October 31st, 1940 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:This month, 6,350 civilians have been killed and 8,700 injured by enemy action.
Blackpool, Squire's Gate: The Wellington V High Altitude bomber reaches 30,000 feet, for the first time.
London: The government is to release 5,000 building workers from the army to try to catch up with the urgent task of repairing bomb damage. In London 60,000 houses are uninhabitable, 130,000 less badly damaged, and 16,000 totally destroyed. Three-quarters of the houses in the East End are of Stepney are estimated to be wrecked.
So far only 7,000 people have been rehoused by local authorities, out of 250,000 made homeless, at least temporarily. No more repair workers are to be called up until further notice. In the meantime, 5,000 men of the Pioneer Corps are clearing debris. London's "Rest Centres" are badly overcrowded, with 25,000 homeless people seeking shelter each night.
BATTLE OF BRITAIN: There is drizzle in the English Channe and haze in the Thames estuary and Dover Straits. Luftwaffe air activity during the day takes the form of aircraft operating singly in widespread parts of the country. Very little damage is done but a characteristic feature of the raids is the machine-gunning of many towns. Birmingham and district appear to receive most attention from the Germans. There are no interceptions by the RAF and no casualties to the either side. The evening raids started at 1830 hours but the "All Clear" is received in London at 2100 hours and there is no further activity until 0030 hours when London and Birmingham again became the main objectives of the Luftwaffe bombing. This month, 6,350 civilians have been killed and 8,700 injured by German action during the Battle of Britain (The Blitz). The British Air Ministry considers the Battle of Britain over. The Luftwaffe lost 2,375 planes while the RAF lost 800 planes. Many British cities, however, are seriously damaged and burned. German air attacks will resume in the spring of 1941, but the Luftwaffe has to shift air resources to the east in preparation for the German invasion of Russia. (Andy Etherington)
Submarine HMS Upholder commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Bleasdale laid down.
Corvettes HMS Dahlia, Kingcup and Spirae launched.
Destroyer HMCS Athabaskan (ex-Iroquois) laid down Vickers-Armstrong Ltd, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
GERMANY: The Protestant cleric Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who is banned from preaching and teaching, this month issued a "confession" that the church has been "silent when it should have screamed, because the blood of the innocent cries to heaven."
U-74 commissioned.
U-587, U-588, U-589, U-590 laid down.
U-71 launched.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: British troop reinforcements land on Crete.
EGYPT: Telegram from HQ RAF, Middle East , to the Air Ministry, repeated to the Minister at Athens and C-in-C, Med.
"... it has become absolutely essential to send token force to Greece even at the expense of my forces here. I have despatched to Athens 1 Blenheim Sqn. of which half the aircraft are equipped as fighters, half as bombers. This makes no provision for fighter defence of the fleet base at Crete for which no aerodrome available. It also reduces fighter defence of Alexandria."
PACIFIC OCEAN: In the Bass Strait, the body of water between Australia and Tasmania, the 7,766 ton German Auxiliary Cruiser HK Pinguin, Ship 33 to the Germans and Raider "H" to the British, begins laying mines along the Victorian Coast of Australia,, including the area off Apollo Bay. This field claims two ships, the British ship S.S. Cambridge and the U.S. ship MS City of Rayville.
CANADA:
Corvette HMCS Trillium commissioned Montreal, Province of Quebec.
Corvette HMS Windflower arrived Halifax from builder Quebec City, Province of Quebec.
BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC (Summary for October):
Pocket battleship Admiral Scheer sails from Germany and passes through the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland for the Atlantic and later Indian Oceans. She gets back home in March.
Raider 'Widder' arrives in France after six months of operations in the central Atlantic where she has sunk or captured 10 ships of 59,000 tons.
The Luftwaffe's long range aircraft are now flying from bases in Norway. Inter-service rivalry between the Luftwaffe and the Navy means the Kondor will never be fully integrated into the German effort in the BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC.
Escort limits are now being pushed out to 19 degrees west. In a series of pack attacks on lightly defended Canada/UK convoys, U-boats sink more than 30 ships from SC7 and HX79 between the 17th and 20th a rate of loss that will soon bring Britain to her knees. Fortunately a number of measures are being taken to ease the dire situation and provide some of the foundations from which Britain and her Allies will go on to defeat the U-boat.
- The old US destroyers are coming into service and the British building programme is starting to deliver the escorts needed.
- The need for permanent escort groups to develop and maintain expertise is being accepted and greater emphasis given to A/S training.
- Co-operation between RAF Coastal Command and Western Approaches Command is steadily improving.
However, there is still a long way to go and vast areas of the Atlantic are still without air or sea anti-submarine cover.
U-124 sank SS Rutland in Convoy HX-82.
Losses:
ATLANTIC OCEAN: 56 ships of 287,000 tons and 1 destroyer
1 U boat
European Waters: 43 ships of 132,000 tons.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: 1 ship of 3,000 tons.