World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Monday, October 20, 1941
Day 781

October 20, 1941: Front page of the News and Chronicle, London, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of The Daily Mail, Hull, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report in column 5: "1,000 Czechs Shot in Two Weeks"
(The source for this is the communist Russians, which makes the details suspicious, but not necessarily untrue. I have no resources to determine if this is correct or not.)
Also note the report in columns 1-2: "German Losses Nearly 4,000,000"
(This report from radio Moscow was not true.
According to Wikipedia casualties in Operation Barbarossa between June 22, 1941 until Dec. 5, 1941 were;

German casualties;
186,542 killed
40,157 missing
655,179 wounded.
Total Killed and missing: 226,699

Russian casualties;
566,852 killed
235,339 died of non-combat causes.
1,336,147 sick or wounded in combat and non-combat.
2,335,482 missing or captured.
Total killed, missing and captured: 3,137,673)
Also note the report in column 6: "11 Missing From U.S. Destroyer"
(The report states that Kearny DD-432 reached an unidentified port, which was Reykjavik, Iceland.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Mercury, Leeds, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of the Western Mail and South Wales News, Cardiff, Wales.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of the Evening Telegraph and Post, Dundee, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of The Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 1: "Great New Ship For Royal Navy"
[More about HMS Duke of York here.]


October 20, 1941: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of The Telegraph, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in columns 6-7: "Text Of Stalin's Siege Proclamation"


October 20, 1941: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of the Biddeford Daily Journal, Biddeford, Maine.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the photo at top right: "Plane Carrier Hornet Joins U.S. Fleet"
(USS Hornet CV-8, commissioned on Oct. 20, 1941. America's newest aircraft carrier would launch the Doolittle Raid against Japan on Apr. 18, 1942, but sadly was sunk on Oct. 27, 1942, in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.)
 
Also note the report at bottom center: "No War Decision Without Poison Gas, Say Experts"
(To the best of my knowledge only Japan used poison gas in combat in the Second World War.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 4: "Hull Says Kearny Attack Nazi Step To Control Seas"
(Mr. Hull was exactly correct, I am pretty sure that that it was no secret that Hitler did want control of the seas. That's why he had a fleet of U-Boats working toward that goal.)
Also note the report in column 3: "Italians Identify Ghost Voice as One Heard in Civil War"


October 20, 1941: Front page of The Evening Gazette, Xenia, Ohio.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
(The newspaper has incorrectly labeled this as installment X, but it is in fact VIII.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of The Nevada State Journal, Reno, Nevada.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of the San Mateo Times, San Mateo, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of the Teltower Kreisblatt, Kreis Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
1. Auf der ganzen Ostfront weiter vorwärts.
(On the whole eastern front further forward.)


October 20, 1941: Front page of the Völkischer Beobachter, the official newspaper of the NSDAP.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Hafenstadt Taganrog in deutscher Hand.
(Port city of Taganrog in German hands.)
2. Unaufhaltsam gegen den Donez.
(Unstoppable against the Donetz.)



   
Page published October 20, 2022