Curated category
Battles of World War II involving the United States
- Battle of Northern Burma and Western YunnanIn the spring of 1942, Japanese forces captured Burma and immediately prepared to attack west Yunnan. They aimed to fight along the Burma Road, conquer…
- Western New Guinea campaignThe Allied command set a clear goal for early 1944. They needed to bypass heavily fortified Japanese positions in the Pacific theater.
- Battle of GazalaIn January 1942, the Axis forces in Libya received a steady stream of supplies and reinforcements that continued until May.
- Siege of MyitkyinaJoseph Stilwell intended to make a rapid march against Myitkyina, prophesying it to be a feat which will live in military history.
- Allied invasion of SicilyThe Casablanca Conference in January 1943 brought together political leaders and military Chiefs of Staff from the United States and Britain to discuss…
- Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaignIn August 1942, the United States Pacific Fleet and Marine Corps began their first large-scale offensive across the Central Pacific.
- Battle of Nuremberg (1945)The Western Allies crossed the Rhine River on the 8th of February 1945. German forces suffered heavy losses as American and British armies pushed eastward.
- Operation QueenAllied high command believed total victory could be achieved by Christmas 1944. This optimism followed the rapid advance after the Normandy breakout in June…
- Mariana and Palau Islands campaignThe United States launched Campaign Plan Granite II against Imperial Japanese forces in the Pacific between June and November 1944.
- Omaha BeachOmaha Beach was one of five Allied beach landing sectors during the amphibious assault component of Operation Overlord on the 6th of June 1944.
- Normandy landingsThe decision to invade Normandy in 1943 began a complex web of military deception known as Operation Bodyguard. Allied planners needed to convince Adolf…
- Spring 1945 offensive in ItalyField Marshal Sir John Dill died on the 5th of November, triggering a cascade of leadership changes that reshaped the Allied high command.
- Operation Market GardenOn the 17th of September 1944, the Allied military operation known as Operation Market Garden began its attempt to create a salient spanning into German…
- Ruhr pocketThe Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen stood intact on the 7th of March 1945 when American troops seized it. General Omar Bradley's U.S.
- Siegfried Line campaignBy September 1944, the Allied armies had advanced faster than their supply lines could support. The U.S. 12th Army Group arrived with four more divisions…
- Battle of OkinawaThe island of Okinawa became the stage for Operation Iceberg, a massive military campaign that began on the 1st of April 1945.
- Allied invasion of ItalyBritish Prime Minister Winston Churchill called Italy the soft underbelly of the axis in November 1942. He argued that invading would remove Italy from the…
- Battle of Guam (1941)Guam is the southernmost part of the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It covers an area of 225 square miles with rugged interior terrain.
- Battle of LuzonThe Philippines held a strategic value that threatened the United States when Japan captured it in 1942. General Douglas MacArthur oversaw the defense of the…
- Borneo campaignOn the 16th of December 1941, Japanese troops landed at Sarawak. A single battalion of British Indian troops fought a delaying action over several weeks.
- Philippines campaign (1941–1942)On the 6th of November 1941, General Hisaichi Terauchi created the Southern Expeditionary Army Group to seize raw materials in Malaya and the Netherlands…
- Philippines campaign (1944–1945)By mid-1944, American forces sat only southeast of Mindanao, the largest island in the southern Philippines. Fleet Admiral Chester W.
- Battle of the BulgeOn the 16th of December 1944, the German army launched a massive offensive through the Ardennes forest. This attack aimed to split Allied forces and capture…
- Operation TorchThe United States entered the Second World War in December 1941. British and American leaders met at the Arcadia Conference in Washington D.C.
- Battle of LeyteOn the 20th of October 1944, General Douglas MacArthur waded through the surf onto Red Beach in Palo. He held a microphone aloft and spoke to the gathered…
- Battle of Mount SongIn 1944, the Burma Road became a lifeline for China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Chinese Nationalist forces sought to retake this highway to receive…
- Falaise pocketOn the 25th of July 1944, American forces launched Operation Cobra near Saint-Lô. This offensive shattered German defenses and pushed troops south into open…
- Operation PlunderField Marshal Bernard Montgomery launched Operation Plunder on the night of the 23rd of March 1945. Thousands of tons of supplies moved forward to support…
- Battle of Iwo JimaIn March 1944, the Japanese military reevaluated their position after American forces captured the Marshall Islands and attacked Truk Atoll.
- Aleutian Islands campaignIn 1935, U.S. General Billy Mitchell told Congress that whoever holds Alaska will hold the world. He called it the most important strategic place in the…
- Battle of Manila (1945)On the 9th of January 1945, the Sixth U.S. Army under Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger made an amphibious landing at Lingayen Gulf.
- Battle of MindanaoThe island of Mindanao offered very little inspiration for soldiers who would have to fight there. It boasted a long and irregular coastline, and the…
- Battle of West HunanBy April 1945, China had already been at war with Japan for more than seven years. Both nations were exhausted by years of battles, bombings and blockades.
- Operation DragoonGeneral George Marshall proposed the invasion of Southern France in 1942. Joseph Stalin supported this plan at the Tehran Conference in late 1943.
- Operation Northwind (1944)Adolf Hitler spoke to division commanders at his Adlerhorst command complex on the 28th of December 1944. He declared that this attack had a very clear…
- Battle of MidwayOn the 18th of April 1942, sixteen B-25 Mitchell bombers launched from the aircraft carrier Hornet to bomb targets in Tokyo and other Japanese cities.
- Western Allied invasion of GermanyBy early 1945, events favored the Allied forces in Europe. On the Western Front, the Allies had been fighting in Germany with campaigns against the Siegfried…
- Battle of Buna–GonaJapan's entry into World War II began with the attack on Pearl Harbor on the 7th of December 1941. This coordinated assault included simultaneous strikes on…
- Invasion of Lingayen GulfOn the 22nd of December 1941, the Japanese 14th Army under Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma landed on the northeastern shores of Lingayen Gulf at Agoo…
- Guadalcanal campaignOn the 7th of December 1941, Japanese forces attacked the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack killed almost 2,500 people and…
- Battle of AnzioWinston Churchill lay recovering from pneumonia in Marrakesh when he conceived Operation Shingle in December 1943. The British Prime Minister wanted to land…
- Battle of Wake IslandIn January 1941, the United States Navy began construction of a military base on the atoll. On the 19th of August, the first permanent military garrison…
- Liberation of ParisOn the night of the 24th of August 1944, a half-track named "Ebro" rolled into the square in front of the Hôtel de Ville and opened fire on a group of German…
- Kokoda Track campaignIn early 1942, the Australian government and many citizens feared a Japanese invasion of their mainland. The entire 8th Division had been lost or rendered…
- Operation KeOn the 31st of December 1942, Emperor Hirohito formally endorsed the decision to abandon Guadalcanal. This moment marked a turning point in the Pacific War…
- Operation CartwheelIn February 1942, Japanese forces captured Rabaul on the island of New Britain from Australian troops. This location became a major forward base for Japanese…
- Dieppe RaidOn the 19th of August 1942, the Allied amphibious attack on Dieppe began as a desperate gamble to satisfy Soviet demands for a second front.