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Main Battles of the Second World War

World War II recorded 582 battles between the years 1939 and 1945. Some of these battles lasted for days, while others were fought for years.

The most significant battles are ranked by the number of casualties and material losses.

Abstract

The war took place on nine fronts. They are :

  • African Front and Eastern Front:56 Battles
  • Mediterranean Front:40 battles
  • Western Front:109 battles
  • Atlantic Front:25 battles
  • Eastern Front:167 battles
  • Indian Ocean:10 battles
  • Pacific Ocean:104 battles
  • China:16 battles
  • Southeast Asia:55

The most important battles were:

Invasion of Poland

  • Who:Germany and Russia vs Poland
  • When:September 1 to October 6, 1939
  • Where:Poland
  • Victorious:Germany
  • Main consequence:Beginning of World War II

Battle of Stalingrad

  • Who:Germany, Romania, Hungary and Fascist Italy against Russia
  • When:July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1945
  • Where:The Battle of Stalingrad, Russia. Today Volvograd.
  • Victorious:Russia
  • Number of Soldiers:1.1 million Russian soldiers and 1 million German, Romanian, Hungarian and Italian soldiers
  • Soldiers Killed:2.1 Million Dead in Russia
  • Civilians Killed:40,000 civilians killed

Siege of Leningrad

  • Who:Germany, Italy and Finland against Russia
  • When:September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944
  • Where:Leningrad – now San Petersburg
  • Victorious:Russia
  • Amount Killed:1 million soldiers killed in combat; 2.4 million wounded or sick soldiers; 645,000 civilians killed during the siege; 400,000 civilians killed in evacuation

Battle of Kursk:

  • Who:Germany versus Russia
  • When:July 5, 1943 to July 23, 1943
  • Where:Kursk, Soviet Union
  • Victory:Russia
  • Number of Soldiers:1.9 million Russian soldiers against 912,400 German soldiers
  • Soldiers Killed:177.8 Soviet soldiers killed and 300,000 wounded. Among the Germans, 56,000 were killed and 150 wounded

Battle of Midway

  • When:4th to 7th of July 1942
  • Where:Midway Islands in the Pacific Ocean
  • Winner:United States
  • Equipment:three aircraft carriers and one destroyer from the US and four and two cruisers from Japan
  • Soldiers Killed:307 Americans and 2,500 Japanese Killed

Operation Barborosa - Invasion of the USSR

  • Who:Soviet Union vs Germany, Romania, Finland, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia
  • When:June 22, 1941 to December 5, 1941
  • Where:Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Western Russia and Estonia
  • Victory:the Axis conquers a significant part of Soviet territory
  • Number of Soldiers:5 million Russians versus 3.8 million Axis soldiers
  • Soldiers Killed:On the Axis side there were 250,000 dead, 500 wounded and 25,000 missing. From the Soviet Union there were 802,100 dead, 3 million wounded and 3.3 million captured

Invasion of Normandy

  • Who:United States, Great Britain, Canada, France, Poland, Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Greece vs Germany
  • This battle was also known as D-Day as it marked an important Allied reaction
  • When:June 6 to August 22, 1944
  • Where:Normandy, France
  • Winner:Allies
  • Number of Soldiers:1 million Allied soldiers versus 380,000 German soldiers
  • Soldiers Killed:37,000 dead and 172,000 Allied missing against 270,000 German dead

Second Battle of El Alamein

  • Who:Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, British India, France vs Germany and Italy
  • When:October 23 to November 3, 1942
  • Where:El Alamein, Egypt
  • Winner:Allies
  • Soldiers Killed:13,500 Allied and 19,000 Axis Dead

Battle of Moscow

  • Who:Germany and Russia
  • When:October 2, 1941 to January 7, 1942
  • Where:Moscow
  • Victorious:Russia
  • Number of Soldiers:1 million Germans and 1.2 million Russians
  • Soldiers Killed:750,000 Germans and 500,000 Russians

Battle of the Atlantic

  • Who:United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Norway, Poland, Free France, Belgium, Brazil, Netherlands and France
  • When:September 3, 1939 to May 8, 1945
  • Where:Atlantic Ocean, North Sea, Irish Sea, Labrador Sea, Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Outer Banks, Arctic Ocean, South Atlantic against Germany, the Kingdom of Italy and Vichy France
  • Victorious:Allies
  • Soldiers Killed:36,200 sailors and 36 merchant sailors killed by the Allies. Thirty thousand sailors killed by Germany

Battle of Okinawa

  • Who:United States vs. Japan
  • When:April 1, 1945 to June 22, 1946
  • Where:Okinawa, Japan
  • Victorious:United States
  • Soldiers Killed:12,500 Americans. One hundred and ten thousand Japanese
  • Civilians Killed:150,000 civilians killed

Battle Iwo Jima

  • Who:Japan vs. the United States
  • When:February 19 to March 26, 1945
  • Where:Iwo Jima, Japan
  • Victorious:United States
  • Soldiers:7,000 soldiers killed, 19,000 wounded by the United States. From Japan, 21,800 soldiers killed
  • Prisoners of War:200 Japanese

Guadalcanal Campaign

  • Who:US and Australia vs Japan
  • When:February 7, 1942 to February 8, 1943
  • Where:Guadalcanal Island from the Sea of ​​Solomon
  • Victorious:Allies
  • Number of Soldiers:
  • Soldiers Killed:Thirty-six thousand two hundred Japanese soldiers died in this battle. On the side of the allies there were 7,100 deaths
  • Prisoners and War:One Thousand

Campaign of France

  • Who:Germany &Italy vs. UK Poland, Belgium &Netherlands
  • When:May 10 to June 22, 1940
  • Where:France
  • Victorious:The Axis formed by Italy and Germany
  • Soldiers Killed:360,000 from Allied armies. The Germans lost 156,600 men
  • Prisoners of War:1.9 million

Battle of Monte Casino

  • Who:Germany vs. United States, Free French Forces, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, and Poland
  • When:January 17 to May 19, 1944
  • Where:Casino, Italy
  • Victorious:Allied Forces
  • Soldiers Killed:54,000 allied soldiers killed in combat. Twenty thousand German soldiers died

Operation Market Garden

  • Who:United Kingdom, United States, Poland, Netherlands against Germany and the Dutch SS
  • When:September 17-25, 1944
  • Where:Germany and the Netherlands
  • Result:Allies failed operational planning
  • Soldiers Killed:17,200 casualties among the Allies and 3,300 between Germany and Holland

Battle of the Coral Sea

  • Who:US and Australia vs Japan
  • When:May 4th to 8th, 1942
  • Where:Coral Sea
  • Result:No winners
  • Number of Soldiers:656 killed among the Allies and 966 Japanese lost their lives in this battle

Battle of Crete

  • Who:UK, Greece, New Zealand and Australia vs Germany
  • When:May 20 to June 1, 1941
  • Where:Crete
  • Result:German victory
  • Soldiers Killed:4,000 among the Allies and 2,700 among the Germans
  • Wounded:2,700 Allied troops and 2,600 German soldiers
  • Prisoners of War:17,000

Motives of the Second World War

  • Germany's discontent with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
  • Debt, unemployment and inflation in Germany
  • Rise of Nazism
  • Exacerbated Nationalism and Anti-Semitism
  • Crisis of 1929

Read Also :Causes of World War II.

Consequences

  • 45 million people killed
  • 20 million from the Soviet Union alone
  • 6 million Jews executed in the event known as the Holocaust
  • Division of Germany and construction of the Berlin Wall
  • $1.3 Trillion Losses
  • Strengthening US imperialism
  • Beginning of the Cold War

Better understand the effects of war by reading :Consequences of World War II.

Want to know more about WWII? Read more :

  • Nazi Concentration Camps
  • Auschwitz Camp
  • Nuremberg Court
  • Films about the Second World War
  • Adolf Hitler

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