Biggest battles of World War Two

I think there were four major battles of World War Two. I know some of the biggest battles of the war were Stalingrad, El Alamein and Midway. If I am missing one, can someone tell me it?

 

erm,

Kursk?
Normandy Landings?
Battle of the Bulge?
Okinawa?
Leyte Gulf?

There were probably a few more than 4.

Whats your criteria anyway?

FNG

 

anywhere in the war. Asia, Europe, Africa or Pacific.

 

The Second battle of El Alamein was the largest of the North Africa campaign, as far as I know, but it wasn't at all large when compared to battles like Kursk or Stalingrad since it only involved the equivalent of two Army Corps on one side and one Army on the other. I wouldn't rank this battle up there with the big ones unless decisiveness in their particular theatre is a standard to go by.

The same goes for practically any battle fought in the CBI theatre and in Italy.

The largest single battle in the North-West Europe campaign was the Ardennes Offensive, popularly known as the Battle of the Bulge, in which one reinforced German army group took on one American army group reinforced by one British army corps. More than forty divisions of both sides, not counting the British, were involved. At its fullest extent, on January 4th when the Allied counterattack to wipe out the Bulge began, the OOB was as follows:

Germany
Army Group B (committed reserves included 1 Panzer and 1 Panzer Grenadier divisions)

• 15th Army (with 1 Panzer, 1 Panzer Grenadier divisions)
• 6th Panzer Army (with 4 SS Panzer divisions)
• 5th Panzer Army (with 3 Panzer divisions)
• 7th Army

United States
12th Army Group

• 1st Army (with 3 Armoured Divisions, two of them Heavy)
• 3rd Army (with 5 Armoured Divisions)

Great Britain
XXX Corps (with 1 Armoured Division)

 

CBI?

FNG

 

Decisiveness and momentum are what I usually go by. These battles were all very momentous. At Stalingrad, the Russians began to repel the invaders. At Kursk, they turned the tables irrevocably. And at the Battle of the Bulge, the German losses only sped up the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany.

 

there were more than 4 major battles in ww2...perhaps it should be widened to the top 10 battles of ww2?

 

What does CBI mean!!!!!

FNG

 

CBI is the China, Burma, India theater of operations.

 

True, but there were only around four through six battles in which momentum changed. Like I said before, I almost always go with momentum and decisiveness when it comes to comparing battles.

 

Well,

El Alamein was the first big British (and Commonwealth) victory over the Germany, and (in conjuction with Operation Torch) marked the beggining of the end for Axis involvement in North Africa, which stopped the Med becoming an Axis lake, and also allowed us to help the Yugoslav partisans, and to invade Sicily, Italy and Southern France.

In scale, not too big. But in morale terms, and in consequence, it was of importance to the Western Allies (especially Britain).

Remember the whole 'before El Alamein never a victory, afterwards never a defeat' quote? (not strictly true, but hey)

My Big 4?

Midway - marked the end of any chance the Japanese had.

Moscow - marked the end of any chance the Germans had in the East.

Battle of the Atlantic - marked the end of any chance Germany had in the West.

Pick any one for a 4th.

 

In terms of decisiveness, there is no question about Midway. My personal other choices would be Moscow and Kursk.

 

Midway changed everything in the Pacific. But for Europe, the decisive battle/operation must be a competition between D-Day, Kursk or Moscow.

 

Operation Overlord was not decisive. I have argued here before that the Allies only went ahead with this operation because they were certain of their superiority at sea, in the air, and of more than even chances on land. In short, the go signal for D-Day meant that the decisive battle had passed.

 

i think the turning point for europe was Stalingrad where the russians could retake the offensive and El Alemein for the britisch and americans

 

for me the first turning point was the battle of britain..the most significant the battle for moscow...the biggest in terms of men machines and casualties a toss up between stalingrad, kursk and berlin.

 

BoB: maybe,
Moscou: if the germans were prepared for winter war it would be a hell of a different story

 

The Battle of Britain definitely put a hurting on the Luftwaffe, and the Battle of Moscow did the same to the Wehrmacht. But I'm going to defend my point to the death that Stalingrad and Kursk formed the decisive point of the war, where the Germans could no longer take to a major offensive on the Eastern Front. After the Battle of Britain, of course, there was Barbarossa. And after the winter counteroffensive and the following offensive in the winter of '41 and '42, there was Operation Blau.

 

*Obligingly stabs misterkingtiger with a sharp thing marked "The Battle of Moscow"*

 

*Hits ricky with a rifle butt labled Operation Blau*