Part Three: The War

As the offensive at Kursk turns into disaster or the Germans, the Italian Fascist government collapses, prompting a German invasion of their erstwhile ally. Meanwhile, the Americans launch an invasion of the Island of New Georgia in the Solomons, and the biter campaign in New Guinea slowly grinds onward.

As the Battle of Kursk escalates in the East, the Western Allies launch their invasion of Sicily. As the Anglo-American forces sweep across the island, the ensuing political crisis spells the doom of Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism, as the King orders the Duce arrested and is left with a weak government and shattered army, all while their erstwhile German ally prepares to respond.

Part Three: The War

The German and Soviet armies clash at Kursk in the largest tank battle of all time, with the fate of the war in the East hanging in the balance. Despite initial German gains their offensive was blunted, and when the dust settled the Germans had decisively lose the initiative on the Eastern Front.

Part Three: The War

Both sides prepare for their summer offensives in the East as the long campaign for North Africa comes to a close with the destruction of the Axis forces in Tunisia. Meanwhile. the Allies launch new offensives in the South Pacific, the Japanese attack the Chinese in Hubei, and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his plane is shot down over the island of Bougainville in a carefully planned operation.

Part Three: The War

The most pivotal battle of the Eastern Front is fought on the banks of the Volga, with the German 6th Army being cut off and annihilated in a titanic battle that would see the Germans forced to abandon the Caucasus and the strategic initiative decisively shifted to the Soviets.

Part Three: The War

The German drive in the east begins to slow as the Americans enter the fray in North Africa. Vichy France ceases to exist as a functional state, and their fleet is destroyed to prevent the Germans from seizing it. In the Pacific, the US sends the Japanese into retreat on Guadalcanal as their fleets clash around the island.

Part Three: The War

Montgomery launches his long planned offensive against the German lines in Egypt. After a long, brutal battle of attrition the Axis forces collapse, with the remnants of the German forces retreating into Libya as the Italian forces are left behind to make a final stand. In London, a jubilant Churchill famously declares the “End of the Beginning”

Part Three: The War

The moment of decision approaches as the Germans advance into Stalingrad and El Alamein, while in the Pacific the US goes on the offensive, landing at Guadalcanal.

Part Three: The War

The US Navy ambushes the Japanese carrier fleet at Midway Island, achieving surprise and managing to destroy four fleet carriers for the loss of only one. The Imperial Japanese Navy would never recover from this devastating loss, and the initiative would shift decisively in favor the Americans.

Part Three: The War

As the Germans resume their offensive in the East, the British are pushed back into Egypt. Meanwhile, Czech agents assassinate SS leader Reinhard Heydrich, prompting massive retaliation. In the Pacific, the Japanese force the British from Burma, and US and IJN fleets clash in the Coral Sea.

Part Three: The War

The war continues across the European and newly opened Pacific Theaters, as the Germans make gains in North Africa and the Japanese smash their way across the Pacific and East Asia. As the war spreads around the globe, the alliances of both the Axis and Allied powers are reaffirmed, as both sides set into what promises to be total warfare.

Part Three: The War

The war witnesses its most dramatic escalation to date as the Axis launch the largest invasion in history, with over three million men and thousands of tanks and aircraft invading the Soviet Union along a front stretching almost 2,000 miles. In addition, this was to be a war of annihilation, with the Germans in particular focused on the extermination of both communism and the peoples of the USSR.

Part Three: The War

The Germans intervene in the Balkans, leading to the fall of Yugoslavia and Greece, ending with a dramatic airborne assault on Crete, as Rommel defies British attempts to retake the initiative in North Africa. The Italians are pushed into fortified cities for their final stand in East Africa, while, a top Nazi official attempts a solo peace mission, and Iraq enters the war on Britain. Finally, at sea the Germans bring their most powerful warship into play in the Atlantic.

Part Three: The War

The Battle of Britain is dying down, but the Luftwaffe continues its terror attacks on British cities, while the Italians move against Greece. The Axis Alliance continues to grow as Romania, Hungary and Slovakia officially sign on, and the naval battle for the Mediterranean escalates as the Royal Navy and the Regia Marina clash, as the British also counterattack in Egypt.

Part Three: The War

With the Fall of France Britain stands alone against the Axis Powers that now dominate Europe. Even as the Royal Navy moves to neutralize the threat posed by the formerly allied French fleet, the Italians invade British African possessions, and the Luftwaffe begins one of the largest aerial campaigns in history, aimed at the annihilation of the Royal Air Force and thus clearing the way for an invasion of Britain herself.

Part Three: The War

The massive German offensive in the West commences with a simultaneous invasion of Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. As the Germans penetrate into France, the Allied forces quickly are overwhelmed, and France falls in June in one of the most stunning events of the war.

Part Three: The War

The “Phoney War” comes to an end as the Germans invade Denmark and Norway, opening a new front in the war and prompting British and French intervention. As April goes on the Allies are slowly pushed back to the north, until developments back in Europe proper cast the eyes of the world elsewhere.

Part Three: The War

The Soviet war in Finland continues as the war in the West remains in a state of limbo as both sides plan their next moves. The German plans to invade France fall into Belgian hands, while the Allies contemplate invading Norway or sending expeditionary forces to help the Finns before they collapse in March. Following this the French Prime Minister is replaced, and an incident in Norway earlier in the year looks to have major repercussions.

Part Three: The War

The Second World War begins as the Germans and Soviets invade Poland, prompting Britain and France to declare war. Poland falls in early October, but the war has only just begun, with victories for both sides at sea and a Soviet invasion of Finland rounding out the year.