August 18th, 1942 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The government reveals that Churchill visited the Eighth Army in Egypt en-route to Moscow.
Bomber Command flies its last operation using the Bristol Blenheim IV. (22)
Gen. Sir Harold Alexander succeeded General Auchinleck as commander of British imperial forces in the Middle East.
Convoy SC-94 arrived in Liverpool after losing 11 merchantships totaling 53,412 tons. The material lost amounted to 31,250 tons of general cargo, 6,900 tons of grain, 4,000 tons of US Army stores, 4,000 tons of lumber, 4,000 tons of steel, 3,200 tons of pulp, 3,000 tons of food, 2,500 tons of iron ore, 2,000 tons of ammunition, plus a large amount of military transport vehicles carried as deck cargo. Sixty-one merchant sailors were lost.
Minesweeper HMS Lightfoot laid down.
GERMANY:
Hitler issues a directive which gives more power to SS Special Units and orders harsher measures against partisan activity.RAF Lancasters and the Halifaxes of No. 35 Sqn. and Short Stirlings of No. 7 Squadron, tonight take part in the first operations by the Bomber Command Pathfinder Force, with a raid on Flensburg. (22)
U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: Shipping loss: MS "TSch-405 "Vzrivatel"" - by field artillery, close to Eupatoria (later raised) (Sergey Anisimov)(69)
INDIA: Major General Clayton L Bissell becomes Commanding General 10th Air Force, relieving Brigadier General Earl L Naiden who now devotes full time to command of India-China Ferry Command under the 10th Air Force.
NEW GUINEA: Japanese reinforcements land unopposed at Basabua.
AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Fremantle is launched.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Guadalcanal: The 900 men of the IJA 28th
Regiment are landed at Taivu Point, east of the US Marine perimeter at Lunga Point on
Guadalcanal. These men are commanded by Col. Ichiki. His orders are to attack the
estimated 3,000 marines on Guadalcanal. If not successful in overrunning the airfield, he
is to continue harassing raids to prevent completion of the field, while awaiting the
arrival of further reinforcements. Col. Ichiki plans to attack on his second night and
requests permission to occupy Tulagi. He is a member of the "Bamboo Spear
Tactics" school within the Japanese Army.
8 IJN G4M "Betty" bombers based at Rabaul, attack Henderson Field on
Guadalcanal. Marine AA gunners damage 5 of the attackers. Six IJN destroyers land the
Ichiki Detachment of 900 men on Guadalcanal.
For a second consecutive day a single USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress of the Allied Air
Forces attacks Kavieng, New Ireland Island; bombs fall in the airfield dispersal area.
The US submarines USS Argonaut (SS-166) and USS Nautilus (SS-168)
evacuate the Marine raiders landed on Makin Island in the Gilbert Islands
yesterday.
About 120 Marine Raiders, including their commander Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson, USMC, spend the night on Butaritari Island. The Marines are disorganized and many have lost their weapons and equipment attempting to reach the two submarines that landed them yesterday.
In the middle of the night a small Japanese patrol approaches the Marine perimeter; one Marine is wounded before three Japanese are killed.
With the enemy apparently still full of fight and his raiders disorganized and weakened, Carlson called another council of war. Without much input from the others, he decided to surrender. His stated reasons were concern for the wounded, and for the possible fate of the president's son, Major James Roosevelt, executive officer of the 2d Raider Battalion, (who was not present at the meeting). At 0330 Carlson sent his operations officer and another Marine out to contact the enemy. They found one Japanese soldier and eventually succeeded in giving him a note offering surrender. Carlson also authorized every man to fend for himself -those who wished could make another attempt to reach the submarines. By the next morning several more boatloads made it through the surf, including one with Major Roosevelt. In the meantime, a few exploring raiders killed several Japanese, one of them probably the man with the surrender note.
The situation changed during the morning. There were 70 Marines on the island and they equipped themselves with weapons lying about the battlefield. Patrols found 83 dead Japanese and 14 dead Americans; there was no organized resistance on the island. Japanese aircraft made four separate attack during the day, but they inflicted no losses on the raider force ashore. The two submarines, USS Argonaut (SS-166) and USS Nautilus (SS-168), were contacted and by 2300 hours, the remainder of the force was back aboard the ships. After returning to Pearl Harbor, it was determined that the casualties were 18 dead and 12 missing.
Only after the war would the Marine Corps discover that nine of the missing raiders had been left alive on the island. These men had become separated from the main body at one point or another during the operation.
With the assistance of the natives the group evaded capture for a time, but finally surrendered on 30 August. A few weeks later the Japanese beheaded them on the island of Kwajalein Atoll.
The raid itself had mixed results. Reports painted it as a great victory and it boosted morale on the home front. Many believed it achieved its original goal of diverting forces from Guadalcanal, but the Japanese had immediately guessed the size and purpose of the operation and had not let it alter their plans for the Solomons. However, it did cause the enemy to worry about the potential for other such raids on rear area installations.
On the negative side, that threat may have played a part in the subsequent Japanese decision to fortify heavily places like Tarawa Atoll, the scene of a costly amphibious assault later in the war. Despite the trumpeted success of the operation, the Navy never again attempted to use submarines to conduct raids behind enemy lines.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: In the Aleutian Islands, a US 11th Air Force B-24 Liberator takes oblique photos of Amchitka and Tanaga Islands; Heavy fog over Kiska and Attu Islands precludes armed reconnaissance.
U.S.A.: The motion picture "The Pride of the Yankees" premiers in New York City. This biography of the New York Yankees' superstar first baseman Lou Gehrig, is directed by Sam Wood and stars Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth, Walter Brennan and Dan Duryea. Appearing as themselves are Yankees' players Bill Dickey, Bob Meusel and Mark Koenig along with radio sportscaster Bill Stern. Future movie star Dane Clark has a bit role as a fraternity brother. The film is nominated for eleven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor (Cooper) and Best Actress (Wright); it won an editing award. Cooper, who batted right handed, wore a uniform with everything backwards to emulate the left had hitting Gehrig, e.g., instead of NEW YORK on the travelling uniform, the letters KROY WEN were sewn on the shirt and then the film was reversed.
Submarine USS Cabrilla laid down.
Destroyer USS Miller and Wadsworth laid down. Destroyer USS Abner Read launched.
CARIBBEAN SEA: German submarines attack two convoys.
- U-553 attacks Convoy TAW 13, steaming south of Cuba. The submarine torpedoes and sinks a Swedish merchant vessel SS Blankaholm, a British freighter Empire Bede and an armed U.S. freighter John Hancock.
- U-162 attack Convoy TAW (S) consisting of 15 ships escorted by a USN gunboat and four submarine chasers, a RN corvette, and two USCG cutters. The submarine torpedoes and sinks an unarmed U.S. freighter.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Near convoy SL.119 a Liberator aircraft (Sqdn 120/F) attacked U-653. During the crash diving one man was lost. (There was a report that the man was saved by a British destroyer.) The boat was seriously damaged and had to limp back to base, reaching Brest, France on 30 August. [Matrosengefreiter Willi Pröhl] (Alex Gordon)
U-214 sank SS Balingkar, Hatarana and damaged HMS Cheshire Convoy SL-118.