October 10th, 1941 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Minelayer HMS Ariadne laid down.
Aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable commissioned.
GERMANY: U-199 laid down.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet General Georgii Zhukov arrives in Moscow from Leningrad where he is the Commander in Chief of the front. He will assume command of the defence of Moscow.
Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau, the C-in-C of the German Sixth Army today told his men:
"In the east, the soldier is not merely a fighter according to the rules of war, but also the bearer of an inexorable national idea and the Avenger of all bestialities inflicted upon the German people and its racial kin. Therefore the soldier must always have a full understanding for the necessity of a severe but just atonement on Jewish subhumanity."
Hitler likes the wording so much that he is going to have it issued as a model for other generals on the eastern front.
German Heeresgruppe Süd (GFM Gerd von Rundstedt) ends the battle of encirclement along the Sea of Azov and takes 100,000 prisoners. Despite the withdrawal, the Soviet 3rd and 50th Armies are once again surrounded in the Bryansk area. This time the encirclement would hold. The trapped soldiers would fight on for two more weeks, but in the end, only 30,000 of the 600,000 would escape.
The German Fourth Army, straddling the Minsk-Moscow highway, begins its advance on Moscow after a week of regrouping. All of Army Group Center is now moving in on Moscow. In Moscow, orders are given to prepare 1,119 factories, schools and public buildings for demolition before the Germans can capture them.
In the Ukraine, the Soviet 9th and 18th Armies fight their way out of the German encirclement and take up defensive positions around Stalino.
(Jack McKillop, Russ Folsom and Michael F. Yaklich)
MALAYA: No. 488 Squadron, RNZAF, arrives at RAF Kallang, Singapore, and is equipped with Brewster Buffalo Mk. Is to provide defense for the British colony.
CANADA:
Trawler HMS Magdalen laid down Midland, Ontario.
Minesweepers HMCS Ungava, Quinte and Clayoquot departed Esquimalt for Halifax.
U.S.A.: The motion picture "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break" is released today. Directed by Edward Cline, this comedy stars W.C. Fields (in his last starring film) and Franklin Pangborn. The plot has Fields attempting to sell his life story to Hollywood and on his way there, he runs into numerous crazy situations that are hilarious.
Tank production in Detroit, Michigan, is hampered by an inter-union struggle as CIO members refuse to handle parts made by AFL workers.
The USN decrees that all fleet aircraft are painted flat light grey with all surfaces viewed from above to be painted flat blue grey.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-126 sank SS Nailsea Manor in Convoy OS-7.
U-331 damaged HM LCT-18.
U-331 was attacked by 3 fighter aircraft and one of its gunners died [Bootsmann Hans Gerstenich].