http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/5/18.htm
June 18th, 1945 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: William Joyce is put on trial in London. The charge is treason. He will be convicted and executed for broadcasting propaganda from Germany during the war as “Lord Haw Haw”. (He will be hung in January 1946)
Mass demobilization begins today for servicemen in Britain’s armed forces, even though the war continues in the Far East. Government officials predict that initially 30,000 men will return to “civvy street” each week, but this figure is expected to rise to around 60,000 a week by August. Some have already left, each kitted out in a “demob suit” and other civilian clothing on the day of release.
Destroyer HMS Camperdown commissioned.
U.S.S.R.: Moscow: 16 officers of the Polish Home Army are put on trial for fighting the Red Army.
CHINA: Chinese forces capture Wenchow port.
JAPAN: Six Eleventh Air Force B-24s join two US Navy Lockheed PV-2 Harpoons in attacking Kataoka, Shimushu Island and Tomari Cape, Paramushiru Island; cloud cover prevents observation of effects; 1 B-24 flies a radar-ferret mission over the Kurile Islands.
The Submarine USS Bonefish (SS-223), CO Lawrence L. Edge, is sunk by ASW forces in Toyama Wan, West coast of Honshu. All hands are lost. (Joe Sauder)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Organized Japanese resistance ends on Mindanao Island in the Philippines.
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS St Joseph paid off.
U.S.A.: General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower receives a tumultuous welcome in Washington, D.C., where he addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress.
The Pacific Fleet issues a staff study that strongly implies that MacArthur”> MacArthur will not take command of ground forces during the invasion of Japan (Operation Olympic) until these forces were established ashore. MacArthur “announces that he is going ashore with the troops, and that he would exercise control, as required, of the actual assault.” (Keith Allen)(211)
Escort carrier USS Puget Sound commissioned.