October 31st, 1941 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: 262 civilians have been killed and 361 injured in air raids this month.
The first production Avro Lancaster heavy bomber makes its first flight today. It has four 1,280 h-p Merlin XX engines and with its dorsal and ventral gun turrets weighs in at 60,000 lb. (22)
One of the lessons learned in the last war was that bully beef and mutton stew, no matter how plentiful, neither satisfied the appetites of the troops nor kept up their morale.
The Army Catering Corps has now been formed, and chefs for all branches of the armed forces go through a sophisticated training programme. Professional caterers have been moved from their hotels and restaurants and put to work analysing the needs of serving men in climates as different as Libya and Iceland. They have developed no fewer than 89 rationing scales.
However, civilians should not feel that they are getting the scraps from the Army's table; the ministry of food says it takes their needs just as seriously.
After a shaky start the Ministry of Information is showing signs of growing sophistication in the propaganda war with Germany.
Posters have gained in artistic impact; slogans are snappier. So far the focus of propaganda has been directed within Britain, cajoling the citizens into public spirited behaviour, whether it be avoiding gossip, growing vegetables or mending clothes. As thoughts begin to turn to promoting the Allied cause abroad, the changing line-up of war powers has caused some problems even at home.
For the past four months, for instance, the backroom boys of the MOI have been juggling with a tricky question: Now that we have Joe Stalin as an ally, what do we tell the public about communism.
Churchill appointed Brendan Bracken, the journalist and financier to head the ministry soon after Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. Bracken found the civil servants fearful of a communist takeover. Bracken has now solved the problem: Stalin and his armed forces are to be praised to the skies, but with absolutely no mention of communism. Any attempts by British communists to exploit public admiration for Russia will be forestalled by the ministry organizing Tanks-for-Russia campaigns.
In its early months, the ministry had been ridiculed for its fondness for exhortation: Your courage, your cheerfulness, your resolution will bring us victory. At a policy meeting after the outbreak of war, contingency plans for the ministry were examined; a proposal that cups of tea should be provided to prevent panic after air-raids was amended to cups of coffee. It only slowly dawned on the officials that what people wanted was not rallying cries but actual information, particularly as, in its absence, rumors flourish.
Sloop HMS Whimbrel laid down.
GERMANY: Berlin: German workers are being forced to "volunteer" as much as 25 Reichmark (about £2/1/8d) a week from their wages to pay for Hitler's war. Those who resist payment are likely to be approached by Nazi Party members in their factories.
An illegal underground newspaper, the Suddeutsche Volkstimme, is claiming that this "iron savings" scheme means that Hitler is "extorting nearly six billion marks from the people to pay for armaments."
U-639 laid down.
ESTONIA: SS Commander Erich von dem Bach-Zalewski reports back to Berlin that there are no Jews left in Estonia.
U.S.S.R.: Moscow: The Luftwaffe bombs the city in 45 attacks today.
JAPAN: The Japanese High Command approves the plan submitted by Admiral YAMAMOTO Isoroku, Commander-in-Chief, Combined Fleet, calling for an aerial attack on the USN fleet at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii. YAMAMOTO has threatened to resign if his plan is not approved.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: MacArthur "> MacArthur requests recall of Grunert and was appointed Department commander in his stead. (Marc Small)
CANADA:
Minesweeper HMCS Chignecto commissioned.
HMC ML 052 commissioned.
UNITED STATES: Mount Rushmore, near Keystone, South Dakota, is “completed” this day. Actually, the money ran out. Work on the monument, honoring Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt, had begun 10 August 1927. It was dedicated 3 March 1933 although work continued. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum died in 1941 and his son, Lincoln, continues the project until funds ran out on this day. Since then, no additional carving has been done, nor is any further work (other than maintenance) on the memorial planned.
ICELAND: Reykjavik: The USN destroyer USS Reuben James (DD-245) is sunk when U-552 fired a torpedo into the magazine. The ship split into two parts. The aft section stayed afloat for five minutes, but as it sank depth charges exploded killing a number of men in the water. 115 sailors from a crew of 160 are lost in the first sinking of a US warship in the, so far, undeclared war in the ATLANTIC OCEAN. The Reuben James is part of the escort for 42-ship convoy HX-156 (Halifax, Nova Scotia to the U.K.). The attack happens at 0525 hours about 660 nautical miles west of Galway, Éire, in position 51.59N, 27.05W. Despite the heavy oil slick in the vicinity and the need to investigate sound contacts, destroyer Niblack (DD-424) rescues 36 men (one of whom dies of wounds on 2 November); Hilary P. Jones (DD-427) picks up ten. Other destroyers are performing such regular escort duties.
The loss of USS Reuben James proves a temporary detriment to Navy recruiting efforts. Since this ship has essentially the same silhouette as the 50 destroyers loaned to the British, the U-boat commander believes it is a Royal Navy ship. It is only when they heard the attack announced by a US radio station a few days later that he realised their target had been a USN ship. (John Nicholas and Alex Gordon)
USN Task Unit 4.1.6 screening Convoy ON-28 (U.K. to North America), carries out vigorous attacks on sound contacts: destroyer USS Babbitt (DD-128) carries out two, while USS Buck (DD-420), DuPont (DD-152) (which is attacked by U-boat but missed), Leary (DD-158) and Sampson (DD-394) one attack apiece.
U-374 sank SS Rose Schiaffino.
U-96 sank SS Bennekom in Convoy OS-10.