The main battles of the second world war

17/02/2021

17/02/2021

Battle of Brody: June 1941

Hi**er's plan to attack Soviet Russia was called Operation Barbarossa, and it sure looked insane on paper given the Russian numerical superiority and the ignominious history of enemy forces invading Russia. Hi**er, however, believed the Blitzkrieg was unstoppable, and the Battle of Brody in western Ukraine would prove him right—for a time. Seven hundred and fifty German panzers faced four times as many Russian tanks. But the Russian air force had been annihilated on the ground and the German Stukas were able to dominate the area. In addition to destroying tanks, they targeted Russian fuel and ammunition supplies and disrupted communications. The confused Russian forces were completely out manoeuvred and their numerical superiority made no difference.

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Battle of Britain: July—October 1940

By late 1940 Britain faced the threat of a German invasion, but the incursion would succeed only with air superiority. What followed was the first major campaign fought by opposing air forces. For four months the German Luftwaffe carried out attacks on British airfields, radar stations, and aircraft factories, and bombed British cities, too. But the Stukas proved too vulnerable to being intercepted and the Germans couldn't mass enough planes to defeat the fighter pilots of the Royal Air Force in their Hurricanes and Spitfires. Heavy casualties forced the Luftwaffe to scale down operations. Hi**er's invasion plans were put on hold indefinitely.

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Battle of Sedan: May 1940

When Britain and France declared war on Germany following the N**i invasion of Poland, many expected that war to be a retread of the infantry tactics actions of WWI. That line of thinking clearly led to the French strategy of constructing the heavy concrete fortifications of the Maginot Line. Those expectations where shattered in May 1940 when the Germans launched a fast-paced "Blitzkreig" ("lightning war") spearheaded by Panzer tanks. Lacking heavy artillery, the Germans attacked French positions at Sedan with massed Stuka dive bombers. The intense air assault quickly demoralized the defenders and the German forces easily broke through. France fell soon afterwards.

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Battle of the Bulge: December 1944—January 1945

Following the D-Day invasion of June 1944, the Allies broke out of Normandy and advanced rapidly across France and Belgium. Hi**er aimed to halt them by a surprise Blitzkrieg. Several armored divisions massed in the Ardennes with the goal of breaking through Allied lines. American forces held on stubbornly in spite of heavy casualties— more than 19,000 died. The Germans had limited supplies and could only fight for few days to before fuel and ammunition ran out, so the offensive soon ran out of steam. Allied lines bulged but did not break, and hundreds of thousands of reinforcements poured into the area. Afterwards Germany lacked resources for another offensive and the end was inevitable.

10/02/2021

Battle of Monte Cassino: January—May 1944

After Anzio, the Germans occupied defensive positions known as the Winter Line, consisting of bunkers, barbed wire, minefields and ditches. The four successive Allied assaults on these positions became known as the Battle of Monte Cassino. The fight resembled a WW1 battle, with artillery bombardments preceding bloody infantry assaults on fixed positions. Success was bought at the cost of more than 50,000 casualties on the Allied side. Today, the battle is mainly remembered for the destruction of the abbey of Monte Cassino (which was sheltering civilians) by more than a hundred B-17 Flying Fortresses, when the Allies mistakenly believed the abbey to be a German artillery observation position.

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Battle of Anzio - January to June 1944

The Allies invaded Italy in 1943 but by 1944 had progressed only as far as the Gustav Line south of Rome. So the Allies staged a massive amphibious operation to force the defenders to split their forces or be surrounded, but quick success depended on a rapid break-out from the beachhead. Some 36,000 men landed to the enemy's considerable surprise, but while the Allies consolidated, the Germans surrounded the area with equivalent forces and dug defensive positions. After heavy fighting and failed advances, in February the Allies were pushed back almost to the beachhead. It took more than 100,000 more reinforcements and five months of fighting to finally break out of Anzio.

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Battle of Iwo Jima: February—March 1945

The Battle of Iwo Jima is an iconic event, thanks largely due to Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the American flag being raised. But military analysts still argue whether the island's limited strategic value justified the costly action. Twenty thousand Japanese defenders were dug in to an elaborate system of bunkers, caves, and tunnels. The attack was preceded by a massive naval and air bombardment lasting several days covering the entire island. Although outnumbered five to one and with no prospect of victory, the Japanese put up strong resistance and virtually none surrendered. Many positions could be cleared only out by hand grenades and flamethrowers, including the fearsome M4A3R3 Sherman "Zippo" flamethrower tanks.

06/02/2021

Battle of Crete: May 1941

One of the most audacious operations in the German conquest of Europe was the air assault on the Greek island of Crete, the first action in which paratroopers were dropped in large numbers. Crete was defended by British and Greek forces who had some success against the lightly armed German soldiers jumping out of the sky. However, delays and communication failures between Allies allowed the Germans to capture the vital airfield at Maleme and fly in reinforcements. Once the N**is gained air superiority, landings by sea followed. The Allies surrendered after two weeks of fighting.

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The Siege of Leningrad: September 1941—January 1944

The Siege of Leningrad, also known as “the 900 day siege” since it nearly lasted that long (in actuality, it lasted 872 days) occurred when German and Finnish forces surrounded Leningrad and took over the city. The Soviet government had its citizenry work on building fortifications throughout the city although the area was almost entirely encircled by invading forces by November. The siege claimed more than 650,000 Soviet lives in a single year alone due to starvation, disease, and shelling.

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Battle of Narva: February—August 1944

This Battle of Narva is not to be confused with the other Battle of Narva that occurred between 1700-1721 during The Great Northern War (although both were fought in Narva, Estonia). The WWII Battle of Narva saw Germany and the Leningrad Front vying to control Narva Isthmus. The battle consisted of two phases: the Battle for Narva Bridgehead and the Battle of Tannenberg Line; the USSR—Stalin in particular—wanted to take control of Estonia and use strategic locations in the country to attack Finland and Prussia via sea and air. German forces held their own and hampered the USSR’s attempts to build a stronghold in Narva. Both sides lost more than 500,000 soldiers combined.

06/02/2021