Allied Victory in WWII: Key Battles and Turning Points

Allied Counteroffensive and Victory (1942-1945)

By 1942, the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) shifted to a defensive stance. In the Pacific, the Japanese navy suffered significant defeats at Midway and Guadalcanal. In North Africa, the British Eighth Army defeated the German Afrika Korps at El Alamein. American troops landed in Morocco and Algeria, attacking from the west.

Soviet Advances on the Eastern Front

The turning point on the Eastern Front occurred in November 1942. A Soviet counteroffensive encircled the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad. From 1943 onward, the USSR launched continuous offensives. In 1943, they broke through the German lines at Kursk in the largest tank battle in history, resulting in a decisive German defeat. By the end of the year, the Soviets had retaken Kiev. In 1944, the liberation of Nazi satellite states began. Greece remained outside Soviet influence through an agreement with the British. Yugoslavia was liberated by Tito's partisan army. In April 1945, the Red Army reached Berlin.

Italian Campaign

After defeating the Axis in North Africa, Allied forces landed in Sicily and southern Italy to relieve pressure on the Red Army by opening a second front. Mussolini was forced to resign and was arrested but later freed by the Germans. Partisan groups emerged, playing a significant role in the fight against the fascists and Germans, even leading to a communist-led civil war in Italy. The Allied advance was slow, and by early 1945, the front had stalled at Florence.

Liberation of France and the Rhine Crossing

The Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day (June 6, 1944). Allied planes had bombed German defenses along the Atlantic coast and in Germany itself. The Allied armies advanced through France, liberating Paris and pushing towards the Rhine. The advance was delayed by rivalries between Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery. The Germans launched a desperate counteroffensive in the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge), but it failed. The Americans crossed the Rhine and invaded Germany.

War in the Pacific and Japanese Surrender

Rivalries over war strategy also affected U.S. operations in the Pacific. Admiral Nimitz favored a naval-led advance through the central Pacific, while General MacArthur advocated for an island-hopping campaign in the south. Ultimately, both approaches were used. The fighting resulted in heavy casualties in battles such as Tarawa, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to Japan's surrender.

Beyond the Front Lines: Total War and Resistance

World War II was a total war, with nations mobilizing all available resources and populations. The war differed ideologically from World War I, pitting empires and conservative states against fascist or Marxist authoritarian regimes and liberal democracies. The anti-fascist alliance, a difficult coalition of conservatives, liberals, democrats, socialists, and communists, formed after 1941 when France was defeated, Britain isolated, and the USSR and the U.S. attacked. The USSR's entry into the war mobilized international communism. Resistance movements emerged in various countries. Only in Yugoslavia and Albania did resistance forces liberate their countries without direct Allied assistance. In France and Italy, resistance groups supported the Allied liberation forces from 1943 to 1945. In Poland and Greece, resistance fighters were feared by both the occupiers and the Allies, preventing them from expelling the Germans independently.