The third year of the war brought the escalation of the conflict into a world war. The campaign in Africa ignited a blaze that soon spread over Yugoslavia to Greece, reaching its gruesome climax with the airborne operation against Crete. Dramatic battles took place at sea. The tonnage kings Kretschmer, Prien, and Schepke fell in the fight against convoy destroyers. The "Bismarck" triumphed and was then defeated. The campaign against the Soviet Union, with its major encirclement battles, the assault on Leningrad, and the end of the offensive before Moscow, outlines a sacrificial struggle that was also fought in the far north, where Dietl's mountain corps bled out at the Liza. The thunderclap of the Italians in the port of Alexandria, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the breathtaking combat actions against the islands in the Pacific mark the conclusion of the year 1941.