Air Operations, Carolines

• V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack several targets of opportunity while conducting an armed reconnaissance over the Palau Islands.
• During the night, 868th Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack Japanese airfields and defenses in the Palau Islands.

Air Operations, CBI

• 39 10th Air Force fighter-bombers support Allied ground forces around Pinbaw.
• 16 P-51s and P-47s attack a bridge and other targets at Bhamo.
• 16 fighter-bombers attack Japanese Army ground forces at Moda.
• 8 P-47s attack the airfield at Lashio and nearby targets of opportunity.
• 4 P-47s attack a bridge in Hsenwi.
• 14th Air Force fighter-bombers attack targets in eastern Burma.

• 12 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack stores at Mangshih.
• 6 B-25s attack stores at Changsha.
• 14th Air Force fighter-bombers support Chinese Army ground forces on the Salween River front and attack numerous targets in east-central China.
• 311th Fighter Group P-51s down 2 Ki-44 'Tojo' fighters near Chefang at 1700 hours.

Air Operations, East Indies

V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack several targets of opportunity while conducting sweeps over the Molucca Islands.

Air Operations, Europe

• 158 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitos of No. 5 Group attack a German supply depot at L'Isle-Adam near Paris.
• 2 Lancasters are lost.
• In daylight raids, 64 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos are sent to the oil storage depots at Bordeaux and Ertvelde Rieme near Ghent, 16 Halifaxes and 16 Lancaster are sent to hit 7 flying bomb sites, and 23 Lancasters to the U-boat pens at La Pallice.
• 2 Lancasters are lost raiding flying bomb sites.

• 288 aircraft are sent to Bremen. In this total are 216 Lancasters, 65 Halifaxes and 7 Mosquitos. Visibility over the target is clear and the Pathfinders provide perfect marking throughout the raid. Bremen's own records show this to have been the most destructive raid of the war, although only 274 aircraft attack, dropping just over 1,100 tons of bombs. The whole of the center and the northwestern parts of Bremen, including the port area, are devastated.
• 210 Halifaxes, 14 Mosquitos and 10 Lancasters from mainly No. 4 Group are sent to bomb the synthetic oil plant at Sterkrade. Bomber Command documents state the raid is successful and the facility is seriously damaged.
• 1 Halifax and 1 Lancaster are lost.
• 122 Halifaxes, 18 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos of Nos. 6 and 8 Groups attack Connantre located between Paris and Reims. The target is a railway station and yards 70 miles east of Paris. The Pathfinder marking is accurate and the damage to the target area is severe. This raid marks the end of a long series of raids on the Belgian and French railway systems.
• There are no losses.
• 108 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of Nos. 1 and 8 Groups attack the oil depot and storage tanks at Ertvelde Reime to the north of Ghent. Severe damage is caused to the targets.
• There are no losses.

• Support and 139 training aircraft make a diversionary sweep over the Normandy area, 21 Mosquitos are sent to Berlin and 19 to 5 other targets, 11 Halifaxes lay mines off the Biscay ports, 5 aircraft are on Resistance ops, and there are 62 Mosquito patrols and 33 RCM sorties.
• 1 Mosquito is lost on a raid to Harburg.

The remains of what was an oil store and depot on the banks of the Terneuzen Canal near Ghent after two raids by Bomber Command.

Oil storage facilities at Ghent destroyed

Air Operations, New Guinea

V Bomber Command A-20s and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack ground defenses near Sarmi and troops and stores at Suain.

Diplomatic Relations

Plans are announced for the Allied occupation of Germany.

Eastern Front

The Germans maintain their powerful counterattack in the area of Siauliai, in Lithuania. The 1st Baltic Front is only just able to resist the German onslaught. In the north troops of the 3rd Baltic and the Leningrad Fronts advance north and south of Lake Peipus. In southern Poland Sandomierz, on the west bank of the Vistula, is taken by the 1st Ukraine Front.

The Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army moves to the north of the 2nd Guards Army to shield Siauliai, and also fends off attacks by the XXXIX and XL Panzer Corps.[MORE]

Germany, Planning

The Kriegsmarine begins to scuttle its U-boats in French ports now under threat from the Allies. U-123 and U-129 are sacrificed at Lorient and U-78 and U-188 at Bordeaux.

Northern France

Allied troops continue to advance westward toward the Seine. During the night the rearguards of Gen Paul Hausser's 7th Army manage to withdraw to the east bank of the Orne River.

At Chambois, between Falaise and Argentan, units(Poles?) of the Canadian II Corps coming from the north join up with advance guards of the US XV Corps, closing the so-called Falaise gap. A considerable German force is still to the west. The German retreat through the Falaise gap in the past few days has provided unrivalled opportunities for the Allies fighter-bombers since there has been an enormous amount of vulnerable traffic compelled to travel by day on virtually one road.

In 3rd Army's advance toward the Seine forward patrols reach Versailles.

Field-Marshal von Kluge commits suicide. Once the architech of so many German victories, but now deprived of his command and suspected of being involved in the attempt on Hitler's life, von Kluge takes his own life at Metz rather than be hauled before a People's Court. He leaves a letter for Hitler, in which he writes among other things: 'I do not know whether Field-Marshal Model will be able to restore the position. I hope so with all my heart. But if not, and if your new weapons, in which such burning faith is placed, do not bring success, then, mein Führer, take the decision to end the war. The German people have suffered such unspeakable ills that the time has come to put an end to these horrors.'

Pacific

The Japanese carrier Taiyo(Otaka?) is sunk by the US submarine Rasher (SS-269) off northwest Luzon, Philippine Islands.

Southern France

The US VI Corps is now moving toward Aix-en-Provence while on their left the French forces are attacking nearer the coast toward Toulon and eventually Marseilles. There is also a US advance north toward Gap.

United States, Politics

Roosevelt names Patrick J. Hurley, a former secretary of war, as his special envoy to China. He is to effect an understanding between the Nationalists and Communists.

Images from August 18, 1944

A German Panzer IV Abandoned in front of This Lady's Storefront, 18 August 1944

Currie leads epic Canadian attack at Lambert sur Dive - Rarely are there photographs of any part of an action leading to the award of the Victoria Cross. As the German officer brings his men into surrender – just one batch amongst many taken during the three day battle – Major Currie stands to the left with his pistol in hand.

Canadian Attack at Lambert sur Dive

German Troops Surrendering at St Lambert sur Dive

Canadian Troops Advance during the Action at St Lambert sur Dive

St. Lambert-sur-Dives, August, 1944 A soldier of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, shovel on back, runs forward past a burning Sherman tank in the village street.

A Canadian Soldier in St Lambert sur Dive

Just after the liberation of the town, a French woman who had had a baby with a German soldier was punished by having her head shaved. Chartres, Eure-et-Loir, France, 18 August 1944

A French Woman Was Punished by Having Her Head Shaved

US Glider Pilots Relax at a Bar in France, 18 August 1944

Spitfires Mk Vc (Trop) of 352 (Yugoslav) Squadron RAF (Balkan Air Force) before first mission on 18 August 1944, from Canne airfield, Italy.

Spitfires Mk Vc

Cromwell tank crews of 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry, 11th Armored Division, with local inhabitants during the drive to Lesdeux, 18 August 1944

Cromwell Tank Crews of 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry

German Officers

SS-Panzergrenadiers of 3. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 'Totenkopf' pass behind a burning and destroyed T-34, make signs for the SS-Kriegsberichter to leave the area during battles raged around the Starówka (Old Town). Warsaw, Poland. 18 August 1944.

SS-Panzergrenadiers in Battle of Warsaw

Medics of the Polish Resistance transport a wounded Polish insurgent through the rubble to a makeshift hospital during the Warsaw Uprising. Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland. August 1944

Medics of the Polish Resistance Transport