October 1-8
Mediterranean, Italy
British troops enter Naples on the 1st, and the US Fifth Army advances northward. Its move north is stopped on the 8th at the Volturno River; all the bridges have been destroyed by the retreating Germans.

October 2-11
Mediterranean, Italy
British commandos land at Termoli on the 2nd and a British brigade arrives nearby on the next night. German forces counterattack but fall back as the British take control of the town by the 11th.

October 3-4
Mediterranean, Aegean Sea
A force of 1200 German paratroopers capture Kos. Around 900 Allied and 3000 Italian troops are made prisoner. The Germans shoot 90 Italian officers for fighting against their former ally.

October 6
Mediterranean, Aegean
A German convoy bound for Leros is attacked by two British cruisers and two destroyers. Seven German transports and one escort are sunk. British vessels are also making hazardous sailings without adequate air cover to reinforce their troops on Leros.

October 9
Eastern Front, Caucasus
The Red Army reaches the Kerch Strait. This completes the liberation of the north Caucasus.

October 10-23
Eastern Front, Ukraine
Strong Red Army units continue to strengthen and expand their Dniepr bridgeheads and destroy fiercely defended German positions around Zaporozhye and Melitopol.

October 12-22
Mediterranean, Italy
US forces makes slow progress across the Volturno River and through the mountain terrain in the face of increasingly bad weather. The British Eighth Army begins advancing north across the Trigno River on the 22nd. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, the German commander-in-chief of Italy since September, has created a strong defensive system along the Garigliano and Sangro Rivers. It is known as the Gustav Line.

October 13
Politics, Italy
Marshal Pietro Badoglio's government, which has some power in southern Italy, declares war on Germany.

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