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• Tanks of SS Reich Division and 10th Panzer Division attacked the Mozhaysk Line at Borodino, Russia 125 kilometers west of the Soviet capital of Moscow; lacking infantry support, Soviet troops halted the attacks. While thousands of civilians continued to flee the city, the Soviet government and diplomatic corps moved to Kuibyshev 1,500 miles to the east; Joseph Stalin, however, chose to stay. ww2dbase [Battle of Moscow | TH]
• Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe submitted his letter of resignation. He recommended Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni as his successor. ww2dbase [Fumimaro Konoe | CPC]
• German submarine U-568 sank British ship Empire Heron of Allied convoy SC-48 400 miles west of Ireland at 0114 hours; 42 were killed, 1 survived and picked up by escorting corvette HMS Gladiolus (Lieutenant Commander H. M. C. Sanders). Later in the day, however, HMS Gladiolus was lost from an unknown cause. ww2dbase [AC]
• RAF Pilot Officer A. J. Heyworth was able to return hom to Britain after his Wellington bomber suffered serious damage while bombing Mannheim, Germany. He flew most of the way on only one engine while the other was aflame. ww2dbase [Wellington | CPC]
• German merchant raider Kormoran made rendezvous with supply ship Kulmerland off Cape Leeuwin, Australia and began to take on fuel and supplies. ww2dbase [Kormoran | CPC]
• The Jager Report (issued on 1 Dec 1941) noted that 382 adult male, 507 adult female, and 257 children, all Jews, were killed in Vilnius, Lithuania for a total of 1,146 people. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]

• A round of mass deportation of Jews from Germany began. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | CPC]
• German Luftwaffe I./KG 4 was relocated to Pskov (German: Pleskau), Russia. ww2dbase [Pskov | CPC]

• Zuikaku departed Oita, Japan. ww2dbase [Zuikaku | Oita | CPC]

• A large group of Latvian military leaders was executed by the Soviets. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The Soviets executed the wives of Mikhail Tukhachevsky and his fellow accused (and already executed) conspirators. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The final Soviet evacuation ships departed Odessa, Ukraine at 0510 hours. In the past two weeks, 121,000 troops and civilians were evacuated from the city, along with 1,000 trucks and 20,000 tons of ammunition. Romanian troops entered the city later on this date, capturing the city. ww2dbase [Siege of Odessa | Odessa | TH]

16 Oct 1941 Interactive Map