World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 30 Oct 1942

• Operation Title: British attempted to attack German battleship Tirpitz with human torpedoes. The mission was aborted. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Axis forces at El Alamein, Egypt were now down to about 320 operational tanks with little fuel, while the Allies had about 800 tanks. After sun down, Montgomery launched a diversionary attack at the Point 29 region to pin down Axis forces before he was ready to launch his main offensive elsewhere. ww2dbase [Second Battle of El Alamein | CPC]
• For Günther von Kluge's birthday, Adolf Hitler gave him a gift of 250,000 Reichsmarks, half of which was for a renovation of his estate. Accompanying the gift was a special permit which allowed him to embark on such a renovation during war time. ww2dbase [Günther von Kluge | CPC]
• In Belgium, German Gestapo officers rounded up 100 Jewish children and their carers from a children's home in Brussels and moved them to a transit camp in Mechelen; protests, including one from the secretary-general of the Belgian Ministry of Justice, forced the Germans to return the children to the home. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]

• The 5,681-ton Norwegian merchant steamer Alaska was ordered to attempt to rescue French troops who had abandoned the troopship Président Doumer that had been torpedoed by German submarine U-604. The 345 men on board the troopship had started to panic and lifeboats had been cut down and many of the survivors had fallen into the heavy seas. Two crew members from the Alaska fastened ropes around themselves and went into the water to try to get the Frenchmen safely onto the Norwegian ship. After only a few minutes the attempt was stopped, instead the Norwegians tried to get the troopship's lifeboats floating once more. Forty-six were rescued in this way and the transferred to the Alaska, despite the difficulty in dealing with the panicking soldiers. The Norwegians also rescued some Danish sailors whose ship, the Tasmania, had also been torpedoed. ww2dbase [HM]

• US Marine Corps squadron VMTB-132, equipped with SBD dive bombers, was assigned to Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Henderson Field | Lunga Point, Guadalcanal | CPC]

• Repair ship Akashi began repairing destroyer Kuroshio at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]

• Alpo Marttinen was made the commanding officer of 61st Regiment. ww2dbase [Alpo Marttinen | CPC]

• Russian freighter Dekabrist, US freighter John Walker, and British freighter Empire Gilbert departed Hvalfjörður, Iceland in Operation FB. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Hvalfjörður | CPC]

• Destroyer USS Shaw departed Vila Harbor, Efate, New Hebrides bound for Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Shaw | Port Vila, Efate | DS]

• USS Whale fired two torpedoes at a Japanese convoy 19 kilometers off Ichie Saki, Wakayama, Japan, scoring one hit. She was given chase by a torpedo boat for the next 17 hours and suffered serious damage. ww2dbase [Whale | CPC]

• All Jewish prisoners of Auschwitz I Concentration Camp were brought out for a roll call; 800 were chosen to be sent to the newly created Buna sub-camp in Monowice to supply workers for the nearly I.G. Farben chemical plant; a number of prisoners too weak to work were sent to the gas chambers. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

• The keel of submarine Flier was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, United States. ww2dbase [Flier | Electric Boat Company | Groton, Connecticut | CPC]
• USS S-41 began a period of overhaul at San Diego, California, United States. ww2dbase [S-41 | San Diego, California | CPC]

30 Oct 1942 Interactive Map