World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » Events
• » 18 May 1943

• The Papal Nuncio in Romania asked the Romanian foreign minister to allow the immigration of 8,000 Jewish orphans in Transnistria to Palestine. ww2dbase [CPC]
• After sundown, German submarine U-304 spotted Allied convoy SC 130 in the North Atlantic. ww2dbase [Black May | CPC]
• The Japanese Navy formed the 12th Air Fleet on paper with Vice Admiral Michitaro Tozuka in command and Rear Admiral Yoshiyuki Ichimiya as the chief of staff. ww2dbase [CPC]
• USS Pollack sank Japanese ship Terushima Maru in the Marshall Islands with two of three torpedoes fired. ww2dbase [Pollack | CPC]
• Nikolai Kamanin was promoted to the rank of major general to take command of the 8th Combined Air Corps. ww2dbase [Nikolai Kamanin | CPC]

• Submarine USS Narwhal departed Dutch Harbor, Alaska bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaiʻi. ww2dbase [Narwhal | Dutch Harbor, Aleutian Islands | DS]

• Comandante Cappellini (Aquilla III) sighted an illuminated ship in the Atlantic Ocean after sundown. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | CPC]

• Japanese 3rd Division captured Songzi, Hubei Province, China. ww2dbase [Battle of Exi | Songzi, Hubei | CPC]

• At 0730 hours, a Spitfire aircraft of No. 542 Squadron RAF flew across the Ruhr region in Germany and photographed the extent of the damage from the Dambuster Raid. ww2dbase [Dambuster Raid | CPC]

• Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier USS Bogue and her task group departed Iceland and joined the escort of Convoy ON-184. ww2dbase [Black May | Bogue | Hvalfjörður | DS]

• The keel of Submarine No. 5091 was laid down at Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan by Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation. ww2dbase [I-14 | Kobe, Hyogo | CPC]

• Naka arrived at Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Naka | Jaluit | CPC]

• Joseph Rochefort was detached from the Western Sea Frontier based in San Fracisco, California, United States. ww2dbase [Joseph Rochefort | San Francisco, California | CPC]

18 May 1943 Interactive Map