In the history of mankind, World War II entered as the largest and most bloody. The world was on the verge of disaster, because the armies of the 61st state took part in battles in different corners of the earth. Even countries that adopted neutrality were involved to varying degrees in the frantic cycle of behind the scenes of military events.
The millstones of war mercilessly grind human destinies, dreams, wiped entire cities and villages from the face of the earth. After its completion, Mankind has missed 65 million of its fellow citizens.
We will try to recall the biggest battles of the times of that war, because the fate of Europe and the whole world was decided on the battlefields.
For ease of perception and greater understanding, we will narrate in chronological order.
The Miracle of Dunkirk
After a ten-day offensive on May 20, 1940, German divisions reached the English Channel and blocked 40 Anglo-Franco-Belgian divisions. The Allied army was doomed, but Hitler suddenly gave the order to stop the offensive.
This "condescension" of the aggressor allowed the British and French to begin the evacuation, or rather the shameful retreat, which was beautifully called Operation Dynamo.
In the battle, which, in fact, was not, the British left the enemy all the equipment, ammunition, military equipment and fuel.
Battle of Britain
The victory at the English Channel allowed the Nazis to easily take Paris and begin a large-scale operation, which went down in history as the “battle for Britain”.
The air battle, which lasted from July 9 to October 30, 1940, was attended by more than 6 thousand combat vehicles, thousands of anti-aircraft mounts. The British and their allies managed to defend the airspace of their homeland.
The Nazis, having lost 1887 aircraft and 2500 people, abandoned the hope of landing on the territory of England. The total losses of the British Union and the Royal Air Force amounted to 1,023 aircraft and about 3,000 people.
Sea battles in the Atlantic
The Germans drew conclusions from the naval battles of the First World War, and during the interwar period significantly strengthened their naval forces, preferring to create heavy cruisers and maneuverable submarines.
Sea battles in the Atlantic began from the first days of the war and ended only with the complete surrender of Germany, thus becoming the longest battle of the war.
Not having the ability and sufficient strength to destroy the naval forces of the Allies in open battle, the Germans concentrated their forces on breaking communications and destroying the transport fleet.
Great success was achieved by German submarines, which sank 68% of the total transport losses of the Allies and 38% of the losses of warships.
But nevertheless, by the joint efforts of the Allied fleets, it became possible to seize the initiative and defeat the aggressor in the vast expanses of water in the Atlantic.
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Tank battle at Dubno
The counterattack of tank formations of the South-Western Front of the Red Army along the Dubno-Lutsk-Brody line became the largest tank battle of the Second World War.
In the battle of engines, which took place on June 23-30, 1941, 3128 tanks took part on the Soviet side, 728 tanks and 71 assault guns on the German side.
In the oncoming tank battle, the Nazi forces won, knocking out 2648 Soviet tanks during the battle. The irretrievable losses of the Germans amounted to 260 combat vehicles.
The unsuccessful tank counterattack of the Red Army in the Dubno region only delayed the Nazi attack on Kiev for a week.
Battle for Moscow
Hitler’s plan “Barbarossa” implied a quick capture of the Soviet capital. The battle for Moscow was divided for the Soviet people into two stages: the defensive period from September 30 to December 4, 1941 and the offensive - from December 5 to March 30, 1942 (including the Rzhev-Vyazemsky operation).
As a result of the counterattack of the Red Army, German troops were withdrawn from Moscow by 100-250 km, which ultimately frustrated the plans for a lightning war of the Nazi command.
During the war, it became the largest battle in terms of the number of troops involved, military equipment and losses on both sides.
Black day US Navy
The attack of Japanese aviation and navy on the US Pacific naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 was sudden and unexpected for the Americans.
The Japanese command in the most difficult conditions managed to maintain the secrecy of the operation and make a long transition from Japan to the Hawaiian Islands.
The Japanese attack on the base consisted of two raids, in which 353 aircraft took part, rising from the decks of 6 aircraft carriers. The attack was supported by small submarines.
As a result of the attack, the United States Army lost a total of 20 ships of various types (9 sunk), 188 aircraft. 2341 military and 54 civilians were killed.
After a “day of shame," as President Roosevelt called it, the United States declared war on Japan.
US answer at Midway Atoll
After a victorious raid on Hawaii and victories in Oceania, the Japanese sought to build on their success in the Pacific. But now it is the turn of the Americans to carry out a brilliant operation to misinform the enemy.
Midway Atoll, where, in their opinion, there were no large formations of the Americans, chose the Japanese fleet as the object of the attack.
During the battle of June 4-7, 1942, the Japanese fleet and aircraft lost 4 aircraft carriers, 1 cruiser and 248 aircraft. The Americans lost only one aircraft carrier and one destroyer, 105 aircraft. The casualties were also incomparable: 2500 people of the Japanese army versus 347 Americans.
After the defeat, the Japanese were forced to switch to defensive operations in the Pacific theater of war.
Battle of stalingrad
One of the longest and bloody battles of World War II began with the defensive operation of the Soviet troops on July 17, 1942 and ended with the encirclement of the German armies on February 2, 1943.
At the cost of incredible courage and heroism, and sometimes their own lives, the soldiers of the Red Army stopped the advance of the enemy and did not allow him to cross the Volga. They fought for every street, every house, every meter of Russian land. And during the counterattack, 20 Hitler divisions of the 6th Army were surrounded and capitulated under the command of Field Marshal Paulus.
After the defeat at Stalingrad, the Germans and their allies finally lost their strategic initiative, and this was the beginning of a radical change in the course of the war.
In the sands of Africa
The Egyptian city of El Alamein became the site of two great battles in 1942. In July 1942, the German tanks of the beloved General Hitler Erwin Rommel crushed the British troops with the support of the infantry and launched an attack on Alexandria.
At the cost of incredible efforts and heavy losses, the British and their allies managed to stop the advance of the German troops, and the positional defense of both armies began.
Having received a short respite, the British troops launched a counterattack on October 25, 1942. By November 5, the German-Italian group in North Africa was completely demoralized and retreated.
Two battles in the sands near El Alamein became significant events during the war, and the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition forces ultimately led to the surrender of Italy.
Battle on the Kursk
The key operation of the war lasted 49 days (from July 5 to August 23, 1943) and consisted of one defensive operation and three offensive operations for the Soviet army.
By conducting the Citadel offensive operation, the German command sought to regain the strategic initiative and create new bridgeheads for the offensive deep into the Soviet Union.
The culmination of the Kursk Bulge was the tank battle near Prokhorovka. Both sides involved over 900 tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts. During the most difficult battle, the German army finally lost its offensive potential, and the Soviet troops, having gone on the offensive, liberated large territories.
Forcing the Dnieper
This was a series of military operations conducted by the USSR in the second half of 1943 on the banks of the Dnieper.
The command of the Soviet state solved the difficult task of crossing the Dnieper. The Germans strengthened themselves, preventing the Soviet soldiers from accomplishing this task. On the part of Germany and the USSR, more than 4 million people took part in the operations.
As a result of successful actions, the Dnieper was forced, Kiev was liberated, and the liberation of Right-Bank Ukraine began.
The irretrievable losses of the USSR amounted to 437 thousand people, Nazi Germany - 400 thousand. During the battles in both armies, 1 million 469 thousand soldiers were injured. By the way, on thebiggest there is an article about the most bloody wars in history.
Landing in Normandy. Opening of the Second Front
Operation Neptune became part of the larger strategic operation Overlord, which aimed to capture the north-west of France.
June 6, 1944 began a large-scale landing of the Allied forces in Normandy. 156 thousand people, 11,590 aircraft and 6,939 ships took part in the operation with the beginning of the fighting. German troops defended themselves with the forces of the 7th Army and the 3rd Luftwaffe Air Force.
The battle of Normandy ended on August 31, 1944 with the consolidation of allied forces in France. After a long and stubborn resistance, the German command was forced to give an order to retreat to the borders of Germany.
The landing of the Allies and their successful advance into the interior of Europe made it possible to divert part of the German divisions from the Soviet-German front.
Belarusian operation
The large-scale operation of the command was named in honor of the great Russian commander Peter Bagration.
The operation "Bagration" took place on June 23 - August 29, 1944 and ended with the liberation of the USSR and the withdrawal of parts of the Soviet army in Poland.
In the forests of Belarus, both warring powers involved 2 million 800 thousand people, more than 7 thousand tanks and about 6 thousand aircraft.
The brilliantly prepared and carried out offensive of the USSR command coincided with the anniversary of the German attack on the Soviet Union.
Offensive in the Ardennes
By the end of 1944, the Wehrmacht command had accumulated strength and concentrated large formations in the Ardennes area for the offensive operation, code-named "Watch on the Rhine."
In the early morning of December 16, with the forces of Army Group B, the Germans launched a rapid offensive and advanced 90 km into the Allied defense. Using all the reserves, the American forces managed to stop the German offensive by December 25, and a month later, by January 29, 1945, completely eliminate the Ardennes ledge.
During the battle, the government of the United States and Great Britain were forced to appeal to I. Stalin to support the American troops with an offensive on the eastern front.
The last German offensive
At the Hungarian Lake Balaton, the Germans concentrated their best SS panzer divisions and made their last attempt to go on the offensive.
On the night of March 6, 1945, under the pressure of German troops, Soviet troops were forced to go on the defensive.
Having lost a large amount of equipment and manpower, the offensive choked on March 16. The Germans failed to complete the main task of reaching the Danube. On the contrary, weakening their positions, the Germans thereby created the conditions for a successful offensive by the anti-Hitler coalition.
Storming Berlin
At the end of April 1945, German troops were already doomed, but the Soviet government and people needed an assault on the German capital, at that time a symbol of hated Nazism.
The offensive began on April 25 with a major tank breakthrough, and on May 1, a red flag was hoisted over the Reichstag. The Berlin group of German troops capitulated.
After the end of World War II, many experts criticized the Soviet command for strategic and tactical miscalculations, but agreed on one thing that the assault and surrender of Berlin became a symbol of the final defeat of Nazism.
Against the Kwantung Army
Germany and its satellites capitulated. Japan remained, and the USSR, faithful to allied commitments, entered the war with it.
In the Gobi desert and in the great expanses of the Far East, two and a half million armies converged during the Manchu operation. The successful actions of the troops of the Soviet Union made it possible to occupy vast territories and advance 800-900 km in China and Korea.
As a result, the Kwantung army was defeated, and Japan was forced to surrender on September 2, 1945. The worst war in the history of mankind is over.
Conclusion
The biggest battles of the most terrible war are displayed on the pages of scientific and fiction, movies have been shot about them, but most importantly, they are in the memory and hearts of millions of people. Historians and politicians continue to argue about tactics and strategy, its outcomes and consequences. And we at TheBiggest.ru pages just tried to recall some key moments in the story.
In conclusion, we note only one thing. The public rethinking of the course and outcome of the war, as well as the belittling of the feat of the Soviet people by Western historians and the media, can not cause alarm and fear.
27 million Soviet citizens who lay down their heads on the battlefields, who were shot and burned alive in the occupied part of the USSR, who were strangled in the gas chambers of concentration camps, cannot respond to provocations, but we, their descendants, must know and remember who delivered a crushing blow to Nazism and saved the world from fascism.
Article author: Valery Skiba
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