1 Oct 1940
- German submarine U-38 sank British ship Highland Patriot 300 miles west of Ireland at 0647 hours; 3 crew were killed, 136 crew and 33 passengers were rescued by sloop HMS Wellington. German submarine U-32 sank Dutch ship Haulerwijk 400 miles west of Ireland; 4 were killed and 27 survived. ww2dbase [First Happy Time | CPC]
- British troops reinforced the garrison on Malta. ww2dbase [AC]
- US Navy and US Marine Corps began the Special Landing Operation No. 2 in the Caribbean Sea. ww2dbase [CPC]
- Luftwaffe ace Erich Hartmann began basic training with Friegerausbildungsregiment 10 at Neukuhren, near Königsberg in East Prussia, Germany. Hartmann would achieve 352 "kills" during the war before being sentenced, as a war criminal, to 50 years forced labour by the Soviets. ww2dbase [AC]
- Hermann Göring officially awarded Wolfgang Falck the Knight Cross medal, but it would be not be presented to Falck until 7 Oct 1940. ww2dbase [Wolfgang Falck | CPC]
- George Brett was promoted to the rank of major general. ww2dbase [George Brett | CPC]
- Hubert Lanz was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for gallantry during the invasion of France. ww2dbase [Hubert Lanz | CPC]
- Chiaki Matsuda was made a staff member at the Institute for Total War. ww2dbase [Chiaki Matsuda | CPC]
- Tsingtau was assigned to the 4th Fast Attack Craft Flotilla. ww2dbase [Tsingtau | CPC]
- Oberleutnant Kurt Reichenbach-Klinke was named the commanding officer of U-23, relieving Heinrich Driver. ww2dbase [U-23 | CPC]
- Maggiore Baracca spotted Greek freighter Aghios Nicolaus, carrying 2,200 tons of zinc and 3,982 tons of wood sailing for Belfast in Northern Ireland of the United Kingdom, in the Atlantic Ocean at about 1615 hours. She gave chase in heavy seas, stopped the freighter with warning shots from a machine gun, and forced all 26 crew members to take to lifeboats. Once the freighter was fully abandoned, she sank her with 40 shells from the deck gun at 1955 hours. ww2dbase [Maggiore Baracca | First Happy Time | CPC]
- Seeadler completed laying mines in the English Channel. ww2dbase [Seeadler | English Channel | CPC]
- Small raids of 20 to 70 aircraft each attacked RAF airfields in England, United Kingdom; London was not targeted during the day. The Germans lost 4 fighters and the British lost 5 fighters with 4 pilots killed. London was bombed overnight. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | England | CPC]
- Clarence Tinker was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. ww2dbase [Clarence Tinker | CPC]
- Belgium Congo uranium began to arrived at Staten Island, New York, United States for safekeeping; a total of 1,140 tons of uranium would arrive throughout this month. ww2dbase [Staten Island, New York | CPC]

1 Oct 1940 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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