May 18th, 1943 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: Montgomery gets more applause than the cast when he attends a performance of Arsenic and Old Lace.
The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) plan for the round-the-clock bombing of the enemy from the UK by the RAF and USAAF is approved by the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS). The U.S. Eighth Air Force now has authorization to proceed with daylight strategic bombing within the type of combined offensive it has long wished to initiate. The CBO plan lists the destruction of German fighters as the immediate priority objective. Primary objectives in order are German submarine yards and bases, the German aircraft industry, ball bearings, and oil (the last being contingent upon attacks from the Mediterranean against Ploesti, Romania). Secondary objectives in order of priority are synthetic rubber and tires, and military motor transport vehicles.
Rescue tug HMS Athlete launched.
MAC ship SS Empire Macabe launched.
Escort carrier HMS Rajah launched.
Minesweeper HMS Strenuous commissioned.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-414 attacked Convoy KMS-14 (combined with UGS-8) northeast of Mostaganem, Algeria, damaging SS Fort Anne and sinking CAM ship SS Empire Eve. The master, 55 crewmembers, 12 gunners and 13 RAF personnel from the Empire Eve were picked up by boom defense ship HMS Barfoil and an LCT and landed at Algiers. Five crewmembers were lost.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: On Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands, the Japanese withdrawal yesterday permits the linkup of the Northern and Southern Landing Forces on the western slope of the Holtz Bay-Massacre Bay Pass in the morning. Six B-24 Liberators of the USAAF's Eleventh Air Force bomb the Gertrude Cove area on Kiska Island after being weathered out of Attu; the attack results in large fires on the island. Meanwhile over Kiska, four P-40s reconnoitre and strafe barges while a B-25 Mitchell flies photo reconnaissance.
CANADA: Frigate HMCS Ste Therese laid down Lauzon, Province of Quebec.
U.S.A.: A United Nations Food Conference meets in Hot Springs, Virginia and lasts through t the 3rd of June. The outcome is a resolution in regard to fairer food distribution for the postwar world.The U.S. Marine Corps program to air assault Pacific islands with gliders is cancelled.
Destroyer escort USS Martin launched.
Destroyer USS Charrette commissioned.
CHILE: Chile severed diplomatic relations with Bulgaria, France, Hungary, and Rumania.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-103 rescued two shipwrecked survivors of the Fort Concord, which had been sunk by U-456 a week earlier.