http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/oct41/f07oct41.htm
Germans trap 6 Soviet armies
Tuesday, October 7, 1941 www.onwar.com
On the Eastern Front... German armored forces break through the Soviet-held Vyazma Defense Line, encircling 6 armies. The trapped Soviet forces continue to resist until October 14th.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/07.htm
October 7th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: Medal citations in the London Gazette for SS TEWKESBURY:
Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire: Captain Theo Pryse George Medal: Second Engineer Gerard Llewellyn Turner and Second Officer Bernard Peter de Neumann And both George Medallists were also awarded Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery at Sea
Published Censored Citation: For brave conduct when their ship was attacked by enemy aircraft.
Unpublished Uncensored Citation: The ship was bombed by a German aircraft.
Her defence was so good that the enemy was last seen flying low, with smoke streaming from him. The air crew were picked up later, and the ship is credited with the kill.
After the attack, a large bomb of about 250 kilos was found unexploded on the second engine room grating. The vessel was rolling in a North-Easterly wind and sea, and Second Engineer Turner, who was on watch, sat on the bomb to prevent it being rolled off the grating. Second Officer de Neumann at once went to his help.
The Master, leaving the Commodore of the convoy on the bridge to attend to navigation, took charge of the disposal squad. The Second Officer and Second Engineer slung the bomb in a rope sling and guided it clear of obstructions, at one point standing on the cylinders to do so. Owing to the darkness and the deep and awkward position into which the bomb had lodged, the whole operation performed with ingenuity and skill without mishap, took over an hour to complete. A second sling was made by the Master and the two Officers and the bomb was dropped over the side. (Bernard de Neumann)
GERMANY: U-190 is laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
POLAND: Rovno: SS men take 17,000 Jews to pits outside the town, ordering them to strip before shooting them dead. Those who refuse to undress have their eyes gouged out.
FINLAND: Helsinki: Finland refuses to heed Allied pressure to stop the fighting in the USSR, saying it has no political axe to grind but is grateful it “need not fight alone this time.”
U.S.S.R.: Last night the first snow fell in the Moscow front. (Mikko Härmeinen)
German forces capture Wjasma, Berdjansk and Mariupol on the central and southern fronts. (Jack McKillop)
AUSTRALIA: John Curtin is duly sworn in as the prime minister. (Daniel Ross)
CANADA: Corvette HMCS departs St. John’s for Convoy SC-48 and the Clyde.
Trawler HMS Ironbound is laid down at Kingston, Ontario.
Minesweeper HMCS Vegreville launched in Montreal, Province of Quebec. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-575 is attacked in the North Atlantic by an aircraft and suffers slight damage from two bombs.
U-502 damaged SS Svend Foyn in Convoy HX-152. (Dave Shirlaw)
I was a treadhead in germany, living off post in Kirch-gons—little farmhouse there. Anyway, the owner of the place told me over a bottle of some vile and nasty liquid, couple with pig brains on a cracker, that he too, was a panzer man. He had the grand tour. Poland, Russia, etc, finally giving himself up to the Americans in Czechoslovokia. He was there, in the battle for Moscow. Or so he claims. He said his panzer unit was BEHIND Moscow, closing in. He says they were about 30km away from the Capitol, but could not finish the deal. What a story.