Today in World War II History—September 27, 1939 & 1944

German troops marching through Warsaw, September 1939 (US National Archives)
80 Years Ago—September 27, 1939: Warsaw, Poland surrenders to Germany.
Polish government-in-exile is established in Paris.
German Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt—RSHA) is established under Reinhard Heydrich, consolidating Gestapo state police, Kripo criminal police, and SD Nazi party police.
75 Years Ago—Sept. 27, 1944: In the US Eighth Air Force, the 445th Bomb Group experiences the highest single loss of any US group in the war (25 of 37 B-24 Liberators) on a mission to Kassel, Germany.
C-47 carrying flight nurse Reba Whittle (813rd MAES) crash-lands behind enemy lines in Germany; she becomes the only female US POW in the European Theater in WWII; she will treat patients in German POW camp hospitals and will be repatriated to the US in February 1945. (Read more about flight nursing—“Medical Air Evacuation in World War—The Flight Nurse.”)