OCTOBER 10 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

OCTOBER 10

1941

Wehrmacht forces attacked Moscow.  The Second and Third Panzer Groups of the German army converged at Vyazma on this day and encircled the environs of Moscow.  Four Soviet armies (the 19th, 20th, 24th and 32nd) were encircled in a large pocket just west of the city but continued to fight the Germans. The Wehrmacht had to dispatch 28 divisions in an effort to eliminate Soviet resistance. However, the use of these reinforcements seriously depleted the offensive towards Moscow.  Ultimately, the Germans failed in their objective to take Moscow. Hitler was so furious that he dismissed his commander-in-chief, Walther von Brauchitsch (on December 19, 1941). 

1944

MESSAGE TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT FROM MARSHAL STALIN AND PRIME MINISTER CHURCHILL (no.331)  "In an informal discussion we have taken a preliminary view of the situation as it affects us and have planned out the course of our meetings, social and others. We have invited Messrs Mikolajczyk, Romer and Grabski to come at once for further conversations with us and with the Polish National Committee.   We have agreed not to refer in our discussions to the Dumbarton Oaks issues, and that these shall be taken up when we three can meet together. We have to consider the best way of reaching an agreed policy about the Balkan countries, including Hungary and Turkey......." CHURCHILL  (and) STALIN  (October 10, 1944)

Gypsy Children Gassed to Death:   On October 10, 1944 the Nazi Germans systematically murdered 800 Gypsy children. - about a hundred children between the ages of nine and fourteen years old. Though Jews were singled out for extermination, the Gypsies were also targeted. The Nazi Germans considered the Gypsies as "carriers of disease" and "unreliable" to do any work.  During the war about 1.5 million Gypsies were murdered by the Nazis. Even after the end of World War Two, the Gypsies were disregarded when they tried to obtain compensation as victims of the Holocaust.  The German government denied them on the grounds that the Gypsies were not victimized because of their race, but that they were considered criminal elements.