World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 27 Apr 1945

• Italian partisans captured Benito Mussolini. ww2dbase [Benito Mussolini | CPC]
• US First Army captured Kempten and Straubing in southern Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• HMS Cumberland joined Task Force 63 with HMS Queen Elizabeth, French battleship Richelieu, HM Escort Aircraft Carriers Shah and Empress with HM Cruisers Suffolk, Ceylon and Dutch cruiser Tromp escorted by five fleet destroyers for attacks on Nicobar Islands. (Operation Bishop. Note: This was a diversion during assault on Rangoon (Operation Dracula). ww2dbase [Cumberland | DS]
• The western Allies refused to consider Himmler's attempts at negotiation for peace. ww2dbase [Germany's Surrender | CPC]
• Operation Kikusui No. 4 was launched off Okinawa, Japan, participated by about 65 Japanese Navy and 50 Japanese Army special attack and escorting aircraft. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | CPC]
• Japanese Shinyo special attack boats damaged destroyer USS Hutchins and an LCI landing ship at Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [Shinyo-class | CPC]
• Aleksandr Vasilevsky began planning for the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation. ww2dbase [Aleksandr Vasilevsky | CPC]
• HMS Cumberland joined Task Force 63 with HMS Queen Elizabeth, French battleship Richelieu, HM Escort Aircraft Carriers Shah and Empress with HM Cruisers Suffolk, Ceylon and Dutch cruiser Tromp escorted by five fleet destroyers for attacks on Nicobar Islands. (Operation Bishop. Note: This was a diversion during assault on Rangoon (Operation Dracula). ww2dbase [Queen Elizabeth | Richelieu | DS]
• USS Sea Cat departed for her third war patrol. ww2dbase [Sea Cat | CPC]

• The British East Indies Fleet sailed from Trincomalee, Ceylon to begin a series of strikes prior to the capture of Rangoon, Burma; this force of battleships, cruisers and destroyers would take it in turns to fuel and then screen the carriers hitting airfields, installations and coastal shipping in the Nicobars, the Andamans and along the Burma coast. Meanwhile, on land, Indian 17th Division was attacked by a Japanese suicide offensive north of Pegu; it was repulsed after the Japanese suffered 500 killed. ww2dbase [Battle of Rangoon | Pegu | AC, CPC]

• US 12th Armoured Division and 103rd Infantry Division discovered seven sites of the Kaufering Concentration Camp in southern Germany. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Kaufering, München-Oberbayern | CPC]
• British Guards Armoured Division liberated Marlag und Milag Nord prisoners of war camp in Westertimke, Germany. ww2dbase [Marlag und Milag Nord | Westertimke, Weser-Ems | HM]
• Men of US 12th Armored Division arrived at Kaufering Lager IV in Landsberg am Lech in southern Germany, a sub camp of Dachau Concentration Camp. ww2dbase [Dachau Concentration Camp | Dachau, München-Oberbayern | CPC]
• US 12th Armoured Division and 103rd Infantry Division discovered seven sites of the Kaufering Concentration Camp in southern Germany. ww2dbase [Kaufering Concentration Camp | Kaufering, München-Oberbayern | CPC]
• Before dawn, German Luftwaffe wing KG 4 flew its final supply mission to Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) as 30 He 111 aircraft dropped 24 tons of ammunition to the German garrison in the city. ww2dbase [Silesian Offensive and the Siege of Breslau | Breslau, Niederschlesien | CPC]
• German 9.Armee and 20.Armee both attempted to attack towards Berlin, Germany, but both were rebuffed by Soviet forces. Inside Berlin, Soviet forces fought for control of Templehof airfield, Spandau, and Grunewald areas. ww2dbase [Battle of Berlin | Berlin | TH, AC]

• Brazilian infantry and US tanks drove out German troops at Collecchio, Italy. ww2dbase [Battles of Collecchio and Fornovo di Taro | Collecchio, Emilia-Romagna | CPC]
• US Fifth Army entered Genoa, Italy. ww2dbase [Operation Grapeshot and Operation Roast | Genova, Liguria | TH]

• Northwest of Okinawa, destroyer USS Ralph Talbot was struck by a special attack aircraft and nearly struck by another. The result was five men killed, many more wounded, and moderate damage to the ship. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | Tokko "Kamikaze" Special Attack Doctrine | Ralph Talbot | East China Sea | DS]
• USS Corregidor completed an anti-submarine patrol in the vicinity of Wotje and Maloelap, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Corregidor | CPC]

• Nikolai Selivanovsky was named the NKVD adviser to the Polish Ministry of Public Safety, replacing Ivan Serov. ww2dbase [CPC]

27 Apr 1945 Interactive Map