During the recently concluded Moscow Conference, which took place between 29 September and 1 October 1941, the United States and Great Britain promised substantial Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union (400 aircraft, 500 tanks and 10,000 trucks a month in addition to other supplies, with the agreement to run until June 1942). On 8 October 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt confirms this agreement in a message to Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin:
“Harry Hopkins has told me in great detail of his encouraging and satisfactory visits with you. I can’t tell you how thrilled all of us are because of the gallant defense of the Soviet armies.
“I am confident that ways will be found to provide the material and supplies necessary to fight Hitler on all fronts, including your own.
“I want particularly to take this occasion to express my great confidence that your armies will ultimately prevail over Hitler and to assure you of our great determination to be of every possible material assistance.”
The United States aid is estimated to be worth roughly $1 billion when the entire U.S. Defense Budget for 1940 was only $1.567 billion.
On the Eastern Front itself, the day brings more disasters for the Soviet Union, and it could be worse but for the fact that there are heavy rains near Moscow. The Germans tighten their grip on a pocket of Soviet troops at Bryansk, with 18th Panzer Division (General Nehring) and 112th Infantry Division (General Mieth) meeting to tighten the line around Soviet 3rd, 13th, and 50th Armies, while German XLIII Corps (General Heinrici) splits the Soviet pocket into two parts by isolating 50th Army. The Soviets realize their situation and begin trying to fight their way out to the east.
In Moscow, Stalin and his generals are aware of the danger. General Georgy Zhukov, recalled from Leningrad recently to take over the critical Western Front, reports to the Stavka:
“The chief danger is that almost all routes to Moscow are open and the weak protection along the Mozhaisk Line cannot guarantee against the surprise appearance of the enemy armored forces before Moscow. We must quickly assemble forces from wherever we can at the Mozhaisk Defense Line.”
The GKO prepares for the loss of Moscow by ordering plans drawn up to destroy 1,119 key installations in the city.
Further south, in the Army Group South sector, the Red Army also has a bad day. General Ewald von Kleist’s Panzer Group 1 takes Mariupol on the Sea of Azov and nearby Berdyansk. This effectively encircles Soviet 9th and 18th Armies, which have been battling General Manstein’s 11th Army on the Perekop Isthmus. The Soviet troops have no way out except by seaborne rescue, but the Soviet Black Sea Fleet already is fully engaged evacuating the garrison at Odesa to Sevastopol — which also may soon be at risk.
British RAF airmen in Murmansk and Arkhangel areas in northern Russia began to hand over their aircraft and related equipment to their Soviet counterparts.
Construction at Concentration Camp Birkenau begins.
Mussolini calls on the Japanese to pull their weight in the Axis by waging war on Britain.
Gradual stepping-up of quantities of food obtained from the United States, until they reach 25 percent of the total of British supplies, was declared to be the British program under the Lend-Lease Act by Lord Woolton, Minister of Food, in the House of Lords today.
There were no Bomber Command operations from 5 to 10 October, because of unfavorable weather conditions.
Destroyer HMS Onslow departed Greenock at 0700 for Scapa Flow to carry out working up practices. The destroyer arrived at 2200 that evening.
Destroyer HMS Oribi departed Scapa Flow at 0900 carrying the Commander in Chief Home Fleet to Scrabster. The destroyer arrived back at Scapa Flow at 1430 that afternoon.
Convoy ON.24 departed Liverpool, escorted by destroyers HMS Amazon and HMS Bulldog, corvettes FS Aconit, HMS Dianthus, and HMS Heartsease, and anti-submarine trawler HMS Notts County. Destroyer HMS Georgetown joined on the 10th. The destroyers, corvette Heartsease, and the trawler were detached on the 13th when the convoy was joined by American destroyers USS Decatur, USS Greer, USS Kearney, USS Livermore, and USS Plunkett. Destroyer Kearney was detached on the 14th. Rest of the American destroyers and corvettes Aconit and Dianthus were detached on the 15th when the convoy was dispersed.
Norwegian destroyer HNoMS Draug and motor torpedo boat MTB.56 departed Scapa Flow at 0900. The destroyer proceeded to Grimsby and the motor torpedo boat proceeded to Dover.
Battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth and destroyers were at sea exercising from Alexandria.
Submarine HMS Porpoise arrived at Gibraltar. On the 11th, the submarine departed Gibraltar with supplies for Malta.
Anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Coventry departed Alexandria for Port Said. Anti-aircraft ship Coventry and Greek destroyer RHS Vasilissa Olga passed through the Suez Canal on the 9th en route to India. The cruiser provided anti-aircraft support for steamers Nea Hellas and Indrapoera. After calling at Aden to fuel on the 11th, the cruiser then sailed and rejoined the ships. Steamers Nea Hellas and Indrapoera joined steamers Volendam and Dunera at Aden and departed on the 13th as convoy SW 10, escorted by armed merchant cruiser HMS Carthage. Anti-aircraft cruiser Coventry departed Aden on the 13th and escorted a Norwegian tanker back to Aden, arriving on the 14th. Anti-aircraft ship Coventry departed Aden on the 15th with Greek destroyer Vasilissa Olga. The cruiser proceeded to Bombay for a refit, including fitting a new bow, replacing a temporary bow from her December 1940 torpedoing. The British cruiser and Greek destroyer both arrived at Bombay on the 20th. The Greek destroyer departed on the 23rd for Calcutta for fitting of asdics.
Corvette HMS Peony attacked a submarine contact in 34-08N, 35-21E. Destroyer HMAS Vendetta, corvettes HMS Delphinium, HMS Salvia, and HMS Hyacinth, and two anti-submarine aircraft joined, but no further contact was made. The corvettes were recalled to Beirut on the 10th.
British steamer Rosalie Moller (3963grt) was sunk by German bombing in Anchorage H, Suez Canal. Two crewmen were missing on the steamer. Australian sloop HMAS Parramatta rescued the survivors.
Italian steamer Paolo Z. Podesta (863grt) was sunk by British 830 Squadron attack southwest of Favignana. The steamer was in a small convoy of Paolo Z. Podesta, a schooner, and two trawlers en route from Trapani to Tripoli, via Pantelleria.
Aircraft carrier HMS Argus, detached from convoy WS.12, arrived at Gibraltar from the Clyde, escorted by destroyers HMS Cossack, HMS Zulu, and HMS Sikh.
Submarine HMS Rorqual laid fifty mines in the Gulf of Athens in 37-22N, 23-52E. Italian torpedo boats Altair and Aldebaran were lost on this minefield on the 20th.
Submarine HMS Perseus arrived at Malta from patrol off Benghazi.
Submarine HMS P.34 arrived at Malta from Gibraltar.
Submarine HMS Thorn unsuccessfully attacked a steamer and a destroyer in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Dutch submarine HNLMS O.21 arrived at Gibraltar after patrol in the Mediterranean.
On this day in Washington, President Roosevelt conferred with Congressional leaders on Neutrality Act changes, and with Myron C. Taylor, his personal representative to the Vatican; Howard O. Hunter, Commissioner of the WPA; Arthur Bliss Lane, Minister to Costa Rica, and other officials. The White House made public the text of a letter from President Roosevelt to Joseph Stalin.
The Senate was in recess.
The House considered the $5,985,000,000 lease-lend appropriation, and adjourned at 4:52 PM until noon tomorrow. The Naval Affairs Committee approved the bill for acquisition of 400 light-draft ships for use in coastal defense.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt sends a letter to the Soviet Union premier Joseph Stalin stating that “I am confident that ways will be found to provide the material and supplies necessary to fight Hitler on all fronts, including your own.”
President Roosevelt will ask Congress in a special message tomorrow to repeal or revise the Neutrality Act so that American ships, under the protection of their own guns, may increase the flow of material aid to nations resisting Axis aggression.
Opponents of the administration’s foreign policy laid plans tonight to oppose aiming of American merchant men, a step President Roosevelt is expected to propose in a message to congress tomorrow. “The main decision was to oppose in every way amendments to the neutrality act as being, in fact, an authorization to carry on war,” announced Senator Taft, Ohio Republican, following a conference of senators and representatives. He said approximately 60 members of congress, both Democrats and Republicans, attended the meeting.
With a statement that a turn in the war was imminent and that “clouds of airplanes, acres of tanks and an avalanche of munitions” must be sent to the Allies, the House Appropriations Committee approved today the $5,985,000,000 second Lend-Lease bill and warned Congress that additional funds would be needed soon. Pointing out that only 15 to 20 percent of the factory capacity of the United States is engaged in war work and that this must be increased to 50 percent by June 30, 1943, the committee said in its report to the House: “The sum of $5,985,000,000 in this bill plus the $7,000,000,000 heretofore appropriated for lease-lend makes a total of $12,985,000,000. This is a large amount and to many it may seem it should be sufficient. The committee wishes to be frank with the House and the country. The hearings disclosed that so long as the present conflict goes on it will be necessary to provide additional funds. The amount allowed in this bill is estimated to be obligated by March of 1942, at which time it is now contemplated that additional funds will be requested.”
In direct response to President Roosevelt’s appeal for labor peace and unity without work stoppages, A.F.L. President William Green called tonight “upon every member and every union in the American Federation of Labor to stay on the job and keep defense production going at full blast until the enemies of America are soundly defeated.”
The true “warmongers” of the United States are those who sow the seeds of disunity within the nation and weaken its faith in democratic institutions, making it “ripe for invasion” from abroad, Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd said last night in an address over a Columbia Broadcasting System network.
Use of wire-tapping and wire-tapping evidence should be available to the Department of Justice in coping with spies, saboteurs and kidnappers, Attorney General Biddle said today in his first press conference since assuming office.
Mrs. Roosevelt, in a radio speech from Washington opening the National Council of Campfire Girls, urged girls throughout the country to enlist for national defense and to make a point of learning how to prepare nourishing and small-cost breakfasts, luncheons and dinners for their families.
Inability to obtain adequate deliveries of steel is interfering with the vital naval building program. Major work on two destroyers at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, for instance, has been held up for two months through lack of steel and, for the same reason, it has been impossible to start work there on one of the new super-battleships. Although naval officials, anxious to avoid controversies with other government agencies, including the OPM, declined to do more than confirm these facts, authoritative officials asserted that this situation could be laid to the inability to obtain priorities on steel of all types, the heavy use of steel by the automobile industry, and difficulties in the steel industry resulting from the present flood of orders. OPM allotment figures. for October show that Secretary Ickes is obtaining three-quarters as much steel for pipe lines to relieve civilian oil shortages as the Navy will receive for building a two-ocean fleet. The railroads and the Maritime Commission, which is building merchant ships, will each receive about twice as much steel as the Navy. Figures cannot be made public for defense reasons.
Organizational provision for guided missiles is made in the U.S. fleet by the establishment of “Special Project Dog” in Utility Squadron Five (VJ-5) at NAS Cape May, New Jersey, to test and operate radio-controlled offensive weapons and to train personnel in their use. VJ-5 is also directed to develop a radio-controlled fighter plane — “aerial ram” or “aerial torpedo” — to be flown into enemy bomber formations and exploded.
Destroyer USS Dallas (DD-199), in screen of convoy ON.22, depth charges a contact (later evaluated as “non-submarine”) about 450 miles southwest of Reykjavik, Iceland, 58°54’N, 29°31’W.
Oiler USS Salinas (AO-19), with a convoy heading for Iceland, is damaged by heavy seas, and is escorted to Iceland by destroyer USS Broome (DD-210).
The United States, Great Britain and the refugee government of the Netherlands, it was learned authoritatively today, have agreed to stop all oil shipments to Japan. Whatever oil Japan may be getting, responsible officials said, is coming from places other than the territories controlled by the three governments. The agreement was made shortly after the three governments on July 25 froze all Japanese assets In their territories. Before that, the United States, the Dutch East Indies and various British possessions were the principal sources for oil for Japan.
The Battle of Changsha ended in Chinese victory. Chinese troops arrive outside Yuezhou, ending the second battle of Changsha.
Japanese Army spokesmen said today that a great Chinese offensive along the middle Yangtze River had carried the fighting to Shasi, sixty miles downstream from the major port of Ichang, but the situation at Ichang, the main Chinese objective, remained obscure. Ichang, 800 miles from the sea coast, has been the westernmost outpost of the Japanese armies since its capture two years ago. Chinese military leaders at Chungking yesterday asserted their forces had entered Ichang and were fighting for possession of heights across the river. Chinese dispatches tonight said fighting continued inside the city, but they did not claim its complete capture.
The Japanese admission of heavy fighting at Shasi did not include an admission of the loss of Ichang. Earlier reports that the Japanese had acknowledged recapture of Ichang by the Chinese proved erroneous. The Japanese said, however, that they had “counter-attacked” at Shasi last Saturday and driven back eight Chinese divisions, thereby “eliminating a threat” to their positions on this stretch of the Yangtze in Western Hupeh Province.
The Chinese now report the full reoccupation of Changsha, capital of Hunan Province. A Chinese effort to take Chengchow, important railway junction in Northern Honan Province, was described in Chungking announcements, which said large-scale counter-attacks had reached the outskirts of Chengchow, captured by the Japanese last week.
In a nation-wide broadcast on the distribution of food under air raid conditions, Kazuo Miura, Vice Minister of Agriculture, announced last night that while the rice crop was short in Japan proper, both Korea and Formosa expected bumper crops.
The Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier HIJMS Shōkaku arrived at Kure, Japan and joined new sister ship Zuikaku for the first time. She moved around in Kure, Oita, Saeki area in the remainder of the month.
Near Hokitika, New Zealand, farmer Stanley Graham went on a shooting rampage after a dispute with a neighbor and killed seven people, including four police officers who were called in after the initial argument. The biggest manhunt in New Zealand history commenced. Graham’s dispute with a neighbor over cattle turns deadly when Graham fatally wounds five local officials investigating the dispute. This becomes perhaps the most famous mass murder in New Zealand history and leads to numerous television shows and films depicting the event with widely varying degrees of accuracy. Graham escapes and eventually kills two more men sent to track him down before he himself is fatally wounded.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 124.13 (-0.29)
Born:
Jesse Jackson, American clergyman, civil rights activist, and Democratic presidential candidate (1984, 1988), in Greenville, South Carolina.
Died:
Gus Kahn, 54, German-American lyricist (“It Had to Be You”; “Makin’ Whoopee”; “I’ll See You in My Dreams”), of a heart attack.
Valentine O’Hara, 66, Irish author.
Naval Construction:
The Royal Navy River-class frigate HMS Waveney (K 248) is laid don by the Smiths Dock Co., Ltd. (South Bank-on-Tees, U.K.).
The Royal Navy LCT (Mk 2)-class landing craft, tank HMS LCT 150 is launched by Arrol (Meadowside, U.K.).
The U.S. Navy YMS-1-class auxiliary motor minesweeper USS YMS-33 is launched by the Hiltebrant Dry Dock Co. (Kingston, New York, U.S.A.).
The U.S. Navy Accentor-class coastal minesweeper USS Trident (AMc-107) is launched by the Snow Shipyards Inc. (Rockland, Maine, U.S.A.).
The Royal Navy Fish-class ASW trawler HMS Bonito (T 231) is launched by Cochrane & Sons Shipbuilders Ltd. (Selby, U.K.); completed by Holmes.
The U.S. Navy 77-foot Elco patrol motor torpedo boat USS PT-59 is launched by the Electric Launch Company Ltd. (Elco), (Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S.A.).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-255 is launched by Bremer Vulkan-Vegesacker Werft, Bremen-Vegesack (werk 20).
The Royal Navy “L”-class destroyer HMS Loyal (G 15) is launched by the Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. (Greenock, Scotland).
The Royal Navy Fairmile B-class motor launch HMS ML 296 is commissioned.
The Royal Navy Fairmile B-class motor launch HMS ML 304 is commissioned.
The Royal Navy harbor defence motor launch HMS HDML 1080 is commissioned.
The Royal Navy Fairmile C-class motor gun boat HMS MGB 332 is commissioned.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type IXC U-boat U-507 is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Korvettenkapitän Harro Schacht.
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-657 is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Oberleutnant zur See Hans-Jürgen Radke.
The Royal Navy “O”-class destroyer HMS Onslow (G 17) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Captain Harold Thomas Armstrong, DSC, RN.
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60 Days to Pearl.
