List of World War II battles

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USS Lexington explodes during the Battle of the Coral Sea. A heavy explosion on board USS Lexington (CV-2) blows an aircraft over her side, 8 May 1942 (80-G-7413).jpg
USS Lexington explodes during the Battle of the Coral Sea.
A formation of Spitfires shortly before World War II. Supermarinespitfire.JPG
A formation of Spitfires shortly before World War II.

This is a list of World War II battles encompassing land, naval, and air engagements as well as campaigns, operations, defensive lines and sieges. Campaigns generally refer to broader strategic operations conducted over a large bit of territory and over a long period. Battles generally refer to short periods of intense combat localised to a specific area and over a specific period. However, use of the terms in naming such events is not consistent. For example, the Battle of the Atlantic was more or less an entire theatre of war, and the so-called battle lasted for the duration of the entire war. Another misnomer is the Battle of Britain, which should be considered a campaign, not a battle.

Contents

Battles from 1944

1944

• Operation Ichi-Go Successful Japanese campaign to capture American air bases in China capable of sending bombers to Japan.
• Operation Rösselsprung German attempt to capture Tito using airborne troops.
• Battle of Normandy Allies invade northern France (Operation Overlord), hard fighting from Cherbourg to Caen, Germans surrounded and destroyed at Falaise.
• Battle of Saipan The battle was fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands and resulted disastrous for Japanese forces since most died.
• Second Battle of Guam American forces capture back Guam.
• Battle of Tinian American forces capture Tinian.
• Operation Bagration Soviet offensive destroys German Army Group Center on the Eastern Front.
• Battle of Philippine Sea Major carrier battle; US lose 123 planes and destroy 315 Japanese planes.
• Battle of Tali-Ihantala Finnish stop Soviet offensive.
• Warsaw Uprising 20,000 armed Poles against 55,000 Wehrmacht and SS. 90% of city destroyed, more than 250,000 casualties.
• Operation Dragoon Allied invasion of Southern France.
• Battle of Debrecen Soviets gain ground in Hungary but German and Hungarian forces manage to withdraw relatively intact after both sides suffer similar losses.
• Gothic Line offensive British 8th Army and U.S. 5th Army attempt unsuccessfully to break into the north Italian plains.
• Battle of Arnhem The major battle of Operation Market Garden; Allies reach but fail to cross the Rhine; British First Airborne Division destroyed.
• Battle of Peleliu A fight to capture an airstrip on a speck of coral in the western Pacific.
• Battle of Aachen Aachen was the first major German city to face invasion during World War II.
• Battle of the Scheldt Decisive Canadian victory, solved the logistical problems of the Allies, and opened the port of Antwerp for supplies directly to the front.
• Battle of Crucifix Hill The 18th Infantry, U.S. 1st Infantry Division take Crucifix Hill, a crucial position to help surround Aachen. Cpt. Bobbie E. Brown is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics.
• Battle of Angaur American forces capture an island in Palau.
• Battle of Hurtgen Forest Stubborn German defense, appalling losses to US army.
• Battle of Leyte American and Filipino guerrillas forces capture Leyte.
• Battle of Leyte Gulf The largest air-sea battle in history.
• Operation Queen was a joint British-American operation during World War II at the Western Front between Aachen and the Rur river.
• Battle of Mindoro
• Battle of Vianden The only major open battle fought between the Luxembourgish Resistance against German forces.
• Battle of the Bulge German counterattack in Ardennes; General McAuliffe says "NUTS" at Bastogne.

1945

• Battle of Luzon The battle where Mexico entered World War II, contributing pilots to help the United States and the Philippines defeat Japan in the South Pacific, with a loss of 37,870 Allied soldiers and 217,000 Japanese soldiers; an Allied victory.
• Operation Elephant Allied offensive against a German bridgehead at Kapelsche Veer in the Netherlands.
• Raid at Cabanatuan US Army Rangers rescue Bataan and Corregidor POWs from Japanese prison camp.
• Battle of Bataan U.S. and Philippine Forces retake the historic Bataan Peninsula.
• Battle of Küstrin Soviet forces besieged and captured the strategic fortress town of Küstrin, paving the way for the final assault on Berlin.
• Battle of Manila City totally devastated after month-long battle between the American, Filipino, and Japanese forces; 100,000 civilians killed.
• Battle of Corregidor Spectacular combined U.S. and Philippine assault retakes island bastion from Japanese forces.
• Raid at Los Baños U.S. Airborne Task Force rescues more than 2,000 Allied POWs and civilian internees held by Japanese.
• Battle of Iwo Jima After a month, U.S. Forces take main offshore Japanese island.
• Battle of Meiktila and Mandalay Japanese defeated in Central Burma.
• Battle of Mindanao U.S. Eighth Army together with the Philippine Commonwealth troops completes the recapture of Southern Philippines.
• Battle of the Visayas U.S. Eighth Army together with the Philippine Commonwealth troops retakes central Philippine islands.
• Operation Varsity 134 Allied gliders land troops in Weisel.
• Operation Spring Awakening The last German offensive of the war, launched around Lake Balaton, in Hungary.
• Operation Encore 10th Mountain Division and the Brazilian Expeditionary Force forced the German LI Mountain Corps from their positions in the Northern Apennines, leading to the start of the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy.
• Battle of West Henan–North Hubei Indecisive battle between China and Japan. Japan controls airbases after battle.
• Battle of Groningen Canadian forces capture Dutch city from SS troops.
• Battle of Montese Brazilian forces capture town as part of the Spring offensive in Italy
• Battle of Otterlo German forces attempt to break an encirclement by attacking Canadian and British forces.
• Battle of Halbe Part of Battle of Berlin, Germans unable to break out.
• Battle of Berlin Soviet forces encircle and capture German capital; Hitler commits suicide.
• Battle of Hamburg British forces capture German city.
• Battle for Castle Itter Troops of the 23rd Tank Battalion of the 12th Armored Division, Wehrmacht, SS-Hauptsturmführer Kurt Siegfried Schrader, and recently freed French prisoners of war defended Itter Castle against an attacking force from the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division.
• Prague Offensive 1st, 4th, and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts of the Soviet Army crushed the last concentration of German troops (over 1,000,000 men in two army groups) in southeastern Germany and Czechoslovakia. These troops were Army Group Centre and the remnants of Army Group Ostmark.
• Battle of Trieste British army and Yugoslav Partisans capture the city.
• Battle of Tarakan Allied attack as part of the Borneo campaign.
• Battle of Poljana (14–15 May 1945) Battle between Yugoslav partisans and HOS (Croatia), German Wehrmacht, Slovene Home Guard...
• Battle of Odžak Last battle of World War II in Europe. Between Yugoslav partisans and HOS (Croatia) from 19 April to 25 May 1945.
• Battle of West Hunan Chinese victory in final battle to expel Japan.
• Battle of Okinawa US takes Japanese Island in the Ryūkyūs; many casualties to both sides.
• Battle of North Borneo Australian victory during final stages of World War II in the Pacific.
• Battle of Balikpapan Allied victory over Japan.
• Battle of Manchuria Soviet forces liberate Manchuria.
• Surrender of Japan Japan surrenders on September 2, 1945, officially ending World War II.

African Front

Mediterranean Sea and Italian Campaign

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Dodecanese Campaign: September–October 1943

Western Front

Operation Blackout

Atlantic Ocean

Eastern Front

Battle of Vilya

Yugoslav Partisans and Albania

Greece

Indian Ocean

Pacific Front

China Front

Southeast Asia Front

Military engagements during occupations

Resistances

General

Specific

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

Major bombing campaigns

General

Specific

Operations

Raids

Small to medium-sized raiding operations were carried out by both Allied and Axis armies during World War II. The modus operandi used included guerrilla attacks by partisans in occupied territory and/or combined operations involving the landing and removal of specialised light infantry, such as commandos, by means of small boats.

Raiding units

Defensive lines

Contemporaneous wars

References

  1. ↑ Earle, Neil. "Remembering the battle for Monte Cassino, and the role played by Newfoundlanders". SaltWire. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  2. ↑ "The Battle of Kursk"

See also

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