At a rally at the Sportpalast in Berlin, Germany, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler announced to the crowd that the attack on Moscow had begun and “The enemy has been broken and will never rise again.” Adolf Hitler announced during a rally that the Germans had captured 2,500,000 Soviet prisoners of war, destroyed or captured 22,000 guns, destroyed or captured 18,000 tanks, destroyed 14,500 aircraft, and since 1939 had expanded Germany by an area four times as large as Britain. Hitler declared that Russia was “to a great extent” already destroyed and that Germany had the capability to “beat all possible enemies” no matter “how many billions they are going to spend,” a remark that appeared to be directed at the United States.
In Russia, Panzergruppe 2 of the German Armeeguppe Mitte captured Orel 220 miles south-southwest of the Soviet capital in Moscow. Elsewhere, German troops attempted to encircle the Soviet Bryansk Front. German troops capture Tsarskoe Selo, outside Leningrad.
On the ground, Operation Typhoon is going very well, helped immeasurably by the Luftwaffe’s dominance. Hermann Hoth’s Panzer Group 3 reaches the Dnepr River at Kholm-Zhirkovskii and seizes two bridges intact. However, all this activity is putting a real strain on the Germans’ equipment. OKH Chief of Staff General Halder notes in his daily war diary:
“On Hoth’s northern wing there are complaints about the deficient mobility of 1st Panzer Division. Small wonder, for the division comes straight from the battle of Leningrad, without a pause for rest and refitting. It will probably be the same story with Nineteenth and Twentieth Panzer Divisions.”
The German forces are still strong despite these complaints. Hoth’s panzers shrug off a weak counterattack south of the town by Soviet Group Boldin. However, the effects of Field Marshal von Leeb’s decision to use his panzers in a pointless attack on Leningrad just before shifting them south to the Moscow front as ordered is having its foreseeable effect on the far more important operations on the road to the Soviet capital.
General Guderian’s Panzer Group 2 (the 4th Armored Division of the 24th Motorized Corps) captures Orel, 120 miles off the original front and only 220 miles south-southwest of Moscow. In retrospect, the capture of Orel can be seen as Guderian’s greatest and longest-lasting triumph during TYPHOON, though nobody can know that now, of course. The jaws of another gigantic Wehrmacht pincer threaten to close around the Soviet Bryansk Front (3rd, 13th and 50th Armies under the command of General Andrey Yeremenko/ Eremenko), which would blow a hole in the Soviet defenses in front of Moscow. The German advance is so swift and unexpected that the 10th Panzer Division (General Fischer) captures Red Army columns moving west from the vicinity of Moscow at Mozaisk, which falls.
Operation TYPHOON is all going exactly as the Germans hoped. It is going so well, in fact, that Adolf Hitler makes a radio address from the Berlin Sportpalast to the people of the Reich declaring “… that this enemy [the Soviet Union] is already broken and will never rise again.” He adds that the Soviet Union was “to a great extent” already destroyed and that Germany had the capability to “beat all possible enemies” no matter “how many billions they are going to spend.” This comment suggests that Hitler has very good sources of information in high Allied circles because the Moscow Conference just ended on the 1st at which the United States pledged a billion dollars in aid — and it is quite a coincidence for Hitler to mention that sum. In any event, Hitler certain has grounds for confidence. The Soviet defense is weak and uncoordinated. However, there is still a lot of ground to cover before the actual attack on Moscow can start, so time is of the essence before the weather changes.
While the Luftwaffe maintains clear aerial supremacy over the Soviet Air Force, one of the informal rules that German fighter pilots like to follow is to not stray too far past the front. While this is to some degree because their main purpose in the overall scheme things is to support the ground troops, around which the entire Luftwaffe has been developed, there is a deeper impulse at work. Quite simply, German pilots do not want to be shot down and captured. Unlike England, where Luftwaffe airmen can be assured of fairly correct treatment, the Soviet Union is not known for treating downed airmen fairly well. In fact, this is simply reciprocity for how Soviet prisoners are treated by the Germans. It is a savage war and especially savage if you are taken as a prisoner.
On 3 October 1941, though, the German offensive in the middle of the Eastern Front, Operation TYPHOON, is rolling toward Moscow and the Luftwaffe decides to establish aerial supremacy in that direction. So, in the morning, the German pilots of JG 51 and JG 54 engage in fierce battles around the Soviet capital. As usual, the Luftwaffe pilots do quite well and make several claims against the Red Air Force. Oblt. Erbo Graf von Kageneck of 9./JG 27, for instance, shoots down an I-18 fighter north of Vyazma for his 57th victory.
The day is not a complete success for the Luftwaffe, however. Oberfeldwebel (Staff Sergeant) Heinrich Hoffmann, an ace (“experte”) with 63 victories who has just moved south with his group from the Leningrad Front to support Operation TYPHOON, goes missing. It is assumed that he perishes in a crash, but if not, he may wind up wishing that he had. There is conjecture that Soviet 233 IAP’s (233rd Fighter Aviation Regiment) Starshiy Leytenant Sergeyev is the one to shoot him down at Shatalovo, Chernsky District, Tula Oblast (south-southwest of Moscow) on 19 October 1941, the 36th officer or soldier of the Wehrmacht so honored. south of Moscow), but this is just conjecture based upon a post-war review of loss claims. Hoffmann in his Messerschmitt Bf 109F-2 Werknummer (factory number) 12876 just disappears after engaging with several Soviet Il-2s. The loss is deeply felt, and Hoffmann posthumously is awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub) on 19 October 1941. He thus becomes the 36th officer or soldier of the Wehrmacht so honored, and also the first made posthumously and the first made to any non-commissioned officer.
Hoffmann, obviously, was a highly valued pilot. He had the distinction of being “ace in a day” twice, just like Chuck Yeager would do for the USAAF in 1944. Of more immediate concern to his fellow pilots, though, is that Hoffmann just vanishes and is never heard from again. Pilots notice these things about their comrades. This incident reinforces the latent fear that all German pilots have about operating over enemy territory. The lesson from this and many similar incidents is clear: no matter how tempting it may be to seek out prey behind enemy lines, don’t do it. Having your plane disabled there is an almost certain death sentence unless you somehow manage to sneak back to German lines. Life is short, and it becomes a whole lot shorter if the Soviets capture you.
The Nazi SS kills all elderly Jewish men of Kremenchug, Ukraine.
Himmler tours Kiev. It is not known whether Himmler included Babi Yar on his tour.
German Propaganda Minister Joseph Göbbels, announces that 150,000 mothers have been evacuated to safer parts of Germany.
The number of deaths in motor vehicle accidents in Britain during this second year of war had increased by 65% when compared to pre-war figures.
The official copy of the British Military Application of Uranium Detonation (MAUD) Committee Report, written by James Chadwick, reached Vannevar Bush.
A British Walrus reconnaissance aircraft from British cruiser HMS Kenya spotted German supply ship Klara 300 miles northeast of the Azores islands. HMS Kenya closed in and sank Klara, but did not stop to pick up survivors due to the presence of German submarine U-129.
German bombers attacked and damaged British destroyer HMS Vivacious in the North Sea.
A seventh Parisian synagogue, where a bomb had been planted yesterday, but the fuse had failed, is blown up “for safety reasons”, by the Germans.
Mahatma Gandhi calls upon all the subjects of the British Raj to start a campaign of passive resistance.
RAF Bomber Command, Day of 3 October 1941
6 Blenheims bombed a power-station near Ostend without loss.
RAF Bomber Command, Night of 3/4 October 1941
103 aircraft carried out small raids on Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brest. The only casualty was a Stirling shot down over England by an Intruder.
Aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable arrived in the Clyde to work up.
Light cruiser HMS Trinidad was commissioned at Plymouth.
Destroyer HMS Vivacious was damaged by German bombing in the North Sea. The destroyer’s steering engine was damaged. Destroyer Vivacious was repaired at Immingham completing in November.
Destroyer HMS Mendip, escorting convoy FS.615, drove off a German motor torpedo boat attack.
Corvette HMS Peony proceeded to Akrotiri Bay, Cyprus, to act as a Q ship against submarines.
German steamer Yalova (3750grt), which had been previously damaged by submarine HMS Tetrarch on 28 September, was sunk by submarine HMS Talisman south of Piraeus.
Dutch submarine HNLMS O.21 sank Vichy French steamer Oued Yquem (1369grt) off Sardinia, in 40-58N, 9-59E.
Submarine HMS Perseus made an unsuccessful attack on a steamer off Benghazi.
Submarine HMS Utmost arrived at Malta after patrol north of Messina.
German supply ship Klara (ex-Kota Pinang, 7277grt) was sighted north of the Azores by light cruiser HMS Kenya’s Walrus aircraft in 42-26N, 24-30W. The German ship was intercepted and sunk by the cruiser. Presence of submarine U-129 with the supply ship made stopping for survivors inadvisable. Four boatloads of survivors were left in company of the submarine, which picked up one hundred and nineteen survivors. The survivors were transferred to a Spanish tug on the 6th.
Convoy OS.8 departed Liverpool, escorted by sloop HMS Fleetwood. The sloop was detached off Freetown on the 25th. On 4 October, sloops HMS Black Swan and HMS Sandwich and naval trawler HMS Burra joined the convoy. Trawler Burra was detached on the 9th, sloop Sandwich on the 20th, and sloop Black Swan on the 25th. On the 5th, sloop HMS Scarborough joined the escort and was detached on the 21st. Corvettes HMS Armeria, HMS Aster, HMS Cyclamen, and HMS Starwort joined the escort on the 20th and escorted the convoy into Freetown, arriving on the 26th.
President Roosevelt announced at his press conference in Washington today that he had called a conference of Senate leaders for Tuesday to discuss Neutrality Act changes. His callers included Norman H. Davis, chairman of the Red Cross; William Allen White and Joseph E. Davies. He broadcast an address on the community chest program and left for New York.
The Senate and the House were in recess.
The Senate defense investigation committee heard John M. Carmody, Federal Works Administrator, on housing. The House Banking and Currency Committee heard Robert P. Patterson, Under-Secretary of War, on the Price Control Bill.
Making their first joint broadcast, President Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie called on the American people last night to give the fullest possible support to this year’s campaign of the Community Mobilization for Human Needs as an expression of their determination to safeguard and perpetuate the democratic system. The addresses were heard as part of a radio program between 10:30 and 11 PM over 350 stations of the combined CBS, NBC and Mutual networks. The broadcast opened the drive of 9,000 voluntary social agencies, united in 597 community chests throughout the country, to raise $95,000,000 for welfare work in 1942. Speaking from the White House, President Roosevelt asked the public to “give more than ever before” on the ground that in this emergency, when a world “threat” exists to the future of the American people, the strengthening of the well-being of the civilian population is quite as important to security as the building up of the Army and Navy.
Charles A. Lindbergh tonight told a rally sponsored by the America First Committee that President Roosevelt was leading the United States along a road which, “not many steps ahead,” might involve the suspension of the Congressional elections in 1942. Speaking in Gospel Tabernacle, in an address nationally broadcast over a network of the National Broadcasting Company, Mr. Lindbergh charged that the country already was in fact “governed by one man who has consistently evaded the checks and balances on which representative government depends — a man who is drawing more and more dictatorial powers into his own hands… We must face the fact that you and I and our generation have lost our American heritage,” he said, adding that freedom of speech and freedom of assembly lay under a threat which war would carry to its completion. If the time comes when we can no longer meet face to face as free men in a free country, we will meet together at the elections next year and by our vote clasp hands though we be a thousand miles apart. But what if there are no elections next year? Such a condition may not be many steps ahead on the road our President is taking us. I can only say that there is still, deep within this country, the spirit that built America; and on that, in the last analysis, we must rely. That spirit burns in men and women like you here tonight and that spirit is the strength and hope of our nation.”
President Roosevelt revealed today that he had instructed W. Averell Harriman, head of the United States delegation to the Moscow tripartite conference, to take up with the Stalin government the question of religious freedom in the Soviet Union.
The national defense mediation board announced tonight that an agreement has been reached for settlement of a dispute involving 27,000 workers at the San Diego, California, plant of the Consolidated Aircraft Corp. It is subject to ratification by the plant’s local union.
The first case in which the Office of Production Management is alleged to have been a party to coercion and a conspiracy with the American Federation of Labor to grant to the federation’s building trade unions a monopoly of defense construction in violation of the antitrust laws is under investigation by Thurman Arnold, special assistant attorney general.
The California C.I.O. council today strongly endorsed the administration’s foreign policy, an action interpreted as indicating the council’s support may lie with Philip Murray, national C.I.O. president, in event his reelection is contested by John L. Lewis. The convention also heard Governor Culbert L. Olson call for elimination of “racketeers” from the labor movement and hint that he may soon act in the case of three former maritime union leaders now serving penitentiary terms on conviction of murder. The council also pledged its support to Harry Bridges, California C.I.O. leader, in his battle to escape deportation as an undesirable alien.
Territory of Hawaii Governor Joseph Poindexter today signed the controversial M-day bill, giving him wide executive powers over the Hawaiian Islands in event of declaration of a military emergency. The bill, passed by the territorial legislature, gives the governor almost unlimited control over civilian life In the islands in case of war. The army and navy strongly backed the measure.
The U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull congratulates the Finnish Ambassador Hjalmar Procope for the reconquest of Karelia, but states that continuing the offensive is short-sighted.
Declaring that America was “faced with war under circumstances predicting the severest war test the nation has ever faced,” Lieut. Gen. Hugh A. Drum, commanding, told the officers of his First Army here today that “force, and superior force only, will save us in this national crisis.”
The motion picture “The Maltese Falcon” opens at the Strand Theater in New York City. Directed by John Huston, his first directorial role, this film-noir crime drama, based on a Dashiell Hammett novel, stars Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Barton MacLane and Elisha Cook Jr.; Walter Huston appears in an uncredited role. The plot has San Franciso private detective Sam Spade (Bogart) trying to find the person who murdered his partner. Suspects are his client Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet and his gunsel Wilmer (Elisha Cook, Jr. who played “Ice Pick” in the “Magnum, P.I.” TV series). And of course, there is the elusive “Maltese Falcon” they are all trying to find. The film is nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture (it loses to “How Green Was My Valley”), Best Supporting Actor (Greenstreet) and Best Writing (Huston). The American Film Institute rates this film as Number 23 on the list of the “100 Greatest Movies.”
Major League Baseball:
The scheduled game 3 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field was postponed due to rain. The game will be made up tomorrow.
Sikorsky S-42A flying boat, msn 4206, registered NC15376 by the U.S. airline Pan American Airways and named “Dominican Clipper,” crashes at San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 1748 hours local. This is Pan Am Flight 203 from Miami, Florida, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, carrying nine passengers and a crew of six; two of the passengers are killed. Following the approach, the aircraft contacted the water in an unduly nose-low attitude while moving sideways relative to the water. Almost immediately after first contact with the water, the aircraft swerved violently to the right and broke into several major sections. The blame is placed on the captain for failure to exercise requisite caution and skill in landing. A contributing factor is the smooth surface of the water, which rendered difficult, the captain’s depth perception as well as the exact determination of any lateral movement of the aircraft.
Peru and Ecuador have agreed upon establishment of a neutral zone in the disputed border area, it was announced officially tonight. The agreement was reached at Talara, Peru, between the Peruvian and Ecuadorian military commands and representatives of the United States, Argentina. and Brazil.
Mohandas Gandhi suggests using passive resistance techniques against the British. While hardly a supporter of the Axis, Gandhi wishes to hamper the British war effort in order to convince them to leave their colonial empire in India. This does not have immediate effects, but will after the war.
Japan’s drive against two Chinese group armies in North Honan Province is gaining additional momentum and Japanese forces are expected to enter Chengchow, strategic junction point of the north-south Peiping-Hankow and east-west Lung-hai railways, during today, according to Japanese press dispatches from the front. The Japanese Domei news agency reported late yesterday that the Japanese were nearing Chengchow and that two Japanese columns were encircling Chinese forces on the west bank of the New Yellow River fifteen miles north of the city. Many planes were supporting the Japanese land forces and bombers were “blasting Chinese troop encampments and supply dumps.” Foreign military attachés, however, discounted the importance of the offensive and believed it was merely another move similar to the recent temporary occupation of Changsha, to the southward in Hunan Province — designed for political effect, to scatter Chinese troop concentrations, and to season untrained Japanese troops from the great Japanese central military reservoir in Hankow.
The British Malayan radio broadcast a report tonight that the Japanese had “made a new grab in Indo-China,” seizing all warehouses, buildings and stores in the dock area of Saigon, the French colony’s big southern port. The British station said French authorities last week rejected the Japanese demand for these facilities, all owned by leading French concerns, but later bowed when the Japanese served a virtual ultimatum. The Japanese are expected to use the warehouses to store munitions and military equipment, the broadcast said. Saigon would be a logical jumping off place for any Japanese sea thrust against Britain’s naval bastion at Singapore.
Japanese mining, trade and banking interests in British Malaya worth millions of dollars have virtually ceased to exist, at least temporarily, as a result of British freezing of Japanese assets on top of earlier war restrictions and the Chinese boycott.
Japanese forces capable of a “full dress campaign” and supported by aerial units began grand maneuvers in occupied southern Indo-China today as the rainy season ended. Censorship forbade mention of the location of the maneuvers and details of the size and equipment of the forces, but it was learned reliably that diplomatic pressure on neighboring Thailand continued. Many observers believed the zero hour for Southeast Asia was at hand. Troops, tanks and munition trucks were on the move. The number of Japanese “tourists” in Bangkok, Thai capital, now totals 600, reliable sources said. Japanese quarters here frankly stated that an agreement with Thailand was one of the most important objectives In Japan’s southern march. “The hope is that it can be achieved peaceably,” they said.
The Australian Labour Party leader, John Curtin, aged 56, is Australia’s new prime minister following the fall of the Country Party government. The Fadden government resigned in Australia after being defeated on a budget vote. The Fadden coalition government fell after being defeated in the House of Representatives when the two Independent members, Arthur Coles and Alex Wilson, voted with the Labour opposition to beat the government by 36 votes to 33. Fadden advised the Governor-General Lord Gowrie that Labour leader John Curtin should be commissioned as prime minister. The new prime minister is fully committed to the prosecution of the war against the Axis, but he has in the past given greater weight to the threat from Japanese imperialism and less to the Middle East where the Australian forces are mostly concentrated.
Gerow advises Marshall that the Philippine reinforcements had changed “the entire picture in the Asiatic area.”
Army Air Corps Major General Brereton is summoned to the War Department.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 126.06 (-0.09)
Born:
Chubby Checker [as Ernest Evans], American singer-songwriter (“The Twist”; “Limbo Rock”), in Spring Gully, South Carolina.
Infante Alfonso of Spain, younger brother of future King Juan Carlos, and gun accident victim, in Rome, Italy (d. 1956).
Nicolae Șerban Tanașoca, Romanian historian and philologist (d. 2017).
Terry Kosens, NFL safety (Minnesota Vikings), in New York, New York (d. 2004).
Naval Construction:
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-635 is laid down by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg (werk 611).
The U.S. Navy 77-foot Elco patrol motor torpedo boat USS PT-58 is launched by the Electric Launch Company Ltd. (Elco), (Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S.A.). She is transferred to the Royal Navy on completion and commissions as the HMS MTB 316.
The Royal Navy Vosper 72-foot motor torpedo boat HMS MTB 73 is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is F A Warner, RNVR.
The Royal Navy Fiji-class (Crown Colony-class) light cruiser HMS Trinidad (46) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Captain Leslie Swain Saunders, RN.
