http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/oct41/f08oct41.htm
Rain slows German onslaught
Wednesday, October 8, 1941 www.onwar.com
On the Eastern Front... The German forces take Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, the entrapment of troops near Vyazma and Bryansk continue. German advances in the northeast are now towards Rzhev and Kalinin and in the south toward Tula and Kaluga. The autumn rains begin and the heavy rainfall begins to slow the rapid German mobile advance.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/08.htm
October 8th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Loyal launched.
Destroyer HMS Onslow commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY:
U-255 launched.
U-507 and U-657 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ITALY: Rome: Mussolini calls on the Japanese to pull their weight in the Axis by waging war on Britain.
U.S.S.R.: The Germans capture Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. The battles to close the pincers on Vyazma and Bryansk continue. 600,000 Soviet troops will eventually be captured along with their equipment.
CHINA: Chinese troops arrive outside Yuezhou, ending the second battle of Changsha.
NEWFOUNDLAND: Corvette HMCS Camrose departed St. John’s for Iceland for Convoy SC-48. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt sends a letter to the Soviet Union premier Joseph Stalin stating that “I am confident that ways will be found to provide the material and supplies necessary to fight Hitler on all fronts, including your own.” (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-83 fired three torpedoes at a convoy escort, but all three missed.
U-573 fired three torpedoes at a freighter, but all three missed. (Dave Shirlaw)