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Battle of Sedan
When Britain and France declared war on Germany following the invasion of Poland, many expected that war to be a retread of the infantry tactics of WWI which led to the heavy fortifications of the Maginot Line. Those expectations where shattered in May 1940 when the Germans launched a fast-paced "Blitzkreig" spearheaded by Panzer tanks. The Germans attacked at Sedan with massed Stuka dive bombers. The intense air assault quickly demoralized the defenders and German forces easily through. -
France, May 1940
The rapid conquest of the Low Countries and northern France in four weeks was the supreme example of German mastery of mobile warfare. The back of the French army was broken. Hitler would gain control over western Europe (and Fascist Italy entered the war). Everything else in 1940–45 was a consequence of this victory. The German blunder of allowing the British Expeditionary Force to escape through Dunkirk was also significant; Britain would remain a threat, and Hitler’s victory was incomplete. -
Battle of the Atlantic, 1940-1943
German U-boat packs aimed to blockade Europe causing merchant ships to form large convoys, protected by screens of destroyers and corvettes. Daring U-Boat commanders carried out torpedo attacks within the defensive screen. In the end, the Battle of the Atlantic was eventually won by technology. Radar to detect U-Boats from the surface, radio interception, and code-breaking all played a part. By the end of the war more than 3,000 merchant ships had been sunk, as well as almost 800 U-Boats. -
Battle of Britain, August–September 1940
The Luftwaffe mounted mass daytime raids against RAF bases and later London, hoping to gain air superiority and force Britain to make peace. British public morale did not crack, high German losses forced a change in September to less effective night bombing, and the arrival of autumn weather made invasion impractical. The battle demonstrated to Germany (and the USA) that Britain would not easily surrender. The Americans sent help; Hitler decided that he needed to invade the USSR. -
Operation ‘Barbarossa’, June–July 1941
Hitler’s surprise attack on the USSR was the most devastating victory of the whole war. The Wehrmacht’s first objective was achieved: the destruction the Red Army in western Russia. ‘Barbarossa’ did not achieve the larger goal of overthrowing the Soviet system and occupying European Russia. Nevertheless, the catastrophe eventually forced the defenders to fall back 600 miles, to the outskirts of Leningrad and Moscow. The Red Army had to be rebuilt and Germany would remain until autumn 1944. -
Moscow, December 1941
The successful Red Army surprise counter-offensive in front of Moscow began on 5 December. The Russians would have bad defeats later, and the Germans would suffer much greater losses at Stalingrad in 1942–43. But the setback at Moscow meant that the Blitzkrieg strategy of Hitler and his generals had failed; the USSR would not be knocked out of the war in just a few months. The northern and central parts of the Soviet front now held firm. And the Third Reich could not win a war of attrition. -
Pearl Harbor
Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Wake and Guam -
Doolittle Raids
First carrier based bombing of Japanese home island. Continued throughout the war -
Battle of the Coral Sea
Ships never saw one another but sunk by aircrafts, strategic victory for allies. (PH, DW, YZ, HL) -
Aleutian Island Campaign
Japanese invasion of Island of Kiska and Atu. Japanese occupy islands. -
Battle of Midway
Japanese carried based fleet sent to attack Midway. Intended to surprise Americans, but American code breakers had prior knowlede and set an ambush. american carriers and land based planes sink all four Japanese heavy carriers. Japan never again assembles another carrier feat, never able to fully replace losses at Midway, while U.S grows more powerful and refines wartime productions strategies. -
The Battle of Guadalcanal
First major U.S offensive, first battle in a U.S "island hopping" campaign. -
Operation ‘Torch’, November 1942
‘Torch’ was the first successful strategic offensive, and American troops crossed the Atlantic for the first time. Victory in Tunisia, the invasion of Sicily and the Italian surrender followed. But ‘Torch’ and the Mediterranean strategy, urged by the British and accepted by Roosevelt, meant ultimately that there would be no cross-Channel landing in 1943. The battle of Alamein, fought later that November, was much bloodier and a decisive British victory, but ‘Torch’ had a deeper significance. -
The Allied Assault and Capture of Medjez El Bab
The Allies lead an assault on the strategic city of Medjez El Bab and captured it on Nov. 26th, 1942 -
The Halt of The Liberation of North Africa
Despite a consistent progression, the Allied Forces were forced to put the liberation of North Africa on hiatus due to an aggressive German resistance at key joints -
Stalingrad, November 1942 to January 1943
After Stalingrad the Wehrmacht would make no further advances in the USSR. The mid-November 1942 mobile operation to cut off the city demonstrated for the first time the skill of the rebuilt Red Army. The capitulation of the Sixth Army in the Stalingrad pocket on 31 January was the first major German surrender. Both the German leadership and the population of occupied Europe realised the significance of what had happened: the Third Reich was now on the defensive. -
The Battle of Bismarck Sea
U.S. victory over Japanese by attacking their convoy that was carrying troops -
Operation Vulcan - May 1943
The final push against the last Axis strongholds in North Africa (Tunisia) -
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk (July 1943) is commonly regarded as one of the three great Soviet victories, and the first achieved in the summer (unlike Moscow and Stalingrad). Hitler’s offensive against the Kursk salient (Operation ‘Citadel’) was halted, but the Soviets suffered higher losses. -
Briansk-Orel/Belgorod-Kharkov, July-August 1943
In the counter-offensives that followed 'Kursk' - ‘Citadel’: north of Kursk (Briansk/Orel – Operation ‘Kutuzov’) and south of it (Belgorod/Kharkov – Operation ‘Polkovodets Rumiantsev’) the Red Army took and held the initiative along the whole southern front. Its advance to the Dnepr River and across the western Ukraine to the pre-war border would then continue without significant pause until February 1944. -
Operation Husky July - Aug 1943
Operation Husky was the allied invasion and liberation of Sicily from fascist Italy. -
The Official Order of Nazi Evacuation
Due to Mussolini's disposition in Rome, Hitler was forced to order an official retreat of Nazi forces due to an overwhelming Allied force. **The Official evacuation did not begin until Aug. 11th, 1943 -
Allied Capture of Sicily
The US 3rd Division gives the 'all clear" and with the Axis powers forced out, Sicily is official taken by the Allied Powers -
Operation Avalanche | Sept. 9-16, 1943
Allied invasion of Italy during the Italian Campaign. (RA, AB, KT, JB) -
Battle of El Alamein
British General Montgomery breaks Rommel's lines in North Africa effectively cementing what would become Allied supremacy in North Africa. -
Battle of Truk Island
American surprise attack on planed Japanese air base. Heavy Japanese losses. -
Big Week | Feb. 1944
Allied bombing campaign (between USA and Britain) to target German War Machine. (RA, KT, AB, JB) -
Normandy, June–July 1944
The technical complexities of putting huge, largely untried armies across the Channel and supplying them there were very great. The Germans thought that they had a good chance to repel any invasion. After D-Day Hitler chose to mount a stubborn defence of the Normandy region, and when the main breakout came, in late July, the burned-out defending forces had no option but to beat a rapid retreat to the German border. -
Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign
Allowed Americas' 29 bombers to attack Japanese mainland -
Battle of Saipan
American invasion of Island of Saipan, Marshall island chain. Neutralize Japanese bases, build american bases for later bombing campaign of Japan. -
Operation ‘Bagration’, June–July 1944
The Soviet offensive in Belorussia, three weeks after D-Day overwhelmed the Germans by the pace and uninterrupted nature of the advance – within six weeks an entire army group had been destroyed, most of Soviet territory had been liberated, and spearhead units had advanced as far as central Poland. The pressure of ‘Bagration’ aided the British-American advance from Normandy. By the end of the offensive was that the Red Army would end the war in control of all Eastern Europe. -
Operation Dragoon | Aug. 15 - Sept. 14, 1944
Allied invasion of Southern France (RA, KT, AB, JB) -
Operation Market Garden | Sept. 17-25, 1944
Failed Allied military operation against Germany in the Netherlands/Germany. (RA, AB, JB, KT) -
Philippines Campaign
American campaign to retake the Philippines. Americans take Luzon by January 1945, guerrilla fighting occurs until Japanese surrender. -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
Largest naval engagement in the history of warfare. Represents the last time IJN represents a threat to USN. After this Japanese ships never venture out of home ports. First wave of kamikaze attacks. From this point on Americans gain naval dominance over entire world. -
Battle of the Bulge | Dec. 16, 1944 - Jan. 26, 1945
Germany's final offensive advance of WWII. Germany attacked the Ardennes, taking Allied forces off guard. (RA, KT, AB, JB) -
Operation Nordwind | Dec. 31, 1944 - Jan. 25, 1945
German's major offensive on Northeastern France (Alsace and Lorraine) (RA, AB, KT, JB) -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Heavily fortified site of a Japanese airbase, took by the U.S. as a staging base for attacks on Japanese mainlands. -
Battle of Berlin - April to May 1945
To those in the West, the Battle of Berlin may seem like an afterthought. Yet it involved three quarters of a million German troops, under the command of Hitler, fought a desperate final defense against the encroaching Red Army. Like Stalingrad, the Battle of Berlin was an infantry action fought at close quarters; artillery demolished defensive strongpoints in a city already devastated by heavy bombing. Casualties were heavy, including thousands of civilians. -
Battle of Okinawa
Island of O was a key American base for nuclear bombing. American invade island, Japanese employ tactic of attrition, holing down and waiting for Americans to attack. -
Borneo Campaign
Allied invasion of Borneo -
Battle of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Two atomic bombs dropped by the U.S. (on the 6th and 9th) -
Japan surrenders
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Sources
http://www.historyextra.com/feature/second-world-war/11-most-significant-battles-second-world-war
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/g2652/most-important-battles-world-war-ii/
Keegan, John. The Second World War. Penguin; Toronto. 1990.
