British

Dieppe Raid, August 19, 1942

The crushing defeats the Allies suffered since 1939 were beginning to take their toll on Allied morale. Even though the Battle of Britain had staved off German victory, little success had happened since then.

Allied POWs in Axis Camps

With the fall of Poland, thousands of POWs were taken by the German Army, and millions more before the war was over. The question of what to do with those POWs would lead to some of the worst atrocities of the war.

The Battle of Britain, July-September 1940

Yugoslavia in World War II

In their failed attempt to invade Greece, the Italians were driven out of Santi Quaranta, which Mussolini had renamed Proto Edda after his oldest daughter. Mussolini, embarrassed, had to ask Hitler to help his forces. In a fast moving campaign, the British were driven out of Greece and the Germans occupied Athens on April 27.

Operation Market Garden, September 1944

The Fall of Paris on August 25, 1944 ended the Normandy campaign, but the Allies were still dependent on the port of Cherbourg for supplies. This caused a reevaluation of the “broad front” strategy that Eisenhower followed, advancing everywhere, rather than Montgomery’s advocacy for narrow thrusts through weak points in the German lines.

Allied POWs in Japanese Camps

Huge numbers of Allied POWs were captured by the Japanese between December 1941 and May 1942.

Deep racial hatred, led many Allied soldiers to prefer death to capture. But the large numbers of soldiers surrendered by their commanders in the Philippines and Singapore did not have much choice. They entered captivity at the start of the war, and only about half of them would leave the POW camps alive.

The Air War Over Europe, 1939-1945

War In North Africa 1940-1942

When Italy declared war on June 10, 1940 against Britain and France, The British position in North Africa seemed hopelessly outmatched. UK Army General Percival Wavell commanded 40,000 Dominion soldiers caught between 200,000 Italian troops in Libya and 250,000 to the south in Ethiopia and Somaliland.

Australian British Dutch American (ABDA) Command

The rapid advance of the Japanese stunned even them. Their advance - formed by superior equipment, training, tactics, and in some cases, numbers - left the Allies confused and in disarray.

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