18 Sep in WW2 History | World War II Database

18 Sep 1889

Leslie Morshead was born.
» In-depth article

18 Sep 1896

Ivan Petrov was born.
» In-depth article

18 Sep 1900

Walther Wenck was born.
» In-depth article

18 Sep 1914

The Irish Home Rule Act reached the British statute books but was suspended for the duration of the war with Germany.

18 Sep 1915

Erwin Rommel was promoted to the rank of Oberleutnant.
» In-depth article

18 Sep 1922

British Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon departed for Paris, France to smooth things over with the Pro-Turkish French Prime Minister Raymond Paincaré who had decided to withdraw the French contingent at Chanak, western Anatolia.

18 Sep 1931

China

Japanese troops detonate a bomb on the rail line near Mukden, China.
» In-depth article

Photo(s) dated 18 Sep 1931

Japanese troops marching into Mukden, 18 Sep 1931, photo 2 of 3

Japanese troops marching into Mukden, 18 Sep 1931, photo 1 of 3

Railway sabotage site, near Mukden, northeastern China, 18 Sep 1931, photo 1 of 2

Japanese rail officials and reporters at the site of the alleged railroad sabotage, near Mukden, 18 Sep 1931

See all photos dated 18 Sep 1931

18 Sep 1936

Mahan was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article

18 Sep 1939

Italy organized the Milizia Fascista Albanese (Albanian Fascist Militia) in occupied Albania.
Italy deployed four Blackshirt divisions to Libya.
Adolf Hitler arrived in Danzig; he would remain in the region for the next week, staying at the Casino Hotel in Zoppot.
» In-depth article

France

Polish cipher experts fled tp Paris, France with vital knowledge of the German Enigma code which they would later give to the British. Thanks to the Poles, codebreaking became a powerful weapon in the Allied armoury.
» In-depth article

Poland

A Soviet-German joint victory parade was held in Brest-Litovsk in Eastern Poland.
» In-depth article

Photo(s) dated 18 Sep 1939

Slovakian General Ferdinand Catlos speaking with German General Erwin Engelbrecht, circa Sep 1939

18 Sep 1940

U-48 hit the British passenger liner City of Benares, a ship evacuating 90 British children and their families to Canada, with a torpedo 600 miles west of Ireland at 0001 hours. The ship listed heavily, which prevented many of the lifeboats from being launched. She sank at about 0030 hours, taking down 121 crew and 134 passengers (including 77 children). Destroyer HMS Hurricane arrived on the following day and rescued 105 survivors. After this incident, the British government suspended the policy of sending children aboard.
German submarine U-48 sank British ship Marina at 0007 hours; 2 were killed and 37 survived. At 1849 hours, U-48 struck again, sinking British ship Magdalena, killing the entire crew of 31.
Italian submarine Bagnolini sank Spanish ship Cabo Tortosa off Porto, Portugal; all members of the crew survived the attack and were rescued by Spanish ship Monte Ayala.
» In-depth article
USS S-31 was recommissioned into service.
» In-depth article
Douglas Bader shot down a German Do 17 aircraft and a Ju 88 aircraft.
» In-depth article

France

The American Library in Paris, France reopened.

French West Africa

Montcalm departed Dakar, French West Africa.
» In-depth article

Japan

Akagi departed Kure, Japan.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement

United Kingdom

Hans-Joachim Marseille scored his fifth kill, a British Spitfire fighter, over Dover, England, United Kingdom.
» In-depth article
70 German Ju 88 bombers escorted by 100 Bf 109 fighters crossed the English Channel at noon and were intercepted by British fighters of No. 11 Group RAF; 60 of the bombers would reach London, England, United Kingdom and drop their bombs. At 1600 hours, 200 bombers in multiple waves attacked targets in Kent in southern England; they were engaged by fighters of No. 11 and No. 12 Groups and suffered 23 bombers and 10 fighters lost, but they were able to shoot down 12 British fighters in exchange. Overnight, London was bombed by several waves of bombers; Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, and other cities were also attacked.
» In-depth article

Photo(s) dated 18 Sep 1940

Pattern of condensation trails left by British and German aircraft after a dog fight over Britain, 18 Sep 1940

18 Sep 1941

US President Franklin Roosevelt requested US Congress to allocate US$1,500,000,000 for the Lend-Lease program.
» In-depth article
The Soviet Union announced conscription for all men aged 16-50.
German troops captured Poltava, Ukraine.
» In-depth article
Change of German strategy against Leningrad, Russia, switching from assault to besieging, led to the tanks of the German 4th Panzer Army were loaded onto trains at for Moscow, Russia. This shift in strategy partially resulted from Adolf Hitler's order earlier on this date that Leningrad was to be razed to the ground.
» In-depth article
British aircraft located a convoy of three Italian troopships escorted by four destroyers from Taranto, Italy, sailing for Tripoli, Libya. Submarines HMS Upholder, HMS Upright, HMS Ursula, and HMS Unbeaten were dispatched to attack. HMS Upholder sank troopships Neptunia and Oceania over a four hour period about 70 miles east of Tripoli (384 killed, 6,500 survived), while HMS Ursula attacked troopship Vulcania unsuccessfully.
After dark, British minelaying cruiser HMS Latona and destroyers HMS Napier, HMS Havock, and HMS Nizam sailed from Alexandria, Egypt and delivered supplies to the besieged garrison at Tobruk, Libya. They would return to Alexandria in the morning of the next day. HMS Nizam was damaged on the return trip when she hit the wreck of Italian ship Serenitas at Tobruk.
» In-depth article

Japan

Admiral Soemu Toyoda was named the commanding officer of Kure Naval District, Japan.
» In-depth article

18 Sep 1942

Theresienstadt Concentration Camp surpassed its maximum capacity; 58,491prisoners now resided in the camp.
» In-depth article
Orders from Heinrich Himmler: The SS was to have full judicial control over Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish, and Roma prisoners; all prisoners of the German justice system capable of work were to be transferred to concentration camps for forced labor; food rations for Jews in Germany were to be reduced.
» In-depth article
Monsignor Montini, future Pope Paul VI, sent a letter to Pope Pius XII, noting that "the massacres of the Jews reach frightening proportions and forms".
» In-depth article
Soviet troops launched an offensive from the Voronezh Front in Russia.
4,180 men of US 7th Marine Regiment arrived at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. The American beachhead strength was now at 22,500 men.
» In-depth article
The US Marine Corps 1st Parachute Battalion departed for Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides.
German submarine U-175 sank Canadian ship Norfolk 25 miles off British Guyana at 0152 hours; 6 were killed, 13 survived. At 0921 hours, U-380 sank Norwegian merchant ship Olaf Fostenes 1,100 miles east of Nova Scotia, Canada; all 38 aboard survived.
» In-depth article
British 29th Infantry Brigade landed at Tamatave, Madagascar.
» In-depth article

Australian New Guinea

US B-17 Flying Fortress bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain, causing little damage.

Australian Papua

Japanese troops began retreating back along the Kokoda Track across the Owen Stanley Range in Australian Papua.
» In-depth article

Russia

Soviet 1st Guards Army and 24th Army attacked German VIII Army Corps at Kotluban 40 kilometers north of Stalingrad, Russia; German Stuka dive bombers hampered the attack by destroying 41 of the 106 Soviet tanks committed, while escorting Bf 109 fighters destroyed 77 Soviet aircraft in the immediate area. In the city, heavy house-to-house fighting continued.
» In-depth article
12 German He 111 torpedo bombers attacked Allied convoy PQ-18 at the entrance of the Kola Inlet, Russia, sinking US ship Kentucky (all aboard survived) at the cost of 3 aircraft shot down.
» In-depth article

Photo(s) dated 18 Sep 1942

British troops landing at Tamataue, Madagascar, 18 Sep 1942

Doolittle raiders posing with B-25 Mitchell bomber

18 Sep 1943

Yamato sortied from Truk to Brown Atoll, Eniwetok in response to raids by US Navy Task Force 15 on Tarawa, Makin, and Abemama Atolls.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Manila, Philippine Islands.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
Mussolini declared the Repubblica Sociale Italiana in Northern Italy.
» In-depth article
John Basilone participated in a bond tour event in Scanton, Pennsylvania, United States.
» In-depth article

Australia

USS Cisco arrived at Darwin, Australia.
» In-depth article

Caroline Islands

Shokaku sortied from Truk, Caroline Islands to Brown Island (Eniwetok), Marshall Islands with Combined Fleet under Vice Admiral Ozawa's tactical command in response to the US Task Force 15 carrier raids on Tarawa and Makin.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement

Italy

Headquarters of British V Corps arrived at Taranto, Italy.
» In-depth article

Japan

Irako arrived at Yokosuka, Japan.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement

Pacific Ocean

USS Bluefish sank small Japanese ship with her deck gun in the Dutch East Indies.
» In-depth article

Russia

German submarine U-711 shelled the Soviet wireless telegraph station at Pravdy in northern Russia.
» In-depth article

United States

USS Corvina departed Groton, Connecticut, United States.
» In-depth article

Photo(s) dated 18 Sep 1943

Specialist (S) 3rd class Aspasia Phoutrides inspecting WAVES barracks at the Advanced Naval Training Station, Lake Union, Seattle, Washington, United States, 18 Sep 1943

African-American soldiers of a port battalion of the US 5th Army unloading supplies at the beach at Salerno, Italy, 18 Sep 1943; note DUKW in center and fresh water cans marked with

Japanese ship aground at Kiska harbor, Aleutian islands, US Territory of Alaska, 18 Sep 1943

18 Sep 1944

USS Cod departed Fremantle, Australia for her fifth war patrol.
» In-depth article
Cruiser USS Duluth (CL-87) was commissioned with Captain Donald Roderick Osborn, Jr. in command.
US Ninth Army captured Brest, France.
» In-depth article
In the Netherlands, German troops launched a heavy counter attack near Arnhem while Allied troops captured Eindhoven.
» In-depth article
USS Sennet completed her fitting out.
» In-depth article
Indian troops captured Point 343 in San Marino. Brazilian troops captured Camaiore, Italy. British troops captured San Godenzo Pass, also in Italy.
» In-depth article

Hawaii

USS Escolar departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first and only war patrol.
» In-depth article

United States

USS Ticonderoga departed San Diego, California, United States for Pearl Harbor.
» In-depth article
USS Spot completed fitting out at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, United States.
» In-depth article

Photo(s) dated 18 Sep 1944

Horsa gliders on the ground near Arnhem, the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden, Sep 1944, photo 1 of 2; note tail sections removed for quick exit of troops

Brigadier P. H. W. Hicks studying a map at Divisional Headquarters during the advance to Arnhem, Netherlands during Operation Market Garden, 18 Sep 1944

Sherman tanks advancing through cheering crowds in Valkenswaard, the Netherlands, 18 Sep 1944

An aerial view of a Hamilcar glider which had been unloaded of its troops on the landing zone near Arnhem, the Netherlands, circa 17-25 Sep 1944

See all photos dated 18 Sep 1944

18 Sep 1945

HMCS Micmac (R10) was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander R. L. Hennessy in command.

Japan

Douglas MacArthur established his headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.
» In-depth article

Photo(s) dated 18 Sep 1945

Captured A6M5 Model 52 Zero fighters and one Ki-46 reconnaissance aircraft at the RNZAF airfield at Jacquinot Bay, New Britain, 18 Sep 1945

18 Sep 1947

The United States Air Force (USAF) became an officially independent member of the newly unified US armed services, and was no longer under the control of the US Army.

18 Sep 1951