Posted on 03/27/2012 4:25:51 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
* John Lardner was the sportswriter son of the legendary sportswriter Ring Lardner. His Wikipedia entry says he also worked as a war correspondent, dispatching from Europe and Africa. As we see from this article they missed a continent.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/mar42/f27mar42.htm
Allied air forces leave Burma bases
Friday, March 27, 1942 www.onwar.com
Japanese soldiers overrun British airfield in BurmaIn Burma... All RAF aircraft and the remainder of Chennault’s American volunteer air force are withdrawn from Burma. Japanese attacks on Toungoo against the Chinese 200th Division continue.
In London... Admiral Somerville is given command of the British Far East Fleet at Ceylon.
In Australia... General Blamey returns to Australia with troops from North Africa. He is appointed to command Allied land forces in Australia.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
March 27th, 1942
Paris: The first transport of Jews leaves for Auschwitz. Georges Wellers, who was himself deported in 1944, describes how the column of prisoners made their way from Drancy to the nearby railway station “in front of numerous local people who stood watching in silence, somber, preoccupied, but discreetly making gestures of encouragement and sympathy. The deportees, particularly thin, their complexion earth-coloured, and their gait tottering, had a shattering effect on the crowd. Nobody was yet used to such sights ...”
FRANCE: In the attack on St. Nazaire, France, Lieutenant-Commander Beattie was in command of HMS Campbeltown. Under intense fire directed on the bridge from a range of about 100 yards, and in the full blinding glare of many searchlights, the lieutenant-commander steamed Campbeltown into the lock gates, as instructed, and beached and scuttled her in the correct position. (Victoria Cross)
The St. Nazaire Raid. RAF Bomber Command dispatches 35 Whitleys and 27 Wellingtons to bomb German positions around St Nazaire in support of the naval and Commando raid to destroy the dry-dock gates in the port. The aircraft were ordered to bomb only if the target had clear visibility. Conditions were bad, however, with 10/10ths cloud and icing, and only 4 aircraft bomb at 2330 hours. One aircraft bombs Lannion Airfield
UNITED KINGDOM: A Handley-Page Halifax (V 9977) bomber is the first RAF aircraft to be fitted with the H2S blind-bombing radar device. (22)
The first General Aircraft Hamilcar heavy-lift glider is flown today. This aircraft is the largest and heaviest glider to be used by Allied forces, it can carry a 7-ton tank. The Hamilcar has a crew of two and a hinged nose so vehicles can be driven straight out on landing.(22)
Admiral Sir James Somerville assumes command of the Far East Fleet in Ceylon.
BELGIUM: RAF Bomber Command dispatches 12 Bostons during the day to attack the Ostend power station; there are no losses but their bombs fell into fields short of the target. (Jack McKillop)
NETHERLANDS: During the night of the 27th/28th, RAF Bomber Command dispatches eight Blenheims to attack airfields; two attack Schipol and two attack Soesterburg; one Blenheim attacking the latter target is lost. (Jack McKillop)
GERMANY: During the night of the 27th/28th, 13 of 15 RAF Bomber Command Hampdens lay mines off the northwest German coast; three aircraft are lost. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: HF/DF (”Huff Duff”), radio-location by high-frequency direction finding is used successfully by a British convoy to sink a submarine for the first time.
While covering convoy WS17 in the UK approaches, HMS Leamington sinks U-587 (Type VIIC), in position 47.21N, 21.39W. Also involved are British escort destroyers HMS GROVE and ALDENHAM, and the destroyer HMS VOLUNTEER. 42 crewmen die (all hands). USS Twiggs (DD-127), was commissioned as HMS Leamington (G-19) on 23 Oct. 1940, part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. (Ron Babuka and Alex Gordon)
Aboard the battleship USS Washington (BB-56) en route from Portland, Maine, U.S.A., to Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, Commander Task Force Thirty Nine (TF 39), Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox, taking an unaccompanied walk on deck of his flagship is washed overboard and disappears in a heavy sea. Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen becomes task force commander upon Wilcox’s death. (Jack McKillop)
TheUSN“Q-ship” USS Atik (ex SS Carolyn) is torpedoed and sunk with all 141 crewmen by German submarine U-123 about 350 miles (563 kilometres) east of Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.A., after the “Q-ship’s” gunfire damages the U-boat in a spirited encounter. Atik is the only U.S. Navy warship disguised as a merchantman that is lost to enemy action during World War II. (Jack McKillop)
BURMA: The Chinese 200th Division continues to resist the Japanese onslaughts against Toungoo. On the Irrawaddy River front, the Japanese are massing forces south of Prome. (Jack McKillop)
INDIA: RAF planes withdraw from Akyab Airfield as a result of heavy enemy bombing. (Jack McKillop)
AUSTRALIA: Elements of the Australian 6th Division arrive in Perth, Western Australia, from the Middle East. (Jack McKillop)
General Sir Thomas Blamey is named Commander-in-Chief of Australian Military Forces. (Jack McKillop)
Philippine President Manuel Quezon and members of his cabinet, recently evacuated from Corregidor by the submarine USS Swordfish (SS-193), arrive at Fremantle, Western Australia,. He subsequently goes to the U.S. and forms a government in exile but could do no more than try to boost the morale of the people he left behind. While in the U.S., Quezon serves as a member of the Pacific War Council. He dies of tuberculosis in Saranac Lake, New York, U.S.A., on 1 August1944, 18 days short of his 64th birthday. (Jack McKillop)
The air echelon of the USAAF 30th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) transfers from Melbourne, Victoria, to Cloncurry, Queensland, with B-17 Flying Fortresses; the ground echelon is on Bataan and Mindanao, Philippine Islands. (Jack McKillop)
PACIFIC: Submarine USS Gudgeon (SS-211) sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship in the East China Sea about 140 miles (225 kilometres) west northwest of Sasebo, Japan. (Jack McKillop)
A Japanese collier is sunk by Dutch aircraft off Koepang, Timor, Netherlands East Indies. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.A.: The U.S. Army’s War Plans Division Issues “Plan for Operations in Northwest Europe,” in which a tentative timetable for an invasion of France is offered. The plan calls for (1) a limited cross-Channel attack in the autumn of 1942 (Operation SLEDGEHAMMER) as an emergency measure if Soviet forces show signs of collapsing or (2) the main Anglo-American invasion (Operation ROUNDUP) in the spring of 1943 if SLEDGEHAMMER is not required. The build-up of U.S. forces and supplies in the U.K. for the major cross-Channel attack is coded Operation BOLERO. (Jack McKillop)
One of radio’s first important 15-minute daily soap operas ends today. “Myrt and Marge,” featuring the trials and tribulations of two Chicago chorus girls, premiered on CBS in 1931 and became an immediate hit. Myrtle Vail, who conceived of and starred in the show, convinced chewing-gum maker Wrigley Company to sponsor the show and gave the characters names inspired by gum flavors (Myrtle Spear and Margie Minter). (Jack McKillop)
A very busy day in WWII history today.
bump
The Germans and Russians look like they’ve pretty much spent themselves and have gone to the locker room for the 1st intermission.
General Aircraft Hamilcar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Aircraft_Hamilcar
“The General Aircraft Limited GAL. 49 Hamilcar or Hamilcar Mark I was a large British military glider produced during the Second World War, which was designed to carry heavy cargo, such as the Tetrarch or M22 Locust light tank. When the British airborne establishment was formed in 1940 by the order of the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, it was decided to develop a large glider which would be able to transport heavy equipment in support of airborne troops. General Aircraft Limited were chosen in January 1941 to develop this glider, which they designated the GAL. 49 ‘Hamilcar’ and was designed to transport a single light tank or two Universal Carriers. A number of problems, which included vacillation by the War Office on the number of gliders that it wanted and poor management by GAL, led to delays in the production of the Hamilcar, and the first production glider was only assembled in mid-1943. These problems were only partially solved, and production of the glider continued to be slow, hampered by difficulties in finding suitable locations to store and construct the Hamilcars once their parts were produced. A total of 344 Hamilcars had been built when production ended in 1946.
“Hamilcars were only used on three occasions, and only in support of British airborne forces. They first saw action in June 1944, when approximately thirty were used to carry 17-pounder anti-tank guns, transport vehicles and Tetrarch light tanks into Normandy in support of British airborne forces during Operation Tonga. In September 1944 a similar number of Hamilcars were used to transport anti-tank guns, transport vehicles and supplies for airborne troops as part of Operation Market-Garden. They were used a third and final time in March 1945 during Operation Varsity, when they transported M22 Locust light tanks and other supplies. The gliders proved to be successful in all three operations, although their slow speed and large size made them easy targets for anti-aircraft fire, which resulted in a number of gliders being damaged or destroyed.”
I imagine we are into the spring quagmire season.
I try to keep up with the eastern front since the fighting there is still more extensive than some of the more thoroughly covered campaigns that involve American forces. Stories from the Soviet Union are on the middle pages of the paper for the most part, and don't get as many column inches as stories from the Pacific theatre. The same goes for North Africa.
The plane in the Burrell crash was a P-47. I had to go look that up because the curiosity was killing me.
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