Battle of the Atlantic

• The armed US freighter Pink Star is sunk by U-552 en route to Iceland with a cargo of food.
• U-372 sinks the British steamer Baron Pentland (3410t), straggling behind Convoy SC-42 after being damaged from a torpedo on the 10th, northeast of Cape Farewell with the loss of 2 crew members. 39 survivors are picked up by the Canadian corvette Orillia.
• The British steamer Bradglen (4741t) sinks on a mine off Barrow Deep with the loss of 7 of her crew.
• U-74 sinks the Canadian corvette Levis, which is escorting Convoy SC-44, about 120 miles east of Cape Farewell with the loss of 18 crewmen. 40 survivors are rescued by the corvettes Mayflower and Agassiz.

  The Canadian Corvette Lévis Sinking After Being Torpedoed

• During the night the Italian submarine Scire launches explosive boats in the harbor at Gibraltar. The British oil depot ship Fiona Shell (2444t) and the oiler Denbydale (8145t) are sunk and the steamer Durham is badly damaged. 1 crewman from the Fiona Shell is lost.

Eastern Front

Kiev, the third largest city in Russia, finally falls to the Germans after more than 40 days of fighting. The Soviet losses in this battle have probably been in excess of 500,000 men. They have also lost 2,500 guns and 1,000 tanks. The Germans have lost about 100,000. In addition, the Russians have left mines everywhere and much of the city in ruins.

A party of German troops assaulting a Russian position on the outskirts of the Kiev prior to their entry into the city.

Germans Assaulting Russian Position

German soldiers in one of the city's main thoroughfares watching a burning building.

Germans Soldiers Wathcing a Burning Building

Fighting at Uritsk rages unabated. The Germans fight in the suburbs of Uritsk but can not break through the Soviet positions. The 55th Army successfully stabilizes its front at Pulkovo, Kuzmino and Portolovo, containing each German assault. Followint the 6th Panzer, the 1st Panzer and the 36th Motorized Division together with the headquarters of the XLI Panzer Corps leaves the Leningrad sector.

With the movement of German armor away from Leningrad, the first battle for the city drew to a close. Zhukov had displayed for the first time against Army Group North his ability to mount a ferocious defense when all seemed lost. Had the ineffective leadership of Voroshilov continued, Leningrad would undoubtedly have fallen to the Ostheer. Such a victory would have released additional German forces for the thrust east and had a serious impact upon the ability of the Soviet command to mount an effective defence of the capital.

Heavy fighting rages at Romny as the Soviets hit the XXIV Panzer Corps. There is heavy fighting in Kiev as the 6th Army pounds the remnants of the 37th Army. German attacks isolate the Soviet forces inside the city. To the south, the 11th Army advances steadily from Berislav.

Mediterranean

An Italian raiding party landed from the submarine Sciré sinks 30,000 tons of Allied shipping in Gibraltar harbor.

Yugoslavia, Resistance

Tito and Mihajlovic meet to discuss resistance but they quarrel. Mihajlovich sees Tito as an anti-Royalist troublemaker who wants to muscle in on the Serbian territory that Mihajlovich regards as his own preserve. Tito in turn see Mihajlovich as a bourgeois representative of an already discredited officer corps. They meet again on October 26 but cannot resolve their differences. Their supporters soon begin fighting.