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World War II, or the Second World War, was a global military conflict. It began as the joining of what had initially been two separate conflicts, with the first beginning in Asia in 1937 (the Second Sino-Japanese War) and the other beginning in Europe in 1939 (the German and Soviet invasion of Poland).
The war split the majority of the world's nations into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history, and placed the participants in a state of "total war", which erased the distinction between civil and military resources and resulted in the complete activation of a nation's economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities for the purposes of the war effort. Over 70 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.
The Allies won the war, and as a result, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as the world's leading superpowers. This set the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 45 years. The United Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The self determination spawned by the war accelerated decolonization movements in Asia and Africa, while Europe itself began moving toward integration.
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The T-26 was a light tank used by the Soviet Union from the 1930s until World War II. It was based on the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and widely considered one of the most successful designs of the 1930s.The T-26 made-up the majority of the Red Army's armour force until late 1941, and saw a long history in the armed forces of various different nations around the world. For almost a decade the T-26 proved to be one of the best tanks in production, with a total of around 12,000 units produced.Success and failure in the Spanish Civil War, where it served as the most widely used tank, ultimately played a major role in influencing the Soviet doctrine of tank warfare in the late 1930s. The T-26 participated in German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 as one of the most numerous tanks inservice,contributing to the defense of the Soviet Union.Although the T-26's reputation was marred by its abysmal performance during World War II, it was nevertheless the most important tank of the Spanish Civil War and played major roles during the Winter War and the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939. Between its introduction and its retirement, the T-26 saw a great deal of modernization efforts between 1932 and 1941.
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Box-header/colours' not found. The second Battle of Smolensk (7 August 1943 – 2 October 1943) was a Soviet strategic offensive operation conducted by the Red Army as part of the Summer-Autumn Campaign of 1943 in the Western USSR. Staged almost simultaneously with the Battle of the Dnieper (13 August – 22 September), the offensive lasted two months and was led by Generals Andrei Yeremenko commanding the Kalinin Front and Vasily Sokolovsky commanding the Western Front. Its goal was to clear the Nazi Germany presence from the Smolensk and Bryansk regions. Smolensk had been under German occupation since the first Battle of Smolensk in 1941.Despite an impressive German defense, the Red Army was able to stage several breakthroughs, liberating several major cities including Smolensk and Roslavl. As a result of this operation the Red Army was able to start planning for the liberation of Belorussia. However, the overall advance was quite modest and slow in the face of heavy German resistance, and the operation was therefore accomplished in three stages: August 7–20, August 21–September 6, and September 7–October 2.
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Witold Pilecki was a soldier of the Second Polish Republic, the founder of the Secret Polish Army (Tajna Armia Polska) Polish resistance group and a member of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa). During World War II, he became the only known person to volunteer to be imprisoned at Auschwitz concentration camp. While there, he organized the resistance movement in the camp, and as early as 1940, informed the Western Allies of Nazi Germany's Auschwitz atrocities. He escaped from the camp in 1943 and took part in the Warsaw Uprising. Pilecki was executed in 1948 by the communists. Until 1989, information on his exploits and fate was suppressed by the Polish communist regime.Witold Pilecki was born May 13, 1901, in Olonets on the shores of Lake Ladoga in Karelia, Russia, where his family had been forcibly resettled by Tsarist Russian authorities after the suppression of Poland's January Uprising of 1863–1864.
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"No enemy bomber can reach Berlin. If one reaches Berlin, my name is not Goering. You may call me Meyer."
- — Hermann Göring, September, 1939
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Template:/box-header From the World War II task force of the Military history WikiProject:
- Attention needed
- ...to referencing and citation • ...to coverage and accuracy • ...to structure • ...to grammar • ...to supporting materials
- Cleanup needed
- Battle of Kiev (1943) • Raid on Drvar • Colditz Castle
- Requested articles
- A Force • Battle of Uhtua-Kiestinki • Battles of Repola-Rukajärvi • Battle of Porlammi • Battle of Siiranmäki • Battle of Tuulos • Battle of Łuck • Battle of Równe • Battle of Włodzimierz Wołyński • Battle of Lubartów • Battle of Miedniki • Battle of Jodła • Francis Blanchain • Shinshou Draenger • Christer Lyst Hansen • Holocaust slave labor litigation • Ove Kampman • League for Combat Policy • Frederick Charles Lough • Julien Meline • Operation Rayon • Operation Bigot • Operation Mittelmeer • Operation Richard • Otto Program • Martin Poppel • Roehm's Avengers • Dorothy Tartiere • Poul Bruun • Raoul Boulanger • Serge Asher-Ravanel • Battle of West Ukraine (1941) • Battle of Zunyi • Free Dutch Forces • Yugoslav government in exile • Operation Alacrity • Operation Safari • Liberation of Finnmark
- Expansion needed
- Princess Irene Brigade • Battle of Bay of Viipuri • Battle of Brunei • Battle of Labuan • Demilitarisation; Martha Desrumeaux • Mochitsura Hashimoto • Operation Cascade • Operation Tan No. 2 • Burma Area Army • Battle of Courland • Battle of Voronezh (1943) • First Battle of Kharkov • Race to Berlin • Marie Fourcade • Victor Strydonck de Burkel • Donald Blakeslee • Operation Nordwind • Battle of Skerki Bank • Michael Sinclair (soldier) • Battle of Maastricht • Battle of The Afsluitdijk • Battle of Zeeland • Operation Waterfall • more
- Images needed
- Twelfth Army (United Kingdom) • 4th Airborne Division (United Kingdom) • 5th Airborne Division (United Kingdom) • XVI Corps (United Kingdom)
- Merging needed
- Add an article here!
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- Translation needed
- de:Josef Meisinger • nl:Type 5 Na-To • pt:Tobrouk (militar)
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