On this day, October 20, 1941, 2,778 Serbian, Jewish and Roma civilians in Kragujevac in German-occupied Serbia.
In early October Communist Partisans under Tito, and Serbian Chetniks under Draza Mihajlovic, attacked German forces near Gornji Milanovac, killing 10 and wounding 26. The Kragujevac massacre was a German reprisal for their losses in that battle.
The civilians arrested were teachers, students, Jews, and any others who had been captured in the German round-up. A whole generation of high school students was taken directly from their classes. The executions started at 6 pm on the following day. People were shot in groups of 400. The shootings continued into the next day, at a lesser pace.