From the very beginning of World War II, the United States provided England with the maximum possible assistance. Hitler had every reason to declare war on the United States, but he held back for fear of the country entering the war. It is quite possible that the American government would not have been able to find sufficient reasons to enter the war in Europe if the war in the Pacific had not broken out. Conflict in the Pacific had been brewing since the outbreak of the war in Europe. Japan, taking advantage of the weakening of France, penetrated into Indochina. At the same time, she continued the war in China and developed plans to conquer Malaysia, hoping to establish control over the rubber plantations of that country.
The United States treated all these Japanese actions with restraint, not wanting to provoke a Japanese attack on Southeast Asia and Indonesia. The Japanese capture of Indochina in July 1941 changed US policy. The United States froze Japanese assets and cut off Japan from oil sources; the British and Dutch did the same. Japan could not continue the war without Indonesian oil and Malaysian rubber and tin.
While Japanese representatives were negotiating in Washington, events took an unexpected turn. On December 7, 1941, a squadron of Japanese aircraft made a surprise raid on the US naval base in Pearl Harbor (Hawaii Islands), where the US Pacific Fleet was concentrated. The results of the attack were horrifying: 4 out of 8 battleships were sunk, 18 warships were disabled, 188 aircraft were destroyed and 128 were damaged, and 3 thousand military personnel were killed. December 8 USA. declared war on Japan. In response, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, and on the same day the United States declared war on Germany and Italy. The United States became directly involved in the war.
America was not prepared for war. Although universal conscription was introduced in the United States in 1940, the army was small, untrained, and poorly equipped. American industry had not yet been transferred to a war footing, and the Japanese, taking advantage of the weakness of the American fleet, achieved rapid success.
At the first stage of the war, the main task of the Japanese was to cut off Southeast Asia from England, so the main blow was delivered to Singapore, which was the most powerful British naval base, which controlled all sea routes from Europe to the Pacific Ocean. On the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese aircraft raided Singapore and landed troops in Kota Bharu, 200 km from Singapore. Japanese troops reached Singapore within two months.
Singapore capitulated on February 15, 1942, offering virtually no resistance. The English garrison, which had powerful fortifications and was well armed, threw out the white flag without a fight. 100 thousand British soldiers surrendered, the Japanese received 740 guns, 2,500 machine guns and 200 tanks.
The fall of Singapore led to the collapse of the entire defensive system in the Pacific. By May 1942, Japan occupied Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Burma, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Guam, and the Solomon Islands, i.e., a territory inhabited by 400 million people. A real threat arose to India and Australia. However, the German offensive on the Soviet-German front in the summer of 1942 changed the strategic direction of the Japanese offensive. In anticipation of the fall of Stalingrad in November 1942, the best Japanese divisions were transferred to Manchuria. Half of all the artillery of the Japanese army and 2/3 of the tanks were concentrated here. This was a mistake by the Japanese leadership. The situation in the Pacific Ocean began to gradually change. The United States took advantage of the respite and concentrated its armed forces and re-equipped its air force and navy. Japan switched to defensive actions in the Pacific. The United States seized the initiative and maintained it until the end of the war.
Battle of Stalingrad
In the summer of 1942, the main events of World War II unfolded in Europe. The German army resumed its offensive in the Soviet Union on all fronts, but achieved success only on the Southern Front, where it reached the Caucasus Range, captured the oil-bearing regions of the North Caucasus and reached Stalingrad. Major General Sabir Rakhimov took an active part in the battles in the Caucasus.
The Battle of Stalingrad lasted six months, from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943, and marked the beginning of a fundamental change in the course of World War II. As a result of this battle, five armies of Nazi Germany were completely surrounded, and the encircled group of German troops was destroyed. The total losses of the Wehrmacht during the Battle of Stalingrad amounted to about 1.5 million people. 91 thousand soldiers, 26 thousand officers, 24 generals led by the commander of the 6th Army, Field Marshal Paulus, were captured. It was a disaster that signaled the beginning of the end of Hitler's Germany. Three days of mourning were declared in Germany.
After the Battle of Stalingrad, the strategic initiative in the war passed to the Red Army. The front rolled non-stop to the west. In the fall of 1944, German troops were expelled from the territory of the Soviet Union. Soviet troops began offensive operations in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe occupied by the Nazis.
Liberation of the territory of the USSR
From July 5 to August 23, 1943, the Battle of Kursk took place. The goal was to disrupt the advance of German troops in the Kursk ledge area. After a tank battle near the village of Prokhorovka
On July 12, in which 1,200 tanks took part on both sides, the enemy’s retreat began. In the Battle of Kursk, Wehrmacht losses amounted to about 500 thousand people, 1.5 thousand tanks, over 3.7 thousand aircraft, and more than 3 thousand guns were destroyed.
From August to December 1943, the battle for the Dnieper continued. The Soviet troops were opposed by Army Group Center and the main forces of Army Group South. These two groups formed the Eastern Wall defensive line, the main part of which ran along the banks of the Dnieper. During the Battle of the Dnieper, Soviet troops captured a strategic bridgehead on the Dnieper and liberated over 38 thousand settlements, including 160 cities.
From July 10, 1941 to August 9, 1944, the defense of Leningrad lasted. Army Group North (29 divisions) had the task of defeating Soviet troops in the Baltic states and, interacting with part of the forces of Army Group Center, capturing Leningrad and Kronstadt. On September 8, 1941, German troops cut off Leningrad from land. The blockade of the city began. Only on January 18, 1943 did Soviet troops break through the blockade, and in January 1944 they completely liquidated it. On August 10, 1944, the battle for Leningrad ended.
From June 23 to August 29, 1944, the Belarusian operation to liberate Belarus continued. During this operation, the main forces of Army Group Center were surrounded and destroyed, the liberation of Belarus, parts of Lithuania and Latvia was completed
Offensive in Western Europe
On July 20, 1944, during a meeting held by Hitler at the main headquarters, an explosion occurred, as a result of which four officers were killed. Hitler himself was not injured. The assassination attempt was organized by Wehrmacht officers, and the bomb was planted by Colonel Stauffenberg. A series of executions followed, during which more than 5 thousand people involved in the conspiracy were shot.
Time was working for the allies of the Soviet Union. By 1942, the United States transferred industrial production to wartime mode. During the entire war, the United States supplied 300 thousand aircraft, 86 thousand tanks and 2.1 million guns and machine guns to England and the USSR. Deliveries were carried out in accordance with Lend-Lease. The United States supplied England and the USSR with $50 billion worth of products during the war. US supplies and the increase in their own production of military equipment allowed the Allies to achieve superiority in military equipment over Nazi Germany already in 1942. In 1943, US industry was operating at full capacity. New technology and tactics made it possible to destroy almost the entire German submarine fleet in the Atlantic Ocean. American technology moved to Europe in a huge stream.
In November 1942, the Anglo-American landing began on the coasts of Algeria and Morocco. About 450 warships and transport vessels ensured the transfer of people and equipment across the ocean from the USA and England to the ports of Casablanca, Algiers and Oran. French troops, under the command of the Vichy government, offered no resistance. Anglo-American troops under the command of General D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) began an attack on Tunisia.
A little earlier, near the small town of El Atmein. located 90 km from Alexandria, a battle took place in which British troops under the command of Field Marshal B. Montgomery (1887-1976) inflicted a decisive defeat on the Afrika Korps under the command of Field Marshal E. Rommel (1891 - 1944). After Stalingrad, it was one of the most crushing defeats for Germany and Italy in World War II. The Battle of El Alamein began on October 23 and ended on November 4, 1942. Of the 249 tanks, Rommel only had 36 left; he lost 400 guns and several thousand vehicles. 20 thousand German soldiers surrendered to the British. After this battle, the Germans retreated non-stop for 2.5 thousand km. In May 1943, British troops and the Anglo-American Expeditionary Force met in Tunisia and inflicted a new defeat on the Italo-German forces. North Africa was cleared of Nazi troops, and the Mediterranean Sea came completely under Allied control.
Without giving the enemy the opportunity to recover from heavy defeats, Anglo-American troops in July-August 1943 carried out a landing in Sicily. The Italians did not offer serious resistance. In Italy there was a crisis of the fascist dictatorship. Mussolini was overthrown. The new government led by Marshal Badoglio signed an armistice on September 3, 1943, according to which the Italian troops stopped resistance and capitulated.
Saving Mussolini's regime, German troops moved to the center of Italy, captured Rome, disarmed Italian units and established a brutal occupation regime in Italy. Having fled to the protection of the Allied forces, the Badoglio government declared war on Germany on October 13, 1943.
On June 6, 1944, the landing of American-British troops began in northern France, in Normandy. This was a practical step in the long-promised opening of a second front by the Allies. By July 24, the number of Allied troops amounted to over 1.5 million people. The Allied forces outnumbered the enemy in personnel and tanks by 3 times, in aircraft by more than 60 times, they completely dominated the sea and air. On August 15, 1944, American and French troops landed in the south of France. On August 25, units of the French Resistance, by agreement with the American command, entered Paris, and the national banner soared over the capital of France.
The opening of the second front was an important event during the Second World War. Now Germany had to fight a war on two fronts in Europe, which limited the possibilities for strategic maneuver. American and British aviation completely dominated the air of Western Europe. All roads and communications were controlled by Allied aviation.
The scale of strategic bombing of Germany expanded, in which large forces of Anglo-American aviation began to be involved. During the day, American aircraft carried out raids on industrial facilities, railways, bridges, submarine bases, and factories for the production of synthetic gasoline and rubber. At night, British aircraft bombed mainly cities, trying to suppress the morale of the civilian population. As a result of the bombing, most of the defense enterprises located on German territory were destroyed, the air defense system was suppressed, and German aviation did not take active action. Civilians suffered the most from air raids. By the spring of 1945, almost a quarter of Berlin was destroyed by bombing. The transport system and the work of the rear of the fascist troops were practically destroyed and disorganized.
At the beginning of 1943, a turning point came in the war in the Pacific. Japan's economic situation deteriorated sharply. The food supply to the population first decreased and then stopped completely. Strikes began in the country. Anti-war sentiments were openly expressed. Thus, the military defeat was combined with a deep internal crisis. The political crisis in the country was expressed in a change of government. In July 1944, the Tojo cabinet, which started the war in the Pacific, was dismissed in April
1945 there was a new change in the Japanese government.
- Summary
December 7, 1941 - Japanese bombing of the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. US declaration of war on Japan
December 11, 1941 - Italy and Germany declare war on the United States
February 15, 1942 - Japanese capture of the British naval base on the island of Singapore. Collapse of the defense system in the Pacific Ocean
1942 - Japanese occupation of Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea. Burma, Philippines, Hong Kong and other territories
July 17, 1942 - February 2, 1943 - Battle of Stalingrad - a turning point in the Second World War
October 23 - November 4, 1942 - defeat of the Italo-German troops at El Apamein (Egypt), transfer of strategic initiative to the British army
May 1943 - liberation of North Africa from Italian-German troops
July 5 - August 23, 1943 - Battle of Kursk
August-December 1943 - Battle of the Dnieper
September 3, 1943 - the capitulation of Italy marked the beginning of the collapse of the Nazi bloc
June 6, 1944 - opening of the second front
July 20, 1944 - unsuccessful attempt on Hitler's life
August 10, 1944 - end of the Battle of Leningrad
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The main battles of the Second World War in 1941-1944. Updated: January 27, 2017 By: admin
The Second World War was the most terrible and bloody war in human history. The world was in a state of “total war.” The anti-fascist coalition won, but some of these battles did not always end in victory. The article examines ten battles that changed the course of the war.
Battle of France
After the Germans conquered Poland in September 1939, Hitler turned his attention to the west. Invading the Soviet Union was his main goal, but he knew that first of all he needed to conquer Western Europe to avoid a war on two fronts. First it was necessary to capture the Netherlands (Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium) and France. Hypothetically, Germany could conquer Britain, redeploy its troops in the East, and then begin hostilities against the Russians. The German army outnumbered the armies of the anti-fascist coalition. However, this did not matter as the German plan was very effective. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands, the French army and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) moved north, facing German forces. This allowed the German army to break through the coalition defenses in the Ardennes and advance towards the English Channel, but it was a trap. The Germans captured Paris, France fell, and the British Expeditionary Force was evacuated at Dunkirk. The country was divided into German occupation zones, in which the Vichy regime was introduced. Now Germany could concentrate and strike at BritainOperation Overlord
By the summer of 1944, the Red Army was already on the doorstep of Germany. There is no doubt that the Russians could have defeated Nazi Germany single-handedly, but Stalin pressured the West to create a second front there to try to distract the Germans and quickly end the war. Since 1942, the American Air Force and the British Royal Air Force have carried out massive bombing campaigns. The coalition led the Mediterranean operation and invaded Italy in 1943. However, it was necessary to recapture France in order to destroy the main strength of the German army in Northern Europe. Operation Overlord began with the Normandy landings in June 1944. By August there were about 3 million anti-fascist coalition troops in France. Paris was liberated on August 25th and the German army was driven back and retreated to the Seine River on September 30th. Germany was forced to strengthen its Western Front by taking reinforcements from the Eastern Front. The anti-fascist coalition won a strategic victory. By September, the coalition's western forces were approaching the German border. Nazi Germany surrendered less than a year later. The important thing was that Western Europe could not govern Russia, which was already going through difficult times. Battle of Guadalcanal
The Battle of Guadalcanal, or Operation Watchtower, took place from August 7, 1942 to February 9, 1943 in the Pacific Theater. The war was fought between Allied and Japanese forces. The fighting took place on the island of Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands). On August 7, 1942, the first Allied troops landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Florida in order to prevent the Japanese from using them as their bases, which were a threat to the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The Allies intended to use Guadalcanal and Tulagi as a staging area. The initial landing took the Japanese by surprise. The Allies immediately managed to capture the islands of Tulagi and Florida, as well as the airfield on Guadalcanal (later called Henderson Field). Not expecting such an onslaught from the Allies, the Japanese made several attempts to retake Henderson Field. These attempts led to major battles, leaving the Japanese without support. In December 1942, the Japanese began to evacuate their troops. The Battle of Guadalcanal was very important to know because it marked the loss of Japan's strategic initiative and the Allies went from defensive to offensive. Battle of Leyte Gulf
This is the largest naval battle in history. The battle took place in the seas on a Philippine island from October 23 to 26, 1944. The battle was fought between the American and Japanese fleets. The Japanese tried to push back the Allied forces located on the island of Leyte. For the first time in the war, kamikaze tactics were used. As a result, the Allied fleet won a significant victory and was able to sink one of the largest battleships in the world - Musashi and damaging another battleship - Yamato. After this battle, the Japanese Combined Fleet did not undertake major operations. Battle for Moscow
Hitler intended to capture Moscow. This capital was considered an extremely important point militarily and politically. The original plan was to capture Moscow within four months. Hitler and his coalition decide to capture the capital before the onset of winter. Weather conditions hampered the Germans, but in December they were practically 19 miles from Moscow. Then there were heavy torrential rains. And the temperature dropped sharply and reached -40. The German troops had no winter clothing and the tanks were not designed to operate in such low temperatures. On December 5, 1941, the Russians counterattacked, driving the German forces back. For the first time, the Germans retreated and Operation Barbarossa failed. Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk took place after the Battle of Stalingrad. The Germans wanted to break through the northern and southern flanks to encircle the Soviet troops. However, the Soviet Union knew about Hitler's intentions, and began to prepare for defense. The Germans delayed the advance as the Tiger and Panther tanks were waiting, thereby giving the Red Army more time to dig and gather forces for a counterattack. The defense around Kursk was 10 times deeper than the Maginot Line. German troops went on the offensive on July 5. This was the first time that a blitzkrieg plan was defeated without even breaking through the defenses. After a failed attack, the Red Army launched a counteroffensive. The war in Europe would continue for two more years, but the Battle of Kursk was over and the Americans and British could invade Italy. At the Kursk Bulge, the Germans lost 720 tanks, 680 aircraft and killed 170,000 people. This battle was the largest tank battle in history. After three years of war, the Allies finally gained a strategic advantage. Battle of Midway
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan began preparing for its next operation against the United States in the Pacific. The Japanese goal was to destroy US aircraft carriers and capture the strategically important Midway Atoll, located equidistant from Asia and North America. The Americans managed to decipher the encrypted messages of the Japanese, and now the United States could prepare for an attack. On June 3, 1942, the Battle of Midway began. Warplanes took off from Midway Atoll and began bombing and torpedoing the battles in the air. The United States won the battle, and it became a turning point in the Pacific War. Operation Barbarossa
The Nazi invasion of the USSR began on June 22, 1941. The operation involved 8.9 million soldiers, more than 18,000 tanks, 45,000 aircraft, and 50,000 artillery pieces. When the Germans went on the offensive, the Red Army was caught by surprise. The non-aggression pact was signed before the German and Soviet invasion of Poland. Both countries invaded and occupied Poland, but Hitler always saw Russia as a source of agriculture, slave labor, oil and other raw materials. Three army groups were formed; each of which had its own task. The group in the north was supposed to capture Leningrad. The central group was to take Moscow, and the group in the south was to capture Ukraine and move east to the Caucasus. The Germans advanced quickly. The main battles took place in Smolensk, Uman, and Kiev. The tank divisions could have surrounded and captured three million Soviet soldiers by the time they reached Moscow. By December, they had surrounded Leningrad from the north, reached the outskirts of Moscow in the center, and occupied Ukraine in the south. Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad is the decisive battle of World War II, in which Soviet troops won their largest victory. This battle marked the beginning of a radical change in the course of the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War as a whole. The Battle of Stalingrad is usually divided into two periods: defensive (from July 17 - November 18, 1942) and offensive (from November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943). The Battle of Stalingrad surpassed all battles in world history: in duration, in the number of people and military equipment. The battle took place over a vast territory. The results of this battle also surpassed all previous ones. At Stalingrad, Soviet troops defeated the armies of the Germans, Romanians and Italians. In this battle, the Germans lost 800,000 soldiers and officers, as well as a large amount of military equipment and equipment. Battle of Britain
If Great Britain were withdrawn from the war, then Hitler could concentrate all of Germany's military potential on the Soviet Union. America and the Soviet Union would have had to fight Hitler's coalition, and Operation Overlord might not have taken place at all. For these reasons, the Battle of Britain is without doubt the most important battle of the Second World War. The British Expeditionary Force was successfully evacuated at Dunkirk. However, most of their equipment remained in France. Germany gained air supremacy over Great Britain, and could launch Operation Sea Lion (invasion of the British Isles). The Royal Navy would be ineffective without air cover. The Luftwaffe's initial strategy was to destroy the RAF. This was a perfectly good idea, but then the strategy changed. And this gave the Royal Air Force a chance to win. Radar was important to America. Without it, the RAF would have to keep its aircraft in the air. They lacked the resources to do this. Radar would allow troops to wait and coordinate a German attack. By October 1940, the Luftwaffe had a shortage of combat equipment and crew. Hitler did not gain an advantage in the air and Operation Sea Lion failed. This battle allowed Great Britain to regain its strength. After victory was on the side of the Allies, Winston Churchill said: “Never have human conflicts been so acute as now. It is not easy to compile a list of the most important battles in the history of World War 2. Every battle, every inch of land inhabited by the enemy brought the Allies closer to victory over Nazism, no matter where the battle took place and how large it was. The feat of every war-liberator is equally priceless.
And yet, we tried to highlight the 10 largest and most significant battles of World War II, the outcome of which significantly influenced the further course of the war.
TOP 12 most powerful battles of World War II(list sorted chronologically):
# # #
1. Battle of the Atlantic
(September 1, 1939 - May 1945)
US Navy ship USS Spencer. During the Second World War, he sank several German submarines. Was a convoy ship.And although this battle cannot be called the most massive and bloody, its significance was very high. For Germany, the purpose of this battle was to disrupt Allied communications in the Atlantic. First of all, for the weakening of Great Britain.
During the battles, the German fleet tried to sink all possible Allied ships, from military to transport and food. Germany's main weapon was submarines; they proved themselves successful from the very beginning of the battles. During World War II, Germany built more than a thousand submarines of various types, which dominated the Atlantic until the spring of 1943.
By this time, despite the colossal losses, the Allies were still trying to improve the protection of their communications, as well as increase the number of anti-submarine forces. This made it possible to break the dominance of German troops in the waters of the Atlantic.
Already from mid-1944, Allied dominance in the Atlantic was obvious. Germany suffered defeat not only on land, but also at sea. The opening of a second front forced the enemy to go on the defensive.
The losses of the sides during the Battle of the Atlantic vary in many sources. Germany lost more than 30 thousand people and 789 submarines in submariners alone. On the other hand, 179 Allied warships and 2,828 ships were sunk by German forces.
# # #
(10 May – 25 June 1940)
This is a successful operation by the Axis countries of the Nazi bloc to seize the Benelux countries, as well as France, with the goal of complete domination in Europe. German troops used rapid warfare tactics, during which the armies of Belgium, the Netherlands and France were completely defeated in a short period of time with the help of a massive attack.
Allied losses during the French campaign amounted to more than 112 thousand killed, 245 thousand wounded and 1.5 prisoners. The Wehrmacht troops lost about 45 thousand people killed and about 110 thousand people were wounded.
# # #
(9 July – 30 October 1940)
It was a nearly four-month battle for air supremacy between the Wehrmacht and the British armed forces. The Germans aimed to gain air superiority over the British Isles in order to subsequently provide air cover for the bombing of British territory and the ground operation to invade Great Britain.
On the part of the Third Reich, the main forces were Messerschmitt fighters of the Bf.109E and Bf.110C modifications, which in many respects were superior to the British Hurricane Mk I and Spitfire Mk I. Nevertheless, the Germans failed this battle, losing about 3 thousands of its pilots. The British lost 1,800 pilots in the battle and about 120,000 islanders were killed in bombing raids. Also, German bombs destroyed at least 2 million buildings and structures.
The British victory in this battle strengthened the morale of the British soldiers and inspired the Allies. By the end of the battle, the Germans realized that their plan had failed and redeployed their forces to the opened eastern direction - the USSR.
The largest war in human history, the Second World War became a logical continuation of the First World War. In 1918, the Kaiser's Germany lost to the Entente countries. The result of the First World War was the Treaty of Versailles, according to which the Germans lost part of their territory. Germany was prohibited from having a large army, navy and colonies. An unprecedented economic crisis began in the country. It became even worse after the Great Depression of 1929.
German society barely survived its defeat. Massive revanchist sentiments arose. Populist politicians began to play on the desire to “restore historical justice.” The National Socialist German Workers' Party, led by Adolf Hitler, began to enjoy great popularity.
Causes
Radicals came to power in Berlin in 1933. The German state quickly became totalitarian and began to prepare for the upcoming war for dominance in Europe. Simultaneously with the Third Reich, its own “classical” fascism arose in Italy.
The Second World War (1939-1945) involved events not only in the Old World, but also in Asia. In this region, Japan was a source of concern. In the Land of the Rising Sun, just like in Germany, imperialist sentiments were extremely popular. China, weakened by internal conflicts, became the object of Japanese aggression. The war between the two Asian powers began in 1937, and with the outbreak of conflict in Europe it became part of the overall Second World War. Japan turned out to be an ally of Germany.
During the Third Reich, it left the League of Nations (predecessor of the UN) and stopped its own disarmament. In 1938, the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria took place. It was bloodless, but the causes of World War II, in short, were that European politicians turned a blind eye to Hitler’s aggressive behavior and did not stop his policy of absorbing more and more territories.
Germany soon annexed the Sudetenland, which was inhabited by Germans but belonged to Czechoslovakia. Poland and Hungary also took part in the division of this state. In Budapest, the alliance with the Third Reich was maintained until 1945. The example of Hungary shows that the causes of the Second World War, in short, included the consolidation of anti-communist forces around Hitler.
Start
On September 1, 1939, they invaded Poland. A few days later, France, Great Britain and their numerous colonies declared war on Germany. Two key powers had allied agreements with Poland and acted in its defense. Thus began the Second World War (1939-1945).
A week before the Wehrmacht attacked Poland, German diplomats concluded a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. Thus, the USSR found itself on the sidelines of the conflict between the Third Reich, France and Great Britain. By signing an agreement with Hitler, Stalin was solving his own problems. In the period before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army entered Eastern Poland, the Baltic states and Bessarabia. In November 1939, the Soviet-Finnish war began. As a result, the USSR annexed several western regions.
While German-Soviet neutrality was maintained, the German army was engaged in the occupation of most of the Old World. 1939 was met with restraint by overseas countries. In particular, the United States declared its neutrality and maintained it until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Blitzkrieg in Europe
Polish resistance was broken after just a month. All this time, Germany acted on only one front, since the actions of France and Great Britain were of a low-initiative nature. The period from September 1939 to May 1940 received the characteristic name of the “Strange War”. During these few months, Germany, in the absence of active actions by the British and French, occupied Poland, Denmark and Norway.
The first stages of World War II were characterized by transience. In April 1940, Germany invaded Scandinavia. Air and naval landings entered key Danish cities without hindrance. A few days later, monarch Christian X signed the capitulation. In Norway, the British and French landed troops, but they were powerless against the onslaught of the Wehrmacht. The early periods of World War II were characterized by the general advantage of the Germans over their enemy. The long preparation for future bloodshed took its toll. The whole country worked for the war, and Hitler did not hesitate to throw more and more resources into its cauldron.
In May 1940, the invasion of Benelux began. The whole world was shocked by the unprecedented destructive bombing of Rotterdam. Thanks to their swift attack, the Germans managed to occupy key positions before the Allies appeared there. By the end of May, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg had capitulated and were occupied.
During the summer, the battles of World War II moved into France. In June 1940, Italy joined the campaign. Its troops attacked the south of France, and the Wehrmacht attacked the north. Soon a truce was signed. Most of France was occupied. In a small free zone in the south of the country, the Peten regime was established, which cooperated with the Germans.
Africa and the Balkans
In the summer of 1940, after Italy entered the war, the main theater of military operations moved to the Mediterranean. The Italians invaded North Africa and attacked British bases in Malta. At that time, there were a significant number of English and French colonies on the “Dark Continent”. The Italians initially concentrated on the eastern direction - Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Sudan.
Some French colonies in Africa refused to recognize the new French government led by Pétain. Charles de Gaulle became the symbol of the national struggle against the Nazis. In London, he created a liberation movement called "Fighting France". British troops, together with de Gaulle's troops, began to recapture the African colonies from Germany. Equatorial Africa and Gabon were liberated.
In September the Italians invaded Greece. The attack took place against the backdrop of the fighting for North Africa. Many fronts and stages of the Second World War began to intertwine with each other due to the increasing expansion of the conflict. The Greeks managed to successfully resist the Italian onslaught until April 1941, when Germany intervened in the conflict, occupying Hellas in just a few weeks.
Simultaneously with the Greek campaign, the Germans began the Yugoslav campaign. The forces of the Balkan state were split into several parts. The operation began on April 6, and on April 17 Yugoslavia capitulated. Germany in World War II increasingly looked like an unconditional hegemon. Puppet pro-fascist states were created on the territory of occupied Yugoslavia.
Invasion of the USSR
All previous stages of World War II paled in scale compared to the operation that Germany was preparing to carry out in the USSR. War with the Soviet Union was only a matter of time. The invasion began exactly after the Third Reich occupied most of Europe and was able to concentrate all its forces on the Eastern Front.
Wehrmacht units crossed the Soviet border on June 22, 1941. For our country, this date became the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Until the last moment, the Kremlin did not believe in the German attack. Stalin refused to take intelligence data seriously, considering it disinformation. As a result, the Red Army was completely unprepared for Operation Barbarossa. In the first days, airfields and other strategic infrastructure in the western Soviet Union were bombed without hindrance.
The USSR in World War II faced another German blitzkrieg plan. In Berlin they were planning to capture the main Soviet cities in the European part of the country by winter. For the first months everything went according to Hitler's expectations. Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states were completely occupied. Leningrad was under siege. The course of World War II brought the conflict to a key point. If Germany had defeated the Soviet Union, it would have had no opponents left except overseas Great Britain.
The winter of 1941 was approaching. The Germans found themselves in the vicinity of Moscow. They stopped on the outskirts of the capital. On November 7, a festive parade was held dedicated to the next anniversary of the October Revolution. Soldiers went straight from Red Square to the front. The Wehrmacht was stuck several tens of kilometers from Moscow. The German soldiers were demoralized by the harsh winter and the most difficult battle conditions. On December 5, the Soviet counteroffensive began. By the end of the year, the Germans were driven back from Moscow. The previous stages of World War II were characterized by the total advantage of the Wehrmacht. Now the army of the Third Reich stopped for the first time in its global expansion. The Battle of Moscow became the turning point of the war.
Japanese attack on the USA
Until the end of 1941, Japan remained neutral in the European conflict, while at the same time fighting China. At a certain point, the country's leadership faced a strategic choice: to attack the USSR or the USA. The choice was made in favor of the American version. On December 7, Japanese aircraft attacked the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii. As a result of the raid, almost all American battleships and, in general, a significant part of the American Pacific fleet were destroyed.
Until this moment, the United States had not openly participated in World War II. When the situation in Europe changed in favor of Germany, the American authorities began to support Great Britain with resources, but did not interfere in the conflict itself. Now the situation has changed 180 degrees, since Japan was an ally of Germany. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Washington declared war on Tokyo. Great Britain and its dominions did the same. A few days later, Germany, Italy and their European satellites declared war on the United States. This is how the contours of the alliances that faced head-to-head confrontation in the second half of World War II were finally formed. The USSR had been at war for several months and also joined the anti-Hitler coalition.
In the new year of 1942, the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, where they began to capture island after island without much difficulty. At the same time, the offensive in Burma was developing. By the summer of 1942, Japanese forces controlled all of Southeast Asia and large parts of Oceania. The United States in World War II changed the situation in the Pacific theater of operations somewhat later.
USSR counter-offensive
In 1942, the Second World War, the table of events of which usually includes basic information, was at its key stage. The forces of the opposing alliances were approximately equal. The turning point occurred towards the end of 1942. In the summer, the Germans launched another offensive in the USSR. This time their key target was the south of the country. Berlin wanted to cut off Moscow from oil and other resources. To do this, it was necessary to cross the Volga.
In November 1942, the whole world anxiously awaited news from Stalingrad. The Soviet counter-offensive on the banks of the Volga led to the fact that since then the strategic initiative was finally in the hands of the USSR. There was no bloodier or larger-scale battle in World War II than the Battle of Stalingrad. The total losses on both sides exceeded two million people. At the cost of incredible efforts, the Red Army stopped the Axis advance on the Eastern Front.
The next strategically important success of the Soviet troops was the Battle of Kursk in June - July 1943. That summer, the Germans tried for the last time to seize the initiative and launch an attack on Soviet positions. The Wehrmacht's plan failed. The Germans not only did not achieve success, but also abandoned many cities in central Russia (Orel, Belgorod, Kursk), while following the “scorched earth tactics.” All tank battles of World War II were bloody, but the largest was the Battle of Prokhorovka. It was a key episode of the entire Battle of Kursk. By the end of 1943 - beginning of 1944, Soviet troops liberated the south of the USSR and reached the borders of Romania.
Allied landings in Italy and Normandy
In May 1943, the Allies cleared the Italians from North Africa. The British fleet began to control the entire Mediterranean Sea. Earlier periods of World War II were characterized by Axis successes. Now the situation has become exactly the opposite.
In July 1943, American, British and French troops landed in Sicily, and in September on the Apennine Peninsula. The Italian government renounced Mussolini and within a few days signed a truce with the advancing opponents. The dictator, however, managed to escape. Thanks to the help of the Germans, he created the puppet republic of Salo in the industrial north of Italy. The British, French, Americans and local partisans gradually conquered more and more cities. On June 4, 1944, they entered Rome.
Exactly two days later, on the 6th, the Allies landed in Normandy. This is how the second or Western Front was opened, as a result of which the Second World War was ended (the table shows this event). In August, a similar landing began in the south of France. On August 25, the Germans finally left Paris. By the end of 1944 the front had stabilized. The main battles took place in the Belgian Ardennes, where each side made, for the time being, unsuccessful attempts to develop its own offensive.
On February 9, as a result of the Colmar operation, the German army stationed in Alsace was surrounded. The Allies managed to break through the defensive Siegfried Line and reach the German border. In March, after the Meuse-Rhine operation, the Third Reich lost territories beyond the western bank of the Rhine. In April, the Allies took control of the Ruhr industrial region. At the same time, the offensive continued in Northern Italy. On April 28, 1945 he fell into the hands of Italian partisans and was executed.
Capture of Berlin
In opening a second front, the Western Allies coordinated their actions with the Soviet Union. In the summer of 1944, the Red Army began to attack. Already in the fall, the Germans lost control over the remnants of their possessions in the USSR (with the exception of a small enclave in western Latvia).
In August, Romania, which had previously acted as a satellite of the Third Reich, withdrew from the war. Soon the authorities of Bulgaria and Finland did the same. The Germans began to hastily evacuate from the territory of Greece and Yugoslavia. In February 1945, the Red Army carried out the Budapest operation and liberated Hungary.
The route of Soviet troops to Berlin ran through Poland. Together with her, the Germans left East Prussia. The Berlin operation began at the end of April. Hitler, realizing his own defeat, committed suicide. On May 7, the act of German surrender was signed, which came into force on the night of the 8th to the 9th.
Defeat of the Japanese
Although the war ended in Europe, bloodshed continued in Asia and the Pacific. The last force to resist the Allies was Japan. In June the empire lost control of Indonesia. In July, Great Britain, the United States and China presented her with an ultimatum, which, however, was rejected.
On August 6 and 9, 1945, the Americans dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These cases were the only ones in human history when nuclear weapons were used for combat purposes. On August 8, the Soviet offensive began in Manchuria. The Japanese Surrender Act was signed on September 2, 1945. This ended the Second World War.
Losses
Research is still being conducted on how many people suffered and how many died in World War II. On average, the number of lives lost is estimated at 55 million (of which 26 million were Soviet citizens). The financial damage amounted to $4 trillion, although it is hardly possible to calculate exact figures.
Europe was hit hardest. Its industry and agriculture continued to recover for many years. How many died in World War II and how many were destroyed became clear only after some time, when the world community was able to clarify the facts about Nazi crimes against humanity.
The largest bloodshed in human history was carried out using completely new methods. Entire cities were destroyed by bombing, and centuries-old infrastructure was destroyed in a few minutes. The Third Reich's genocide of World War II, directed against Jews, Gypsies and Slavic populations, is horrifying in its details to this day. German concentration camps became real “death factories,” and German (and Japanese) doctors conducted cruel medical and biological experiments on people.
Results
The results of World War II were summed up at the Potsdam Conference, held in July - August 1945. Europe was divided between the USSR and the Western allies. Communist pro-Soviet regimes were established in eastern countries. Germany lost a significant part of its territory. was annexed by the USSR, several more provinces passed to Poland. Germany was first divided into four zones. Then, on their basis, the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany and the socialist GDR emerged. In the east, the USSR received the Japanese-owned Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin. The communists came to power in China.
Western European countries lost much of their political influence after World War II. The former dominant position of Great Britain and France was occupied by the United States, which suffered less than others from German aggression. The process of collapse of colonial empires began. In 1945, the United Nations was created to maintain world peace. Ideological and other contradictions between the USSR and Western allies caused the start of the Cold War.
Fighting took place all over the globe; some lasted days, others months or even years. But which were the most important battles of World War II?
“Most important” does not necessarily mean “decisive,” nor does it mean “largest,” “most glorious,” “bloodyest,” “most skillful,” or “most successful.” When we say important, we mean that the battle had a major influence on later military and political events, if not on the final outcome of the war. The shortest of them lasted 90 minutes, the longest - three months.
1. France, May 1940
The rapid and unexpected capture of the Low Countries and northern France, which was achieved in just four weeks, was the best example of German maneuver warfare skills.
The back of the French army was broken. Hitler was able to gain control of Western Europe, after which Fascist Italy entered the war). All other events from 1940 to 1945 were a consequence of this victory.
The German army made a blunder, which also turned out to be extremely significant: the British expeditionary force was allowed to escape through Dunkirk. As a result, Britain remained a tangible threat and Hitler's victory was incomplete.
However, Stalin's hope for a long, mutually destructive conflict between the capitalist powers did not materialize; The Soviet Union itself was under threat.
2. Battle of Britain, August-September 1940
In an attempt to prepare for the invasion, Luftwaffe forces bombed RAF bases and later London to gain air superiority and force peace.
However, Britain had an air defense system that used radar equipment and a powerful fleet. Community morale remained high. The Germans suffered serious losses, and by mid-September they were forced to switch from daytime bombing to sporadic and less effective night bombing. The autumn turned out to be cold, which made a possible invasion difficult.
The Battle of Britain showed Germany (and the USA) that England was not so easily taken out of the war. The Americans sent help, and Hitler decided that it would be better to switch to the USSR.
3. Operation Barbarossa, June-July 1941
The surprise attack on the USSR was Hitler's most devastating victory of the entire war; The fighting took place over a vast territory. The Wehrmacht's first goal was achieved: the rapid destruction of the Red Army in western Russia.
However, the more global goal - the overthrow of Soviet power and the seizure of the entire European part of Russia - remained unfulfilled. The monstrous attack eventually forced the defenders to retreat almost 1000 km, to the outskirts of Leningrad and Moscow. The Red Army needed time to recover; She would be able to drive out the invaders from the USSR only in the fall of 1944.
4. Moscow, December 1941
The unexpected and successful counter-offensive of the Red Army near Moscow, which began on December 5, became the second most important battle of the entire war.
The Soviet troops still had many heavy defeats ahead, and the Germans would suffer much more serious losses at Stalingrad in 1942-1943. But this defeat near Moscow meant that Hitler's blitzkrieg strategy had failed; The USSR lost its combat capability for only a few months.
Now, on the northern and central fronts, Soviet troops held firm, and the Third Reich could not wage a “war of attrition.”
5. Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941
The battle lasted only 90 minutes and was one-sided, but undoubtedly remained one of the most important battles. Six aircraft carriers and more than 400 aircraft attacked the main base of the American fleet.
Having paralyzed the enemy fleet, Japan was able to easily capture all of Southeast Asia. But American society, which had been cautious before the “Day of Infamy,” decisively changed its tune, starting a full-fledged war with Japan and Germany - although the need to repel the enemy in the Pacific did not allow American troops to be sent to Europe in a timely manner.
Three years later, anti-Japanese sentiment, which flourished in the United States, led to a willingness to use incendiary and nuclear weapons.
6. Midway, June 1942
The Japanese fleet headed to Midway Island (northwest of Hawaii) in hopes of luring the Americans into a trap. In fact, the Japanese themselves fell into the trap, losing four of their best aircraft carriers.
Of all the 10 battles listed here, this is the only one that could have actually ended completely differently. Victory at Midway allowed the Americans to take the strategic initiative in the South Pacific.
There was still a year and a half left before the active US offensive through the central Pacific Ocean, but the Japanese did not have time to strengthen their line of defense.
7. Operation Torch, November 1942
The Allied landings in Morocco and Algeria were easy battles: soldiers of the French Vichy government initially fought against Hitler, and quickly switched sides. But Torch was the first successful strategic offensive operation, and it was also the first time American troops crossed the Atlantic Ocean.
The operation was followed by victory in Tunisia, the invasion of Sicily and the capitulation of Italy. But the success of the Torch and the Mediterranean strategy developed by the British and adopted by Roosevelt led to the fact that the Allied landings in Normandy did not occur in 1943.
The Battle of El Alamein, which took place later that November, was much bloodier and determined a British victory, but the Torch proved more important in historical perspective.
8. Stalingrad, November 1942 - January 1943
The three-month battle is often called the turning point of the war. After Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht failed to conquer new territories in the USSR. The operation in mid-November 1942, which cut off German troops in the city from aid, was a demonstration of the military skill of the Red Army's restored strength.
The surrender of the Sixth Army at Stalingrad on January 31 was the first major German capitulation. Both the German leadership and the population of occupied Europe were well aware of the meaning of this: the Third Reich was now on the defensive.
9. Bryansk/Orel and Belgorod/Kharkov, July-August 1943
The Battle of Kursk (July 1943) is usually cited as one of the three great Soviet victories. This was the first victory that was achieved in the summer (unlike Moscow and Stalingrad).
Hitler's offensive on the Kursk Bulge (Operation Citadel) was indeed stopped, but it turned out to be of little strategic importance, and the Soviets suffered heavy losses. More important were the counter-offensives that followed the “Citadel”: north of Kursk (Bryansk/Orel - Operation Kutuzov) and south of it (Belgorod/Kharkov - Operation Commander Rumyantsev).
The Red Army took and managed to maintain the initiative along the entire southern front. Its advance towards the Dnieper through Western Ukraine - to the pre-war border - would continue almost without pause until February 1944.
10. Normandy, June-July 1944
In Britain, D-Day (6 June) and the following six weeks of fighting in Normandy are considered the most obvious "crucial battle": it made possible the rapid liberation of Western Europe.
From a technical point of view, transporting a huge number of soldiers across the English Channel, many of whom were not tested in battle, was extremely difficult. The Germans thought they could repel almost any invasion.
After D-Day, Hitler decided to strengthen the defenses of Normandy, but when the US launched its main offensive in late July, the seriously damaged Wehrmacht troops had no choice but to quickly retreat to the German border itself.
11. Operation “Bagration”, June-July 1944
The Soviet offensive in Belarus, which began three weeks after D-Day, was even larger than the Battle of Normandy.
Taken by surprise by the choice of attack site, the Germans were finally overwhelmed by the pace of the continuous advance - in six weeks the entire army was destroyed, most of Soviet territory was liberated, and the attacking units advanced into central Poland. "Bagration" helped consolidate the success of the Anglo-American troops in Normandy.
The offensive (combined with the defeat of Romania in August) was so important because it left the Red Army in control of all of Eastern Europe by the end of the war.
