Battaglie della seconda guerra mondiale
Da La mia Seconda Guerra Mondiale.
Questa è una lista delle principali battaglie della Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Sono compresi gli scontri di terra, navali e aerei così come le campagne, le operazioni di attacco e le linee di difesa e gli assedi. La campagne generalmente si riferiscono a operazioni di portata strategica che hanno interessato un territorio vasto per un periodo lungo. Le battagli si riferiscono generalmente a combattimenti intensi, concentrati nel tempo e nello spazio. In ogni caso l'uso dei termini non è stato usato con coerenza assoluta ma si è tenuto conto soprattutto dei termini effettivamente in uso. Per esempio la cosiddetta battaglia dell'Atlantico ha interessato un intero teatro di guerra ed è durata anni. Analogamente la battaglia d'Inghilterra si è esaurita nel corso di parecchi mesi.
Indice |
Campagne principali
European Theatre
- Blitzkrieg- war conducted with great speed or force
- Invasion of Poland (Operation Fall Weiss) - see Timeline of the Polish September Campaign
- Phony War
- Norwegian Campaign - see also Timeline of the Norwegian Campaign
- Invasion of Denmark and Norway (Operation Weserübung)
- Allied campaign in Norway
- Invasion of Iceland
- Battle of France (Fall Gelb)
- Battle of Britain ( + Operation Sealion, The German plan for invasion of Britain: Unternehmen Seelöwe )
- Balkans and Greece (Operation Marita)
- Eastern Front
- German invasion of Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa)
- Continuation War - The Russo-Finnish continuation of the Winter War
- Yugoslavian Front
- Western Front
- Italian Campaign
- Battle of Normandy (Operation Overlord, ETO: Normandy Campaign)
- Northern France Campaign
- Southern France Campaign (Operation Dragoon)
- Battle of the Siegfried Line (ETO: Rhineland Campaign, Ardennes-Alsace Campaign)
Asian and Pacific Theatre
- Second Sino-Japanese War
- American-British-Dutch-Australian Command
- Pacific Theater of Operations
- South-East Asian Theatre
- Soviet Manchurian Campaign 1945 (Operation August Storm)
Middle East Theatre
African and Mediterranean Theatre
- Battle of the Mediterranean
- East African Campaign
- North African campaign The Desert War
- West African campaign
- Balkans Campaign
- Yugoslavian Front
- Italian Campaign
- Battle of Madagascar
Battles
1939
| • Invasion of Poland | Poland invaded by Germany and the Soviet Union.
|
| • Saar Offensive | French attack on Saarland. |
| • Winter War |
|
| • Battle of Changsha (1939) | First Japanese attempt to take Changsha during the Second Sino-Japanese War. |
| • Battle of the River Plate | The Admiral Graf Spee chased into Montevideo harbour and later scuttled. |
1940
| • Battle of the Atlantic | Name given to the conflicts in the Atlantic Ocean between 1940 and 1945. |
| • Winter War |
|
| • Battle of Narvik | Minor Allied victory in Norway. |
| • Battle of Namsos | Failed Allied attempt to halt the Germans in Norway. |
| • Battle of the Netherlands | Germany defeats the Dutch in Europe during Operation Fall Gelb. |
| • Battle of Belgium | Germany defeats Belgium during Operation Fall Gelb. |
| • Battle of France | Germany defeats France and the British Expeditionary Force at the culmination of Operation Fall Gelb. |
| • Battle of French Indochina (1940) | Japan successfully invades French Indochina. |
| • Battle of Dunkirk | Successful evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (Operation Dynamo). |
| • Battle of Britain | The German Luftwaffe fails to defeat the Royal Air Force as the precondition for the invasion of Britain. |
| • Greco-Italian War | Italian forces invading Greece from Albania are repelled.
|
| • Battle of Taranto | British carrier-based planes destroy the Italian fleet in Taranto Harbor. |
| • Hundred Regiments Offensive | Major offensive by the Chinese Red Army against the Imperial Japanese Army. |
1941
| • Battle of Cape Matapan | British fleet defeats Italian fleet. |
| • Battle of Denmark Strait | The German battleship Bismarck sinks HMS Hood. |
| • Invasion of Yugoslavia | Germany and allies invade Yugoslavia. |
| • Battle of Greece | Germany invades Greece via Bulgaria. |
| • Battle of Crete | German paratroopers capture Crete, but suffer many casualties. |
| • Operation Barbarossa | German invasion of the Soviet Union.
|
| • Attack on Pearl Harbor | Surprise Japanese attack destroys almost all the US Pacific Fleet. |
| • Battle of Singapore | Japan takes Singapore. |
| • Battle of Changsha (1941) | Japan's second unsuccessful attempt to take Changsha. |
| • Japanese Invasion of Thailand | Japan successfully invades Thailand. |
1942
| • Battle of Makassar Strait | US and Dutch forces attack a Japanese convoy. |
| • Battle of Dražgoše | First direct engagement between Slovenian partisans and German occupying forces. |
| • Battle of the Java Sea | Japanese forces wipe out an Allied naval squadron. |
| • Battle of Badung Strait | Heavily outnumbered Japanese forces defeat an Allied night-time naval attack. |
| • Indian Ocean raid | Allied naval forces and shipping incur heavy losses during Japan's Fast Carrier Strike Force sortie. |
| • Battle of Corregidor | Philippines lost to Japan. |
| • Battle of Nanos | Eight hundred Italian soldiers lay siege to fifty Slovene partisans. |
| • Battle of the Coral Sea | First aircraft-carrier vs. aircraft-carrier battle. Japan wins tactically, but loses strategically. |
| • Battle of Bir Hakeim | The First Free French Brigade buys Allied forces enough time to prevent a German breakthrough to the Suez Canal. |
| • Battle of Midway | Key defeat of Japanese naval forces in the Pacific; the Japanese lose four aircraft-carriers. |
| • Convoy PQ-17 | A convoy of twenty-seven ships leaves Iceland on June 17, bound for Murmansk. Ten arrive on July 5. |
- Battle of the Aleutian Islands - Japanese invade and occupy two islands of Alaska's Aleutian archipelago as part of a feint designed to cover the Imperial Fleet's intended trap at Midway. Foreign troops are not expelled from US soil until the following year.
- First Battle of El Alamein - British Eighth Army stops Rommel's Axis forces invading Egypt
- Second Battle of El Alamein - Montgomery's Eighth Army forces Rommel out of Egypt
- Battle of Sevastopol - Captured by Germans after eight month siege
- Battle of Changsha - Chinese claim victory over Japanese
- Kokoda Track Campaign - Australians slow down Japanese offensive against Port Moresby, cause Japanese overextension and attrition losses; drive them back.
- Battle of Guadalcanal - Beginning of Allied action in Solomon Islands
- Battle of Savo Island - Japanese sink four US cruisers
- Battle of Dieppe - "Operation Jubilee" was an Allied amphibious raid on the German occupied port of Dieppe in France. A tactical disaster for the Allies. However lessons learned applied to later amphibious operations including D-Day.
- Battle of Stalingrad - City besieged by Paulus' German Sixth Army; from November 23 the Sixth Army is surrounded and destroyed by Soviets; bloodiest battle in history, 1.8 millions dead approx.
- Battle of the Eastern Solomons - Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō sunk
- Battle of Milne Bay - First time Japanese landing force had been driven back into sea.
- Battle of Cape Esperance - near Guadalcanal
- Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands - near Guadalcanal, USS Hornet sunk.
- Operation Torch - Allied landings in North Africa and successful Putsch of French Resistance in Algiers to prevent vichyist forces opposition.
- Naval Battle of Guadalcanal - US defeats Japan, a turning point.
- Battle of Tassafaronga - off Guadalcanal
- Second Battle of Kharkov - Failed Soviet attempt to retake Kharkov.
- Battle of Changsha (1942) - Second Chinese-Japanese War
- Battle of Milne Bay
- Battle of Madagascar
1943
- Battle of Osankarica - Over 200 Germans massacred all 69 men and women of the Pohorje battalion. Germans lost 19 men and had 31 wounded.
- Battle of Rennell Island - Japanese bombers sink a cruiser.
- Battle of Guadalcanal - Allies take the island.
- Third Battle of Kharkov - Germans retake Kharkov.
- Battle of the Kasserine Pass - Battle between US and German armored forces in Tunisia.
- Battle of Neretva - Large-scale German anti-partisan offensive in Yugoslavia.
- Battle of the Komandorski Islands - Naval engagement between US and Japan in the Bering Sea.
- Battle of Bismarck Sea - US sinks Japanese transports.
- Warsaw Ghetto Uprising - 5,000 Jews and 2,000 Germans die, Jews confined.
- Sutjeska offensive - Failed Axis offensive against Yugoslav partisans.
- Battle of Castle Turjak - Slovene partisans took the castle guarded by the Slovene village sentries.
- Battle of Kursk - Germans attack Kursk salient at Orel and Belgorod, Russians drive them back. Arguably the largest tank battle ever fought.
- Allied invasion of Sicily
- Allied invasion of Italy - Landings at Calabria, Taranto and Salerno
- Dodecanese Campaign - Allied and German scramble to occupy the Dodecanese Islands.
- Battle of Kos - German amphibious and airborne operation to capture Kos.
- Battle of Leros - German amphibious and airborne operation to capture Leros.
- Battle of Kiev (1943) - Kiev retaken by Soviets.
- Raid on Schweinfurt - milestone air battle between the Luftwaffe and the USAAF known as "Black Thursday."
- Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission - another major daylight air battle, first shuttle mission.
- Battle of Tarawa
- Battle of the Bernhardt Line - U.S. 5th Army sustains 16,000 casualties fighting through the Mignano Gap to reach the Cassino defenses.
1944
- Battle of Cisterna - Part of Operation Shingle, the 1st, 3rd, and 4th US Army Ranger battalions attempted to capture the town of Cisterna.
- Battle of Monte Cassino - Four battles in Italy Jan - May. Allies finally breakthrough towards Rome.
- Battle of Normandy - Allies invade northern France (Operation Overlord), hard fighting from Cherbourg to Caen, Germans surrounded and destroyed at Falaise.
- Battle of Philippine Sea - Major carrier battle; US lose 123 planes and destroy 315 Japanese planes
- Operation Rösselsprung - German attempt to capture Tito using airborne troops
- Marianas Campaign - US invasions of Saipan, June 15, Guam July 21, and Tinian July 24
- Battle of Imphal and Battle of Kohima - attempted Japanese invasion of India fails with heavy losses
- Operation Bagration - Soviet offensive destroys German Army Group Center on the Eastern Front.
- Battle of Fontenay
- 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 (a.k.a. Operation Anvil) - Allied invasion of Southern France
- Gothic Line offensive - British 8th Army and U.S. 5th Army attempt unsuccessfuly to break into the north Italian plains.
- Battle of Peleliu - A fight to capture an airstrip on a speck of coral in the western Pacific.
- 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 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 Hurtgen Forest - Stubborn German defense, appalling losses to US army
- 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 wins a Medal of Honor for his heroics.
- Battle of Aachen - Aachen was the first major German city to face invasion during WW II.
- Battle of Leyte Gulf - The largest air-sea battle in history.
- Operation Queen
- Battle of the Bulge - German counterattack in Ardennes; General McAuliffe says "NUTS" at Bastogne
- Battle of Leyte
- Battle of Peleliu
- Battle of Hengyang
1945
- Operation Elephant - Allied offensive in Netherlands
- Operation Blackcock - The Battle for the Roer Triangle, January 1945
- Colmar Pocket - France and the US collapse the German bridgehead over the Rhine in Alsace
- Operation Spring Awakening - German counterattack in Hungary
- Battle of Mindanao - US invasion of the Philippines
- Battle of Vienne
- Battle of Iwo Jima - After a month, US takes the island
- Operation Varsity - 134 Allied gliders land troops in Weisel
- Battle of Seelow Heights
- Spring 1945 offensive in Italy - The final defeat of German forces in Italy
- Battle of Berlin - Soviet forces encircle and capture German capital, Hitler commits suicide.
- Battle of Triest - British army and Yugoslav capture the city
- Battle of Poljana - Last battle of World War II in Europe
- Battle of Meiktila / Mandalay - Indian and British forces drive Japanese from Burma
- Battle of French Indochina (1945) - Japan successfully takes control of Vietnam.
- Battle of Okinawa - US takes Japanese Island in the Ryukyus; many casualties to both sides.
- Battle of Manchuria - Soviet forces liberate Manchuria.
Sieges
- Siege of Warsaw
- Siege of Leningrad
- Siege of Lwów
- Siege of Modlin
- Siege of Novorossiysk
- Siege of Odessa
- Siege of Sevastopol
- Siege of Tobruk
- Siege of Moscow
Naval engagements
General
- Arctic Convoys
- Second Battle of the Atlantic - the name given to the conflicts in the Atlantic Ocean between 1940 and 1945.
- Battle of the Mediterranean
- Battle of the Indian Ocean
Specific
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
Major bombing campaigns
General'
- Strategic bombing during World War II
- Strategic bombing survey for the overall impact of the bombing.
Specific'
- Baedeker raids
- Chungking
- Coventry
- Dresden
- Darwin
- Hamburg
- Helsinki - February 1944, was mostly ineffective due to air defence and deception.
- Hiroshima - One nuclear weapon dropped from a B-29, devastating a city.
- Kassel
- London - "The Blitz" and the V1 and V2 campaigns
- Lübeck
- Nagasaki - One nuclear weapon dropped from a B-29, devastating a city.
- Narva - March 1944. Evacuated town was destroyed by Soviet ADD.
- Pearl Harbor
- Rostock - Heinkel Airplane Construction Plant, Seaport, and City
- Rotterdam
- Stalingrad - 23 August 1942
- Tallinn - February - March 1944. Bombed by Soviet ADD. Large-scale damage.
- Tokyo bombed several times
- Warsaw
Operations
Raid
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.
- Allied
- Operation Colossus 10 February 1941
- Operation Claymore, March 1941
- Operation Archery, December 1941
- Battle of Timor (from February 1942)
- Operation Chariot, March 1942
- Dieppe Raid, August 1942
- Operation Jaywick, September 1943
- Operation Jedburgh, 1944
- Operation Roast, April 1945
- Axis
- Operation Greif, December 1944
Raiding units
- Allied
- Multinational
- Australia
- France
- Greece
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Axis
