interesting WW2 battles/operations

[cryogeist]

right. i'm starting to get interested in WW2 battles and stuff
and while i was already interested in it before that was just Guns ammo tanks artillery that kind of stuff
so now that i'm interested in the rest WW2 i've ran into one problem...no clue where to start.
so i ask you escapees (who are into this sort of thing) what battle should i start with? or is just interesting.
thank you in advance.
Note i've already read about Operation Barbarossa and Operation Overlord (AKA D-Day)

 

[alandavidson]

Start with the treaty of Versailles, and who got screwed and why. Then read the first quarter of "Mein Kampf", and see the residual hatred expressed by Hitler from the treaty.

Then start reading bios of Nazi officers in the early thirties. This will help you to understand the philosophy of Blitzkrieg, and how it was implemented in the invasion of Poland. Then study German military movement through the 30's and 40's and how they countered invading forces while also doing aggressive forward campaigns, and how that ultimately became their downfall.

Why start with the Nazis and not the Allies? Simple, you have to understand the source to understand the result. If you study the war from an American point of view, you will get a glorified account. Study it from the German perspective, and you see almost a totally different war.

 

[SckizoBoy]

right. i'm starting to get interested in WW2 battles and stuff
and while i was already interested in it before that was just Guns ammo tanks artillery that kind of stuff
so now that i'm interested in the rest WW2 i've ran into one problem...no clue where to start.
so i ask you escapees (who are into this sort of thing) what battle should i start with? or is just interesting.
thank you in advance.
Note i've already read about Operation Barbarossa and Operation Overlord (AKA D-Day)

In a contrast to the political background that [user]alandavidson[/user] suggests (which is well worth the read and definitely required for one to get a good grounding for German motivations), I'll go for purely military scenarios:

Anyway... oh... so many...

Operation Compass - opening of the North African campaign, the Brits effectively knock the Italians out of Africa
Operation Torch - beginning of the end in Africa
Fall Gelb (aka Case Yellow) - the Ardennes campaign that opens up the Western front
Operation Magic - more of an intelligence breakthrough, the Americans breaking the Japanese code
Operation Market Garden - just read it... no, don't ask, just read it
Operation Citadel - battle of Kursk, biggest armoured engagement... ever (anyone who is into tanks and doesn't get a hard-on from this ought to get checked!)
Operation Sealion - otherwise known as the potential sequel to the Battle of Britain
Rheinubung - theoretical linkup of the 'Ugly Sisters' and Bismarck in the north Atlantic

Think that'll be enough for you to go on for now.

 

[DSK-]

The Royal Navy's raid on Taranto. It's amazing what damage a few 'string bags' can do. It was also the inspiration for Japan's own attack on Pearl Harbour.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Define "interesting". What other things do you find interesting? Otherwise, it's hard to say.

 

[Smasngrab]

The battle for kursk is quite interesting, it was a gigantic tank engagement, if your a tread-head. If you are a miniature gamer, you might want to have a look at Flames of War too, great miniature game that lets you create battles and play them out.

 

[Catchy Slogan]

I find Operation Deadstick [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deadstick] and Pegasus Bridge [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_Bridge] to be fairly interesting.

 

[Soviet Steve]

Right; Battle of Moscow, Siege of Leningrad, Battle of Stalingrad, Battle of Kursk, Operation Bagration, Battle of Berlin, Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation.

 

[Sproingy]

I had an interest in WW2 as my grand father faught for Australia in it. As he faught in the Pacific mainly I find that interesting. I found the Discovery Channel's WW2 in HD colour series quite good. It runs through the lead up to the war and the major campaigns and battles throughout so you get a bit of everyones side. Otherwise read the autobiographies of soldiers. I've read helmet for my pillow and that was really good. It's one of the books they base the pacific series on...There's a few Aussie documentaries that are good on the ANZAC's from both WW1 and 2 but I'm having trouble finding DVD's of them. I watched them on TV originally. They all have the word ANZAC's in the title lol. Sorry to not be of help their. A google search brings up a few...

I've found that there's two halves to the war that make it easier to categorise and create a timeline in your head of the War itself (seeing as it was huge and so much happened I found it easier to focus on different locations in each year of the war to clarify what was happening). The war in Europe and the war in the pacific. Obviously the Nazi regime in Europe and the Japanese invasions in the Pacific.

Also MAUS the graphic novel is a really well written account of a Jewish man who was sent to Auschwitz (sorry if I spelt that wrong). It's the only comic to ever win a pulitzer prize. It is quite graphic though about the descriptions of the camps.

 

[thespyisdead]

hmm... since you like tanks, i'd suggest you look into "the battle of the bulge." apparently it's one of the largest tank battles of the war


also watch band of brothers, and the pacific... awesome war mini serieses

 

[Sproingy]

also watch band of brothers, and the pacific... awesome war mini serieses

I agree and read the books they were based on so you get a slightly more accurate account of those two series. Very well done though!!

 

[SckizoBoy]

I find Operation Deadstick [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deadstick] and Pegasus Bridge [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_Bridge] to be fairly interesting.

Eeeeeey! Richard Todd playing his own commanding officer in the Longest Day. Most amusing factoid about that operation...(!)

 

[thespyisdead]

also watch band of brothers, and the pacific... awesome war mini serieses

I agree and read the books they were based on so you get a slightly more accurate account of those two series. Very well done though!!

wow... thanks for the tip... i will be sure to get a copy of them

 

[ace_of_something]

I've always been interested in the '[a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge]Battle of the Bulge[/a]' Mostly because my grandfather was there for damn near the whole thing (or possibly the whole thing he was tight lipped)
He had his picture taken when Patton presented him a medals for the battle.

We found out after my grandpa's death that he got them for driving a supply truck into a group of nazis (or something like that) to get ammo/munitions to allies on the other side. While driving he managed to kill enemy combatants with the truck. When the truck was seized him and some other guys threw grenades in it (or left them in there on a timer? can't remember) that killed more enemy combatants. My grandpa was in munitions/translator. I know it was a big deal because he was a European who was drafted when he fled to America. He moved to the US when he was 19 and it was like 2 months before pearl harbor.

More crazyness to the story: The day he did this deed was my father's 4th birthday.

The details are hazy and i might be remembering some parts of the story a bit off.

Either way it sounded badass like something out of an action movie.

My wife's grandfather (on her mom's side) was part of [a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Resistance]La Résistance[/a] though I don't know much about it.

 

[cryogeist]

Define "interesting". What other things do you find interesting? Otherwise, it's hard to say.

i guess any battle/operation that A: a lot of shit went down (good or bad)
or B: major impact on the war

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Define "interesting". What other things do you find interesting? Otherwise, it's hard to say.

i guess any battle/operation that A: a lot of shit went down (good or bad)
or B: major impact on the war

Read up on the siege of Leningrad. Major shit happened there and it is a miracle the city survived.

[sub]*Goes back to reading the 900 Days*[/sub]

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Note i've already read about Operation Barbarossa and Operation Overlord (AKA D-Day)

When you read about Overlord did you cover the attack on Pointe Du Hoc? It was a pretty awesome strike just before the beach landings that saved countless lives of the men on the beaches by scaling a seacliff up to the German artillery and blowing the crap out of everyone on top.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointe_du_Hoc
http://media.oaktreesys.com/abmc/pointeduhoc/popup.html

Also you should try looking into the German campaigns, as they are often overlooked, yet some truly amazing strategies and feats of warfare were achieved by the German commanders. [footnote]I in no way support Hitler or any of his policies, the man and his philosophy were despicable, but the things his military commanders achieved were often outstanding.[/footnote] I would recommend looking at Guderian the tank commander, and his deveopment of the Blitzkreig battle strategy, which was again used in the attack of France (Sichelschnitt) which in and of itself deserves a commendation for the ingenuity and complexity of the simple idea what would happen if we avoided the French army and just drove all our tanks to Paris?

Also check Rommel out, he was pretty badass.

 

[Sproingy]

also watch band of brothers, and the pacific... awesome war mini serieses

I agree and read the books they were based on so you get a slightly more accurate account of those two series. Very well done though!!

wow... thanks for the tip... i will be sure to get a copy of them

You are more then welcome

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

Battle of the Bulge!

My great uncle, Major Richard D. Winters was there with the 101st!

 

[Aur0ra145]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Kharkov

A big, but little known battle. The Barvenkovo Mousetrap.

The eastern or "Ostfront" had an amazing amount of bloody battles that the west hears little about.