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• Ernie Pyle was killed on Ie Shima off Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [Ernie Pyle | CPC]
• Over 300,000 encircled German troops in the Ruhr region of western Germany surrendered. US First Army entered Düsseldorf. ww2dbase [Fall of the Ruhr | TH]
• US Ninth Army captured Magdeburg, Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• British Second Army captured Lüneburg and Ülzen, Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• The Western Allies reported that German prisoners taken since the Normandy invasion had reached two million, with the exact count at 2,055,575. ww2dbase [AC]
• 2nd Byelorussian Front broke the Oder defensive line between Schwedt and Stettin, Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• As some German troops surrendered Helgoland to the Allies peacefully, SS men shot some of them for the traitorous act. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Soviet 1st Byelorussian Front finally penetrated the Seelow Heights defensive lines at Berlin, Germany. Joseph Goebbels burned files in his office as Soviet troops approached. ww2dbase [Battle of Berlin | TH]
• USS Rock bombarded a Japanese radio station at Batan, Batanes Islands, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Rock | CPC]
• USS Cabrilla attacked a Japanese convoy off northern Japan with six torpedoes, one of which damaged a transport. ww2dbase [Cabrilla | CPC]
• USS Parche attacked a Japanese transport east of Kamaichi, Japan; all 3 torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Parche | CPC]
• USS Seahorse was damaged by two Japanese patrol vessels off Japan; she fired one torpedo in return, but it missed. She set sail for Guam, Mariana Islands for repairs. ww2dbase [Seahorse | CPC]
• RAF Bomber Command abandoned a plan to use modified Lancaster bombers for in-flight fueling when Tiger Force was deployed to Okinawa, Japan for long-range missions against the Japanese home islands, preferring to wait until the new Avro Lincoln aircraft fitted with saddle tanks can became available. ww2dbase [AC]

• USS Chub arrived at Fremantle, Australia, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Chub | CPC]

• US troops began fighting in the old city section of Nürnberg, Germany; meanwhile, US 3rd Army sent units across the Czechoslovakian border. ww2dbase [Southern Germany Campaign | TH, CPC]
• German pilot Johannes Steinhoff was seriously burned during a takeoff accident with his Me 262 jet fighter at München (Munich), Germany. ww2dbase [CPC]

• German 29th Panzergrenadier Division unsuccessfully attempted an armored counterattack against the British bridgehead north of the Fossa Marina canal near Argenta, Italy. ww2dbase [Operation Grapeshot and Operation Roast | CPC]

• USS Sargent Bay arrived in Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [Sargent Bay | CPC]

• Canadian tanks reached the shores of the Ijsselmeer lake, effectively cutting off the 120,000 strong German 25th Army in Holland. ww2dbase [AC]

• B-25 bombers attacked Giran Airfield in northern Taiwan. ww2dbase [Giran Airfield | CPC]

18 Apr 1945 Interactive Map