August 18th, 1944 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The US Eighth Air Force in England flies 3 missions (numbers in parenthesis are numbers of bombers attacking):
- Mission 561: B-24s bomb Amy Airfield at Roye, France (42) and 10 hit targets of opportunity; 2 B-24s are lost; escort is provided by 96 P-51Mustangs.
- Mission 562: 720 bombers and 242 fighters, in 3 forces, are dispatched against
bridges, airfields, fuel dumps and an aircraft engine factory in France and Belgium; 2
bombers and 1 fighter are lost.
(1) B-17s bomb bridges at Namur (37), Liege/Benoit (36), Huy (35), Yvoir (35),
Liege/Seraing (26), Vise (25) and Maastricht (24); 13 hit Tongres marshalling yard, 12 hit
Eindhoven Airfield and 12 hit targets of opportunity; escort is provided by 99 P-38
Lightnings and P-51s; they claim 46-0-15 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-38 is lost.
(2) B-24s attack airfields at Metz (78), Nancy/Essey (70), Woippy (60) and Laneureville
(35); escort is provided by 38 P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost.
(3) B-17s hit St Dizier Airfield (116), Pacy-sur-Armancon (39) and Bourran (38); 1 other
hits a target of opportunity; escort is provided by 93 P-51s; they claim 2-0-3 aircraft; 2
P-51s are lost.
- Mission 564: 7 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night.
Submarine HMS Scotsman launched.
Minesweeper HMS Wave is launched.
The Canadian-owned, British-registered merchantman Fort Gloucester (7,127 GRT) was heavily damaged in the English Channel when she was torpedoed by a German E-boat. Fort Gloucester had been proceeding as part of convoy FTM-70 at the time. There were no casualties in this incident.
FRANCE: Paris: Oberg drives out of Paris leaving the city to the
army. The German embassy closes. The Majestic Hotel ceases to function. No newspapers are
published; no mail is delivered. The tricolor flag flies again on the Hôtel de Ville.
A joint committee of the resistance meets and the Communist
representative declares "The hour of insurrection has come; if you aren't with us, we
will go it alone." "With what weapons?" the Gaullist representative asked.
"We have 600," was the reply. Nothing more than small scale skirmishing could be
envisaged. Communist calls for insurrection continued to be issued in the face of reality
over the next six days.
The rue des Pyramides offices of the PPF, as well as those of La
Gerbe and Je Suis Partout, are ransacked, their contents strewn in the
streets.
The Polish Corps from the north and the US forces from the south close the gap at Falaise,
France.
The US 3rd Army reach Versailles on their way the the Seine.
The US VI Corps is now advancing toward Aix-en-Provence with French units advancing on
Toulon and then Marseilles.
- In northern France, the US Ninth Air Force dispatches nearly 100 B-26s and A-20 Havocs
to strike a fuel dump, ammunition dump, rail and road overpass, rail embankment, and
junction beyond the battleline to disorganize retreating German forces; 1,000+ fighters
fly cover over ground forces in the Argentan-Paris area, along the Seine River, and armed
reconnaissance over northern and western France.
- In southern France, the US Twelfth Air Force sends medium bombers to blast coastal guns in the Toulon area and shipping in Toulon harbor; fighter-bombers closely support beachhead troops, hit rolling stock and rail lines, and generally disrupt communications as the US VI Corps overruns the primary defenses in the coastal area of southeastern France; fighters maintain beachhead patrols and area cover for the bombers.
899 RN Sqn, Seafire aircraft NF661 from HMS Khedive S/Lt(A) David Arthur Carey RCNVR of Stettler, Alberta, lost. Flew into hill near Aix-en-Province during low-level attack on motor transports.
German troops stationed near the Spanish border and the Gulf of Biscay begin
withdrawing.
Normandy: Maj. David Vivian Currie (1912-86), Canadian Army, led a force which attacked and held a village, denying an escape route to two German armies. (Victoria Cross)
U-129 after being taken out
of service at Lorient 4 July 1944, scuttled. Raised and stricken in 1946 and
broken up.
GERMANY: Rastenburg: Hitler watches the film of the 20 July conspirators' execution.
Hitler orders von Cholitz, the military governor of Paris, to reduce the capital to a "field of ruins."
POLAND: The First Ukraine Front takes Sandomierz, on the west bank of the Vistula in southern Poland.
BULGARIA: Five heavy bombers of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy visually bomb the port area of Lom without loss.
ROMANIA: Heavy bombers of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bomb five targets: 273 bomb the oil refineries at Ploesti (48 using H2X radar and the rest visually) with the loss of seven aircraft; 102 bomb the Steauea Oil Refinery at Campina with the loss of one aircraft; two bomb a highway, another a railway and one bombs the marshalling yard at Craiova.
YUGOSLAVIA: Heavy bombers of the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy bomb four targets without loss: 87 bomb Alibunar Airfield; two bomb the railroad at Kraljevo; one bombs the marshalling yard at Lapovo; and one bomb a railroad line.
ITALY: Cpl. Kenneth Horsfield (b.?), Manchester Regt., tried to save man trapped after an ammunition explosion, but was fatally wounded by a second blast. (George Cross)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES Sea: The US submarine RASHER sinks the Japanese carrier TAIYO.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Shediac completed foc'sle extension refit Vancouver, British Columbia.
U.S.A.: Submarine USS Trutta is launched.
Destroyer USS New is launched.
Escort carrier USS Badoeng Strait is laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Two German submarines are sunk:
- U-107 is sunk in the Bay of Biscay west of La Rochelle, in position 46.46N, 03.49W, by depth charges from an RAF Sunderland Mk III of No 201 Squadron based at Pembroke Dock, Wales. All hands, 58 men, on the U-boat are lost.
- U-621 is sunk in the Bay of Biscay near La Rochelle, in position 45.52N, 02.36W, by depth charges from the RCN destroyers HMCS Chaudiere(H99) DD, A/LCdr Charles Patrick Nixon DSC, RCN, CO, with, HMCS Kootenay(H75) DD, A/LCdr William Herbert Willson DSC, HMCS Ottawa(H31) DD, Cdr James Douglas "Chummy" Prentice DSO, RCN, CO. U-621 was a VIIC type, built by Blohm and Voss, Hamburg, launched 29 Mar 42,commissioned 7 May 42, in service 27 months, with a record of sinking 7 ships for a total of 32,845 tons and 1 ship of 10,048 tons damaged. Of a crew of 56 there were no survivors. U-621 had been active in the Wolfpacks in 1942. Wolfpack "Panter" (8-14 Oct) "Puma" group (16-30 Oct) which attacked convoy HX 212 and sank 6 ships. "Raufbold" group (15-22 Dec) which attacked convoy ON 153. The newly-formed, all-Canadian 11th Escort Group was deployed in the Bay of Biscay to intercept transiting U-boats. Despite their recent creation, this group was composed of well-trained and equipped ships with highly experienced commanders. The familiarity of the ships in co-operative ASW was very evident in this engagement. Kootenay gained asdic contact at 0953 and Ottawa closed to attack. Despite evasive manoeuvres by the U-boat, at 1012 a 'Hedgehog' bomb exploded and asdic showed the submarine had bottomed. Further attacks were carried out until 1530, when Cdr Prentice was convinced that the submarine had been sunk. But CinC Plymouth ordered further attacks and at 1609, after two Hedgehog attacks by Chaudiere, who had been left alone to 'sit' on the datum, a secondary explosion produced wreckage and documents that 'proved' the U-boat's destruction. The nearly 5 years of war experience and improvements in equipment and training had finally produced a Canadian Escort Group of deadly effectiveness; moreover, one that was capable of victory over an experienced enemy. (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)
U-307 sank SS Ivan Papanin.
U-862 sank SS Nairug.