Air Operations, CBI

• 6 10th Air Force B-25s attack bridges at Meza and Namhkai.
• 6 B-25s attack two bridges at Wuntho.
• 21 10th Air Force P-47s support Allied ground forces around Mohnyin.
• 13 P-47s attack the Mingaladon airfield at Rangoon.
• 8 P-47s attack two bridges at Wanling.
• 6 P-47s attack Japanese Army troops near Hwemun.
• P-47s from the 33rd Fighter Group and 2nd Air Commando Group down 2 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighters in an engagement over Rangoon and the Mingaladon airfield there between 1015 and 1055 hours.

• 14th Air Force P-51s and P-40s mount more than 100 effective sorties against numerous targets in broad areas south of the Yangtze River.

Air Operations, East Indies

Due to bad weather, only 8 of more than 120 FEAF B-24s dispatched, escorted by 8 P-38s of 75 XIII Fighter Command fighters dispatched, are able to attack oil facilities at Balikpapan, Borneo without loss. Also FEAF B-25s and fighter-bombers attack Amboina Town, Liang on Amboina, Namlea on Boeroe, and targets of opportunity on Djailolo Island and around Wasile Bay.

Air Operations, Europe

• 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 do not exceed 18,000ft. Aircraft with G-H have their tail fins painted with a prominent design. Aircraft without G-H find a G-H 'leader' to follow into the target area and bomb when that aircraft bombs. 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 can show the results of the first G-H raid without the effects of other bombing confusing the interpretation of the photographs. 128 Lancasters are sent. The raid appears to go well and only 1 aircraft is lost. The attack was a complete success. The heart of old Bonn is destroyed, with its university, many cultural and public buildings and a large residential area being burned out. The local report says that the home in which Beethoven lived is saved 'by the courageous actions of its caretakers'. 700 buildings are destroyed and 1,000 more seriously damaged.

• 1 Hudson is on a Resistance operation and there are 4 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.

• 19 Mosquitos are sent to Hannover, 18 to Mannheim, 8 to Düsseldorf, 5 to Pforzheim and 4 to Wiesbaden.
• 1 Mosquito is lost on the Pforzheim raid.

Air Operations, Japan

4 28th Composite Bomb Group B-25s attack Suribachi and the Kurabu Cape airfield in the Kurile Islands.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack the airfields at Babo and Sagan.
• B-25s and fighter-bombers attack other targets on and around the Vogelkop Peninsula.

Air Operations, Philippines

• V Fighter Command P-38s attack road traffic, barges, and small vessels along Mindanao’s west coast.
• Aircraft from Task Group 77.4 escort carriers open the final preinvasion bombardment of the Leyte area with attacks against airfields in the Visayan Islands, Leyte, and northern Mindanao; aircraft from Task Group 38.1, Task Group 38.2, and Task Group 38.4 mount powerful attacks to neutralize Japanese air strength based on Luzon. Also, US 3rd Fleet units, including some air units, assume covering stations in the San Bernadino and Surigao straits.
• Task Force 38 F6Fs down 68 Japanese fighters over Clark Field and the Mabalacat airfield on Luzon, and the Manila area, and 4 search planes at sea, between 0613 and 1710 hours.

Burma

On the British XXXIII Corps front, the 5th Indian Div enter Tiddim.

China

Roosevelt recalls Lt-Gen 'Vinegar Joe' Stilwell, Deputy Allied Supreme Commander, Southeast Asia, to Washington and tells Chiang Kai-shek that, while the Americans do not actually insist on taking over command of the Chinese army, Gen Albert C. Wedemeyer would be available to act as Chief of Staff. The proposal is accepted.

Diplomatic Relations

Franco sends a letter to Churchill proposing a Spanish-British alliance to combat what he calls 'the insidious power of Bolshevism.' Churchill dismisses the notion immediately.

Eastern Front

The offensive by the 3rd Belorussian Front against East Prussia continues against bitter German resistance.

Belgrade is on the point of falling into the hands of the Russians and the partisans, while the German Army Group F under Maximilian von Weichs hastens the pace of its retreat from the Balkans.

Moscow announces that Red Army units from Ivan Petrov's 4th Ukraine Front have entered Czechoslovakia after crossing the Carpathian passes from Poland. They meet opposition from the German 1st Panzer Army.

The second phase of the Soviet Petsamo-Kirkenes Offensive begins with attacks by the CXIX and CXXXI Rifle Corps toward the Norwegian border. The 24th Rifle Div crosses the border and penetrates 3.1 miles into German positions.

Kremeny falls to the 1st Shock Army as it drives west from Riga. However, the 16th Army has established strong defenses around Tukums and halts the Soviet drive.

The 3rd Belorussian Front continues its attacks into East Prussia but meets fierce German resistance.

Germany, Home Front

From now on all able-bodied males between the ages of 16 and 60 are to be liable for conscription into the home-defense force, the Volksturm. Himmler speaks at the first parade and calls on every German to resist the impending invasion by guerilla tactics. They must fight 'like werewolves. . . Every house, every ditch. . . every cluster of trees will have to be defended.'

Greece

The Greek exile government returns home. Santorini and Scarpanto are occupied by British forces and the port of Patras is opened to shipping.

Italy

The advance of the II Corps is still slow. In the 8th Army sector, the 5th (Kresowa) Div of the Polish II Corps enters Galeata without opposition. The 10th Indian Div of the British V Corps is ordered to attack across the Savio River.

Palau Islands

The fighting still goes on in the Mount Umurbrogol area on Peleliu and against the little Japanese pocket on Angaur Island.

Philippines

While the 3 task groups with 13 aircraft carriers of the US 3rd Fleet hammer the northern part of Luzon and the Manila area, a squadron of cruisers commanded by Rear-Adm Jesse B. Oldendorf shells the coastal defenses of the island of Leyte. Japanese ships sunk in the carrier strike include the auxiliary submarine chaser No. 95 and transports Nos. 135 and 136. The Japanese, already aware of the impending American landing, attack the invasion fleet with all the forces they can muster, damaging the American fast transport Goldsborough (APD-32).

Japanese Imperial Headquarters orders the putting into effect of Operation SHO-GO ('VICTORY'), a decisive action against the American land and naval forces about to invade Leyte.

Western Europe

Gen Raymond S. McClain replaces Gen Charles H. Corlett in command of the US XIX Corps.

At a generals' conference in Brussels Eisenhower describes his plans for future operations on the Western Front. The efforts of the 21st Army Group, and in particular of the Canadian 1st Army, must be concentrated on the liberation of the port of Antwerp. The British 2nd Army is then to advance southeast between the Meuse and the Rhine, starting about November 10, to support the advance of the American 1st Army across the Rhine in the area of Cologne, an operation planned for between November 1 and 5. The US 9th Army after protecting the southern flank of the 1st Army in its advance up to the Rhine, will take part in the capture of the Ruhr.

At Aachen the Americans counter German efforts to break ou by renewing their offensive.

In the US 7th Army sector, the 36th Div of VI Corps captures part of Bruyères.

Images from October 18, 1944

US Soldiers In Aachen Forest, 18 October 1944

Funeral Procession of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Ulm, Germany, 18 October 1944

A British Mortar Crew In Action, Burma, 18 October 1944

A Firefly and Sherman tanks of 29th Armoured Brigade near Venraij, 18 October 1944

Tanks Near Venraij

105mm Howitzer crew from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team firing shells at German positions in support of an infantry attack, near Bruyeres, France. 18 October 1944

105mm Howitzer Crew near Bruyeres, France

T-34-85s Covering the Evacuation of the Wounded in the Battle of Belgrade, 18 October 1944

B-29-30-BW Superfortress 42-24494 "Mary Ann" (792d Bomb Squadron) attacking Hatto, Formosa on 18 October 1944 with high-explosive bombs

B-29s Bombing Formosa

Crash of VF #7 Bu 16584, aboard the Guadalcanal while on Anti-Submarine duty in the Atlantic, 18 October 1944

Crash Aboard the ?Guadalcanal