Major Battles of WWII Flashcards

Battle of the Atlantic (Sept 1939-May 1945)

• Longest continuous military campaign of WWII, lasting from 1939 to 1945.
• Core conflict was between Allied naval blockades of Germany and German counter-blockades.
• Peak activity occurred from mid-1940 to the end of 1943.
• Engaged U-boats and Kriegsmarine warships against Allied merchant shipping.
• Allied convoys primarily sailed from North America to the UK and USSR, protected by British, Canadian, and eventually U.S. naval forces.
• Britain required over a million tons of imported goods weekly for survival and warfare.
• The campaign was characterized as a "tonnage war," aiming to cut off supplies to Britain.
• Soviet supply buildup attempts were also thwarted by German submarine actions post-1942.
• Strategic Allied victory achieved despite heavy losses: 3,500 merchant ships and 175 warships sunk, while 783 U-boats were lost.
• Coined by Winston Churchill in February 1941, it was termed the "longest, largest, and most complex" naval battle in history.
• Over thousands of square miles of ocean featured more than 100 convoy battles and around 1,000 single-ship encounters.
• Allies innovated tactics and technology, ultimately overcoming German threats by mid-1943.

Battle of Britain (July 10-Oct 31, 1940)

• Air campaign fought entirely by Luftwaffe against the UK, marking the first of its kind in WWII.
• Aimed for air superiority over Royal Air Force (RAF), particularly Fighter Command.
• Named after Churchill's speech announcing the conflict following the fall of France.
• Main targets shifted from coastal shipping convoys to RAF airfields and aircraft production facilities.
• Terror bombing tactics were employed later in the campaign against politically significant areas.
• Germany's failure to achieve its objectives represented its first significant defeat and changed the war's momentum.
• Success for the Allies prevented Operation Sea Lion, the planned German invasion of Britain.

Operation Barbarossa (June 22, 1941-Dec 1941)

• Code name for the pivotal German invasion of the Soviet Union, commencing on June 22, 1941.
• Largest military invasion in history with over 3.9 million Axis troops involved.
• Launched along a vast front of 2,900 km (1,800 mi).
• Marked a critical turning point in the Eastern Front of WWII due to severe consequences for German military strategy.