The battle, as a game
Why this attack worked, or did not, from the point of view of the board. The terrain, the pieces on each side, the order of the moves and the planning error. Not a channel about heroism: a channel about causes.
The battles
Each page has the battle's fact sheet, the game move by move, the verdict, the myths against the record and the sources.
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The FEB in ItalyMonte Castello
24 November 1944 to 21 February 1945 · Monte Castello, Apennines, Emilia-Romagna, ItalyWhy did the attacks of November and December 1944 fail, and the one of February 1945 did not?
Episode 01Read the game → -
The FEB in ItalyMontese
14 to 17 April 1945 · Montese, Modena, Emilia-Romagna, ItalyWhy did Montese fall in 2h15 and, even so, cost 426 Brazilian casualties?
Episode 02Read the game → -
The FEB in ItalyFornovo di Taro
26 to 29 April 1945 · Collecchio and Fornovo di Taro, Parma, Emilia-Romagna, ItalyHow did an entire German division, with its command, surrender to the FEB in the Taro valley?
Episode 03Read the game → -
World War II, 1939The Polish campaign
1 September to 6 October 1939 · Poland, within its 1939 bordersDid the way of fighting the world called Blitzkrieg already exist in September 1939, or was it written afterwards, by looking at the result?
Episode 04Read the game → -
World War II, 1940The Fall of France
10 May to 25 June 1940 · France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg; the point of decision at Sedan, on the Meuse River, Ardennes department, FranceIf there was no new doctrine in September 1939, what exactly did Germany apply in France in May 1940?
Episode 05Read the game → -
World War II, 1940Dunkirk
24 May to 4 June 1940 · Dunkirk, Nord department, France, and the beaches up to La Panne, Belgium; the Flanders pocket between Lille and the English ChannelWhy did the German machine stop in front of Dunkirk when all it had left to do was close its fist?
Episode 06Read the game → -
World War II, 1940The Battle of Britain
10 July to 31 October 1940 · Southern and southeastern England, United Kingdom, London and the English Channel, against German air bases in northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and NorwayCould the air force that failed to close Dunkirk open up England?
Episode 07Read the game → -
World War II, 1941Pearl Harbor
7 December 1941 · Pearl Harbor, island of Oahu, Hawaii (then a territory of the United States), central PacificAn attack that was perfect tactically and wrong strategically?
Episode 08Read the game → -
World War II, 1941The Battle of Moscow
30 September 1941 to 7 January 1942 · The approaches to Moscow, Russia, from Vyazma and Bryansk, to the west, to Kalinin (now Tver), to the north, and Tula, to the southWhy did the Blitzkrieg stop at the gates of the capital?
Episode 09Read the game → -
World War II, 1942The Battle of Midway
4 to 7 June 1942 · Midway Atoll, at the far northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago (United States), and the North Pacific to the northwest and northeast of itHow did five minutes turn the war in the Pacific?
Episode 10Read the game → -
World War II, 1942El Alamein
23 October to 11 November 1942 · El Alamein, on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, about 106 km from AlexandriaThe desert as a chessboard: logistics against genius — why did the Desert Fox lose?
Episode 11Read the game → -
World War II, 1942–1943Stalingrad
17 July 1942 to 2 February 1943 · Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Volgograd Oblast, Russia, and the bend of the Don between the river and the VolgaHow did the army that was encircling Stalingrad end up encircled inside it — and why did it not get out?
Episode 12Read the game → -
World War II, 1943Kursk
5 July to 23 August 1943 · Kursk salient, between Orel and Belgorod, Kursk, Orel and Belgorod Oblasts, Russia, as far as Kharkov, UkraineWas the largest tank battle of World War II won before it began?
Episode 13Read the game → -
World War II, 1944Monte Cassino
17 January to 18 May 1944 · Cassino, Lazio, Italy: Monte Cassino and the Benedictine abbey, the valleys of the Rapido, the Liri and the Garigliano, and the Aurunci Mountains to the southWhy did it take four assaults against the same mountain — and what changed in the last one?
Episode 14Read the game → -
World War II, 1944D-Day
6 June 1944 · Coast of Lower Normandy, between the Cotentin Peninsula and the Orne River, FranceWhy did the move come in Normandy, and not at Calais?
Episode 15Read the game → -
World War II, 1944Operation Market Garden
17 to 25 September 1944 · The corridor from Eindhoven to Arnhem, in the provinces of North Brabant and Gelderland, the Netherlands, by way of Son, Veghel, Grave and NijmegenWhy "a bridge too far"? A plan that depended on a single road and on every bridge falling intact and on time.
Episode 16Read the game → -
World War II, 1944–1945The Ardennes
16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945 · The Ardennes, Belgium and Luxembourg — from Monschau and the Elsenborn Ridge, in the north, to Echternach, in the south, and as far as Celles, near Dinant, by the Meuse RiverWhy did the same move as in 1940, through the same forest, not work in 1944?
Episode 17Read the game → -
Paraguayan War, 1865Riachuelo
11 June 1865 · The Paraná River off the mouth of the Riachuelo stream, about 15 km below the city of Corrientes, Corrientes Province, ArgentinaHow a narrow river became a board: why the Paraguayan surprise attack failed, how Barroso turned the battle with a ram, and what the victory really closed off?
Episode 18Read the game → -
Paraguayan War, 1866Tuyutí
24 May 1866 · Tuyutí (Tuiuti), between the Estero Bellaco and the Estero Rojas, Ñeembucú Department, Paraguay, on the road from Paso de Patria to HumaitáWhy did the Paraguayan surprise attack on the Allied camp among the swamps of Tuyutí become the largest pitched battle in South America — and why was surprise not enough?
Episode 19Read the game → -
Paraguayan WarHumaitá
22 September 1866 to 5 August 1868 · Humaitá, Ñeembucú Department, Paraguay, on a bend of the Paraguay River; and the Chaco, on the opposite bankWhy did a river-bend fortress, compared to Sevastopol, stall the war for almost two years, and what finally unlocked it?
Episode 20Read the game →
Topics
The battles grouped by war and by front, to read the whole campaign.
What was in plain sight, read again
Military history readers correct dates, units and calibers — and rightly so. Every number here carries a seal saying how far it can be trusted.
When the sources disagree, we show the versions and do not pick one. Unit names and times only go in after being verified. And no image on this site was generated by AI: it is period material, a military map or a photo of the place, with the year on screen.
- 2+ sources
ConfirmedConfirmed in two or more independent sources.
- 1 source
Single sourceA single source; the text says which.
- disputed
DisagreementThe sources disagree; we show the versions and do not pick one.
- no record
No recordNobody recorded it. We say so instead of making it up.