October 31st, 1944 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Frigates HMS Murchison and Enard Bay launched.
WESTERN EUROPE: Weather prevents USAAF Ninth Air Force bomber operations and limits fighters; the XII and XIX Tactical Air Commands fly patrols, sweeps, and armed reconnaissance over eastern France and western Germany; and the XII Tactical Air Command also supports US Seventh Army elements in the Metz, France area.
NETHERLANDS: The German Fifteenth Army is in full retreat from the southern Netherlands, with troops packing the ferries across the Maas and crowding the last two bridges at Moerdijk. Two German columns, a six-mile-long one approaching the bridges and a second, 12 miles long, beyond the river, are being attacked from the air. The final battle to clear the approaches to Antwerp is about to start. Most of the Beveland isthmus has been cleared, but German positions on Walcheren, at the entrance to the Scheldt estuary, must be taken before the port can open.
In the Canadian First Army’s II Corps area, the Canadian 2d Division starts west across the Walcheren causeway from south Beveland but is halted by German fire. Amphibious assault forces at Breskens and Ostend prepare to land on Walcheren Isalnd. In the Breskens Pocket, only small German groups remain in the coastal area; Cadzand and Knocks are free of Germans. In the British I Corps area, whilethe main body of corps is closing along the Mark River, advance elements attempt unsuccessfully to establish bridgeheads. The 1st Battalion, 415th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 104th Infantry Division, crosses northeast of Standdaarbuiten in assault boats early in the day but is encircled by German counterattacking force and withdraws after nightfall. Elements of the Polish 1st Armored Division cross the river east of Zevenbergen, but they too are forced back to south bank. German fire prevents bridging.
In the British Second Army area, XII Corps overcomes opposition at Raamsdonk.
During the night of 31 October/1 November, the USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 695: three B-17 Flying Fortresses and five B-24 Liberators drop leaflets.
FRANCE: In the U.S. Seventh Army's XV Corps area, the French 2d Armored Division drives southeast from Foręt de Mondon, taking the Germans by surprise and overwhelming their forward positions at Montigny, Merviller, and the northern part of Baccarat are cleared; other elements of the division provide diversion on the southern flank, taking Menarmont and Nossoncourt, southwest of Baccarat. In the VI Corps area, the 15th Infantry Regiment of the 3d Infantry Division attacks at night, turning northward in the region west of the Meurthe.
GERMANY: Overnight Cologne was blitzed by 493 RAF heavy bombers. The raid in which 3,451 tons of bombs and 610 tons of incendiaries were dropped killed 554 Germans.
Britain said that the destruction was necessary to ensure that Cologne was not used as an "advance base". In other raids aimed at oil refineries, 671 US bombers attacked eleven targets. A planned raid by 459 B-17s on the oil plant at Luena had to turn back because of bad weather.
The Americans, who captured Aachen ten days ago, today appointed a non-Nazi burgomeister; he cannot be named, because the Nazis have threatened death to relatives of anyone who takes office under the Allies.
Further south, Patton's US Third Army is stalled for the time being on the Moselle. Aggrieved at being assigned lowest priority for supplies of fuel, he has sent his officers foraging among the dumps of the US First Army; they have returned with "quite a bit of gasoline". Though Patton is authorised only to carry out "continuous reconnaissance", he intends to push for the Saar.
The French First Army is pushing into the Vosges with the aim of seizing the Belfort Gap and striking north to Strasburg.
During the day, RAF Bomber Command dispatches 101 Lancasters on a G-H attack the Welheim synthetic oil refinery at Bottrop. All 101 aircraft bomb the targets with the loss of one Lancaster.
During the night of 31 October/1 November, RAF Bomber Command sends 493 aircraft, 331 Lancasters, 144 Halifaxes and eight Mosquitos, to attack Cologne; 491 bomb the city. A further 15 Mosquitos carry out a feint attack just before the main raid. This is another Oboe-marked attack through thick cloud. Most of the bombs fall in the southern districts, with Bayental and Zollstock, according to the local report, being the hardest hit, although damage is not as severe as in other recent raids. One aircraft is lost. In additional raids, 48 Mosquitos bomb Hamburg with the loss of one, four hit Saarbrücken, two attack Schweinfurt and one bombs Leverkusen.
U-2541 laid down.
U-2346 launched.
U-2517 commissioned.
DENMARK: The RAF uses a precision attack to bomb the
Shellhus (Shell Oil Building) in Copenhagen. This is the headquarters of
the Gestapo in Denmark. The successful raid, mounted at the request of the
Danish underground, destroys Gestapo records. The aid to the Danish resistance
is weighed against the perils of the mission. Despite the location near a
school, the raid is executed against very high odds of success by Mosquito
bombers.
Unfortunately, the school was bombed by mistake. More than 80 people were
killed, almost all of them children. Today the Shellhus has been rebuilt, and
there is a plaque above the main door honoring the RAF fliers who didn't return
from the mission. This raid is covered thoroughly in Danish schools; everybody
there is familiar with it. (Julian Gomez)
Aarhus, Jutland: A young Danish pastor tortured to breaking point be the Gestapo
at Aarhus university was set free by the raid, led by the same Australian
squadron that hit Amiens jail. The raid also destroyed archives that threatened
the continued existence of Denmark's resistance network.
A total of 24 Mosquitoes flew over the North Sea at sea level in response to coded pleas from Danish patriots for help. Their bombs struck as Pastor Harald Sandbaek was about to tell what he knew. His torturers were killed. When compatriots dug him free, he begged them to kill him rather than risk his recapture. They smuggled him to Sweden instead.
POLAND: Auschwitz-Birkenau: The gas chambers are closed down. The last transport, 1,700 Jews from Theresienstadt, was gassed yesterday.
BALTIC SEA: U-475 sank Soviet landing craft SB-2.
HUNGARY: Broadening operations toward Budapest, elements of the Soviet Second Ukrainian Front force the Tisza River and push into Kecskemet, where street fighting ensues.
GREECE: Salonika is evacuated by the Germans.
YUGOSLAVIA: One hundred seventy four USAAF Fifteenth Air Force B-24 Liberators, dispatched against a target in Yugoslavia, are forced to return because of weather.
During the night of 31 October/1 November, 58 RAF bombers of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group fly supplies to the partisans.
ITALY: In the British Eighth Army's V Corps area, the Indian 10th Division progresses rapidly toward the Rabbi River as German resistance weakens. The 4th Division establishes two bridgeheads across the Ronco River between Selbagnone and Highway 9.
USAAF Twelfth Air Force B-26 Marauders hit a bridge and causeway at Nervesa della Battaglia and bridges at Montebello and Piazzola sul Brenta; and fighter-bombers attack guns and positions in the battle area south of Bologna in the Apennines, and communications and shipping targets in the Po Valley and on the Po River.
CEYLON: Admiral Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command (SEAC), having returned to Kandy from meetings with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Cairo, Egypt, at or near this time proposes to the Combined Chiefs of Staff that (1) Phases 1 and 2 of Operation CAPITAL (th attack across the Chindwin River to Mandalay, Burma) be completed; (2) that Arakan and Akyab, Burma, be cleared (Operations ROMULUS and TALON, respectively) in order to release the main body of XV Corps for use elsewhere; (3) a forward base on the Kra Isthmus (the narrow neck of the Malay Peninsula in southwester Thailand, between the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Thailand) be seized in March 1945; (4) that Rangoon, Burma, be taken after the 1945 monsoon; and (5) that Malaya be invaded regardless of the monsoon.
CHINA: Major General Albert C. Wedemeyer assumes command of U.S. Forces, China Theater (USFCT) and Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-shek His primary task is to conduct air operations from China, with logistical support from the India-Burma Theater.
Six USAAF Fourteenth Air Force P-51 Mustangs hit shipping targets of opportunity at Swatow and Amoy; about 70 fighters support Chinese ground forces by pounding positions in the Lungling area; and four B-25 Mitchells and 12 P-40s bomb a railroad bridge at Pengpu.
BURMA: In the British Fourteenth Army area, IV Corps headquarters returns from India and opens near Imphal with the Indian 19th Division under command about this time.
In the Northern Area Combat Command (NCAC) area, the British 36th Division, against stiffening resistance, reaches Mawlu.
Over 60 USAAF Tenth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts attack occupied areas and supply areas at Namun, Bhamo, and Nakang, and railroad bridges, locomotive shelters, and rolling stock along the Kyaikthin-Naba line; and two B-25 Mitchells attack targets of opportunity from Katha to Bhamo along the Irrawaddy River.
JAPAN: In the Kurile Islands, four USAAF Eleventh Air Force B-25 Mitchells score direct hits on a cannery at Tomari Cape on Paramushiru Island and leave nearby buildings burning; one of twoB-25 Mitchells hit by antiaricraft heads for and safely lands in the USSR.
VOLCANO ISLANDS: During the night of 31 October/l November, a USAAF Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberator on a snooper mission from Saipan bombs Iwo Jima.
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: In the U.S. Sixth Army’s XXIV Corps area, the 96th Infantry Division is mopping up the Catmon Hill sector. The 32d Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, starts from Abuyog toward Baybay.
EAST INDIES: On Halmahara Island, Netherlands East Indies, USAAF East Air Forces P-47 Thunderbolts and A-20 Havocs bomb Kairatoe Airfield and Sahoe village B-25 Mitchells and P-40s hit Loloda and Soasioe.
NEW GUINEA: In Dutch New Guinea, USAAF Fifth Air Force P-38 Lightnings and A-20 Havocs, concentrating on airfields, attack Samate, Jefman and Sagan Aerodrome, and Doom Island.
PACIFIC OCEAN: 1700 hours: Submarine USS Seahorse (SS-304) sinks a sampan at 31-19 N, 134-13 E.
2200 hours: Submarine USS Rasher (SS-269) sinks a tanker at 01-25 N, 120-46 E. (Skip Guidry)
U.S.A.:
Destroyer escorts USS John L Williamson and Bivin commissioned.
Minesweeper USS Hazard commissioned.
Coast Guard-manned FS-140 was accepted and was used for training at Pascagoula, Mississippi; Tampa, Florida, Brownsville, Texas; Gulfport, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; Corpus Christi, Texas; Pensacola, Florida, etc.
Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-141 was commissioned while in the Southwest Pacific area in October 1944, with LT W.J. Holbert, USCGR, as commanding officer. She was assigned and operated in the Southwest Pacific area in the Philippines and Hawaii. Exact date estimated.