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• The German 250.Infanterie Division, also known as the Blue Division, entered service on the Eastern Front. This division was notable as being made up of Spanish volunteers. ww2dbase [TH]
• General Zhukov took command of a new Soviet Western Front, which was made up of the remnants of the former Western Front, the Southwestern Front, and the Reserve Front. He immediately called for the formation of a new defensive Mozhaysk Line to protect Moscow, Russia, stretching from Tula south of the city to Volokolamsk to the northwest. ww2dbase [Georgy Zhukov | TH]
• The German 1.Panzergruppe reached the Sea of Azov. ww2dbase [TH]
• Indomitable was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Indomitable | CPC]
• German Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau issued the "Severity Order" in which he ordered the annihilation Bolshevism and the extermination of Jews. ww2dbase [Walther von Reichenau | CPC]
• German submarine U-126 sank British ship Nailsea Manor 150 miles northeast of the Cape Verde Islands at 0543 hours; all 51 survived and were picked up by British corvette HMS Violet. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British submarine HMS Thunderbolt sank Italian ship Citta di Simi northeast of Crete, Greece. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Soviet submarine ShCh-322 departed Kronstadt near Leningrad, Russia. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Reinhard Heydrich ordered the town of Terezín (German: Theresienstadt) to be converted into a camp-ghetto for deported German, Austrian, and Czechoslovakian Jews. He placed Adolf Eichmann and Rolf Günther in charge of establishing this camp-ghetto. ww2dbase [Reinhard Heydrich | Theresienstadt Concentration Camp | Terezín, Cechy | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler ordered a stop to night intruder operations over RAF airfields in eastern England; 1/NJG2 who have been conducting successful harrying of returning RAF bombers were consequently transferred to the Mediterranean. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | AC]

• The Soviet 32nd Rifle Division began to arrive at Mozhaysk, west of the Soviet capital of Moscow in Russia, from Siberia. Further west in Gzhatsk in Smolensk Oblast, 40 miles west of Mozhaysk and 32 miles east of Vyasma, Soviet 18th and 19th Tank Brigades halted a German offensive. German 4th Panzer Division reached Mtsensk, Russia in Oryol Oblast, but it would be held there for many days by stubborn Soviet resistance. ww2dbase [Battle of Moscow | CPC]

• Allied convoy QP-1, which was consisted of 14 British and Soviet merchant ships escorted by British cruiser HMS London and four minesweepers, from Arkhangelsk, Russia arrived at Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Scapa Flow | Scapa Flow, Scotland | CPC]

• James Gavin was promoted to the war time rank of major. ww2dbase [James Gavin | CPC]

10 Oct 1941 Interactive Map