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• HMAS Australia was hit by a special attack aircraft off the Philippine Islands; it was unsure whether this was a Japanese Army or Navy aircraft as both branches launched tokko attacks on this date. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Gunnel started her seventh war patrol. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Chub was commissioned into service, Commander C. D. Rhymes, Jr. in command. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• USS Segundo arrived at Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• German troops surrendered at Aachen, Germany. ww2dbase [TH]
• Canadian troops captured Breskens, the Netherlands. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• German Jews who were previously protected by their Aryan spouses were now deported from Germany. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The German RSHA office ordered that the Gestapo were given the permission to execute foreign laborers. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Otto Skorzeny arrived at Wolfsschanze in East Prussia, Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Joseph Stilwell departed Chongqing, China in the afternoon for the United States via India. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Kamoi departed Hong Kong at 1811 hours with convoy HOMO-01 for Moji, Japan; the convoy was escorted by destroyer Asago, minesweeper W-101, and a submarine chaser. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• British V Corps crossed the Savio River in Italy. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• After dark, on the Savio River in northeastern Italy, Canadian Army Seaforth Highlanders Private Ernest Alvia Smith used a PIAT anti-tank launcher to destroy a German Panther tank and two self-propelled guns and then used a Thompson submachine gun to kill or repel 30 German soldiers. He would later be awarded the Victoria Cross for this action. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Sterlet attacked a Japanese cargo ship off the southwestern coast of Amami Oshima, Japan; all three torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Wasp refueled off Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Manila, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Nachi departed Mako, Pescadores Islands with Cruiser Division 21. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• USS Astoria completed her repairs at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

21 Oct 1944 Interactive Map