18 Nov 1903
Panama Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
- The Panama Canal Zone was created by the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty.
18 Nov 1911
- Georg von Bismarck was promoted to the rank of Leutnant.
» In-depth article - British Commander Oliver Schwann (one of five officers permitted by the Admiralty to train as pilots) made the first British water-borne take off, although he crashed while trying to land on the water. It was left to Arthur Longmore to achieve success two weeks later in a Short S.27.
18 Nov 1915
- Fuso was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
18 Nov 1918
- USS Arizona departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States.
» In-depth article
- The nation of Latvia was established.
18 Nov 1930
- Song Ziwen stepped down as the acting chief of the Executive Yuan.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 1931
China
China
- Chinese troops under General Ma Zhanshan withdrew from Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, China.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 1932
United States
United States
- Joseph Rochefort arrived at the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington DC, United States.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 1936
- Italy and Germany officially recognized General Franco's government in Spain. On the same day, Benito Mussolini authorized an Italian expeditionary corps to be sent to Spain.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 1937
- Birmingham was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 1938
- Spanish Nationalist forces pushed Spanish Republican forces back across the River Ebro in Spain.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 1940
- Overnight, RAF bombers raided Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr region of Germany, bombing the Scholven/Buer hydrogenation plant, which made aviation fuel, and Gelsenberg-Benzin-AG plant, which converted bituminous coal to synthetic oil.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-65 sank British tanker Congonian 125 miles west of Freetown, Sierra Leone at 1802 hours; 1 was killed and 35 survived.
- Italian submarine Baracca sank British ship Lilian Moller 250 miles northwest of Ireland, killing the entire crew.
- British cruiser HMS York departed Port Said, Egypt with a battalion of troops for Suda Bay, Crete, Greece, and anti-aircraft guns for Piraeus, Greece.
» In-depth article - HMS Edinburgh departed Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde, Scotland, United Kingdom to escort Allied convoy WS4B to Freetown, British West Africa.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 1941
- Japanese luxury ocean liner Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokohama, completing her 74th and last round trip across the Pacific.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - British, New Zealand, and Indian troops launched Operation Crusader, a major offensive from Egypt into Libya. Surprise was achieved, and the attack met no serious resistance on the first day. The Germans would later call this offensive Winterschlacht. After sundown, British cruisers HMS Naiad and HMS Euryalus and destroyers HMS Kipling and HMS Jackal bombarded German positions at Halfaya Pass.
» In-depth article - Five large Japanese carrier submarines, each containing midget submarines, departed from Kure Naval Base, Japan for Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. Meanwhile, Joseph Rochefort's US Navy cryptanalytic team reported no Japanese carrier movement.
» In-depth article - Archer was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article - General John Dill, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal.
» In-depth article - Japan requested Germany to not conclude a separate peace with any common enemies of the two countries, but did not share its plans to attack the United States.
- The teams dispatched on the previous day out of Leningrad, Russia to Lake Ladoga returned to the besieged city at 0400 hours, reporting that the ice on the lake was about 10 centimeters thick, which made light travel possible, but not for heavy equipment such as 1-ton trucks.
» In-depth article - German 4th Panzer Army launched a 400-tank attack 70 miles west of Moscow, Russia, supported by 3 infantry divisions; Soviet 30th Army fell back northward to Klin, while Soviet 16th Army was pushed south to Istra. 120 miles south of Moscow, German 3rd Panzer Army was held up at Tula, with its latest attempt to surround the Soviet garrison there foiled by the newly-arrived Soviet 413th Rifle Division.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 1942
- About 1,000 Jews from ghettos of Grodno, Byelorussia arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp; 165 men and 65 women were registered, and about 770 were gassed.
» In-depth article - Men of the US Army and US Marine attacked Japanese positions near Kokumbona and the Poha River at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.
» In-depth article - Marshal Philippe Pétain signed a constitutional document permitting Prime Minister Pierre Laval to make laws and issue decrees on his own signature only.
» In-depth article
- After an arduous march over rugged mountainous terrain, during which the Commanding Officer had suffered a heart attack, 2nd Battalion of US 126th Infantry Regiment reached Pongani, southeast of Buna, Australian Papua. Less than half the battalion were still fit for action.
» In-depth article
- Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands.
» In-depth article - Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyers Murasame, Amatsukaze, and Asagumo at Truk, Caroline Islands.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
- Gabriel Auphan resigned from his position as the head of the French Navy.
» In-depth article
- I-168 arrived at Kure, Japan and entered drydock for repairs.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
18 Nov 1943
- Chinese 57th Division attacked and recaptured the city of Changde.
» In-depth article - German troops captured Zhytomyr, Ukraine.
- Viktor Abakumov made the suggestion to Joseph Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov that German officers responsible for war crimes committed at Kharkov, Ukraine and Smolensk, Russia should be placed on trial.
» In-depth article
- RAF Bomber Command launched a concerted series of attacks on the Berlin, Germany dubbed "Operation Berlin". During the first attack, more than 700 tons of bombs were dropped. Over a five-month period, Berlin is attacked 32 times and hit by 25,000 tons of bombs, killing more than 6,000 and leaving 1.5 million homeless; RAF lost 1,047 aircraft during the five-month bombing campaign.
» In-depth article
- USS Bluefish sank Japanese destroyer Sanae and damaged an oiler in the Celebes Sea, hitting Sanae with 3 of 3 torpedoes fired and the oil with 1 of 3 torpedoes fired.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 1944
- Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Singapore.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - USS Sunfish sank Japanese transport Seisho Maru in the East China Sea at 0317 hours.
» In-depth article - Adolf Eichmann ordered the deportation of 18,000 Jews from Budapest, Hungary to concentration camps.
» In-depth article - US Third Army entered Germany proper.
- US XX Corps surrounded Metz, France.
- USS Snook arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her seventh war patrol.
» In-depth article - The Ki-83 heavy fighter took its first flight.
» In-depth article - USS Pollack arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii.
» In-depth article - USS Astoria crossed the International Date Line.
» In-depth article - Antrup Wilhelm was awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
- Heinrich Höfer was awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
18 Nov 1945
- 21 Nazi leaders were indicted at the first open session of the International Military War Crimes Tribunal in Germany.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 1947
- Arthur Coningham was awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange Nassau of the Netherlands.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 1949
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
- A Douglas C-47 Globemaster I aircraft of the USAF's MATS landed at RAF Marham, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom after a non-stop flight from the US. It carried a total of 103 passengers and crew, then the largest number of people carried across the North Atlantic in a single flight.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 1952
Photo(s) dated 18 Nov 1952
Photo(s) dated 18 Nov 1952
18 Nov 1959
- Submarine Gar was sold to Acme Scrap Iron and Metal Company for scrap.
» In-depth article
18 Nov 2010
United States
United States
- The commissioners of Port of Los Angeles, California, United States approved Berth 87 as the future home of battleship Iowa.
» In-depth article
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
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"I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil."General Douglas MacArthur at Leyte, 17 Oct 1944