Western Front (World War II)

BelligerentsAllies
1939–1940

France

Denmark (9 April 1940)

Canada

CzechoslovakiaAxis
1939–1940

Italy1944–1945

United Kingdom
•

Czechoslovakia
(and others)1944–1945

Germany

Italian Social RepublicCommanders and leaders1939–1940

Maurice Gamelin

Maxime Weygand

John Vereker, Lord Gort

William Boyle, Lord Cork

William Prior
1944–1945

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Harry S. Truman

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Winston Churchill

Bernard Montgomery

Arthur Tedder

Omar Bradley

Jacob L. Devers

Trafford Leigh-Mallory †

Stanisław Maczek1939–1940

Walter von Brauchitsch

Nikolaus von Falkenhorst

Prince Umberto
1944–1945

Adolf Hitler‡‡

Heinrich Himmler

Hermann Göring

Gerd von Rundstedt

Karl Dönitz

Paul Hausser
Benito Mussolini
Rodolfo GrazianiStrength

1939–1940

7,650,000 troops (total)

1944–1945

~5,412,219 troops (total that served)
4,500,000 troops (total as of Victory in Europe Day)

1939–1940

5,400,000 troops (total)

1944–1945

~8,000,000 troops (total that served)
~1,900,000 troops (peak)

Casualties and losses

1940

2,121,560–2,260,000 casualties, including 143,000 killed and missing

1944–1945

164,590–210,000 killed/missing
537,590 wounded
78,680 captured
10,561 tanks destroyed
909 tank destroyers destroyed

Total:

~3,000,000 casualties (including 377,000-400,000 killed)

1940

160,780–163,650 casualties, including 49,000 killed or missing

1944–1945

263,000–655,000 killed
400,000+ wounded
4,209,840 captured

Total:

5,000,000–5,400,000+ casualties (including 400,000–750,000 killed)

Civilian casualties:
1,650,000 dead

The Western Front was a military theatre of World War II encompassing Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The Italian front is considered a separate but related theatre. The Western Front's 1944–1945 phase was officially deemed the European Theater by the United States, whereas Italy fell under the along with the North African campaign. The Western Front was marked by two phases of large-scale combat operations. The first phase saw the capitulation of Luxembourg, 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 (supported by a massive strategic air war considered to be an additional front), which began in June 1944 with the Allied landings in Normandy and continued until the defeat of Germany in May 1945 with its invasion.