World War II Battles: The Greatest Battles that Defined World War II

• Battle of Britain
• Battle of Stalingrad
• Battle of Kursk
• Battle of the Bulge
• Battle of Berlin

Battle of BritainThe British people had no sooner finished rescuing their trapped army from Dunkirk than they found themselves preparing for an attack from the Germans once again. This time, the Nazi menace struck from the air, as Hitler's Luftwaffe bombed the British in an attempt to break their spirit and force Great Britain to accept peace terms. But as the skies above London filled with the German planes, the Royal Air Force pilots, alerted by radar, flew to intercept them.

Battle of StalingradThe Battle of Stalingrad, perceived by historians as the most important battle of World War II and regarded by Russians as the most significant battle in their country's history, cannot be viewed solely as a military engagement between two powerful, long-time foes. The Soviet Union, which had climbed to power from the shambles of the 1917 Revolution that saw communism overthrow the czar, and Germany, which had risen from the ashes of World War I's Treaty of Versailles, certainly had a complicated history.

Battle of KurskLong-time adversaries Germany and the Soviet Union put their hostilities to the test in World War II. Despite a temporary truce in the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-aggression Pact in 1939, the Germans and the Soviets knew that the time was coming when they would face one another on the battlefield. Adolf Hitler, eager to accomplish his confident prediction that Russia would be easily defeated and its people subjected into slavery to serve as free labor for Germany, invaded the vast country in June 1941.

Battle of the BulgeThe bloodiest battle in American history earned its name from the war correspondents who were covering the conflict. The "bulge" was a protuberance 50 miles wide and 70 miles deep in the American lines. The Germans, who had been in flight from the American invasion of Normandy, were not supposed to be in the Ardennes region, with its terrain deemed too difficult for tanks to move or soldiers to fight. That deadly assumption left the Ardennes and the town of Bastogne insufficiently defended by 80,000 American soldiers, most of whom had minimal battle experience.

Battle of BerlinThe Battle of Berlin was a monumental battle between two adversaries who despised one another. For the Russians who had endured the horrific suffering and loss of lives in defending their nation against the Nazi invasion, the opportunity for vengeance seemed as if fate was on their side. For the German civilians who remained in Berlin, the approach of the Red Army invoked terror. The Germans hoped that the Americans would reach them first; they would have preferred to surrender to the Americans.