workers to barter for food with his men as well as local gentiles within the workshops so that they could smuggle food back to their families in the ghetto (an illegal activity).
Plagge also aided the survival of the Jews under his jurisdiction by providing warm clothing, medical supplies and firewood - all scarce commodities. On several occasions he and his subordinate officers helped secure the freedom of some of his workers or their family members when they were arrested during SS sweeps of the ghetto.
In 2005 the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial posthumously bestowed the title "Righteous Among the Nations" on Plagge, who passed away in 1957. Like Oskar Schindler, Plagge blamed himself for not having done enough.
Major Karl Plagge related dates...
27 Mar 43: Plagge is away, unable to prevent SS "Kinder Aktion" atrocity
16 Sep 43: Forms slave labor camp to move 1,000 Jews to relative safety
01 Jul 44: Warns Jewish prisoners that SS will be coming in to kill them
Righteous people and the saving of Jews from the Holocaust...
Russian Front - North: Day 566 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 46 of 51 of the USSR's Operation POLAR STAR, a failed offensive north of Leningrad, hoping to take the southern shore of Lake Ladoga, Russia.
Russian Front - North: Day 327 of 658 of the Siege of the Kholm Pocket, USSR lays siege to the Kholm Pocket but the Germans hold out for a about a year and a half.
Russian Front - Center: Day 26 of 30 of the 3rd Battle of Rzhev-Sychevka, Russia.
MTO - Tunisia: Day 131 of 178 of the Battle of Tunisia. RAF and US Air Forces provide Allied air support. Day 12 of 12 of the UK's Operation PUGILIST. The Mareth line is completely smashed and the Axis retreats toward El Hamma. Day 5 of 16 of the Battle of El Guettar.
CBI - Burma: Day 97 of 104 of the 1st Battle of Arakan. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
CBI - Burma: Day 48 of 79 of the Allied Operation LONGCLOTH.
CBI - China: Day 2,090 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
PTO - Alaska: Day 294 of 435 of the Battle of Kiska, Aleutian Islands.
PTO - Alaska: The US Navy defeats the Japanese in the Naval Battle off the Komandorski Islands, Aleutian Islands.
1944 — , March 27
ETO - UK: The government of the United Kingdom bans foreign travel.
ETO - France: Total credited victories for American fighter pilot Francis "Gabby" Gabreski reaches 18, with 6 multiple-kill missions. He now ranks third in Fighter Command's "ace race."
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Gabby Gabreski related dates...
03 Feb 43: First aerial combat (RAF), too excited to make a kill
24 Aug 43: Flying with the US, gets first credited kill
26 Nov 43: His 4th and 5th kills earn him status of Ace
27 Mar 44: Victory credits total 18 with 6 multi-kill missions
22 May 44: Shoots down 3 Luftwaffe Fw-190s in single mission
27 Jun 44: Ties record with Bob Johnson in "ace race"
05 Jul 44: Becomes America's leading Ace with 28 confirmed kills
20 Jul 44: Flies "just one more" and crash lands in Germany
25 Jul 44: After five days on the run, Gabby is taken POW
Related WWII Store items (Fighter Aces of WWII)...
Douglas Bader Reach for the Sky: The Story of Douglas Bader, Legless Ace of the Battle of Britain
George Beurling Malta Spitfire: The Diary of an Ace Fighter Pilot
Dick Bong Ace of Aces: The Story of Fighter Pilot Dick Bong
ETO - France: The Vichy French government allows its citizens to join the German SS organization.
ETO - France: US 8th Air Force B-17s and B-24s bomb airfields while the US 9th Air Force B-26s attack V-weapon sites.
Russian Front - North: Day 55 of 191 of the Battle of the Narva Isthmus, Estonia. Both German and Soviet troops in the Baltic region remain in a defensive position.
Russian Front - Center: German SS troops massacres all Jewish children under the age of 13 in Kovno, Lithuania.
Russian Front - South: Day 95 of 113 of the USSR's Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive in southwestern Ukraine.
Russian Front - South: Day 24 of 45 of the Battle of Chernovtsy, Ukraine.
Russian Front - South: Day 3 of 15 of the Battle of Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket, Ukraine.
Russian Front - South: Day 22 of 44 of the Battle of Snigirevka, Ukraine.
Russian Front - South: Day 2 of 20 of the Battle of Odessa, Ukraine. Through a blizzard, the Soviets continue their drive toward Odessa.
MTO - Italy: Day 71 of 123 of the Battle of Monte Cassino. Bad weather keeps both sides fairly idle.
MTO - Italy: Day 66 of 136 of the Battle of Anzio. Bad weather keeps both sides fairly idle.
CBI: US 14th Air Force attacks targets in French Indochina and China.
CBI - Burma: Day 89 of 99 of the 2nd Battle of Arakan.
CBI - Burma: Day 23 of 166 of the UK's Operation THURSDAY. Japanese troops attack the BROADWAY site.
CBI - Burma: Day 18 of 147 of the Battle of Myitkyina. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
CBI - China: Day 2,456 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
CBI - India: Day 20 of 118 of the Battle of Imphal-Kohima.
PTO - Marshall Islands: US 7th Air Force attack targets in the Marshalls.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 28 of 80 of the Battle of the Admiralty Islands. 5th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 191 of 219 of the Battle of Shaggy Ridge. 5th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 104 of 597 of the Battle of New Britain. US 13th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - Solomon Islands: Day 148 of 295 of the Battle of the Bougainville Islands. US 13th Air Force provides air support.
1945 — , March 27
ETO UK: In London, a German V-2 rocket hits Ilford and a second one hits Hughes Mansions, Stepney, killing 134. The 1,115th and last V-2 rocket to reach England during the war lands on Kynaston Road, Orpington, Kent, killing 34 year old Mrs Ivy Millichamp in her home.
Spotlight...
The scene on Kynaston Road, Orpington, Kent, of the last V-2 rocket to strike England
Ivy Mildred Millichamp, 34, the last British V-2 victim
V-1 related dates...
12 Mar 44: Swedes investigate crashed V-1 from station 40 miles away
13 Jun 44: First V-1 Flying Bomb attack on England, 4 of 11 hit targets
16 Jun 44: V-1 offensive begins in earnest as 244 flying bombs strike England
19 Jun 44: Air Ministry releases the first official V-1 details
04 Aug 44: First RAF pilot destroys a V-1 flying bomb by tipping its wing
02 Sep 44: Allied advance forces V-1 rocket bases in France to cease
06 Sep 44: Battle of London ends after 80 days of V-1 rocket attacks
V-2 related dates...
20 Aug 41: Adolf Hitler authorizes the development of the V-2 missile
18 Mar 42: First A-4 rocket explodes during combustion chamber test
23 Mar 42: Von Braun's team launches first successful test of an A-4 rocket
22 Apr 43: A British Mosquito photographs German rockets at Peenemunde
27 Jun 43: British Chiefs of Staff circulate V-2 rocket report
28 Jun 43: RAF reconnaissance plane identifies Peenemunde V-2 launch site
13 Aug 43: Factory making V-2 parts bombed, setting program back
20 May 44: Polish underground captures, dismantles V-2 intact, sends to UK
08 Sep 44: First of over 3,000 German V-2 rockets hit Paris and London
27 Mar 45: The 1,115th and last V-2 rocket reaches England
02 May 45: Wernher von Braun surrenders in Austria to US troops
Rocket Man: Robert H Goddard and the Birth of the Space Age
Argentina: Argentina declares war on the Axis alliance. The interned sailors of the ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE (since Dec 1939) are now considered prisoners of war.
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Dates related to Latin America in WWII...
05 Jul 41: Peru and Ecuador go to war against each other
19 Dec 41: Colombia severs diplomatic relations with Germany and Italy
21 May 42: Mexico declares war against the Axis powers
22 Aug 42: Brazil declares war on Germany and Italy, sends troops
ETO - France: Day 240 of 284 of the Battle of Brittany.
ETO - France: Day 194 of 236 of the Siege of Dunkirk.
ETO - Germany: US 8th Air Force targets the Valentin U-boat pens near Bremen with 10-ton "Grand Slam" bombs, with 2 successfully penetrating the thick concrete roof.
ETO - Germany: Day 21 of 46 of the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket. The Germans launch a counter-attack from Frankfurt toward Küstrin but they barely get out of the city. US 3rd Army captures Aschaffenburg. US 9th Air Force provides air support.
ETO - Germany: Day 36 of 36 consecutive RAF night raids on Berlin.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 194 of 223 of the Lapland War. Finland and Russia have joined forces to kick the Germans out of Finland's most northern province.
Russian Front - Center: Day 164 of 206 of the Battle of the Courland Pocket in Latvia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 62 of 75 of the Battle of Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia).
Russian Front - Center: Day 61 of 63 of the Battle of the Heiligenbeil Pocket in East Prussia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 46 of 54 of the Battle of East Pomerania, Germany. Bitter street fighting in Danzig continues as the Soviets force their way into the city.
Russian Front - Center: Day 43 of 83 of the German Siege of Breslau (today Wroclaw, Poland).
Russian Front - Center: Day 13 of 17 of the USSR's Upper Silesian Offensive in Germany (today Poland).
Russian Front - South: Day 2 of 21 of the Battle of Nagykanizsa-Körmend, western Hungary.
Russian Front - South: Day 15 of 34 of the Battle of Vienna, Austria.
MTO - Italy: RAF and US Air Forces provide air support for the Allied ground units.
CBI: US 14th Air Force attacks targets throughout China, Burma, and French Indochina.
CBI - Burma: Day 52 of 99 of the Battle of Pakokku and Irrawaddy River operations in central Burma. The US 10th Air Force provides air support.
CBI - China: Day 2,821 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
PTO: Before dawn, the USS ROCK sinks a Japanese destroyer escort, but the sinking is not confirmed, therefore goes uncredited.
PTO - Japan: US 20th Air Force B-29s fly their first raid in support of the upcoming Okinawa invasion, hitting Tachiarai Army Airfield, Oita Naval Airfield and the Omura aircraft factory on Kyushu Island.
PTO - Japan: US 7th Air Force attacks targets on Chichi Jima Island in the Bonin Islands.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 456 of 597 of the Battle of New Britain. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 340 of 481 of the Battle of Western New Guinea. US 10th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - Philippines: Day 159 of 299 of the 2nd Battle of the Philippines, aka the Liberation of the Philippines or the Philippines Campaign.
PTO - Philippines: Day 103 of 244 of the Battle of Luzon. 5th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - Philippines: Day 18 of 159 of the Battle of Mindanao Island. 5th Air Force provides air support.
PTO - Philippines: Day 10 of 135 of the Battle of the Visayas region. 5th Air Force provides air support.
Day-By-Day listings for March 27 were last modified on Friday, February 23, 2018
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