Western Front (World War II)

Western Front
Part of World War II
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 Occupation of most of Western and Northern Europe by Axis troops End of the French Third Republic and creation of the Vichy regime Continuation with the Battle of Britain and the Battle of the Atlantic 1944–45: 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 States  United Kingdom France  Canada Poland  Belgium  Netherlands  Free France  Norway  Denmark Czechoslovakia  Australia  New Zealand South Africa  Luxembourg Greece	Axis  Germany  Italy (1940–43)  Vichy France
Commanders and leaders
1939–1940 Maurice Gamelin Maxime Weygand Lord Gort Lord Cork Henri Winkelman Leopold III Otto Ruge William Wain Prior 1944–1945 Dwight D. Eisenhower Arthur Tedder Bernard Montgomery Omar Bradley Jacob L. Devers Charles de Gaulle Jean de Tassigny	1939–1940 Walter von Brauchitsch Gerd von Rundstedt Heinz Guderian Fedor von Bock Wilhelm von Leeb Nikolaus von Falkenhorst H.R.H. Umberto di Savoia 1944–1945 Adolf Hitler Heinrich Himmler Hermann Göring Gerd von Rundstedt Günther von Kluge Walter Model Albert Kesselring Erwin Rommel Johannes Blaskowitz Hermann Balck Paul 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

1944–45: 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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