Who was it with the Japs that said "All we have done is awoken a sleeping dragon (giant?)" in reference to Pearl Harbor? I think it was Yamamoto.
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Ah found it.

Isoroku Yamamoto Yamamoto Isoroku is credited with saying, after the attack on Pearl Harbor "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." The earliest citation for that theatrical comment, however, is the (reasonably accurate) movie, Tora! Tora! Tora! That quotation was accepted and repeated verbatim in the movie Pearl Harbor. However, no one has been able to verify that Yamamoto ever actually said (or wrote) those words.

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionar...0giant%20quote

All russian battles are most important ones if Hitler wouldent attack Sovit Union, he would win UK and US , because almost hole hes army got killed in Russia.

Interesting choices.....My Choice for the turning point of WW2 is Operation Barbarossa. Mainly because of the resources it drained from other fronts. Rommel with his Africa Korps at the edge of Alexandra but no reinforcements all going to the Eastern front. When the Anglo-American forces invaded Sicily and southern Italy all the Germans sent was one waffen-SS division to northern italy. Germany placed it future on the success or failure of Op Barbarossa....and a turning point I believe.

Midway was huge for the Pacific theater of war because it ended any chances the Japanese had in and offensive war in Pacific......

We are all a product of our upbringing but it is interesting to see how the US members place a big emphasis on Pearl Harbour whilst us Europeans (I use the term in a geographical sense) seem to think the defeats in Russia more significant. For my tuppence worth, the iconic struggle in Russia, particularly at Stalingrad as it bore Uncle Joe's name and swollowed up so many German soldiers was the defining point. Also, had Russia been conquered the vast oil reserves in Russia would have made up for any lost in the Middle East. The USA was already in the war, albeit in supplying arms and equipment and would have joined at some point I am sure. El Alamein was important to us Brits because it was the first time we had beaten the Germans in a picthed battle and it was the only front in the Western theatres where British land troops were engaged with the enemy. But as the great WC said himself, "This is not the end, nor is the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginnig".

So, to surmise, above all else, the German defeat at Stalingrad.

Although I suspect Churchill himself spelled it correctly!

Originally Posted by gjc

We are all a product of our upbringing but it is interesting to see how the US members place a big emphasis on Pearl Harbour whilst us Europeans (I use the term in a geographical sense) seem to think the defeats in Russia more significant. For my tuppence worth, the iconic struggle in Russia, particularly at Stalingrad as it bore Uncle Joe's name and swollowed up so many German soldiers was the defining point. Also, had Russia been conquered the vast oil reserves in Russia would have made up for any lost in the Middle East. The USA was already in the war, albeit in supplying arms and equipment and would have joined at some point I am sure. El Alamein was important to us Brits because it was the first time we had beaten the Germans in a picthed battle and it was the only front in the Western theatres where British land troops were engaged with the enemy. But as the great WC said himself, "This is not the end, nor is the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginnig".

So, to surmise, above all else, the German defeat at Stalingrad.

Hello all.

Agree with your points. I'm from the UK and it is very interesting how most Americans will view Pearl Harbor as the true turning point in WW2. Whilst Pearl Harbor was huge it did not dictate the eventual outcome of anything but the War in the Pacific.

It's also true that D-Day, whilst again a huge event did not in itself turn the course of the war. We have to be realistic and recognise that the real history-defining events were taking place far to the East.

Stalingrad was the *true* turning point in WW2 and one of the true turning points in human history. Had the Germans managed to capture and hold Stalingrad, their plan was for Army Group South to wheel north and link up with Army Group Centre for a combined assault on Moscow. Although Stalin had many fresh Siberian divisions in reserve, they would not have been enough to hold off the 4th Panzer and 6th Armies had those Armies been intact and well supplied. Plus the effect on losing Stalingrad would have severly dented Soviet morale and given the Germans added impetus.

WW2 in Europe was largely won by the Red Army, albiet with massive help from the US vis-a-vis lend lease that kept the Soviets in the war until they could get their displaced factories set up beyond the Urals. The Red Army learned well the lessons of Blitzkrieg and adapted it for their own use, with great success. I firmly believe that the Soviets in 1945 could have driven to the Atlantic and smashed through the Anglo American armies on the way. Although the Wehrmacht was the best army in the world until 1943, after many of their best divisions were sacrificed at Stalingrad thereafter it was the Red Army that assumed the mantle.

Actually, had Hitler listened to the advice of his generals he could have won the war in 1942. The generals wanted to beef up Army Group Centre and drive for Moscow. At that time they were deep in European Russian and had the whole summer to execute the offensive. I don't think that the Red Army at that time would have been capable of stopping the Wehrmacht and 'General Winter' would not have been able to help save them as happened in 1941.

Good information there, and welcome to the forum.

I believe that, as several others have brought up, there was not a single turning point of the European war, in the end Hitler was not able to successfully conduct a two-front war from the begining. He likely could have successfully held onto western Europe or Russia, but not both.



And besides, everyone knows the turning point of the war was the Aleutian Campaign of 1942-3 and the battles for Kiska and Attu islands in February and March of 1943.

Oh yeah most definately the war in europe was fought and won on the eastern front. The battles that were fought on this front were titanic. Stalingrad, Leningrad, Kharkov, Kursk, Moscow and the list goes on. I can never read enough on this subject.

Interestingly for me, I spent four months working in the Romanian Ministry of National Defence, and was honoured enough to meet three Romania Generals,one of whom was a platoon commander at Stalingrad at the age of 18. I don't care who you are or what Army you are in, but that has to be an intense experience. He was an interesting guy to chat to, even if it was in my broken Romanian. Certainly makes me appreciate good food and a cold beer!

That was a very interesting conversation I bet ........was a once in a lifetime chance, I would have more question than I can count for him.