<Tr> <Td> Battle of Madagascar </Td> <Td> Allies capture Madagascar from Vichy France . </Td> </Tr> <Table> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Osankarica </Td> <Td> About 2000 Germans massacred all 69 men and women of the Pohorje battalion . Germans lost 19 men dead and had 31 wounded . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Rennell Island </Td> <Td> Japanese bombers sink a cruiser . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Third Battle of Kharkov </Td> <Td> Germans retake Kharkov . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of the Kasserine Pass </Td> <Td> Battle between US and German armored forces in Tunisia . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Neretva </Td> <Td> German Army offensive in southern Bosnia . Offensive launched to encircle and destroy the Yugoslavian Communist Partisan forces found there . Supporting the German forces in this effort were Italian, Ustaše, and Serbian Royalist Chetnik units . The partisans were badly mauled but managed to escape encirclement . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of the Komandorski Islands </Td> <Td> Naval engagement between US and Japan in the Bering Sea . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Bismarck Sea </Td> <Td> United States sinks Japanese transports . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of the Bering Sea </Td> <Td> United States and Japanese navies fight an inconclusive battle . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Attu </Td> <Td> United States troops defeat and drive the Japanese off the Aleutian Islands of Alaska . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Warsaw Ghetto Uprising </Td> <Td> 5,000 Jews and 2,000 Germans die, Jews confined . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Sutjeska </Td> <Td> Another attempt by German forces in Yugoslavia, this time supported by Italian, Bulgarian, and Serbian units, to encircle and destroy the Yugoslavian Communist Partisan forces in southern Bosnia . Again, the partisans were mauled but escaped . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Castle Turjak </Td> <Td> Slovene partisans took the castle guarded by the Slovene village sentries . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Kursk </Td> <Td> Germans attack Kursk salient at Orel and Belgorod, Russians drive them back . Arguably the largest tank battle ever fought . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Allied invasion of Sicily </Td> <Td> Allies take Sicily from the Italians and German armies . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Allied invasion of Italy </Td> <Td> Landings at Calabria, Taranto and Salerno . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Dodecanese Campaign <Dl> <Dd> <Dl> <Dd> Battle of Kos </Dd> <Dd> Battle of Leros </Dd> </Dl> </Dd> </Dl> </Td> <Td> Allied and German scramble to occupy the Dodecanese Islands . <Dl> <Dd> German amphibious and airborne operation to capture Kos . </Dd> <Dd> German amphibious and airborne operation to capture Leros . </Dd> </Dl> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Smolensk </Td> <Td> The Soviets attack 850,000 German troops near Smolensk Fortified Region, drive them back inflicting severe losses . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Kiev (1943) </Td> <Td> Kiev retaken by Soviets . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Raid on Schweinfurt </Td> <Td> milestone air battle between the Luftwaffe and the USAAF known as "Black Thursday ." </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Schweinfurt - Regensburg mission </Td> <Td> another major daylight air battle, first shuttle mission . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Berlin </Td> <Td> Allied failed to defeat the Luftwaffe </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Tarawa </Td> <Td> First major American amphibious landing in the Pacific . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Makin </Td> <Td> Americans capture the atoll of Makin Atoll . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of the Bernhardt Line </Td> <Td> U.S. 5th Army sustains 16,000 casualties fighting through the Mignano Gap to reach the Cassino defenses . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Moro River Campaign <Dl> <Dd> <Dl> <Dd> Battle of Ortona </Dd> </Dl> </Dd> </Dl> </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Osankarica </Td> <Td> About 2000 Germans massacred all 69 men and women of the Pohorje battalion . Germans lost 19 men dead and had 31 wounded . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Battle of Rennell Island </Td> <Td> Japanese bombers sink a cruiser . </Td> </Tr>

The first large-scale defeat for german forces in world war ii was