October 1941

[October 1], 1941 (Wednesday)

• The Moscow Conference ended. The United States agreed to supply the Soviets with $1 billion worth of arms and equipment.
• Finnish VII Corps captured Petrozavodsk.
• Majdanek concentration camp became operational.
• The stage musical Best Foot Forward by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane premiered at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway.

  [October 2], 1941 (Thursday)

• The Battle of Moscow began.
• Adolf Hitler issued a message to the German troops on the Eastern Front declaring, "Today begins the last great, decisive battle of this year."
• 2,146 Jews were shot dead in the Lithuanian town of Žagarė.
• Paul Collette, the man who tried to assassinate Pierre Laval in August, was sentenced to death. The following day Philippe Pétain commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.
• German submarines U-377 and U-590 were commissioned.
• The Western film Honky Tonk starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner premiered at the Capitol Theatre in New York City.

  [October 3], 1941 (Friday)

• Hitler made a public speech at the Berlin Sportpalast, his first since the German invasion of the Soviet Union began. Hitler declared that Russia was "to a great extent" already destroyed and that Germany had the capability to "beat all possible enemies" no matter "how many billions they are going to spend," a remark that appeared to be directed at the United States.
• The Fadden government resigned in Australia after being defeated on a budget vote.
• The film noir The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor premiered in New York City.
• Born: Chubby Checker, singer and songwriter, in Spring Gully, South Carolina; Nicolae Șerban Tanașoca, Romanian historian and philologist.

  [October 4], 1941 (Saturday)

• The first jet engine built by the Allies arrives from England to an airport in the United States, to be modified for mass production by General Electric.
• The German submarine U-111 was sunk southwest of Tenerife by depth charges from the trawler HMS Lady Shirley.
• New Zealand Parliament passed a bill guaranteeing free medical care for all citizens.
• Norwegians were warned by their German occupiers that they would face starvation if anti-Nazi unrest continued.
• German submarines U-159 and U-252 were commissioned.
• "Piano Concerto in B Flat" by Freddy Martin and His Orchestra went to #1 on the Billboard singles charts.
• Born: Roy Blount, Jr., writer and humorist, in Indianapolis, Indiana; Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, in Little Rock, Arkansas; Anne Rice, author, in New Orleans, Louisiana

  [October 5], 1941 (Sunday)

• Hermann Hoth took over command of the 17th Army from Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel.
• The German 2nd Panzer Army was formed from the 2nd Panzer Group.
• Born: Eduardo Duhalde, President of Argentina, in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina
• Died: Louis Brandeis, 84, American lawyer and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1916–1939

  [October 6], 1941 (Monday)

• Paul von Kleist's forces reached Berdiansk on the Sea of Azov.
• The British cargo ship Thistlegorm was bombed and sunk in the Red Sea off Ras Muhammad by the Luftwaffe.
• The New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 3–1 to win the World Series four games to one.

  [October 7], 1941 (Tuesday)

• Army Group Centre encountered snowfall for the first time in the drive on Moscow.
• 7th and 10th Panzer Divisions completed the encirclement of Soviet forces at Vyazma.
• Joseph Stalin lifted the Soviet Union's ban on religion in order to boost morale in the country.
• John Curtin became 14th Prime Minister of Australia.
• Panamian President Arnulfo Arias fled the country after his government was toppled in a U.S.-backed coup.
• The Soviet mine storage hulk Blokshiv No. 1 was sunk by German artillery in Kronstadt harbour.

  [October 8], 1941 (Wednesday)

• The Battle of Changsha ended in Chinese victory.
• The Siege of Odessa began.
• The Germans captured Mariupol on the Sea of Azov and Oryol southwest of Moscow.
• U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent Stalin a short message stating that he was "confident that ways will be found to provide the material and supplies necessary to fight Hitler on all fronts, including your own. I want particularly to take this occasion to express my great confidence that your armies will ultimately prevail over Hitler and to assure you of our great determination to be of every possible material assistance."
• Near Hokitika, New Zealand, farmer Stanley Graham went on a shooting rampage after a dispute with a neighbour and killed seven people, including four police officers who were called in after the initial argument. The biggest manhunt in New Zealand history commenced.
• German submarines U-507 and U-657 were commissioned.
• Born: Jesse Jackson, civil rights activist and politician, in Greenville, South Carolina
• Died: Gus Kahn, 54, American lyricist; Valentine O'Hara, 66, Irish author

  [October 9], 1941 (Thursday)

• President Roosevelt asked Congress for immediate authority to arm American merchant ships. "We will not let Hitler prescribe the waters of the world which our ships may travel," the president said. "The American flag is not going to be driven from the seas either by his submarines, his airplanes or his threats."
• The Vichy Supreme Court indicted Léon Blum, Édouard Daladier, Guy La Chambre, Maurice Gamelin and Robert Jacomet for treason against their duties to the state during the years leading up to France's defeat in 1940. The defendants would go on trial beginning in February 1942 in proceedings that would be known as the Riom Trial.
• Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia Arango became President of Panama.
• German submarines U-334 and U-591 were commissioned.
• Born: Trent Lott, politician, in Grenada, Mississippi
• Died: Helen Morgan, 41, American singer and actress

  [October 10], 1941 (Friday)

• Georgy Zhukov was called from Leningrad to Moscow to take command of the capital's defense.
• Hitler issued Directive No. 37, Reorganizing forces in the Arctic.
• Walther von Reichenau promulgated the Severity Order, paving the way for the mass murder of Jews.
• The comedy film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break starring W. C. Fields was released.
• Born: Peter Coyote, actor and narrator, in New York City

  [October 11], 1941 (Saturday)

• President Roosevelt wrote to Winston Churchill requesting a gentleman's agreement to share information on atomic research. Churchill would write back in December accepting the request.
• The Soviet government announced the evacuation from Moscow of all women and children not engaged in war work.
• German submarine U-209 was commissioned.
• Born: Lester Bowie, jazz trumpet player and composer, in Frederick, Maryland
• Died: Edward Mark Best, 41 or 42, New Zealand police officer ; Charles Treat, 81, American major general

  [October 12], 1941 (Sunday)

• German forces launched an attack against the Soviet garrison on the island of Hiiumaa in the Baltic Sea. Despite being outnumbered and lacking in ammunition, the garrison would hold out for six days.
• The all-Spanish volunteer Blue Division was deployed on the Volkhov River near Leningrad.
• The Bloody Sunday massacre took place in Stanisławów Ghetto.

  [October 13], 1941 (Monday)

• The Battle at Borodino Field began on the Eastern Front.
• German forces captured Kalinin and Rzhev northwest of Moscow.
• Kaluga southwest of Moscow fell to the Germans.
• Born: Paul Simon, singer-songwriter, in Newark, New Jersey
• Died: David Devant, 73, English stage magician

  [October 14], 1941 (Tuesday)

• Ordnungspolizei Chief Kurt Daluege signed the first order for the deportation of Berlin's Jews to the occupied territories of the east.
• The United States and Argentina signed a trade agreement lowering duties on many imports to Argentina from the United States. The Americans were eager to get the deal signed in order to keep Argentina out of the economic sphere of the Axis.
• Italian Defence Chief Ugo Cavallero ordered that plans be completed for the occupation of Malta and that special units be trained to participate in the operation.
• SS-Obergruppenführer and Waffen-SS General Paul Hausser was wounded in action on the Eastern Front and lost the sight in his right eye. He would subsequently wear a black eyepatch that would become his trademark.
• Army Group Centre commander Fedor von Bock announces the Vyazma Encirclement was over.

  [October 15], 1941 (Wednesday)

• The Soviets withdrew from Odessa at night.
• The Germans reached Mozhaysk, west of Moscow.
• Most of the Soviet government evacuated Moscow, although Stalin remained in the capital.
• German authorities announced that any Jews found outside of ghetto walls in Poland would be executed on sight.
• The first Canadian built Fort ship, the Fort St. James, launched for use by Britain.
• German submarine U-88 was commissioned.
• The comic book characters Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones all made their first appearances in Pep Comics issue #22.

  [October 16], 1941 (Thursday)

• The Siege of Odessa ended in Pyrrhic Axis victory.
• The Jewish population of Lubny and neighbouring towns were ordered to report for relocation. The 1,900 Jews who obeyed the order were taken to an antitank trench outside the town and shot.
• The British corvette HMS Gladiolus was lost while escorting convoy SC 48. The cause of its loss is unknown.
• Due to pressure from the Germans, Philippe Pétain announced that he had condemned Blum, Daladier and Gamelin to life imprisonment, long before their trial could even begin. Pétain justified the action under Constitutional Act No. 7 dated January 27, 1941, even though it was illegal to apply it retroactively.
• German submarines U-160, U-592 and U-703 were commissioned.
• Born: Tim McCarver, baseball player and sportscaster, in Memphis, Tennessee
• Died: Sergei Efron, 48, Russian poet and military officer ; Harold Fowler McCormick, 69, American businessman