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Major Battles of WWII
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Battle of Stalingrad
Date: 23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943; Significance: Turning point on the Eastern Front; Soviet victory marked the beginning of the decline of the Axis powers.
Battle of Britain
Date: 10 July – 31 October 1940; Significance: First major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces; a British victory that prevented a German invasion.
Pearl Harbor Attack
Date: 7 December 1941; Significance: Surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy; led to the United States' formal entry into WWII.
D-Day (Battle of Normandy)
Date: 6 June 1944; Significance: Largest amphibious invasion in history; opened a second front against the Germans and led to the liberation of France.
Battle of Midway
Date: 4–7 June 1942; Significance: Turning point in the Pacific Theater; the U.S. Navy decisively defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Battle of the Bulge
Date: 16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945; Significance: Last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front; ultimately unsuccessful and depleted Germany's reserves.
Battle of Kursk
Date: 5 July – 23 August 1943; Significance: Largest tank battle in history; Soviet victory confirmed their ability to regain territories.
Battle of El Alamein
Date: 23 October – 11 November 1942; Significance: Decisive Allied victory that turned the tide in the North African campaign.
Battle of Iwo Jima
Date: 19 February – 26 March 1945; Significance: Iconic battle of the Pacific campaign; Allied forces captured the island from Japan, which was a strategic air base.
Battle of Guadalcanal
Date: 7 August 1942 – 9 February 1943; Significance: First major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan; marked a turning point in the Pacific theater.
Operation Market Garden
Date: 17–25 September 1944; Significance: Ambitious airborne operation meant to secure bridges in the Netherlands; ultimately a failure for the Allies.
Battle of Leyte Gulf
Date: 23–26 October 1944; Significance: Considered to be the largest naval battle of WWII; resulted in the decisive defeat of the Japanese Navy.
Siege of Leningrad
Date: 8 September 1941 – 27 January 1944; Significance: Prolonged military blockade by the Axis; one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history.
Battle of Monte Cassino
Date: 17 January – 18 May 1944; Significance: Series of four assaults by the Allies against the Winter Line in Italy held by Axis forces; costly but eventually successful.
Battle of the Atlantic
Date: September 1939 – May 1945; Significance: Longest continuous military campaign in WWII; involved the Allied naval blockade of Germany, extensive convoy system, and U-boat warfare.
Battle of the Coral Sea
Date: 4–8 May 1942; Significance: Major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia, considered the world's first aircraft carrier battle.
Battle of Okinawa
Date: 1 April – 22 June 1945; Significance: The largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War during WWII; provided a staging area for the planned invasion of Japan.
Operation Barbarossa
Date: 22 June – 5 December 1941; Significance: Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union; largest military operation in human history in both manpower and casualties.
Battle of Berlin
Date: 16 April – 2 May 1945; Significance: One of the final battles of the European theatre during WWII; led to the capture of the German capital by the Soviet Union.
Battle of Anzio
Date: 22 January – 5 June 1944; Significance: Allied amphibious landing in Italy that bypassed German defenses in the Winter Line; led to the eventual capture of Rome.
Battle of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
Date: 26 May – 4 June 1940; Significance: Evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, France; allowed for the rescue of hundreds of thousands of troops.
Battle of the Philippine Sea
Date: 19–20 June 1944; Significance: Decisive naval air battle; the US Navy inflicted irreparable damage on the Japanese carrier fleet.
Battle of the River Plate
Date: 13 December 1939; Significance: First naval battle in WWII; decisive Allied victory that led to the scuttling of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee.
Battle for Caen
Date: 6 June – 15 August 1944; Significance: Major battle of the Normandy campaign; high casualties but strategic Allied victory as it led to the breakout from Normandy.
Battle of Gazala
Date: 26 May – 21 June 1942; Significance: Part of the Western Desert Campaign in North Africa; Axis victory that saw the capture of Tobruk.
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