Which battle in WWII was the most critical in defeating Hitler?

Question

D-Day?
Battle of the Bulge?
El Alamein?
Stalingrad?
Battle of Britain?
Battle of the Atlantic?
Kursk Arch?

Answer 1

I know its common American belief to view D-Day as a monumental engagement of the Nazi Wehrmacht, but the fact of the matter is German forces in Normandy (and Western Europe for that matter) were little more than a skeleton force of the overall German Army. Part of the reason the Allied invasion was so successful was because once the invasionary forces adequately neutralized German marine and land defenses there was little else to oppose them. Over 60% of the German Wehrmacht were in the Eastern Front, and the fact the Russians were beginning to turn the tide of the war in the East meant there was less of a possibility of the Germans being able to reinforce their forces in the West. The Battle of Stalingrad was a devastating defeat not only to Germany, but to German war potential as well.

Since it is historically accurate to state the majority of the German forces were fighting in the East it would stand to reason Stalingrad was the most important of these battles, although one should not discount the importance of D-Day (however Western media tends to over-emphasize its importance).

Answer 2

These are all good choices and I'd say out of those, that Stalingrad was the most important battle contributing to his defeat. However, the battle I think was even more important was the battle that stopped the Germans short of Moscow in late 1941. You can call it the battle of Moscow, even though it was no closer than 10-20 miles from the city. If they had managed to take Moscow that winter, the strong possilbility of a Soviet collapse could have occurred. But the weather coupled with fierce counterattacks halted them and they never got that close again. That being said, I'd rate your choices this way:
1) Stalingrad
2) Battle of Britain
3) D-Day
4) El Alamein
5) Battle of the Atlantic
6) Kursk (it was more of a salient/bulge than an arch)
7) Battle of the Bulge

I'd add Moscow (1941) and the bombing campaign over Germany (1942-45)

Answer 3

D-day was the turning point for the war in the Eastern theater because Hitler really had Europe under control until the Allied forces broke through at Normandy and slowly began making their way to Germany to defeat Hitler. Up until D-day, the invasions had not been into Europe. However, the Russians were busy fighting Hitler in the Western front, so Stalingrad was a turning point for the Western theater of the war since the Russians at this point turn Hitler back and begin making their way towards Germany from the East and the others came from the West. The two troops met after the Allies successfully defeated Hitler's last stand at the Battle of the Bulge.

Answer 4

Stalingrad was the pivotal battle. Germany lost their largest army, the 6th Army. Then, the climax was Kursk. After Kursk, the Germans never regained the strategic initiative in the East.

The questioner has overlooked the Destruction of Army Group G, perhaps the greatest loss of men and material Hitler ever suffered. From the Soviet's point of view, it was called Operation Bagration. It cleared Eastern Poland of German forces and enabled the Soviets to unleash an Operational Maneuver Group that opened a new doctrine in mobile warfare.

In the West, it was the Falaise Pocket. It nearly sealed Von Rundstedt's doom, but the gap was not closed and so Army Group West escaped. The Bulge was Germany's last strategic level offensive in the West and they used troops initially earmarked for the Eastern Front.

Grimly for the survivors of this attack, they had to regroup and form the failed Balaton offensive in Hungary which ended in defeat. Balaton, taking place on March 6th, 1945, was Germany's last offensive.

These are the main and pivotol battles that led to Hitler's ultimate defeat. I grant you D-Day was the battle in the West that made all that followed possible in that theater, but as a strategic decision point to bring the German army to battle, it was not as destructive to the Heer as the other battles I have just described.
Regards.

Answer 5

"The most critical". That is not the same as the most important. From that point of view I would say two were equally critical. One was surely Stalingrad and the other was the Battle of the Atlantic. After Stalingrad Hitler was doomed. The Americans could build and resupply the War effort due to victory in the Atlantic and Hitler could not build and resupply after he was decimated at Stalingrad

But without the Victory in the Battle of the Atlantic the Americans would not have been able to supply the War effort so both were equally critical in defeating Hitler.

D-Day was undoubtedly the most important Battle of WWII in Europe but D-Day would have been impossible without the Russians victory at Stalingrad and without the Americans Victory in the Atlantic thus they were the most critical.

Answer 6

All of those were vital battles in the war. Without any one of them occuring as it did the outcome of the war would have been totally different. The question than is, do you pick the lastest one, or the earliest one? How can you actually decide on what battle in a three front war (Africa, Italy)(Eastrn Europe)(Western Europe) tipped the scales in favor of the allied forces. Personally I narrowed it down to the 3 I feel were most vital, and very tenatively picked one as the most important.


Battle of Britain
-German victory would have destroyed the RAF putting Enlgand at the mercy of German air raids, and probibly amphibious assault, which England was in no way able to repulse. The other alternative following a German victory here, would have led to a treaty in the west allowing Hitler to concentrate nearly all his forces against the USSR.

Kursk Arch
One of the largest single battles in human history, Kursk was the final blow to the GErman army in the eastern front. It was a last ditch effort to inflict enough damage on the Soviets to eliminate the possiblitlity of an offensive. Had it worked, it would ahve given Germany breathing room and precious time needed to rebuild factories and deploy new tank and aircraft designs in greater numbers. The Soviet victory inflicted heavy losses on the Germans, and did nothing to hamper Soviet offensive potential.

Battle of the Atlantic
Even with an English win against the Germans in the BAttle of Britain, losing the Battle of the Atlantic would have sealed England's defeat. The British Isles are islands, and can't totally support themsevles, especially not in wartime. Had Germany been able to destroy enough allied shipping they could have starved England into submission, or at least effecitively take it out of the war. At the same time preventing US intervention from reaching England and forcing British shipping through the Meditterainian at the mercy of Italian and German anti-ship aircraft.

For these reasons I chose the Battle of the Atlantic as the most important battle of the entire war.

Answer 7

I am a real historian, and I am a very pro-American. However, the answer is Stalingrad. It resulted in a smashing defeat for the Germans in the East, and they lost an entire Army Group. It also freed up two major Soviet armies and began the defeat of the Germans in the East. The Nazis had to pull resources from the West to fight the Soviets and slow them down, allowing the Western Allies to succeed on D-Day.

Yes, D-Day was important for winning the Western war against the Nazis, but that was not the question. The question was which Battle in WWII... Stalingrad.

Answer 8

I'm going to add to the lone voice of Elphin B (answerer 8) with a vote for the Battle of the Atlantic. He has explained its significance just as well as I could.

In 1942 and 1943, Churchill was more concerned about the possibility of defeat in the Battle of the Atlantic than he was about any other engagement of the war before or after. Victory for the Allies made D-day possible, and the defeat of Germany inevitable. Victory for Germany would have forced Britain to surrender, and the USA could never have mounted a transatlantic invasion of Europe on their own.

Answer 9

Stalingrad was where the advance was halted. Kursk was where the Germans lost a crippling number of men and tanks. So Stalingrad for symbolic value but Kursk for its actual effect on the progress of the war.

But the question is dumb. Each battle had its effects, and none of them occurred in isolation.

Answer 10

I'd have to chose between Stalingrad, which is where the tide turned for Germany, and D-Day. I'll give a narrow victory to D-Day, as it marked the beginning of a 2-front war. Germany would have had a hard time holding off the Russians, but having the Allies coming from the west made the collapse of Germany inevitable.