A detailed look at the Japanese attack on the naval and air bases of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7 1941.

A detailed look at the invasion of the island of Iwo Jima, a 36-day battle of attrition that left 6,000 Americans and 20,000 Japanese dead. The island was strategically vital due to its position midway between Japan and American air bases in the Marianas. Iwo Jima served as an emergency landing site for 2,200 aircraft by the end of the war.

A detailed look at the land and naval battles for the island of Guadalcanal, the first American invasion of the Pacific war.

A detailed look at the battle for the tiny Pacific island at Tarawa atoll, one of the bloodiest battles in American history. During the 76-hour conflict, 6,000 men (including 1,000 Americans) were killed and 2,000 wounded.

A detailed look at the 24-day battle for the island of Saipan, the first time U.S. soldiers invaded Japanese soil, and the naval Battle of the Philippine Sea, known by the Americans as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot".

A detailed look at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in world history. For the first time in the Pacific war, kamikaze suicide attacks were used against the Allies. After the battle, the Japanese surface fleet ceased to be an effective force for the rest of the war.

A detailed look at the recapture of the heavily-defended island of Guam, the first American territory to fall to Japan early in World War II. Guam's airstrips were strategically important because the island lies only 1400 miles from the Japanese home islands.

A detailed look at the invasion of Okinawa, the last great battle of World War II and the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific campaign. In the 82-day battle of attrition, more than 200,000 people died, including many Okinawan civilians.

Douglas MacArthur leads an army to the heart of the Philippines. Facing them are a quarter of a million Japanese troops. The campaign that follows will be like no other battle of the Pacific War.

In April 1945, 9,000 Soviet guns and more than a million Red Army soldiers unleashed a devastating bombardment on German troops manning the outer defenses of Berlin.

October 23rd, 1942. British and Allied troops face off against the German Afrika Korps. In one of the greatest deceptions of WWI, photo recons fool the Germans into making a catastrophic mistake.

17,000 US Marines hit the beaches of tiny Peleliu. They have been told that this will be a three-day operation, but six days later units are trapped by the island's hidden Japanese defenders.

In September 1944, 20,000 elite troops descend from the skies into Nazi occupied Holland in a massive airborne assault.

In winter 1943, nearly 30,000 Allied forces invade Italy. Mussolini has surrendered, but Hitler and his paratrooper refuse to give up. Will the monastery of Monte Cassino become a casualty of war?

In August 1942, 330,000 men of the German 6th Army smashed through Soviet defenses outside the city of Stalingrad. For 162 days the Soviet defenders of Stalingrad make the Germans pay in blood.

In March 1945, 90 divisions of men and machines stood ready to cross the Rhine, the last major obstacle that stood between the Allies and the road to final victory over Nazi Germany.

During the summer of 1940, the world held its breath and watched, as the British RAF and German Luftwaffe were locked in a 114-day battle to the death that ultimately kills more than 30,000 civilians.

This is the story of one of the least well known, but one of the most important, victories of the war-the ambitious campaign to rid North Africa of Nazi forces.

For weeks after D-Day, Allied forces try to break out of the invasion beachhead at Normandy. In a final throw of the dice, the Allied commanders come up with an audacious plan, operation Cobra.

The Allies have broken out of Normandy and are preparing to sweep into Central France. The race is now on for the Allies to get to Paris and save its citizens from possible slaughter.

On December 16, 1945, in the frozen forests of the Ardennes, a German assault force amassed in secrecy. But the blood-and-guts defense of a town called Bastogne embody the spirit of Allied defiance.

Allied armies launch the first major attack against Hitler's Fortress in Europe. Over 38 days, half a million soldiers, sailors and airmen will fight a battle of attrition against Axis troops.