In 1941 Germany defeated the British in Greece (including Crete which Churchill had ordered to hold at all costs), sank so many British ships in the Atlantic that had the British not received American ships and help from the US navy, Britain would have lost the war (in spite of counting with many merchant ships from Norway, Holland, France, Greece, Poland, etc,), had Romania, Hungary, Finland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, etc, as allies (because Stalin stupidly invaded Finland, Bessarabia, etc,), began recovering Libya, closed the Mediterranean to convoys from Gibraltar, destroyed 20,000 Soviet tanks and planes, captured or incapacidated millions of troops and had conquered millions of km2 in the USSR, Greece, Yugoslavia, etc, in record time. So Germany was doing pretty well that year. Had the Japs attacked only the British (whom they rapidly defeated) and not forced the Americans to enter the war (the biggest turning point in the war), the axis would have definitely won.

Europe - Invasion of Russia

Pacific - Midway

Honourable mention - The Battle of the Admin Box

Some have said that the turning point of WW2 in Europe was the Battle of Britain. If the RAF had lost the battle and invaded Britain, Hitler wouldn't have called it a day

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

Some have said that the turning point of WW2 in Europe was the Battle of Britain. If the RAF had lost the battle and invaded Britain, Hitler wouldn't have called it a day

I don't believe the BoB was the decisive moment although possibly the Luftwaffe losses during the battle may have turned the tide on the Eastern Front.

WW2 in the European theatre was won and lost on the Eastern Front, I think the only real question is at which point was it lost.

The "turning point" on the Eastern Front was the summer of 1941 : on 1 september 1941,the chances for the Germans to eliminate the SU were,except for a miracle,nihil.

Originally Posted by samneanderthal

In 1941 Germany defeated the British in Greece (including Crete which Churchill had ordered to hold at all costs), sank so many British ships in the Atlantic that had the British not received American ships and help from the US navy, Britain would have lost the war (in spite of counting with many merchant ships from Norway, Holland, France, Greece, Poland, etc,), had Romania, Hungary, Finland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, etc, as allies (because Stalin stupidly invaded Finland, Bessarabia, etc,), began recovering Libya, closed the Mediterranean to convoys from Gibraltar, destroyed 20,000 Soviet tanks and planes, captured or incapacidated millions of troops and had conquered millions of km2 in the USSR, Greece, Yugoslavia, etc, in record time. So Germany was doing pretty well that year. Had the Japs attacked only the British (whom they rapidly defeated) and not forced the Americans to enter the war (the biggest turning point in the war), the axis would have definitely won.

Proof that the Germans had Lithuania and etc as allies ?
Proof that Stalin invaded etc ?

I am starting to wonder that why samneanderthal is so critical of the British is that he is extremely envious of British History as a maritime nation and builder of the biggest empire in world history, even though that empire no longer exists.

I would suggest that he is green with envy

For most of 1942 the British Empire and Commonwealth held the line, kept back the combined efforts of Germany and Italy and Japan (with fairly minimal imput from the United States compared to her potential power), and kept the Atlantic and Indian oceans open and suppliers flowing to the vital armies in the Middle East and Asia, and to the Soviets. No other empire in the history of the world has been capable of such a sustained multi-continent and multi-ocean operation.

BTW.
The Canadians' contributions in WWII are often overlooked, yet they had the 4th largest air force and the 3rd largest navy, who helped protect Allied convoys in the Atlantic. They gave an added industrial output as well as 6 army divisions, of whom 45,000 gave their lives for the Allies.

Most agree that the attack on the Soviet Union was in one way or another the turning point of WW II when it comes to the tide changing in allied favour.
But one could also say that the turning point for Germany was the invasion of Poland.

I'd say Hitler was overly confident and threw Germany into a war it wasn't really prepared for.
And perhaps we should be happy that Hitler jumped the trigger and didn't wait untill the industrial capacities and the plans for complete rearming of the armed forces was finished.

Had the RAF lost the Battle of Britain then there would have been no D Day, Germany would have had a lot of extra troops and aircraft to attack the Soviet Union. There would not have been any bombing raids on Germany. North Africa could have soon folded along with the Suez Canal. America would not have been given Radar, the Jet engine, and even Penicillin as these were things that were all handed over by the British Government to help the Allied war effort