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• USS Cod departed Fremantle, Australia for her fifth war patrol. ww2dbase [Cod | CPC]
• Cruiser USS Duluth (CL-87) was commissioned with Captain Donald Roderick Osborn, Jr. in command. ww2dbase [AC]
• US Ninth Army captured Brest, France. ww2dbase [Brittany Campaign | TH]
• In the Netherlands, German troops launched a heavy counter attack near Arnhem while Allied troops captured Eindhoven. ww2dbase [Operation Market Garden | TH]
• USS Sennet completed her fitting out. ww2dbase [Sennet | CPC]
• Indian troops captured Point 343 in San Marino. Brazilian troops captured Camaiore, Italy. British troops captured San Godenzo Pass, also in Italy. ww2dbase [Gothic Line Offensive | CPC]
• USS Nicholas departed Morotai, Maluku Islands escorting a convoy bound for Hollandia, New Guinea. ww2dbase [Nicholas | DS]

• USS Kimberly departed the Aleutian Islands for San Francisco, California, United States. ww2dbase [Kimberly | CPC]

• Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Steamer Bay departed Seeadler Harbor in the Admiralty Islands to rejoin the fleet in the campaign against the Palau Islands. ww2dbase [Steamer Bay | Manus, Admiralty Islands | DS]

• USS Sterlet departed Midway for her second war patrol. ww2dbase [Midway Bases | Sterlet | Midway | CPC]

• USS Escolar departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first and only war patrol. ww2dbase [Escolar | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | CPC]

• Spitfire fighter pilot Flight Lieutenant D. A. J. Draper of 4 Squadron, flying a reconnaissance flight over Zoutkamp, Netherlands sighted what he thought was a Do 217 aircraft at 22,000 feet, as his aircraft was unarmed he went in to do a dummy attack and reported that the aircraft released a V-1 flying bomb before escaping. It was thought that only Heinkel bombers could carry the flying bombs but there was a certain amount of experimenting going on and Draper might well had been correct. ww2dbase [V-Weapons Campaign | Vergeltungswaffe 1 | Zoutkamp, Groningen | HM]

• Nazi German SS doctors conducted a selection in the infirmaries of Auschwitz Concentration Camp in occupied Poland. 330 men and 65 boys, all Jews, were selected and sent to the gas chambers. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]
• A transport with 2,500 Jews arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp from the Łódź ghetto in occupied Poland; about 80% of this transport were children between 13 and 16 years of age. 150 were registered into the camp, the remaining were all killed in the gas chambers. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]
• After sundown, 5 aircraft of No. 34 Squadron SAAF launched to deliver supplies for resistance fighters in Warsaw, Poland. Only two successfully delivered their cargo, outside city proper. ww2dbase [Warsaw Uprising | Warsaw | CPC]
• In Britain, crews of US 100th Bomber Group were briefed in the early morning, joined by 355th Fighter Group intelligence officer Danny M. Lewis and 358th Fighter Squadron technical officer Captain E. H. McMillan. They were later joined by Brigadier General Mateusz Izycki of the Polish Air Force. At dawn, starting around 0600 hours, 110 B-17 aircraft loaded with supplies for Polish resistance fighters took off from various bases in Britain with fighters in escort. Preceding them were British Mosquito light bombers, which would arrive over Warsaw, Poland 20 minutes prior to the B-17 bombers to relay weather information and reports on German defense. One of the B-17 bombers developed engine trouble over Torun-Brodnica-Rypin area about 150 kilometers northwest of Warsaw and was forced to dump some cargo containers to save weight; this would provide the Germans some clue as to the mission and destination of this flight. German fighters began attacking over the Szcztno-Zakrocym-Nasielski area at 1237 hours as the first bombers arrived over Warsaw. While many of the containers went into the hands of the resistance fighters, a larger number were captured by the Germans; ironically, food and German ammunition (meant for Polish fighters operating captured German weapons) would be used by German troops. ww2dbase [Warsaw Uprising | Operation Frantic | Warsaw | CPC]

• USS Ticonderoga departed San Diego, California, United States for Pearl Harbor. ww2dbase [Ticonderoga | San Diego, California | DS]
• USS Spot completed fitting out at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, United States. ww2dbase [Spot | Mare Island Navy Yard | Vallejo, California | CPC]
• Task Group 22.2 (TG 22.2) was formed at Norfolk, Virginia as an anti-submarine Hunter-Killer group centered around escort carrier USS Card with the TBM Avengers and FM-2 Wildcats of Composite Squadron VC-8 embarked and screened by destroyer escorts USS Baker, Bronstein, Thomas, Breeman, Coffman, and Bostwick. TG 22.2 departed Norfolk bound for the Central Atlantic that same day. ww2dbase [TBF Avenger | Card | F4F Wildcat | Norfolk, Virginia | DS]
• Tanker Mission San Francisco was laid down at the Marinship yard. Before launching, the ship would be renamed Tamalpais. ww2dbase [Tamalpais | Marinship Shipbuilding | Sausalito, California | DS]

18 Sep 1944 Interactive Map