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• German submarine U-99 attacked British armed merchant cruiser HMS Patroclus 150 miles west of Ireland while she was rescuing survivors of HMS Laurentic, which was disabled by U-99 at the end of the previous day. U-99 fired torpedoes at 0022 hours, 0044 hours, and 0118 hours from the surface, and then dove to avoid attacks. At 0435 hours, U-99 resurfaced, sinking HMS Laurentic with a torpedo which detonated Laurentic's depth charges. Patroclus was sunk at 0525 hours, killing 56. British destroyers HMS Hesperus arrived and chased away U-99 with depth charges. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The Italian Julia Division continued to be trapped in the Vovousa valley in northern Greece, incurring heavy casualties as Greek troops mounted repeated attacks in an attempt to eliminate this pocket. Further west, Italian troops established a bridgehead across the Kalamas River, but failed at their first attempt to break out. ww2dbase [Balkans Campaign | CPC]
• Adolf Hitler met with his top military leaders in Berlin, Germany to explore the possibility of attacking Gibraltar, Azores Islands, Madeira, and Portugal as means to block the British Royal Navy from entering the Mediterranean Sea. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | CPC]
• British convoys A. N. 6 and M. W. 3 set out from Port Said and Alexandria in Egypt for the Aegean Sea and Malta. The ships were covered by the anti-aircraft cruisers Calcutta and Coventry with the destroyers Dainty, Vampire, Waterhen, and Voyager. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | HM]

• Alessandro Malaspina sighted Allied convoy OG 45, consisted of 17 merchant ships escorted by an auxiliary cruiser, in the Atlantic Ocean at 1310 hours. She gave chase, but failed to gain a favorable attack position. At 1650 hours, the convoy detected the presence of Alessandro Malaspina, and the armed merchant cruiser was successful in putting some distance between the submarine and the rest of the convoy. The Italians lost sight of the convoy at 1720 hours. ww2dbase [Alessandro Malaspina | CPC]

• Comandante Cappellini arrived at Pauillac, Aquitaine, France at 1607 hours, ending her third war patrol. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | Pauillac, Aquitaine | CPC]

• Gato-class submarine Silversides was laid down at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, United States. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Silversides | Vallejo, California | DS]

4 Nov 1940 Interactive Map