5 Nov 1940
  • German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer approached Allied convoy HX-84 in the North Atlatic in the late afternoon, and British armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay moved in to intercept. Hopelessly outgunned, Jervis Bay was sunk within 15 minutes of the gun battle; 190 were killed and 65 survived; Captain Fegen of Jervis Bay would be awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for his efforts to slow Admiral Scheer. Nevertheless, Admiral Scheer was able to sink 5 additional British ships in the convoy before the convoy scattered and escaped, killing an additional 208 sailors. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
  • Roosevelt was re-elected as President of the United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
  • Free French troops captured Lambaréné, French Equatorial Africa (in present day Gabon) about 100 kilometer inland up the Ogooué River. Meanwhile, Free French, Foreign Legion, and Colonial troops set sail from Douala, French Cameroun for another Vichy-held city in French Equatorial Africa, Libreville. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
  • German submarine U-99 sank British tanker Scottish Maiden 180 miles northwest of Ireland at 0255 hours, killing 16; she was carrying 3,000 tons of diesel oil and 6,500 tons of marine fuel. British destroyer HMS Beagle picked up 28 survivors. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • Greek cavalry troops under General Georgios Stanotas began a new attack on the enveloped Italian Julia Division in the Vovousa valley in northern Greece. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
  • British cruisers Sydney and Ajax departed Alexandra, Egypt to land supplies at Suda Bay, Crete, Greece. ww2dbase [Main Article | HM]
  • British cruisers Sydney and Ajax landed supplies at Suda Bay, Crete, Greece and then joined the Mediterranean Fleet at sea. ww2dbase [Main Article | HM]
Egypt
  • While at Alexandria, Egypt, a leak was found in the fuel system of HMS Eagle, requiring her to receive repairs; the damage was caused by near misses by Italian bombers on 12 Oct 1940. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
France
  • Hermann Göring issued an order to loot the art treasures at the Louvre museum in Paris, France, which were to be distributed to German museums and private collections of Nazi leaders, with a large portion of the art reserved for himself. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

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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Soviet prisoners of war arriving at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Germany, 1944-1945




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Famous WW2 Quote
"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