The List of theatres and campaigns of World War II subdivides military operations of World War II and contemporary wars by war, then by theater and then by campaign.

Pre–World War II

Asia

Japanese invasion of Manchuria The Empire of Japan's Kwantung Army invaded Manchuria on 18 September 1931, immediately following the Mukden Incident. At the war's end in February 1932, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo. Their occupation lasted until the ...

(September 18, 1931 – February 26, 1932) * January 28 incident (January 28 – March 3, 1932) *

Defense of the Great Wall The defense of the Great Wall () (January 1 – May 31, 1933) was a campaign between the armies of Republic of China and Empire of Japan, which took place before the Second Sino-Japanese War officially commenced in 1937 and after the Japanese in ...

(January 1 – May 31, 1933) * Action in Inner Mongolia (May 26 – October, 1933) * Suiyuan campaign (October – November 1936) * Soviet-Japanese Border War (May 11 – September 16, 1939) *

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

(July 7, 1937 – December 7, 1941)

Europe and Africa

* Second Italo-Abyssinian War (October 3, 1935 – February 19, 1937) *

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

(July 17, 1936 – April 1, 1939) *

S-Plan The S-Plan or Sabotage Campaign or England Campaign was a campaign of bombing and sabotage against the civil, economic and military infrastructure of the United Kingdom from 1939 to 1940, conducted by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). ...

(January 16, 1939 – March 1940) * Slovak-Hungarian War (March 23 – 31, 1939) *

Italian invasion of Albania The Italian invasion of Albania (April 7–12, 1939) was a brief military campaign which was launched by the Kingdom of Italy against the Albanian Kingdom in 1939. The conflict was a result of the imperialistic policies of the Italian prime m ...

(April 7–12, 1939)

Campaigns

European Theatre

Nordic Front

List of military operations in the Nordic countries during World War II The following is a list of military operations conducted in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Greenland during World War II. Axis * '' Birke'' ("Birch") (1944) — German plan to withdraw from northern Finland prior to the Lapl ...

* Invasion of Denmark and Norway (April–June 1940) *

Continuation war The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

(June 25, 1941 – September 19, 1944) *

Lapland War During World War II, the Lapland War ( fi , Lapin sota; sv, Lapplandskriget; german: Lapplandkrieg) saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. ...

(October 1, 1944 – April 25, 1945) * Liberation of Finnmark (October 23, 1944 - April 26, 1945)

Western Front

Phony War The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germa ...

(Oct 1939-April 1940) * Battle of France (with

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: ...

countries/''Fall Gelb'') (May–June 1940) *

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

( +

Operation Sea Lion Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (german: Unternehmen Seelöwe), was Nazi Germany's code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. Following the Battle o ...

''Unternehmen Seelöwe'' ) (July–October 1940) * Western Front (1944–1945) ** Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) commanded Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until May 1945. **

Battle of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

(June–August 1944) **

Northern France Campaign The Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine, also known as the Siegfried Line campaign, was a phase in the Western European campaign of World War II. This phase spans from the end of the Battle of Normandy, or Operation Overlord, (25 August 194 ...

(July–September 1944) ** Southern France Campaign ('' Operation Dragoon'') (August–September 1944) **

Battle of the Siegfried Line The Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine, also known as the Siegfried Line campaign, was a phase in the Western European campaign of World War II. This phase spans from the end of the Battle of Normandy, or Operation Overlord, (25 August 1944 ...

(''Rhineland Campaign'', ''Ardennes-Alsace Campaign'') (August–December 1944) **

Central Europe Campaign The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II. In preparation for the Allied invasion of Germany east of the Rhine, a series of offensi ...

(March–May 1945)

Eastern Front

* Eastern Front (''initially

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

'') (June 1941 to May 1945) *

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

(Finland) (June 1941-September 1944)

Mediterranean, African and Middle East Theatre

* Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ), controlled all forces in the Mediterranean Theatre late 1942 to May 1945. *

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(9 September 1939 – 28 May 1944) *

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

(7 April 1939 – 15 May 1945) * Palestine (June 1940 – June 1941) * East Africa (10 June 1940 – 27 November 1941) *

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

(10 June 1940 – 13 May 1943) ** Western Desert (11 June 1940 – 4 February 1943) **

French North Africa French North Africa (french: Afrique du Nord française, sometimes abbreviated to ANF) is the term often applied to the territories controlled by France in the North African Maghreb during the colonial era, namely Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. I ...

( 8–16 November 1942) **

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(17 November 1942 – 13 May 1943) *

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

(11 June 1940 – 20 November 1942) *

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

(19 October 1940) *

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (Greek: Ελληνοϊταλικός Πόλεμος, ''Ellinoïtalikós Pólemos''), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian Campaign in Greece, and the War of '40 in Greece, took place between the kingdoms of Italy and G ...

(28 October 1940 to April 1941) * Invasion of Yugoslavia (Operation Punishment) (April 1941) * Battle of Greece (Operation Marita) (April 1941) *

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

(Operation Mercury) (May–June 1941) *

World War II in Yugoslavia World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the US ...

(April 1941 to May 1945) *

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

(2–31 May 1941) * Syria-Lebanon (8 June – 14 July 1941) *

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

(25–31 August 1941) *

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

(9 July – 17 August 1943) *

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

(10 July 1943 - 2 May 1945) * Corsica (August 1943) * Dodecanese (8 September – 22 November 1943) * Southern France (15 August – 14 September 1944) * Alpes-Maritimes (23 March - 2 May 1945)

Pacific-Asian Theatre

(December 8, 1941 – September 9, 1945) * Pacific War *

American-British-Dutch-Australian Command The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allies of World War II, Allied forces in South East Asia in early 1942, during the Pacific War in World War II. The command consists of ...

* Pacific Theater of Operations **

Pacific Ocean Areas Pacific Ocean Areas was a major Allied military command in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands during the Pacific War, and one of three United States commands in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. Admir ...

South West Pacific Area South West Pacific Area (SWPA) was the name given to the Allied supreme military command in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands in the Pacific War. SWPA included the Philippines, Borneo, the ...

* South-East Asian Theatre ** Burma Campaign ** China Burma India Theatre * Japan **

Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign The Volcano and Ryūkyū Islands campaign was a series of battles and engagements between Allied forces and Imperial Japanese forces in the Pacific Ocean campaign of World War II between January and June 1945. The campaign took place in the ...

* Soviet-Japanese War (1945) ** Soviet Manchurian Campaign (1945)

Other theatres

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

* Australia *

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

and

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

(1940) *

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

(1942)

Naval wars

* Battle of the Atlantic **

Arctic Convoys The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union – primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk in Russia. There were 78 convoys ...

(''Operation Rösselsprung'') * Battle of the Mediterranean * Battle of the Indian Ocean

Air wars

* Strategic bombing during World War II * Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Contemporary wars

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

(April 12, 1927 – May 1, 1950) *

(July 7, 1937 – December 7, 1941) *

(January 16, 1939 - March, 1940) * Soviet-Japanese Border War (May 11, 1939 – September 16, 1939) *

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

(November 1939-March 1940) * French-Thai War (September 1, 1940 – May 9, 1941) *

Ecuadorian–Peruvian War The Ecuadorian–Peruvian War, known locally as the War of '41 ( es, link=no, Guerra del 41), was a South American border war fought between 5–31 July 1941. It was the first of three military conflicts between Ecuador and Peru during the 20th ...

(July 5, 1941 – January 31, 1942) * Northern Campaign (September 2, 1942 - December, 1944) *

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος �όλεμος}, ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom and ...

(December 3, 1944 – October 16, 1949) * Afghan tribal revolts (April 1944 – 11 January 1947)