Well...most of the Major Battles
As is the case with the war as a whole, there is simply not enough time to really go over all of the major battles. We will mainly be focusing on the ones which either had a significant impact on the countries who fought, or were turning points in the conflict. Importantly, we will also discuss some battle strategies, in order to understand why countries chose to fight where they did during engagements. Remember, World War II lasted from 1939-1945, and there was almost constant fighting somewhere that entire time, including battlefields in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Pacific. That is a lot of military history to cover, and having a thorough understanding of geography, as well as of political motives, will be vital to understanding the scope of the conflict.
The Axis Powers mainly had the upper-hand until about the end of 1942, though they definitely suffered some bad defeats at the hands of the Allies prior to that. Until the United States and the Soviet Union joined the war on the Allied side, Germany and Italy dominated the battlefield in Europe, and Japan had mainly free reign over China and much of the Pacific. The tide of the war would dramatically turn against them though as time went on.
The Axis Powers mainly had the upper-hand until about the end of 1942, though they definitely suffered some bad defeats at the hands of the Allies prior to that. Until the United States and the Soviet Union joined the war on the Allied side, Germany and Italy dominated the battlefield in Europe, and Japan had mainly free reign over China and much of the Pacific. The tide of the war would dramatically turn against them though as time went on.
Battles
The Fall of France (May-June, 1940)After what is nicknamed the "Phoney War" (October 1939-April, 1940), where neither side really attacked each other, Hitler ordered German troops to invade France and the Low Countries. France's defenses were made up of a series of bunkers called the Maginot Line, something built following the First World War. The problem with this line, however, was that the defenses did not go all the way from Switzerland to the English Channel, because the French did not want to offend Belgium, who was neutral.
Unfortunately, this made it an easy exercise for the Germans to invade through Belgium (ignoring their neutrality), and bypass these defenses altogether. The Germans tried to do this in the previous war as well, but with the new technologies available to them, they were able to punch through the less-equipped French and British armies and expand deep into France this time around. After a little over a month of fighting, Germans soldiers were marching through the streets of Paris, a defeat which was impossible to fathom for the Allies. A week later, on June 22, 1940, what was left of the French government surrendered to Nazi Germany. In a cruel irony, the French were forced to sign an armistice in the same train car which the Germans were forced to sign in when they lost after WWI. This armistice partitioned France into three sections: the North being governed by Germany, the south by a puppet government called "Vichy France," and a small southeastern area that was given to Italy. With France out of the war, the only country left to fight Germany in Europe was Great Britain, a country which could not hope to defeat the entire German Army alone. In the meantime, France would remain under Nazi occupation for four more years, until the Allies were able to liberate the country in 1944. The Bombing of Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)For over two years, the United States had remained neutral in World War II, even though they were helping the Allies economically and militarily by sending money, ships, and supplies to England the entire time. It was not until the Bombing of Pearl Harbor that the United States officially entered the war on the Allied side.
Due to Japanese aggression in Asia, the U.S. cut off oil shipments to Japan, which were designed to cripple their ability to make war. The Japanese had two choices: back down, or go to war, they chose the latter. They assembled a task force made up of multiple aircraft carriers, and secretly headed for Hawaii, where the United States Fleet was at anchor. On Sunday, December 7, 1941, Japan launched two torpedo and bombing raids on the U.S. Fleet. The plan was fairly simple, destroy the entire U.S. Pacific Fleet. That way, the U.S. would be unable to respond to the territorial claims of the Japanese in Asia and the Pacific, and would sue for peace. They would be powerless to stop their army and navy after the loss of so many ships. Japan's attack was devastating: their force sunk about 20 American ships, including every single battleship, destroyed around 300 planes, severely damaged dry docks and airfields, and killed almost 2,500 soldiers and civilians. Even with so much destruction though, the Japanese failed to cripple the Pacific Fleet. They called off a third wave which would have hit the oil fields, shipyards, repair facilities, and submarine docks, so the Americans were able to salvage or repair almost every ship the Japanese damaged during the attack. Most importantly, out of a stroke of luck, the American aircraft carriers were not in Pearl Harbor at the time as they usually would be. Some were back on the West Coast, and others were delivering planes to Midway and Wake Islands. As a result, the attack ultimately proved a complete failure, because battleships had already become less important than aircraft carriers by this point, as was proven by how the Japanese attacked in the first place. By not damaging the carriers, oil fields, or repair facilities, the U.S. Fleet recovered fairly quickly. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on the Japanese Empire, and when they did, their allies Germany and Italy declared war on the United States in response. Great Britain had a new ally in Europe (Russia had joined 6 months earlier), and the United States had entered World War II. Battle of Stalingrad (July 1942-February, 1943)After the failure to defeat Britain, the Axis consolidated their control over Eastern Europe by invading any countries they had not already taken, including Yugoslavia, and Greece. With the continued need for oil, raw materials, and more land for growing food, in order to supply a modern industrialized military, Hitler made plans to invade the Soviet Union, despite having a non-aggression pact with them. (It also helped that Hitler hated communism, and wanted to destroy the concept.)
This is why, on June 22, 1941, Hitler ordered over three million German soldiers, and three thousand tanks into Soviet territory. This was the largest land invasion in history. For over a year, German forces defeated the Russians as they moved farther into the country, but their progress was slowed during the Russian winter. In 1942, Hitler wanted to regain the initiative by punching through the Soviet lines and taking Stalingrad, a large industrial center in southern Russia. From here, the Germans could seize the vital oil fields in the Caucasus, and use it to fuel their tanks. There was one further reason why Hitler wanted to take the city: Stalingrad was the only city to bear the Soviet dictator's name. The German Army was expecting a quick victory when they entered the city in September, 1942, but the Russians had built up their defenses and the attack ground to a halt. For months, the battle was fought not one street at a time, but there was fighting for different floors of the same building. This was a kind of urban warfare that the Germans had no experience with, and it turned into a bloody stalemate. The Russians eventually surrounded the city with reinforcements, but Hitler refused to let his forces fight their way back to German lines. When the Russian winter set in again during December and January, it became virtually impossible to get supplies in to the German Army, and the troops began to starve and run desperately low on ammunition. Finally, in early February, the Sixth Army surrendered to the Russians, the first German field army to do so. The Soviet victory at Stalingrad was an enormous humiliation for Hitler, who had talked about a victory, and made the German people believe in its importance. After this, Hitler became extremely distrustful of his generals, and started to make more military decisions on his own. For Stalin, on the other hand, the victory gave a huge boost of confidence to the Russian military, and helped them to continue to fight back. The Germans were no longer seen as invincible. After Stalingrad, the Germans were mainly on the defensive on the Eastern Front for the remainder of the war, and the Russians began to slowly push them back to Berlin. Battle of the Bulge (December 16, 1944- January 25, 1945) The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive of the war. They were losing extremely quickly, and needed a way to find a victory again. Many Germans realized that their defeat was imminent, and pressured the leadership to make peace with the Allies before it was too late. Unfortunately, Hitler had other plans, and still felt that the war was winnable. He ordered that all of the remaining best troops and tanks, along with almost the last of Germany's fuel reserves, to attack a small "Bulge" the Allies had made in the German lines, in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. The goal was to break through to Antwerp (the main shipping port in the area), and split the Allied armies in two.
This part of the American line was mainly manned by new soldiers and other units who were recovering from massive casualties taken in other battles, so the line was spread pretty thin. Furthermore, no one felt that the Germans had another offensive in them with their supplies running so low, much less trying to use tanks in such a heavily forested area that was covered in deep snow. Nevertheless, Hitler ordered three armies to attack on December 16, 1944. The Americans forces in the area were nearly annihilated by the German advance, and were completely taken by surprise. The only veteran unit close enough, the 101st Airborne Division, was rushed in to defend the city of Bastogne, which was a crucial crossroads city in the area. Even though the Germans made considerable headway towards the Meuse River and Antwerp, the 101st Airborne barely clung to life in Bastogne, and managed to hold the German Army up for long enough, that General Patton's Third Army was able to swing north and punch a hole in the German lines to relieve the 101st on December 26. By late January, the American army pushed the Germans back to where they started and shattered their offensive, but not before the Germans had done their damage. The Battle of the Bulge was the costliest battle ever fought in history by the U.S. Army, and they suffered over 100,000 casualties, and the second highest number of American troops to ever surrender in the war. In February, 1945, the Allies launched a massive attack along the entire Western Front and broke the back of the German Army. What was left retreated to the Siegfried Line (the defensive installations on the German border). The last of the Germans reserves of men and fuel were gone, and what remained of the Luftwaffe was utterly destroyed. After this battle, the Germans had almost nothing left, and the end was in sight. In fact, only a few months later, Adolf Hitler committed suicide and the German Army officially surrendered to the Allies on May 8, 1945. The Allies would celebrate V-E Day, or Victory in Europe Day. The war in Europe was over. |
Battle of Britain (July-October, 1940)Once France had been defeated, Great Britain stood alone in Europe as the only Allied Power left. Many politicians wanted to make peace with Hitler, because they knew they could not defeat Germany in the shape they were in. The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, however, was able to convince the country to remain in the war, despite the hardships.
In response, the German Luftwaffe (Air Force), began a bombing campaign in England. Their objective was to achieve air superiority over the English skies, and clear a path for what would ultimately be a German landing operation. It was up to the Royal Air Force (RAF) to stop the Luftwaffe, a difficult task considering they had far fewer planes and pilots. Britain had one advantage though, they had radar installations all over England which could detect the German planes coming almost as soon as they took off from airfields in France. Additionally, Germany had poor intelligence of English vulnerabilities, and could not effectively organize attacks on specific locations. This is why, even though the Luftwaffe did considerable damage to English radar sites and RAF airbases, they could not achieve air superiority. Germany then resorted to heavily bombing London and English cities, hoping to scare civilians into forcing the English government to leave the war, but this failed too. The Luftwaffe lost more bombers and air crews than they could replace, because of how effective the RAF had become within a couple of months. Coupled with these losses, British bombing raids on Berlin, and a weakened navy after attacking Norway, Hitler was forced to suspend the Battle of Britain, and withdraw his planes. This was the first major Allied victory in World War II, and gave many people hope that Germany could ultimately be defeated. It also ensured that Germany could never land an army on English shores. The Battle of Midway (June 3-6, 1942)Six months after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese knew that their position would remain unsecured as long as the American aircraft carriers were still afloat. They had to destroy them as soon as possible, or else possibly lose the war. Admiral Yamamoto, who was leading most of the Japanese Navy, decided to attack Midway Island, fairly close to Pearl Harbor, in order to draw out the American Fleet, and crush the carriers they failed to in December.
They planned to surprise the Americans when they came to the assistance of their garrison on Midway Island, but they were unaware of one important event, however: the American military had broken the Japanese Naval Code. This is why the U.S. knew exactly when and where the Japanese were planning to attack, and Admiral Nimitz, head of the Pacific Fleet, placed every American carrier available in a position to surprise the Japanese instead. American scout planes found the Japanese Fleet on June 4, and over the next two days, the first battle in which the entire engagement was fought solely by carrier-based aircraft raged. The Japanese were able to sink the American carrier U.S.S. Yorktown, as well as a destroyer, but their own losses were far more serious. American dive bombers had a chance encounter where Japanese fighters were not in the air, and their attack planes were refueling and rearming on their decks, making them extremely vulnerable. Japanese carriers Kaga, Akagi, and Soryu were all hit by bombs, which ignited ammunition and fuel all over their ships. Three of Japan's best carriers were sunk within hours. In a final attack on June 5, American planes destroyed the other main carrier Hiryu, as well as a Japanese heavy cruiser. In addition to the ships, the Americans destroyed 322 aircraft and killed over five thousand Japanese sailors. This was a devastating loss for Japan. Many airmen survived, but the deaths of so many trained mechanics and aircraft ground crews, left the Japanese naval air forces heavily damaged. Instead of wiping out the American carriers, they ended up losing their entire task force, which the Japanese simply could not replace, while the U.S. could replace the loss of one carrier fairly easily. Midway was an enormous turning point in the Pacific Theater, a battle in which the momentum of the war shifted in favor of the United States. Japan moved into a more defensive, rather than offensive position for the remainder of the war, and the Americans had their revenge on ships which attacked them at Pearl Harbor. The Normandy Invasion (June 6, 1944)Since the Battle of Stalingrad, the Russians were mainly fighting on their own in Europe. British and American forces were fighting in North Africa, and had invaded Italy, but they were doing little to really crush the Nazi fighting force, and Stalin constantly urged the Allies to open up a second front with the Germans, to ease their casualties on the Eastern Front. After a great deal of planning and organizing, American, British, Canadian, and other Allied troops thrust across the English Channel and landed in Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. It was one of the largest amphibious assaults in history.
Allied casualties were extremely high, and it was difficult to gain a beachhead on one of the most fortified places on Earth. Eventually though, the Germans were unable to push the Allied forces back into their landing zones, and they eventually broke through into France. Within a month, all of northern France had been liberated from Axis control, and the rest of France would soon follow suit. The landings at Normandy signaled the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. Hitler was fighting a war on almost three fronts. He was being crushed in Western Europe by the Allies, in the East by Russia, and Italy had removed Mussolini from power almost a year before, and had effectively stopped fighting the Allies, leaving the German forces there to fight on their own. Additionally, by this time, Allied air raids on Berlin and other major German cities and industrial centers were nearly constant every single day. The German Army was being choked for the supplies they needed, against an enemy who could resupply their forces with new weapons and soldiers at will. Germany was losing the war, fast. The Battle of Iwo Jima (February 19-March 16, 1945)With the war in Europe just about over by this point, the Americans were eager to end the war in the Pacific as quickly as possible too. Iwo Jima was not the last major battle in the Pacific, but it had a symbolic significance: it was the first Japanese-owned territory to be taken by American forces (not just one the Japanese had taken earlier). It also had a practical purpose, the American Navy and air forces needed a base closer to Japan itself.
In February, 1945, American Marines landed on Iwo Jima. Their objective was to secure Mt. Suribachi (a dead volcano which was the only high ground on the island), along with the island's three airfields. The island was defended by about 23,000 Japanese soldiers, who fought in a system of caves, tunnels, and bunkers dug out around the island. Even though they inflicted absolutely enormous casualties on the Americans, after about a month of fighting, almost the entire garrison was wiped out. With the exception of 1,083 prisoners (two of whom did not surrender until 1951!), all Japanese defenders were killed. American losses totaled over 17,000 killed and wounded, which was a staggeringly high number. What was so important though, was that a simple photograph inspired the American people to fight on, even though so many were being killed. The famous picture of the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi, on Japanese soil, made people feel that they were making real progress, and that the end of the war was in sight. It really gave people hope for peace, after years of war and the deaths of their loved ones. After the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Japanese army and navy had been shattered, and there was little hope left for the Axis. Their defeat was on the horizon, but the Japanese continued to fight on with deadly kamikaze attacks on U.S. ships, and costly defenses of other islands closer to Japan, but their loss was a forgone conclusion by this point. |
The Dropping of the Atomic Bombs (August 6, and August 9, 1945)
World War II was in its final weeks. Germany had been defeated and all that was left to do was invade the Japanese Home Islands. The problem though, was that such an attack would probably be extremely costly in terms of soldiers and civilians on both sides, as well as the fact that the United States was still holding out hope for a Japanese surrender or negotiated peace. By this time, President Franklin Roosevelt had died unexpectedly, and Harry Truman had become President. Truman was briefed on a secret program, code named "The Manhattan Project," which had been created in response to Nazi Germany researching nuclear weapons in 1939.
This project had harnessed the power of splitting the atom to create a devastating weapon, called the Atomic Bomb. Such a weapon was unimaginable at the time, a single bomb could level an entire city, and leave any survivors with radiation poisoning. Though there were many moral questions that using such a weapon raised, Truman realized that if the American public ever found out that he had a weapon which could have ended the war with no further U.S. casualties, there would have been a country-wide riot. This is why President Truman gave the order to use the two atomic bombs that the Manhattan Project had already created.
The first bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy," was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, a manufacturing center in southern Japan. The bomb exploded 2,000 feet above the city with the force of 12-15,000 tons of TNT. Its blast wiped out 90% of the city, and immediately killed 80,000 people. Thousands more would eventually die of radiation exposure. It was hoped that this attack would scare the Japanese into surrendering, but the Emperor and military refused.
Three days later, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man," on Nagasaki, a mountainous city in southwestern Japan. Even though this bomb was bigger than the last one, the mountains limited the bomb's impact. Despite there being less overall damage, this bomb killed another 40,000 Japanese, and left the city in ruins. It was this devastation that finally forced Japan's hand.
In a radio address on August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito unconditionally surrendered to the Allies. As the news spread, celebrations of V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day, began all over the world. There was dancing in the streets of nearly every major city on the planet, and soldiers praising the end in every corner of the globe. The war was finally over. Japan signed the formal surrender documents aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, officially bringing the war to a close.
The use of the atomic bomb left many questions though, and would ultimately help spawn a nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. World War II may have ended, but the way it ended created entirely new problems for the planet.
This project had harnessed the power of splitting the atom to create a devastating weapon, called the Atomic Bomb. Such a weapon was unimaginable at the time, a single bomb could level an entire city, and leave any survivors with radiation poisoning. Though there were many moral questions that using such a weapon raised, Truman realized that if the American public ever found out that he had a weapon which could have ended the war with no further U.S. casualties, there would have been a country-wide riot. This is why President Truman gave the order to use the two atomic bombs that the Manhattan Project had already created.
The first bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy," was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, a manufacturing center in southern Japan. The bomb exploded 2,000 feet above the city with the force of 12-15,000 tons of TNT. Its blast wiped out 90% of the city, and immediately killed 80,000 people. Thousands more would eventually die of radiation exposure. It was hoped that this attack would scare the Japanese into surrendering, but the Emperor and military refused.
Three days later, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man," on Nagasaki, a mountainous city in southwestern Japan. Even though this bomb was bigger than the last one, the mountains limited the bomb's impact. Despite there being less overall damage, this bomb killed another 40,000 Japanese, and left the city in ruins. It was this devastation that finally forced Japan's hand.
In a radio address on August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito unconditionally surrendered to the Allies. As the news spread, celebrations of V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day, began all over the world. There was dancing in the streets of nearly every major city on the planet, and soldiers praising the end in every corner of the globe. The war was finally over. Japan signed the formal surrender documents aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, officially bringing the war to a close.
The use of the atomic bomb left many questions though, and would ultimately help spawn a nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. World War II may have ended, but the way it ended created entirely new problems for the planet.