Western Front
Part of the European theatre 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 – 8 May 1945 (1939-09-03 –1945-05-08)
  • (5 years, 8 months and 5 days)
Location
North and Western Europe
Result

1939–40: 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
  • Strategic stalemate following the Battle of Britain
  • Continuation with the Defense of the Reich and the Battle of the Atlantic
  • Beginning of the North Africa and East Africa campaigns

1944–1945: Allied victory

  • Fall of Nazi Germany (concurrently with the Eastern Front and Italian 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

  •  Free France
 Canada
Poland
 Belgium
 Netherlands
 Norway
Czechoslovakia
 Luxembourg
 Denmark

Axis
 Germany
 Italy
(1940–1943)
 Italian Social Republic
(1943–1945)
Hungary
(1944–1945)


 Vichy France
Commanders and leaders
1939–1940
Maurice Gamelin
Maxime Weygand Surrendered
John Vereker, Lord Gort
William Boyle, Lord Cork
Władysław Sikorski 
Henri Winkelman Surrendered
Leopold III Surrendered
Émile Speller Surrendered
Otto Ruge Surrendered
William Wain Prior
1944–1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt 
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Winston Churchill
Bernard Montgomery
Arthur Tedder
Omar Bradley
Jacob L. Devers
George S. Patton
Courtney Hodges
William Simpson
Alexander Patch
Miles Dempsey
Trafford Leigh-Mallory 
Bertram Ramsay 
Kenneth Stuart
Harry Crerar
Charles de Gaulle
Jean de Tassigny
Kazimierz Sosnkowski
1939–1940
Walter von Brauchitsch
Gerd von Rundstedt
Erich von Manstein
Heinz Guderian
Fedor von Bock
Wilhelm von Leeb
Erich Raeder
Nikolaus von Falkenhorst
Prince Umberto
Fascist Italy (1922–1943)Pietro Pintor
Fascist Italy (1922–1943)Alfredo Guzzoni
1944–1945
Adolf Hitler 
Heinrich Himmler 
Hermann Göring
Gerd von Rundstedt
Karl Dönitz
Günther von Kluge 
Walter Model 
Albert Kesselring
Erwin Rommel 
Johannes Blaskowitz
Hermann Balck
Paul Hausser
Benito Mussolini 
Rodolfo Graziani
Strength

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 143,400 killed

1944–1945

  • 164,590–195,576 killed/missing
  • 537,590 wounded
  • 78,680 captured

(~70% of Allied troops and casualties were Americans)

  • 10,561 tanks destroyed
  • 909 tank destroyers destroyed

Total:

  • ~3,000,000 casualties

1940

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

1944–1945

  • 263,000–655,000 killed[dubious]
  • 400,000+ wounded
  • 4,209,840 captured

Total:

  • 5,000,000–5,400,000+ casualties
Civilian casualties:
1,650,000 dead