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Military operations of World War II involving Germany

  • Operation CrusaderIn August 1941, a German signals unit known as FAK 621 began reading British tactical codes with startling accuracy. This intelligence stream continued…
  • Operation QueenOperation Queen began on the 16th of November 1944 with one of the heaviest Allied tactical bombing raids of the entire war.
  • Operation KutuzovOn the 12th of July 1943, the Soviet high command launched a massive counteroffensive against Army Group Center. This operation was named after General…
  • Leningrad–Novgorod offensiveThe Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive began on the 14th of January 1944 with a thunderclap of artillery: 220,000 shells poured onto German lines along a…
  • Vyborg–Petrozavodsk offensiveIn January 1944, Soviet forces raised the Siege of Leningrad and drove the German Army Group North back to the Narva-Lake Ilmen-Pskov line.
  • First Jassy–Kishinev offensiveThe First Jassy-Kishinev offensive is one of the least-documented major operations of the entire Soviet-German War. Named after two cities in the region…
  • Case AntonCase Anton, known in German as Unternehmen Anton, was the military occupation of Vichy France carried out by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in November 1942.
  • Silesian offensivesThe Silesian offensives were not the main event. They were the protection racket for it. In the winter of 1945, the Soviet Red Army had its eyes fixed on…
  • AdlertagOn the first of August 1940, Adolf Hitler issued a written order known as Directive No. 17 to Hermann Göring and the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe.
  • 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 PanzerfaustOperation Panzerfaust was the name Germany gave to a scheme conceived in October 1944 to prevent Hungary from abandoning the war.
  • Battle of the DnieperThe Battle of the Dnieper began on the 26th of August 1943, marking a critical turning point in World War II. Adolf Hitler ordered the construction of…
  • Operation UranusOperation Uranus began at 07:20 Moscow time on the 19th of November 1942, when Soviet artillery commanders received a single codeword: "Siren".
  • Vienna offensiveJoseph Stalin reached an agreement with the Western Allies prior to April 1945 concerning the relative postwar political influence of each party in much of…
  • KanalkampfOn the 16th of July 1940, Adolf Hitler issued Directive 16 to the German armed forces. The directive ordered preparations for an invasion of Britain under…
  • Operation MarsSoviet forces launched Operation Mars in the early hours of the 25th of November 1942. The goal was to encircle and destroy the German Ninth Army within the…
  • 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…
  • Operation BagrationOperation Bagration began on the 22nd of June 1944, exactly three years to the day after Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union.
  • Dnieper–Carpathian offensiveThe Dnieper-Carpathian offensive, fought from late December 1943 to early May 1944, was one of the largest military operations in the history of the Second…
  • Gran Sasso raidOn the 12th of September 1943, German paratroopers and SS commandos landed gliders on a mountain plateau more than two thousand metres above sea level in…
  • Operation AchseOperation Achse began at 19:50 on the 8th of September 1943, when an aide to General Jodl broadcast a single coded word to every German command across the…
  • Second Jassy–Kishinev offensiveThe Red Army had advanced past Romania's pre-war borders in the Uman, Botoșani offensive in early April 1944. By late April, German-Romanian allies managed…
  • Vistula–Oder offensiveThe Vistula-Oder offensive of January 1945 was the fastest large-scale advance in the history of the Eastern Front. In just over two weeks, the Red Army…