Skip to content
WW2 Theatres Theatres of the Second World War
Home

World War II calendar

WWII On This Day: December 18

What happened on December 18 during World War II? This date brings together 4 events from 1940, 1941 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1940
A page of Führer Directive No. 21, dated 18 December 1940, setting out preparations for Operation Barbarossa.
A page of Führer Directive No. 21, dated 18 December 1940, setting out preparations for Operation Barbarossa. Adolf Hitler · Public domain (German official work) Source
Operation Barbarossa

Barbarossa is ordered

Directive No. 21 ordered the German armed forces to prepare to crush the Soviet Union in a rapid campaign while the war with Britain continued. Its first military task was the destruction of Soviet forces deployed in western Russia through deep armoured penetrations that would prevent an organised retreat into the interior. The directive then pointed toward several geographic objectives: Leningrad and the Baltic region in the north, Moscow in the centre, and Ukraine in the south. German army planning therefore began with a clear operational method for destroying deployed…

Continue in Operation Barbarossa →
1941
Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival and the British surrender party walking to the Ford Motor Factory in Singapore on 15 February 1942.
British official photographer / Imperial War Museums HU 2781 · UK Government public domain · Source
The Fall of the Southern Empires

Japanese Troops Land on Hong Kong Island

Japanese troops crossed Victoria Harbour on the evening of 18 December after the mainland positions had already been lost. They established lodgements on Hong Kong Island and forced the defenders into a battle across steep ground, reservoirs, roads and built-up districts with no depth left behind them. The island garrison could still contest individual positions, but outside relief was no longer a realistic option. Japanese control of the surrounding air and sea approaches meant that every local reverse narrowed the defence permanently. The landing changed the question from whether the…

Continue in The Fall of the Southern Empires →
1944
Men of the 101st Airborne Division moving toward Bastogne on 19 December 1944 as Allied reserves enter the Ardennes battle.
101st Airborne Division on the road between Bastogne and Houffalize, 19 December 1944 · US Army Signal Corps SC 329953 · NARA · Public domain · Source
The Battle of the Bulge

The northern shoulder holds

The 99th and 2nd Infantry Divisions fell back through Krinkelt-Rocherath toward the Elsenborn Ridge while German formations tried to open the roads west for Sixth Panzer Army. The high ground and the American artillery positions behind it allowed the defenders to concentrate fire across the approaches. German units could take villages and still fail to gain the road network beyond the ridge. This was one of the most important operational failures of the German plan. The army intended to carry the strongest northern thrust never obtained the freedom of movement…

Continue in The Battle of the Bulge →
The Battle of the Bulge

A bridge goes up in front of Peiper

On the evening of 18 December Peiper's column reached the Neufmoulin bridge near Habiemont after earlier bridge demolitions and fighting had already forced changes of route. Engineers of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion were preparing the crossing for destruction. As the lead German vehicles approached, the engineers fired the charges and destroyed the bridge. The action denied Peiper another westward route and forced the column back into a road network where American units were closing behind it. The importance was cumulative rather than magical. No one bridge 'stopped the Bulge,'…

Continue in The Battle of the Bulge →