Afghanistan

All Axis nationals, about 200 Germans and Italians, are to be expelled.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The American merchant ship Lehigh is torpedoed and sunk by U-126 off the west coast of Africa. All 44 of the crew are rescued.
• The Norwegian steamer Rask (632t) is sunk by German bombing in St George's Channel with the loss of 8 crewmen.
• U-206 sinks the British steamer Baron Kelvin (3081t) in the Strait of Gibraltar 14 miles from Tarifa Point, Spain with the loss of 26 of her crew. 15 survivors are picked up by the Spanish steamer Urola and 1 by the British destroyer Duncan.
• U-204 sinks the British tanker Inverlee (9158t) about 30 miles west-southwest of Cape Spartel, Morocco with the loss of 21 crewmen. 22 survivors are picked up by various British ships in the area. The u-boat is later sunk in the Strait of Gibraltar by the British sloop Rochester and the corvette Mallow. The entire crew of 46 are lost.

Eastern Front

A 'state of siege' is declared in Moscow. Stalin announces that he is remaining in Moscow, although most of the government has left, and that the city will be defended with every effort. Harsh punishments are to be imposed on looters and defeatists. Work is proceding at a hectic pace on 3 fixed defense lines around the city.

Siberian and Far Eastern forces begin arriving on the front against Germany. Moscow apparently feels able to rush troops form the east in part because of information from Soviet spy Richard Sorge in Tokyo that Japan will remain neutral in the German-Russian war. In the south the German advance along the coast of the Sea of Azov reaches Taganrog, near Rostov.

A Finnish troop train passes through the scene of an earlier explosion which wrecked one train, tearing up the rails and embankment on 19 October 1941.

Finnish Troop Train

The fighting in the Valdai Hills bogs down as the 3rd SS Motorized Division Totenkopf and the 30th Infantry Division stalls in the face of determined Soviet resistance.

Vereya falls to the VII Corps as the Soviets abandon the town. The XLIII Corps captures Lichvin after a costly battle. Group Vatutin is disbanded and amalgamated with the 31st Army.

A flood of Russian armored cars moves toward the front on 19 October 1941.

Russian Armored Cars

The LIV Corps continues to attack on the Perekop isthmus while the 1st Panzer Group enters the suburbs of Stalino and fights its way into the town, forcing the 18th Army back.