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WWII On This Day: October 3

What happened on October 3 during World War II? This date brings together 4 events from 1940 and 1944, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1940
First page of the Vichy Statut des Juifs, dated 3 October 1940; the surviving copy carries handwritten annotations attributed to Pétain.
First page of the Vichy Statut des Juifs, dated 3 October 1940; the surviving copy carries handwritten annotations attributed to Pétain. French State / Mémorial de la Shoah · CC BY-SA 4.0 Source
Occupation vs Resistance in World War II

Vichy enacts the first Statut des Juifs

The French State enacted the first Statut des Juifs on 3 October 1940. The law defined Jews by racial criteria and excluded them from important positions in public administration, the armed forces, education, the press and other professions. The statute was a French law issued through Vichy's own institutions. German occupation shaped the political environment and German authorities were already imposing anti-Jewish measures in the occupied zone, but Vichy's first statute did not require a German order. A second statute in June 1941 broadened the exclusions. Persecution could now be…

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1944
Waves of United States Marine Corps amphibious tractors approaching the smoke-covered landing beaches of Iwo Jima in February 1945, with Mount Suribachi in the distance.
Archives Branch, USMC History Division / Thayer Soule Collection COLL/2266 · CC BY 2.0
Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima is chosen as the Volcano Islands objective

On 3 October 1944 the Joint Chiefs of Staff directed the occupation of one or more positions in the Nanpo Shoto, the Volcano-Bonin chain, by 20 January 1945, and on 9 October Admiral Nimitz told Lieutenant General Holland Smith that Iwo Jima was definitely the objective. The choice followed Admiral King's proposal of 2 October to change the plan: Spruance and Nimitz preferred Iwo Jima and Okinawa to Formosa, and the Army's Lieutenant General Buckner had reported that he lacked service troops for Formosa. The island lay between the Marianas…

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LVT-4 Alligator amphibious vehicles pass Terrapin amphibious vehicles near Terneuzen during the Battle of the Scheldt, 13 October 1944.
Department of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada · 13 October 1944 · Public domain in Canada · Source
The Battle of the Scheldt

The dyke at Westkapelle is breached

Bomber Command attacked the sea dyke at Westkapelle on 3 October and opened a major breach through which the North Sea flooded the low interior of Walcheren. The operation aimed to restrict German movement and make the coastal defences easier to isolate before an assault on the island. Warnings had been issued and the Dutch government in exile had agreed to the inundation plan, but the bombing devastated Westkapelle and killed about 157 residents. Further attacks opened breaches near Flushing and Veere and enlarged the flooded area.

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A converted cable ship laying pipeline across the English Channel, 1944.
Pipeline laying in the Channel, 1944 ·
Operation PLUTO

Both working pipelines fail

An attempt to increase operating pressure was followed by failure of the HAIS coupling and the HAMEL line on a hard seabed edge. BAMBI had delivered approximately 935,000 imperial gallons, usually stated as about 3,300 long tons.

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