20 Major Battles of World War II

There were literally hundreds of named battles fought in four major theaters during World War II, described as campaigns, sieges, battles, invasions, and offensive actions. As the compilers of "2194 Days of War: An Illustrated Chronology of the Second World War" have shown, battles pertinent to the conflict were fought somewhere in the world on every single one of those days.

Some conflicts on this list of major battles lasted only days while others took months or years. Some of the battles were notable for the material losses such as tanks or aircraft carriers while others were notable for the number of human losses, or the political and cultural effect the battle had on the combatants.

Dates and Numbers of Battles

Perhaps surprisingly, historians don't all agree on the exact dates of battles. For instance, some use the date that a city was surrounded while others prefer the date that major fighting commenced. This list contains the dates that are the most agreed upon.

In addition, casualties in battle are rarely completely reported (and are often altered for propaganda purposes), and published totals can include military deaths in battle, deaths in hospitals, wounded in action, missing in action, and civilian deaths. Different historians give different numbers. The table includes estimates of the military deaths in battle of both sides, the Axis and Allies.

Sources

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• Glantz, David M. "Siege of Leningrad, 1941–1944: 900 Days of Terror." History Press, 2001.
• Keegan, John. "The Price of Admiralty: The Evolution of Naval Warfare from Trafalgar to Midway." Penguin Books, 1990.
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• Toland, John. "The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945." New York NY: Random House, 2014.
• Veitch, Michael. "Turning Point: The Battle for Milne Bay 1942 - Japan's First Land Defeat in World War II." Sydney: Hachette Australia, 2014.
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