At sea
SprueStack Zero Hour: WW2 day by day
20 October 1940
What happened on this day in the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945, with a source for every entry.
About this page
Each day we list events from the Second World War that happened on that date, from 1939 to 1945. Every entry names its source and links to it, so you can read further. Entries are sourced and machine-screened before they go up, a subset is human-reviewed, and we add more over time.
7 of 8 sourced entries for this date, chosen by the editor.
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Entries
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At sea
Oiler Ramapo (AO-12) delivers district patrol craft YP-16 and YP-17 at Apra Harbor to augment the local defenses at Guam.
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20 October: Italian aircraft bomb Cairo, Egypt and American-operated oil refineries in the British Protectorate of Bahrain.
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Diplomatic record
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
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Diplomatic record
The Ambassador in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
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Diplomatic record
The Consul at Dakar (Wasson) to the Secretary of State
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Mediterranean Theater
THOR mission records show at least 10 Allied sorties (12 recorded unit missions) in the Mediterranean Theater on 1940-10-20, flown by RAF. Targets included ITALY.
Source US Air Force THOR (opens external site)
THOR is a secondary compilation with known gaps, not a complete record.
The full list for this date is being cleaned and will return soon.
Sources listed with each entry. Spotted an error? Tell us.
20 October in other years 19391941194219431944
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