of Mighty Mouse (as "Super Mouse"), was released in the United States. October 17, 1942 (Saturday) The Germans gained control of the Stalingrad Tractor Factory. Japanese destroyer Oboro was bombed and sunk northeast of Kiska by B-26 Marauders. British cargo ship Empire Chaucer was torpedoed and sunk off Cape Town, South Africa by German submarine U-504. October 18, 1942 (Sunday) Adolf Hitler issued the Commando Order stating that all Allied commandos encountered by German forces should be killed immediately without trial, even if they were in proper uniforms or attempted to surrender. U.S. Vice Admiral William Halsey, Jr. replaced Robert L. Ghormley as commander of the South Pacific area. Born: Willie Horton, baseball player, in Arno, Virginia Died: Byron Darnton, 44, American reporter and war correspondent (killed off the coast of Pongani, New Guinea by a bomb from an American B-25) October 19, 1942 (Monday) Soviet forces on the Don Front launched a new offensive. Two days of parliamentary elections concluded in Iceland following electoral reforms after the July elections. The Independence Party won a plurality in the Lower House of the Althing. Born: Andrew Vachss, crime fiction author and attorney, in New York City October 20, 1942 (Tuesday) The American cruiser USS Chester was hit by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-176 southeast of San Cristóbal, killing 11 and wounding 12. Chester was able to make it to Espiritu Santo for emergency repairs. German submarine U-216 was depth charged and sunk southwest of Ireland by a B-24 of the Royal Air Force. German submarine U-191 was commissioned. The Art of This Century gallery was opened in Manhattan by Peggy Guggenheim. Born: Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, biologist and Nobel laureate, in Magdeburg, Germany Died: May Robson, 84, Australian-born American actress October 21, 1942 (Wednesday) The German transport ship Palatia was sunk off Lindesnes, Norway by a Handley Page Hampden of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Palatia was carrying a load of prisoners of war intended for slave labour in Norway; a total of 986 people aboard perished. The Revenue Act went into effect in the United States. A B-17 carrying Eddie Rickenbacker to conduct an inspection tour of air force facilities in the Pacific and deliver a secret message to Douglas MacArthur went missing en route from Hawaii to Canton Island. The crew had gotten lost and the plane eventually ran out of fuel and went down, all aboard got