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was a crucial air campaign where the British Royal Air Force (RAF) defended the UK against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe, preventing German air superiority needed for an invasion (Operation Sea Lion) and marking the first major defeat for the German air force. -
a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii -
was a brutal, decisive WWII clash where Nazi Germany tried to seize the city from the Soviets, but fierce urban fighting, harsh winter, and a massive Soviet counteroffensive (Operation Uranus) encircled the German Sixth Army, leading to its catastrophic surrender -
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. -
an Allied invasion of French North Africa during World War II. -
was a decisive Soviet victory on the Eastern Front of World War II, marking the largest tank battle in history. Germany launched an offensive, Operation Citadel, to cut off a Soviet salient, but the Soviets, having prepared extensive defenses, repulsed the attack -
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord -
The Germans created a "bulge" in the Allied front line in the Ardennes Forest in an attempt to split Allied forces and capture their supplies -
a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States Navy (USN) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima -
a brutal, prolonged, and costly Allied victory, serving as the last major battle of World War II before the invasion of Japan, featuring intense fighting, massive casualties (including huge civilian losses for Okinawans), widespread use of kamikaze attacks, and forcing the U.S. to reconsider invading the mainland, ultimately influencing the decision to use atomic bombs instead -
Adolf Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945 after being hunted by Soviet troops storming Berlin.