Source: Picryl
World War II was fought over numerous theatres of battle, but we normally associate it with its two deadliest: the European theatre and the Pacific theatre. Read through the resources below to learn more about where World War II was fought and how those conditions impacted military strategy.
This interactive map shows the locations of theatres of war across both World War One and World War Two, with links to more information about each theatre.
The List of theaters and campaigns of World War II subdivides military operations of World War II and contemporary wars by war, then by theatre and then by campaign.
The battles of World War II are largely divided into the European Theater (Western Europe), Eastern Front, Mediterranean/North Africa Theater, and the Pacific Theater. During World War II, between 22 and 26 million men were killed in battle as each side fought for their chosen cause. Read through this article for a theatre by theatre list of battles.
A collection of maps of the different theatres of war before, during and after World War II.
Click through this timeline to better understand how the Axis and Allies engaged in conflict in Europe between 1935 and 1945.
The speed, flexibility and initiative of the German Wehrmacht took the Allies completely by surprise during the blitzkrieg at the start of World War Two. Why was it that Britain and France were outfought at every turn? Read through this article to learn more.
In early May 1940, during the first year of World War Two, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was positioned alongside French forces on the Belgian border. Everyone expected Germany to invade France from the east, but within six weeks Hitler's blitzkrieg ('lightning war') tactics had carried his forces through Holland and Belgium, and the invasion came instead from the north.
Surprised and outflanked, Allied troops fell back to the Channel ports. A makeshift escape plan was hurriedly put into effect by the British. Between 26 May and the night of 3/4 June, approximately 340,000 men were picked up by some 900 ships, many of them small, privately-owned vessels. Listen to eight survivors of the Dunkirk evacuation recount their stories in this audio gallery.
The battle for Norway cost Germany and Britain dearly. A prime minister, naval strength and even the ability to mount an invasion of Britain were among the casualties. Eric Grove considers the consequences of the campaign's strategic failures.
The collapse of France, just six weeks after Hitler's initial assault, ripped up the balance of power in Europe. Dr Gary Sheffield considers the dramatic and unexpected defeat of the Allied forces in France.
After the surrender of France to Germany in 1940, Britain was the Third Reich's next target. But was invasion imminent or was this part of a strategy? Dan Cruickshank describes the British effort to defend her shores during World War Two.
Following the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from Dunkirk, Hitler issued a directive on 16 July 1940 ordering the preparation and, if necessary, the execution of a plan for the invasion of Great Britain, codenamed Operation Sealion. Read through this article to learn more.
The sustained German bombing of London and other major British cities began towards the end of the Battle of Britain, after a British raid on Berlin in early September prompted Hitler to order the Luftwaffe to switch its attention from RAF Fighter Command to urban centres of industrial and political significance. Read through this article to learn more.
The war between Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia was always going to be hard-fought - but could anyone have predicted the scale of the destruction caused by this ill-considered attack?
Did lessons learnt in the disastrous Dieppe Raid of 1942 secure the success of the Normandy landings? Julian Thompson questions how useful the tactical blunders and senseless slaughter were in planning D-Day.
The enormous scale of this particularly ferocious war is hard to comprehend. It started with Russia totally disadvantaged, but the turn-around was awesome, as Stalin's war machine revved into action. Richard Overy explains how the Soviets turned disaster into a victory that led to the formation of a Communist superpower.
Murder, rape and mass executions were all too common in Yugoslavia during World War Two - carried out by Partisan fighters as well as by Chetnik rebels and German troops. Stephen Hart examines how resistance to Hitler led to terrifying brutality in war-time Yugoslavia.
Is there any such thing as a moral bombing strategy? Detlef Siebert examines the impossible choices of war.
German troops overran Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France in six weeks starting in May 1940. France signed an armistice in late June 1940, leaving Great Britain as the only country fighting Nazi Germany. Germany and collaborating authorities soon initiated anti-Jewish policies and laws in occupied western Europe. Read through this article to learn more.
Although Nazi plans to create a thousand-year Reich were centered on the conquest of “living space” to Germany’s east, Hitler knew that countries in western Europe might stand in his way. Read through this article to learn more about the fighting in this theatre.
Click through this timeline to better understand how the Axis and Allies engaged in conflict throughout the Pacific between 1935 and 1945.
While the Nazi war machine ravaged Europe, the war in the Pacific brutalized the soldiers and civilians in World War II's often overlooked theater. Read through this website to learn more about the Pacific theatre.
There were two major places where World War II took place. These places are sometimes called theatres of war. One theatre of World War II was in Europe, the other was in the Pacific. The Pacific theatre of war included Japan, China, Korea, the Philippines, and many more islands and countries in Southeast Asia. Read through this website to learn more.
How did American intelligence fail to give warning of the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, nearly three years into World War Two? According to Bruce Robinson, the conspiracy theorists have got it all wrong. Read through this article to learn more.
Neither side wanted this fight at the start, but there were many remarkable feats of arms as the war progressed. Michael Hickey describes the highs and lows of the campaign, the personalities involved, and the effect it had on East-West politics once World War Two was over.
The invasion of Burma started in mid-December 1941 with the capital, Rangoon, the main target. The city fell on 8 March 1942 and over the next two months the British forces were driven out of the rest of Burma and into India. Read through this article to learn more about the fight to push the Japanese back.
Outgunned and understrength, the US Navy nonetheless turned a deadly Japanese ambush into a crushing victory. Andrew Lambert examines the decisive battle of the Pacific war.
By the end of World War Two, Japan had endured 14 years of war, and lay in ruins - with over three million dead. Why did the war in Japan cost so much, and what led so many to fight on after the end of the hostilities? Read through this article to find out.
An audacious Japanese offensive into India was defeated by superior Allied forces, aided by tactical mistakes made by the Japanese commander. Read through this article to learn more.
World War II in the Pacific was caused by a number of issues stemming from Japanese expansionism to problems relating to the end of World War I. Read through this article to learn more.
Originally presented by Dr Robert Nichols, the Memorial's Editor, on Friday, 31 May 2002, beside the Japanese midget submarine in Anzac Hall as part of the Roll of Honour Talks series, this speech looks at the attack on Sydney during World War II.
The Japanese had captured Borneo in early 1942 as they pushed their way south expanding their empire. Most of the island was part of the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) but the north and northwest was British territory. During 1942 and 1943, many prisoners of war, including Australians, were sent to various locations on the island held in POW camps. Read through this website to learn more.
Use this website to get a timeline of the major events in the Pacific theatre.
On December 7, 1941, Japan staged a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, severely damaging the US Pacific Fleet. When Germany and Italy declared war on the United States days later, America found itself in a global war.
On February 19, 1942, shortly before 10:00am, Japanese forces launched air raids on Darwin, the first on Australian soil. More than 260 enemy planes, including land-based bombers and planes flying off aircraft carriers in the Timor Sea, attacked US and Australian shipping, the town's harbour, military and civil aerodromes and the local hospital. Read through this article to learn more.
The direct threat of attack from the Japanese and the stable strategic importance of Australia in the south-west Pacific ensured that it should be heavily defended. The term Battle for Australia was coined by Australia's wartime Prime Minister John Curtin in a press release dated 16 February 1942 to describe the impending massive struggle to defend Australia against Japanese military aggression. Read through this article to learn more.
Three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese occupation of south-east Asia reached its southern limit with the invasion of Timor on 20 February 1942. At the time the island was divided between two colonial powers, the Dutch in the west and the Portuguese in the east. As early as February 1941 Australia had agreed with Dutch and British officials that Allied troops, under Australia's command, would reinforce Timor should Japan enter the war. Read through this article to learn more.
No other battle in Papua New Guinea tested the Allies so completely and unexpectedly as did the Battle of the Beachheads—Buna, Gona and Sanananda. To be sent to this battlefield was to pass figuratively through the gates of Hell. For two awful months, from 19 November 1942 to 22 January 1943, unit after unit was flailed against obstinate and lethal Japanese defences. Read through this booklet to learn more.
This commemorative publication is a part of the series; Australians in the Pacific War. It focuses on the Japanese advance during 1941-1942 when Japanese forces defeated Australian and Allied forces in their campaign for victory.
This commemorative publication is a part of the series; Australians in the Pacific War. It focuses on the Japanese advance during 1941-1942 when Japanese forces defeated Australian and Allied forces in their campaign for victory.
This commemorative publication is a part of the series; Australians in the Pacific War. War came to the Kokoda Track in July 1942. Over 600 Australian's died during this time along with a further 1000 wounded. This book explores the involvement of Australian soldiers and illustrates their wartime experiences.
This commemorative publication is a part of the series; Australians in the Pacific War. It explores the role of Australians during the conflict at Milne Bay 1942.
This commemorative publication is a part of the series; Australians in the Pacific War. In telling the story of the long war in New Britain, this book goes beyond the first days of battle and captivity. It explores the Battle of Britain and commemorates those who served and died during this campaign.
This commemorative publication is a part of the series; Australians in the Pacific War. It explores the history of the Royal Australian Navy between 1939-1945.
This publication is a part of the series; Australians in the Pacific War. It briefly shares the history of Australia's defence against the Japanese from 1939-1945.
After a grim struggle that rolled back and forth across the North African desert for nearly three years, this campaign resulted in the first major Allied victory of the Second World War (1939-45). Read through this website to learn more.
In 1940, Malta found itself at the heart of a raging battle between Allied and Axis powers for naval control of the Mediterranean. Eric Groves asks why the Allies invested so much effort in defending the island.
The daring exploits of the Afrika Korps secured Rommel a reputation as a brilliant tactician. Dr Niall Barr looks beyond the myth and asks why this legendary commander never achieved a lasting victory.
The British colony of Malta was crucial to the war in the Mediterranean. Hitler showed Malta no mercy and it has been estimated that the island was one of the most intensely bombed areas in the entire war - proportionately more bombs fell on Malta than did on the city of Coventry. The population of 270,000 however refused to capitulate. Read through this article for a summary of what happened in Malta.
The Battle of El Alamein did much to restore British morale during World War Two, and is remembered by the Allied forces with pride. Examine why it deserves its place in history with this article.
This article describes the Allied landings in French North Africa.
This article looks at the Allied break into Italy from the sea.
Richard Holmes asks whether the epic Battle of Cassino would have taken place, if Allied leadership had understood the real problems involved in fighting in such appalling terrain.
Prior to the Sicilian campaign, Germany was wrongfooted by an ambitious deception operation. A body with a fictitious identity was dropped off the Spanish coast carrying forged letters referring to an imminent Allied invasion of Greece and Sardinia. Germany was tricked into concentrating its forces away from Sicily. Read through this article to learn more.
This is a collection of articles and resources about the Mediterranean theatre of operations.
The North African military campaigns of World War II were waged between September 13, 1940, and May 13, 1943. They were strategically important for both the Western Allies and the Axis powers. The Axis powers aimed to deprive the Allies of access to Middle Eastern oil supplies, to secure and increase Axis access to the oil, and to cut off Britain from the material and human resources of its empire in Asia and Africa. Read through this article to learn more.
The Battle of the Atlantic was a fight for Britain's very survival. Winston Churchill, wartime prime minister, claimed that the 'U-boat peril' was the only thing that ever really frightened him during World War Two. Here, Gary Sheffield explains why.
The term 'Battle of the Atlantic' was coined by Winston Churchill to describe the protracted struggle by the Allies to secure shipping routes across the Atlantic. The Allies' main objectives were to blockade the Axis powers (limiting productivity and diminishing morale), to secure their own shipping routes, and to wage war overseas without any impediment. Read through this article to learn more.
This website features a collection of articles and resources about the Atlantic theatre of operations.
Commissioned in August 1940, the Bismarck, at 45,000 tons, was the largest battleship in the Kriegsmarine (German navy) and contravened the Anglo-German Naval Treaty of 1935 which limited German battleships to a maximum of 35,000 tons. This article looks at its role in World War II.
It operates on the lakes of the Nile Delta for the assistance of pilots who may make forced landings in the water. Consisting of a cabin mounted on seaplane flats it is driven by an aircraft engine and propeller mounted in the stern and steered by an aircraft rudder. There are also rudders on each of the floats. The top speed of the craft is about fifteen knots. Photo taken on March 11, 1942.
This is a black-and-white photograph showing damage from a Japanese bomb attack to an oil storage site on Stokes Hill, above Darwin harbour, in the Northern Territory in 1942. There appear to be two plumes of black smoke billowing from the site, indicating two large oil tanks have been hit. On the left-hand side of the photograph is a temporary suspension bridge, linking two parts of the Stokes Hill wharf, damaged in a previous Japanese attack. The building with columns in the centre of the photograph is Darwin's Flying Boat Base.
This is a black-and-white photograph of six Australian soldiers at a bomb site in Darwin, Northern Territory, in 1942. The actual location in Darwin is unidentified. A sign in the foreground says 'DANGER LIVE BOMB', and one of the men is crouching or standing in what could be a bomb crater.
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