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• Aircraft of No. 466 Squadron RAAF conducted bombing operations against Helgoland, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
• The British Foreign Office banned all coded messages from foreign embassies and said that diplomatic bags were to be censored. Only the fighting Allies were to be excluded from the ban. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The US submarine Gudgeon was reported lost, presumed sunk, off the Maug Islands, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Gudgeon | AC]
• USS Nicholas boarded aviation liaison personnel and departed Cape Sudest, New Guinea as part of Task Force 77 bound for the landings at Aitape, New Guinea. ww2dbase [Nicholas | DS]

• Destroyers USS Renshaw, USS Saufley, USS Pringle, and USS Philip arrived at Tulagi, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Renshaw | Philip | Saufley | Pringle | Tulagi, Solomon Islands | DS]

• Charles Hunter started drills and parades to reinstate military organization to the US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) in Burma after difficult fighting at Nhpum Ga, Burma. ww2dbase [Battle of Myitkyina | Charles Hunter | Nhpum Ga | CPC]

• Flight-Lieutenant Pat Boyd led a group of Beaufighter aircraft in a strike against a Japanese military camp at Soe, Timor, Dutch East Indies at about 1200 hours. Several buildings and vehicles were destroyed, and cyclists near the base were strafed and killed. ww2dbase [Soe, Timor | CPC]

• RAF Bomber Command's No. 5 Group attacked Rouen, Juvisy-sur-Orge, Noisy-le-Sec, and Tergnier, killing a total of 1,383 French civilians. The strategically important rail marshalling yards at Juvisy-sur-Orge was virtually destroyed. ww2dbase [Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | Juvisy-sur-Orge, Île-de-France | CPC, AC]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against Germendorf, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Germendorf | DS]

• Evripidis Bakirtzis stepped down as the head of the Political Committee of National Liberation (PEEA) of Greece. ww2dbase [Evripidis Bakirtzis | CPC]

• Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Sargent Bay arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Sargent Bay | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | DS]

• Soviet troops captured Balaklava, Russia. ww2dbase [Balaklava, Krym | TH]

• Lieutenant Colonel Tommy Hitchcock, Jr., the famous American polo player who had been instrumental in the development of the P-51 fighter, was killed in an air crash while flight testing an aircraft at Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Salisbury, England | AC]

18 Apr 1944 Interactive Map