Today in 1944:
Moscow radio said officially that it was reported large Soviet air force formations on Saturday night mass-raided Helsinki military and Industrial targets for 10 hours. They bombed a railway junction, military dumps, barracks and factories and dozens of fires which spread over the entire town which was covered with smoke. Powerful explosions followed the fires. Russian pilots returning to bases could see fires from over 200 miles away.
Three Russian planes did not return. The Stockholm correspondent of the British United Press stated that over 600 Russian bombers carried out considerable the attack on Helsinki, causing damage and several fires. It was Helsinki’s heaviest raid. Bombs dropped in all parts of the city casualties. and it is believed caused many. It was also reported that Soviet ground forces were breaking through Pskov and poised to take Ostrov, a rail and highway junction connecting Pskov with the Warsaw and Berlin.
Meanwhile, Allied raids over Regensdorf, Germany completely destroyed a Messerschmidt factory in that city, while in the South Pacific, American destroyers daringly, shelled once mighty Rabaul and its supplementary base of Kavieng early Friday for the first time in the war. Moving boldly to within four miles of those Japanese strongpoints on Northeastern New Britain and Northwestern New Ireland. they dueled with shore batteries and won. They heavily damaged shipping.
They blew up shore installations. Then they departed un-damaged. At Rabaul, they smashed Simpson Harbor which lies deep within Blanche Bay. Huge fires were set in dock areas. At Kavieng, the destroyers even remained until after daybreak.
Rabaul, which the Japanese used for the anchorage of many warships until repeated air attacks made this too costly, was approached by the destroyers under cover of a smoke screen. The opposing shore batteries were knocked out by American planes flying raids over Rabaul. Flames were spread over the docks by the warships’ shells.
And that’s just a little of what happened, this February 27, 1944 as reported by CBS World News Today.
