World War II: American and Brazilian troops kick off Operation Encore in Northern Italy, a successful limited action in the Northern Apennines that prepares for the western portion of the Allied Spring offensive.

Operation Encore was the Allied offensive timed for February—March 1945, to break through the Gothic Line. This was initiated at the army instead of corps level. This comprised an assault by the 10th Mountain Division and the Brazilian Expeditionary Force to secure the high ground dominating Strada statale 64 Porrettana where it crossed the Apennine Mountains, followed by a limited offensive that ended with the capture of the crossroads at Castel d'Aiano Once these objectives were achieved, the Fifth Army could successfully penetrate the northern Apennines to reach the Po valley as part of the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy.

The Apennines or Apennine Mountains are a mountain range consisting of parallel smaller chains extending c. 1,200 km (750 mi) the length of peninsular Italy. In the northwest they join the Ligurian Alps at Altare. In the southwest they end at Reggio di Calabria, the coastal city at the tip of the peninsula. Since 2000 the Environment Ministry of Italy, following the recommendations of the Apennines Park of Europe Project, has defined the Apennines System to include the mountains of north Sicily, a total distance of 1,500 kilometres (930 mi). The system forms an arc enclosing the east of the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian seas.

The Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, codenamed Operation Grapeshot, was the final Allied attack during the Italian Campaign in the final stages of the Second World War. The attack in the Lombard Plain by the 15th Allied Army Group started on 6 April 1945 and ended on 2 May with the surrender of all Axis forces in Italy.

February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 316 days remain until the end of the year.