July 18th, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)
GERMANY: Potsdam: The leaders of the conquering Allies met for their second plenary session in the Cecilienhof, a pretty 18-century palace here, and their discussions were supposed to centre on the future peace of Europe and the future war against Japan.
For the Americans and the British the conference was dominated by the news that President Truman conveyed to the British prime minister in a cryptic note, "Babies satisfactorily born". He meant that the atomic bomb test in New Mexico had been successful.
Churchill thought that Stalin did not know about the test; others thought that his spies had told him. But it made the Americans far less keen to hold the Soviet Union to its promise to enter the war against Japan.
GUAM: Headquarters, US Army Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific (USASTAF)] is established at Guam Island, Mariana Islands under General Carl Spaatz.The US Fleet drops 2,000 tons of shells on Hitachi in fifty minutes.
USN Task Group 35.4 composed of four light curisers and escorting destroyers, bombard Japanese radar sites on Honshu.
Far East Air Forces P-47 Thunderbolts attack various targets of opportunity on Kyushu and P-51s attack communications lines, bridges, shipping, towns, and other targets throughout Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands.
HMS Formidable 184 RN Sqn Corsair aircraft #KD723 Lt(A) William Bell Asbridge RCNVR shot down during a raid on a airfield near Tokyo and killed.
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: The Eleventh Air Force flies 2 routine search and weather sorties.
CANADA: Fifteen people are killed when the naval arsenal at Bedford Basin, Halifax, Nova Scotia, explodes. These explosions carry on for 24 hours and cause the evacuation of half the city's population and $4 million in damage.
Corvettes HMCS
Battleford and Mimico paid off Sorel, Province of Quebec.
Corvette HMCS Lindsay paid off Sydney,
Nova Scotia.
Frigate HMCS Runnymede arrived Esquimalt
from Halifax.