Second World War battles

Red Army tank drivers on a street in the city of Rakov, Poland

Second World War

1939: When Poland was torn to pieces

A nurse on the French Eastern border treats a wounded soldier during the First World War. (Photo by Roger Viollet/Getty Images)

First World War

Pain through the prism of war

James Holland.

Second World War

The Library D-Day: James Holland answers your questions

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Canadian troops returning from the combined operations raid at Dieppe. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Second World War

The Library Britain and France: Empires under fire

Captain Walker (fourth from the left), clutching a hastily grabbed sandwich in his right hand, plots his next move during a patrol that saw his group notch up a record six kills, February 1944. (Photo by Past Pix/SSPL/Getty Images)

Second World War

The Library Johnnie Walker: U-boat hunter in the Second World War

A crew of Dambusters pictured together in c1943. The famed Dambusters raid, Operation Chastise, was an RAF attempt to breach German dams and so

Second World War

The legacy of the Dambusters

British soldiers in Normandy. Though Goodwood cost the British some 200 tanks, infantry losses were relatively light, says Mark Urban. (Capt. E G Malindine/IWM via Getty Images)

Second World War

Operation Goodwood: one of the biggest British disasters of the Second World War?

An illustration depicting the battle of Naseby, arguably one of the most significant land battles in British history. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

20 important battles that shaped Britain

A view of Valletta during the Second World War, showing its harbour filled with naval hardware. (Photo by Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

The Library Britain's island weapon: Malta in the Second World War

British soldiers on the front of El Alamein. (Photo by Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

Second World War

El Alamein: The British empire’s last hurrah

Industrial might: Blenheim bombers in production in England, late 1939. The Allies’ combined industrial strength proved too much for the Axis. (Getty Images)

Second World War

The Library The world in flames

'Tirpitz' hiding in a Norwegian fjord in 1942. “She outclassed anything in the British fleet,” says Patrick Bishop. (Getty Images)

Second World War

The Second World War: sinking the Tirpitz

Guy Gibson (centre) with members of his squadron. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Second World War

The triumph of the Dambusters