'Donald' was a US special forces operation to parachute an 11-man Office of Strategic Services operational group into the Finisterre area of German-occupied France to secure U... Read More

'Donau' was a U-boat wolfpack two-element operation in the North Atlantic against the ONS.7, HX.238 and SC.130 convoys (15/26 May 1943)., On 11/12 May three wolfpacks had been... Read More

'Donaustadt' was a German unrealised undertaking by Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein’s Panzer-Lehr-Division, based near Budapest, to occupy the city and disarm all the Hungar... Read More

The 'Donbas Defensive Operation' was the Soviet undertaking by the South Front and the left wing of the South-West Front within the 'Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad Strategic Defensiv... Read More

The 'Donbas Strategic Offensive Operation' was a Soviet undertaking on the Eastern Front with the object of liberating the strategically important Donbas area (13 August/22 Se... Read More

The 'Donbas-Rostov Strategic Defensive Operation' was the Soviet attempt to hold the coast of Ukraine on the northern side of the Sea of Azov (29 September/16 November 1941).,... Read More

'Donner' was the German withdrawal of Generaloberst Carl Hilpert’s 16th Army and General Ehrenfried-Oskar Boege’s 18th Army of Generaloberst Ferdinand Schörner’s Heeres... Read More

'Donner & Keil' was a U-boat wolfpack operation off the north-west coast of German-occupied Norway against the RA.59 convoy (20 April/3 May 1944)., The 'Donner' wolfpack c... Read More

'Donnerkeil' (i) was the German air cover operation over 'Cerberus' (11/13 February 1942)., In 1941 Kriegsmarine surface vessels had carried out commerce raiding sorties in su... Read More

'Donnerkeil' (ii) was a German operation against partisans operating in the area of Polotsk and Vitebsk in the Belorussia region of the German-occupied western USSR (21 March/... Read More

'Donnerkeil' (iii) was a German operation against the partisan forces of Josip Broz Tito in German-occupied Yugoslavia (early October 1943). ... Read More

'Donnerschlag' (i) was a German unrealised plan for the forces trapped in Stalingrad under the command of Generaloberst Friedrich Paulus to break out of their encirclement and... Read More

'Donnerschlag' (ii) was a German operation against partisans between Trudy and the Obdol river in the German-occupied western USSR (21 March/2 April 1943). ... Read More

'Doppelkopf' was a German offensive undertaking by Generaloberst Erhard Raus’s 3rd Panzerarmee to re-establish a land corridor with the forces of Generaloberst Ferdinand Sch... Read More

'Doppelschlag' was a German unrealised naval operation to use heavy surface warships intercept and destroy the Allies' PQ.18 convoy from the UK to the northern ports of the US... Read More

'Doppelsprung' was a German unrealised plan for the evacuation of the bridgeheads still held by army formations and units on the left bank of the Maas river to the west of Arn... Read More

'Dora' (i) was a German special forces raid by men of Oberstleutnant Paul Haehling von Lanzenauer’s Lehr-Regiment 'Brandenburg' zbV 800 (from 20 November 1942 Sonderverband ... Read More

'Dora' (ii) was a German unrealised plan for an air attack on the port and associated supply dumps of Lagos on the Nigerian coast by Oberst Fritz Heigl’s Kampfgeschwader 200... Read More

'Dormer' was a British naval contingency plan to deal with any break-out by German major naval forces from the Baltic Sea to ports on the west coast of German-occupied Norway,... Read More

'Dorothee' was a German rearguard position of Generaloberst Hans-Valentin Hube’s (from 21 April 1944 General Kurt von der Chevallerie’s and from 18 May 1944 Raus’s) 1st ... Read More

'Dortsch' was a U-boat minelaying operation by Oberleutnant Heinz Bentzien’s U-425 in the Pechora Sea (11 September/3 October 1944). ... Read More

'Double Beaver' was a British unrealised naval undertaking against the German naval base in the Åsfjord on the south-east coast of German-occupied Norway (?). ... Read More

'Double Strike' was the very costly US heavy bomber attack on the German war-making industries in Schweinfurt and Regensburg (17 August 1943)., The mission was a very ambitiou... Read More

'Douglas I' was an Allied special forces operation to parachute a three-man British and French 'Jedburgh' team into the Morbihan area of German-occupied France to establish li... Read More

'Douglas II' was an Allied special forces operation to parachute a three-man British, French and US 'Jedburgh' team into the Doubs area of German-occupied France to establish ... Read More

'Dove' was the Allied northern part of the airborne operation near Oraguignan in the south of German-occupied France by Major General Robert T. Frederick’s 1st Airborne Task... Read More

'Dover' was the British occupation of the Iranian port city Abadan and its oil installations within 'Countenance' (25/26 August 1941)., The campaign began on 25 August with a ... Read More

'Dovetail' was a US naval and marine training exercise in the Fiji islands group to rehearse the assault landing required for the initial implementation of 'Watchtower', which... Read More

'Downfall' was the US overall designation of plans for the final defeat of Japan by invasion of the home islands (1945)., The undertaking was scheduled as a two-part operation... Read More

'DR' (i) was a British naval sweep of the waters round Bjørnøya in an undertaking to locate and destroy German fishing vessels (23/29 August 1940). , The two major warships ... Read More

'DR' (ii) was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Dakar, French West Africa, to Gibraltar or Casablanca (April/October 1... Read More

'Dr Gustav West' was a German air operation by night-fighter squadrons to attack the airfields used by Allied fighter-bomber units in north-western France in the hope of check... Read More

'Drachen' was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the Atlantic (22 November/3 December 1942)., The wolfpack comprised U-262, U-445, U-611, U-623 and U-663, and for the loss of none... Read More

'Drachenhöhle' was a German cancelled plan for an attack the ships of Admiral Sir Henry Moore’s Home Fleet in its anchorage at Scapa Flow in the Orkney islands group using ... Read More

'Dracula' (i) was a British undertaking to evaluate the relative reliability of the British Centaur and Cromwell cruiser tanks and the US M4 Sherman medium tank (August 1943)... Read More

'Dracula' (ii) was the British airborne and amphibious capture of Rangoon, capital of Burma (1/3 May 1945)., The operation was planned and executed in the hope of preventing L... Read More

'Dragoner' was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the South-Western Approaches to the UK to the north of Ouessant (20/28 May 1944)., The wolfpack comprised the Schnorchel-fitted b... Read More

'Dragoon' (i) was the Allied invasion of the Mediterranean coast of southern France between Cannes in the east and Toulon in the west and the subsequent advance to the north u... Read More

'Dragoon' (ii) was the British movement of Lieutenant General Sir Philip Christison’s Indian XV Corps of Lieutenant General Sir William Slim’s British 14th Army from the A... Read More

'Drake' (i) was the Australian seizure of Goodenough island (22/27 October 1942)., Known by the US geographical designation 'Amoeba', later 'Ginger', Goodenough island is the ... Read More

'Drake' (ii) was the US build-up of its Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber force in China for the inauguration of the strategic bombing campaign against the Japanese home ... Read More

'Dränger' was a U-boat wolfpack operation, in concert with 'Raubgraf' and 'Stürmer' (i), in the Atlantic against the HX.229 and SC.122 convoys (14/20 March 1943)., The wolfp... Read More

'Draper' was a British naval undertaking in which Lieutenant E. Honer’s MGB-318 of the 15th Motor Gun Boat Flotilla landed a party of the Special Operations Executive on the... Read More

'Draufgänger' (i) was a U-boat wolfpack operation in the Atlantic against the MKF.3 and HX.217 convoys (30 November/11 December 1942)., The wolfpack comprised U-221, U-373, U... Read More

'Draufgänger' (ii) was a German pair of operations ('Draufgänger I' and 'Draufgänger II') against partisans in the area of Borisov and Lepel in the Belorussian region of th... Read More

'Draufgänger' (iii) was an Axis but largely German operation against the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in German-occupied northern Albania and the Montenegro are... Read More

'Draufgänger' (iv) was a German operation against the partisan forces of Marshal Josip Broz Tito in the Syrem and Manđelos area of Serbia within German-occupied Yugoslavia (... Read More

The 'Drava Defensive Operation' was a Bulgarian defensive undertaking, also known as the Battle of the Transdanubian Hills, by General Polkovnik Vladimir D. Stoychev’s Bulga... Read More

'DRC' was the designation of Allied convoys (together with a numerical suffix) plying the route from Dakar, French West Africa, to Casablanca, Morocco, and as such reciprocals... Read More

'Dreadnought' was a British unrealised plan for a break-out by Major General G. T. Rennie’s 3rd Division and attached forces of Lieutenant General J. T. Crocker’s I Corps ... Read More