When June 22 to August 19, 1944 Where Belorussia, Soviet Union (Belarus), Baltic States, and Eastern Poland Who Army Group Center under Field Marshal Ernst von Busch (1885–1945); after June 28, 1944, Gen. Walter Model (“Hitler’s fireman”) (1892–1945). Soviet forces were the First Baltic Front under Gen. Ivan Bagramyan (1897–1982), the First Belorussian Front under Gen….
When June 28 to November 24, 1942 Where Soviet Caucasus region lying between the Black and the Caspian seas Who In preparation for Operation (Case) Blue (German, Fall Blau), Army Group South of the German Army was subdivided into Army Groups A and B. Army Group A was initially commanded by Field Marshall Wilhelm von…
When November 8–16, 1942 Where Vichy French protectorate of Morocco and Vichy French Algeria, North Africa Who Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) had overall command of Operation Torch, which consisted of three task forces. Commanding the Western Task Force (aimed at Casablanca) was U.S. Maj. Gen. George Patton (1885–1945). The Center Task Force (aimed at Oran)…
When August 23, 1942 to February 2, 1943 Where Stalingrad (today’s Volgograd), an important industrial city of 400,000 people and river and rail terminus on the Volga River Who The German Sixth Army under Gen. Friedrich Paulus (1890–1957); elements of the Fourth Panzer Army under Gen. Hermann Hoth (1885–1971); along with Germany’s satellite armies, the…
When June 6 (D-Day) to August 25, 1944 Where The coast of Normandy, France, stretching from the east coast of the Contentin Peninsula to the west bank of the River Orne. Five invasion beaches: in the east (left flank), the Anglo-Canadian sectors of “Sword,” “Juno,” and “Gold,” and in the west (right flank), two…
When July 5–16, 1943 Where The area around the Russian city of Kursk (dead center in map), an important railroad junction nearly 280 miles southwest of Moscow Who Elements of Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge’s (1892–1944) Army Group Center and Field Marshal Erich von Manstein’s (1887–1973) Army Group South faced Gen. Konstantin Rokossovsky’s (1896–1968) Central…
Born into a military family, Tōjō was a career army officer with political ambitions. He was an arch nationalist and a leader of the Toseiha, political faction in the Japanese Imperial Army, active in the 1920s and 1930s, that wanted the army to have a more prominent role in Japan’s political life. He fully supported…
The definition of “capital ship” was formalized in a series of naval treaties in the 1920s and 1930s. Falling into this category were battleships and battle cruisers. These ships were close to 20,000 tons displacement or heavier, with large caliber guns and heavy armor protection. Heavy cruisers, despite being important ships, were not considered capital ships….
Like Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bradley graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1915 and held various staff and instructor positions in the interwar years. (The influenza pandemic and the armistice prevented Bradley from serving in Europe in World War I.) On several occasions Bradley taught at West Point. He served directly under Army…
A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1915, Eisenhower served in various capacities during World War I and the interwar years: in Texas, where he commanded a tank training center (1915–18); in Panama (1922–24); the Philippines (1935–39), where served under Gen. Douglas MacArthur; and in the States, where he severed as chief-of-staff…