World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 27 Sep 1941

• The first rains fell on Eastern Front of the European War; mud began to become an issue for the attacking German forces. ww2dbase [Operation Barbarossa | TH, CPC]
• German submarine U-66 sank Panamanian tanker I. C. White after sundown; 3 were killed, 34 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-201 attacked Allied convoy HG-73 600 miles north of the Azores islands, sinking two merchant ships and the anti-aircraft ship HMS Springbank; 32 were killed, 201 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• 14 Liberty Ships were launched in the United States; they were to be transferred to the United Kingdom via the Lend-Lease program. ww2dbase [Liberty-class | CPC]
• British submarine HMS Upright sank Italian submarine chaser Albatros between Sicily and mainland Italy. German submarine U-371 rescued 42 survivors. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British minelaying cruiser HMS Abdiel and destroyers HMS Kandahar, HMS Jaguar, and HMS Griffin departed Alexandria, Egypt after sundown with supplies for Tobruk, Libya. This would be the final Operation Supercharge supply run for the besieged city. ww2dbase [Siege of Tobruk | CPC]
• The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 989 adult male, 1,636 adult female, and 821 children, all Jews, were killed in Eysisky, Lithuania for a total of 3,446 people. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]

• The Italian garrison at Wolchefit Pass in Abyssinia surrendered to British King's African Rifles regiment. ww2dbase [Invasion of Italian East Africa | CPC]

• Japanese troops in plain clothes infiltrated the north gate of the walled city of Changsha, Hunan Province, China, but failed to complete their sabotage mission. ww2dbase [Second Battle of Changsha | Changsha, Hunan | CPC]

• Emden provided naval gunfire support for ground troops fighting on the Sõrve Peninsula on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia. Upon completion of her duties, she set sail for Gotenhafen (Gdynia), occupied Poland. ww2dbase [Emden | Saaremaa | CPC]

• Joseph Rochefort warned US commanders at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii that the Japanese communication codes were being changed. ww2dbase [Attack on Pearl Harbor | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | Detailed Timetable | CPC]

• An Italian torpedo bomber hit British battleship HMS Nelson in the bow with a torpedo in the Mediterranean Sea between Sardinia, Italy and Tunisia; Nelson was escorting the Operation Halberd convoy for Malta. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• HMS London arrived in Archangel, Russia with Lord Beaverbrook and Averell Harriman aboard. ww2dbase [London | Archangel | CPC]
• The Soviet GKO issued the Directive to Organize a Strategic Defense, which proved to be disastrous as it led to over 50 divisions of Soviet troops being trapped at Vyazma and Bryansk in Russia shortly after. ww2dbase [Battle of Moscow | CPC]

• 23,000 Jews were massacred at Kamenets-Podolsk, Ukraine. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Kamenets-Podolsk | CPC]

27 Sep 1941 Interactive Map