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Western Front (WWII)

Western Front
Part of World War II
Western Front collab.png
Clockwise from top left: Rotterdam after the Blitz, German Heinkel He 111 planes during the Battle of Britain, Allied paratroopers during Operation Market Garden, American troops running through Wernberg, Germany, Siege of Bastogne, American troops landing at Omaha Beach during Operation Overlord
Date 3 September 1939 (1939-09-03) – 25 June 1940 (1940-06-25)
(9 months, 3 weeks and 1 day)
6 June 1944 (1944-06-06) – 8 May 1945 (1945-05-08)
(11 months and 2 days)
Location North and Western Europe
Result

1939–40: Decisive Axis victory

1943–45: Decisive Allied victory

  • Fall of Nazi Germany (concurrently with the Eastern Front)
  • Liberation of occupied countries in Western and Northern Europe
  • Beginning of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War.
Territorial
changes
Partition of Germany (1945)
Belligerents
Allies
 United Kingdom
 United States
France France
 Canada
Poland Poland
 Belgium
 Netherlands
 Free France
 Norway
 Denmark
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
 Australia
 New Zealand
South Africa South Africa
 Luxembourg
Greece Greece

Axis
 Germany
 Italy (1940–43)


 Vichy France
Commanders and leaders
1939–1940
France Maurice Gamelin
France Maxime Weygand
United Kingdom Lord Gort
United Kingdom Lord Cork
Netherlands Henri Winkelman
Belgium Leopold III
Norway Otto Ruge
Denmark William Wain Prior
1944–1945
United States Dwight D. Eisenhower
United Kingdom Arthur Tedder
United Kingdom Bernard Montgomery
United States Omar Bradley
United States Jacob L. Devers
France Charles de Gaulle
France Jean de Tassigny
1939–1940
Nazi Germany Walter von Brauchitsch
Nazi Germany Gerd von Rundstedt
Nazi Germany Heinz Guderian
Nazi Germany Fedor von Bock
Nazi Germany Wilhelm von Leeb
Nazi Germany Nikolaus von Falkenhorst
Kingdom of Italy H.R.H. Umberto di Savoia
1944–1945
Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler
Nazi Germany Heinrich Himmler
Nazi Germany Hermann Göring
Nazi Germany Gerd von Rundstedt
Nazi Germany Günther von Kluge
Nazi Germany Walter Model
Nazi Germany Albert Kesselring
Nazi Germany Erwin Rommel
Nazi Germany Johannes Blaskowitz
Nazi Germany Hermann Balck
Nazi GermanyPaul Hausser
Strength

1939–1940

  • 2,862,000 troops

1944–1945

  • 5,412,219 troops

1939–1940

  • 3,350,000 troops

1944–1945

  • ~2,000,000 troops
Casualties and losses

1940

  • 2,121,560–2,260,000 casualties, including 143,400 killed

1944–1945

  • 766,294 total casualties including ~196,000 killed

Total:

  • ~3,000,000 casualties

1940

  • 160,780–163,650 casualties, including 43,110 killed

1944–1945

  • 263,000-655,000 killed
  • 400,000+ wounded
  • 4,209,840 captured
  • ~12,000 tanks and assault guns lost
  • 10,000+ aircraft lost

Total:

  • 5,000,000-5,430,000+ casualties
1,650,000 civilians dead

1939–40: Decisive Axis victory

1943–45: Decisive Allied victory

Axis
 Germany
 Italy (1940–43)

1939–1940

1944–1945

1939–1940

1944–1945

1940

1944–1945

Total:

1940

1944–1945

Total:

The Western Front of the European theatre of World War II encompassed Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. World War II military engagements in Southern Europe and elsewhere are generally considered under separate headings. The Western Front was marked by two phases of large-scale combat operations. The first phase saw the capitulation of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France during May and June 1940 after their defeat in the Low Countries and the northern half of France, and continued into an air war between Germany and Britain that climaxed with the Battle of Britain. The second phase consisted of large-scale ground combat, which began in June 1944 with the Allied landings in Normandy and continued until the defeat of Germany in May 1945.


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