MONDAY, 18 JUNE 1945
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): Six B-24s join US Navy aircraft in attacking Kataoka on Shimushu and Tomari Cape, Paramushiru but cloud cover prevents observation of effects; One B-24 flies
a radar-ferret mission over the Kurile Islands.
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 70+ P-51s, P-61s, and P-47s continue to
disrupt the Japanese withdrawal from S and E China, attacking bridges, villages
and town areas, barracks, troop concentrations, motor transport, shipping and
rail traffic, and targets of opportunity throughout wide areas.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA: Supporting US Sixth
Army forces on Luzon, B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers continue to
attack
targets in the Cagayan Valley, Balete
Pass, and Cervantes areas, and other locations.
In Borneo, B-24s blast troop concentrations in Balikpapan and S of Miri, Manggar
Airfield and Sepinggang defenses and B-25s support ground forces on Labuan.
In Formosa, B-24s destroy a block of buildings and several warehouses and small
vessels in the Kiirun Harbor area, P-51s hit Taien Airfield and Toyohara Airfield and
targets
of opportunity while P-38s start numerous fires in the town of Kari. Lost is C-47B 43-49762 (MIA).
U.S. Army: In U.S. Sixth Army's I Corps area, elements of 148th Inf, 37th Div, continuing N on Highway 5 with armored column spearheading, take Ilagan airfield and cross Ilagan R. Upon completion of treadway bridge across the Cagayan at Naguilian, armor and vehicles cross.
In Eighth Army's X Corps area, organized resistance on Mindanao ends as 3d Bn of 163d Inf, 24th Div, reaches Calinan, 8 miles from Tugbok.
On Okinawa, in U.S. Tenth Army area, Lt. General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., is killed by enemy shell while visiting an observation post of 8th Marines, 2d Mar Div on a hilltop at Itoman. Major
General Roy S. Geiger, USMC, assumes temporary command of the Tenth Army to direct its final combat
operations. In III Amphib Corps area, 6th Mar Div drives steadily forward on W flank of corps against sporadic resistance, but 1st Mar Div is desperately opposed near Medeera on E flank. Attack by 5th Marines against Hill 81, W of Medeera, fails. 8th Marines, 2d Mar Div, enters action, replacing elements of 7th Marines. In XXIV Corps area, 96th Div meets intense opposition near Aragachi and Medeera on right flank of corps. 7th Div, with 184th Inf on right and 32d on left, advances southward on E flank of corps against weakening resistance.
Battleship Nevada (BB-36) and two destroyers (Captain Homer L. Grosskopf), en route from Pearl Harbor
to Saipan, bombards shore installations on Emidj Island, Jaluit Atoll, Marshalls, coordinated with bombing
by land-based planes from U.S. bases in the Marshalls.
ear Admiral Forrest B. Royal, Commander, Amphibious Group 6, dies on board amphibious force
flagship Rocky Mount (AGC-3) of coronary thrombosis.
Motor minesweeper YMS-50, damaged by mine off Balikpapan, Borneo, 01°18'S, 116°49'E, is scuttled by
light cruiser Denver (CL-58).
Submarine Apogon (SS-308), attacking Japanese convoy RU, sinks transport Hakuai Maru and guardboat
No.2 Kusonoki Maru southwest of Paramushiro, Kurils, 50°30'N, 155°01'E (see June 19, 1945).
Submarine Bonefish (SS-223), after conferring with Tunny (SS-282) at 37°02'N, 135°32'E, off western
coast of Honshu, sinks Japanese cargo ship Konzan Maru, 37°13'N, 137°18'E. Bonefish, however, is later
sunk by escort destroyer Okinawa, Coast Defense Vessel No.63, Coast Defense Vessel No.75, Coast
Defense Vessel No.158 and Coast Defense Vessel No.207 in Sea of Japan, 37°18'N, 137°55'E.16
Submarine Bullhead (SS-332) sinks Japanese auxiliary sailing vessel No.58 Sakura Maru in Sunda Strait,
off Merak, 05°35'S, 106°02'E.
Submarine Dentuda (SS-335) sinks Japanese guardboats Reiko Maru and Heiwa Maru in East China Sea,
30°45'N, 126°00'E.
Submarine Tinosa (SS-283) sinks Japanese ship Wakae Maru at 38°25'N, 128°34'E.
PB4Y-2s (VPB 118) continue aerial mining of waters in Korean archipelago, sowing mines in the waters north of Roka-To.
Mines sink Japanese transport Shintai Maru west of Noto-Hanto, 36°50'N, 134°36'E, auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 197, 1.48 kilometers southwest of Mojizaki light, and merchant cargo ships Nissho Maru off Moji, and Bizan Maru at 33°58'N, 130°44'E, and damage naval vessel Shintai Maru at 36°59'N, 136°43'.
Marine casualties damage Japanese merchant cargo ships No.1 Oshima Maru east of Tachang Shan Island, Shinko Maru one kilometer off Nisshin, and Hazuki Maru off Kuzuiwa.
Japanese Motor Gunboat No.54 is sunk by aircraft off Port Arthur.
USMC: Tank-infantry teams of the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, crushed the last organized resistance on Kunishi Ridge on Okinawa.
