What are your most spectacular WW2 battles ?.. i.e. Kursk, Arnhem, Cassino… and why ?
Operation Archery ~ Commando raid on Vaagso Norway - 27th Dec 1941.
The first Combined Arms (Land, Sea and Air) amphibious operation against a defended coastline by the British.
http://www.combinedops.com/vaagso.htm
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/commandos-raid-norway
By the way fairs fair, you ask but don’t state your opinion, time to put your penneth in.
Battle of Barking Creek. The RAF only lost two fighters shot down, but I’m sure it would have been much worse had the Luftwaffe actually showed up…
The ill advised, bloody but spectacular raid conducted on 1 August 1943 against the Romanian oil refinery at Ploiesti…
Why? Because you had B-24 Liberator gunners shooting at a flak train!
Hard to say, in large part, because “battle” can mean so many things. What about Berlin, 1945 - the Twilight of the Dogs (sorry) Gods ? Best regards, JR.
Who won?
The B-24’s, sorta…
Red Army:D We’ve finally got ploesti to our boots.
That was after the Romanians had changed sides and cleared the German Garrison from the area though I believe (or was I wrongly informed)?.
Yes, it was just right after the king Mihael has became the best Soviet friend.
king Michael becoming a friend was then shortly followed by him not being a friend? can’t have a good communist who is a monarchist lol.
There was a good documentary on BBC (I think it was BBC) about that, must have been some sight given how low the planes were flying.
Not really the most spectacular but the Battle of the Atlantic was spectacular in size and the lengths both sides went to to secure their goals.
How about Singapore? Oh, wait this is spectacular battles… hm…
El Alamein, first or second. As Churchill said, it was the end of the beginning.
Do you mean spectacular as in “visualy appealing”, generically as in “epically awsome”, or do you mean simply our favorites?
I’m partial to the raid of the prison camp at Cabanatuan. Something like 500 POWs were rescued by U.S. Army Rangers and Phillipine Guerillas in the nick of time before being executed by retreating Japanese soldiers. All prisoners made it out with minimal casualties for the Americans and Phillipinos. There was no strategic value to the raid. Nobody really even knew about what was happening, it was just about doing the right thing. And, THEY KICKED ***! HOOAH!
My favourites
The Siege of Leningrad: 8 September 1941 – 27 January 1944 (871 days)
The Finnish Winter War: 30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940
The Siege of Stalingrad: 23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943
The Battle of Kursk: German offensive phase: 5 – 16 July 1943 - Soviet offensive phase: 12 July – 23 August 1943
The Siege of Budapest: 29 December 1944 - 13 February 1945
New to the forum. I’ve always had more of an interest in the European war, but lately have become fascinated with Iwo Jima. Tough to find a more intense battle that the US participated in. 30000 Marines on the ground and 23000 casualties. Thats tough. Imagine if Kuribayashi had been in charge of fortifying the Atlantic Wall.
What about the battle of Leyte Gulf ? Largest naval battle ever fought and the Japanese navy was basically done as a fighting force after Leyte Gulf. There really is alot to choose from as I guess it depends alot on how you look at the battles. I mean you have the size , how long , how bloody and so on. I can think of many others including ground , sea and air battles. Ron
Hi everybody,
The battle of Bannockburn was undoubtedly of one of the most spectacular battles of the Scottish Wars of Independence.
Certainly, however this thread is part of the “General WWII Discussion” forum, spammer.
Someone mentioned the “visual appeal” (if that is the proper term) of a battle. In those terms - of spectacular visual display - a case can be made for the Battle of Britain, that provided the population of SE England with a daily (and deadly) air show for weeks during the Autumn of 1940. Even when the Battle had petered out, it still provided some “entertainment”. A “Punch” magazine from September 1940 features a stranger asking a local farmer for directions - “Eglantine Cottage ? Go down the lane past the Messerschmitt, bear left and keep on past the two Dorniers, then turn sharp right and it’s just past the first Junkers.” is the response.
Oh by the way - as to Bannockburn, from anything I have read, this was not so much spectacular, as a brilliantly planned mess into which Robert Bruce dropped the English. Oh … I suppose I should not have mentioned that. Does it get me banned ? Best regards, JR.