WWII On This Day: September 18

British troops unloading from landing ship LST 383 on the Salerno coast on 9 September 1943. — Imperial War Museums NA 6630 · British official photograph · Public domain (UK Government)

September 18, 1943 The Italian Armistice and the Landings at Salerno

German troops begin withdrawing toward the hills north of Salerno

Tenth Army disengaged from the immediate beachhead battle and withdrew toward the Nocera and Campanian hill roads as Allied pressure continued. The German force maintained rearguard positions to protect movement of guns and vehicles. Fifth Army’s men could now push beyond the crowded landing strip, but movement north toward Naples depended on engineers clearing mined roads and repairing transport routes under intermittent fire.

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Allied transport aircraft and gliders overhead while paratroops descend over the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden on 17 September 1944. — U.S. Army Air Forces / National Archives, NAID 531308 · Public domain in the United States · Source

September 18, 1944 Operation Market Garden

Gräbner's armoured column tries to force the bridge

SS-Hauptsturmführer Viktor Gräbner's reconnaissance battalion, returning from a sweep toward Nijmegen, attempted to drive across the Arnhem road bridge from south to north through Frost's bridgehead. British paratroopers and engineers opened fire at close range with anti-tank guns, PIATs and small arms. Much of the column was destroyed and Gräbner was killed. The action confirmed Frost's control of the northern bridge approach, but it did not reopen contact with the rest of 1st Airborne Division.

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September 18, 1944 Operation Market Garden

XXX Corps links up at Eindhoven

The Guards linked with the 101st Airborne in Eindhoven around midday. The route north still stopped at the demolished bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal at Son, where Royal Engineers had to build a replacement. The link-up secured the southern part of the corridor, but traffic now accumulated behind the missing span. That congestion carried forward into the next stage of the advance toward Grave and Nijmegen.

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September 18, 1944 Operation Market Garden

Fog in England delays the second lift

The second lift took off hours late from airfields covered in morning fog and came in over landing zones that were now contested. The weather pattern would repeat for the rest of the operation. The Polish parachute brigade's drop was postponed. At Arnhem, resupply canisters began falling into German positions because the coded panels and radio links to recall them did not work.

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American B-17 Flying Fortresses leave Warsaw after the supply drop of 18 September 1944, with the Vistula visible below. Unknown photographer / U.S. Air Force context · Public domain Source

September 18, 1944 · 12:00 The Warsaw Rising

Operation Frantic 7

At noon on 18 September a large USAAF formation reached Warsaw during Operation Frantic 7 and dropped weapons, ammunition, food and medical supplies before continuing to Soviet airfields. The Warsaw Rising Museum records 107 B-17s over the city and 1,284 supply containers released. The bombers approached at higher altitude than the earlier night supply missions, spreading many containers outside insurgent-held areas. The mission delivered a visible Allied intervention after weeks of negotiation over Soviet airfield access, but only a minority of the dropped containers reached the Home Army.

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