'Vigorous' (ii) was a British naval undertaking by Admiral Sir Henry Harwood’s Mediterranean Fleet to ensure the passage of the MW.11 westbound supply convoy to Malta (11/16... Read More

The 'Viktor-Linie' was the German most southerly defence line in Italy, and otherwise known as the 'Volturno-Linie' (September/October 1943). ... Read More

'Viktoria' (i) was the German codeword to signal the full implementation of the new command structures for the Mediterranean and neighbouring land areas outlined in the Führe... Read More

'Viktoria' (ii) was a German operation against the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in the Kresevo area of Bosnia and Herzegovina within German-occupied Yugoslavia (... Read More

'Villain' was the Allied operation to move aircraft required for the 'Torch' landings from the UK to forward bases such as Gibraltar (autumn 1942). ... Read More

The 'Vilnyus Offensive Operation' was a Soviet part of the third phase of the 'Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation', otherwise known as 'Bagration', which was the Soviet... Read More

'Vinegar' was a British naval gunfire bombardment of Italian war-related industries (iron works and foundries, shipyards, railway workshops, engineering shops and a brass foun... Read More

'Viola' was an Allied trio of deceptions to supplement 'Rosebud' and thus part of the effort to persuade the Germans of the reality of Lieutenant General George S. Patton’s ... Read More

'Violet' (ii) was an Allied undertaking in which the French national telephone network in German-occupied France, with support from the British Special Operations Executive an... Read More

'Violet' (iii) was an Allied special forces operation to parachute an 18-man British, French and US party of the Special Allied Airborne Reconnaissance Force to protect Allied... Read More

'Viper' was a German unrealised plan for an offensive to the north from East Prussia along the coast of Lithuania past Memel in an effort to pierce the Soviet front and so re-... Read More

'Virovitica' was a German and Croat operation against the partisan forces of Josip Broz Tito in the puppet state of Croatia in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia (3/5 April 1943)., The ... Read More

'Visegrad' was a Croat operation against the 'Romanija' and 'Kalinovik' Detachments of the Četnik forces in the puppet state of Croatia in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia (30 Septem... Read More

The 'Vistula-Oder Strategic Offensive Operation' was the Soviet strategic offensive to the west from the line of the Vistula river in Poland to the line of the Oder river in e... Read More

This was a Swedish operation undertaken by the Swedish Red Cross and the Danish government in the spring of 1945 to rescue concentration camp inmates in areas under Nazi contr... Read More

'Vitality' was a Canadian and British two-part operation by Major General C. Foulkes’s Canadian 2nd Division (under the temporary command of Brigadier R. H. Keefler) and Maj... Read More

'Vitamin A' was a German programme of deception measures by Generalfeldmarschall Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs’s 2nd Army, holding the western face of the Kursk salie... Read More

'Vitamin B' was a German unrealised plan by the headquarters of General Ernst-Eberhard Hell’s VII Corps of Generaloberst Hermann Hoth’s 4th Panzerarmee, part of Generalfel... Read More

The 'Vitebsk Defensive Operation' was a tank battle fought in the area to the south-west of Vitebsk by two Soviet mechanised corps of the West Front’s 20th Army and the 2nd ... Read More

The 'Vitebsk Offensive Operation' was a Soviet undertaking by the West Front and 1st Baltic Front to liberate the area of Vitebsk in Belorussia (3 February/13 March 1944)., Be... Read More

The 'Vitebsk-Orsha Offensive Operation' was a Soviet part of the 'Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation', otherwise known as 'Bagration', for the liberation of Belorussia ... Read More

'Vitrail' was a US special forces operation to parachute a two-man Office of Strategic Services team into the Chartres area of German-occupied France to gather intelligence (1... Read More

'Vivid' was a British exercise at Devonport in preparation for the 'Chariot' attack on St Nazaire (1942). ... Read More

'VK' was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Sydney, Australia, to Wellington or Auckland, New Zealand, or Nouméa, New ... Read More

The 'VKT-linja' was the Finnish third of four defensive lines on the Karelian isthmus against the Soviet forces of General Leonid A. Govorov’s Leningrad Front, and extending... Read More

'Vlaska Mala' was a Yugoslav operation against the Croat forces in the Bosnia and Herzegovina areas of Yugoslavia as the last land battle of World War II on the European conti... Read More

'VN' was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Malta to Naples, and then Augusta, Sicily, to Naples, Italy, and finally fr... Read More

'VO' was a British and French naval operation to intercept and capture or sink six German merchant ships which were known to have departed the neutral Spanish port of Vigo in ... Read More

'Vocalist' was the US geographical rather than operational codename, in succession to 'Bequest', for Yap island in the Caroline islands group of the central Pacific (1941/45).... Read More

'Vogelsang' was a German operation by Generaloberst Rudolf Schmidt’s 2nd Panzerarmee against partisans operating in the region of Bryansk and Roslavl and thereby threatening... Read More

'Volkssender Drei' was a US 'black propaganda' undertaking by the Office of Strategic Services (September/October 1944). , Following the liberation of the cities of Paris and... Read More

'Vollmond' was a German operation against the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in German-occupied Yugoslavia, and based on intelligence derived from decrypted partis... Read More

The 'Volturno-Linie' was the German most southerly prepared defence line in Italy (September/October 1943)., Otherwise known as the 'Viktor-Linie', the line extended from Term... Read More

'Vorfrühling' was a German operation against partisan forces in occupied Albania (28 March 1944). ... Read More

'Vorhaben Peenemünde' was the German working designation for the development of the V-1 flying bomb, V-2 guided missile and other 'wonder weapons' at the research centre on t... Read More

The 'Voronezh-Kastorno Offensive Operation' was the Soviet counter-offensive for the recapture of Voronezh (24 January/17 February 1943)., The undertaking was the second of th... Read More

The 'Voronezh-Kharkov Strategic Offensive Operation' was a Soviet offensive operation by the Voronezh Front, Bryansk Front and South-West Front with the aim of defeating the A... Read More

The 'Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad Strategic Defensive Operation' was centred on the Battle of Voronezh, otherwise the 1st Battle of Voronezh, and was a Soviet offensive fought in a... Read More

The 'Voroshilovgrad Offensive Operation' was a Soviet strategic offensive, more usually known as 'Skachok', within the 'Voronezh-Kharkov Strategic Offensive Operation', by Gen... Read More

'Vorwärts' was a U-boat wolfpack operation, in tandem with 'Stier' (i), in the Atlantic against the SC.97 and RB.1 convoys (27 August/26 September 1942)., The wolfpack compri... Read More

'Voyage' was a US offensive by Lieutenant General Courtney H. Hodges’s 1st Army and Lieutenant General George S. Patton’s 3rd Army of General Omar N. Bradley’s 12th Army... Read More

'VP' was a British programme of offensive patrols by motor torpedo boats operating from bases in the Orkney and Shetland island groups against German shipping along the west c... Read More

'VS' was the designation Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Townsville to Sydney, eastern Australia, and as such reciprocals of the 'SV' s... Read More

'VT' was the designation of an Allied convoy (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Valetta, Malta, to Tripoli, Libya, and as such a reciprocal of 'TV' (29/3... Read More

The 'VT-linja' was the Finnish second defensive position on the Karelian isthmus against the Soviet forces of General Leonid A. Govorov’s Leningrad Front in the 'Vyborg-Petr... Read More

'Vulcan' was the Allied final offensive by General the Hon. Sir Harold Alexanderï' Allied 18th Army Group to destroy the Axis forces of Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen von Arnimï... Read More

The 'Vyaz’ma Airborne Operation' was a Soviet unsuccessful and costly airborne undertaking within the 'Rzhev-Vyaz’ma Strategic Offensive Operation' in the rear of the Germ... Read More

The 'Vyaz’ma Defensive Operation' was the second of the seven sub-operations that together constituted the 'Moscow Strategic Defensive Operation, and as such was the norther... Read More

The 'Vyborg Bay Islands Landing Operation' was a Soviet amphibious undertaking by the Baltic Fleet to take and hold the islands in bay of Viipuri (Vyborg in Russian) within th... Read More

The 'Vyborg Offensive Operation' was the Soviet larger and more southerly of the two offensives together constituting the 'Vyborg-Petrozavodsk Offensive Operation' (10 June/25... Read More