27 Mar 1942
  • German propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary on this date, regarding the deportation of Jews, "a fairly barbaric process is utilized. Of the Jews themselves, not much remains". ww2dbase [Joseph Goebbels | CPC]
  • Iro Ilk was awarded the German Cross in Gold. ww2dbase [Iro Ilk | CPC]
  • Japanese aircraft and artillery bombarded Chinese positions at Taungoo, Burma. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]
  • Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld, having shot down four British bombers during the previous night, was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht bulletin by the headquarters of the German Wehrmacht. ww2dbase [Egmont | CPC]
  • German submarine U-160 sank Panamanian tanker Equipoise 50 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States at 0238 hours; 41 were killed, 13 survived. Further out to sea, 380 miles east of Virginia, U-150 sank Norwegian tanker MV Svenør at 1340 hours; 8 were killed, 29 survived. Closer to Europe, U-587 unsuccessfully attacked Allied convoy WS-17 and was sank by escorting destroyers; all 42 aboard the German submarine were lost. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
  • US Navy Admiral John Wilcox, Jr. drowned after being swept overboard from USS Washington during a storm at about 1030 hours. ww2dbase [Washington | CPC]
  • At 2300 hours, in British destroyer HMS Campeltown, with commandos aboard, left her destroyer escorts behind and sailed toward Saint-Nazaire, France with a few small vessels. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • Dutch aircraft sank Japanese collier Yubari Maru off Koepang, Timor, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • The German naval staff requested the Japanese to conduct raids against Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean. ww2dbase [Raids into the Indian Ocean | CPC]
  • Oberleutnant Rolf-Birger Wahlen was named the commanding officer of U-23, relieving Ulrich Gräf. ww2dbase [U-23 | CPC]
Australian New Guinea Dutch East Indies France Germany Gibraltar
  • British aircraft carriers HMS Argus and HMS Eagle departed Gibraltar with battleship HMS Malaya and other warships in escort to deliver 16 Spitfire fighters to Malta. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]
Hawaii Japan Korea
  • USS Gudgeon sank Japanese merchant ship Nissho Maru in the East China Sea 20 miles off southern Korea. ww2dbase [Gudgeon | CPC]
New Caledonia
  • USS Hammann departed New Caledonia area as a part of Task Force 17. ww2dbase [Hammann | CPC]
Philippines
  • Japanese transport Kitano Maru struck a Japanese naval mine and sank in Lingayen Gulf, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • With freezers failing after a Japanese aerial attack on the previous day, US and Filipino troops attempted to transport the contents, 24,000 pounds of frozen carabao meat, from Corregidor Island to Bataan Peninsula in the Philippine Islands for immediate consumption. Japanese air attacks would prevent this transport, and the meat would soon spoil. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | Corregidor, Cavite | CPC]
United Kingdom
  • Major General Sir Vernon Kell passed away. Until sacked by Winston Churchill in 1940, Kell had been the head of the British Secret Service (MI5) for thirty years. ww2dbase [AC]
United States
  • Agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested members of the Black Dragon Society, a right wing para-military Japanese group, in the San Joaquin Valley region in California, United States. ww2dbase [California | CPC]
  • Survivors of Norwegian motor taker Charles Racine, sunk by Italian submarine Giuseppe Finzi on 10 Mar 1942 and had initially been taken to Puerto Rico, arrived in New York, New York, United States. ww2dbase [New York | HM]
Photo(s) dated 27 Mar 1942
Portrait of Stephen Halden Beattie, 27 Mar 1927

27 Mar 1942 Interactive Map

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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Famous WW2 Quote
"Goddam it, you'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!"

Captain Henry P. Jim Crowe, Guadalcanal, 13 Jan 1943


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