Today in World War II History—July 27, 1943

Flight nurse 2nd Lt. Ruth Gardiner (US Air Force photo)
75 Years Ago—July 27, 1943: Hamburg Firestorm: 722 RAF bombers create firestorm in Hamburg that kills 42,000.
In the Aleutians, Japanese abandon Kiska without a fight; the final troops are evacuated 7/28 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; Army general hospital in Chicago named after her in July 1944.

RAF Lancaster bomber over Hamburg, Germany, January 30/31, 1943 (Imperial War Museum: C-3371)