Western Front (World War II)

Western Front
	Part of World War II
	; Cheering crowds at the liberation of Paris
Date	First phase: 10 May 1940 - 22 June 1940 Second phase: 6 June 1944 - 8 May 1945
Location	Western Europe
Result	1940 Axis victory; 1944 - 1945 Allied victory
Belligerents
Allies; United Kingdom Newfoundland; Canada; United States (from 1941); France; Poland; Belgium; Netherlands; Luxembourg; Norway; Czechoslovakia; (and others) Italy (from 1943); Denmark (1940)	Axis; Germany Italian Social Republic (from 1943); Italy (until 1943); Hungary (Citation needed) Vichy France
Commanders and leaders
Winston Churchill John Verecker, 6th Viscount Gort; Bernard Montgomery; Miles Dempsey; W. L. M. King Harry Crerar; Franklin D. Roosevelt Dwight D. Eisenhower; George S. Patton; Harry S. Truman; Édouaed Daladier Maurice Gamelin; Maxime Weygand; Charles de Gaulle Jean de Lattre de Tassigny; Joseph de Goislard de Monsabert; Władysław Raczkiewicz Władysław Sikorski; Kazimierz Sosnkowski; Stanisław Maczek;	Adolf Hitler Albert Kesselring; Erwin Rommel; Benito Mussolini Prince Umberto; Rodolfo Graziani; Philippe Pétain

The Western Front of World War II was a theatre in which Germany invaded most of Western Europe in 1940, and where the western allies liberated most of Western Europe between 1944 and 1945. (The Italian Front is a separate but related front).

1940

On 10 May 1940, Germany invaded France and its northern neighbours. France and Britain had militarised the border between France and Germany in case of invasion. Allied forces were trapped at Dunkirk, but most of them would be evacuated back to Britain. Meanwhile, Italy joined the war and invaded the French Alps. German forces took Paris and France fell.

1944 - 1945

On 6 June 1944, allied forces landed at Normandy. They advanced even more in August. On 15 august, allied forces landed in southern France. On 25 August, Paris was liberated. The allies moved into Belgium and the Netherlands In December, Germany decided to do an offensive in Belgium, trapping some Americans, but it failed. In March 1945, the allies crossed the Rhine River and invaded Germany. In April 1945, the western allies linked up with the Soviets and the eastern front, On 8 May, Germany surrendered, ending the war in Europe.

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