30 Oct 1942
  • Operation Title: British attempted to attack German battleship Tirpitz with human torpedoes. The mission was aborted. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • Axis forces at El Alamein, Egypt were now down to about 320 operational tanks with little fuel, while the Allies had about 800 tanks. After sun down, Montgomery launched a diversionary attack at the Point 29 region to pin down Axis forces before he was ready to launch his main offensive elsewhere. ww2dbase [Second Battle of El Alamein | CPC]
  • For Günther von Kluge's birthday, Adolf Hitler gave him a gift of 250,000 Reichsmarks, half of which was for a renovation of his estate. Accompanying the gift was a special permit which allowed him to embark on such a renovation during war time. ww2dbase [Günther von Kluge | CPC]
  • In Belgium, German Gestapo officers rounded up 100 Jewish children and their carers from a children's home in Brussels and moved them to a transit camp in Mechelen; protests, including one from the secretary-general of the Belgian Ministry of Justice, forced the Germans to return the children to the home. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
  • USS Washington, USS Lansdowne, and USS Nicholas arrived at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. Nicholas went alongside USS Argonne for repairs to the damage from the collision with Washington 5 days earlier. ww2dbase [Nicholas | Lansdowne | Washington | DS]
Atlantic Ocean
  • The 5,681-ton Norwegian merchant steamer Alaska was ordered to attempt to rescue French troops who had abandoned the troopship Président Doumer that had been torpedoed by German submarine U-604. The 345 men on board the troopship had started to panic and lifeboats had been cut down and many of the survivors had fallen into the heavy seas. Two crew members from the Alaska fastened ropes around themselves and went into the water to try to get the Frenchmen safely onto the Norwegian ship. After only a few minutes the attempt was stopped, instead the Norwegians tried to get the troopship's lifeboats floating once more. Forty-six were rescued in this way and the transferred to the Alaska, despite the difficulty in dealing with the panicking soldiers. The Norwegians also rescued some Danish sailors whose ship, the Tasmania, had also been torpedoed. ww2dbase [HM]
British Western Pacific Territories Caroline Islands
  • Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Kuroshio at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]
Finland
  • Alpo Marttinen was made the commanding officer of 61st Regiment. ww2dbase [Alpo Marttinen | CPC]
Iceland
  • Russian freighter Dekabrist, US freighter John Walker, and British freighter Empire Gilbert departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland in Operation FB. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Hvalfjörður | CPC]
New Hebrides
  • Destroyer USS Shaw departed Vila Harbor, Efate, New Hebrides bound for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Shaw | Port Vila, Efate | DS]
Pacific Ocean
  • USS Whale fired two torpedoes at a Japanese convoy 19 kilometers off Ichie Saki, Wakayama, Japan, scoring one hit. She was given chase by a torpedo boat for the next 17 hours and suffered serious damage. ww2dbase [Whale | CPC]
Poland United States Photo(s) dated 30 Oct 1942
WAVES Ensign May Herrmann recruiting two women at the Officer Procurement office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 30 Oct 1942Grumman TBF-1 Avenger aircraft of US Navy Torpedo Squadron 4 dropping Mark XIII practice torpedo in training flight, location unknown, 30 Oct 1942First aircraft landing aboard USS Bogue, 30 Oct 1942 in Puget Sound, Washington, United States. The plane is a Curtiss SOC-3A Seagull flown by Bogue’s first Air Officer, Commander Jack Monroe.

30 Oct 1942 Interactive Map

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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