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September 18th, 1939 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: .: The US freighter SS Warrior which has been detained by the British for 11 days is allowed to sail after her cargo of phosphates is confiscated. Meanwhile, the US freighter SS Shickshinny seized 2 days ago is allowed to sail from Glasgow, Scotland to Mersey, England where her cargo, deemed contraband by British authorities, will be unloaded.

Adrian Weale expands on Joyce's nationality:

William Brooke Joyce, aka Lord Haw-Haw, was born in 1906 at 1377 Herkimer Street, Brooklyn, New York, the son of Michael Joyce who, although born in County Mayo, had naturalised as a US Citizen in 1894. The family moved to Ireland in 1909 - when it was still completely part of the United Kingdom - and (because they were British loyalists) to England in 1921 in order to avoid living in the Free State. Consequently, from the legal point of view, William Joyce was a US Citizen until at least 1940, when he naturalised as a German and probably after this as well as he did not renounce his US Citizenship.

Marc James Small adds concerning this: In 1941 it was not a requirement of US law that a US citizen transferring allegiance to another nation renounce his US citizenship -- after all, the US had fought the Warof 1812 on precisely that point. This was changed in the early 1980's but, for all of it, Joyce was, by US and UK and German law, a German national when he was tried for "treason" against a Crown to which he had never owed allegiance.

POLAND: The Battle of the Bzura ends. The Germans take 170, 000 prisoners of war.

Members of the Polish cipher bureau, with vital knowledge of the German Enigma code, flee the country and head for Paris. Also fleeing (to Romania) are Marshal Rydz-Smigly, the Polish President, Ignacy Moscicki and other government leaders. The government leaders of Poland are interned upon their arrival in Romania.

German and Soviet forces meet at Brest-Litovsk.

DENMARK: Scandinavian prime and foreign ministers confer today and tomorrow at Copenhagen. They decide on cooperation enforcing their neutrality in the present conflict.

CANADA: Former Gov't service vessels commissioned into RCN service: HMCS Adversus, Alachasse, Cartier, French and Nitinat.

U.S.A: President Franklin D Roosevelt authorizes the US Coast Guard to enlist 2,000 additional sailors and to build 2 training stations.

Light cruiser USS Helena commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The US freighter SS Eglantine is stopped by a German submarine. She is ordered not to use her radio and after sending the ship's papers to the U-boat, she is allowed to sail with the warning not to use the radio for 3 hours.

U-32 sank SS Kensington Court
U-35 sank SS Arlita and SS Lord Minto.

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September 18th, 1940 (WEDNESDAY)

However the bombs continue to rain down on the capital at night, with the drone of some 230 bombers making every night hideous. Unable to pinpoint their targets, they drop their bombs at random, causing terrible damage and casualties in the streets and among civilians.

Some of London's most famous landmarks have been destroyed or damaged. Eight City churches have been hit. One bomb, weighing a ton, lies, unexploded, outside the West door of St. Paul's Cathedral, where Royal Engineers bomb disposal experts are working on it.

The West End, Downing Street, the Law Courts, and the House of Lords have all been hit by either high explosives or incendiaries. But it is the ordinary people who are taking the brunt of the attack. 

Sheltering in the Underground, they still raise the Union Jack over the rubble of their homes or declare "Business as usual" on hand-written signs nailed to the wreckage of their shops and businesses.

The King and Queen, who have been bombed twice in Buckingham Palace, have made several visits to the East End where they have been greeted sympathetically as fellow sufferers from German bombing. When Churchill, cigar clenched in his teeth, visited the bombed-out areas he got a clear message from the people: "Give it 'em back."

Thornton Heath, Surrey: Mr Roy Thomas Harris (1903-73), ARP, dismantled several unexploded bombs at a local school. (George Cross)

RAF Fighter Command: Nine Ju88s of III/KG 77 attacking oil targets in the Thames Estuary are shot down in 3 minutes. At night London and Merseyside are bombed.

Losses: Luftwaffe, 19; RAF, 22.

RAF Bomber Command: 

4 Group. 58 Sqn. Whitley P5008:M missing from Hamm. Crashed at Groenlo, Holland. Plt Off E. Ford and Sgts A.E.E. Crossland, C.F. Marshall, R.E. Salisbury and W.D. Austen killed. 77 Sqn. P4992:T missing from Antwerp. Plt Offs R.P. Brayne and W.M. Douglas and Sgts J.A. Raper, J. Baguley and D.V. Hughes all killed. 77 Sqn. N1425:E missing from Soest. Plt Off P.E. Eldridge, Sub Lt Williams and Sgts V.C. Cowley, F. Crawford and R.C. Dawson all killed.

Bombing - invasion fleet at Zeebrugge and Antwerp - marshalling yards at Krefeld, Mannheim, Soest and Hamm.

58 Sqn. Eight aircraft to Zeebrugge. All bombed. Three aircraft to Krefeld. Two bombed. Three aircraft to Hamm. Two bombed, one FTR.

77 Sqn. Thirteen aircraft to Antwerp, Mannheim and Soest. Eleven bombed successfully. One FTR from Antwerp and one FTR from Mannheim.

Corvette HMS Begonia launched.
Light cruiser HMS Sirius launched.

Destroyer HMS Cleveland commissioned.
 

GERMANY:
Daily Keynote from the Reich Press Chief:
1. The Navy has again reported damage to the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal. The Minister has ordered the greatest caution to be taken in the treatment of this case so that we are not caught out again. [making false damage reports about the Ark Royal.]
2. By order of the Fuhrer, enemy air raids on Germany should be played up on a large scale in future, even when relatively little damage has occurred. Attention should also be paid to treating raids on other [German] cities as of equal importance to attacks on the capital.

U-143 commissioned.

NORTH AFRICA: Italian forces come to a halt and start fortifying their position. The Italian 10th Army halts, officially because of supply difficulties. They begin building fortified camps and do not stay in contact with British forces.

CANADA: The second group of "overage" USN destroyers to be transferred to the RN in exchange for bases in the Western Hemisphere arrive at Halifax, Nova Scotia.

U.S.A.: The motion picture "The Westerner" is released. Directed by William Wyler, this western stars Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Forrest Tucker (his film debut), Chill Wills and Dana Andrews. The plot involves a range war between cattlemen and homesteaders with Cooper being accused of horse thievery and being tried by Judge Roy Bean (Brennan) who adores Lily Langtry. The film was nominated for three Academy Award and won a Best Supporting Actor award for Walter Brennan.

Corvette USS Impulse launched.

Destroyer USS Mayo commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-48 sinks the SS Marina in convoy OB-213 and SS Magdalena in convoy SC-3.

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September 18th, 1941 (THURSDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM says it will reveal the secrets of radio-location (radar) to the U.S.S.R.

Submarine HMS Usurper laid down.

The remnant of convoy SC-42 arrived in Liverpool. The cargo lost from SC42 amounted to 15,050 tons of wheat, 14,400 tons of iron ore, 11,200 tons of steel, 9,300 tons of gas oil, 7,000 tons of other grains, 5,500 tons of sulphur, 4,275 tons of phosphates, 2,400 tons of pig iron, 2,100 general cargo, 525 tons of oats, and a large but unspecified tonnage of lumber. Two hundred and thirty-seven merchant sailors lost their lives in this battle. The battle for convoy SC-42 is considered to be one of the greatest convoy battles of the Second World War.

GERMANY: U-269 laid down.
U-214 launched.
U-456 and U-588 commissioned.
 

U.S.S.R.: Ukraine: Units of Heeresgruppe Süd capture Poltava in the Ukraine.

FINLAND: The Finnish Moscow embassy staff arrive home. They left Moscow on July 26 and spent from July 8th to August 31st stranded in railway carriages in the rail yard of Leninakan near the Turkish border. Denmark's ambassador visited them at the end of July and observed that 'the situation must be both physically and psychically very painful to Hynninen and his staff'. (In a meeting with Paasikivi shortly after returning Finland, Hynninen referred to 54 days spent 'in difficult circumstances' in Leninakan.) When they were finally able to leave, the journey continued through Ankara, Beograd, Vienna and Berlin to Lybeck, where they took a ship to Turku. (Mikko Härmeinen, 275)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Four Royal Navy U class submarines attacked a heavily escorted Italian convoy off the North African coast, sinking two large transports and damaging the third. They include the British submarine HMS Upholder which sinks the Italian troop ships Neptunia and Oceania; 384 people are drowned.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Navy Department approves Hart’s proposal to confine Asiatic Fleet to Philippine waters. (Marc Small)

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Sarnia laid down.

Corvette HMCS Port Arthur launched.

U.S.A.: President Roosevelt requests an additional $5.985 Billion from Congress for Lend-Lease.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: For the first time, 5 USN destroyers escort an east-bound British convoy (HX-150). The 5 destroyers pick up the convoy about 150 miles (241 km) south of Newfoundland.

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September 18th, 1942 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Musketeer commissioned.

FRANCE: Paris: 116 people are executed in retaliation for recent attacks on German soldiers.

GERMANY: Berlin: Himmler today agreed that Germany's "asocials" should be handed over to forced  labour without proper sustenance or medical help - in effect, worked to death. In the concentration camps, "asocials" wear coloured triangular badges to identify the different categories of outcast: homosexuals (pink), pacifists (purple), political offenders (red), criminals (green), anti-socials (black) and Jews (yellow Star of David). Poles, Russians, Czechs and gypsies have been added to the list since 1939.

A policy for dealing with undesirables was introduced soon after Hitler came to power, when it was decided that, in the interests of racial purity, the mentally deficient should be sterilized. Then at a Nuremburg party rally a speaker suggested that Jews should be sterilized also. Hitler promised that, in the event of war, euthanasia not sterilization would be introduced; at such a time the church would be unable to speak against it.

In the first two years of the war, up to 80,000 Germans identified as "useless elements" were exterminated. This took place without the publication of a formal decree. When the justice ministry pressed for the text of the Fuhrers decree, all it received was a photocopy of a handwritten note from Hitler to the head of the Reich chancellery. The note ordered chancellery officials to give "duly appointed physicians" powers to "order the mercy killing of incurables". On the basis of this note, euthanasia institutes were set up. These were later to provide the models for the extermination camps for Jews.

Though camp warders initially were ex-soldiers, ex-criminals and the generally unemployable who had joined the SS, intellectuals now serve in the camps, carrying out "scientific" experiments. Prostitutes have been sent to Dachau for tests on reviving frozen human guinea-pigs by the body heat of others.

U-985 and U-986 laid down.

U.S.S.R.: Stalingrad: Soviet marines fend off ten German attacks from their positions in the city grain silo.

The Germans, fighting their way yard by bloody yard through the piles of rubble which were once Stalingrad in a war of grenades, bayonets and rifle butts, have been thrown off the Mamaev Kurgan, the raised Scythian burial ground which dominates the river crossings of this bridgeless city.

It was General Rodimitsev's 13th Guards Division, ferried across the Volga by night, which stormed the burial ground. Everything now depends on the ferries and other small boats which cross the river at night, lit up by the glow of burning buildings and illuminating shells, with the river erupting in waterspouts as the shells and bombs whistle around them. 

They bring in ammunition and reinforcements and carry out the wounded to the safety of the east bank. Many are sunk or riddled with machine-gun fire as they head into the inferno. But they keep on coming, providing the only lifeline to Stalingrad's defenders.

The city is so shattered that the fighting is concentrated around individual buildings. The central station has changed hands four times in three days. General Vasily Chuikov, the abrasive new commander of the battered 62nd Army has set up his HQ in the Krasny Oktyabr factory.

The Germans have command of the air, and some of the bravest people in this battle are the pilots of the flimsy Polikarpov P-2 biplanes which stagger through the shell-rent night sky to bomb the Germans. One squadron is crewed exclusively by women pilots.

The 92nd Rifle Brigade (CO, Hero of the Soviet Union Colonel M.S. Batrakov; military commissar, Regimental Commissar S.N. Shapin) is transferred from the General Headquarters reserve to the 62nd Army as reinforcements. Today the 92nd Brigade enters combat in the city's central district. (Russell Folsom)(215, Chap. 3)

White Sea: Convoy PQ-18 reached the safety of the White Sea today with 27 of its original 40 ships intact. Despite the losses, it was the biggest convoy yet to reach Russia. It sailed for Russia on 2 September, after a month in which convoys to the USSR were halted. Following the disastrous July convoy PQ-17, when only 11 out of 36 merchantmen arrived in Russia, Churchill wrote to Stalin suggesting that convoys should be suspended until the longer nights of autumn. Reluctantly, the Soviet leader agreed.

PQ-18 was the most heavily protected convoy so far, with around 50 naval vessels deployed in either the escort or covering forces, including 20 destroyers and the carrier HMS Avenger. The German navy had difficulty getting close to the convoy, and air attacks account for most of the 13 convoy ships lost.

The worst day was 13 September. Forty German torpedo-bombers sank eight ships in as many minutes in a stunning assault. The day before, U-boats sank two of the ships in the starboard column. Five torpedo-bombers were shot down and the destroyer HMS FAULKNOR sank U-88 with a blitz of depth charges. In all, the Germans lost 20 aircraft and two U-boats. The escort will return with surviving ships of earlier convoys, including PQ-17.

General Horii begins pulling his Japanese Army units back from Buna and Gona on New Guinea. He has supply difficulties. A US Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress bombs Salamaua while a B-25 Mitchell strafes pack trains on the Kokoda trail in the Andemba-Wairopi-Kokoda area.

MADAGASCAR: Tamatave, the main port of the French colony of Madagascar, has been taken by the British - a day after the island's Vichy governor, M. Annet, rejected General Sir William Platt's surrender terms.

The British fleet arrived off Tamatave at dawn. When the Vichy authorities refused to surrender, it bombarded the port. Three minutes later the white flag was raised. By the time that the 29 Brigade had landed most of the Vichy troops had withdrawn.

With the taking of Tamatave - a week after landing at Majunga, on the west coast - Allied forces are pressing on to the capital Tananarive from east and west, against mainly Malgache and Senegalese troops, through an inhospitable terrain where malaria knocks down more troops than bullets.

NEW GUINEA: General Horii begins pulling his Japanese Army units back from Buna and Gona. He has supply difficulties.

A US Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress bombs Salamaua while a B-25 Mitchell strafes pack trains on the Kokoda trail in the Andemba-Wairopi-Kokoda area.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The 7th Marines arrive at the Lunga Perimeter held by the 1st Marine Divison on Guadalcanal. These are the first new unit committed to the Guadalcanal Campaign since the 1st Marine Division (re-inforced) landed on Guadalcanal on August 7. US strength on the island now numbers about 23,000.

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Milltown commissioned.

U.S.A: The designation of all USAAF Air Forces is changed from a number to a name, e.g., 1st Air Force to First Air Force, 2d Air Force to Second Air Force, etc. 

The German submarine U-455 lays mines off Charleston, South Carolina.

Submarines USS Gurnard and Scamp commissioned.

Destroyers USS Edwards and Gillespie commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Vichy French sloop Dumon D'Urville takes off 42 survivors of the sunken British passenger ship Laconia from the Italian submarine Capellini.

U-175 sank SS Norfolk.
U-380 sank SS Olaf Fostenes.

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September 18th, 1943 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Crowborough: The Political Warfare Executive takes over Mussolini's National Fascist Radio frequency to broadcast a false message from an imitation "Mussolini".

The second prototype Hawker Tempest II fighter makes its maiden flight. (22)

Frigates HMS Avon and Gould commissioned. Frigates HMS Curzon and Dakins launched.

FRANCE: The US Eighth Air Force's VIII Air Support Command flies Missions 61 and 62 against 3 installations. (1) 25 B-26B Marauders hit Tille Airfield at Beauvais. (2) 18 B-26Bs dispatched to the Rouen marshalling yard and 72 B-26Bs dispatched to the Beaumont le Roger Airfield are recalled because of failure to rendezvous with fighter escort and bad weather, respectively.

GERMANY: Munich: A new Fascist regime is to be created in German-occupied northern Italy in the name of the ex-dictator Benito Mussolini, with its seat of government at Gargnano, on Lake Garda. The state will be called the "Italian Social Republic" in the absence of the King, who fled with the Badoglio government after the surrender. Similarly, il Duce has changed the name of his party from the "Fascist National Party" to the "Republican Fascist Party". Broadcasting today on German-controlled radio from Munich for the first time since his escape, Mussolini demanded the restoration of all party posts "to support the Germans and to punish cowards and traitors", and ordered the reinstatement of Fascists ousted by the "capitulation government" and the reconstitution of the Fascist militia.

POLAND: Auschwitz-Birkenau: The last "family transport" of women and children from Theresienstadt concentration camp arrives for gassing.

U.S.S.R.: Priluki, Lubny and Romodan are retaken by the Soviets during their advance towards Kiev. In the south they take Pavlograd, Krasnograd, Pologi and Nogaysk.

GREECE: British forces occupy the islands of Simi, Stampalia and Icaria in the Aegean Sea. The Germans raid airfields on Kos.

ITALY: US Seventh Army forces take Altavilla, Persano, and Battipaglia without opposition.

US Ninth Air Force B-24 Liberators hit the marshalling yard at Pescara, Italy.

US Twelfth Air Force B-17s bomb Viterbo Airfield and the Salerno-Avellino road, while B-25s and B-26s bomb the airfields at Ciampino and Pratica di Mare; B-25s fire 75mm shells at small vessels and a lighthouse near Capraia and between Pianosa and Corsica; P-38 Lightnings on detached service with the Northwest African Tactical Air Force strafe 4 satellite airfields at Foggia and bomb roads, railroads, bridges, and towns in the battle area.

To aid in the impending breakout from the Salerno beachhead by British and American forces, it became increasingly important to take Potenza, a city which served as a road hub and thus provided a direct communications link between Taranto and Salerno. A force consisting of the West Nova Scotia Regiment with Calgary tanks, RCHA, engineers, machine gun and anti-tank detachments and commanded by Lt-Col Bogert (Boforce) was given the task of liberating this city.

Boforce left from Villapiani on September 17 then headed inland from Nova Siri, arriving at Sant Archangelo by dusk. There was no enemy opposition. 

Today, continuing the northward advance, Boforce moved into Corleto but rubble and blown bridges resulting from Allied bombing caused severe delays. 

The advance was stopped at Laurenzana by yet another recently destroyed bridge. This bridge was destroyed by retreating enemy. (Stuart Millis)

Sardinia surrenders to the Allies. (Glenn Steinberg)

CHINA: 4 US Fourteenth Air Force B-25s and 7 P-40s attack rail yards and blast furnaces at Shihhweiyao.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: The fighting on Arundel Island, a small island off the northwest tip of New Georgia Island, continues as the US Army's 27th Infantry Regiment continues their advance. New Zealand General Barrowclough takes command the New Zealand and US forces on Vella Lavella Island. USAAF P-39Airacobra and P-40 pilots and USMC F4U Corsair pilots shoot down 15 IJN aircraft at midday.

NEW GUINEA: US Fifth Air Force A-20 Havocs hit Tami Island in the Lae area while B-26s and RAAF aircraft bomb and strafe Finschhafen.

GILBERT ISLANDS: Aircraft from the US carriers Lexington, Princeton and Belleau Wood, under Admiral Pownall, strike Tarawa. 

24 US Seventh Air Force B-24's, flying out of Funafuti Island in the Ellice Islands and Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands, bomb Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll and Maiana and Abemama Islands in the Gilbert chain during the night of 18/19 September. 

This action is part of a coordinated USAAF-USN attack on Tarawa, aimed at preventing Japanese attacks on US installations at Baker Island and in the Ellice Islands. 

During the day, carrier-based aircraft of the USN's Task Force 15 consisting of the aircraft  carriers USS Lexington (CV-16) and light aircraft carriers USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) and USS Princeton (CVL-23), attack Japanese airfields and installations on Tarawa,Makin and Abemama. 

Meanwhile, US Thirteenth Air Force B-24s based on Guadalcanal bomb the airfield and attack a phosphate plant and radio station on Nauru Island in the Gilbert Islands.  

CANADA: Destroyer HMCS Micmac launched.
Frigates HMCS Toronto and Orkney launched.
Corvette HMCS Whitby launched.

Tug HMCS Glenora launched Owen Sound, Ontario.
Minesweeper HMS Regulus (ex-HMCS Long Branch) launched Toronto, Ontario.

U.S.A.: Destroyer escorts USS Brough and Fleming commissioned.

Destroyer USS David W Taylor commissioned.

Frigate USS Muskogee laid down. Minesweepers USS Gavia and Ransom launched.

Destroyer USS Ross launched.

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September 18th, 1944 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

USAAF EUROPEAN OPERATIONS

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 3 missions. 

- Mission 639: 248 B-24s drop supplies to the First Allied Airborne Army in the Netherlands; intense flak downs 7 B-24s. 500+ P-38s, P-47s and P-51 Mustangs escort the B-24s and escort C-47s of the First Allied Airborne Army as the second troop echelon is dropped in the Netherlands to participate in heavy fighting around the Arnhem area; 2 fighter groups strafe rail and highway traffic and 50+ fighters bomb flak positions; 100+ Luftwaffe fighters attack; USAAF claims 29-0-1 aircraft in the air; 20 fighters are lost.

- Mission 640: In the last Operation FRANTIC mission, 107 B-17s drop 1,248 containers of supplies to Polish forces in Warsaw, fewer than 250 are picked up the Polish Home Army; 1 B-17 is lost; escort is provided by 137 P-51s (64 P-51s continue to the USSR), they claim 4-0-0 aircraft in the air and 3-0-6 on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost. 

Some of the P-51s are provided by the 361st Fighter Group. One of these aircraft is flown by Major. Urban L. (Ben) Drew. As the 361st approached its break-off point south of Sweden, Drew saw a twin-engine bogey skimming the water off the German coast. He is given permission to investigate and, with two wingmen, headed for the deck, where he destroyed an He-111 bomber.

Climbing back up, he spotted "the biggest aircraft I had ever seen" sitting on the water at a seaplane base. The six-engine aircraft he and his wingmen spotted was later acknowledged to be a BV-238 V1, a new very-long-range transport and reconnaissance flying boat that had just finished its operational tests. (Ron Babuka)

- Mission 641: 8 B-17s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany during the night.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS: Weather cancels all US Ninth Air Force bomber activity; less than 100 fighters support US VII Corps in western Germany and fly cover in the area of Brest, France, where organized resistance comes to an end.

NETHERLANDS: The British XXX Corps links with the US 101st Airborne Division at Eindhoven and Veghel in Operation Market-Garden. They continue their advance towards Nijmegen and Arnhem. Their plan is to meet the US 82nd at Nijmegen and the British 1st at Arnhem.

Throughout the night of 17-18 September soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Parachute Brigade had fought with the Germans for the Arnhem bridge. Both sides attacked, the Paras south to seize then entire bridge and the Germans north to eliminate the 2nd Battalion.

Neither side prevailed. The Germans made the serious mistake of underestimating their the number and the quality of the soldiers their faced. Supporting weapons were not brought into play. Instead squad after squad of SS soldiers were thrown against the Paras. While they had been thrown back, the 2nd Battalion had suffered casualties and supplies and equipment were running low.

At dawn a number of enemy  trucks drive down these streets.2 para and other elements of 1st  Parachute Brigade open fire at close range and kill most of the  occupants. Shortly thereafter 14 armoured cars and half-tracks  attempt to cross the bridge from the south. Four of them make it, the other ten are stopped by 6 pounder AT guns and PIATs. Next up is a group of panzer grenadiers which attacks 2 Para’s positions. The battle continues for two hours and the Germans are driven back. By the afternoon 2 Para learns from its PW interrogations that its enemy  is units from the 9th SS Panzer Division, albeit severely under strength. Until now the PWs had been from units of no particular renown. He begins to think that the odds for success of the operation are not in favor of the British. The battalion has suffered casualties and is running low on ammunition.

At 0100 hours - while the Irish Guards of Guards Armoured Division are sleeping at Valkenswaard - 1st Para begins an attack toward the bridge. By 1500 it is stopped. And its strength is down to about 100 men. 3 Para also put in an attack toward the bridge but is stopped by the fire of 20 mm guns firing from a factory.

At the dropping and landing zone the 1st Air Landing Brigade is attacked by Germans coming in from the west and north and from the east. In these actions the 1st Battalion of the Borders Regiment is forced back. At 1500 hours the second lift arrives at the DZ and LZ with the three battalions of the 4th Parachute Brigade. As they land they came under fire and take casualties. Its 11 Para is given the mission of relieving 2 Para at the bridge while on the morrow the remainder of the brigade would move to high ground north of Arnhem and advance on the city from that area. The attack by 11 Para is not more successful than were those of the other battalions.

To the south the 82nd Airborne Division is having difficulty holding all points in it 10 x 12 mile area. These prevent the division from immediately attacking towards its remaining objective, the big bridge over the Waal River on the northern end of Nijmegan. A company of the 508th Parachute Infantry attempts to get to the southern terminus but is held up by SS troops dug in there.

Additional SS troops are arriving. Further east two LZs are attacked and overrun by Germans coming out of the Reichswald. With the second lift composed of gliders due to arrive in two hours the areas had to be cleared. The Americans counter attacked and drove the Germans off the zones to wooded areas just to the east. The lift brought in most of the Division Artillery, anti-tank and medical units.

Early in the morning the 506th Parachute Infantry moves south toward Eindhoven and a linkup with the Guards Armoured. All the way in to Eindhoven it encounters opposition which it quickly overcomes.

The 506th Parachute Infantry, 101st Airborne Division attacks and seizes Eindhoven at 1300 hours. Radio contact with XXX Corps Headquarters is established. It is informed of the blown bridge at Zon and requested to have Engineers with bridging well forward in its column. At 1830 elements of the Irish Guards Armoured Division enter Eindhoven. British Engineers reach the site of the blown bridge at Zon. Engineers of the 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion have been working throughout the day in order to prepare the bridge site. 

British Engineers take over and begin assembly of a Bailey bridge.

The Guards Armoured is scheduled to move out of Valkenswaard at 0630 but is delayed by ground fog. At Aalst the Irish Group is held up by significant German opposition. Two miles further north on the road it again encounters difficult opposition of infantry supported by six 88 mm guns. The Irish engage the infantry and the crews of the 88s abandoned their guns which the Irish passed on their way north to Eindhoven and the linkup with the 506th.. (Jay Stone)

Field Marshall Montgomery had estimated that it would take XXX Corps 48 hours to reach the 1st     Airborne at Arnhem. Twenty-eight of those hours are gone. (Jay Stone)

Another 296 Airspeed Horsa gliders fly in re-inforcements in the second wave today. (22)

GERMANY: U-2338 launched.
U-3018 laid down.

POLAND: A force of B-17s drops 1,284 containers to the Polish Home Army, under siege, in Warsaw. Due to the distance, the bombers must make a 1 way trip and land at Soviet airfields. This will be the only supply drop allowed by the Soviets. Only 228 of the containers fall in Polish-held territory. The rest are lost.

FINLAND: Finns prepare to start hostilities against Germans in northern Finland. Three divisions (among them the one and only Panzer Division) and two brigades are transferred from eastern border and given orders.

USAAF MEDITERRANEAN OPERATIONS

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS: The US Fifteenth Air Force dispatches 463 B-17s and B-24s, some with fighter escort, to hit marshalling yards at Subotica and Szeged, Hungary and railroad bridges at Novi Sad and Belgrade, Yugoslavia and Szob, and Budapest, Hungary; fighters maintain cover over the Budapest area.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS:  

ITALY: US Twelfth Air Force B-25s continue to hit troop concentrations and gun positions, in support of the British Eighth Army forces which open an assault on defenses in the Rimini area; despite bad weather B-26s and P-47s maintain attacks on bridges, rail lines, and transportation in the Po Valley.

Rfn. Sherbahadur Thapa (b.1921), 9th Gurkha Rifles, charged machine guns, covered a withdrawal, and saved two wounded men before he fell. (Victoria Cross)

INDIAN OCEAN: West of Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies, the RN submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoes and sinks the Japanese cargo ship SS Junyo Maru at position 02.52S, 101.12E. The 5,065 ton ship was en route from Java to Sumatra carrying 2,300 Dutch, British, Australian and American POWs and 4,200 Javanese slave labourers (romushas). They were all bound for work on the 220 km (136.7 mile) long Sumatra Railway Line between Pakan Baru and Muaro. Contrary to the Geneva convention, the ship was not travelling under a Red Cross flag. At about 1730 hours local, the ship was struck by two torpedoes, one forward and one aft. The Japanese crew manned the lifeboats and the escort vessels picked up Japanese survivors. In the morning, a Japanese ship arrived and began picking up survivors. Of the 6,500 men aboard the ship before the attack, only 680 POWS and 200 romushas were saved. They were taken to Sumatra and put to work on the railway where many more died.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA: The US Tenth Air Force dispatches 9 P-47 Thunderbolts to pound Japanese positions in the Myothit area; 8 B-25s hit supply dumps and installations at Chefang, China; 18 B-24s fly fuel to Liuchow, China; and 200+ other sorties by C-47 Skytrains deliver men and supplies to several points in the CBI.

The US Fourteenth Air Force in China sends 30 B-25s to attack town areas and fuel dumps at Lingling, Taohsien, and Chuanhsien and damage the approaches to the Lingling ferry crossing; 4 B-24s over the Formosa Strait claim 1 freighter sunk; about 115 P-40s and P-51s on armed reconnaissance attack troops, trucks, tanks, shipping, town areas, and other targets of opportunity throughout Hunan Province south of Tungting Lake to Luicbow Peninsula and Chikhorn Bay.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: US Marines attack mount Umurbrogol on Peleliu. They run into strong resistance from the dug in Japanese and make no gain for their heavy losses. 

The advance on Angaur, near Peleliu, continues.

PACIFIC OPERATIONS

CENTRAL PACIFIC: 2 US Seventh Air Force B-24s on armed reconnaissance from Saipan bomb Marcus Island; 28 Eniwetok-based B-24s bomb Truk Island; and Gilbert Islands-based B-25s pound Ponape Island. 

The destroyer USS Case (DD-370) rendezvouzes with the submarine USS Sealion (SS-315) and transfers a medical officer and medical supplies to treat the 73 British and 54 Australian POWs who survived the sinking of the Japanese transport Rakuyo Maru 3 days ago.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: US Far East Air Force B-24s blast several targets in the Davao, Mindanao Island area, including oil storage at Sasa. B-25s hit Langoan Airfield and lake area on Celebes Island. Bad weather forces B-24s over the Ceram-Amboina Islands area to individually attack targets which include 4 airfields. In New Guinea, B-25s hit Samate Airfield and fighter-bombers hit the airfield and town of Manokwari and AA guns at Moemi.

No. 61 Airfield Construction Wing of the Royal Australian Air Force arrive off Morotai. (Mike Alexander)

CANADA: Minesweepers HMCS Maple Lake and Oak Lake cancelled.

Frigate HMCS Eastview and corvettes HMCS Peterborough, Tillsonburg, St Lambert and Hawkesbury departed St John’s to join the escort for the 59-ship New York City to Liverpool convoy HX-308.

U.S.A.: Light cruiser USS Duluth commissioned.
Destroyer escort USS Pratt commissioned.
Minesweeper USS Invade commissioned.
Destroyer USS Goodrich laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: After being damaged by a Liberator (Sqn 224/R) U-1228 suffered Schnorchel damage which resulted in a CO2 poisoning of its crew. One man died. [Matrosenobergefreiter Matthias Mittler].

U-925 listed as missing in the North Atlantic or Arctic Sea north of Britain after 24 August 1944. No explanation exists for its loss. 51 dead (all hands lost.

On 18 September 1944 on 7pm, a lookout on destroyer ORP Garland spotted an enemy U-boat. The U-boat was promptly attacked, but without any result. Later four British destroyers, HMS Troubridge, Terpsichore, Brecon and Zetland, joined the Polish destroyer and started the hunting which lasted for 10 hours. On 6am the following day the U-boat surfaced and was spotted again by the Polish destroyer, this time the attack, 10 depth charges, was deadly. The German U-boat U-407 was sunk. The survivors were picked up by Garland as war prisoners.

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September 18th, 1945 (TUESDAY)

GERMANY: A meeting of 72 Jews takes place at No. 38 Rothenbaumchaussee with the intention of rebuilding the Jewish community in Hamburg by founding the "Jüdische Gemeinde in Hamburg" (Hamburg Jewish Community.) (Russell Folsom)(LINK)

JAPAN: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur"> MacArthur moves his command headquarters to Tokyo from Yokohama.

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