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Naval battles and operations of the European theatre of World War II

  • Allied invasion of SicilyA corpse helped Allied forces invade Sicily in 1943. Fake papers on it pointed German forces toward Greece.
  • Normandy landingsThe D-Day invasion hinged on a weather forecast from Ireland's west coast.
  • Dunkirk evacuationThe Dunkirk evacuation aimed to save 45,000 men, but more than 338,000 got home.
  • Allied invasion of ItalyA loudspeaker on an Italian beach told landing American soldiers to give up. They landed anyway.
  • Operation DragoonOn August 15, 1944, 1,300 Allied bombers hit Provence to open the invasion of southern France.
  • Operation PedestalIn Operation Pedestal, a radio-controlled bomber aimed at a carrier failed and hit a mountain in Algeria.
  • Last battle of BismarckAn air attack from Ark Royal jammed the battleship Bismarck's rudder 12 degrees to port. She could only circle.
  • Battle of AnzioThe Anzio landings in January 1944 caught the Germans by surprise, yet Rome did not fall for four and a half months.
  • Operation WeserübungTwo 48-year-old guns sank a German cruiser in Norway's Oslofjord. It bought Norway's king time to flee.
  • Battle of Cape MatapanMavis Batey's reading of Italian naval Enigma set up the Battle of Cape Matapan. Nobody had read it before.
  • Battle of TarantoAt Taranto, a wire and drum kept British torpedoes from sinking into the mud. The harbor was only about 39 feet deep.

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