Three Most Important Battles During Ww2

Discussion in 'General' started by ghvalj, Mar 28, 2005.

  1. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    There is another thread somewhere on this board that explains how even if the RAF had been defeated, Operation Sealion was no guarantee of success.
     
  2. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    (karlos @ Oct 25 2005, 01:55 AM) [post=40570]Thinking of it, it seems to me that the Battle of Britain should only be considered decisive if we assume that the defeat of the RAF implied the success of Sealion. As it has been stated a lot of times, the Royal Navy by itself was a strong enough obstacle and the germans could never have invaded the isles. So, even if the BoB had gone the other way, the UK could have stood and become stronger later as it did historically and nothing would have changed much once the germans get trapped in the russian stepes. Unless, of course, we think that the british would have accepted peace once the RAF was defeated, which is debatable.
    [/b]

    The inability of the Luftwaffe to gain air supremacy over Britain forced Hitler to eventually make his move on the Soviet Union without achieving his objective. Whether or not Sealion was enacted or successful is hypothetical.

    The German machine was not invincible.

    The thorn in the side of Hitlers european mainland (Britains land mass), would fester for the rest of the war.

    The what if's and scenarios are endless.
     
  3. Mons1914

    Mons1914 Junior Member

    For Me it's, going in date order.

    1.Battle Of Britian / El Alamein, can't split the two!!
    2.D-Day
    3.Battle of The Bugle

    I do think that Battle of the Bulge, was a crucial front for both sides, Allies - they were sure the Germans were almost finished, if only they could repel this "New" major offensive!!.

    And for the germans, with the US Airborne in around the area, they for sure had the upper hand with armor & SS units, their objective was Antwerp, if they could cut the allies in two & take the part if what be a different story.

    I think the most important battle "Overall" was D-Day!! until then Germany controlled 95% of Europe with only the Russian making any headway, so for France, Holland, Belgium, to be Allied hands this must be the key to winning??

    Any Comments??
     
  4. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    There canonly be one answer in my opinion..That is Falaise. It is not generally known, but Falaise was the greatest defeat inflicted oin the German Army. Worse than Stalingrad. I now that will raise an eyebrow or two. But nevertheless it is true
    Sapper
     
  5. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Sapper,
    I must respectfully disagree with you about the German Army's greatest defeat and it wasnt by the British and American Forces.
    Whilst the defeat at Falaise was significant it pales into comparison with the victory achieved by the Russians in Operation Bagration. During Bagration 17 Divisions were completely wiped out whilst another 50, yes 50 lost between 60 and 70 per cent of their fighting strength. In Falaise, the Germans had 150,000 troops trapped in the pocket - In Bagration the Germans lost 350,000 killed or Captured. In the West Hitler mustered 53 Divisions, in the East he had 180. By the time Falaise was over France still had to be Crossed- by the Time Bagration was finished East Prussia was cut off and the Russians stood at the Gates of Warsaw.
     
  6. villiko

    villiko Junior Member

    Maybe, it is better to divide WWII into different parts, in order to get better overview of the greatest battles. Otherwise everybody will write Stalingrad, Battle of England and so on......

    I think we have two opportunities:
    1 – Dividing by years. Like 1939 – 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945
    2 – Dividing by fronts. Like western front in Europe, eastern front in Europe, Africa, oceans, Asia.

    Or even sea battles, air battles.

    Then we can glory with our knowledge.

    More facts guys, facts...
     
  7. JeremyScott

    JeremyScott Junior Member

    Here are my two cents for what it maybe worth.

    1. December 7th, 1941 -- Pearl Harbor
    Brought U.S. into war


    2. June 22nd, 1941 -- Operation Barbarossa
    Turned war in Europe into a two front war for Germany and ultimately causing her downfall


    3. June 4th - 7th, 1942 -- Midway
    During the battle 4 Japanese carriers were sunk and ultimately turned the tide against the Jap navy
     
  8. clancelot

    clancelot Junior Member

    My top three would be Stalingrad, D-Day, and Pearl Harbour. But most of all Pearl Harbour because it took the Germans twenty years to build the bunkers on the the beaches of Normandy and the Allied troops took them over in less than a day.
     
  9. JeremyScott

    JeremyScott Junior Member

    Pearl Harbour had nothing to do with the Germans. It was a suprise attack on the Pacific fleet which basically crippled the U.S. for almost a year and nearly brought us to our knees.
     
  10. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    (clancelot @ Nov 3 2005, 03:52 AM) [post=40999]My top three would be Stalingrad, D-Day, and Pearl Harbour. But most of all Pearl Harbour because it took the Germans twenty years to build the bunkers on the the beaches of Normandy and the Allied troops took them over in less than a day.
    [/b]

    I assume you mean that the Pearl Harbour attack brought America into the war hence the eventual defeat of the axis.

    There must be a cryptic meaning to the bunkers (20 years) that I missed.
     
  11. clancelot

    clancelot Junior Member

    In my opinion I would have to say D-Day is the greatest. I mean think about it. So much planning went into this operation. Both British and Americans had conflicts. But still they managed to get along and take over Normandy. Eisenhower was liked by many of the British officers although General Patton was thought as a man of aggression or charge in which the British did not like.
     
  12. Gnomey

    Gnomey World Travelling Doctor

    Clancelot can you please stop starting threads with the same name as this one and posting in them. So far I have merged 3 of your topics with this one. Can you post in this topic for your answers please. Thank you.

    Gnomey
     
  13. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    In my view,the three most important decisive battles which contributed to final victory in Europe were as follows:

    The Battle of Britain.

    This victory dismissed the notion that the Germans were invincible in the air.Hitler had to beat the RAF over his intended invasion areas and he failed.He was not able to deploy the Wehrmacht as he had done across land frontiers.During this period, Bomber Command won the "Battle of the Barges" by destroying what landing equipment the Germans could put together for "Operation Sealion which was eventually called off in the spring of 1941.Hitler's failure to defeat the British and be the master of Western Europe ensured that he had to fight on two fronts if his dream of an empire to the Ural mountains was to be fullfilled.Fighting on two fronts was something that Hitler said he would not commit himself to,a policy he highlighted in his "Mein Kampf" which he ignored in favour of his overbiding motivation of the destruction of Soviet Russia.


    The Battle of Stalingrad

    This victory was the start of of a relentless attrition by Russia on the Wehrmacht,the German economy and of great importance,the continual bleeding of German manpower.It proved to be the end of the Luftwaffe as an offensive air power,its role to the end of the war would be primary of defence.Failure at Stalingrad resulted in the drive to the Caucasus for sustained oil supplies being unsuccessful.It meant that the German war economy would have to depend more and more on homeline synthetic oil plant output, a source that would be increasingly cut back as the German homeland fell within the range of effective Allied bombing by night and day.Stalingrad proved to be the watershed of German expansion.For the first time the German military leadership had reservations on the outcome of the war.For some, they had inner thoughts that the result could only be the defeat of Germany.For others, still with Hitler's political will, they proclaimed that only Nazi Germany stood between the "sovietisation" of Europe and the destruction of its civilisation against the hordes from the East.

    The Battle of Normandy

    Long in the planning and preparation,it marked the opening of the Second Front,a campaign often called for by Stalin to reduce pressure on the Eastern Front.When it came,it ran to plan and along with the landings in the south of France ensured that Germany defeat in France was total.The breakout from Normandy placed a further burden on the tottering German war economy.It took a further 11 months to final victory, a victory where a number of Allied setbacks in the West were experienced but where the enemy was never able to sustain the advantage of successes that were proved to be short term.
     
  14. karlos

    karlos Junior Member

    D Day was esential for post-war world, but not for the outcome of WWII. Had it failed, the allied air attacks, and another eventual landing in late 1944, combined with the already unstoppable Red Army would have assured a German defeat anyway. Without D-Day, on the other hand, it is very possible that the Red Army had conquered a lot more territory, at least the whole of Germany and Austria.

    The most important german defeat was at the gates of Moscow in the autumn of 1941. It was Hitler's best chance to win the war. He had another chance in Operation Blue in 1942, but this was not that clear at all as USA was already in the war and the soviets had had time to re-organize and recover.
     
  15. I can see this is a bit of an old thread but I just wanted to add my three choices from a British point of view.

    Battle of Britain, Kohima, D-Day.

    From a Non-British point of view I would add Stalingrad.
     
  16. robyaju

    robyaju Junior Member

    1). Dunkirk, allowed 300,000 British to escape and fight on if they were destroyed or captured Inland might have been open to terms.

    2.Vichy France, Hitler should have called De Gaulle and said ill give you back France, you give me 150 miles inland from western Germany to be annexed outright recognize the annexation of Belgium,Netherlands,Denmark and any other conquest,do not spend more than 1.5% of GDP on defense and drop out of the western alliance.become neutral.

    3.got rid of Italy and japan they were both liabilities.Italy would sue Britain for peace Italians were not fighters the could`t take Egypt with 500000 troops against 30000 British troops,this would secure the southern European coast and Germany never would have to declare war on the US to appease Japan.
     
  17. bill24chev

    bill24chev Junior Member

    I beleice that it is very difficult to say which three battles are the most inportant brcause a small incident in even a minor battle could have a knock on effect on fuure engagements. for eample I have read that at Arras in May 1940 a junior officer standing next to Rommell was killed if that had been Rommell the nature of the war ,at least from a bBritish perspective may have ben different.

    I appreciate that this is micro view of istory but within ths context perhaps the most important battle to affect WWII was fought in 1918 when a British soldier had the option of killing or taking prisoner a certain German(Austrian) Corporal
     
  18. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    Three battles .
    Battle of Britain.
    Battle of Kursk.
    Battle of Midway.
     
  19. robyaju

    robyaju Junior Member

    In my opinion I would have to say D-Day is the greatest. I mean think about it. So much planning went into this operation. Both British and Americans had conflicts. But still they managed to get along and take over Normandy. Eisenhower was liked by many of the British officers although General Patton was thought as a man of aggression or charge in which the British did not like.
    I would have to agree it was the most important 24 hrs. of ww2. the Russians would have defeated Germany alone, but would have had total control of Europe.which they pretty much achieved in the 1950`s anyway with the Warsaw Pact/ Iron Curtain/Berlin Wall, satellites and puppet governments.
     
  20. robyaju

    robyaju Junior Member

    D Day was esential for post-war world, but not for the outcome of WWII. Had it failed, the allied air attacks, and another eventual landing in late 1944, combined with the already unstoppable Red Army would have assured a German defeat anyway. Without D-Day, on the other hand, it is very possible that the Red Army had conquered a lot more territory, at least the whole of Germany and Austria.

    The most important german defeat was at the gates of Moscow in the autumn of 1941. It was Hitler's best chance to win the war. He had another chance in Operation Blue in 1942, but this was not that clear at all as USA was already in the war and the soviets had had time to re-organize and recover.
    I disagree, even if Moscow fell most Russian industry was east of the Urals. Stalin would have fought on, he had everything needed for a war of attrition, Germany did not. it would have only been a matter of time with or without the western allies.mabey 1946 or 1947.
     

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