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• Americans began parachuting medical and aid teams into selected prisoners of war camps in the Japanese home islands. ww2dbase [AC]
• Soviet First Deputy Commissar for Foreign Affairs Andrei Vyshinsky submitted a list of names of Germans who could be sent to the Nuremberg Trials to his superior Vyacheslav Molotov. The list consisted of Ferdinand Schörner, Hans Fritzche, Hans-Erich Voß, Adolf Beckerle, and Reiner Stahel. ww2dbase [Nuremberg Trials and Other Trials Against Germany | CPC]
• Mariya Dolina was made a Hero of the Soviet Union. ww2dbase [Mariya Dolina | CPC]
• Mariya Dolina was awarded the Order of Lenin. ww2dbase [Mariya Dolina | CPC]

• I-14 departed Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [I-14 | Truk | CPC]

• Nearly 4,000 Japanese troops surrendered along the Hailar River in Liaobei Province, China, effectively ending organised resistance. ww2dbase [Manchurian Strategic Offensive | Liaobei | AC, CPC]
• Guo Fengwu, the deputy commander of the 24th Pursuit Squadron of the Chinese Air Force, flew over Guisui, Suiyuan (now Hohhot, Inner Mongolia), China and dropped leaflets containing a transcript of Emperor Showa's 15 Aug 1945 radio address. He was shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire and became the final Chinese Air Force casualty of the war. ww2dbase [Japan's Surrender | Guisui, Suiyuan | CPC]
• The Eastern Mongolian Branch of the Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, based in the town of Wangin (now Ulan Hot), Rehe Province, China and consisted of several bureaucrats of the former puppet nation Manchukuo, declared Inner Mongolia a part of the secessionist Mongolian People's Republic. ww2dbase [Wangin, Rehe | CPC]
• In Chongqing, China, French and Chinese representatives signed a document that officially returned Kouang-Tchéou-Wan (Chinese: Guangzhouwan) back to China. This treaty port has been forcibly leased by Qing Dynasty China to France in Nov 1899, who placed it under the administration of French Indochina. ww2dbase [Chongqing | CPC]

• The Preparatory Committee for the Independence of Indonesia endorsed the constitution drafted in Jun 1945, though with two changes. The special position for Islam was deleted, and the office of the president received virtually dictatorial powers for the transitional period before a legislative assembly could be elected. Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta was named the President and Vice President of the new republic. ww2dbase [CPC]

• With the war over, Gato-class submarine USS Silversides departed Guam following her tender refit bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Silversides | Apra Harbor | DS]

• Chinese communist rebels attacked the Japanese garrison in Hong Kong, hoping to take control of the port city before either the Chinese Nationalist government or the British colonial administration took it; the Japanese successfully repulsed the communist attack. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The last air conflict of WW2 took place over Tokyo, Japan. Two US reconnaissance aircraft were attacked by fighters and flak. One American crewman was killed and two fighters were shot down. ww2dbase [Tokyo | AC]
• I-58 arrived at Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [I-58 | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]
• Soviet troops landed on Paramushiro, Kurile Islands, Japan. ww2dbase [Manchurian Strategic Offensive | Paramushiro, Hokkaido | CPC]
• The Japanese Home Ministry secretly sent radio messages to local police chiefs, ordering them to organize comfort women facilities for incoming US occupation troops as an attempt to safeguard Japanese women. On this topic, Prince Fumimaro Konoe told the national police commissioner "Please defend the young women of Japan". ww2dbase [Fumimaro Konoe | Tokyo | CPC]

• The British fleet carrying bureaucrats and troops for Hong Kong reached the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [CPC]

• At the headquarters of the Japanese 7th Area Army in Singapore, General Seishiro Itagaki informed his lieutenants and colonial administrators that Japan had surrendered. He ordered the men to maintain public order and to plan for the transition of power when the British colonial administration would arrive. He also ordered the construction of an internment camp in Jurong in western Singapore for Japanese civilians, who would wait there until repatriation. ww2dbase [Japan's Surrender | Seishiro Itagaki | Singapore | CPC]

• Subhash Chandra Bose boarded a Japanese passenger aircraft at Matsuyama Airfield (now Songshan Airport) at Taihoku (now Taipei), Taiwan for a trip to Japan. The aircraft crashed immediately after takeoff and Bose was seriously burned. He was rushed to a military hospital near the airfield, but the doctors were not able to save him. ww2dbase [Subhash Chandra Bose | Matsuyama Airfield | Taihoku | CPC]

• Escort carrier USS Bogue departed Alameda bound for Adak, Alaska. ww2dbase [Bogue | Alameda, California | DS]
• Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Steamer Bay was floated out of drydock No. 1 and shifted to a repair pier at San Diego Naval Repair Base, California. Installation of 920 bunks on Steamer Bay's hangar deck was begun in preparation of Operation Magic Carpet to bring US troops back to the United States. ww2dbase [Steamer Bay | San Diego, California | DS]

18 Aug 1945 Interactive Map