Admiralty Islands

The village of Lorengau on Manus is taken by the US forces. On Los Negros American units advancing from the perimeter of Papitalai Mission beachhead come up against Japanese units, which put up a determined opposition.

Air Operations, Carolines

2 41st Medium Bomb Group B-25s based on Engebi Island in the Eniwetok Atoll attack Ponape Island.

Air Operations, CBI

• Sixteen 7th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and 41 10th Air Force A-31s attack Japanese Army ground positions near Kalewa. 22 490th Medium Bomb Squadron B-25s attack oil dumps and occupied villages in the Kalewa area. More than 20 B-25s and P-51s attack Japanese ground forces near the Chindwin River. 12 A-31s attack Japanese ground positions in the Arakan coastal region. 14 P-51s attack motor vehicles and supply dumps near Mandalay. 20 P-51, P-40, and A-36 fighter-bombers attack targets around Kamaing. 10 fighter-bombers attack river traffic near Katha.

• 16 14th Air Force P-40s attack Yangtze River traffic.
• A 449th Fighter Squadron P-38 downs a Ki-45 'Nick' fighter near the airfield at Suichwan during the morning. A 23rd Fighter Group P-40 downs a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter over Chiuchiang at 1045 hours.

• 14th Air Force P-40s attack a bridge at Haiphong, shipping at several coastal locations, and a rail bridge and several buildings at Lang Son.

Air Operations, Europe

• 846 aircraft are sent to Frankfurt. In this total are 620 Lancasters, 209 Halifaxes and 17 Mosquitos.
• The German fighter force is again split. Part of it is lured north by the Heligoland mining operation, but the rest waits in Germany and meets the bomber stream just before the target area. Heavy cloud make it difficult for these fighters to have much success. The Pathfinders mark the target accurately and this leads to heavy bombing of the eastern, central and western districts of Frankfurt. The later phases of the bombing are scattered, but this is almost inevitable with such a large force. And, newer crews are usually allocated to the final waves.
• 12 Halifaxes and 10 Lancasters are lost.
• 17 Mosquitos are sent to airfields in Holland, Belgium and France, 12 Mosquitos are sent to Aachen, Dortmund and Duisburg, 98 aircraft are involved in the Heligoland mining diversion, 11 Mosquitos are on a diversionary raid to Kassel, there are 4 RCM sorties, 13 Serrate patrols and 18 OTU sorties, and 8 aircraft are involved in Resistance operations. 19 Lancasters of No. 5 Group, including 13 from 617 squadron, make an accurate raid on an explosives factory at Bergerac, France. There are no losses on these operations and the Serrate Mosquitos claim 3 Ju-88s destroyed.
• In the heaviest air raid of the war so far, 1,000 RAF bombers make a devastating night raid on Frankfurt (Hamburg?), dropping 3,000 tons of bombs.

Air Operations, Marshalls

• US carrier aircraft from Fleet Carrier Air Group 5 (USS Lexington) attack the Mille Atoll.
• VMF-111 F4U fighter-bombers based at Starmann Field on Butaritari attack antiaircraft batteries in the Mille Atoll with 1,000-pound bombs. This is the first sanctioned mission in which F4Us equipped with bomb shackles are employed.

Axis Diplomacy

Adm Miklos Horthy, the Regent of Hungary, is summoned to visit Hitler. He refuses to sign a document requesting direct intervention and is arrested. The Germans are preparing to occupy Hungary.

Burma

Gen Stilwell orders the US 5307th 'provisional unit' to block the southern entries to the Tanai valley, in the northeast sector.

Eastern Front

Advancing into Bessarabia, the Russians reach the Rumanian frontier at Yampol, on the east bank of the Dniepr. After bitter fighting Zhmerinka, southwest of Vinnitsa, falls to the attacks of 1st Ukraine Front.

Zhmerinka falls to the Soviet forces. Elements of the 8th Guards Army reach the lower Bug at Novaya Odessa and force a crossing.

Indian Ocean

72 Allied prisoners from MV Behar are beheaded aboard the Japanese cruiser Tone. A different source says between 65 and 69 of the prisoners were shot on the aircraft deck and tossed into the Indian Ocean.

Italy

An armored attack by New Zealand troops is pushed back with heavy losses at Cassino.

Italy, Home Front

Eruptions from Mt Vesuvius engulf 2 villages with lava. 26 are killed.

Marshalls

Adm William A. Lee's TG 50.10 with 2 battleships and the carrier Lexington (CV-16) bombards the Mili atoll. The battleship Iowa (BB-61) is hit by return fire.

New Guinea

The Japanese convoy attacked by American aircraft the previous day succeeds in reaching Wewak, avoiding an Allied destroyer group which bombards the Japanese base at Wewak.

Pacific

The directives for the occupation of Hollandia, New Guinea are issued. The American amphibian force, commanded by Commodore Laurence F. Reifsnider, which is to land on Elmira Island, north of New Ireland in the St Matthias group, sails from Guadalcanal.

Images from March 18, 1944

18 March 1944 – Mount Vesuviusis Erupts

2nd Camerons on Snakeshead Ridge, near Cassino, 18 March 1944

B-25 of the 1st Air Commando Force Attacks Japanese Supply Depots at Wunto, Burma, 18 March 1944

Photo: Ernie Pyle, US War Correspondent at Anzio on 18 March 1944 (US NARA)

Men of the 8th Cavalry Moving a 38-mm Antitank Gun to a Firing Position near Lorengau Village, 18 March 1944

German Soldiers, Captured by New Zealanders on the Cassino Front, Receive Meal at POW Cage, 18 March 1944

A Formation Of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses Of The 91St Bomb Group, 8Th Af, Enroute To Target Of The Day — Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. 18 March 1944

B-17s on a Mission to Germany

Picture Illustrating the Mt Vesuvius Eruption, 18 March 1944