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Tank battles of World War II

  • Battle of Alam el HalfaMontgomery knew Rommel's attack plan before the Battle of Alam el Halfa began. Ultra intercepts told him.
  • Battle of GazalaRommel used a decoy attack at Gazala, then swung his tanks south around the British line by night.
  • Operation CrusaderErwin Rommel was not even in Africa when Operation Crusader began. A deception plan had him expecting December.
  • Operation QueenMore than 4,500 aircraft bombed the Siegfried Line in 1944, yet American soldiers barely advanced.
  • Second Battle of El AlameinA thousand guns opened fire at once at El Alamein on October 23, 1942. A 13-day battle had begun.
  • Operation SonnenblumeRommel was sent to Libya only to defend Tripoli, yet he drove the British back to Egypt.
  • First Battle of El AlameinThe First Battle of El Alamein was fought at a railway station with no value of its own.
  • Battle of the BulgeIn the Battle of the Bulge, an American general answered a surrender demand with one word: Nuts.
  • Falaise pocketPilots flying over the Falaise pocket smelled the carnage from hundreds of feet up.
  • Battle of ImphalJapan's general expected to win the Battle of Imphal in three weeks.
  • Battle of KurskBefore the Battle of Kursk, one Soviet front dug 4,200 kilometres of trenches. Stalin knew the attack was coming.
  • Battle of Kiev (1941)The 1941 Battle of Kiev played only a small role for the city itself. It trapped 452,700 Soviet soldiers.
  • Operation BagrationOperation Bagration began exactly three years after Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
  • Battle of the Kerch PeninsulaSoviet troops landing at Kerch in December 1941 had fishing trawlers and whaleboats, not landing craft.
  • Battles of Khalkhin GolA search for horse pasture in 1939 helped push Japan toward Pearl Harbor. It began at the Khalkhin Gol river.
  • Second Battle of KharkovA Soviet offensive at Kharkov in May 1942 ended with more than 250,000 troops trapped.
  • Third Battle of KharkovA German counterstrike in February 1943 trapped Soviet spearheads that had just retaken Kharkov.

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