User:Mr KGMC/sandbox

= WWI AND WWII =

Western Front
The July Crisis was a series of interrelated diplomatic and military escalations among the major powers of Europe in the summer of 1914, which led to the outbreak of World War I (1914–1918). The crisis began on June 28, 1914, when Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. A complex web of alliances, coupled with miscalculations when many leaders regarded war as in their best interests or felt that a general war would not occur, resulted in a general outbreak of hostilities among most major European nations in early August 1914. Austria-Hungary viewed the irredentist movements of South Slavs, as promoted by Serbia, as a threat to the unity of its multi-national empire. Following the assassination, Austria sought to inflict a military blow on Serbia to demonstrate its own strength and to dampen Serbian support for Yugoslav nationalism. However, Vienna, wary of the reaction of the Russian Empire (a major supporter of Serbia), sought a guarantee from its ally Germany that Berlin would support Austria in any conflict. Germany guaranteed its support, but urged Austria to attack quickly, while world sympathy for Ferdinand was high, in order to localize the war and to avoid drawing in Russia. Some German leaders believed that growing Russian economic power would change the balance of power between the two nations, that a war was inevitable, and that Germany would be better off if a war happened soon. However, rather than launching a quick attack with available military forces, Austrian leaders deliberated into mid-July before deciding that Austria would give Serbia a harsh ultimatum on 23 July and would not attack without a full mobilisation of the Austro-Hungarian Army (which could not be accomplished before 25 July 1914). Just prior to the Serbian reply to the ultimatum, Russia decided that it would intervene in any Austro–Serbian war and ordered a partial mobilization of its armed forces. While Russian military leadership acknowledged that Russia was not yet strong enough for a general war, Russia believed that the Austrian grievance against Serbia was a pretext orchestrated by Germany and that Saint Petersburg needed to show strength in support of its Serbian client. The Russian partial mobilization – the first major military action not undertaken by a direct participant in the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia – increased the willingness of Serbia to defy the threat of an Austrian attack and greatly increased the alarm in Germany about masses of Russian troops assembling near its borders. Previously, the German General Staff had predicted that Russian mobilization in the east would be slower than that of Russia's French ally on Germany's western border; therefore, German military strategy in any conflict with Russia involved attacking France through Belgium (to avoid French fixed defenses) and quickly defeating France in the west before turning to face Russia in the east. France, aware that it would have to act together with its Russian ally to defeat its German rival, escalated its military preparations as tensions along the Russian border increased, which, in turn, further alarmed Germany. While the United Kingdom was semi-formally aligned with Russia and France, it also had relatively friendly diplomatic relations with Germany, and many British leaders saw no compelling reason to involve Britain in a continental war. Britain repeatedly offered to mediate, using the Serbian reply as the basis of negotiation, and Germany made various promises in an attempt to ensure British neutrality. However, Britain decided that it had a moral obligation to defend Belgium and to aid its formal allies, and thus became the last major country actively involved in the July Crisis to formally enter the conflict on 4 August. By early August, the ostensible reason for armed conflict, the dispute between Serbia and Austria-Hungary over the murdered heir, had already become a sidenote to a general European war.

The German invasion of Belgium was a military campaign which began on 4 August 1914. Earlier, on 24 July, the Belgian government had announced that if war came it would uphold its historic neutrality. The Belgian government mobilised its armed forces on 31 July and a state of heightened alert (Kriegsgefahr) was proclaimed in Germany. On 2 August, the German government sent an ultimatum to Belgium, demanding passage through the country, and German forces invaded Luxembourg. Two days later, the Belgian government refused the demands and the British government guaranteed military support to Belgium. The German government declared war on Belgium on 4 August, troops crossed the border and began the Battle of Liège. German military operations in Belgium were intended to bring the 1st, 2nd and 3rd armies into positions in Belgium from which they could invade France, which, after the fall of Liège on 7 August, led to sieges of Belgian fortresses along the river Meuse at Namur and the surrender of the last forts (16–17 August). The government abandoned the capital, Brussels, on 17 August and after fighting on the Gete river, the Belgian field army withdrew westwards to the National Redoubt at Antwerp on 19 August. Brussels was occupied the following day and the siege of Namur began on 21 August. After the Battle of Mons and the Battle of Charleroi, the bulk of the German armies marched south into France, leaving small forces to garrison Brussels and the Belgian railways. The III Reserve Corps advanced to the fortified zone around Antwerp and a division of the IV Reserve Corps took over in Brussels. The Belgian field army made several sorties from Antwerp in late August and September to harass German communications and to assist the French and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), by keeping German troops in Belgium. German troop withdrawals to reinforce the main armies in France were postponed to repulse a Belgian sortie from 9 to 13 September and a German corps in transit was retained in Belgium for several days. Belgian resistance and German fear of francs-tireurs, led the Germans to implement a policy of terror (schrecklichkeit) against Belgian civilians soon after the invasion, in which massacres, executions, hostage taking and the burning of towns and villages took place and became known as the Rape of Belgium. After the Battle of the Frontiers ended, the French armies and the BEF began the Great Retreat into France (24 August – 28 September), the Belgian army and small detachments of French and British troops fought in Belgium against German cavalry and Jäger. On 27 August, a squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) flew to Ostend, to conduct air reconnaissance between Bruges, Ghent and Ypres. Royal Marines landed in France on 19–20 September and began scouting unoccupied Belgium in motor cars; an RNAS Armoured Car Section was created by fitting vehicles with bulletproof steel. On 2 October, the Marine Brigade of the Royal Naval Division was moved to Antwerp, followed by the rest of the division on 6 October. From 6 to 7 October, the 7th Division and the 3rd Cavalry Division landed at Zeebrugge and naval forces collected at Dover were formed into the Dover Patrol, to operate in the Channel and off the French–Belgian coast. Despite minor British reinforcement, the siege of Antwerp ended when its defensive ring of forts was destroyed by German super-heavy artillery. The city was abandoned on 9 October and Allied forces withdrew to West Flanders. At the end of the Great Retreat, the Race to the Sea (17 September – 19 October) began, a period of reciprocal attempts by the Germans and Franco-British to outflank their opponents, extending the front line northwards from the Aisne, into Picardy, Artois and Flanders. Military operations in Belgium also moved westwards as the Belgian army withdrew from Antwerp to the area close to the border with France. The Belgian army fought the defensive Battle of the Yser (16–31 October) from Nieuwpoort (Nieuport) south to Diksmuide (Dixmude), as the German 4th Army attacked westwards and French, British and some Belgian troops fought the First Battle of Ypres (19 October – 22 November) against the 4th and 6th armies. By November 1914, most of Belgium was under German occupation and Allied naval blockade. A German military administration was established on 26 August 1914, to rule through the pre-war Belgian administrative system, overseen by a small group of German officers and officials. Belgium was divided into administrative zones, the General Government of Brussels and its hinterland; a second zone, under the 4th Army, including Ghent and Antwerp and a third zone under the German Navy along the coastline. The German occupation lasted until late 1918.

The Battle of the Frontiers (Dutch: Slag der Grenzen; French: Bataille des Frontières; German: Grenzschlachten) was a series of battles fought along the eastern frontier of France and in southern Belgium, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. The battles resolved the military strategies of the French Chief of Staff General Joseph Joffre with Plan XVII and an offensive interpretation of the German Aufmarsch II deployment plan by Helmuth von Moltke the Younger: the German concentration on the right (northern) flank, to wheel through Belgium and attack the French in the rear. The German advance was delayed by the movement of French Fifth Army (General Charles Lanrezac) towards the north-west to intercept them, and the presence of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on left flank of the French. The Franco-British troops were driven back by the Germans, who were able to invade northern France. French and British rearguard actions delayed the German advance, allowing the French time to transfer forces on the eastern frontier to the west to defend Paris, resulting in the First Battle of the Marne. Belgian military planning assumed that other powers would assist the Belgian Army to eject an invader and a formal alliance between France and Britain was not solidified by a potential German invasion, despite the Anglo-French Entente (1904). The Belgians judged that the British attitude towards their country had changed and that Belgium had come to be seen as a British protectorate. A General Staff was formed in 1910 but the Chef d'État-Major Général de l'Armée, Lieutenant-Général Harry Jungbluth was retired on 30 June 1912 and not replaced by Lieutenant-General Chevalier de Selliers de Moranville until May 1914. Moranville began planning for the concentration of the army and met Belgian railway officials on 29 July. The Belgian army was to be massed in central Belgium, in front of the National redoubt of Belgium, ready to face any border, while the Fortified Position of Liège and Fortified Position of Namur were left to secure the frontiers. On mobilisation, the King became Commander-in-Chief and chose where the army was to concentrate. Amid the disruption of the new rearmament plan, disorganised and poorly trained Belgian soldiers would benefit from a central position to delay contact with an invader but it would also need fortifications for defence, which were on the frontier. A school of thought wanted a return to a frontier deployment, in line with French theories of the offensive. Belgian plans became a compromise, in which the field army concentrated behind the Gete river, with two divisions further forward at Liège and Namur.

The Great Retreat (French: Grande Retraite), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western Front in the First World War had been defeated by the armies of the German Empire at the Battle of Charleroi (21 August) and the Battle of Mons (23 August). A counter-offensive by the Fifth Army, with some assistance from the BEF, at the First Battle of Guise (Battle of St. Quentin 29–30 August) failed to end the German advance and the retreat continued over the Marne. From 5 to 12 September, the First Battle of the Marne ended the Allied retreat and forced the German armies to retire towards the Aisne River and to fight the First Battle of the Aisne (13–28 September). Reciprocal attempts to outflank the opposing armies to the north known as the Race to the Sea followed from (17 September to 17 October). The Battle of the Frontiers is a general name for all of the operations of the French armies until the Battle of the Marne. A series of encounter battles began between the German, French and Belgian armies, on the German-French frontier and in southern Belgium on 4 August 1914. The Battle of Mulhouse (Battle of Alsace 7–10 August) was the first French offensive of World War I against Germany. The French captured Mulhouse until forced out by a German counter-attack on 11 August and fell back toward Belfort. The main French offensive, the Battle of Lorraine (14–25 August), began with the Battles of Morhange and Sarrebourg (14–20 August) advances by the First Army on Sarrebourg and the Second Army towards Morhange. Château Salins near Morhange was captured on 17 August and Sarrebourg the next day. The German 6th and 7th armies counter-attacked on 20 August, the Second Army was forced back from Morhange and the First Army was repulsed at Sarrebourg. The German armies crossed the border and advanced on Nancy but were stopped to the east of the city. To the south the French retook Mulhouse on 19 August and then withdrew. On 24 August at the Battle of the Mortagne (14–25 August), a limited German offensive in the Vosges, the Germans managed a small advance, before a French counter-attack retook the ground. By 20 August a German counter-offensive in Lorraine had begun and the German 4th and 5th Armies advanced through the Ardennes on 19 August towards Neufchâteau. An offensive by French Third and Fourth armies through the Ardennes began on 20 August, in support of the French invasion of Lorraine. The opposing armies met in thick fog and the French mistook the German troops for screening forces. On 22 August the Battle of the Ardennes (21–28 August) began with French attacks, which were costly to both sides and forced the French into a disorderly retreat late on 23 August. The Third Army recoiled towards Verdun, pursued by the 5th Army and the Fourth Army retreated to Sedan and Stenay. Mulhouse was recaptured again by German forces and the Battle of the Meuse 26–28 August), caused a temporary halt of the German advance. Liège was occupied by the Germans on 7 August, the first units of the BEF landed in France and French troops crossed the German frontier. On 12 August, the Battle of Haelen was fought by German and Belgian cavalry and infantry and was a Belgian defensive success. The BEF completed its move of four divisions and a cavalry division to France on 16 August, as the last Belgian fort of the Position fortifiée de Liège surrendered. The Belgian government withdrew from Brussels on 18 August and the German army attacked the Belgian field army at the Battle of the Gete. Next day the Belgian army began to retire towards Antwerp, which left the route to Namur open; Longwy and Namur were besieged on 20 August. Further west, the Fifth Army had concentrated on the Sambre by 20 August, facing north either side of Charleroi and east towards the Belgian fortress of Namur. On the left, the Cavalry Corps (General André Sordet) linked with the BEF at Mons.

The Siege of Maubeuge took place from 24 August – 7 September 1914, at the Entrenched Camp of Maubeuge (le camp retranché de Maubeuge) the start of the First World War on the Western Front. The railway from Thionville (Diedenhofen, 1871–1919) to Luxembourg City, Arlon and Namur into Belgium had been cut by the demolition of the rail bridge over the Meuse at Namur in Belgium. During the siege, the German armies in the north could use only the single-track line from Trier to Liège, Brussels, Valenciennes and Cambrai, which could accommodate a maximum of forty trains a day. At the end of August the garrison made several sorties but the third was a costly failure, after which the French prepared to receive the German attack. The German bombardment began at 1:00 p.m. on 29 August, assisted by agents in the Entrenched Position who passed reports on the fall of shot, greatly increasing the accuracy of the German guns. The forts and infantry shelters (ouvrages) were wrecked by the German and Austrian super-heavy howitzers; German medium artillery proved unexpectedly effective. Parts of Maubeuge were set on fire, causing an exodus of civilians and deserters to the village of Hautmont to the south-west. From 1 to 7 September, the French were forced out into the open and infantry attacks from the east gradually overran the French defences on both sides of the Sambre, forcing the survivors back level with Maubeuge. Brigadier-General Joseph Fournier, the governor of Maubeuge, surrendered to General Hans von Zwehl on 7 September, effective at noon the next day. The French suffered 5,000 casualties and up to 49,000 troops went into captivity, along with several hundred guns and machine-guns; German casualties were 1,100–5,000 men. The garrison had withstood bombardment by heavy and super-heavy artillery, air raids and infantry attacks for fifteen days, longer than any other besieged fortress in Belgium or France, leaving the German 2nd Army short of troops as it pursued the Franco-British Armies southwards towards the Marne.

The First Battle of the Marne was a battle of the First World War fought from 6 to 12 September 1914. It resulted in an Allied victory against the German armies in the west. The battle was the culmination of the Retreat from Mons and pursuit of the Franco–British armies which followed the Battle of the Frontiers in August and reached the eastern outskirts of Paris. Field Marshal Sir John French, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), began to plan for a full British retreat to port cities on the English Channel for an immediate evacuation. The military governor of Paris, Joseph Simon Gallieni, wanted the Franco–British units to counter-attack the Germans along the Marne River and halt the German advance. Allied reserves would restore the ranks and attack the German flanks. On 5 September, the counter-offensive by six French armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) began. By 9 September, the success of the Franco–British counteroffensive left the German 1st and 2nd Armies at risk of encirclement, and they were ordered to retreat to the Aisne River. The retreating armies were pursued by the French and British, although the pace of the Allied advance was slow: 12 mi (19 km) in one day. The German armies ceased their retreat after 40 mi (65 km) on a line north of the Aisne River, where they dug in on the heights and fought the First Battle of the Aisne. The German retreat between 9 September and 13 September marked the end of the attempt to defeat France by crushing the French armies with an invasion from the north through Belgium and in the south over the common border. Both sides commenced reciprocal operations to envelop the northern flank of their opponent, in what became known as the Race to the Sea which culminated in the First Battle of Ypres.

The First Battle of the Aisne (French: 1re Bataille de l'Aisne) was the Allied follow-up offensive against the right wing of the German First Army (led by Alexander von Kluck) and the Second Army (led by Karl von Bülow) as they retreated after the First Battle of the Marne earlier in September 1914. The Advance to the Aisne (6 September – 1 October) consisted of the Battle of the Marne (7–10 September) and the Battle of the Aisne (12–15 September). When the Germans turned to face the pursuing Allies on 13 September, they held one of the most formidable positions on the Western Front. Between Compiègne and Berry-au-Bac, the Aisne River winds westward and is about 100 feet (30 m) wide, ranging from 12–15 feet (3.7–4.6 m) deep. Low-lying ground extends one mile (1.6 km) on each side, rising abruptly to a line of steep cliffs 300–400 feet (91–122 m) high, then gently levelling to a plateau. The Germans settled on the higher northern side 2 miles (3.2 km) beyond the crest, behind a dense thicket that covered the front and slope. Low crops in the unfenced countryside offered no natural concealment to the Allies. Deep, narrow paths cut into the escarpment at right angles, exposing any infiltrators to extreme hazard. The forces on the northern plateau commanded a wide field of fire. In dense fog on the night of 13 September, most of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) crossed the Aisne on pontoons or partially demolished bridges, landing at Bourg-et-Comin on the right and at Venizel on the left. At Chivres-Val east of Venizel, there was an escarpment the Germans had selected as their strongest position. The French Fifth Army crossed the Aisne at Berry-au-Bac and captured the eastern tip of Chemin des Dames, a steep ridge named after the royal coach road Louis XV had built for his daughters. Contact was established along the entire front. East of Chemin des Dames, the French Fourth, Fifth and Ninth armies made only negligible progress beyond the positions they had reached on 13 September. Under the thick cover of the foggy night, the BEF advanced up the narrow paths to the plateau. When the mist evaporated under a bright morning sun, they were mercilessly raked by fire from the flank. Those caught in the valley without the fog's protective shroud fared no better. It soon became clear that neither side could budge the other and since neither chose to retreat, the impasse hardened into stalemate, that would lock the antagonists into a relatively narrow strip for the next four years. On 14 September, Sir John French ordered the entire BEF to entrench, but few entrenching tools were available. Soldiers scouted nearby farms and villages for pickaxes, spades and other implements. Without training for stationary warfare, the troops merely dug shallow pits in the soil. These were at first intended only to afford cover against enemy observation and artillery fire. Soon the trenches were deepened to about seven feet. Other protective measures included camouflage and holes cut into trench walls then braced with timber. Trench warfare was also new for the Germans, whose training and equipment were designed for a mobile war to be won in six weeks, but they quickly adapted their weapons to the new situation. Siege howitzers now lobbed massive shells into the Allied trenches. Skilful use of trench mortars and hand and rifle grenades (first used against British troops on 27 September), enabled the Germans to inflict great losses upon Allied troops, who had neither been trained nor equipped with these weapons. Searchlights, flares and periscopes were also part of the German equipment intended for other purposes, but put to use in the trenches. A shortage of heavy weapons handicapped the British. Only their 60-pounders (four guns to a division) were powerful enough to shell enemy gun emplacements from the Aisne's south shore, and these guns were inferior to German artillery in calibre, range and numbers. Four artillery battery of 6-inch (150 mm) guns (a total of sixteen), were rushed from England. Although a poor match against the German 8-inch (200 mm) howitzers, they helped somewhat. Defensive firepower was limited to rifles and two machine guns allotted to each battalion. The British regulars were excellent marksmen but even their combined accuracy was no match for the German machine guns and grenades. British aircraft were used to report troop movements, although few were equipped with wireless. Aviators were able to recognise the advantage of observing artillery fire. On 24 September, Lieutenants B.T. James and D.S. Lewis detected three well-concealed enemy gun batteries that were inflicting considerable damage on British positions. They radioed back the location of the batteries, then droned in a wide circle, waiting to spot their own gunners' exploding shells. Anti-aircraft fire was desultory and inaccurate. The German Army used only percussion shells, which, according to Canadian sources, "not one in several hundred ever hit its aerial target, and fell to earth frequently at some point in the British lines and there burst."

The Siege of Antwerp (Dutch: Beleg van Antwerpen, French: Siège d'Anvers, German: Belagerung von Antwerpen) was an engagement between the German and the Belgian, British and French armies around the fortified city of Antwerp during World War I. German troops besieged a garrison of Belgian fortress troops, the Belgian field army and the British Royal Naval Division in the Antwerp area, after the German invasion of Belgium in August 1914. The city, which was ringed by forts known as the National Redoubt, was besieged to the south and east by German forces. The Belgian forces in Antwerp conducted three sorties in late September and early October, which interrupted German plans to send troops to France, where reinforcements were needed to counter the French armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). A German bombardment of the Belgian fortifications with heavy and super-heavy artillery began on 28 September. The Belgian garrison had no hope of victory without relief and despite the arrival of the Royal Naval Division beginning on 3 October the Germans penetrated the outer ring of forts. When the German advance began to compress a corridor from the west of the city along the Dutch border to the coast, through which the Belgians at Antwerp had maintained contact with the rest of unoccupied Belgium, the Belgian Field Army commenced a withdrawal westwards towards the coast. On 9 October, the remaining garrison surrendered, the Germans occupied the city and some British and Belgian troops escaped to the Netherlands to the north and were interned for the duration of the war. Belgian troops from Antwerp withdrew to the Yser river, close to the French border and dug in, to begin the defence of the last unoccupied part of Belgium and fought the Battle of the Yser against the German 4th Army in October and November 1914. The Belgian Army held the area until late in 1918, when it participated in the Allied liberation of Belgium.

The Battle of Hartmannswillerkopf, was a series of engagements during WWI, fought for the control of the Hartmannswillerkopf peak in Alsace in 1914 and 1915. The peak is a pyramidal rocky spur in the Vosges mountains, about 3.1 miles north of Thann, standing at 956 meters and overlooking the Alsace Plain, Rhine valley and the Black Forest in Germany.

The Battle of Neuve Chapelle, took place in WWI in the Artois region of France. The attack was intended to cause a rupture in the German lines, which would then be exploited with a rush to the Aubers Ridge and possibly Lille. A French assault at Vimy Ridge on the Artois plateau was also planned to threaten the road, rail and canal junctions at La Bassée from the south as the British attacked from the north.

The Gas Attacks at Hulluch were two German cloud gas attacks on British troops during World War I, from 27–29 April 1916, near the village of Hulluch, 1 mi (1.6 km) north of Loos in northern France. The gas attacks were part of an engagement between divisions of the II Bavarian Corps and divisions of the British I Corps. Just before dawn on 27 April, the 16th (Irish) Division and part of the 15th (Scottish) Division were subjected to a cloud gas attack near Hulluch. The gas cloud and artillery bombardment were followed by raiding parties, which made temporary lodgements in the British lines. Two days later the Germans began another gas attack but the wind turned and blew the gas back over the German lines. A large number of German casualties were caused by the change in the wind direction and the decision to go ahead against protests by local officers, which were increased by British troops, who fired on German soldiers as they fled in the open. The gas used by the German troops at Hulluch was a mixture of chlorine and phosgene, which had first been used on 19 December 1915 at Wieltje, near Ypres. The German gas was of sufficient concentration to penetrate the British PH gas helmets and the 16th Division was unjustly blamed for poor gas discipline. It was put out that the gas helmets of the division were of inferior manufacture, to allay doubts as to the effectiveness of the helmet. Production of the Small Box Respirator, which had worked well during the attack, was accelerated.

The Battle of Mont Sorrel (Battle of Mount Sorrel, Battle of Hill 62) was a local operation in World War I by three divisions of the British Second Army and three divisions of the German 4th Army in the Ypres Salient, near Ypres, Belgium, from 2 to 13 June 1916. To divert British resources from the build-up being observed on the Somme, the XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps and the 117th Infantry Division attacked an arc of high ground defended by the Canadian Corps. The German forces captured the heights at Mount Sorrel and Tor Top, before entrenching on the far slope of the ridge. Following a number of attacks and counterattacks, two divisions of the Canadian Corps, supported by the 20th Light Division and Second Army siege and howitzer battery groups, recaptured the majority of their former positions.

The Battle of the Boar's Head was an attack on 30 June 1916 at Richebourg-l'Avoué in France, during the First World War. Troops of the 39th Division, XI Corps in the First Army of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), advanced to capture the Boar's Head, a salient held by the German 6th Army. Two battalions of the 116th Brigade, with one battalion forming carrying parties, attacked the German front position before dawn on 30 June. The British took and held the German front line trench and the second trench for several hours, before retiring to their lines having lost 850–1,366 casualties. The operation was conducted when the British armies on the Western Front north of the Somme, supported the Fourth Army during the Battle of the Somme (1 July to 18 November). The British Third, First and Second armies conducted 310 raids against the Germans up to November 1916, harassing the Germans opposite to give novice divisions experience of fighting on the Western Front, to inflict casualties and to prevent German troops from being transferred to the Somme. From 19 to 20 July, XI Corps conducted the much bigger Battle of Fromelles, where British and Australian troops suffered an even greater number of casualties.

The Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917) was an attack by the British Second Army (General Sir Herbert Plumer), on the Western Front, near the village of Messines (now Mesen) in West Flanders, Belgium, during the First World War. The Nivelle Offensive in April and May had failed to achieve its more grandiose aims, had led to the demoralisation of French troops and confounded the Anglo-French strategy for 1917. The attack forced the Germans to move reserves to Flanders from the Arras and Aisne fronts, relieving pressure on the French. The British tactical objective was to capture the German defences on the ridge, which ran from Ploegsteert Wood (Plugstreet to the British) in the south, through Messines and Wytschaete to Mt Sorrel, depriving the German 4th Army of the high ground. The ridge gave commanding views of the British defences and back areas of Ypres to the north, from which the British intended to conduct the Northern Operation, an advance to Passchendaele Ridge and then the capture the Belgian coast up to the Dutch frontier. The Second Army had five corps, three for the attack and two on the northern flank, not part the operation; XIV Corps was available in General Headquarters reserve. The 4th Army divisions of Group Wytschaete (Gruppe Wijtschate, the IX Reserve Corps headquarters) held the ridge and were later reinforced by a division from Group Ypres (Gruppe Ypern). The British attacked with the II Anzac Corps (3rd Australian Division, New Zealand Division and the 25th Division, with the 4th Australian Division in reserve), IX Corps (36th (Ulster), 16th Irish) and 19th (Western) divisions and the 11th (Northern) Division in reserve), X Corps (41st, 47th (1/2nd London) and 23rd Divisions with the 24th Division in reserve). XIV Corps in reserve (Guards, 1st, 8th and 32nd divisions). The 30th, 55th (West Lancashire), 39th and 38th (Welsh) divisions in II Corps and VIII Corps, guarded the northern flank and made probing attacks on 8 June. Gruppe Wijtschate held the ridge with the 204th, 35th, 2nd, 3rd Bavarian (relieving the 40th Division when the British attack began) and 4th Bavarian divisions, with the 7th Division and 1st Guard Reserve Division as Eingreif (counter-attack) divisions. The 24th Saxon Division, relieved on 5 June, was rushed back when the attack began and the 11th Division, in Gruppe Ypern reserve, arrived on 8 June. The battle began with the detonation of 19 mines beneath the German front position, which devastated it and left 19 large craters. A creeping barrage, 700 yd (640 m) deep began and protected the British troops as they secured the ridge with support from tanks, cavalry patrols and aircraft. The effect of the British mines, barrages and bombardments was improved by advances in artillery survey, flash spotting and centralised control of artillery from the Second Army headquarters. British attacks from 8 to 14 June advanced the front line beyond the former German Sehnenstellung (Chord Position, the Oosttaverne Line to the British). The battle was a prelude to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres, the preliminary bombardment for which began on 11 July 1917.

The Battle of Cambrai (Battle of Cambrai, 1917, First Battle of Cambrai and Schlacht von Cambrai) was a British attack in the First World War, followed by the biggest German counter-attack against the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) since 1914. The town of Cambrai, in the département of Nord, was an important supply centre for the German Siegfriedstellung (known to the British as the Hindenburg Line) and capture of the town and the nearby Bourlon Ridge would threaten the rear of the German line to the north. Major General Henry Tudor, Commander, Royal Artillery (CRA) of the 9th (Scottish) Division, advocated the use of new artillery-infantry tactics on his sector of the front. During preparations, J. F. C. Fuller, a staff officer with the Tank Corps, looked for places to use tanks for raids. General Julian Byng, commander of the Third Army, decided to combine both plans. The French and British armies had used tanks in mass earlier in 1917, although to considerably less effect. After a big British success on the first day, mechanical unreliability, German artillery and infantry defences exposed the frailties of the Mark IV tank. On the second day, only about half of the tanks were operational and British progress was limited. In the History of the Great War, the British official historian, Wilfrid Miles and modern scholars do not place exclusive credit for the first day on tanks but discuss the concurrent evolution of artillery, infantry and tank methods. Numerous developments since 1915 matured at Cambrai, such as predicted artillery fire, sound ranging, infantry infiltration tactics, infantry-tank co-ordination and close air support. The techniques of industrial warfare continued to develop and played a vital part during the Hundred Days Offensive in 1918, along with replacement of the Mark IV tank with improved types. The rapid reinforcement and defence of Bourlon Ridge by the Germans, as well as their counter-attack, were also notable achievements, which gave the Germans hope that an offensive strategy could end the war before American mobilisation became overwhelming.

The Battle of Amiens, also known as the Third Battle of Picardy (French: 3ème Bataille de Picardie), was the opening phase of the Allied offensive which began on 8 August 1918, later known as the Hundred Days Offensive, that ultimately led to the end of the First World War. Allied forces advanced over 11 kilometers (7 mi) on the first day, one of the greatest advances of the war, with General Henry Rawlinson's British Fourth Army (with 9 of its 19 divisions supplied by the fast moving Australian Corps of Lt General John Monash and Canadian Corps of Lt General Arthur Currie) playing the decisive role. The battle is also notable for its effects on both sides' morale and the large number of surrendering German forces. This led Erich Ludendorff to later describe the first day of the battle as "the black day of the German Army". Amiens was one of the first major battles involving armored warfare.

Eastern Front
The Russian invasion of East Prussia occurred during World War I, lasting from August to September 1914. As well as being the natural course for the Russian Empire to take upon the declaration of war on the German Empire, it was also an attempt to focus the German Army on the Eastern Front, as opposed to the Western Front. Despite having an overwhelming superiority over the Germans in numbers, the invading Imperial Russian Army spread its forces thin and was defeated in the battles of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes, resulting in a complete strategic collapse of the Russian invasion. The shock of the invasion served to assist the German war effort according to one historian, who argued that "Outrage at the violation of national territory and Tsarist atrocities strengthened German solidarity, cemented conviction in the righteousness of the national cause, and acted as a terrible and lasting warning of the penalties of defeat". German strategy vis-à-vis Russia was defensive from 1888 onward, when the Chief of the German General Staff, Helmuth von Moltke, abandoned the concept of a decisive offensive into Russian territory and began to consider defensive options. According to German intelligence estimates, the railway network in Poland limited the Russians to three options: a purely defensive posture against Germany, an offensive down the Vistula straight towards Berlin or an invasion of East Prussia with two armies, one from the Narew and one from the Neman. French political pressure blocked the first option, while the second option was militarily unsound, leaving the third option as the most likely Russian course of action. In 1894 Alfred von Schlieffen, then Chief of the General Staff, war-gamed a scenario that corresponded to the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914. With the Russian Niemen army having overrun half of East Prussia, the German commander in the exercise exploited the separation between the Russian Narew and Niemen armies to mass his troops against the right flank of the Narew army and destroy the whole force. In the exercise critique Schlieffen said the Germans could easily just establish a defensive line behind the Vistula, but when the opportunity to destroy an entire Russian army was available, it should be taken. Whereas Schlieffen's predecessor's Alfred von Waldersee's idea had been to launch a spoiling attack on the Russians as they deployed and then wait for reinforcements from the west, Schlieffen foresaw a mobile operation on interior lines using railways to mass forces against one Russian army and destroy it before it could retreat. As a result, every German general staff officer in East Prussia in 1914 knew how to respond to the Russian offensive.

The Battle of Galicia, also known as the Battle of Lemberg, was a major battle between Russia and Austria-Hungary during the early stages of World War I in 1914. In the course of the battle, the Austro-Hungarian armies were severely defeated and forced out of Galicia, while the Russians captured Lemberg and, for approximately nine months, ruled Eastern Galicia until their defeat at Gorlice and Tarnów. When war came the Austro-Hungarian Chief-of-Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf planned to launch an offensive into Russian Poland with his northern armies (the 1st and 4th). The Russians would far outnumber the Central Powers in the east (especially the Austro-Hungarian armies, which were Russia's primary target), Conrad believed that their best option was an early advance into southern Poland where the Russians would be concentrating their newly mobilized units. Conrad knew that his German allies were committed to an offensive in the West to defeat the French in the first ten weeks of the war. Only the German 8th army would be in the East, where they would stand on the defensive in East Prussia. However, their alliance with the French obliged the Russians to attack the Germans promptly, so substantial Russian forces would be sent to invade East Prussia. The 1st and 4th Austro-Hungarian Armies would advance into Poland without direct German support. By 23 August 1914 Conrad's 1st, 3rd, and 4th Armies were concentrated in Galicia along a front of 280 km (170 mi). On 2 August Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, a second cousin of Emperor Nicholas II who had made his career in the army, was made Commander-in-Chief. He had an excellent reputation for training troops, but had never commanded a field army and was staggered by his unexpected elevation. The Russian 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th Armies were assigned to Galicia. The Russian war plan called for Nikolai Ivanov, the Russian commander of the Southwest Front, to counter an anticipated Austro-Hungarian offensive thrusting eastward from Lemberg. The 3rd and 8th Armies would mount an offensive into eastern Galicia. The Russians could bring 260 trains a day to their front, compared to the Austro-Hungarian's 152.

The Siege of Prezemyśl was the longest siege in Europe during WWI. The siege was a crushing defeat for the Austro-Hungarians Army against the Russian Army. Przemyśl was a fortress-town and stronghold on the River San in what is now southeastern Poland. The investment of Przemyśl began on 16 Septembet 1914 and was briefly suspended on 11 October, due to Austro-Hungarian offensive. The siege resumed again on 9 November and the Austro-Hungarians garrison surrendered on 22 March 1915, after holding out for a total of 133 days.

The Battle of the Vistula River, also known as the Battle of Warsaw, was a Russian victory against the German Empire and Austria-Hungary on the Eastern Front during the First World War. By mid-September 1914 the Russians were driving the Austro-Hungarian Army deep into Galicia, threatening Krakow, and the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia was floundering. The armies that the Russian commander Grand Duke Nicholas was assembling in Poland were still enlarging, including the arrival of crack troops from Siberia, freed by the Japanese declaration of war against Germany on 23 August. Stavka (Russian supreme headquarters) intended for the forces assembled south of Warsaw—500,000 men and 2,400 guns—to march west to invade the German industrial area of Upper Silesia, which was almost undefended. On their Eastern Front the Germans had only one army, the Eighth, which was in East Prussia. It already had mauled two Russian armies at Tannenberg and at the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes. To support the reeling Austro-Hungarian Armies, OHL (Oberste Heeresleitung, German supreme headquarters) formed a new German Ninth Army in Silesia, to be commanded by General Richard von Schubert, with Erich Ludendorff, transferred from Eighth army, as chief of staff. Ludendorff quickly evaluated the situation in Silesia and convinced the new commander at OHL, Erich von Falkenhayn, to strengthen the Ninth Army and also to make Paul von Hindenburg commander of both German armies in the east. By the end of September, Ninth Army, with headquarters in Breslau, consisted of the XVII, XX, XI, Guard Reserve Corps, Graf von Bredow's Landwehr Division, 8th Cavalry Division, and the 35th Reserve Division, with Woyrsch's Landwehr Corps linking the German Army with the Austro-Hungarian forces on the right. According to Prit Buttar, "Several Siberian divisions were now gathered around Warsaw, and it seemed likely that these would march southwest to support a westerly drive by the forces of Southwest Front. In order to oppose this, conrad and Ludendorff agreed, the k.u.k. Army would extend its northern flank north of the Vistula, and the German Ninth Army would then take up positions alongside." On 28 September, the Germans started their advance, while Dankl's First Army crossed the Vistula, reaching Bogoria on 1 October. On 30 September, the Germans reached Przedbórz, and Radom five days later. The Russian response was for Ruzsky to advance towards Kalisz, while Ivanov's Second, Fourth, Ninth, and Fifth Armies concentrated along the Vistula. The Russian Third and Eighth armies would remain in Galicia.

The Battle of Limanowa-Łapanów took place from 1 December to 13 December 1914, between the Austro-Hungarian Army and the Russian Army near the town of Limanowa (40 kilometres (25 mi) south-east of Kraków). The Austro-Hungarian high command had assumed that the German success would weaken Russian forces in the north and that the Galician front would remain quiet. Both these assumptions were incorrect. Though the Habsburg 2nd army offensive opened on 16 November and met early success, the Russians proved stronger than expected and their 4th Army yielded little ground. Meanwhile, further south the Russian 2nd Army advanced across the San river and moved into the Tarnów area by 20 November. Further north, the Habsburg 4th Army, supported by the 47th German Reserve Division, moved onto the offensive in the last days of November. In fierce battles around the towns of Łapanów and Limanowa, the Russian 3rd Army was beaten and forced to retreat east, ending its opportunity to reach Kraków. To avoid being surrounded, the Russian 8th Army also had to retreat, stopping its advance toward the Hungarian plains. The confrontation was one of the final battles won unilaterally by the Austro-Hungarian Army. Most of its later victories during the war were dependent on German assistance, and it ceased to exist with the disestablishment of Austria-Hungary at the end of the war.

The Battle of Rafajlowa took place in the night of January 23–24, 1915, during World War I. The 2nd Brigade, Polish Legions, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Army repelled a night raid of the Russian Imperial Army, which was aimed at blocking all passes through Gorgany mountain range in Eastern Carpathians. The battle took place in the village of Rafajlowa, Austrian Galicia (now the village is called Bystrytsia, and belongs to Ukraine). In late September 1914, 3rd Legions Infantry Regiment, which was part of forces of General Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin was sent to the Eastern Carpathians, in order to prevent Russian advance into Hungary and Transilvania. 1st and 4th Battalion of the Regiment were stationed in the mountain village of Ust-Chorna, which lies in the Gorgany range. On October 16, 1914, both units were sent to the area of Brustura (today: Lopuchiv, Ukraine). Rafajlowa, which lies on the other side of the range, was an important strategic point, and gateway to the attack towards east and south.

The Central Powers planned four offensives on their Eastern Front in early 1915. The Germans, led by Paul von Hindenburg, would attack eastward from their front line in western Poland, which had been occupied after the Battle of Łódź in 1914, toward the Vistula River and also in East Prussia in the vicinity of the Masurian Lakes (site of the 1914 Battle of the Masurian Lakes). The Austro-Hungarians would emerge from the Carpathian Mountain passes to attack the Russians by driving toward Lemberg. They would be led by General Alexander von Linsingen. Further south General Borojevic von Bojna would attempt to relieve the besieged fortress at Przemysl. According to Prit Buttar, "It was with considerable reluctance that Falkenhayn agreed to the deployment of four additional corps on the Eastern Front in early 1915. Whilst he remained convinced of the primacy of the Western Front, the failure to win a decisive victory there left him unable to counter the arguments of Hindenburg and Ludendorff...might be able to inflict a sufficiently heavy defeat upon Russia to end the conflict in the east." Ludendorff wrote, "It was agreed with OHL to use the four corps to strike against the enemy forces deployed against Eighth Army as soon as they arrived. The experiences of Tannenberg and the Battle of the Masurian Lakes had shown that a great and swift victory in battle could be achieved if the enemy were attacked from two sides." Ludendorff's target for the German attack was the Russian Tenth Army, with a northern thrust from Tilsit through Wladislawow to Kalvarija, and a southern thrust from the Spirding-See near Bialla to Raigrod and then to Augustowo. The Russians were to be held in position by a frontal attack, and if successful, Ludendorff planned further attacks on Osowiec and Grodno. The German northern thrust was to be made by the newly formed Tenth Army, under the command of Eichhorn, with the XXI Corps, XXXIX Reserve Corps, and XXXVIII Reserve Corps deployed from the Niemen River to Insterburg. Landwehr formations were held in reserve. The German southern thrust was to be made by Below's Eighth Army, with the XL Reserve Corps deployed west of Johannisburg, and the XX Corps at Ortelsburg. The Russian Tenth Army consisted of the III Corps opposite Eichhorn, and the III Siberian Corps opposite Below, while the XX Corps and XXVI Corps held the center.

The Battle of Krechowce (Polish: Bitwa pod Krechowcami) took place on 24 July 1917, during World War I. Polish uhlans of the Russian Army were ordered to halt Imperial German Army forces advancing on the city of Stanisławów, located in Galicia in Austria-Hungary. The battle between the Polish and German forces took place near the village of Krechowce (Russian: Крихівці). The Polish uhlans managed to check the Germans for an entire day, then retreated to Stanisławów. On 21 July 1917, the Polish 1st Uhlan Regiment, a force of 400 soldiers which was part of the Russian Army's Puławy Legion, entered Stanisławów, where it defended the civilian population from Russian marauders who were looting the city. The Russian 11th Infantry Division was located on the outskirts of Stanisławów, but another Russian unit ordered to defend the area to the south of the city, the 19th Infantry Division, did not take its positions, as most of its soldiers had fled. The Russian Major General Pavel Sytin, who commanded the 11th Infantry Division, was well aware of the danger of encirclement from the south in the absence of the 19th Infantry Division and ordered his troops to prepare to retreat over bridges over two rivers east of Stanisławów, the Bystrytsia of Solotvyn (Polish: Bystrzyca Sołotwińska, Ukrainian: Бистриця Солотвинська) and the Bystrytsia of Nadvirna (Polish: Bystrzyca Nadwórniańska, Ukrainian: Бистриця Надвірнянська). In order to save most of his troops and artillery, Sytin ordered the 1st Uhlan Regiment to protect the retreat and check the Germans for as long as possible. Colonel Bolesław Mościcki, who commanded the regiment, split his forces into two groups, which, due to the hilly terrain, were not in contact with each other. Furthermore, he decided to attack the enemy with his troops mounted. He ordered his 4th Squadron to protect the road from Radzcza to Stanisławów, his 2nd Squadron to attack the village of Krechowce, and his 3rd Squadron to advance behind the 2nd Squadron. His 1st Squadron formed his reserve. On 24 July 1917 at 3:30 p.m., the Polish forces, reinforced by a Russian armored vehicle, went into action. Bavarian infantry, supported by artillery and an armored vehicle, defended Krechowce. After Polish soldiers reached the center of the village, superior German firepower forced them to retreat. Soldiers of the 2nd and 3rd Squadrons then dismounted and awaited action. Mościcki sent a few patrols into Krechowce, simulating another attack. Meanwhile, a battalion of the Russian 41st Infantry Regiment arrived to support the Polish uhlans while the bulk of the Russian 11th Infantry Division crossed the two bridges, which the Poles then blew up. Mościcki's 4th Squadron, operating east of Stanisławów, at some point met two squadrons of German cavalry. The Germans retreated, and the Poles, while in pursuit, found themselves under heavy fire from infantry in the village of Drohomirczany. To save the situation, Mościcki's 1st Squadron joined the 4th Squadron, and the two squadrons drove the enemy infantry — which turned out to be a Bosnian unit in Austro-Hungarian Army service — out of Drohomirczany. Mościcki's patrols returned from Krechowce at about 8 p.m., providing him with information about German reinforcements which had appeared in the village. Before nightfall, all Polish forces were ordered to retreat to a location south of Stanisławów.

European Campaign
After Germany surrendered to the Allied powers in 1918, the Allies came up with a way to dissolve the german military to keep another war from happening, so they came up with the Treaty Of Versailles. The Treaty absolutely abolished the German military, they were dissolved  down to 100K men, and completely lost their Navy. but the worst part of it all, was that they had to pay each Allied country an impossible amount of money, Resulting in the near compete destruction of the German Economy. The price of a loaf of bread cost a wheelbarrow of money. So one Adolf Hitler  decided to do something about Germany complete embarrassment and turn them into a global superpower like they once were.

In 1923 Germany was a complete embarrassment of country, and Adolf Hitler wanted to do something about it. So he and others in the German Workers Party (Soon to be the Nazi Party) The german workers party decided to take over a beer hall with many famous people, they marched the streets of Berlin and took over the beer with no resistance. Most people thought it was a joke they didn't believe it, but Adolf Hitler came in got up on a table and gave a fiery speech that convinced the whole crowd to join the Nazi party. Unfortunately German forces came in and destroyed any chance the Nazi party rising to power. Hitler was shot in the shoulder during the attack, and he and several other big players in the take over were taken prisoner by german forces. thankfully for hitler, the judge for his crimes was known for being a sympathetic fellow, and after Hitler gave another fiery speech from his side of the conflict, hitler only got five years in prison (the lowest punishment you can get at the time) in which Hitler only did nine months. after his sentence, and after one Bentio Mussolini took over Italy and created Fascism, Hitler finally chose his path for the future.

In the year 1933, hitler and the german workers party now called the Nazi party, a vote was passed for The Enabling Act giving expanded authority for Hitler. Hitler started heavily militarizing Germany back to its former glory. This got the attention of the U.K (United Kingdom) and France, but to avoid another great war, they just let Hitler do what he wanted. So this involved in taking land, such as Austria and Czechoslovakia. This soon got the attention of Bentio Mussolini who wanted to take over the Mediterranean and figured that Hitler could help him do it. So they teamed up to take over Europe.

After seeing Hitler's takeover of European territories, Josef Stalin and the rest of the Soviet Union wanted to completely avoid any form of attack, as their military isn't the strongest. So they came up with a treaty, that would avoid conflict with either sides. so soon the U.K and France were having enough with Hitlers land takeovers, so the Prime Minister told hitler that if he took over any more land, it would be war. hitler, not caring at all, took over the next piece of land he was after (and that the Soviet Union was after) Poland. Hitler managed to take over Poland with ease due to a new strategy: Blitzkrieg, which was a swift and effective strategy which took over Poland in a matter of a single month. soon after, the U.K and France declared war, starting: WW2

in 1940, the U.K and France were finally ready for war, at first, they thought that this would just be a quick conflict, and that it would end fairly quickly, but the nazis had other plans, they made a secret trip through the Ardennes and then along the somme valley and taking Belgium with it, after that Luxembourg fell and the Netherlands soon after that, and France, who were still prideful of their victory over Germany in ww1, thought that this would be a cakewalk. they were greatly mistaken. Germany took them over in a matter of a single month like Poland. trapping British solider's in the process, but they were rescued at Dunkirk, but now Germany had taken a very large part of Europe, now the U.K had lost their biggest ally. during this process and the last one, the Soviet Union was taking over Finland, which they did successfully.

During the later 1930's, Germany was getting back their navy (The Kriegsmarine) and in doing so, disobeying several navel treaties and causing worry from the allies. one of their biggest worries was the battleship Bismarck. this hulking beast was considered "the pride of the Kriegsmarine" by Germany, and one of Adolf Hitler's favorite ships, it had 8 15 inch guns and armor as thick as 12.6 inches, at full load the ship weighed as much as 50,300 tons and a speed and size to match any other allied battleship at the time, she was made to counter the new Richelieu class of battleships made by France. When she was first launched in 1941,  the allies were pretty scared to say the least, so the U.K sent 2 of their better ships: the battlecruiser HMS Hood, and the battleship HMS Prince of Whales to go sink the Bismarck. when they finally found the huge ship she was teamed up with the huge cruiser Prinz Eugen and prepared to fight. it went horrible for the U.K, they lost the hood as the Bismarck hit one of her ammo storage rooms and blew her in half, killing all but 3 crew members. the Prince of Whales got away but she was damaged pretty badly, securing a victory for Germany's Kriegsmarine. About a week later the U.K launched another attack after finding the Bismarck closing in one its targeted area, the U.K launched an incredible attack that involved aircraft carriers and big battleships. In the end, the Bismarck was sunk, and the U.K was successful.

In 1940, the U.K (united kingdom) stood alone against the germans lüftwaffe force, a huge army of over 1,500 fighters and bombers against the U.K's 1,100. It seemed impossible to face such an air force, but famed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was not impressed and didn't sign any peace dealings with Germany, so Adolf Hitler sent the whole Luftwaffe in command of Hermann Goering to take them out. When Germany sent their Luftwaffe to fight the RAF (royal air force), the RAF was not really prepared for the attack. at first, they were bombarded with heavy fire from the skies and barely getting any planes in the sky. it seemed like an easy victory for the Germans. the next time though, the Brit's were prepared, and engaged into the air and battled furiously for a very long time until the germans were pushed out. it seemed like it was all over, until the Luftwaffe resorted to bombing cities like London, causing lot's of damage, but Churchill saw this as the perfect distraction to finally push the Luftwaffe out of great Britain. the RAF launched one final attack on the Luftwaffe and pushed them back to Germany; a British victory.

After several losses for the Germans, Hitler launched his ultimate attack. the attack which he believed could win him the whole war: Operation Barbarossa. this was the code-name for Hitler's Planned attack on Russia, which was one of his biggest priorities. Hitler dreamed of destroying communism and the USSR was a very communist country. At first the multiple attacks on Russia were very successful, taking almost Half of Russia and pushing all the way to Moscow, until several failed attacks an the winter weather pushed them from moving forward.

throughout the year of 1942, Germany moved forward through Russia, as they weren't prepared for the attack, and weren't very militarized. the Russians had a hell of a "fun" time trying to push the nazi's back to  Germany, it was failure after failure for the Russians to deal with. It was all the same until the Germans Reached Stalingrad, since the city bared Stalins name, he wanted to protect it at all costs. they sent every solider from the age of 6 to 92, every gender every Russian who could fight for their country. it was an absolutely horrid time for both sides to fight, it was just 5 months of hell until the germans finally surrendered to the Russians, proving that the Germans might not be as invincible as they seemed.

In 1943, the Germans weren't getting that lucky as they thought they were going to be, they were still doing somewhat well, but the Soviets were pushing them back. soon the Germans found that the the area of Kursk had many soldiers and was a key point on the Eastern Front Line. The Germans decided to attack Kursk after their failed attempt at taking over Stalingrad. it was the largest tank battle in the whole war, panthers vs T34's. in the end the T34's succeeded at destroying the panthers since the Soviets made so many T34's (20,000 T34's vs 6,000 panthers) it was a turning point for the Soviets in the war.

Since the beginning of the war, Germany was rounding up jewish citizens and either killing them or putting them  into Horrible prison camps (also known as concentration camps) where they would basiclly rot away to die or be forced to work for labor and die later of sickness and exaustion. (Germany especially Hitler believed that only people with blonde hair and blue eyes and white skin aka the aryan race believed that they  were superior, while all others would be executed or others as mentioned above. this included jews who Hitler killed a very great many. One of the ways that jews were killed in these camps was the "shower". it was a huge gas chamber where they were sent to if they were of no use to the germans. it was especally bad because some of the jews would praise them for the "showers". there were more ways that the jews were killed but this is just one of them. ) anyway, the Germans sent many jews to Ghetto's, until 1942, where they started sending them to work camps. they went from Ghetto to Ghetto collecting jews and sending them to work camps, but when the Germans got to Warsaw, Poland, the jews refused to surrender, unfortunately the Germans broke down the walls surrounding the village and destroyed the Ghetto, taking the jews with them. (a year later after the Soviets arrived, there was another uprising, but this time, the citizens were killed and the village was destroyed.)

Probably the most famous battle in the whole war, D-Day was the name of June 6th, 1944, the day the allies landed at Normandy Beach and the start of the take back of France (which we will get to later) the whole invasion included nearly 700 landing ships and 4,000 landing craft, as well as the protection of 13,000 aircraft. Overall  nearly 156,000 allied troops landed on the beaches and included many famous names such as General Dwight Eisenhower and Erwin Rommel (only participated a little bit before being injured when he was hit in an air attack, he participated no further action in the battle. more on him in the North African Campaign.) in the horrid landings, most actually went well, all landings went as planned, except for one, Omaha Beach. it was a living HELL to storm through, there was blood and guts everywhere as well as dead bodies at every corner. but eventually they pushed through to the county of Normandy.

Also known as "Operation Valkyrie" the July bomb plot was an attempt to assassinate Hitler.The apparent aim of the assassination attempt was to wrest political control of Germany and its armed forces from the Nazi Party and to make peace with the Western Allies as soon as possible. The details of the conspirators' peace initiatives remain unknown, but they would have included unrealistic demands for the confirmation of Germany's extensive Annexations of European territory. The plot was the culmination of efforts by several groups in the German resistance to overthrow the Nazi German government. The failure of the assassination attempt and the intended military that was to follow led the Gestapo to arrest more than 7,000 people, 4980 of whom were executed.

After the events of D-Day, the Allies pushed through Normandy and through the rest of France. The main goal of the Allies was to take back Paris, if they did, then France would be freed from the Nazis. at first, progress was slow for the allies, as France was basically a prized possession for Germany and one of their key territories during the war. So they fought hard to keep France away from allied hands. but after fierce fighting from all sides, France fell for Germany, right into the allied hands thanks to the U.K, America, and the French Resistance Fighters.

In Sept, 1944, the allies had their eyes set on Germany, after the take back of France, Germany was loosing land and struggling to win back their long lost potential chance of victory. To end the Nazi party, famous British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery decided to take back the Netherlands which Germany had long occupied. this would allow allied tanks to seep through and attack Germany with heavy fire. but the last bridge at Arnhem wasn't taken by the allies and the Operation unfortunately failed.

Battle of the Bulge, also called Battle of the Ardennes, was the last major German offensive on the Western Front. An unsuccessful attempt to push the Allies back from German home territory. The name Battle of the Bulge was appropriated from Winston Churchill's optimistic description in May 1940 of the resistance that he mistakenly supposed was being offered to the Germans' breakthrough in that area just before the Anglo-French collapse; the Germans were in fact overwhelmingly successful. The "bulge" refers to the wedge that the Germans drove into the Allied lines. After their invasion of Normandy in June 1944, the Allies moved across northern France into Belgium during the summer but lost momentum in the autumn. Apart from an abortive thrust to Arnhem, Netherlands, the efforts of the allied armies in western Europe during September and October 1944 amounted to a little more than a process of nibbling. Meanwhile, the German defense was being continuously strengthened with such reserves as could be relocated from elsewhere and with the freshly raised forces of the Volkssturm. German numbers where also bolstered by those troops who has managed to withdraw from France. A general offensive launched in mid-November by all six Allied armies on the Western Front brought disappointingly small results at heavy cost; continued efforts merely exhausted the attacking troops.

Throughout the entirety of the war, the Germans used a semi-new technology known as U-Boats. U-Boats in full were known as Unter sea boats that were basically submersible boats that could stay underwater for about 80 nautical miles before having to re-surface for a little bit before either going back under, or staying above for a little longer before going under due to an enemy ship. over 200 U-Boats were built during the war and caused complete chaos for all types of Allied ships during the first few years of the war. you couldn't see them, and they would strike you before you were ever prepared. later in the war when seaplanes started gaining radar, U-Boats could easily be tracked and destroyed. and when destroyers got sonar, U-Boats had no chance at victory. some notable U-Boats are: the type VII, the type IX, the type XIV, and the type XXI. most were attack subs, some were supply subs. But it is definitely true that U-Boats were a horrifying piece of technology that changed navel warfare forever.

By February 1945, it was very clear that the allies had control of the sky, and they had sent thousands of bombers to absolutely pound the hell out of Germany. some how an old city to the east called Dresden managed to escape attack from the allies. so on February 13th, 1945, the allies sent an absolutely horrible attack on the city, which included nearly 800 RAF bombers and several hundred US bombers. But the horrible attack was very evident that the bombing was something that should have been avoided, even for the time it was controversial acts committed during the whole war, critics called it a "terror bombing". around 25,000 civilians were killed in the bombing fires that could be seen for nearly 100 miles away, dead bodies were every where when the smoke finally cleared, and one witness stated that "Even the tar on the roads melted". RAF bomber chief Arthur Harris said that the horrid act shortened the war, but after the war was over he left the military without given the full honors like other commanders of the war.

The Pacific Campaign
During the 30s Japan was having an economic crisis, Japan had a complete lack of resources. So Japan wanted to expand their territory throughout the Pacific islands to take control of the great Pacific, but they had one problem, America. America owned a lot of the Islands in the Pacific, and they figured that war was inevitable, so to cope with this Japan teamed up with the Axis powers (Nazi Germany and Benito Mussolini's Italy) to be able to get some friends for their takeover. But before they would take the Pacific, they wanted to take their neighbor: China. Now China wasn't the strongest country in the world at the time, so they figured that it would be an easy takeover. In 1937, Japan officially declared war on China. Now Japan has started their "quest for success" but it will turn ugly for them much faster than they had thought, even though China seems like an easy target to start with, they still have one big problem: America

WW2 has been going on for about 2 years now and Japan hasn't really seen much glory with their "quest for success" mostly because of the fact that America owned a lot of Pacific islands, and Japan's Navy isn't well matched with America, nor their Air Force. The more islands Japan takes the more worried they get that America will intervene with their glory takeovers, and since America has started suppling other allied countries, Japan is very worried. So to keep America from entering the war, Japan devised a plan that, if gone right, could not only keep America from entering the war for at least 6 months, but could quite possibly keep America from entering the war entirely as well as possibly getting America to surrender their islands to Japan. There plan was to attack the navel base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, as the American Navel Fleet was based there from San Diego, using several aircraft carriers to send air attacks to damage the ships or sink them entirely, in doing so, America couldn't join the war for at least 6 months, the Japanese estimated, in which they could prepare for war to give a bigger fight against America. When the attack finally came through, it was hell for all the troops there, fire explosions torpedos bombs and kamikaze pilots, which would dive bomb into ships, killing themselves. about 19 ships were either destroyed or damaged in the attack and 2,403 soldiers were killed, thankfully, the American aircraft carriers stationed at pearl harbor were out at sea and weren't damaged in the attack, as they weren't there when it happened. Overall after the attack America was very hurt, but the attack had the complete opposite affect the Japanese were hoping for, America declared the incident a war crime, and was also declared "A day that will live in infamy" by FDR. Very soon America was up and ready for war far to soon the Japanese hoped for.

By December 1941, Japan had taken a lot of land, from Hong Kong, to Thailand and Guam, and Wake island, and planned to next invade the British base on Singapore. At first, the Brits weren't that scared, not expecting much from a country like Japan, but when the invading came, the Brits were taken by complete surprise by the Japanese, they initially thought that the attack could only come by sea, which they had already prepared for, but then the Japanese took a route through the jungles of Malaya (which they had taken) and took Singapore by surprise, and soon enough Japan took Singapore for themselves.

By December 1941, Japan had taken a lot of land, from Hong Kong, to Thailand and Guam, and Wake island, and planned to next invade the British base on Singapore. At first, the Brits weren't that scared, not expecting much from a country like Japan, but when the invading came, the Brits were taken by complete surprise by the Japanese, they initially thought that the attack could only come by sea, which they had already prepared for, but then the Japanese took a route through the jungles of Malaya (which they had taken) and took Singapore by surprise, and soon enough Japan took Singapore for themselves.

In 1942, Japan was on a roll with Pacific takeovers and thought that the Americans might not be able to stop them, by 1942 the Japanese had plans to take over New Guinea and Midway Island (more on that later) and wanted to set up Navel bases there so they could launch attacks on allied ships. But the Australians living in the New Guinea area really didn't want that, so with the help of U.S Soldiers, fought the Japanese on the sea near the  New Guinea area. After about 2 weeks the Japanese were forced out and proved, just like the Germans, that they may not be as invincible as they may thought.

At the Beginning of the Pacific war, the Japanese thought that their homeland wasn't reachable by enemy fire, but in 1942, U.S aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and USS Hornet (which weren't damaged in Pearl Harbor as they weren't there when the attack happened) went to sea with the goal to bomb Japanese Cities. In April 1942, the carriers went off with 16 B-25 Bombers, and 80 airmen, as well as Colonel James Doolittle of the U.S Army Corps. Doolittle lead the first bombing raid of the war, and showed that Japan might not be as protected as they thought.

Earlier in 1942, the Japanese army were beat back from New Guinea by Australian and American forces showing that Japan is not that invincible as they may have thought, but they tried again a little later with Midway Island. Now, the Japanese wanted to build an airstrip to be able to launch air attacks on allied ships, just like New Guinea, But the allies obviously didn't want that. So America sent their new aircraft carrier fleet to go deal with Japan's fleet, the ensuing battle was one of the most important battles in the pacific campaign, and was a key victory for the allies against the Japanese fleet, destroying key ships like the carrier Akagi.

It was obvious that by 1942 the war in the pacific wasn't going how Japan had planned, but like their previous plans, they wanted to take an island and build an airstrip to send air attacks on allies, so their plan was to take the Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. So like the previous attacks America wasn't interested and sent some troops to go deal with the Japanese takeover, with the help of some Australian troops as the Solomon Islands were near the Australian area. The Japanese saw many deaths on the island, some from diseases in about 2 months Japan gave up and quit Guadalcanal, insuring an American victory.

By 1943, the allies had a new strategy to take back Japanese-controlled islands in the pacific: Island Hopping. This strategy was taking troops ships and planes and taking back each island one by one until the islands were controlled by the allies again. It was a phenomenal strategy that worked like a charm for the allies, one of the key battles during this strategy was for Saipan Island, were U.S Marines took on around 30,000 Japanese troops in a takeover that only lasted a month, and ended in an allied victory. Because of the lose Japanese Prime Minister resigned in the shame of defeat, so a double victory for the allies.

By 1944, the allies were getting closer to taking back the Philippines, to do so, one of their planned attacks were to take back the island of Leyte, as it was a part of the Philippines, it was a key spot to take back. The allies knew that Japan would defend the island greatly to keep the Philippines, so the allies socked up on a whole ton of ships to aid in the take back, around 750 allied ships went to invade the island, resulting in the largest navel battle in history. in the end, the Japanese lost 4 aircraft carriers, 1 cruisers, and 3 battleships, including the gigantic Battleship Musashi, which was a Yamato class battleship which took 19 torpedos and about as many bombs. the ending battle was a key victory for the Allies.

The Battle of Iwo Jima, was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps and Navy landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII. The American invasion, designated Operation Detachment, had the purpose of capturing the island with its two airfields: South Field and Central Field. The Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with a dense network of bunkers, hidden artillery positions, and 18 km (11 miles) of tunnels. The American ground forces were supported by extensive naval artillery and had complete air supremacy provided by U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviators throughout the battle. The five-week battle saw some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the Pacific War.

The Japanese promised that they would fight till the end for their homeland, little did they know that the end was coming. But before we get into anything to destructive, we first must get into the last big battle before the end, the last island before Japan itself, the battle of Okinawa. The troops landed on March 26th, 1945 and the battle started April 1st of the same year, and ended June 22nd of the same year yet again. The troops faced a pretty desperate battle against the Japanese, and was obviously an allied victory. The whole allied fleet included 37 aircraft carriers and 19 battleships. The Japanese called the battle "Rain of Steel".

Throughout the whole war, battleships became more and more obsolete with the new tech of aircraft carriers and submarines and the semi new tech of destroyers and torpedo boats, but still battleships were being made bigger and better. In the war many big and bigger battleships were made, it seemed that each major player in the war had their big battleship: the Americans had the Iowa class, The British had the Hood battlecruiser, but it sank so they had the HMS Vanguard has their next big battleship, the Germans had the Bismarck which was talked about in the European campaign, the french had the Richelieu with another in the works but was to late for the war, the Italians had the Littorio class, and the Japanese had the Yamato class of battleships. At 71,000 tons, it was the heaviest battleship ever made and one of the largest ships made during the war. Despite it's huge 18 inch guns and incredible secondary armament it was rarely used in combat, and the same was with it's sister ship (which was mentioned earlier) unfortunately both ships sunk by the end of the war both the aircraft carrier planes and submarine torpedos. The sinking of the Yamato (at least as I see it) was the closing curtain for the age of battleships and the opening act for aircraft carriers and submarines.

By the end of 1945, it was obvious that Japan was gonna lose the war, but yet they still didn't surrender to the allied powers, even after extreme bombing raids and the Soviets declaring war on them. The allies thought that they may have to invade the Japanese mainland, which they really didn't want to do. Throughout the whole war both sides wanted to develop a "super weapon" one that could single-handedly end the whole war in just one quick boom, The Atomic Bomb. To make such a thing, the creators needed to spilt the atom to trigger the explosion, and the germans were getting very close to developing the great weapon, but soon German scientists started leaving Germany for a variety of reasons, most of which just wanted to not let Germany win the war, most of the scientists ended up helping the allies in their atomic bomb project. In the end The Manhattan Project was a success and the bomb made for the test was also successful at showing the power of an atomic bomb at large. Eventually came the moment of truth where Harry Truman had to make the ultimate choice. Whether to drop the bombs (little boy which dropped on Hiroshima made from uranium and fat man which dropped on Nagasaki and made from plutonium) or to invade Japan, Truman decided to have to bombs drop. on August 6th, 1945, little boy dropped onto Hiroshima, instantly killing 60,000 people and many more due to radiation poisoning. Later, on August 9th, fat man Dropped on Nagasaki. The bombs were the most destructive pieces of technology used ever in human history, and made people think "can we make anything worse?" next month on September 2nd, 1945, Japan finally surrendered to the allied powers, ending WW2 forever and launching us into the terrifying age of The Cold War also known as the Atomic Age. but WW2 was finally a thing of the past, but the recovery process was not easy, but at least WW2 was over, finally over.

The Middle East Campaign
After seeing Hitlers Victories with his new Blitzkrieg strategy, Mussolini wanted victories of his own, thankfully, Mussolini knew where to start: The Mediterranean sea, a key trade route and a large and vast area which was also a neighbor to North Africa, so Italy could get African Colonies of his own like the U.K had done. So Mussolini sent his army down to start the takeover of North Africa, obviously the U.K didn't like that idea, as the North African colonies were theirs, and they weren't willing to share. At first, the British were pretty successful at keeping the Italians at bay, but soon Hitler ordered to send troops to help the Italian army to takeover North Africa. Even sending one of the greatest generals in the entirety of WW2: General Erwin Rommel.

Later the same year as their invasion of North Africa, the Italians wanted to take over Greece, as the Italians saw it as an easy target to take (since he also wanted a victory like his pal Hitler was doing) so Greece seemed easy enough target to take, but when the Italians sent their army to Greece to go take, they were met with a very big surprise. As it turns out, the greeks were better prepared for an invasion way more than the Italians first thought, it seemed like Mussolini was gonna loose his very precious first victory (his North African Campaign was still in the works at this moment) eventually Hitler sent some troops down to help Italy, in which Italy, with a bit of help, was finally able to take Greece. But his victory will be short lived, as he won't have as much luck the next few times.

Yugoslavia had agreed to help to axis powers in their great takeovers of places like Russia and North Africa, but in March 1941, the pro-nazi government of Yugoslavia was overthrown by it's military leaders who did not side with the axis powers. Enraged by this "Betrayal" Hitler sent troops and ordered Operation Retribution, which was to take back Yugoslavia to its former nazi glory. The short attack only lasted less than a month, and ended in a German victory, though the resistance fighters moved to the mountains, and started a Guerrilla war against the Germans and each other, as there were to factions in the Yugoslavian resistance.

Tobruk or Tobruck (/təˈbrʊk, toʊ-/; Ancient Greek: Ἀντίπυργος, Antipyrgos; Latin: Antipyrgus; Arabic: طبرق‎, romanized: Tubruq Ṭubruq; also transliterated as Tobruch and Tubruk) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.). Tobruk was the site of an ancient Greek colony and, later, of a Roman fortress guarding the frontier of Cyrenaica. Over the centuries, Tobruk also served as a waystation along the coastal caravan route. By 1911, Tobruk had become an Italian military post, but during World War II, Allied forces, mainly the Australian 6th Division, took Tobruk on 22 January 1941. The Australian 9th Division ("The Rats of Tobruk") pulled back to Tobruk to avoid encirclement after actions at Er Regima and Mechili and reached Tobruk on 9 April 1941 where prolonged fighting against German and Italian forces followed. Although the siege was lifted by Operation Crusader in November 1941, a renewed offensive by Axis forces under Erwin Rommel the following year resulted in Tobruk being captured in June 1942 and held by the Axis forces until November 1942, when it was recaptured by the Allies. Rebuilt after World War II, Tobruk was later expanded during the 1960s to include a port terminal linked by an oil pipeline to the Sarir oil field. King Idris of Libya had his palace at Bab Zaytun. Tobruk was traditionally a stronghold of the Senussi royal dynasty and one of the first to rebel against Colonel Gaddafi in the Arab Spring.

The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt. In August 1942, General Claude Auchinleck had been relieved as Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command and his successor, Lieutenant-General William Gott was killed on his way to replace him as commander of the Eighth Army. Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed and led the Eighth Army offensive. The Allied victory was the beginning of the end of the Western Desert Campaign, eliminating the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields. The battle revived the morale of the Allies, being the first big success against the Axis since Operation Crusader in late 1941. The battle coincided with the Allied invasion of French North Africa in Operation Torch on 8 November, the Battle of Stalingrad and the Guadalcanal Campaign. Panzer Army Africa (Panzerarmee Afrika/Armata Corazzata Africa, Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel), composed of German and Italian tank and infantry units, had advanced into Egypt after its success at the Battle of Gazala (26 May – 21 June 1942). The Axis advance threatened British control of the Suez Canal, the Middle East and its oil resources. General Claude Auchinleck withdrew the Eighth Army to within 80 km (50 mi) of Alexandria where the Qattara Depression was 64 km (40 mi) south of El Alamein on the coast. The depression was impassable and meant that any attack had to be frontal; Axis attacks in the First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July) had been defeated. Eighth Army counter-attacks in July also failed, as the Axis forces dug in and regrouped. Auchinleck called off the attacks at the end of July to rebuild the army. In early August, the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill and General Sir Alan Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), visited Cairo and replaced Auchinleck as Commander-in-chief Middle East Command with General Harold Alexander. Lieutenant-General William Gott was made commander of the Eighth Army but was killed when his transport aircraft was shot down by Luftwaffe fighters; Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was flown from Britain to replace him. Lacking reinforcements and depending on small, underdeveloped ports for supplies, aware of a huge Allied reinforcement operation for the Eighth Army, Rommel decided to attack first. The two armoured divisions of the Afrika Korps and the reconnaissance units of Panzerarmee Afrika led the attack but were repulsed at the Alam el Halfa ridge and Point 102 on 30 August 1942 during the Battle of Alam el Halfa and the Axis forces retired to their start lines. The short front line and secure flanks favoured the Axis defence and Rommel had time to develop the Axis defences, sowing extensive minefields with c. 500,000 mines and miles of barbed wire. Alexander and Montgomery intended to establish a superiority of force sufficient to achieve a breakthrough and exploit it to destroy Panzerarmee Afrika. Earlier in the Western Desert Campaign, neither side had been able to exploit a local victory sufficiently to defeat its opponent before it had withdrawn and transferred the problem of over-extended supply lines to the victor. Up until June 1942 Rommel had been receiving detailed information about the strength and movement of British forces from reports sent to Washington by Colonel Bonner Frank Fellers, the U.S. military attaché in Cairo. The American code had been stolen following a covert operation by Italian military intelligence at the American Embassy in Rome the previous year. Despite British concerns, the Americans continued to use the code until the end of June. Suspicion that the American code was compromised was confirmed when the Australian 9th Division captured the German 621st Signal Battalion in July 1942.The British now had the intelligence advantage because Ultra and local sources exposed the Axis order of battle, its supply position and intentions. A reorganisation of military intelligence in Africa in July had also improved the integration of information received from all sources and the speed of its dissemination. With rare exceptions, intelligence identified the supply ships destined for North Africa, their location or routing and in most cases their cargoes, allowing them to be attacked. By 25 October, Panzerarmee Afrika was down to three days' supply of fuel, only two days' worth of which were east of Tobruk. Harry Hinsley, the official historian of British intelligence, wrote in 1981 that "The Panzer Army... did not possess the operational freedom of movement that was absolutely essential in consideration of the fact that the British offensive can be expected to start any day". Submarine and air transport somewhat eased the shortage of ammunition and by late October, there was sixteen days' supply at the front. After six more weeks, the Eighth Army was ready; 195,000 men and 1,029 tanks began the offensive against the 116,000 men and 547 tanks of the Panzerarmee.

The Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11–12 November 1940 during the Second World War between British naval forces, under Admiral Andrew Cunningham, and Italian naval forces, under Admiral Inigo Campioni. The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history, employing 21 Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious in the Mediterranean Sea. The attack struck the battle fleet of the Regia Marina at anchor in the harbour of Taranto, using aerial torpedoes despite the shallowness of the water. The success of this attack augured the ascendancy of naval aviation over the big guns of battleships. According to Admiral Cunningham, "Taranto, and the night of 11–12 November 1940, should be remembered forever as having shown once and for all that in the Fleet Air Arm the Navy has its most devastating weapon." Long before the First World War, the Italian Regia Marina's First Squadron was based at Taranto, a port-city on Italy's south-east coast. In that period, the British Royal Navy developed plans for countering the power of the Regia Marina. Blunting the power of any adversary in the Mediterranean Sea was an ongoing exercise. Plans for the capture of the port at Taranto were considered as early as the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935. In 1940–41, Italian Army operations in North Africa, based in Libya, required a supply line from Italy. The British Army's North African Campaign, based in Egypt, suffered from much greater supply difficulties. Supply convoys to Egypt had to either cross the Mediterranean via Gibraltar and Malta near the coast of Sicily, or steam around the Cape of Good Hope, up the east coast of Africa, and then through the Suez Canal to reach Alexandria. The latter was a very long and slow route, and the Italian fleet was in an excellent position to interdict British supplies and reinforcements using the direct route through the Mediterranean. Following the concept of a fleet in being, the Italians usually kept their warships in harbour and were unwilling to seek battle with the Royal Navy on their own, also because any ship lost larger than a destroyer could not be replaced. The Italian fleet at Taranto was powerful: six battleships (of which one was not yet battleworthy, Andrea Doria having her crew still in training after her reconstruction), seven heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and eight destroyers. This made the threat of a sortie against British shipping a serious problem. During the Munich Crisis of 1938, Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, was concerned about the survival of the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious in the face of Italian opposition in the Mediterranean, and ordered his staff to re-examine all plans for attacking Taranto. He was advised by Lumley Lyster, the captain of Glorious, that his Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers were capable of a night attack. Indeed, the Fleet Air Arm was then the only naval aviation arm with such a capability. Pound took Lyster's advice and ordered training to begin. Security was kept so tight there were no written records. Just a month before the war began, Pound advised his replacement, Admiral Andrew Cunningham, to consider the possibility. This came to be known as Operation Judgment. The fall of France and the consequent loss of the French fleet in the Mediterranean (even before Operation Catapult) made redress essential. The older carrier, HMS Eagle, on Cunningham's strength, was ideal, possessing a very experienced air group composed entirely of the obsolescent Swordfish aircraft. Three Sea Gladiator fighters were added for the operation. Firm plans were drawn up after the Italian Army halted at Sidi Barrani, which freed up the British Mediterranean Fleet. Operation Judgment was just a small part of the overarching Operation MB8. It was originally scheduled to take place on 21 October 1940, Trafalgar Day, but a fire in an auxiliary fuel tank of one Swordfish led to a delay. 60 imp gal (270 L) auxiliary tanks were fitted in the observer's position on torpedo bombers - the observer taking the air gunner's position - to extend the operating range of the aircraft enough to reach Taranto.) This minor fire spread into something more serious that destroyed two Swordfish. Eagle then suffered a breakdown in her fuel system, so she was removed from the operation. When the brand-new carrier HMS Illustrious, based at Alexandria, became available in the Mediterranean, she took on board five Swordfish from Eagle and launched the strike alone. The complete naval task force—commanded by now-Rear Admiral Lyster, who had originated the plan of attack on Taranto—consisted of Illustrious, the heavy cruisers HMS Berwick and York, the light cruisers HMS Gloucester and Glasgow, and the destroyers HMS Hyperion, Ilex, Hasty and Havelock. The 24 attack Swordfish came from 813, 815, 819, and 824 Naval Air Squadrons. The small number of attacking warplanes raised concern that Judgment would only alert and enrage the Italian Navy without achieving any significant results. Illustrious also had Fairey Fulmar fighters of 806 Naval Air Squadron aboard to provide air cover for the task force, with radar and fighter control systems.

The Siege of Malta in WWII was a military campaign in the Mediterranean Theatre. From June 1940 to November 1942, the fight for the control of the strategically important island of the British Crown Colony of Malta pitted the air forces and navies of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany against the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. The opening of a new front in North Africa in June 1940 increased Malta's already considerable value. British air and sea forces based on the island could attack Axis ships transporting vital supplies and reinforcements from Europe; Churchill called the island an "unsinkable aircraft carrier". General Erwin Rommel, in de facto field command of Axis forces in North Africa, recognised its importance quickly. In May 1941, he warned that "without Malta the Axis will end by losing control of North Africa".

Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – 16 November 1942) was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. While the French colonies formally aligned with Germany via Vichy France, the loyalties of the population were mixed. Reports indicated that they might support the Allies. American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces in Mediterranean Theater of Operations, planned a three-pronged attack on Casablanca (Western), Oran (Center) and Algiers (Eastern), then a rapid move on Tunis to catch Axis forces in North Africa from the west in conjunction with Allied advance from east. The Western Task Force encountered unexpected resistance and bad weather, but Casablanca, the principal French Atlantic naval base, was captured after a short siege. The Center Task Force suffered some damage to its ships when trying to land in shallow water but the French ships were sunk or driven off; Oran surrendered after bombardment by British battleships. The French Resistance had unsuccessfully attempted a coup in Algiers and, even though this raised alertness in the Vichy forces, the Eastern Task Force met less opposition and were able to push inland and compel surrender on the first day. The success of Torch caused Admiral François Darlan, commander of the Vichy French forces to order co-operation with the Allies, in return for being installed as High Commissioner, with many other Vichy officials keeping their jobs. Darlan was assassinated soon after and the Free French gradually came to dominate the government. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while allowing American armed forces the opportunity to engage in the fight against Nazi Germany on a limited scale. It was the first mass involvement of US troops in the European–North African Theatre, and saw the first major airborne assault carried out by the United States.