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http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/31.htm

October 31st, 1941

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. (Dave Shirlaw)

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. (Dave Shirlaw)

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.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: MacArthur requests recall of Grunert and was appointed Department commander in his stead. (Marc Small)

CANADA:

Minesweeper HMCS Chignecto commissioned.

HMC ML 052 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

ICELAND: Reykjavik: The US destroyer Reuben James 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 convoy HX-156. Other destroyers are performing such regular escort duties.

U-374 sank SS Rose Schiaffino.

U-96 sank SS Bennekom in Convoy OS-10. (Dave Shirlaw)