Major Battles of World War II

Updated December 16, 2014

There were numerous battles in World War II. Some of these battles lasted only days while others took months or years. Some of the battles were notable for the material losses such as tanks or aircraft carriers while others were notable for the number of human losses.

Although this is not a comprehensive list of all battes of WWII, it is a list of the major battles of World War II.

A note about the dates: Somewhat surprisingly, historians don't all agree on the exact dates of battles.

For instance, some use the date that a city was surrounded while others prefer the date that major fighting commenced. For this list, I have used the dates that seemed the most agreed upon.

Major Battles of World War II

Battles Dates
Atlantic September 1939 - May 1945
Berlin April 16 - May 2, 1945
Britain July 10 - October 31, 1940
Bulge December 16, 1944 - January 25, 1945
El Alamein (First Battle) July 1-27, 1942
El Alamein (Second Battle) October 23 - November 4, 1942
Guadalcanal Campaign August 7, 1942 - February 9, 1943
Iwo Jima February 19 - March 16, 1945
Kursk July 5 - August 23, 1943
Leningrad (Siege) September 8, 1941 - January 27, 1944
Leyte Gulf October 23-26, 1944
Midway June 3-6, 1942
Milne Bay August 25 - September 5, 1942
Normandy (including D-Day) June 6 - August 25, 1944
Okinawa April 1 - June 21, 1945
Operation Barbarossa June 22, 1941 - December 1941
Operation Torch November 8-10, 1942
Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941
Philippine Sea June 19-20, 1944
Stalingrad August 21, 1942 - February 2, 1943