Air Operations, CBI

• 9 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack supplies at Siangtan.
• 8 B-25s and 7 14th Air Force P-51s attack rail targets and targets of opportunity at 4 locations.
• 75 fighter-bombers harass withdrawing Japanes forces and attack other targets throughout southern and eastern China.

Air Operations, East Indies

• XIII Bomber Command B-24s and 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s attack Fort Brook and Sarawak.
• B-24s and XIII Fighter Command P-38s attack Japanese Army defensive positions on Tarakan Island.

Air Operations, Formosa

• V Bomber Command B-24s attack Taichu and Tainan.
• B-25s and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers sweep the island.

Air Operations, Japan

• 8 28th Composite Bomb Group B-24s attack the airfield and naval base at Kataoka.
• 8 318th Fighter Group P-47s attack radar sites and other targets at Kume Jima (Ryukyu Islands) and Amami Gunto with machine guns, bombs, and rockets.
• During the night 30 9th Very Heavy Bomb Group B-29s sow mines in the Shimonoseki Strait.

Air Operations, Philippines

• V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack numerous targets on Luzon.
• XIII Fighter Command fighter-bombers support US 8th Army ground forces on Negros.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

US Navy and Marine Corps aircraft support US 10th Army ground forces on Okinawa.

Britain, Home Front

An Avro Lancaster 'Aries' flies over the North Magnetic Pole for the first time in history during a series of trans-Polar proving flights.

China

The Chinese forces re-occupy Foochow, in Fukien province. 3 Chinese divisions fighting in Burma are about to return to China.

Okinawa

In the US III Amphibious Corps sector, the 6th Marine Div succeeds in capturing the Sugar Loaf and part of 2 other important positions, the Half Moon and the Horseshoe, which overlook the Sugar Loaf from the southwest. In 10 days of intense fighting for the hill, the 6th Div suffers 2,662 casualties. A further indication of the level of the fighting was that 1,289 Marines were victims of combat fatigue. The 1st Marine Div is still battling to take the Wana River valley and Wana Ridge, but not even tanks and flame-throwers can subdue the Japanese resistance.

In the XXIV Corps sector, the 77th and 96th Divs attack the Japanese positions on the hill called Flat Peak, without success.

The US 6th Marine Div takes most of the Sugar Loaf Hill after several days of bitter fighting.

The US destroyer Longshaw (DD-559) is damaged by coastal gunfire and later sunk by US forces. The high-speed transport Sims (APD-50) is damaged by a suicide plane and the landing craft LST-808 by an aircraft torpedo.

Philippines

On Luzon some progress is made by the American units in the Woodpecker Ridge area.

Images from May 18, 1945

The US Navy destroyer USS Longshaw burning on 18 May 1945. On the morning of 18 May 1945, following a four-day period of fire support, Longshaw, en route to her patrol area, ran aground on a coral reef just south of Naha airfield, Okinawa, at 0719 hrs. At circa 1100 hrs Japanese shore batteries hit Longshaw´s forward magazine, which exploded. About an hour later, the landing craft LCI(L)-356 came alongside to remove the crew. 86 crewmen were killed, 95 were wounded. Later in the afternoon, Longshaw, battered beyond salvaging, was destroyed by gunfire and torpedoes from US ships.

Destroyer Longshaw Hit by Shore Fire

German cruiser Prinz Eugen is being disarmed, 18 May 1945 in Copenhagen's harbor.

German Cruiser Prinz Eugen

German cruisers disarm at Copenhagen. 18 May 1945, De-ammunitioning of the German Cruisers Prinz Eugen and Nurnber.

Disarming German Cruisers

A US Marine from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines on Wana Ridge provides covering fire with his Thompson submachine gun, 18 May 1945.

Providing Covering Fire