Monday, March 26, 2012

Day 939 March 27, 1942

Overnight, 24,000 pounds of frozen water buffalo meat is loaded onto a barge and ferried from Corregidor to Bataan. Japanese bombing prevents unloading during the day and by nightfall the meat has spoiled. It is unloaded and buried by the local Quartermaster.

North Atlantic Ocean. At 2.38 AM 60 miles off Virginia Beach, Virginia, U-160 sinks Panamanian SS Equipoise (41 dead, 13 survivors). At 10.30 AM, American Admiral John Wilcox Jr. is swept overboard from USS Washington, en route from USA to Britain in a snowstorm (his body is spotted face down an hour later but is not recovered). At 1.40 PM 380 miles off Virginia Beach, U-105 sinks Norwegian tanker MV Svenør (8 killed, Portuguese SS Cunene is directed to the location of the lifeboats by U-105 and rescues 29 survivors). 600 miles Southwest of Ireland, U-587 attacks troop convoy WS-17 but is detected by British destroyer HMS Keppel. Destroyers HMS Grove, HMS Aldenham, HMS Volunteer and HMS Leamington sink U-587 with depth charges (all 42 hands lost).

Operation Chariot. At 11 PM, British destroyer HMS Campbeltown (loaded with explosives) heads towards the Loire estuary escorted by the launches carrying Commandos plus 1 MTB and 1 MGB. Destroyers HMS Atherstone and HMS Tynedale remain off the coast of France as sea patrol.

Mediterranean. British aircraft carriers HMS Argus and HMS Eagle depart Gibraltar, escorted by battleship HMS Malaya, cruiser HMS Hermione and 9 destroyers, to fly off 16 Spitfire fighters to Malta.

US submarine USS Gudgeon sinks Japanese merchant Nissho Maru in the East China Sea 20 miles off the South coast of Korea. Dutch aircraft sink Japanese collier Yubari Maru off Koepang, Timor. Japanese transport ship Kitano Maru sinks on a Japanese mine in Lingayen Gulf, Philippines.

Toungoo, Burma. Japanese aircraft bomb and strafe Chinese positions and artillery fires tear gas shells, but the Chinese do not yield. Japanese await the arrival of 6 inch howitzers (3rd Field Artillery Regiment) to supplement the air strikes.

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