Skip to content
Curated category

Tank battles of World War II

  • Battle of Alam el HalfaThe Axis supply position was precarious because the main supply ports of Benghazi and Tobruk were 1,000 miles and 650 miles from the front respectively.
  • Battle of GazalaIn January 1942, the Axis forces in Libya received a steady stream of supplies and reinforcements that continued until May.
  • 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 QueenAllied high command believed total victory could be achieved by Christmas 1944. This optimism followed the rapid advance after the Normandy breakout in June…
  • Second Battle of El AlameinOn the 23rd of October 1942, a calm and clear evening under the bright sky of a full moon marked the start of a thirteen-day battle near the Egyptian railway…
  • Operation SonnenblumeIn September 1940, the Italian 10th Army advanced about 65 miles into Egypt to seize Sidi Barrani. Marshal Rodolfo Graziani halted his forces there to build…
  • First Battle of El AlameinIn June 1942, the British Eighth Army collapsed after their defeat at the Battle of Gazala in Eastern Libya. Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie ordered a…
  • 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…
  • 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…
  • Battle of ImphalIn March 1943, Lieutenant-General Renya Mutaguchi took command of the Fifteenth Army in Burma. He immediately began pushing for an invasion of India with a…
  • Battle of KurskThe summer of 1943 brought a massive tank battle near Kursk in southwestern Russia between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
  • Battle of Kiev (1941)On the 22nd of June 1941, Operation Barbarossa began with Army Group South advancing into Ukraine under Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt.
  • Operation BagrationOn the 22nd of June 1944, the Red Army attacked Army Group Centre in Byelorussia. This offensive occurred just over two weeks after Operation Overlord began…
  • Battle of the Kerch PeninsulaOn the evening of the 25th of December 1941, Soviet forces packed into small fishing trawlers and began crossing the Kerch Strait from the Taman Peninsula.
  • Battles of Khalkhin GolThe river Khalkhin Gol cuts through a disputed strip of land where the borders of Manchukuo and Mongolia meet. In 1939, this remote area became the stage for…
  • Second Battle of KharkovOn the 7th of November 1941, Joseph Stalin declared that German forces would collapse by spring or summer. This speech set a dangerous tone for Soviet…
  • Third Battle of KharkovOn the 2nd of February 1943, the German 6th Army surrendered at Stalingrad. This event freed six Soviet armies under Konstantin Rokossovsky to launch new…