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• Vichy France officially published the Statute of 4 Oct 1940 in which Jews who were not French citizens were no longer protected by French law. 'Special camps' were established to begin housing these stateless Jews. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarines attacked Allied convoy SC-7 all day; U-38 attacked British ship Carsbreck at 0636 hours; U-99 sank British ship Fiscus 100 miles northwest of Ireland, killing 38 of 39 aboard; U-100 and U-123 damaged British ship Shekatika 100 miles northwest of Ireland at 2225 hours, with all 36 aboard surviving. German submarine U-48 sank British ship Sandsend 500 miles west of Ireland at 2225 hours, killing 5. German submarine chasers UJ-116 and UJ-118 sank British WW1-era submarine H-49 off Texel Island, the Netherlands; 21 were killed and 1 survived and captured. British anti-submarine trawler HMT Kingston Cairngorm hit a mine in the English Channel; she was able to be towed back to the harbor, but would sink on the following day. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]
• Two British flying boats of No. 202 Squadron RAF spotted Italian submarine Durbo 120 miles east of Gibraltar off Alboran Island. British destroyers HMS Firedrake and HMS Wrestler attacked with depth charges, forcing Durbo to the surface and be scuttled. British sailors managed to capture information regarding Italian submarine dispositions from the submarine before she sank. Durbo's crew of 48 was taken prisoner. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German guns near Calais, France fired 10 shells at Dover, England, United Kingdom; two of the shells detonated. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Comandante Cappellini landed the 26 survivors of Belgian cargo ship Kabalo, which was sunk by Comandante Cappellini three days prior, on the island of Santa Maria in the Azores islands. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | CPC]

• Alessandro Malaspina arrived at her patrol area in the Atlantic Ocean west of Scotland, United Kingdom. At 1625 hours, she was ordered to intercept an Allied convoy observed some distance away from her present location. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | CPC]

• Britain reopened the Burma Road, the over-land supply route to China. ww2dbase [Burma Road and the Hump | AC]

• Morosini departed Naples, Italy at 0726 hours for exercises, returning at 1202 hours. ww2dbase [Morosini | Naples, Campania | CPC]

• Foggy weather limited German ability to attack southern England, United Kingdom, thus only few aerial battles were fought with no losses for either side. Overnight, London was bombed, hitting the Rose and Crown Pub which resulted in 42 killed and 6 injured; Liverpool and Birmingham were also attacked. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | CPC]

18 Oct 1940 Interactive Map