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• The 7,976-ton British merchant steamer Malabar was on the return trip from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to London, England, United Kingdom full of general cargo, including lumber and tobacco when torpedoed by German submarine U-34, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Rollmann at 0150 hours. Rollmann had fired two torpedoes and claimed to hit the Malabar and an escorting destroyer, however only Malabar was hit. Malabar was the ship of the convoy commodore, five crew were killed in the explosion, the remaining 66 crew and the master, Henry Herbert, the commodore Rear Admiral G. W. Taylor and his two staff members all got away in lifeboats and were clear when the vessel sunk 180 miles south of Land’s End, Cornwall, England. They were all picked up by the G- and H-class destroyer HMS Grafton (H 89) and taken to Plymouth on the south coast. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | HM]

• The body of Kapitänleutnant Dietrich von der Ropp, commanding officer of U-12, washed ashore near Dunkerque, France; the submarine was lost to a mine on 8 Oct 1939. ww2dbase [U-12 | Dunkerque, Nord-Pas-de-Calais | CPC]

• During the German planning for future invasion in Western Europe, the Netherlands was briefly dropped as a target. ww2dbase [Invasion of France and the Low Countries | CPC]

• Soviet troops began occupying bases in Latvia while preparing for war with Finland. ww2dbase [Annexation of the Baltic States | CPC]

• The first German aircraft to be shot down in Britain, a He 111 bomber, crashed near Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, United Kingdom. The kill was claimed by No. 602 and No. 603 Squadrons RAF. Two members of the crew of four survived the crash and were captured. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | Haddington, Scotland | CPC]

29 Oct 1939 Interactive Map