31 Oct 1887
- Kaishek Chiang was born.
» In-depth article
31 Oct 1914
- Russia and the United Kingdom declared war on Turkey as the response to the previously day's attacks by the Turkish Navy.
- Sepoy Kuda Dad Khan (129th Baluchis) became the first Indian Amy soldier to win the Victoria Cross. At Hollebeke, Belgium he kept his machine gun firing even when his detachment had been overrun, and his comrades killed all around him.
31 Oct 1919
- Baron Kenjiro Den was named the governor-general of Taiwan, the first civilian to hold that post.
31 Oct 1931
- Hiroaki Abe became the commanding officer of Japanese Navy Destroyer Division 1.
» In-depth article
31 Oct 1936
- The Jarrow Marchers arrived in London, England, United Kingdom. This protest was the best remembered of the hunger marches of the depression years. Led by their Labour Party Member of Parliament Ellen Wilkinson (1891-1947), 200 shipyard workers marched to London from Jarrow as a demonstration against the massive unemployment in northeastern England.
31 Oct 1937
- At midnight, the remaining 376 Chinese officers and men in the Sihang Warehouse in Shanghai, China withdrew from the building into the international zone. The evacuation was completed by 0200 hours on 1 Nov 1937.
» In-depth article - Suzuya was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Kumano was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Oshio was commissioned into service.
» In-depth article
31 Oct 1938
- Poland noted to the Germans that Danzig was to remain independent, and that Poland was not interested in signing the Anti-Comintern Pact.
» In-depth article - Cruiser Köln began five months of repairs and refitting at Kiel, Germany.
» In-depth article
31 Oct 1939
- The British Royal Navy was mobilized.
- Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet Foreign Minister, gloated over the dissolution of Poland, "ugly offspring of the Versailles Treaty", by the combined Soviet-German attack. He also accused the British of aggressive acts.
» In-depth article - The commanding officer of the German Wehrkreis IV district in Dresden, Germany gave the order to convert Colditz Castle to a prisoner of war camp named Offizierslager IV-C, or Oflag IV-C for short.
31 Oct 1940
- According to a British Air Ministry pamphlet published in 1941, this date was the official end of the Battle of Britain, but bombings on London, England, United Kingdom would continue.
» In-depth article - RAF bombers attacked Naples, Italy.
- As the Italian invasion of Greece began to slow to a stop in the Epirus Mountains, British forces landed on the islands of Lemnos and Crete in southern Greece to prevent Italian landings on Greek islands. Greek destroyers Spetsai and Psara departed the Gulf of Patras and used their 120-mm guns to bombard Italian troops on the Ionian coast of Albania and northern Greece.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-124 sank British ship Rutland 300 miles northwest of Ireland at 2158 hours, killing the entire crew of 24.
- German armed merchant cruiser Widder arrived at Brest, France after a 179-day long operation in the Atlantic Ocean that saw the sinking of 10 ships totaling 58,645 tons.
- HMCS Trillium was commissioned into service with Lieutenant Commander Ronald Fraser Harris in command.
» In-depth article
31 Oct 1941
- German submarine U-552 attacked Allied convoy HX-156 725 miles west of Iceland at 0834 hours, sinking American destroyer USS Reuben James (115 killed, 45 survived); USS Reuben James was the first American warship lost in the Atlantic Ocean in WW2.
- A German submarine fired a torpedo at American destroyer USS DuPont; the torpedo missed its target.
- The British 1st Airborne division was formed on under the command of Major General Frederick "Boy" Browning.
» In-depth article - To ease labour shortages, Hitler agreed that Soviet prisoners of war could be used in the Reich, as long as they were isolated from the Home population.
» In-depth article - It was announced that RAF aircraft operating out of Malta had destroyed 76,500 tons of enemy shipping in the Mediterranean Sea.
» In-depth article - German submarine U-374 sank British ship Rose Schiaffino 120 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland at 0903 hours; all 41 aboard were killed.
- German submarine U-96 sank Dutch ship Bennekom 400 miles west of Iceland at 1047 hours; 8 were killed, 46 survived. British sloop HMS Lulworth counterattacked with 27 depth charges in failure.
- Soviet destroyer Bodry and other warships shelled German tank concentrations 25 miles north of Sevastopol, Ukraine. Meanwhile, German dive bombers attacked Soviet warships in the harbor, causing 50 casualties but failing to cause damage to the ships.
» In-depth article
31 Oct 1942
- Having earlier silenced a machine gun post and taken 12 prisoners, Sergeant William Kibby was leading an Australian advance near Alamein taking enemy positions with grenades when he was cut down by machine gun fire. He was posthumously awarded the Vctoria Cross.
- The Chilean ambassador to Italy Ramon Briones Luco reported to Chile that Heinrich Himmler had just visited Rome and spoke to Mussolini. According to the ambassador's sources, Himmler requested Mussolini to turn over all Polish, Czech, and Yugoslav Jews in Italy.
» In-depth article - German 21st Panzer Division launched four successive strikes against Australian troops at Point 29 in Egypt, causing heavy casualties on both sides.
» In-depth article - US Marine Scout-Bomber Squadron 132 and US Marine Fighter Squadron 211 began to arrive in sections at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.
» In-depth article - As Adolf Hitler was confident that Stalingrad, Russia would soon be under German control, he departed the Wehrwolf headquarters near of Vinnytsia, Ukraine and moved to the Wolfsschanze headquarters in East Prussia, Germany.
» In-depth article - Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Samidare at Truk, Caroline Islands.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - Photos dated 31 Oct 1942
31 Oct 1943
- US Fifth Army resumed the stalled offensive north of the Volturno River in Italy.
» In-depth article - An American reconnaissance flight from Suichuan, Jianxi, China detected a Japanese shipping concentration in the Sasebo-Nagasaki area. Claire Chennault requested for permission to attack, but Henry Arnold rejected the request, noting that he did not wish to alert the Japanese of American air strength in China while he worked on a plan for concerted B-29 strikes from China.
» In-depth article - Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Sasebo, Japan.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement
31 Oct 1944
- 14,000 Jews were transported from Slovakia to Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
» In-depth article - British troops occupied Salonika, Greece in order to prevent Greek Communists from taking over in the vacuum left by the retreating Germans.
- British troops established a bridgehead over the River Maas south of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
- Canadian troops reached Walcheren, the Netherlands.
» In-depth article - A German V-2 rocket hit Swedish Yard of Surrey Commercial Docks in Bermondsey, London at 0256 hours, damaging several wheat containers. Another rocket hit the Royal Victoria Dock at Earlham Grove, West Ham in the afternoon.
- Bernard Montgomery was awarded the Virtuti Militari V Class of Poland.
» In-depth article - The first manned flight of the prototype Ohka aircraft was conducted; the aircraft was equipped with two wing-mounted rockets and no fuselage-mounted rockets.
» In-depth article - Commander John Ailes III became the commanding officer of USS Cassin Young.
» In-depth article - USS Kete departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol.
» In-depth article - The US submarine Nautilus finished off the abandoned US submarine Darter with her 6-inch guns. The Darter had foundered on Bombay Shoal, Spratly Islands off Palawan, Philippine Islands on 25 Oct 1944 whilst in pursuit of the damaged Japanese cruiser Takao. All Darter's crew were rescued by the US submarine Dace.
» In-depth article - USS Guitarro fired eight torpedoes at 0847 hours at the Japanese convoy that she had been attacking since the previous day; six torpedoes made contact, and Guitarro claimed three sinkings, although only one sinking was confirmed.
» In-depth article - USS Astoria arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii.
» In-depth article - USS Gabilan sank oceanographic research vessel Kaiyo No. 6 in Japanese home island waters, hitting her with 1 of 4 torpedoes fired.
» In-depth article
31 Oct 1945
- Allied repatriation ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Wake Island.
» In-depth article
» Tabular Record of Movement - USS Tirante arrived at Staten Island, New York, United States.
» In-depth article - USS Marlin arrived at Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
» In-depth article - Historical document written: Interrogation Nav 50, Commander J. Fukamizu
» In-depth article - Historical document written: Interrogation Nav 57, Rear Admiral Mitsaharu Matsuyama
» In-depth article - Photos dated 31 Oct 1945
31 Oct 2008
- The chief of staff of Japanese Air Self-Defense Force Toshio Tamogami was dismissed due to an essay he authored arguing that not only Japan was not an aggressor state in WW2, but that Japan actually brought prosperity to China, Taiwan, and Korea.
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
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"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us... they can't get away this time."Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, at Guadalcanal
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