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• At 0525 hours the 5,874-ton French merchant steamer Baoulé was heading to Bordeaux, France with a cargo of palm kernels, rubber, cocoa, and coffee in convoy K-20. The ships had just passed 45 miles west-northwest of A Coru?a, northwest Spain when Baoulé was torpedoed by German submarine U-25 commanded by Kapitänleutnant Viktor Schütze. Two torpedoes hit the ship which sank quickly, 13 crewmembers lost their lives. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | HM]

• The commanding officer of the German Wehrkreis IV district in Dresden, Germany gave the order to convert Colditz Castle to a prisoner of war camp named Offizierslager IV-C, or Oflag IV-C for short. ww2dbase [Dresden, Sachsen | CPC]

• Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet Foreign Minister, gloated over the dissolution of Poland, "ugly offspring of the Versailles Treaty", by the combined Soviet-German attack. He also accused the British of aggressive acts. ww2dbase [Vyacheslav Molotov | TH]

• The British Royal Navy was mobilized. ww2dbase [TH]
• The keel of Dianthus was laid down by Henry Robb, Limited of Leith, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Dianthus | Leith, Scotland | CPC]

31 Oct 1939 Interactive Map