The following is a list of battles during World War II:
- 1938 Battle of Lake Khasan
- 1939 Battle of Halhin Gol
- 1939 Poland September 1 - October 6 - Start of World War II in Europe (see: Polish September Campaign for details)
- 1939 Battle of the River Plate December 13 - Admiral Graf Spee chased into Montevideo harbour and scuttled
- 1939 Battle of Suomussalmi December 8 - January 7 1940 - Winter War
- 1939 Battle of Tolvajärvi December 12 - Winter War
- 1940 - 1945 Battle of the Atlantic- the name given to the conflicts in the Atlantic Ocean throughout World War II.
- 1940 Battle of Honkaniemi February 26 - Only tank action of the Winter War.
- 1940 Battle of Narvik April 9 - June 10 - A minor Allied victory in the arctic.
- 1940 Battle at the Afsluitdijk May 10 - May 14
- 1940 Battle of France May 9 - May 15 - Germany take France, Expeditionary Force and French Army Defeated
- 1940 Battle of Dunkirk May 27 - June 5 - Escape of defeated British Expeditonary Force
- 1940 Battle of Britain July 9 - October 31 Germans try to bomb Britain into submission - RAF answers with fighters
- 1940 Battle of Taranto November 11-November 12 - British carrier based planes destroy Italian fleet in Taranto Harbor.
- 1940 Battle of Hundred Regiments - Major engagement of the Chinese Communist Army against the Japanese Imperial Army in August and September.
- 1941 Battle of Cape Matapan March 28 - British fleet defeats Italian fleet.
- 1941 Battle of Denmark Strait May 23 - Bismarck sinks HMS Hood
- 1941 Battle of Greece April 6 - April 24 - Germany takes the Balkan Peninsula after Italian Stalemate.
- 1941 Battle of Crete May 20 - June 1 - Paratroops capture Crete, suffer many casualties.
- 1941 Operation Barbarossa June 22 - German invasion of the Soviet Union
- 1941 Battle of Smolensk July 10-September 10 First major, temporary, German reverses before Soviet counterattacks.
- 1941-1942 Battle of Moscow Soviet defenders drive back German Army Group Centre
- 1941 Battle of Pearl Harbor December 7 - Japanese destroy US Fleet in surprise attack
- 1941 Battle of Singapure December 10 - Japanese torpedo craft sunk HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse.
- 1942 Battle of Macassar Strait January - US and Dutch forces attack Japanese convoy
- 1942 Dražgoše January 9 - First frontal engagement on Slovenian soil with the German occupier
- 1942 Battle of the Java Sea February 4 - March 1 Japanese wipe out Allied naval squadron
- 1942 Japanese Raids into Indian Ocean March 31 - Japanese Raids against the British Eastern Fleet. Heavy British losses.
- 1942 Battle of Corregidor April 9 - General Wainwright's troops surrender, forced on Bataan Death March
- 1942 Battle of Nanos April 18 - 800 Italian soldiers lay siege to 50 Slovene partisans.
- 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea May 4 - First aircraft-carrier on aircraft-carrier battle. US loses USS Lexington; Japanese win tactically but lose strategically.
- 1942 Battle of Midway June 3 - US loses USS Yorktown; Japanese lose four aircraft carriers
- 1942 Convoy PQ-17 - 27 ships leave Iceland on June 17 for Murmansk – on July 5 10 ships reach Murmansk
- 1942 First Battle of El Alamein July 1 - British Eighth Army stops Rommel's Axis forces invading Egypt
- 1942 Battle of Sevastopol July 2 - Captured by Germans after eight month siege
- 1942 Battle of Changsha - Chinese claim victory over Japanese
- 1942 Battle of the Kokoda Trail July 22 - 13 November - Australians slow down Japanese offensive against Port Morsby, cause Japanese overextension and attrition losses; drive them back.
- 1942 Battle of Guadalcanal August 8 - Beginning of Allied action in Solomon Islands
- 1942 Battle of Savo Island August 9 - Japanese sink four US cruisers
- 1942 Battle of Dieppe August 19 - "Operation Jubilee" was an Allied attack on the German occupied port of Dieppe in France. Allied Failure ,Information used for D-Day.
- 1942 Battle of Stalingrad August 22 - February 2 1943 - City besieged by Paulus' German Sixth Army; from November 23 the Sixth Army is surrounded and destroyed by Soviets; bloodiest battle in history, 1.8 millions dead approx.
- 1942 Battle of the Eastern Solomons August 24 - Japanese aircraft carrier Ryuho sunk
- 1942 Battle of Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea August 25 First time japanese landing force had been driven back into sea.
- 1942 Battle of Bloody Ridge September 12
- 1942 Battle of Cape Esperance October 11 - near Guadalcanal
- 1942 Second Battle of El Alamein October 23 - November 4 - Montgomery's Eighth Army forces Rommel out of Egypt
- 1942 Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands October 25 - near Guadalcanal, USS Hornet sunk, but Japanese withdraw victorious
- 1942 Operation Torch November 17 - Allied landings in North Africa
- 1942 Naval Battle of Guadalcanal November 12 - US defeats Japan. Turning Point
- 1942 Battle of Tassafaronga November 30 - off Guadalcanal
- 1943 Battle of Osankarica January 8 - Over 200 Germans massacred all 69 men and women of the Pohorje battalion. Germans lost 19 men and had 31 wounded
- 1943 Battle of Rennell Island January 29-30 - Japanese bombers sink a cruiser
- 1943 Battle of Guadalcanal February 8 - Allies take the island
- 1943 Battle of the Kasserine Pass February 14 - 25 - Battle between US and German armored forces in Tunisia
- 1943 Battle of Bismarck Sea March 2 - US sinks Japanese transports
- 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising April 18 - 5000 Jews and 5000 Germans die, Jews confined
- 1943 Battle of Castle Turjak September 19 - Slovene partisans took the castle guarded by the Slovene village sentries
- 1943 Battle of Kursk July - Germans attack Kursk salient at Orel and Belgorod; Russians drive them back; arguably the largest tank battle ever fought. Heavy Losses
- 1943 Raid on Schweinfurt October 14- The greatest Air battle among the Luftwaffe and the USAF. The famous Air Battle known as "Black Thursday."
- 1944 Battle of Cisterna January 29- Part of Operation Shingle- the 1st, 3rd, and 4th US Army Ranger battalions attempted to capture the town of Cisterna.
- 1944 Battle of Monte Cassino May 11 - 18
- 1944 Battle of Normandy June 6 - August 25 - Allies invade northern France across the Normandy beaches (Operation Overlord); hard fighting from Cherbourg to Caen; Germans surrounded and destroyed at Falaise
- 1944 Battle of Philippine Sea June 19 - Major carrier battle; US lose 123 planes and destroy 315 Japanese planes
- 1944 Marianas Campaign - US invasions of Saipan, June 15, Guam July 21, and Tinian July 24
- 1944 Operation Bagration June 22 - Eastern Front - Soviet offensive destroys German Army Group Center.
- 1944 Battle of Fontenay June 25
- 1944 Battle of Tali-Ihantala June 25 - July 10 - Finnish stop Soviet offensive
- 1944 Warsaw Uprising August 1 - October 5 - 20.000 armed Poles against 55.000 Wehrmacht and SS. City destroyed in 90%, more than 250.000 casualties.
- 1944 Operation Dragoon (a.k.a. Operation Anvil) August 15 - Allied invasion of Southern France
- 1944 Battle of Peleliu September 17 - A fight to capture an airstrip on a speck of coral in the western Pacific.
- 1944 Battle of Arnhem September 17 - 26 - The major battle of Operation Market Garden; Allies reach but fail to cross the Rhine; British First Airborne Division destroyed
- 1944 Hürtgen Forest October 6 - Stubborn German defence, appalling loses to US army
- 1944 Battle of Aachen- October. Aachen was the first major German city to face invasion during WW II.
- 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf October 23 - 26 - The largest air-sea battle in history.
- 1944 Operation Queen November 16
- 1944 Battle of Monte Castello November 25 - February 12 1945 - Brazilian troops fight Germans in Italy
- 1944 Battle of the Bulge December 16 - January 27 1945 - German counterattack in Ardennes; General McAuliffe says "NUTS" at Bastogne
- 1945 Operation Elephant January 26 - Allied offensive in Netherlands
- 1945 Operation Spring Awakening March 6 - March 15 - German counterattack in Hungary
- 1945 Battle of Mindanao March 10 - US invasion of the Philippines
- 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima March 26 - After a month, US takes the island
- 1945 Operation Varsity March 17 - 134 Allied gliders land troops in Weisel
- 1945 Battle of Berlin April 26 - May 2 - Soviet forces encircle and capture German capital; Hitler commits suicide
- 1945 Battle of Triest April 30 - May 2 - British army and Yugoslav capture the city
- 1945 Battle of Poljana - Last battle of World War II in Europe
- 1945 Battle of Okinawa June 21 - US takes Japanese Island in the Ryukyus; many casualties to both sides.