1. Poland
   China
2. Japan

On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and crushed the defenders. Then, the Germans sat on their hands until 1940 while the rest of the world waited in agonizing anticipation of more attacks.

1. France
   Britain
2. Australia

Case Red was the operation meant to invade France… and that's exactly what Germany did. In just over a month, the Nazis managed to capture the vital Allied nation.

1. Jamaica
   United States
2. France

The Nazis drove French and British troops back to Dunkirk, France, trapping the men between the ocean and German guns. Fortunately, the British sent hundreds of ships and private boats to rescue Allied men, who would later take the battlefield again.

1. Britain
   Iceland
2. Libya

Seelowe, or "Sealion," was the proposed Nazi operation meant to invade Britain. However, Germany's inability to secure air and sea superiority meant that the Nazis never had the leverage to execute Sealion.

1. Texas
   Hawaii
2. New York City

On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese launched Operation AI, the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan used hundreds of aircraft and dozens of ships to inflict an incredible blow to America's Pacific Fleet.

1. Brazil
   South Africa
2. North Africa

Britain and America teamed up for Operation Torch, which invaded parts of North Africa. It was the first large operation that the Allies launched in this theater of the war.

1. Yugoslavia
   France
2. the Philippines

Operation M essentially stood for "misery" for American troops in the Philippines. U.S. troops couldn't slow the invaders and MacArthur fled, leaving behind troops that would wind up languishing against withering Japanese attacks.

1. Alaska
   Maine
2. Florida

Operation AL found the Japanese invading the Aleutian Islands, part of Alaska. Although the islands are crazy remote, they were a strategic staging point during WWII.

1. Cuba
   US
2. Soviet Union

In 1941, Hitler was seething about his army's inability to crack Britain. He decided to send many of his men in the other direction -- Operation Barbarossa was meant to invade the Soviet Union.

1. Haiti
   Sicily
2. Hawaii

In the summer of 1943, the Allies were determined to capture Sicily from Axis hands. The U.K., U.S., France and Canada combined forces and drove the Nazis off of the strategically important island.

1. Australia
   Pearl Harbor
2. Philippines

During the planning phase, the attack on Pearl Harbor was known as Operation Z. Although the operation was mostly a success, by sheer luck, numerous vital American ships were absent from the scene… meaning that the U.S.'s deadliest naval weapons were alive and capable of future missions of revenge.

1. United States
   Haiti
2. Chile

Midway Island is an unincorporated territory of the United States, but it was an important base of operations in the Pacific Ocean during the war. The Japanese thought they had the upper hand during Operation MI, but American intelligence turned the tables and won the critical Battle of Midway.

1. Latvia
   Mariana Islands
2. Cuba

Operation Forager was an American offensive meant to capture the Mariana Islands and Palau from the Japanese. The operation was ultimately successful and included one lopsided battle called the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot."

1. Morocco
   Normandy
2. California

Operation Overlord was one of the most important operations of the entire war. It was the code name for the Allied invasion of Normandy, the beginning of the liberation of Europe.

1. Germany
   Finland
2. China

In the fall of 1944, the Allies launched a massive attack called Operation Market Garden, an attempt to enter Germany. But the Allies failed to accomplish key objectives and were driven back with more than 17,000 casualties.

1. Britain
   America
2. Belgium

By December 1944, the Nazis were all but beaten. They gathered themselves for Operation Watch on the Rhine and managed to push back the Allies, creating a "bulge" in the front lines. The Battle of the Bulge had begun.

1. Italy
   Panama
2. United States

In 1944, Japan released thousands of balloon bombs, which drifted east to the United States. Operation Fu-Go was ineffective but marked the beginning of an age of warfare that included long-distance intercontinental attacks.

1. Normandy
   North Africa
2. Iraq

Neptune was the amphibious assault conducted by the Allies on D-Day. Neptune went wrong in countless ways but ultimately gave the Allies a route into Normandy.

1. Crete
   Hawaii
2. Japan

Operation Merkur was very nearly a major defeat for the Nazis in Crete. But in the end, they rallied enough reinforcements to take the island from British defenders.

1. Norway
   Nigeria
2. Namibia

Operation Gunnerside featured Norwegian commandos raiding a Nazi arms development facility in Norway. The successful raid delayed German bomb research by at least half a year.

1. North Africa
   Iowa
2. Turkey

In November 1941, the Allies planned Operation Flipper, which was meant to kill star Nazi general Erwin Rommel. Unfortunately, Rommel was nowhere near the area… and most of the commandos were killed during the mission.

1. United States
   Italy
2. Britain

In 1943, Operation Eiche was a daring raid by Nazi commandos into Italy. There, they pulled Mussolini out of Allied hands… but his rescue was only a temporary reprieve from his ultimate end.

1. China
   Okinawa
2. USSR

In April 1945, the Americans initiated Operation Iceberg, a long-awaited confrontation with the Japanese entrenched on Okinawa. The battle that followed became regarded as one of the most vicious fights of the war.

1. China
   Iceland
2. France

Operation Fortitude South was a clever mission that confused the Germans. The ruse tricked the Germans into thinking that the Allied D-Day invasion would come at Pas de Calais in France… instead of Normandy, the real attack point.

1. California
   USSR
2. France

Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night was meant to use aircraft to spread plague over the cities of California. Fortunately, Japanese officials terminated the operation just before it was to begin.

1. Burma
   Laos
2. Czechoslovakia

In Prague, Czechoslovakia, special forces executed Operation Anthropoid, and attack on Heydrich's car. The bombing was successful and killed one of the most ruthless leaders in the Third Reich.

1. Cuba
   Australia
2. the Soviet Union

Japan meant for Operation Mo to isolate Australia and New Zealand from the United States. Fortunately, they gave up on the plan, which would have created huge strategic problems (and probably panic) for America and its allies.

1. Sweden
   Japan
2. Canada

In November 1945, the Allies planned to invade Japan. Fortunately, that plan never had to happen. Japan surrendered in August after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

1. Hawaii
   Iwo Jima
2. Sicily

Beginning in February 1945, Operation Detachment was meant to capture the island of Iwo Jima. The month-long battle found many Japanese soldiers fighting to the death, thanks to their code of "bushido."

1. Cuba
   Hawaii
2. Bougainville

In 1943, American intelligence pinpointed Yamamoto's plane near Bougainville in the South Pacific. They shot him down, inflicting a major blow to Japanese morale at a critical juncture of the war.