Curated category
Naval battles and operations of the European theatre of World War II
- Allied invasion of SicilyThe Allied invasion of Sicily, known formally as Operation Husky, began on the night of the 9th and the 10th of July 1943 with one of the largest amphibious…
- Normandy landingsOn the 6th of June 1944, roughly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel in a single day. They came ashore along a 50-mile stretch of French coastline…
- Dunkirk evacuationThe Dunkirk evacuation began on the 26th of May 1940 with a single, sober target: save 45,000 men within two days, then accept that Germany would close the…
- Allied invasion of ItalyThe Allied invasion of Italy began at half past three in the morning on the 9th of September 1943. A loudspeaker on the beach at Paestum called out in…
- Operation DragoonOperation Dragoon began in the predawn hours of the 15th of August 1944, when 1,300 Allied bombers from Italy, Sardinia, and Corsica roared toward the…
- Operation PedestalOperation Pedestal began with sealed envelopes, handed to the masters of fourteen merchant ships and marked 'Not to be opened until 08:00 hours August 10.'…
- Last battle of BismarckHooks on Lütjens' 23:40 signal ("Ship unmanoeuvrable..."), the ~300nmi-west-of-Brest position, the uncontrollable circle, the scuttling by four British ships…
- Battle of AnzioThe Battle of Anzio began on the 22nd of January 1944, when Allied forces waded ashore at a strip of reclaimed marshland on the Italian coast, hoping to…
- Operation WeserübungOperation Weserübung began at 05:15 on the morning of the 9th of April 1940, when German forces struck Denmark and Norway in one of the most daring and…
- Battle of Cape MatapanThe Battle of Cape Matapan began with a cryptic message intercepted at Bletchley Park: "Today's the day minus three." A cryptanalyst named Mavis Batey had…
- Battle of TarantoOn the night of the 11th of November 1940-21 obsolete biplanes changed the way navies would fight forever. The Battle of Taranto was not won by the biggest…