Second World War battles

Night view of people jammed into Times Square, New York, celebrating the end of the war in Europe. (Photo by Herbert Gehr/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty

Second World War

Was 1945 the world’s zero?

German Heinkel HE-111 bombers fly over Britain during a mission in September 1940

Second World War

8 reasons why the Luftwaffe didn’t stand a chance of beating the RAF in the Battle of Britain

Tom Hanks in 'Greyhound' (2020)

Second World War

The real history that inspired WW2 film Greyhound

A group of fighter pilots of No. 32 Squadron relax beside their Hawker Hurricane Mk I fighters at RAF Hawkinge in July 1940

Second World War

The Few: who exactly were the heroes of the Battle of Britain?

Simo Häyhä, said to be the deadliest sniper in history

Second World War

The world’s deadliest sniper: Simo Häyhä

The US cutter Spencer attacks U-boat U-175

Second World War

The Battle of the Atlantic: why Britain almost lost to Hitler’s U-boats

Charles Cundall’s painting ‘The Withdrawal From Dunkirk, June 1940’

Second World War

9 things you (probably) didn’t know about Dunkirk

British ships on convoy duty in the North Atlantic

Second World War

Danger in the deep: key questions about the Battle of the Atlantic answered

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Welcome home: the cruiser 'Exeter' arrives back at Plymouth, c15 February 1940, after taking part in the battle of the River Plate. The action resulted in the scuttling of the German pocket battleship 'Admiral Graf Spee', which had sent several British merchant ships to the bottom of the Atlantic. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

The Battle of the Atlantic: the “desperate” WW2 campaign featured in Tom Hanks film Greyhound

Members of 617 squadron, known as the Dambusters

Second World War

How successful was the Dambusters raid?

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US Army 7th Division's tanks equipped with flame throwers climbing a ridge on Okinawa. (Photo by W. Eugene Smith/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

Okinawa: the battle and the bomb . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Female aviators Dorothy Spicer and Pauline Gower in a bungalow in Reading, 9 September 1931. Gower later became an officer of the Air Transport Auxiliary's No 5 Ferry Pilots Pool. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Second World War

When women flew Spitfires

German prisoners of war

Second World War

What would you have done? 6 terrible choices people had to make during the Second World War

A young American woman gazes at a human skull, sent to her by a boyfriend during WW2

Second World War

Opinion: Midway’s treatment of the Japanese enemy highlights the power and limits of empathy

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The American aircraft carrier USS Yorktown is being bombed in the Battle of Midway, June 1942. (Photo by Corbis via Getty Images)

Midway: the Pacific War on screen . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.