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Period: to
World War II
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The Battle of the Atlanic
The German blockade failed and was a strategic victory for the Allies.
This battle in Churchill’s thoughts was the longest, largest and most complex naval battle in history. This was because Britain is an island country that needed to bring its’ supplies with it which was a problem for them when they had to rely on the U.S. for supplies. But they ended up winning anyway. -
Battle of Dunkirk
Significance: 338,226 British troops were evacuated from Dunkirk by 700 different vessels
Summary: From May 25th to June 3rd, British troops were evacuated under German fire from the air and the ground -
Battle of Britain
Significance: Huge British losses: 23,002 dead and 32,138 wounded; Germany failed to destroy British industry; increased American anti-Nazi opinion
Summary: German forces blasted Britain for months with hopes of crushing British spirit to force neutrality or invade, but Britain wouldn’t surrender and the battle was eventually declared a British win. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The U.S. joins the battle by declaring war on Japan.
Japanese aircrafts bomb Pearl Harbor and destroy eight enormous battleships along with 200 aircrafts. Afterwards American joined the war. -
The Battle of Coral Sea
New type of warfare and the use of tactic and strategy
U.S. and Australia versus the Japanese. There was heavy damage to the submarines and aircrafts which forced both sides to retreat. Yorktown was damages and Tulagi was conquered by Japan before either side had ended battle and retreated. -
Battle of Midway
Significance: ended the threat of further Japanese invasion in the Pacific; Americans were outnumbered and still did more damage
Summary: American code-breaking helped determine Japanese advancements before they were made; Americans took out four carriers, only losing one; American victory -
First Battle of El Alamein
- First Battle: July 1942 - Significance: Halted Axis advance on Alexandria - Summary: Rommel attacked Allied line near El Alamein in Africa, Allies countered twice but were not successful, ended up as a stalemate. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
The battle had stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked a turning point for the Allies
The battle had a mix of citizen and military deaths which made it the most bloody battle to defend the Soviet Union. -
Battle of Guadalcanal
Significance: this battle was the Allies’ first major offensive in the Pacific; marked a turning point in the Allies’ favor in the Pacific
Summary: series of land and sea clashes on and around Guadalcanal; American troops surprised Japan by taking an airfield and Japanese troops could not retrieve it -
Second Battle of El Alamein
Date: October-November 1942
Significance: Operation Bertram (preparations before battle made by British to deceive Axis concerning date and time of battle) helped British gain victory; also led to General Montgomery’s reputation of being careful and overcautious in his plans
Summary: Allies unsuccessful in south, so Montgomery concentrated on north. Rommel came back to participate in battle October 25; forces significantly reduced by Montgomery’s planning (especially tanks), b -
Operation Torch
Date: November 8th - 10th 1942
Significance: France fought against Allies; caused Hitler to order Operation Anton and occupy Vichy France; allowed Allies to eventually drive Axis from Northern Africa in May, 1943
Summary: British and American forces fought for Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers against the French, who they thought would be their allies; they captured Casablanca, Oran and Algiers -
Invasion of Palermo (Italy)
Date: 9-10 July 1943 - Aug 17
Significance: Part of invasion of Sicily; paved the way for Allied invasion of Italy; Mussolini also removed as dictator during this time
Summary: Both airborne and seaborne attacks on both sides, Palermo captured quickly to create main supply base for Allies. -
Invasion of Sicily (Air Assaults)
Date: 9-10 July - 17 August 1943
Significance: Both US and Britain air forces were blown off course by strong winds and were scattered throughout Sicily and failed to reach planned landing points. However, they simply carried on as they had intended, creating chaos throughout Sicily by attacking vital points.
Summary: Britain and US blown off course, but a platoon of South Staffordshire Regiment managed to land on point and capture Ponte Grande, bridge south of Syracuse intending -
The Battle of Monte Cassino
This battle was the longest and bloodiest that has multi-faced battles.
There was a total of four battles that involved the UK, US, France, Poland, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa against German and the other half of France. Battle was mostly Germany hold their line till they gave up and retreated but the Allied suffered a great cost because of it. -
The Battle of Normandy
Significance: Allowed Allies to bring war to German land
Summary: Combined Canadian, French, British, and American forces under the command of General Montgomery landed at several points along the Normandy coastline in France. -
Battle of the Philippine Sea
Date: June 19-20, 1944
Significance: Nicknamed “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”; US lost 123 planes and gunned down 315 Japanese planes; major carrier battle
Summary: Japanese launched morning air search patrols and found US carriers; large number of Japanese aircraft would be shot down for every US plane (a repeated pattern through battle); US submarine attacks took out two major Japanese carriers -
Battle of Guam
Date: July 21 - August 10, 1944
Significance: Americans reclaimed island of Guam
Summary: The Americans fought Japan to reclaim Guam, which was originally U.S. territory. -
Philippines Campaign
Date: October 20, 1944 - August 15, 1945
Significance: Resulted in deposition of Second Philippine Republic and subsequent liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese
Summary: American and Filipino campaign to expel Japanese from Philippines, included Battles of Leyte, Mindoro, and Luzon, Japan showed no sign of surrender although they were losing badly; major Japanese officials had to visit in person to inform forces that they were to surrender -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
Significance: destroyed a lot of Japan’s fleet, ending Japanese ability to move resources; permitted US invasion of the Philippines, and reinforced the Allies’ control of the Pacific
Summary: US amphibious assault on Leyte, a central island of the Philippines; Ally victory; Japan lost four carriers -
Battle of the Bulge
16 December 1944 - 25 January 1945
Significance: Named by the press because of how the Allied line bulged on the map; German losses helped reduce length of war; in reply to German invitation to surrender, General Anthony McAuliffe sent paper reply with one word, “NUTS!”, written on it
Summary: German offensive campaign straight through Ardennes forest as surprise attack on Allies, but completely outran their supply lines. Germans retreated on January 13 with over 60,000 men lost. -
The Battle of Dresden
To increase morality of the war.
The British and U.S. dropped 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs on Dresden killing between 22,700 to 25,000 citizens. The Germans were going to uses this as a way to get out of the western front and the British intellectual circle became uneasy. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Significance: Iwo Jima was a part of Japanese homeland for over 600 years; the action of placing the American flag in the ground there, captured by a photographer, became an inspiration to troops and civilians in America; over a quarter of the medals of honor given to marines in WWII were for conduct in this battle
Summary: American troops stormed the heavily guarded island and tried two different tactics before gaining the upper hand; Japanese troops were instructed to die taking Americans out. -
The Bombing of Toyko
Date: 1942-1945 (series of successive air raids that escalated in power)
Significance: Operation Meetinghouse air raid of March 1945 on Tokyo was considered most destructive firebombing in history
Summary: Air raids on Japan continued from small scale “Doolittle Raid” in April 1942 to raids of Meetinghouse scale in August 1945 (date Japan finally surrendered). -
Battle of Okinawa
Date:1 April- 22 June 1945
Significance: Japanese ships sunk, most notably the Yamato (best Japanese warship ever built, sunk by American air power) and the Tsushima-maru (Japanese evacuation ship sunk by US submarine, many schoolchildren killed). Largest sea-and-air battle in history.
Summary: Mostly amphibious and air assault, but there was a land campaign; island taken on June 21
