Air Operations, Bonin and Volcano Islands

• 11th and 30th Heavy Bomb group B-24s attack Chichi Jima and Haha Jima.
• 11th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s and 318th Fighter Group P-38s escort US Navy photo-reconnaissance aircraft to Iwo Jima.

Air Operations, CBI

• 9 10th Air Force B-25s attack rail yards at Man Pwe.
• 27 10th Air Force fighter-bombers support Allied ground forces near Bhamo and Pinwe.
• 20 P-47s attack targets of opportunity along the rail lines between Kanbalu and Wuntho and at two other locations.
• 16 P-47s attack troops and supplies at two locations.
• 7 P-47s attack a ferry terminal at Meza.

• 10 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack town areas at Ishan and Liuchow, and stores at Hengshan.
• 14th Air Force fighter-bombers mount more than 130 effective sorties against numerous targets across the breadth of southern China.
• A 23rd Fighter Group P-51 downs a Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter in an engagement of over the Chiuchiang airfield at 1000 hours.
• 311th Fighter Group P-51s down 2 Ki-27 'Nate' fighters, 1 Ki-43 'Oscar' fighter, and 1 Ki-44 'Tojo' fighter over the Shihchiachuang airfield at 1120 hours.
• 1 311th Fighter Group P-51 is lost with its pilot.

Air Operations, East Indies

• FEAF B-24s with strong fighter support attack oil installations at Tarakan Island, Borneo.
• B-24s and B-25s attack shipping near Tarakan Island and in Brunei Bay.
• B-24s attack shipyards at Polewali, Celebes.
• B-24s, B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers attack airfields and targets of opportunity in northeastern Celebes.
• B-24s attack airfields on Amboina and Ceram.
• P-38s strafe shipping in the Molucca Islands.
• V Bomber Command B-25s support Allied ground forces in the Mapia Islands.

Air Operations, Europe

• 479 aircraft including 367 Halifaxes, 94 Lancasters and 18 Mosquitos of Nos. 4, 6 and 8 Groups are sent to Münster. The raid is not concentrated and bombs fall in all parts of Münster.
• 1 Halifax crashes in Holland.

• 3 Halifaxes fly RCM sorties.

• 285 Lancasters and 24 Mosquitos of Nos. 1 and 8 Groups are sent to Wanne-Eickel. The target of the raid is the local oil plant. Large explosions seem to erupt in the plant and post-raid reconnaissance shows that some further damage is caused to it. The local report does not mention the oil plant but states that the Hannibal coal mine was destroyed.
• 1 Lancaster is lost.

• 31 Mosquitos are sent to Wiesbaden on a 'spoof' raid, 21 more to Hannover and 6 to Erfurt, and there are 44 Mosquito patrols and 29 RCM sorties.
• There are no losses.
• ??The first in a series of 16 more raids is conducted by the RAF against Berlin. In this initial attack 402 British bombers inflict extensive destruction. German defenses are unable to cope with the waves of attacking aircraft.
• Only 9 bombers are downed.

Air Operations, Japan

4 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s attack shore batteries around Suribachi in the Kurile Islands.

Air Operations, Philippines

• FEAF B-24s, V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack airfields and various other targets on Mindanao.
• B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers attack shipping, port facilities, barges, airfields, bivouacs, and other targets in the central Philippines.
• 348th Fighter Group P-47s and 49th and 475th Fighter group P-38s down 7 Japanese fighters over Leyte and Cebu between 0715 and 0745 hours.
• A US destroyer and aircraft from VC-82 (USS Anzio) team up to sink a Japanese fleet submarine about 300 miles east of Samar.

Eastern Front

The Leningrad Front resumes the offensive against the German forces tenaciously defending the southern point of Saaremaa Island in the north of the Gulf of Riga. The possession of this tongue of land is important to the Wehrmacht, which has to consider the evacuation of the Army Group North, trapped in northern Latvia, east of Riga.

The third attempt by the Soviet 46th Army to establish a bridgehead on the west bank of the Danube River fails.

Italy

Headquarters of the British 8th Army fixes 8:00p.m. as H-hour for the joint attack by the British V Corps and Polish II Corps against Faenza.

Pacific

The Japanese submarine chaser No. 156 is sunk by the US submarine Spadefish (SS-411) in the Yellow Sea.

Philippines

On Leyte in the US X Corps sector there is bitter fighting in the areas of the hills called Kilay and Corkscrew, where the resistance of the Japanese 30th Div is intense.

United States, Home Front

The cost of living has risen 29% since January 1941.

Western Front

The two divisions of the XXX Corps, British 2nd Army, the 43rd and 84th, launch an offensive for the capture of the Geilenkirchen salient in Operation CLIPPER. In the course of Operation QUEEN the US 2nd Arm Div, XIX Corps, 9th Army, reaches Apweiler, and the 29th Div reaches Setterich; some units of the latter division penetrate into the outer defenses of Jülich.

In the US 1st Army sector, the 4th Div, VII Corps, advances in the forest of Hürtgen, where the 8th Inf Regt penetrates into the outer defenses of Düren.

In the US 3rd Army sector the 10th Arm Div, continuing its pursuit of the units of the German 1st Army, captures Launstroff and Schwerdorff and reaches the Nied River near Bouzonville, only a little way from the Franco-German frontier. Task Force 'Bacon', 95th Div, enters Metz from the northeast and the 5th Div from the south. Two divisions of the XII Corps, the 35th and 26th, resume the advance on the Saar after an intensive bombardment; the first reaches Bistroff and the enemy positions east of Vallerange, the other, operating on the right flank, launches an assault on the line from Dieuze to Bénestroff.

In the southern sector of the Allies front the 79th Div, XV Corps, US 7th Army, begins the attack on Fremonville; in the VI Corps sector, the 100th Div attacks Raon-l'Etape, about 10 miles northwest of St Dié. The 5th Arm Div and 2nd Moroccan Div, I Corps, French 1st Army, approach Belfort from the corps' north flank. The French 1st Div, with support from the 9th Colonial Div, advances about 6 miles beyond Belfort between the Reno Canal and the smalll town of Delle, on the Swiss border.

Images from November 18, 1944

Troops of the US 5th Infantry Division entering Metz, 18 November 1944

US 3rd Army entering Metz, France, 18 November 1944. (US Army Center of Military History)

US 3rd Army Entering Metz

Troops of the 7th Somerset Light Infantry, 43rd (Wessex) Division resting during the assault on Geilenkirchen in Germany, 18 November 1944

Resting during the Assault on Geilenkirchen

Mud was everywhere in the Hürtgen Forest. This road—one of the few in the area—is a good example of the mud that soldiers dealt with

Mud in the Hürtgen Forest

Crew of the Soviet 280-mm Mortars Br-5 Positions in East Prussia, 18 November 1944

SAS Jeep, 18 November 1944

Sgt Mike Ala, 4th Infantry Division, Hurtgen Forest, 18 November 44

Soldiers of F Company moving up into position in the Hurtgen Forest, 18 November 1944. They were about to partake in the bloody fighting around Hamich, Germany, one of the toughest battles for the regiment in the entire war.

Soldiers of F Company