Today in World War II History—July 27, 1943
RAF aerial photo showing ruined residential and commercial buildings in Hamburg, Germany, destroyed by the firestorm on the night of 27/28 July 1943 (Imperial War Museum: CL 3400)
80 Years Ago—July 27, 1943: Hamburg Firestorm: 722 RAF bomb Hamburg, Germany, creating a firestorm that kills 60,000.
In the Aleutians, Japanese abandon Kiska without a fight; the final troops are evacuated July 28 under cover of fog.
Flight nurse Lt. Ruth Gardiner (805th MAETS) is killed in a plane crash in Naknek, Alaska; the first US Army nurse to die in WWII; an Army general hospital in Chicago will be named after her in July 1944 (Read more: “Medical Air Evacuation in World War II—The Flight Nurse”).
Flight nurse 2nd Lt. Ruth Gardiner, 1943 (US Air Force photo 25735)
