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Europeans Battles
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Battle of Cape Matapan
The Battle of Cape Matapan was a decisive victory for the Royal Navy and gave it control of the eastern Mediterranean until the fall of Crete in June. In the fighting, the British lost three killed (the crew of one torpedo bomber), while the Italians lost three heavy cruisers, 2 destroyers, and over 2,400 dead. Also, Vittorio Veneto had been badly damaged in the fighting. -
Dieppe Raid
6,090 Allied troops that took part in the Dieppe Raid, 1,027 were killed and 2,340 were captured. This loss represented 55% of Roberts' total force. Of the 1,500 Germans tasked with defending Dieppe, losses totaled around 311 killed and 280 wounded. Severely criticized after the raid, Mountbatten defended his actions citing that despite its failure it provided vital lessons which would be used later in Normandy. -
Stalingrad
Germany begins its assault on the Russian city of Stalingrad. In a battle that will rage for six months and take hundreds of thousands of German and Russian lives, the red army finally defeats invading Nazis. -
Battle of the Moscow
German forces launched Operations Barbarossa, and invaded the soviet union. Opening the eastern front the quickly overwhelmed the soviet forces and made large gains. The failure of german forces at Moscow doomed Germany to fighting a prolonged struggle on the eartern front. -
Operation Gomorrah
Operation Gomorrah destroyed over 16,000 apartment buildings and reduced ten square miles of the city to rubble. This tremendous damage, coupled with the relatively small loss of aircraft, led Allied commanders to consider Operation Gomorrah a success. -
Schweinfurt-Regensburg
The crews lost totaled 552 men, of who half became prisoners of war and twenty were interned by the Swiss. Aboard aircraft that safely returned to base, 7 aircrew were killed, with another 21 wounded. In addition to the bomber force, the Allies lost 3 P-47 Thunderbolts and 2 Spitfires. While Allied air crews claimed 318 German aircraft, the Luftwaffe reported that only 27 fighters had been lost. Though Allied losses were severe, they succeeding in inflicting heavy damage on both the Messerschmit -
Battle of Monte Cassino
. Allied efforts were slowed by poor weather, rough terrain, and a tenacious German defense. Slowly falling back through the fall, the Germans sought to buy time to complete the Winter Line south of Rome. Though the British succeeded in penetrating the line and capturing Ortona in late December, heavy snows prevented them from pushing east along Route 5 to reach Rome. Around this time, Montgomery departed for Britain to aid in planning the invasion of Normandy and was replaced by Lieutenant Gene -
Capture of U-505
In the fighting for U-505, one German sailor was killed and three wounded, including Lange. Lt. (jg) David was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for leading the initial boarding party, while Torpedoman's Mate 3/c Arthur W. Knispel and Radioman 2/c Stanley E. Wdowiak received the Navy Cross. Trosino was given the Legion of Merit while Gallery was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. -
The Invasion of Normandy
By nightfall on June 6, Allied forces had established themselves in Normandy though their position remained precarious. Casualties on D-Day numbered around 10,400 while the Germans incurred approximately 4,000-9,000. Over the next several days, Allied troops continued to press inland, while the Germans moved to contain the beachhead. -
The Battle of Bulge
Hitler sends a quarter of a million troops across an 85- mile stretch of the Allied front, from Southern Belguim into Luxembourg. In deadly cold winter weather, German troops will advance some 50 miles into the Allied lines, creating a deadly "bulge" pushing into Allied defenses. -
Japan Surrenders
Standing alone against the unstoppable Allies since May 1945 Japan Absorbed terrible aerial bombardment of its cities but kept back 610,000 troops plus millions of pitfully armed civilians as it antacipated the planned Allied invasion of the home islands.
