Battle of the Atlantic

• U-553 sinks the British steamer Silvercedar (4354t) and the Norwegian steamer Ila (1583t) from Convoy SC-48 west of Ireland. 21 crewmen are lost from the British ship, 26 survivor are picked up by the British corvette Mimosa. 14 are lost from the Norwegian ship, 7 survivors are picked up by the Mimosa and the Canadian corvette Baddeck. The attacks on this convoy by u-boats will continue for several days.
• U-558 sinks the Canadian steamer Vancouver Island (9472t) west of Ireland with the loss of the entire crew of 105.

Eastern Front

The Germans take Kalinin, 160 km northwest of Moscow.

Heavy fighting rages around Kalinin as the 29th Army launches repeated counterattacks. The fighting rages until October 29. Borovsk falls as the 43rd Army is pushed out of the town.

Resistance in the Vyazma pocket ends, 650,000 prisoners, 1,200 tanks and 5,400 artillery pieces falling to the Germans. The West Front has been virtually annihilated during the battle, 55 divisions being badly mauled or destroyed.

The Soviets begin to evacuate their rearguard from Odessa. Since the beginning of the siege, the Red Army has evacuated 86,000 men to the Crimea and during the night of October 15-16 take out another 35,000.

On the main battlefront, the German 6th Army captures Krasnoploye. While the Germans continue to make limited progress, the Southwest Front attempts to straighten its line and create a front reserve. Lopatin's 37th Army is raised around voroshilovgrad from these units. The Stavka orders the 56th Army to protect the approaches to Rostov. The Southwest Front orders its forces to fall back to a line Kastornoye-Stary Oskol-Novy Oskol-Vayluki-Kupyansk-Liman by the endo of October.

Occupied Soviet Union

SS mobile extermination squad, Einsatzgruppe A, reports that it has shot 125,000 Jews and 5,000 Russians.

Occupied Poland

The German authorities decree that any Jews found outside the ghettos will be executed automatically.