ABSTRACT

This text contrasts 21 World War II battle plans with their actual outcome. Each in-depth battle essay is complemented by original maps, producing fresh insight into the technical aspects of warfare that drove the last worldwide conflict of the 20th century. An overall introduction gives a strategic overview of the whole of the war, and places the individual battles into context. The battles are presented in seven groups of three, and each group is introduced by a short essay on the common theme for the group.

part |38 pages

The Armoured Blitzkriegs

chapter |13 pages

The Fall of France

Blitzkrieg in the West 10 May – 22 June 1940

chapter |11 pages

The Battle of Gazala

Rommel's Masterpiece 26 May – 21 June 1942

chapter |12 pages

Operation Bagration

The Soviet Sledgehammer 22 June – 8 July 1944

part |34 pages

The Amphibious Landings

chapter |11 pages

Anzio

The Stranded Whale 22 January – 26 May 1944

chapter |10 pages

D-Day

The Longest Day 6 June 1944

chapter |11 pages

Iwo Jima

Hell in the Pacific 19 February – 25 March 1945

part |36 pages

The Slogging Matches

chapter |11 pages

Operation Barbarossa

To the Gates of Moscow 22 June – 5 December 1941

chapter |12 pages

The Second Battle of El Alamein

Hitting Them for Six 23 October – 4 November 1942

chapter |11 pages

Kursk

Cauldron of Armour 5 – 23 July 1943

part |34 pages

The Air Power Factor

chapter |10 pages

The Battle of Britain

Spitfire Summer 10 July – 31 October 1940

chapter |11 pages

The Schweinfurt Raid

America's Worst Day 14 October 1943

chapter |11 pages

Monte Cassino

Victory through Air Power? 17 January – 25 May 1944

part |34 pages

The War at Sea

chapter |12 pages

Sink the Bismarck!

Battle in the Atlantic 18–27 May 1941

chapter |10 pages

Pearl Harbor

Strike from the Sea 7 December 1941

chapter |10 pages

Operation Pedestal

The Malta Convoy 3 – 15 August 1942

part |34 pages

The Airborne Assaults

chapter |10 pages

The Battle for Crete

The Pyrrhic Victory 20 May – 1 June 1941

chapter |11 pages

Operation Market-Garden

The Bridge at Arnhem 17 – 26 September 1944

chapter |11 pages

Operation Thursday

Wingate and the Chindits 5 March – 27 August 1944

part |35 pages

The City Battles

chapter |11 pages

Stalingrad

The City of the Sword 13 September 1942 – 2 February 1943

chapter |11 pages

The Battle of Manila

MacArthur's return 3 February – 3 March 1945

chapter |11 pages

The Battle of Berlin

The Final Battle 16 April – 2 May 1945