Air Operations, Europe

There is a British air raid on Naples. Five waves of bombers drop hundreds of incendiaries and high explosive bombs. There is tremendous damage and many casualties.

Battle of the Atlantic

• The Swedish steamer Hilda (1237t) is sunk by British bombing 5 miles west of Ymuiden.
• In attacks on Convoy SL-89 U-82 sinks the British steamers Serbino (4099t) and Treverbyn (5218t) west of Fastnet. 14 crewmen are lost on the Serbino, 51 survivors are picked up by the British corvette Asphodel. All 46 of the crew of the Treverbyn are lost.

Eastern Front

Zhukov takes command of the Moscow garrison.

Russian men and women rescue their humble belongings from their burning homes, said to have been set on fire by the Russians, part of a scorched-earth policy, in a Leningrad suburb on 21 October 1941.

Russians Attempt to Rescue Their Belongings

The 6th Army fights its way into the western outskirts of Kharkov but becomes involved in bitter fighting with the 21st and 38th Armies.

Mediterranean

2 cruisers and 2 destroyers arrive in Malta to add their efforts to the threat which Malta poses to the Axis supply lines to Africa. For the next few weeks, as the British prepare for a new offensive in North Africa, an increasing portion of the Axis supplies will be lost.

HMS Lance arrives in Malta together with other units of Force K on 21 October 1941.

Force K Arrives in Malta

Occupied Yugoslavia

About 6,000 Serbians from the town of Kragujevac are murdered by the Germans in reprisal for partisan attacks on the occupying army. Several hundred children are among the victims