SATURDAY, 18 MARCH 1944
BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 22 B-25s attack villages and oil storage areas near Kalewa while 16 B-24s and 41 RAF Vengeance's pound the same general area hitting Japanese positions and causing many fires; 20+ P-51s and B-25s support ground forces near Chindwin; Fourteen B-25s others hit a truck park and supply area near Mandalay; and 20+ fighter-bombers (P-51s, P-40s and A-36s) bomb the Kamaing area while 10 more damage several riverboats near Katha.
CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): Sixteen P-40s on a Yangtze River sweep sink one large sailboat and strafe a transport ship at Chiuchiang. Two P-40s damage a bridge north of Haiphong and attack targets of opportunity in the area, while 2 others sink 2 large junks at Thuong Mo; Twelve P-40s on armed reconnaissance from Nanning sink a barge and damage other craft at Quang Yen, sink a transport vessel at Campha Port and damage a nearby bridge, attack a train and several buildings in the Lang Son area, and damage a railroad bridge between Lang Son and Phu Lang Thuong.
PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, Seventh Air Force): Two B-25s from Engebi bomb and strafe Ponape. Thirteen B-25s from Abemama bomb Jaluit while five from Tarawa hit Jaluit with bombs and cannon fire. One B-24 from Tarawa bombs Mille and photographs Mille and Majuro.
USN - Task Group 50.10 (TG 50.10) under the command of Rear Admiral W. A. Lee, composed of the USS Lexington, two
battleships, and a destroyer screen, bomb and bombard bypassed Mili.
SOUTH PACIFIC AREA (SOPAC, Thirteenth Air Force): 12 P-40s pound fuel stores on Keravia Bay; 13 P-38s follow with a strike on an ammunition dump at nearby Cape Tawui; 12 P-39s later hit the Keravia Bay area; and still later, 24 B-24s and 13 B-25s blast the town of Rabaul and foothills nearby. On Bougainville, 18 P-39s, along with several USN fighter-bombers hit shipping at the mouths of the Jaba and Tavena Rivers.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, Fifth Air Force) 100+ B-24s, B-25s, and A-20s continue to pound the Wewak area,
hitting AA positions and nearby Brandi Plantation; a Japanese supply convoy reaches Wewak but
escapes bombardment. Lost is A-20G 43-9626 (pilot survived, two MIA).
USN: Lost attacking Milli is SBD 36540 (MIA).
USMC: 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment is withdrawn from Eleanora Bay to Cape Gloucester.
U.S. Army: 1st Cavalry Division, captures Lorengau on Manus Island as the remaining Japanese Japanese withdraw inland to Rossum
