The events of 19 October 1941 starkly underscore both the power and hopelessness of the German Operation TYPHOON drive on Moscow. The power is illustrated by gains on the high road to Moscow which are undeniable and menacing. The hopelessness is a bit more subtle and certainly not at all apparent in October 1941, but obvious given the omniscience of hindsight. The hard work of the summer mixes inextricably with the failures of the spring to produce prospects of winning that superficially appear promising but already are lost.
The Soviet defensive line centered on the small town of Mozhaysk shows signs of crumbling on 19 October 1941. Paul Hausser’s SS-Infanterie-Division (mot.) “Das Reich” and the attached “Hauenschild Brigade” of 10th Panzer Division of 4th Panzerarmee’s 40th Panzerkorps (General der Panzertruppen Georg Stumme) batter their way forward into Mozhasysk, showing that a determined Wehrmacht effort can send even the best Soviet troops reeling. At Volokolamsk, about 50 miles due north of Mozhaysk on the road from Riga, Soviet 316th Rifle Division arrives just in time from Moscow to stop another German attack. The Germans may not be moving fast any longer, but they are still moving forward toward the ultimate prize of Operation BARBAROSSA.
In Moscow, things look dire. The Germans are pushing back the best remaining troops in the Red Army on all of the highways from the west and the final Soviet holdouts in the Vyazma pocket give up. Lavrentiy Beria, Stalin’s chief of the secret police, can see the danger and urges the Soviet GKO to evacuate to the East. As he poetically puts it, the apparatchiks must leave “or they will strangle us like chickens.” Stalin orders everyone in the Politburo except his closest cronies (Beria and Georgy Malenkov) to leave, but he vows to stay come what may. There is a theory that Stalin could not retain his own position if he leaves Moscow, and he certainly would be vulnerable to whoever meant to harm him during a desperate journey into the hinterland. In any event, he decides to stay to personally supervise the construction of three defensive lines around the capital. That decision is final.
Things are no better at the extreme southern end of the front. General von Manstein’s 11th Army slices through the Soviet defenses on the Perekop Isthmus in the Crimea and now are in a good position to break out to Sevastopol. General von Kleist’s 1st Panzer Army batters its way into Stalino (Donetsk), a key industrial center on the Kalmius River and a good jumping-off point for an invasion of the oil-rich Caucasus. The Germans are on the verge of occupying the center of Soviet life, with little to stand between them and the Volga.
The “tank panic” that infest Moscow, however, is overdone. In fact, the Germans may be succeeding against the Red Army, but they are losing against a more implacable enemy. While the weather is turning against them and is the most obvious issue, that is not the real challenge the Wehrmacht faces. The challenge to be overcome is much more subtle, much less appreciated by virtually everyone, and infinitely more difficult to overcome than tanks or planes or a few snowflakes.
The problem facing the panzers can best be explained by first looking at a few easily measurable statistics. After months of battering forward, Hausser’s leading tanks are still 113 km from Moscow. Further north, the panzers at Volokolamsk are 124 km from Moscow. Further north still, the Germans at Kalinin (Tver) are 180 km from the city. And to the southwest, near Tula, General Guderian’s panzers are 180 km from the city. In the Army Group South sector, General Hoth’s troops at Stalino are 200 km from their next objective at Rostov-on-Don. General von Manstein’s men are 140 km from their target, Sevastopol.
Overall, the Germans remain about 150 km from seizing objectives that represent minimal objectives for a successful 1941 campaign. Getting this far is a phenomenal achievement that should not be downplayed. However, in comparison with distances for entire campaigns in western Europe — for instance, Brussels is only 320 km from Paris — for the Germans to have to battle forward across another lengthy distance against fierce resistance after all the losses already suffered is daunting. Moreover, success in Russia has come at a great cost. The leading panzers have been on the road for four straight months, several times longer than in any previous campaign. They are worn down, they need maintenance and replacement guns, and the men are as worn as the equipment. The elite Wehrmacht divisions have been shredded, with strengths a fraction of what they had in June. The Wehrmacht’s strength is broad but it is not deep, composed of a sharp blade composed of veterans of previous campaigns but with few reserves. As these formations bleed out, their effectiveness dulls and morale plummets.
So, the main problem is not just the weather, which is a handy catch-all explanation that simplifies a much larger problem. The Wehrmacht is being destroyed by sheer distance. There is just too much territory to cover, too many cities to occupy, too many supply roads to guard. In addition, the gains already achieved are less than they appear on a map. During the summer, the panzers bypassed large Soviet formations that retreated into the forests and marshes. Those Soviet troops are still there, some almost completely intact with tanks and planes and artillery, and need to be subdued. The German equipment is efficient on western European roads and meadows, but the panzer tracks prove too narrow to handle endless muddy terrain The supply trucks break down on the hundreds of kilometers they must travel from the railheads, and overworked horses have trouble meeting supply requirements. The autumn chill is compounding the problem of distance, as the trucks burn more fuel on the long muddy roads and have to carry so much fuel with them that they can carry very few supplies.
To summarize, the indifferent vastness of the Soviet Union is swallowing the Wehrmacht. No matter how many victories the Germans win, there are always more battles to be won down the road, and the supplies for those battles and the men to fight them are dwindling further with every mile. Adding to the problem of distance is that the Soviets always have just enough troops in place to cause problems. Pushing constantly forward in rapidly deteriorating conditions is placing an impossible strain on the entire structure of the Heer. The Germans are in a battle with themselves, challenging their own capabilities, and they are losing.
Troops from Siberia and the Far East arrive at the Moscow front.
Joseph Stalin proclaimed a state of siege in the capital and issued an Order of the Day that “Moscow will be defended to the last..” Stalin announces that he will remain in Moscow, even though most of the Soviet government has already fled, promising to defend the Russian capital with every possible effort.
German troops began rounding up men over the age of 16 in the Serbian town of Kragujevac in Yugoslavia. Of the 2,324 gathered, about 300 of them were students from the First Boys High School.
A demand for military action on the Western Front, coupled with a plea for a thorough overhaul of British methods of production — each designed to bring relief in its own way to Russia — was made today by the National Council of the Engineering and Allied Trades Shop Stewards in London.
German submarine U-126 torpedoed and sank American freighter Lehigh 100 miles west of Freetown, British West Africa at 1051 hours; all 38 aboard survived. U-126 had misidentified the American ship as a Greek vessel.
German submarine U-204 sank British tanker Inverlee carrying 35 miles southwest of Tangier, Spanish Morocco at 0300 hours; 22 were killed, 21 survived. In the same region, German submarine U-206 sank British ship Baron Kelvin at 0614 hours; 26 were killed, 16 survived. British corvettes from Gibraltar were dispatched to hunt for these submarines; HMS Mallow was able to find and sink U-204 at 2146 hours with depth charges.
British gunboat HMS Gnat bombarded a German artillery battery near Tobruk, Libya after sundown.
The government of Afghanistan consents to the British-Soviet request for ejection of Axis nationals. The Afghanistan radio at Kabul, the capital, announced today the expulsion of German and Italian nationals from that rough and primitive country, a natural gateway between German-invaded Russia and India and only gap in the 2,000-mile political and military front the British are building across southwestern Asia. The broadcast, as heard here, said the government of King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan had accepted the offer of the British government to give safe conduct to the Germans and Italians by way of India, or Irag and Turkey, to their respective countries. It added that parliament had endorsed the expulsion and that the German and Italian legations had expressed agreement with the arrangement. The announcer said the government had stressed its neutrality many times and had made a special endeavor to see that foreign elements in the country in no way stirred up trouble.
U-206, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Herbert Opitz, sank British steamer Baron Kelvin (3081grt) 14 miles 100° from Tarifa. At 0614 hours on 19 Oct 1941 the unescorted Baron Kelvin (Master William Lindsay Ewing) was torpedoed and sunk by U-206 in the Strait of Gibraltar 14 miles 100° from Tarifa Point, Spain. 19 crew members and seven gunners were lost. The master, 12 crew members and two gunners were picked up by the Spanish merchant Urola and landed at Gibraltar. One crew member was rescued by the British destroyer leader HMS Duncan (D 99) (LtCdr A.N. Rowell) and also landed at Gibraltar. The 3,081 ton Baron Kelvin was carrying ballast and was bound for Melilla, Spain.
U-126, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Ernst Bauer, sank American steamer Lehigh (4983grt) at 8-26N, 14-37W, seventy five miles west of Freetown. At 1051 hours on 19 Oct 1941 the unescorted and unarmed Lehigh (Master Vincent Patrick Arkins) was hit on the starboard side at the #5 hold by one torpedo from U-126 about 82 miles west of Freetown. The ship was stopped and 35 minutes after the hit abandoned by the ten officers, 30 crewmen and four Spanish stowaways in four lifeboats. The radio operator and two other men reboarded the vessel and unsuccessfully tried to send a message before she sank by the stern at 1310 hours. The survivors in two lifeboats were picked up by two British motor launches of the 17th ML Flotilla, one of which was HMS ML.263 (Lt Kelvin J. Vaughan, RANVR). The remaining survivors, five of them injured, were picked up two days after the sinking from the two other boats by HMS Vimy (D 33) (LtCdr H.G.D. de Chair, RN). The Lehigh was sunk 49 days before war was officially declared against the USA by the Axis, despite the American markings on the ship, which were clearly visible at the time of the attack. The vessel was zigzagging and Bauer looking through the periscope, thought she was a Greek ship at first. He saw the USA markings only after he had fired the torpedo from a distance of about 2500 meters. The 4,983 ton Lehigh was carrying ballast and was bound for Takoradi, Ghana.
U-204, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Walter Kell, sank British tanker Inverlee (9158grt) 30 miles 240° from Cape Spartel. At 0300 hours on 19 Oct 1941 the Inverlee (Master Thomas Edward Alexander) was hit on the starboard side amidships in #16 tank abaft the bridge by a torpedo from U-204 while steaming on a zigzag course at 6 knots about 30 miles 240° from Cape Spartel, Morocco. The tanker was under escort by the British armed trawlers HMS Lady Hogarth (4.89) (Lt S.G. Barnes, RNR) and HMS Stella Carina (FY 352) (Lt J.V. Lobb, RANVR) since 15 October. The explosion blew oil all over the vessel, set the bridge on fire and damaged the steering gear, so she went out of control and took immediately a list to port. As the flames were increasing, the crew of 38 men and five gunners (the ship was armed with one 4.7” and four machine guns) stopped the engines and began to abandon ship in the four lifeboats, but the one on port aft was badly damaged upon launch and became waterlogged. The starboard aft boat was launched successfully on the weather side in choppy seas and broke many oars by pushing it away from the ship’s side. At 0313 hours, a second torpedo struck on the starboard side a little forward from the first, probably in #15 tank and ignited the fuel, causing a huge explosion with a terrific flash that was seen by the nearby U-83 (Kraus) and HMS Haarlem (FY 306) (Lt L.B. Merrick, RNR) about 28 miles away. The explosion was so powerful that it blew out the fires and broke the back of the ship, which sagged in the middle with the tops of the mainmast and foremast nearly meeting, the bridge being submerged and the stern about 30 feet out of the water. The fire later broke out again when fuel leaked out of the tanker. Unfortunately the torpedo had hit directly underneath the starboard forward lifeboat that was being lowered and lifted it from the falls, sending the occupants hurling in all directions and killing the men lowering the boat, including the master, the chief officer and the radio operator. The third mate and the helmsman later managed to reboard this boat and rescued several people swimming in the water. The starboard aft boat was washed back on deck and badly damaged when it hit the superstructure, throwing all occupants into the sea except one boy who managed to jump back on deck, walked to the stern and remained there alone until daylight, when he was taken off by an officer from one of the armed trawlers who boarded the tanker after rowing to her in a jolly boat. Two other men were later taken off this badly damaged lifeboat by a trawler just before it sank. About 0330 hours, the last men abandoned ship in the waterlogged port boat and were picked up three hours later by HMS Lady Hogarth while HMS Stella Carina screened the rescue operation. HMS Duncan (D 99) (LtCdr A.N. Rowell, RN) arrived in the meantime and searched for the U-boat, doing so she found four survivors from the tanker and picked them up. Another survivor was picked up by HMS Haarlem. At daylight, the Inverlee was reboarded when the fire subsided, but she was found so badly damaged that towing operations were impossible and a Catalina flying boat later reported that the wreck was seen to sink at about noon on 19 October. The master 19 crew members and one gunner were lost. The survivors, five of them injured, were landed at Gibraltar the next day and eventually returned to England aboard the CAM ship Empire Darwin in convoy HG.76. However, one of the survivors was lost on passage to the UK when Annavore was torpedoed and sunk in the same convoy. Following this sinking, the corvettes of the 37th Escort Group were sent from Gibraltar to carry out an antisubmarine sweep off Cape Spartel and sank U-204 west of Tangier the following evening. The 9,158 ton Inverlee was carrying Admiralty fuel oil and was bound for Gibraltar.
German steamer Andromeda (658grt) was sunk in Kongsfjord by “enemy action”.
U-204 was sunk by sloop HMS Rochester and corvette HMS Mallow in the Straits of Gibraltar off Cape Spartel, Morocco in 35-48N, 6-10W. The entire crew of forty six was lost in the submarine. Corvette HMS Bluebell picked up debris from the submarine the next day. During its career the U-204 sank 1 warship and 4 merchant ships for a total of 17,360 tons.
Aircraft carrier HMS Victorious and destroyers HMS Laforey and HMS Lightning departed the Clyde at 1330 for Scapa Flow. All three ships sustained weather damage during a gale. Off Tiumpan Head at 1150/20th, the destroyers hove to and the aircraft carried continued unescorted to Scapa Flow, arriving at 1530 that day. The destroyers joined battleship HMS Malaya which departed Scapa Flow on the 20th.
Heavy cruiser HMS Suffolk and destroyers HMS Impulsive and HMS Escapade departed Archangel at 1600. En route to the United Kingdom, they carried out an operation off the north coast of Finland at Svaerholthavet during the night of 21/22 October. No enemy ships were sighted. On the 25th, the three ships called at Seidisfjord from Spitzbergen to refuel. They departed at 0800/26th and arrived at Scapa Flow at 1700/27th.
Heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland departed Chatham for Scapa Flow after refitting of 1 July to 11 October. The heavy cruiser arrived at Scapa Flow on the 20th.
Destroyer HMS Chiddingfold departed the Clyde at 1530 to carry out working up practices at Scapa Flow. The destroyer arrived at Scapa Flow at 1730/20th, having been delayed by weather.
Sloop HMS Ibis departed Scapa Flow on completion of working up exercises. She proceeded to Kirkwall for direction finding calibration trials prior to going to Londonderry. The sloop arrived at Kirkwall at 1615. Sloop IBIS departed Kirkwall at 0800/22nd and arrived at Londonderry at 0630/23rd.
Dutch submarine HNLMS O.14 and Free French submarine Minerve departed the Faroes to patrol off the Norwegian coast. Submarine O.14 arrived back at Scapa Flow after the patrol on the 29th.
Minesweepers HMS Harrier and HMS Britomart arrived at Spitzbergen. A German landing party promptly was evacuated by air from Longyearby.
Norwegian steamer Rask (632grt) was sunk by German bombing in 52-08N, 6-23W. Seven crewmen and one gunner were lost on the steamer.
Destroyers HMS Hotspur, HMS Hasty, HMS Havock, and HMS Decoy departed Alexandria to bombard the military rest camp at Masra Lucch during the night of 19/20 October. Late on the 19th, destroyer Havock ran aground in 32-02N, 24-53E. The destroyer’s propellers and shaft were damaged. The other destroyers escorted her back to Alexandria and the bombardment was cancelled. The destroyers arrived back at Alexandria during the night of 20/21 October.
Sloop HMS Flamingo departed Alexandria to escort British steamer Manchester Port (5469grt) from Port Said to Alexandria.
Anti-submarine whaler HMS Kos 19, escorting British tanker Toneline (811grt) to Tobruk in serial 4 A of the CULTIVATE operation, reported a submarine contact off Alexandria. Motor launch ML.1023 departed Alexandria with the two ships, but had to return with defects. Destroyer HMS Encounter and two anti-submarine trawlers joined to search for the submarine, without success. The tanker and its escort safely arrived at Tobruk on the 21st.
Submarine HMS Trusty departed Malta on patrol off Argostoli.
Submarine HMS Ursula arrived at Malta from patrol.
Senate leaders may ask President Roosevelt this week to decide whether he is willing to risk delay in enactment of the armed ship bill while attempts are made to amend it to permit the delivery of war supplies at belligerent ports by American vessels. Overwhelming house approval of the measure last week brought immediate demands from some senators for nullification of the Neutrality Act’s other major prohibition which keeps United States cargo ships out of combat zones. But Senator Hill, Alabama Democrat, the majority whip, said the possibility that an effort to broaden the bill might consume considerable additional time was a factor that had to be taken into account.
An informal poll indicated tonight that Administration leaders in the Senate have enough support to secure passage of the ship-arming resolution within ten days but cannot get enough votes in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for outright repeal of the Neutrality Act.
President Roosevelt decided to remain at his estate at Hyde Park, New York until tomorrow to enjoy the clear October weather. As a result he will not arrive in Washington until Tuesday morning, then and there to deal directly with developments growing out of the torpedoing of the United States destroyer Kearny off Iceland, the Far Eastern tension and the armaments needs of Russia. Mr. Roosevelt received a secondhand report of the Russian situation during the day.While the President spent the day at his home as host to the Crown Princess Martha of Norway and several other guests, Harry L. Hopkins returned from an overnight visit to the Arden, New York, home of W. Averell Harriman, who returned by plane yesterday from Moscow and London. Presumably Mr. Hopkins, the President’s closest confidant, obtained from Mr. Harriman, who was the principal United States delegate to the recent Moscow conference, a more or less detailed report as to Russia’s more urgent needs and what progress, if any, was achieved toward inducing Josef Stalin, the Premier of Russia, to restore religious freedom in the Soviet Union. Further, it was presumed that Mr. Hopkins turned this information over to the nation’s Chief Executive this afternoon.
The prospect loomed tonight that the Federal Government might withdraw contracts from or possibly go so far as to seize and operate the plant of Air Associates, Inc., at Bendix, New Jersey, because the position taken by the company toward the strike that has been in progress since July 12 is considered unsatisfactory by the National Defense Mediation Board. The company manufactures aircraft parts. The board informed the company tonight that it was referring the case to the executive branch of the government because it considered the company had rejected its recommendations. This means that President Roosevelt probably will have it placed before him tomorrow for action. In the only other case of the kind — that of the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Kearny, New Jersey — the President ordered the Navy to take over the plant.
A list of 1,124 names of Federal employees alleged to be Communists or affiliates of subversive organizations was sent tonight to Attorney General Biddle by Representative Dies, chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities. In an accompanying letter Mr. Dies said that the list did not include persons in the new defense agencies, which would be submitted later. None of the names was made public. The list was sent to Mr. Biddle on his request to the committee for information upon the membership of Federal workers in subversive organizations, or “such employees’ advocacy of the overthrow of the government.” Mr. Dies reminded the Attorney General that two years ago the committee made public a list of 563 Federal employees who belonged to the American League for Peace and Democracy. This organization, Mr. Dies said, was one of “the front organizations” of the Communist party.
Millions of children are in jeopardy today in the German-invaded democracies, Herbert Hoover said last night in a renewed appeal to to the United States Government to use “every influence in its power” to bring about an agreement that would permit the distribution of food in the occupied territories under the supervision of some neutral government, such as Sweden, Ireland, Switzerland or Argentina.
The international marine terminal at La Guardia Field saw one of its busiest days yesterday as one of Pan American Airways’ giant flying boats, the Dixie Clipper, departed in the morning carrying forty-eight passengers for Bermuda and Lisbon and another, the Atlantic Clipper, arrived a few hours later with fifty-two passengers.
Destroyer USS Charles F. Hughes (DD-428) and USS Gleaves (DD-423), while screening convoy HX 154, depth-charge suspicious contacts at 59°58’N, 23°15’W, and 60°00’N, 23°20’W, and 59°57’N, 22°41’W.
Unarmed U.S. freighter Lehigh is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-126 about 75 miles off Freetown, Sierra Leone, 08°26’N, 14°37’W. While there are no fatalities, four men are slightly injured.
First woman jockey in North America, Anna Lee Wiley, in Mexico.
Germany’s attempt to use the ousting of Arnulfo Arias from the Presidency of Panama as anti-American propaganda in Latin America, by charging United States complicity, has been an almost complete failure. The Latin-American press, with few exceptions, has taken a clearer view of the change in government here than many newspapers in the United States, particularly the noninterventionist press.
The new cabinet headed by Premier General Hideki Tojo “will take every possible measure to preserve the peace,” the newspaper Miyako said today, and added that four concessions by the United States can avert a Japanese-American conflict. Miyako said that these conditions are: ‘ 1. That the United States follow a policy in the Far East independent of that of Britain and judge conditions “realistically.” 2. A cessation of assistance to the nationalist government of China in Chungking while Japan “adjusts” her relations with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. 3. Washington to cease leadership in the effort to form a group of nations encircling Japan including China, Britain and the Netherlands East Indies. 4. A general Japanese-American agreement to preserve and enforce peace in the Pacific Ocean area.
Born:
Eddie Daniels, American jazz, session, and classical clarinetist (With The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra; Bob James), in New York, New York.
Simon Ward, English actor (“4 Musketeers”, “4 Feathers”), in London, England, United Kingdom (d. 2012).
Died:
Hector Cowan, 78, American football player and coach.
Naval Construction:
The Royal Navy MMS I-class motor minesweeper HMS MMS 74 (J 574) is commissioned.
