Battles
Western Europe
1940
Norwegian Campaign
Germany's surprise seaborne and airborne invasion overran Norway's ports in hours, but the campaign ran on for two months as Norwegian, British, French and Polish forces fought on around Narvik before the fall of France forced an Allied evacuation.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1940
Battle of France
Germany invaded the Low Countries and France on 10 May 1940. Armoured spearheads severed Allied armies in the north, forced the Dunkirk evacuation, and overran mainland France, concluding with an armistice on 22 June.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1940
Dunkirk evacuation
Between 26 May and 4 June 1940, 338,226 British, French and other Allied troops trapped by German Army Group A were lifted from Dunkirk's beaches and mole by a fleet of nearly 1,000 naval and civilian vessels.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1940
Battle of Britain
From July to October 1940, the Royal Air Force defended British airspace against a sustained Luftwaffe offensive, denying German air superiority and forcing the indefinite postponement of Operation Sea Lion.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1942
Dieppe raid
The Allied raid landed at five points on 19 August 1942. German defences stopped the main attacks, and the raiding force withdrew after heavy losses.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1944
Battle of Normandy
Allied amphibious and airborne forces landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944, contained heavy German armored resistance around Caen, broke through at Saint-Lô, and encircled German forces in the Falaise pocket before reaching the Seine.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1944
Operation Market Garden
Allied airborne troops and XXX Corps captured Eindhoven and Nijmegen, but failed to secure the Arnhem bridge or establish a Rhine crossing. The Arnhem perimeter was evacuated on 25 September.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1944
Hürtgen Forest
U.S. forces fought through the Hürtgen Forest from September to December 1944 but failed to secure the Rur dams before the Ardennes offensive ended the campaign.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1944
Battle of the Scheldt
Allied forces cleared the Scheldt estuary after five weeks of fighting, opening the route to Antwerp. The port itself remained closed to shipping until mines had been cleared.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1944–1945
Battle of the Bulge
German forces broke through the Ardennes in December 1944, but Allied resistance and counterattacks stopped and then reversed the advance by 25 January 1945.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
Eastern Front
1939
Invasion of Poland
Germany's blitzkrieg attack on Poland, launched 1 September 1939 and joined by a Soviet invasion from the east on 17 September, destroyed the Polish Army within five weeks and ended in the partition of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1939–1940
Winter War
The Soviet Union invaded Finland on 30 November 1939, expecting a quick conquest. Finnish forces held the Mannerheim Line for over two months and destroyed entire Soviet divisions in the north before a reorganized Soviet offensive broke through in February 1940, forcing peace on 13 March.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1941
Operation Barbarossa
Launched on 22 June 1941, Operation Barbarossa pitted over 3.8 million Axis troops against the Soviet Union. Despite immense Red Army encirclements and catastrophic Soviet losses, Axis forces stalled short of Moscow in December.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1941
Battle of Kiev (1941)
In August–September 1941, German Panzer groups encircled Soviet Southwestern Front east of Kiev, trapping over 450,000 Red Army soldiers in the largest encirclement in military history.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1941–1944
Siege of Leningrad
Following the German encirclement of Leningrad in September 1941, Soviet forces and civilians withstood an 872-day siege before Red Army offensives broke the perimeter and drove Army Group North back in January 1944.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1941–1942
Battle of Moscow
German forces failed to capture Moscow; the Soviet counter-offensive drove them back from the capital by 7 January 1942.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1942–1943
Battle of Stalingrad
Soviet forces defended Stalingrad in brutal urban combat before double-enveloping the German 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army, culminating in the destruction of the pocket and the surrender of Axis forces.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1943
Battle of Kursk
German pincers failed to close around the Kursk salient. Soviet counteroffensives then recaptured Orel, Belgorod and Kharkov.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1944
Operation Bagration
From 22 June to 19 August 1944, four Soviet fronts broke Army Group Centre, retook Minsk and advanced through Lithuania and Belarus into eastern Poland.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1944
Warsaw Uprising
The Home Army rose in Warsaw on 1 August 1944 and held out for 63 days. German counterattacks isolated the resistance, which surrendered on 2 October.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1945
Battle of Berlin
Soviet forces broke through the Oder–Neisse defences, encircled Berlin and captured the city after street fighting that ended with its garrison’s surrender on 2 May 1945.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
Mediterranean & North Africa
1940
Raid on Taranto
On the night of 11–12 November 1940, twenty-one Royal Navy Fairey Swordfish biplanes launched from HMS Illustrious and struck the Italian fleet anchored at Taranto, disabling three battleships for the loss of two aircraft.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1940–1941
Operation Compass
Operation Compass was the first major British offensive in North Africa. Western Desert Force routed the Italian 10th Army in Egypt and swept across Cyrenaica to El Agheila, capturing over 133,000 prisoners.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1941
Battle of Crete
In May 1941, German airborne and glider forces launched Operation Mercury against Crete. Despite heavy paratrooper losses, Axis forces secured Maleme airfield and drove Allied troops into an evacuation across the White Mountains.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1942
Gazala and the fall of Tobruk
Rommel’s southern envelopment broke the Gazala position after weeks of fighting; the Eighth Army retreated and Tobruk surrendered on 21 June.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1942
Second Battle of El Alamein
The Eighth Army broke through the Axis minefield-and-infantry line after days of attritional fighting, then pursued the retreating forces west. The final phase shows the pursuit through 11 November.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1942
Operation Torch
Allied landings at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers overcame Vichy French resistance; the operation secured Morocco and Algeria by 16 November 1942.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1943
Battle of Kasserine Pass
Axis forces broke through Kasserine Pass and advanced toward Thala, but Allied resistance and artillery halted them. Rommel ordered a withdrawal, and the Allies reoccupied the pass.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1943
Invasion of Sicily
Operation Husky landed Allied forces on Sicily on 10 July 1943. The Allies captured Messina on 17 August after the Axis evacuated much of its force across the Strait.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1943
Salerno landings
Allied forces established a beachhead at Salerno on 9 September 1943, held it against German counterattacks, and forced the German withdrawal from the northern sector by 16 September.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1944
Battle of Monte Cassino
Four Allied offensives against the Gustav Line at Monte Cassino ended with German withdrawal and the Polish II Corps entering the monastery ruins on 18 May 1944.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1944
Anzio
Allied forces landed at Anzio on 22 January 1944, held the bridgehead against German counterattacks, broke out in May, and advanced to Rome.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
Pacific
1941
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japanese carrier aircraft struck Pearl Harbor and nearby airfields in two waves on 7 December 1941. The raid inflicted heavy losses but left U.S. carriers, fuel stores and repair facilities intact.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1941–1942
Bataan and Corregidor
Japanese forces took Bataan on 9 April 1942 and Corregidor on 6 May, ending organized Allied resistance around Manila Bay.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1941–1942
Malaya and the fall of Singapore
Japanese forces advanced down the Malay Peninsula and captured Singapore on 15 February 1942, after Allied forces had withdrawn across the Johore Strait and resisted for a week on the island.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1942
Battle of the Java Sea
ABDA’s attempt to intercept the Japanese invasion convoy ended in defeat on 27–28 February 1942. The damaged *Exeter* and two destroyers were then lost in a separate engagement on 1 March.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1942
Battle of the Coral Sea
From 4–8 May 1942, carrier aircraft fought across the Coral Sea. Japan sank more ships, but the Port Moresby invasion was recalled, giving the Allies a strategic victory.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1942
Battle of Midway
From 4–7 June 1942, U.S. carrier aircraft struck Japan’s Midway force, sinking four fleet carriers. Japan’s attack was abandoned; the United States lost Yorktown and Hammann.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1942
Kokoda Track campaign
Australian and Papuan forces halted the Japanese advance toward Port Moresby, then pushed north across the Owen Stanley Range and recaptured Kokoda.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1942–1943
Guadalcanal campaign
The Guadalcanal campaign ended with the Allied foothold secured and Japanese forces evacuated by 9 February 1943, after six months of land fighting and contested sea and air operations.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1943
Battle of Tarawa
U.S. Marines secured Betio after four days of amphibious fighting, overcoming shallow reefs and a prepared Japanese defense at heavy cost.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1944
Saipan and the Philippine Sea
U.S. forces captured Saipan after an amphibious campaign from 15 June to 9 July 1944; the Japanese fleet’s failed intervention in the Philippine Sea cost it heavily in aircraft and ships.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1944
Leyte and Leyte Gulf
Allied forces landed on Leyte on 20 October 1944, defeated Japan’s naval counterattack in Leyte Gulf, and ended organized Japanese resistance on the island by late December.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1945
Battle of Iwo Jima
U.S. forces captured Iwo Jima after five weeks of costly fighting against a deeply fortified Japanese garrison.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1945
Battle of Okinawa
U.S. forces landed on Okinawa on 1 April 1945 and overcame the Japanese defences after weeks of costly fighting in the south. Organized resistance ended on 22 June.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
China, Burma & India
Atlantic
1941
Hunt for the Bismarck
Following the loss of HMS Hood in the Denmark Strait, Royal Navy forces hunted down and destroyed the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic before it could reach safety in occupied France.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1942
Convoy PQ 17
PQ 17 was scattered on 4 July after the Admiralty feared a German surface attack. U-boats and Luftwaffe aircraft then sank 24 merchant ships; only 11 reached Soviet ports.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.
1943
Black May: the U-boat war turns
From March’s costly convoy battles through the May attacks on ONS 5 and SC 130, Allied escorts and aircraft inflicted heavy U-boat losses. Dönitz ordered most boats out of operations on 24 May.
Battle maps are part of the full edition.