World War II was fought across Europe, North Africa, the Atlantic and the Pacific. The records on this page follow major air, land and naval battles through the people who commanded, fought and made strategic decisions during them.
The chronology ranges from the River Plate, Nomonhan and the invasion battles of 1939 through the Battle of Britain, Narvik, El Alamein, Midway, Stalingrad, Arnhem, the Battle of the Bulge and Berlin. Search all 797 historical records by battle, person, place, country, role, year or keyword.
797 records132 battle/event labels193 surnames15 countries representedAir · Land · Naval warfare
Battle of Britain: ground crew refuelling a Hawker Hurricane at Biggin Hill, August 1940. Historical RAF photograph. Wikimedia Commons source.
Historical overview
From Blitzkrieg and the Battle of Britain to Berlin and Okinawa
The archive follows the changing scale and geography of the Second World War across Europe, North Africa, the Atlantic and the Pacific from 1939 to 1945.
1939–40: expansion and survival
The war opened with German campaigns in Poland and western Europe, alongside naval actions such as the River Plate and fighting in Norway. France was defeated in 1940, but the Luftwaffe failed to overcome RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain.
North Africa and the Mediterranean
British, Commonwealth, German and Italian forces fought repeated mobile campaigns across Libya and Egypt. The Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942 forced Axis troops westward and, together with Operation Torch, changed the strategic balance in North Africa.
The Eastern Front
Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union created the largest land front in history. Stalingrad ended with the surrender of the German Sixth Army, Kursk confirmed the growing Soviet strategic initiative and later offensives carried the Red Army toward central Europe and Berlin.
Carrier warfare in the Pacific
Coral Sea and Midway demonstrated that carrier aircraft could decide naval battles without opposing surface fleets directly engaging. Midway destroyed four Japanese fleet carriers and significantly altered the balance of naval aviation in the Pacific.
1944: the war closes on Germany
Allied forces advanced through western Europe while Soviet armies drove westward from the east. Arnhem showed the risks of ambitious airborne operations, while the Battle of the Bulge exhausted German reserves in a final major offensive in the west.
1945: Berlin, Okinawa and defeat
Soviet forces captured Berlin after intense street fighting and Germany surrendered in May 1945. In the Pacific, Okinawa exposed the severe cost of operations near Japan and became one of the final major campaigns before Japan's surrender.
13 Dec 1939River Plate10 May 1940Battle of France begins10 Jul 1940Battle of Britain period4 Jun 1942Midway23 Oct 1942Second El Alamein2 Feb 1943Stalingrad surrender16 Dec 1944Battle of the Bulge2 May 1945Berlin falls
Major campaigns in the records
Major battles
Sixteen major battles and campaigns are highlighted across Europe, North Africa, the Atlantic and Pacific. Select a card to filter the full chronology.
Historical photographs
War in the air, desert, city and sea
Photographs are linked to their source pages so provenance and licensing can be checked directly.
Battle of Britain, 1940. RAF ground crew and a Hawker Hurricane. Source.Stalingrad, 1942–43. Soviet soldiers among the ruins of the city. Source.Midway, 4 June 1942. USS Yorktown burning after a Japanese dive-bomber attack; U.S. Navy photograph. Source.El Alamein, 24 October 1942. British infantry advancing through dust and smoke. Source.
Permanent subject pages
Explore World War II battles and commanders
These crawlable pages are generated from the same 797-record archive. Each combines concise historical context with matching records rendered directly into static HTML.
The historical overview provides context for the site's 797 structured World War II battle records. The chronology preserves the database's stored dates, people, countries, places, event labels and descriptions.
