July 18th, 1941 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 2 Group: 'Channel Stop' 3 Blenheims of 21 Sqn. attack a 6,000-ton ship in the Channel. No damage done, but one Blenheim lost to Flak.Britain formally recognizes the Benes government of Czechoslovakia. A mutual assistance agreement is signed in London between the Czechs and the Soviets.
GERMANY: U-703 is launched.
U.S.S.R.: Moscow: the USSR signs a friendship treaty with the Czech government in exile.
JAPAN: Prime Minister Prince Konoye Fumimaro reshuffles his government, excluding the pro-Axis foreign minister, Yosuke Matsuoka and replacing him with Vice Admiral Chyoda Teifiro.
CHINA: Over 35,000 pro-Japanese soldiers attack the New Fourth Army's stronghold in Kiangsu.
CANADA: Corvettes HMCS Algoma and Shediac arrive Halifax from builders in Montreal and Quebec City respectively.
U.S.A.: Washington: The House committee investigating problems of migratory labour was informed by Corrington Gill, assistant commissioner of the Works Progress Administration, that, despite the nation's defence production program, 5,000,000 persons will remain unemployed this year.
Dr. Robert C. Weaver, chief of the branch of Negro employment and training of the
Office of Production Management, complained that preferential treatment was being given to
white labour. He charged that employers holding national defence contracts had refused to
employ available Negro labour. In his evidence he complained of "some instances of
discrimination against Jews and workers of Russian and German parentage."
The motion picture "The Shepherd of the Hills," based on Harold Bell Wright's novel, is released in the U.S. Directed by Henry Hathaway, the film stars John Wayne, Harry Carey, Beulah Bondi, Majorie Main and Ward Bond. Young Wayne, an Ozark Mountain moonshiner, hates the father who deserted him and left his mother to die. Then a stranger (Carey) arrives and begins to positively affect the mountain people.
In U.S. baseball the day after Joe DiMaggio's 56 consecutive game hitting streak ended, the New York Yankees again play the Cleveland Indians and DiMaggio begins a new hitting streak by getting a single and a double off Indians' ace pitcher Bobby Feller in a 2-1 loss; he goes on to hit in 16 consecutive games before being stopped, giving him hits in 72 of 73 games. When the season ended, DiMaggio had a .357 average, a .643 slugging average, 193 hits, 43 doubles, 11 triples, 30 home runs and a league-leading 125 RBIs. He struck out just 13 times in 541 at-bats. Years later, DiMaggio said, "Stopping that streak at 56 games cost me thousands of dollars. If I had gone to 57, Heinz (ketchup) and their 57 varieties would have paid me US$10,000 (US$117,647 in year 2000 dollars) to start an ad campaign and I might have been their spokesman for years." Yankee catcher and Hall of Famer Bill Dickey said of DiMaggio, "He gave the most consistent performance under pressure I have ever seen."