October 3rd, 1941 (FRIDAY)
FRANCE: Paris: A seventh synagogue, where a bomb had been planted yesterday, but the fuse had failed, is blown up "for safety reasons", by the Germans.GERMANY: Berlin: Propaganda minister Joseph Göbbels, announces that 150,000 mothers have been evacuated to safer parts of Germany.
Hitler tells a rally that Russia has been crushed "and will never rise again." "For the last forty-eight hours an operation of gigantic proportions is again in progress, which will help to smash the enemy in the East. I am talking to you on behalf of millions who are at this moment fighting and want to ask the German people at home to take upon themselves, in addition to other sacrifices, that of Winter Help this year."
"For the last forty-eight hours an operation of gigantic proportions is again in progress, which will help to smash the enemy in the East. I am talking to you on behalf of millions who are at this moment fighting and want to ask the German people at home to take upon themselves, in addition to other sacrifices, that of Winter Help this year."
U-635 laid down.
U.S.S.R.: German troops capture Tsarskoe Selo, outside Leningrad, and units of Heeresgruppe Mitte capture the industrial centre of Orel, south-southwest of Moscow.
INDIA: Mahatma Ghandi calls upon all the subjects of the British Raj to start a campaign of passive resistance.
AUSTRALIA: Canberra: The Labour leader, John Curtin, aged 56, is Australia's new prime minister following the fall of the Country Party government. The Fadden coalition government fell after being defeated in the House of Representatives when the two Independent members, Arthur Coles and Alex Wilson, voted with the Labour opposition to beat the government by 36 votes to 33. Fadden advised the Governor-General Lord Gowrie that Labour leader John Curtin should be commissioned as prime minister.
The new prime minister is fully committed to the prosecution of the war against the Axis, but he has in the past given greater weight to the threat from Japanese imperialism and less to the Middle East where the Australian forces are mostly concentrated. (Daniel Ross)
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Nipigon joined Sydney Force.
U.S.A.: The US Secretary of State Cordell Hull congratulates the Finnish Ambassador Hjalmar Procope for the reconquest of Karelia, but states that continuing the offensive is short-sighted.
The motion picture "The Maltese Falcon" opens at the Strand Theater in New York City.
Directed by John Huston, his first directorial role, this film-noir crime drama, based on a Dashiell Hammett novel, stars Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Barton MacLane and Elisha Cook Jr.; Walter Huston appears in an uncredited role. The plot has San Franciso private detective Sam Spade (Bogart) trying to find the person who murdered his partner. Suspects are his client Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet and his gunsel Wilmer (Elisha Cook, Jr. who played "Ice Pick" in the "Magnum, P.I." TV series). And of course, there is the elusive "Maltese Falcon" they are all trying to find. The film is nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture (it loses to "How Green Was My Valley"), Best Supporting Actor (Greenstreet) and Best Writing (Huston). The American Film Institute rates this film as Number 23 on the list of the "100 Greatest Movies."
Gerow
advises Marshall that the Philippine reinforcements had changed “the entire
picture in the Asiatic area."
Brereton summonsed to the War Department. (Marc James Small)
PUERTO RICO: Sikorsky S-42A flying boat, msn 4206, registered NC15376 by the U.S. airline Pan American Airways and named “Dominican Clipper,” crashes at San Juan at 1748 hours local. This is Pan Am Flight 203 from Miami, Florida, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, carrying nine passengers and a crew of six; two of the passengers are killed. Following the approach, the aircraft contacted the water in an unduly nose-low attitude while moving sideways relative to the water. Almost immediately after first contact with the water, the aircraft swerved violently to the right and broke into several major sections. The blame is placed on the captain for failure to exercise requisite caution and skill in landing. A contributing factor is the smooth surface of the water, which rendered difficult, the captain's depth perception as well as the exact determination of any lateral movement of the aircraft.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-129 was accompanying the German support ship Kota Pinang when the latter was sunk on this day by the British cruiser HMS Kenya. The U-boat took on all 119 survivors and three days later put them ashore in Spain.