World war II timeline - October 1940

3 October 1940	Britain announces its intention to re-open the Burma Road to China.
8 October 1940	German troops enter Romania to protect its oilfields. A British shipbuilding mission in North America places an order for 20 10,000-ton cargo vessels from Canada. The order is later increased to 26. Siamese and French forces in Indochina begin and escalate a border war against each other.
11 October 1940	French Marshal Pétain announces his intention of collaborating with Germany.
12 October 1940	In a convoy in the North Atlantic, submarine U-101 torpedoes and sinks the merchant ship Saint-Malo south of Iceland. The ship was a former French vessel requisitioned by the Canadian government. 28 are killed. Adolf Hitler postpones invasion plans on Britain until spring 1941.
14 October 1940	The Soviet politburo accepts the Army war plan for an attack on Germany. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill instructs that British anmassadors be informed that "nothing can compare with the importance of the British Empire and the United States being co-belligerent.".
16 October 1940	The United States begins drafting soldiers. 16.4 million register. West of Ireland, convoy SC-7 is detected by a submarine, which signals others. In convoy SC-7 in the North Atlantic, submarine U-124 torpedoes and sinks the merchant ship Trevisa south of Iceland, en route to Aberdeen, Scotland. 7 are killed.
18 October 1940	In convoy SC-7, 14 ships are sunk by German submarines.
19 October 1940	Convoy SC-7 from Nova Scotia begins arriving in Great Britain. Of 34 original ships, 20 were sunk, and a further two damaged. Royal Canadian Navy auxiliary minesweeper Bras d'Or sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with all forty of the crew.
22 October 1940	German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Adolf Hitler meet French Pierre Laval, in a preliminary meeting before meeting with Marshal Pétain. On a convoy in the North Atlantic, Royal Canadian Navy destroyer Margaree collides with freighter Port Fairy in poor visibility, 400 miles west of Ireland. It is the first convoy mission for the destroyer, and 140 lives are lost.
23 October 1940	Adolf Hitler and Spain's Francisco Franco meet for nine hours in Hendaye, Spain, on the French/Spanish border. Adolf Hitler tries to get Spain committed to the war, or allow German troops to assault Gibraltar. Franco reluctantly agrees to eventually enter the war, in return for military, agricultural, and territorial demands, and only at a time of Spain's choosing.
24 October 1940	Adolf Hitler meets with Marshal Pétain at Montoire, France. Pétain agrees to collaborate against Britain, in return for compensation in Africa and a high place in the New Europe.
25 October 1940	The British War Cabinet restores Britain's battleship construction program for later use in the Far East against Japan. Military representatives from Britain, Australia, and New Zealand meet in Singapore for a conference on Far Eastern defence. Grave deficiencies of Singapore defence are exposed.
27 October 1940	German pocket-battleship Admiral von Scheer leaves Germany.
28 October 1940	Italy launches an attack on Greece from Albania. German submarine U32 torpedoes and sinks Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Britain in the Atlantic, en route from the Middle East to England.
30 October 1940	British destroyers Harvester and Highlander sink German submarine U32. British Bomber Command is given its first directive sanctioning area-bombing.
31 October 1940	The British Air Ministry considers the Battle of Britain over. Americans inform the British they had broken into the Japanese cipher "Purple". British aircraft carrier Argus launches fourteen Hurricane fighter aircraft to Malta, but only five successfully fly the distance.