Finland Leaves the War On 9 June 1944, the Red Army launched a massive surprise offensive against Finland. Their objective was to inflict total defeat on the Finns, occupy their whole country and set up a Soviet-style puppet regime in Helsinki. Here is our analysis of how and why they failed to accomplish those last two objectives.

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• Operation Olive & The Gothic Line Campaign On 11 May 1944, the Allies launched Operation Diadem in Italy. British Eighth and US Fifth Armies attacked the Germans on the Gustav Line, taking the fortified position of Monte Cassino while US VI Corps broke out of the Anzio beachhead. In so doing, the Allies shattered German Fourteenth and Tenth Armies, which retreated north. On 4 June, with Rome liberated, the question for the Allies in the Mediterranean was what to do next. The answer came in the form of Operation Olive.
• Japan’s Oil War From the Japanese perspective, the Pacific War was fought due to their need for oil, and there were two variables in their planning regarding it: 1) the location of overseas oil reserves; and 2) the ability to transport oil, once seized, to their home islands. Their consumption of oil was roughly 32 million barrels a year. Within that number was their Achilles Heel and the reason for conducting the war as they did.
• Compare & Contrast: ETO vs. PTO Amphibious Operations One of the ironies of WWII is that the largest amphibious assaults were conducted in the European Theater, a continental front dominated by ground forces. These were fewer in number than those in the Pacific Theater, but they were larger and made against a more heavily armed enemy. Yet the Pacific Theater’s assaults marked some of the most intense infantry battles of the war. The lessons learned in both theaters shape amphibious warfare doctrine to this day.