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• 11,000 Italian mountain troops marched for the pass at Metsovo, Greece but were trapped by 2,000 Greek troops, who knew the terrain far better than the Italians, in the Vovousa Valley 5 miles before they reached the pass. In southern Greece, British destroyers Ajax landed more troops at Suda Bay, Crete while under attack by Italian bombers. Meanwhile, Turkey declared neutrality in the Italo-Greek war. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | TH]
• The British mined the Bay of Biscay off France. ww2dbase [TH]
• German bombers attacked British shipping in the Thames Estuary in southern England, United Kingdom, sinking Letchworth (1 killed), sinking minesweeping trawler HMT Tilbury Ness (10 killed), and heavily damaging sloop HMS Pintail (10 killed, 3 wounded); one German bomber was shot down by the anti-aircraft ship Royal Eagle. On the same day, a force of around ten Italian BR.20 bombers escorted by forty CR.42 fighters set off to attack the docks at Harwich, England; eight of the bombers were claimed as destroyed by the RAF, which contributed to the Italian decision to withdraw from the Battle of Britain in the next few weeks. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
• German submarine U-124 sank British ship Empire Bison 400 miles northwest of Ireland at 0706 hours, killing 30 crew and 1 gunner. 6,067 tons of scrap steel and 94 trucks, all from the United States, were lost with the ship. 4 survivors were rescued by Danish merchant ship Olga S. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British sloop HMS Black Swan was damaged by a mine in the Firth of Forth, Scotland. She would remain under repair until Apr 1941. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Adolf Galland was promoted to the rank of Oberstleutnant. ww2dbase [Adolf Galland | CPC]
• Chuichi Nagumo was named the commandant of the Japanese naval war college. ww2dbase [Chuichi Nagumo | CPC]
• U-56 was assigned to 24th Flotilla for training. ww2dbase [U-56 | CPC]

• Maggiore Baracca abandoned the pursuit of a freighter in the northern Atlantic Ocean at 0020 hours; she had been pursuing the unidentified target freighter since the previous date. At 1820 hours, she sighted a convoy of three to five ships at the distance of 6,000 meters, she gave pursuit. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | CPC]

• Rear Admiral Keizo Tanimoto replaced Rear Admiral Isamu Takeda as the chief of staff of Vice Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya (Ryojun Military Port, northeastern China). ww2dbase [Ryojun Guard District | Lushunkou, Liaoning | CPC]

• The German Oflag IV-C prisoner of war camp at the Colditz Castle, until now a transit camp, was redesignated an actual holding camp as Polish prisoners of war were transferred there from nearby Oflag IV-A and Oflag VIII-B. ww2dbase [Colditz Castle | Colditz, Sachsen | CPC]

• During this month, Japanese Navy began receiving the carrier version of the A6M Zero fighter. ww2dbase [A6M Zero | CPC]
• Captain Shunji Izaki was named the commanding officer of Settsu. ww2dbase [Settsu | CPC]
• Tanikaze was launched by Fujinagata Shipyards in Osaka, Japan. ww2dbase [Tanikaze | Osaka | CPC]

• Bremse was rammed by refrigerated cargo ship Donau off Bergen, Norway, causing some damage. ww2dbase [Bremse | Bergen | CPC]

• N-3PB prototype seaplane, developed from the A-17 design, made its maiden flight. ww2dbase [N-3PB | CPC]

1 Nov 1940 Interactive Map