Air Operations, Aleutians

2 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s and 6 B-25s attack Kiska.

Air Operations, Bismarcks

V Bomber Command B-25s attack ships and barges off New Britain.

Air Operations, CBI

• 7 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack shipping at Haiphong and Hongay.

Air Operations, East Indies

During the night, 380th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack Makassar, Celebes.

Air Operations, Europe

• 16 Wellingtons of No. 1 Group lay mines off Lorient and St Nazaire without a loss.

A lull in operations made time for photographs such as this. Here a Lancaster crew (aircraft 'K-Kitty'

possibly W4236) pose on 21 July 1943.

Lancaster Crew

Remains of Coast Guard PBY

Just before World War II, a Coast Guard PBY-5, V189, was specially outfitted at Air Station San Diego with a nine-lens-camera for mapping coastal regions around the country. While the arrangement worked well in the lower 48, after two mapping trips to Alaska the camera was transferred to a newer PBY-5A (PBY BuNo 08055) that had landing gear, making it more versatile in the extreme environment of Alaska. Remains of Coast Guard PBY BuNo 08055 on Mount Moffett, Adak, Alaska, 18 July 1943.

The nine-lens camera used for the mapping survey. This camera could photograph 313 square miles of terrain with one shot of the shutter at 21,780 feet.

The Nine-Lens Camera

Air Operations, Gilberts

• 6 VII Bomber Command B-24s based at the airfield at Funafuti attack Betio Island in Tarawa Atoll.
• Japanese Navy bombers attacking Canton Island jettison their bombs and flee in the face of fighter opposition and intense antiaircraft fire.

Air Operations, Japan

6 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s attack shipping in the Kurile Islands and the newly completed airfield at Murakami Bay, Paramushiro.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• A small number of V Bomber Command B-24s, B-25s, and A-20s provide direct support for US Army ground forces landing at Tambu Bay to secure ground for an advance supply base.
• P-38s of the 35th Fighter Group’s 39th Fighter Squadron down a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter and an A6M Zero near Salamaua between 1355 and 1400 hours.

Air Operations, Solomons

• 21 XIII Bomber Command B-24s and 35 AirSols TBFs and SBDs, escorted by 134 AirSols fighters, attack the Kahili airfield on Bougainville and many other targets throughout the Kahili area. 9 AirSols fighters and 1 TBF are lost in aerial combat or to ground fire. VF-21, VF-26, VF-27, and VF-28 F4Fs down 15 A6M Zeros over Kahili and southern Bougainville at about 1000 hours. US Marine Corps F4Us down 10 A6M Zeros over and around Kahili between 1015 and 1030 hours.
• 3 VMF-214 F4Us each down a G4M 'Betty' bomber over a US Navy transport in the New Georgia area.

Caribbean

There is a fight between the USN 'Blimp' K-74 and U-134 north of Cuba. The blimp is shot down. It is the only naval airship lost to enemy action.

Eastern Front

Fierce fighting to the north and south of the Kursk salient continues.

The 11th Guards and 11th Armies, with the support of the 4th Tank Army, are only 12 miles from Khotinets and Karachev but still face stubborn resistance from the LV Corps.

The Southwest and South Fronts continue their attacks on the Donets and Mius, making minor penetrations.

Ruoff's 17th Army comes under renewed attack in the Kuban as the North Caucasus unleashes its fourth offensive against the German pocket.

The Stavka declare Koniev's Steppe Front operational, 53rd, 47th, 4th Guards, 7th Guards and 69th Armies being brought under its control. The Steppe Front situates itself between the Voronezh and Southwest Fronts to strike the German forces around Kharkov.

Pacific

A Japanese submarine torpedo sinks the US LST 342 in the Solomon Islands area.

Sicily

The US 45th Div captures Caltanisetta and pushes on north to cut the Palermo-Enna road, Highway 121. After 2 days of strenuous fighting with the German 15th Pzr Div the Canadian 1st Div of XXX Corps, takes Valguarnera, a few miles southeast of Enna, by-passes the city and heads for Leonforte. From there their orders are to turn east, towards Agira and Regalbuto, to get to Adrano, a key point of the German defense on Etna, northwest of Catania.

War-damaged Cathedral in Caltanissetta, Sicily, 18 July 1943

In the eastern sector the advance of the British 5th and 51st Divs is halted before Catania, where the Germans have set up an effective defense line. Montgomery then tries to pass round the obstacle to the west. The Germans do their utmost to hold the Catania sector, which is the pivot on which the line of the Axis troops retiring to northeast Sicily hinges.

The 2nd Bde of the Canadian 1st Div, the British 51st Div and 231st Bde are given the task of turning the German defenses around Catania.

18 July 1943 - Men of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment get relief from the hot Sicilian sun in their universal carrier, Valguarnera, Sicily.

Men of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment

Solomons

In New Guinea the Americans get ready for another attack on Munda, and drive off some Japanese units that have infiltrated into their lines. A Japanese destroyer is sunk by American aircraft near Bougainville Island, where it was to have landed reinforcements and supplies. American air formations attack enemy installations at Buin, on the same island.