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1935   (FRIDAY) 

FRANCE: The French government promises unlimited solidarity of action in the matter of military, air, and naval assistance to the U.K. if she is attacked stating, "The British Government . . . offers the French Government the assurance that it will not take the initiative in any measure against Italy which would not be in conformity with the decisions taken, or to be taken, by the League of Nations in full agreement with France."

UNITED KINGDOM: Britain reassures Italy that it has no intention of taking independent action in the Mediterranean Sea.

1936   (SUNDAY)

AUSTRIA: Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg of Austria is proclaimed Front Fuehrer, consolidating his dictatorial powers over the republic.

1937   (MONDAY)

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Sudeten Germans demand immediate autonomy for German districts.

1938   (TUESDAY)

PALESTINE: In early October, Arab extremists occupied the old city of Jerusalem. The British army sent in troops to regain control of the city.

October 18th, 1939 (WEDNESDAY)

U.S. freighter SS West Hobomac is detained by British authorities.

London: Chamberlain announces that 8 Nazi planes have been shot down, and Churchill claims that one in three of the German submarine force has been sunk.

After the attacks on the Home Fleet in Scapa Flow, the Admiralty transfers the Home Fleet to safe anchorage on the Clyde. This move significantly weakens the Fleet's strike effectiveness against any German naval unit that might put out to sea in the Atlantic or approach the eastern coast of Great Britain. The Germans fail to act upon this strategic advantage. The German aerial operations against the fleet also reveal the ineffectiveness of the German SC 550lb bombs. Göring  orders the development of heavier bombs.

GERMANY: OKW issues Führer Directive #7 for the Conduct of the War. 
(i) In the lead up to the planned Western offensive some existing operational restrictions are to be relaxed. Ground forces may now cross the French frontier with patrols so far as is necessary for reconnaissance, and to maintain contact with enemy forces in withdrawal. Fighter escorts are permitted for air reconnaissance over enemy territory. Air attack on naval ships in port are permitted. The Kriegsmarine may attack passenger ships in convoy or proceeding without lights. The Führer will decide on measures to intensify the Trade War against Britain once the political and economic effects have been considered. 
(ii) Should Belgium, Holland, or Luxembourg enter the war, air units may cross the French frontier to attack Anglo-French movements into those countries. Air attacks on industrial targets or targets which highly endanger the civilian populations of those countries are forbidden. 
(iii) Close attention should be paid to security measures in order to conceal our plans for attack. (Marc Roberts)

SWEDEN:
Stockholm: The Scandinavian Kings meet Finland's president to discuss the Russian threat. Today and tomorrow, the Scandinavian heads of state and foreign ministers meet at Stockholm. Present are Gustaf V of Sweden, Christian X of Denmark, Haakon VII of Norway and the Finnish President Kyösti Kallio. The conference is a show of Scandinavian solidarity, but doesn't even try to achieve anything concrete.

BALTIC STATES: Red Army troops arrive at their bases in Estonia.

CHINA: A USN landing force from gunboats USS Asheville (PG-21) and USS Tulsa (PG-22) and destroyer USS Whipple (DD-217) is withdrawn from Kulangsu where it had been protecting the American Consulate and the Hope Memorial Hospital since 17 May.

U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt bars belligerent submarines from U.S. ports and waters.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: German armoured ship Admiral Graf Spee transfers crews of British freighters SS Newton Beech and SS Ashlea to tanker Altmark. The two German ships then part company for a time.

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October 18th, 1940 (FRIDAY)

Battle of Britain: Göring  praises his fighter pilots for inflicting such terrible losses on Fighter Command, and his bomber pilots for having "reduced the British plutocracy to fear and terror."

Losses: Luftwaffe, 15; RAF, 4.

The weather and visibility is poor. It was quiet in the morning but the Luftwaffe flew 35 missions in the afternoon losing 15 aircraft to the RAF's 4. During the night, raids were light and all 160 bombers participating had returned to their airfields by 0145 hours local. A small number of Luftwaffe aircraft drop a few bombs in Kent, Surrey and London where damage is of a minor character and casualties low. Night activity directed against London is on a far smaller scale than recently. Liverpool and particularly Birmingham are subjected to raids, the latter receiving considerable damage. Information is to hand of a new type of bomb which is of considerable interest. It appears that eight high explosives are strung together by wire and dropped by parachute, the material of which is non-inflammable. A wire trailing behind explodes the first bomb when contact is made with an object. The explosive force from this drives the parachute up again and the procedure is repeated as each bomb explodes.

Coventry: Sgt Michael Gibson (b. 1906), Royal Engineers, and 2nd Lt Campbell (see yesterday's entry), after a night of very dangerous work, were both killed by a bomb they were trying to defuse. (George Cross).

London: A second evacuation of the half a million children in the London area is under way. They are leaving at the rate of 2,000 a day in small parties under a "trickle" evacuation scheme. Over 20,000 left in September. A further 89,000 mothers and young children are being assisted to leave this month.

When the heavy bombing began on 7 September, thousands of East Enders fled from the devastation. Some 5,000 trekked to Epping Forest and camped there. Others took lorries to the Kent hopfields where they bedded down on straw in the hop-pickers' huts. About 10,000 Londoners and local people are now living in the Chislehurst caves in Kent. They are equipped with electric light and a canteen and sick bay. Families have taken over individual caves and installed bed and furniture.

Some 25,000 went to Paddington and took trains to places such as Reading, Basingstoke and Oxford, which alone billeted 15,000 refugees. Most of these "trekkers" have now returned. East Enders clearly hate leaving their familiar neighbourhoods or being placed in West End billets - even when they are bombed out.

Belfast: The first production Stirling bomber to be built in Northern Ireland, leaves Shorts' factory.

Destroyer HMS Exmoor commissioned.

NORTH SEA: World War One vintage submarine HMS/M Submarine H.49 surfaces west of the island of Texel off the Dutch coast but within sight of three German trawlers of the 11th UJ Flotilla. After marking the site of the (now) submerged craft, 25 depth charges cause a considerable amount of damage, and the submarine is lost, although a single survivor (Stoker George Oliver) finds himself (unconscious and without  DSEA) expelled up to the surface, where he is rescued by the Germans and becomes POW. (Alex Gordon and Dennis Feary)(108)

Convoys SC-7 and HX-79 suffered grievously at the hands of U-boat Wolfpacks, losing seventeen and fourteen ships respectively.

U-100 damaged SS Boekelo and Shekatika in Convoy SC-7.

U-101 sank SS Creekirk and damaged SS Blairspey in Convoy SC-7.

U-38 damaged SS Carsbreck in Convoy SC-7.

U-46 sank SS Beatus, SS Convallaria and SS Gunborg in Convoy SC-7.

U-99 sank SS Fiscus, SS Niritos and SS Empire Miniver in Convoy SC-7.

U-48 sank SS Sandsend in Convoy OB-227.

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October 18th, 1941 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Picture Post, the magazine founded in 1938 by Edward Hulton, which has reached a circulation of a million in the last two months, is now a national institution under its editor Tom Hopkinson. It has made its name by its brilliant picture treatment and its hardhitting captions attacking Hitler at the time of appeasement. At home it criticizes military commanders, ineffective weapons and bureaucratic delays in helping air-raid victims. It founded a Home Guard training school at Osterley Park and gave tips on resistance fighting to its readers. Now it is running articles on post-war reforms such as full employment, minimum wages and a national health service. The response has been huge.

Destroyer HMS Exmoor (ex-HMS Burton) commissioned.

Corvette HMS Pennywort launched.

GERMANY: The expulsion of Berlin’s Jews begins today. The prime mover this expulsion is Albert Speer, Chancellor Adolf Hitler's chief architect who has been given the task of rebuilding Berlin. A close friend of Joseph Goebbels, together in 1941, they planned for the clearance of the Jewish slum areas in the western part of the city. In doing so, Speer could then take control of around 34,000 houses and apartments and start his demolishing and rebuilding program. The first trainload of these expelled Jews left Berlin today. There are to be 130 trainloads altogether.

U.S.S.R.: Mozhaisk is captured by 2 SS Div. "Reich" and the 10th Panzer Div. of 4 Pz. Army's XXXX Pz. Korps. Maloyaroslavets is captured by 19th Panzer Div. of the 4th Army's LVII Pz. Korps. The conquered area east of the Dniester is incorporated into Romania and renamed Transdniestria. (Jeff Chrisman)

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: 17^th Pursuit Squadron transferred from Iba to Nichols, and the 3^rd Pursuit Squadron was transferred from Clark AAF to Iba AAF for gunnery training.  (Forward elements leave on October 3, 1941). (Marc Small)

JAPAN: Tokyo: Richard Sorge, one of the most successful spies in the history of espionage, has been arrested in Tokyo. The son of a German engineer and a Russian mother, he was brought up in Germany, joined the Communist Party, and became a Soviet agent in 1928, serving in America, China and Japan under journalistic cover. He then got Stalin's permission to go back to Germany and become a member of the Nazi Party. He returned to Tokyo as correspondent for a Frankfurt newspaper. Sorge, a craggy-faced womaniser and drinker, soon charmed his way into the confidence of the German ambassador.

He also set up a highly-placed ring of Japanese agents, and soon he was sending a flood of economic, political and military information back to Moscow. One of his major coups was to warn Stalin that Hitler was preparing to attack Russia. He gave the precise date for the invasion - but Stalin ignored him.

Perhaps his greatest service to the Soviet cause was also his last. Just three days ago he was able to tell Moscow that the Japanese have no intention of attacking Russia. This means that Stalin will be able to transfer many divisions from Siberia to defend Moscow.

Tokyo: Japan's deadlocked political crisis has ended with the appointment of the army strongman General Hideki Tojo, aged 57, as the new prime minister in the wake of the Konoye cabinet's resignation.

One of General Tojo's first moves has been to extend the deadline for diplomacy to prevent war with the United States until 25 November. This overturns the decision of the last imperial conference, calling for a decision on war or peace with the US no later than 15 October, which divided the Konoye cabinet and precipitated its resignation. General Tojo insisted on being given a "clean slate" on this issue before accepting his appointment from Emperor Hirohito.

Tojo's emergence as premier has been sudden. Until last night the favourite was Prince Higashikuni. However Marquis Kido, the emperor's personal adviser, told the seven ex-premiers advising the emperor on a successor that General Tojo was the only candidate capable of controlling the war advocates in the army - blamed by many for this latest crisis.

General Tojo, known as Kamisori [the Razor] retains his portfolio as war minister. It is the first time that Japan has had a serving general as prime minister.

CANADA: Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King announces wage and price controls to combat inflation. On a national radio broadcast; he says 40% of national income spent on war (vs. 10% in W.W.I).

NEWFOUNDLAND: USAAF B-17 Flying Fortresses and an RCAF Douglas (B-18) Digby make first landings at Torbay airbase at St. John's.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A PBY-5A Catalina of USN Patrol Squadron Seventy Three (VP-73) based at Reykjavik, Iceland, drops a package containing blood plasma and transfusion gear for use in treating the wounded on board the destroyer USS Kearny (DD-432) torpedoed yesterday; the destroyer USS Monssen (DD-435) retrieves the package but the gear becomes disengaged and sinks. A PBM-1 Mariner of a VP-74 detachment also based at Reykjavik repeats the operation a few hours later; this time the drop is successful and USS Monssen retrieves the medical supplies intact.

USN destroyers USS Plunkett (DD-431), USS Livermore (DD-429) and USS Decatur (DD-341), meanwhile, make concerted depth charge attacks on sound contacts at 54°53'N, 33°08'W with no visible results. 

German submarines break off operations against convoy SC 48, but not before HMS Broadwater (ex US destroyer) is torpedoed and sunk by U-101 at 57 01N, 19 08W. (Alex Gordon)(108)

U-206 fired three torpedoes at an escort of convoy HG-74 in the North Atlantic, but without success.

U-132 sank SS Argun.

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October 18th, 1942 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Escort carrier HMS Ameer (ex-USS Baffins) launched.

Corvette HMCS Louisburg completed fitting with extra a/a armament at Humber.

GERMANY: Berlin: With the tide of war now turning against his armies, Hitler has issued a "Top Secret Commando Order" which says: "From now on, all enemies on so-called commando missions in Europe or Africa ... even if they are in uniform, whether armed or unarmed, in battle or in flight, are to be slaughtered to the last man." Hitler says that he has been compelled to act because of the recent increase - not to mention success - of Allied commando operations. General Jodl, says that in no circumstances must it fall into enemy hands.

U.S.S.R.: Renewed German attacks in the Krasnye Oktyabr area make gains against the Soviet defenses which have held over the past two days. In the Caucasus, the advance by Heeresgruppe A (Army Group A) toward the Black Sea port of Tuapse is halted due to difficult terrain and stubborn Soviet resistance.

NEW GUINEA: US forces advancing over the Kapa Kapa Trail arrive at Pogani. This track parallels the Kodaka Trail over the Owen Stanley Mountains of New Guinea. The complete regiment will finish the journey over the next 3 days. They will, however, not be in condition to fight due to the rigors of the trek through the mountains and jungle. This overland journey will prove wasted, since it has become possible to airlift troops to the north shore of New Guinea.

U.S. forces advancing over the Kapa Kapa Trail, which parallels the Kokoda Trail over the Owen Stanley Mountains, arrive at Pogani. The complete regiment will finish the journey over the next 3 days. They will, however, not be in condition to fight due to the rigors of the trek through the mountains and jungle. This overland journey will prove wasted, since it has become possible to airlift troops to the north shore of New Guinea. Hard fighting by the Australians continues on Kokoda Track in the vicinity of Eora Creek.

USAAF Fifth Air Force B-25s hit Wairopi bridge in the Owen Stanley Range, the village of Mubo, and the dock and occupied area on Pilelo Island; the Fifth Air Force completes the air movement of most of the 128th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, to Wanigela. Elements are left at Port Moresby temporarily when Wanigela Field becomes unserviceable because of rains. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)

SOLOMON ISLANDS: At 1300 hours local, 16 F4F USMC and USN F4F Wildcats intercept 15 "Betty" bombers (Mitsubishi G4M, Navy Type 1 Attack Bombers) escorted by 9 "Zeke" fighters (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters) over Guadalcanal; 3 Japanese aircrew are captured. The Americans claim 6 "Betty" bombers and 4 "Zekes"; IJN records state 3 bombers and 4 fighters lost. One Wildcat is lost in an operational accident and 2 F4Fs are shot down but there are no pilot loses.

Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses attack shipping and aircraft in the Faisi area in the Shortland Islands, and Kahili Airfield, and shipping off Kahili, Pupukuna Point, and Buin on Bougainville Island.

During the early evening, a "Val" dive bomber (Aichi D3A, Navy Type 99 Carrier Bomber) and a "Zeke" fighter are shot down near Guadalcanal by a USMC F4F pilot and twoUSNFighting Squadron Seventy One (VF-71) Wildcat pilots.

On Guadalcanal, construction begins on an all-weather fighter airfield to the west of Henderson Field. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)

NEW CALEDONIA: Admiral William F. Halsey arrives at Noumea  prior to the arrival of his flagship USS Enterprise (CV-6) to scout the situation. He receives a sealed envelope containing orders, from Admiral Nimitz, to immediately take command of the South Pacific Ocean Area. In relieving Admiral Ghormley just days after the public release of the Battle of Savo Island, the blame for the loss is attached publically to Ghormley. 

In the arena of US public opinion, the NY Times on October 16, "The shadows of a great conflict lie heavily over the Solomons - all that can be perceived is the magnitude of the stakes at issue. ... Guadalcanal. The name will not die out of the memories of the generation. It will endure in honor."

US Navy Secretary Knox responds to a question of holding Guadalcanal: "I certainly hope so and expect so ... I will not make any predictions, but every man will give good account of himself. What I am trying to say is that there is a good stiff fight going on. Everybody hopes we can hold on."

ADMIRALTY ISLANDS: Fifth Air Force B-17s attack schooners and buildings at Lorengau on Manus Island.

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: Aleutians: On Kiska Island 4 Eleventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb the Main Camp, score near misses on a beached vessel in Trout Lagoon, and hit a gasoline storage area; weather aircraft flies reconnaissance over Attu, Segula, Little Sitkin, and Gareloi Islands.

NEWFOUNDLAND: Corvettes HMCS Baddeck, Port Arthur and Baddeck departed St. John's to join with the 50-ship New York City to Liverpool convoy SC-105 and subsequent support to Operation Torch, the North African Landings. SC-105 arrived safely in Liverpool on 31 Oct 42.

U.S.A.: Minesweepers USS Admirable and Adopt launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U.S. freighter SS Steel Navigator, also straggling from convoy ON 137, takes on 40° list as her sand ballast shifts; USN Armed Guard volunteers shovel ballast for 30 hours without relief (reducing the list to 12°) until financial bonus offered by ship's master induces reluctant merchant sailors to lend a hand in the arduous work.

U-618 sank SS Angelina in Convoy ON-137.

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October 18th, 1943 (MONDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, who escaped from a POW camp six weeks ago, is one of seven Frenchmen flown to Britain from hiding in France.

Destroyer HMS Termagant commissioned.

Submarine HMS Tradewind commissioned.

NETHERLANDS: Six RAF Bomber Command Wellingtons lay mines off Texel Island without loss.

FRANCE: 228 Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders dispatched to bomb 4 airfields are recalled before attacking because of unfavourable weather.

GERMANY: During the night of 18/19 October, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 360 Lancasters to attack Hannover; 349 aircraft attack the city with the loss of 18 aircraft, 5.0 per cent of the force. The target area is covered by cloud and the Pathfinders are not successful in marking the position of Hannover. The raid is scattered, with most bombs falling in open country north and north-west of the city. This raid concludes the current series of raids on Hannover. Bomber Command has dispatched 2,253 sorties in four raids and ten USAAF Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress sorties had also been flown; 1,976 aircraft claimed to have bombed in the target area. Only one raid has been completely successful but that had caused severe damage. One hundred ten bombers are lost on the raids, 4.9 per cent of those dispatched. One of the Lancasters lost on the Hannover raid is the 5,000th Bomber Command aircraft lost on operations since the start of the war. By the end of this night, the bombers have flown approximately 144,500 sorties, 90 per cent of them by night, and lost 5,004 aircraft, 4,365 by night and 639 by day, over German territory, crashed in the sea or shot down over England by German Intruders or “friendly” defences.

     RAF Bomber Command also dispatches Mosquitos to attack targets: ten bomb a blast furnace at Duisburg, eight hit Emden, seven hit Berlin, three bomb a zinc factory at Stolberg and one bombs Dusseldorf. .

AUSTRIA: For the past month, Allied planes have been trying to wreck German troop and supply trains to Italy but the Germans are organizing their trains in Austria and making high-speed night runs to depots near the front lines. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)

ITALY: Nazi deportations of Italy's Jews to the extermination camps began today when 1,007 Roman Jews were despatched to Auschwitz. The operation against the ghetto in Rome began on 26 September when the German authorities - in control of most of Italy since the surrender - threatened to arrest 200 ghetto inhabitants unless 110 pounds (50 kg) of gold was produced within 36 hours. The whole city gave gold to save them. On Saturday 16 October, the Jewish Sabbath, the arrests began. Today the first transportation left for Auschwitz.

Only 14 men and one woman return alive after the war. Seven thousand of the 8,000 Roman Jews escape capture by going into hiding. About 4,000 of them, with the knowledge and approval of the Pope, find refuge in the numerous monasteries and houses of religious orders in Rome. A few dozen are sheltered in the Vatican itself. Within a month 8,360 Italian Jews are deported to Auschwitz where 7,749 are murdered.

In the U.S. Fifth Army's VI Corps area, the 3d, 34th and 45th Infantry Divisions continue their slow advance toward Dragoni, the 3d clearing Roccaromana, and prepare to make concerted effort to take Dragoni and the bridges beyond. To block the German escape route from Dragoni, 133d Infantry Regiment of the 34th Infantry Division begins a second crossing of the Volturno River and takes a railway-highway bridge there. The Germans are retreating towards the Barbara defense line, 35 miles north of Naples.

XII Air Support Command A-36 Apaches hit the Venafro railroad yards, and other fighter-bombers hit gun positions, troops, and railway stations in or near Boiano, Petacciato, and Vairano. Fighters strafe airfields around Rome and also hit Viterbo, Grosseto, and the seaplane base at Bracciano, and attack trains on the Rome-Orte and Rome-Naples, Italy lines. Northwest African Tactical Bomber Force light bombers bomb the road and railway near Cassino, the town of Carpinone, the road junction at Castiglione della Valle, and roads, bridges, and motor transport near Minturno and Chieti.

YUGOSLAVIA: USAAF XII Bomber Command dispatches B-25 Mitchells to bomb the marshalling yard at Skoplje; P-38 Lightnings follow with a strafing mission, damaging or destroying several locomotives and vehicles.

U.S.S.R.: Fighting around Melitopol continues as the Soviet penetrate to the centre of town.
Polar Fleet and White Sea Flotilla: Submarine "M-174" - mined, at Varanger-fjord. (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

Several thousand disabled Allied and German prisoners are swapped at Goteborg, SWEDEN, and Barcelona, SPAIN.

SOUTH AFRICA: Frigate SAS Natal laid down.

NEW GUINEA: In Northeast New Guinea, the Japanese 78th and 80th Regiments continue their assaults against Australian troops in the Finschhafen but they are repulsed. USAAF Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators hit Sio, while B-25 Mitchells bomb and strafe a road at Bogadjim.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Air Command, Solomons, begins intensive attacks on Bougainville airfields in preparation for the invasion of the island.

28 Thirteenth Air Force B-24s and 32+ USN SBD Dauntless dive bombers, with cover of 50+ fighters, bomb the airfield on Ballale Island. 14 P-39Airacobras join 20+ USN aircraft in a strike on Kakasa village and a tent area on Choiseul Island.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The Fifth Air Force dispatches nearly 80 B-24s and fighters sent against Rabaul on New Britain Island, are forced to abort by bad weather; however, 54 B-25s slip beneath low clouds and pound the town, airfields, and shipping from treetop and mast-height level; the B-25s sink 2 vessels and claim 70+ planes destroyed on the ground and in the air; 13 of the B-24s bomb Cape Hoskins; 7 others bomb Cape Gloucester and hit Sio, New Guinea. B-25s bomb and strafe a road at Bogadjim, New Guinea.

NEW CALEDONIA: The 14th Antiaircraft Artillery Group arrives. (Jean Beach)

PACIFIC OCEAN: USS Silversides (SS-236) sinks a cargo ship at 00-22 N, 143-23 E. 

1000 hours: Submarine USS Lapon (SS-260) sinks a cargo ship at 33-59 N, 136-21 E.

1000 hours: Submarine USS Lapon (SS-260) sinks an armed minesweeper at 33-59 N, 136-21 E. (Skip Guidry)

CANADA:

Minesweeper HMS Serene launched Toronto, Ontario.

Training ship HMCS Caribou assigned to HMCS Cornwallis.

U.S.A.: The 15-minute crime serial "Perry Mason" makes its debut on CBS Radio. The program is broadcast Monday thru Friday at 1430 hours Eastern. Based on the novels by Erle Stanley Gardner, the program had all the trappings of a soap opera. It remained on the radio until December 1955.

Submarine USS Flier commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Jack W Wilke laid down.

Frigate USS Muskogee launched.

Destroyer escorts USS Brackett, Leopold, Neuendorf and Eisele commissioned.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: During stormy weather a lookout broke his arm on U-190.

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October 18th, 1944 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The Eighth Air Force flies Mission 682: 567 bombers and 604 fighters are dispatched to hit targets in Germany; 5 bombers and 5 fighters are lost:

- 337 B-17s are dispatched to make a PFF attack on Kassel/Mittefeld (300); targets of opportunity are Cologne (1) and other (2); 2 B-17s are lost. Escort is provided by 388 P-47s and P-51s; 4 P-51s are lost. 

- 118 B-17s are dispatched to make a GH attack on the Ford Plant at Cologne (79); 30 others hit Cologne/Nippes marshalling yard. Escort is provided by 38 P-47s.

- 112 B-24s are dispatched to make a GH attack on the industrial complex at Leverkusen (39); 30 others hit the Cologne/Nippes marshalling yard; 3 B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 139 P-51s; a P-51 is lost.

Frigate HMS Loch Glendhu launched.

BELGIUM: At a conference in Brussels, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, issues plan for an offensive, with tentative dates. First priority for the 21st Army Group is to open Antwerp port. The British Second Army is to be prepared to drive southeast between the Meuse and Rhine rivers about 10 November to support the U.S. advance across the Rhine. The U.S. First Army is to cross the Rhine in the Cologne area between 1 and 5 November. The U.S. Ninth Army, after covering the north flank of the First Army while it is pushing to the Rhine, is to help First Army envelop and clear the Ruhr. The U.S. Third Army will cover the right flank of the First Army and refrain from offensive operations until it has sufficient logistical support.

FRANCE: Allied HQ: Plans for an Allied military government of Germany were unveiled today at Eisenhower's HQ. The German government will be suspended; all state and Nazi Party property will be seized; armed resistance will be punishable by death; the courts of law will be purged of Nazi influence; newspapers will be shut down and new ones licensed.

English will be the official language of government. Fraternisation between Allied personnel and German civilians will be forbidden. German laws involving discrimination on grounds of race, religion or political opinion will be abrogated.

FRANCE: In the U.S. Seventh Army's VI Corps area, the 36th Infantry Division breaks into Bruyères and clears most of town.

GERMANY: Adolf Hitler orders the establishment of the Deutscher Volkssturm, a nation-wide militia force. All able-bodied German males16-60 are liable for conscription into the Volkssturm. (John Nicholas and Jack McKillop)

     In the U.S. First Army VII Corps area, the Germans are making strenuous efforts to break the encirclement of Aachen. The 1st Infantry Division, strongly reinforced, renews the assault on Aachen; the 26th Infantry Regiment takes Observatory Hill and is methodically clearing the heart of the city. Task Force Hogan, 3d Armored Division, is committed to help the 26th Infantry Regiment clear the commanding ground overlooking the city.

US General McClain replaces General Corlett as CO of the XIX Corps, US 1st Army.

     During the day, RAF Bomber Command attacks Bonn. This is the first major operation by No 3 Group in the new independent role which its commander, Air Vice-Marshal R Harrison, has been granted. Approximately one third of the group's Lancasters are now fitted with the G-H blind-bombing device and No 3 Group are to operate on days when the ground is concealed by cloud but when the cloud tops did not exceed 18,000 feet (5 486 meters). Aircraft with G-H have their tail fins painted with a prominent design; aircraft without G-H found a G-H "leader" to follow into the target area and bomb when that aircraft bombed. G-H is a relatively accurate, easy-to-operate and very useful device and No 3 Group are to make good use of it in the remaining months of the war. The device has been used before, but not by a large force. Air Vice-Marshal Harrison requested that the almost unbombed and unimportant town of Bonn should be the target for this first operation, possibly so that post raid reconnaissance photographs could show the results of the first G-H raid without the effects of other bombing confusing the interpretation of the photographs. One hundred twenty eight Lancasters are dispatched and 127 bombed; the raid appears to go well and only one aircraft is lost. The attack is a complete success. The heart of old Bonn is destroyed, with its university, many cultural and public buildings and a large residential area being burnt out. The local report says that the home in which Beethoven lived is saved "the courageous actions of its caretakers." Seven hundred buildings are destroyed and 1,000 are seriously damaged.

     During the night of 18/19 October, RAF Bomber Command dispatches Mosquitos to bomb: 19 attack Hannover, 18 hit Mannheim, five each bomb Pforzheim and Lohausen Airfield at Dusseldorf and three bomb a chemical plant at Wiesbaden .

Weather prevents operations of all Ninth Air Force commands (including the 9th Bombardment Division) except IX Tactical Air Command fighters which fly sweeps, rail cutting missions, and night patrols, and provide air cover for the US 1st Infantry Division in the Aachen, Germany, area.

U-2355, U-3027, U-3526 laid down.

U-2332, U-2343, U-2521, U-3012 launched.

ITALY: In the U.S. Fifth Army's II Corps area, the 34th Infantry Division makes limited progress on slopes of Mt. della Vigna but cannot break through German positions on Mt. Belmonte. The 339th Infantry Regiment, 85th Infantry Division, reaches a fork in the main ridge between the Idice and Sillaro Rivers north of Monterenzio. The 88th Infantry Division is slowly clearing the approaches to the Mt. Cuccoli-Mt. Grande ridge and bringing reserves forward. In the British XIII Corps area, the 36th Brigade, 78th Division, finds Mt. la Pieve undefended. 21st Brigade, Indian 8th Division, gains ground south of Mt. Pianoreno, from which the Germans have withdrawn.

In the British Eighth Army's Polish II Corps area, the 5th Kresowa Division takes Galeata without opposition. In the V Corps area Acquarola and Celincordia fall to the Indian 10th Division and 46th Division, respectively. The Indian 10th Division is ordered to attack across the Savio River. In the Canadian I Corps area, the New Zealand 2d Division begins crossing the Pisciatello River at 2300 hours. The Canadian 1st Division takes Ponte della Pietra. The Greek 3d Mountain Brigade is withdrawn from the line in preparation for their departure from Italy.

Most Twelfth Air Force medium bomber missions are aborted because of weather, but B-26s effectively hit Castel San Pietro dell'Emilia warehouses  and a railroad bridge at Padua; fighters and fighter-bombers, operating on restricted schedule due to weather, offer effective close support to ground forces in the mountains south of Bologna and hit communications targets in the Bologna and Modena areas; during the night of 17/18 October, A-20 Havocs on armed reconnaissance bomb lights and vehicles east of Bologna.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA: The Soviet Fourth Ukrainian Front pours into eastern Czechoslovakia on a broad front from Poland, driving through Carpathian passes.

German units are retreating rapidly from southern YUGOSLAVIA.

YUGOSLAVIA: The Allies acknowledge Marshall Tito as head of the Yugoslavian state.

The Fifteenth Air Force dispatches 38 P-38 Lightnings to dive-bomb Vinkovci

GREECE: The Greek government of George Papandreou, exiled since 1941, returns home.
Santorini and Scarpanto, Greece are occupied by British forces. Patros is opened for shipping.

     The USAAF Fifteenth Air Force sends 41 P-51 Mustangs to escort C-47 Skytrains to Greece.

CHINA: General Joseph Stilwell, Commanding General US China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, Chief of Staff to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, Commander-in-Chief Northern Area Combat Command (NCAC) and Deputy Supreme Command, South-East Asia Command (SEAC), is recalled from China by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt informs Chiang Kai-shek of Stilwell’s recall, adding that while no other U.S. officer will be named to command Chinese forces, Major General Albert Wedemeyer, Deputy Chief of Staff South-East Asia Command (SEAC), is available to act as the Generalissimo’s chief of staff, a proposal that is acceptable to Chiang Kai-shek.

100+ Fourteenth Air Force P-40s and P-51s fly armed reconnaissance over vast areas of China south of the Yangtze River, attack town areas, troops, rivercraft, gun positions, supply facilities, airfields, and other targets of opportunity around Kweiping, Shangkaishow, Tajungchiang, Konghow, Wuchou, Shepchung, Hsinganhsien, Tengyun, Liutu, Tanchuk, and Takhing. Railroad targets at Lang Son, French Indochina, are also attacked.

BURMA: In the British Fourteenth Army's XXXIII Corps area, after hard fighting on the approaches to Tiddim earlier in the month, the Indian 5th Division enters the town without opposition.

13 Tenth Air Force P-47s attack Mingaladon Airfield, 21 support ground forces in the Mohnyin area, 8 knock out 2 bridges at Wanting, and 6 hit troops near Hwemun; 6 B-25s damage approaches to 2 road bridges at Wuntho; 6 other B-25s damage approaches to 2 bridges at Namhkai and Meza. Transports again fly nearly 300 sorties to several locations in the CBI.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: USAAF Fourteenth Air Force fighter-bombers attack railroad targets at Lang Son.

JAPAN: Tokyo: The government orders Operation Sho-go [Victory], intended to remove the US threat to the Japanese home islands.

Receipt of the warning that American troops have landed in the Philippines, Admiral TOYODA Soemu, Commander in Chief Combined Fleet, orders Operation SHO-1 which calls for defending the Philippines against American invasion and bringing about a decisive battle. This order sends 76 warships, including four aircraft carriers and nine battleships, to sail from Japan and Malaya for an all-out attack on the invasion force.

4 Eleventh Air Force B-25s bomb Kurabu Cape Airfield on Paramushiru Island and Suribachi in the Kurile Islands; 8-12 interceptors attack the B-25s, which claim 2 victories.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The USN's Task Groups 38.1 (Vice Admiral John S. McCain) and TG 38.4 (Rear  Admiral Ralph E. Davison) attack principal Japanese airfields near Manila and shipping in the harbor, sinking a passenger-cargo ship, an army cargo ship and a merchant cargo ship. Meanwhile, TG 38.2 (Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan) pounds enemy shipping off northern Luzon, sinking an auxiliary submarine chaser, two transports, and three merchant cargo ships off Camiguin, northern Luzon; a cargo ship near Babuyan Channel; and two landing ships and a minelayer/netlayer off northeastern Luzon. Japanese sources state thatUSNcarrier air strikes have destroyed 650 Japanese aircraft on Formosa and the Philippines; theUSNhas lost 76 aircraft and had 2 cruisers damaged.

U.S. warships, led by the battleships USS California (BB-44), USS Maryland (BB-46), USS Mississippi (BB-41), USS Tennessee (BB-43), USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) and USS West Virginia (BB-46), begin shelling the landing beaches on Leyte.

The escort aircraft carriers of Task Group 77.4 begin a preinvasion bombardment against airfields in the Visayan Islands, Leyte and northern Mindanao. They sink six Japanese ships in the Cebu area.  

     Company B, 6th Ranger Battalion, lands on Homonhon Island without opposition and sets up a channel light. Underwater demolition teams begin an uneventful reconnaissance of the landing areas under cover of naval gunfire bombardment.

     USAAF Far East Air Forces P-38s hit barges, small shipping, and vehicles on west coast of Mindanao Island.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: Bad weather curtails a major Far East Air Forces strike on Balikpapan, Borneo; of 120+ B-24s and fighters, only 8 B-24s and 8 P-38s reach the target. 

NEW GUINEA: USAAF Far East Air Forces B-24s attack Sagan and Babo Airfields. B-25s and fighter-bombers again hit Namlea on Buru Island, Amboina and Liang on Ambon Island, and nearby targets, attack targets of opportunity at Djailolo on Halmahera Island and in the Wasile Bay area, and pound Urarom, Manokwari, Babo, Sagan, Otawiri, and other Vogelkop area targets in New Guinea.

PACIFIC OCEAN: In the Bismarck Sea Minesweeper HMAS Geelong (J 201) sinks after colliding with American tanker SS York off New Guinea at 06 04S 147 50E. There are no casualties and 70 survivors. (Alex Gordon)(108)

CAROLINE ISLANDS: On Peleliu Island in the Palau Islands, the 321st Infantry Regiment completes the relief of 1st Marine Division elements at the Umurbrogol Pocket and continues attacks to reduce it. The pocket is now about 400 yards (366 meters) from east to west and about 80 yards (73 meters) from north to south, The 1st Marine Division has suffered 6,526 casualties on the island, a large portion of them at the pocket. On Angaur Island, a Japanese pocket on the northwest tip of the island is compressed into a small zone about 100 yards (91 meters) long and 50 yards (46 meters) wide.

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The USN’s Special Air Task Force (STAG 1) operations continue as three Interstate TDR-1 drones are launched against a lighthouse on Cape St. George, New Ireland Island. None hit the target.

BONIN ISLANDS: USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators from Saipan bomb Haha Jima Island.

CENTRAL PACIFIC: Seventh Air Force P-47s bomb and strafe Pagan Island in the Marianas.

0600 hours: Submarine USS Bluegill (SS-242) sinks a cargo ship at 14-04 N, 119-52 E.

1100 hours: Submarine USS Bluegill (SS-242) sinks two cargo ships at 14-04 N, 119-52 E. 2000 hours: USS Bluegill (SS-242) sinks a transport at 13-55 N,119-20 E.

2200 hours: Submarine USS Raton (SS-270) sinks three cargo ships at 12-37 N, 118-46 E. 2200 hours: USS Raton (SS-270) sinks a cargo ship at 12-30 N, 119-10 E. (Skip Guidry)

CANADA: Corvette HMCS Woodstock departed Halifax for Esquimalt for conversion to weather ship.

U.S.A.: The epic book, "Forever Amber", written by Kathleen Windsor, is first published today. Although the book was very popular among women between the ages of 12 and 24, it was considered scandalous to be seen reading it; a reaction that lasted at least another 30 years.

Minesweeper USS Redstart launched.

Submarine USS Springer commissioned.

Minesweeper USS Success commissioned.

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October 18th, 1945 (THURSDAY)

CHINA: US General Joseph Stilwell is refused entry to China by Chiang Kai-shek. He decides to return to the US.

U.S.A.: Camp Kilmer, Piscataway, New Jersey: The 78 Fighter Group, USAAF, is inactivated.

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