http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/18.htm
May 18th, 1941
POLAND: Gdynia: The German battleship BISMARK and heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen, under fleet commander Admiral Lutjens, put to sea to raid the Atlantic. A simultaneous sortie by the two battlecruisers from Brest is fortunately prevented by the damage inflicted by the RAF.
U-126 collided in Danzig Bay with the German Seeburg and suffered severe damages. (Dave Shirlaw)
ITALY: Rome: The Duke of Spoleto accepts the crown of Croatia from a Croatian delegation; he will be King Tomislav I.
Count Ciano writes: “The Croatians arrive with Pavelich at their head. They are in good humour and well-disposed toward us. I should say that they are better disposed than the Albanians when they offered the crown. The ceremony is more or less the same as that with the Albanians. In the streets, few and undemonstrative people. Not many realize the importance of the event. When His Majesty designated the Duke of Spoleto and the delegates saw him, there was a murmur of approval among them. Let us hope that it will be the same when they hear him speak. Everything went in due form; also the signing of the Acts, the content of which seemed to those who had knowledge of them to bear a better political meaning than was expected. It now remains to be seen if what we have built will be lasting. Maybe I am mistaken in my personal impression, but there is a feeling in the air that Italian domination in Croatia is to be temporary. And this is why the public is indifferent...” (Mike Yaklich)
Rome: The Italian High Command announced:
Our counteroperations against the Allies in North Africa have been completely successful. The enemy has been forced to retreat. Large numbers of prisoners and supplies have falled into our hands. Our aerial formations have attacked Tobruk. We bombed defence installations, troop assemblies and motor vehicles in the sector west of Sollum and shot down a British bomber and two enemy fighters in aerial combat. British aircraft in the Aegean raided Rhodes, causing insignificant damage. At Amba Alagi in East Africa, our troops have put up a heroic resistance under the personal command of the Duke of Aosta. Combat conditions are worsening hourly due to the lack of material, the losses we have suffered and the impossibility of tending and evacuating the wounded. An enemy assault was repelled in the area around Galla and Sidamo (Ethiopia).
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: PO Alfred Edward Sephton (b. 1911), remained at his post during an air attack on HMS Coventry, despite a terrible wound; he later died. (VC)
SYRIA: Damascus: The German News Bureau announced:
IRAQ: British forces reach Habbaniyah Air Field in Iraq.
On Friday the Iraqi air force successfully bombed several [British] ships outside the port of Basra.
ETHIOPIA: Amba Alagi: 18,000 Italian troops under the Duke of Aosta, finding themselves in a hopeless plight in the East African desert war surrender to the Allies.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Baddeck commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2227, the unescorted Piako was hit underneath the bridge by one torpedo from U-107 about 130 miles southwest of Freetown, stopped, sent distress signals and was abandoned by the crew. A coup de grâce was fired at 2243, which hit in the after part, broke off the stern and caused the ship to sink. Ten crewmembers were lost. The master, 62 crewmembers and two gunners were picked up by HMS Bridgewater and landed at Freetown. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 626 May 18, 1941
British battleship HMS Nelson and aircraft carrier HMS Eagle are sailing from Cape Town to Freetown in search of German armed merchant cruiser Atlantis. Just after midnight 226 miles South of St Helena off the coast of West Africa, they pass within 7 km of Atlantis without noticing her.
German dive bombers attack British hospital ship Aba 50 miles south of Crete. HMS Coventry comes to her aid and Petty Officer Alfred Sephton wins the VC for directing anti-aircraft fire despite a machinegun bullet partially blinding him. He dies of his injuries next day.
General Mosley Mayne, British commander of 5th Indian Division, lunches with Duke of Aosta in his mountain cave at Amba Alagi, Ethiopia, while Italian troops bury their dead and prepare to leave. Italians honour the Duke’s agreement not to destroy guns or stores and to dismantle or identify mines and boobytraps.
Falluja, Iraq. In addition to forces crossing the River Euphrates, 4 Vickers Valentia biplanes land a company of King’s Own Royal Regiment on the Baghdad road. RAF aircraft from Habbaniya bomb Iraqi positions in Falluja all day.
At 10.27 PM 130 miles West of Freetown, Sierra Leone, U-107 sinks British SS Piako (10 killed, 65 rescued by sloop HMS Bridgewater). Off Benghazi, Libya, British submarine HMS Tetrarch sinks Italian SS Giovinezza.
British reinforce Crete, in anticipation of German invasion. 700 Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders are transported from Port Said, Egypt, on troopship Glengyle and land overnight at Tymbaki, Crete.
Overnight, German battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen depart Gotenhafen, Poland, to attack British convoys in North Atlantic (Operation Rheinübung). Admiral Günther Lütjens, aboard Bismarck, commands both ships.