Eastern Front

In the Moscow sector there is heavy fighting near Mozhaysk and at Malayaroslavets. The Germans advance to within 65 miles of the city. The Germans also win a victory at Borodino 60 miles from Moscow. The Russians throw all available forces into the fight. Up to this date the Russians have lost 600,000 square miles of territory, with a population of 65 million. According to German sources, only partly denied, the Russians have lost 3,200,000 prisoners of war besides an unknown number of dead, 19,000 tanks, 28,000 guns and 14,600 aircraft. Some of this material has been destroyed, some captured by the enemy. And still, thanks to the fresh forces brought in from beyond the Urals and the tanks they are feverishly turning out from factories in Moscow and from those transported to the other side of the Urals (plus the 'scorched earth' policy in front of the invader), the Soviet commanders are able to organize counterattacks everywhere. The T-34 and other heavy Soviet tanks inflict heavy losses on the enemy. Their wide tracks prevent them from sinking in the mud, unlike their German counterparts who often get stuck.

Stalin announces a state of siege in Moscow and that he will remain there to lead the defense. In Moscow 500,000 people, men and women, are mobilized and in record time construct a formidable ring of fortifications, digging 5,000 miles of trenches and anti-tank ditches, putting up 185 miles of barbed wire and making barriers out of felled trees.

In the south the German attacks also make progress capturing Donetsk (also known as Stalino)./

NORTHERN SECTOR

The Soviets prepare to launch the second Sinyavino Operation to break the German stranglehold on Leningrad. The Leningrad Front has concentrated 8 rifle divisions among the 55th Army and the Neva Group, a force of 63,000 soldiers, 475 artillery pieces and 97 tanks. These men are to push east to link up with Kulik's 54th Army near Sinyavino. The Germans have 54,000 men facing the attack in strongly established positions.

Elements of the V Corps, holding the southern flank of the 9th Army, cross the Ruza River. Continuing their attacks on the Mozhaisk axis, German forces capture Borovsk, the Russians falling back upon Naro-Fominsk where ther 43rd Army is in defensive positions. Dorohov becomes a focal point of the Russian resistance on the road to the capital. Units of the 50th Rifle Division and the 20th and 22nd Tank Brigades defend the settlement.

Some 13,000 men of the battered 3rd Amry break out of their encirclement at Dmitrov Lgovsky and rejoin the combat line near Ponyri.

Heavy fighting rages in Stalino as the 1st SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Division fights its way through the city.

France, Resistance

The German commander in Nantes, Lt-Col Hotz, is shot by resistance workers. The next day 50 hostages are shot in reprisal. There is a similar incident similarly punished in Bordeaux on October 22.

Japan, Home Front

Gen Tojo reports to the War Office, 'Japan stands at the crossroads of its rise or fall.'

Mediterranean

During the night the Italian torpedo boats Aldebaran and Altair sink off Athens in a minefield laid by the submarine Rorqual.

Occupied Yugoslavia

German Troops Assemble Serbian Civilians for Execution Outside of Kragujevac.

A German Wehrmacht soldier points to the body of a Serbian civilian from Kragujevac that is still alive after mass executions that needs to be finished off.

German Soldier Points to a Civilian Still Alive