Theatre of military operations during World War II
This article is about a World War II geographical area. For the respective U.S. military command, see European Theater of Operations, United States Army.
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European theatre of World War II
Part of World War II
From left to right, top to bottom
German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front, 1943
German soldiers take position near a Sturmgeschütz III on the Eastern Front, 1942
American soldiers during the Italian campaign, 1943
Stuka flying over Stalingrad, 1942
Soviet soldier raising a flag over the Reichstag after the Battle of Berlin, 1945
Destruction in Dresden after Allied air raids, 1945
Date
1 September 1939 – 8 May 1945[nb 16] (5 years, 8 months and 1 week)
Location
Europe and adjoining regions
Result
Allied victory
Collapse of Nazi Germany
Capitulation of remaining German forces still fighting in Europe on 11 May after the unconditional surrender
Berlin Declaration signed on 5 June 1945
Collapse of Fascist Italy and the Italian Social Republic
End of World War II in Europe
Beginning of the Cold War
Belligerents
Allies:
Soviet Union[nb 1]
United States[nb 2]
United Kingdom
French Third Republic[nb 3]
Free France[nb 4]
Provisional Government of the French Republic[nb 5]
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa
India
Poland
DF Yugoslavia[nb 6]
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Democratic Government of Albania
Greece
Belgium
Netherlands
Norway
Brazil[nb 7]
Czechoslovakia
Luxembourg
Former Axis powers
Italy (from 1943)
Romania(from 1944)
Bulgaria(from 1944)
Finland (from 1944)
Denmark(1940)
Axis:
Tripartite Pact[nb 8]
Germany
Italy[nb 9]
Romania[nb 10]
Hungary[nb 11]
Bulgaria[nb 12]
Finland[nb 13]
Axis puppet states
Italian Social Republic[nb 14]
Slovakia
Croatia
Vichy France[nb 15]
Commanders and leaders
Joseph Stalin
Franklin D. Roosevelt #
Harry S. Truman
Neville Chamberlain
Winston Churchill
Édouard Daladier
Charles de Gaulle
W.L. Mackenzie King
Władysław Raczkiewicz
Josip Broz Tito
Dušan Simović
Enver Hoxha
Emmanouil Tsouderos
Hubert Pierlot
Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy
Johan Nygaardsvold
Getúlio Vargas
Edvard Beneš
Pierre Dupong
Pietro Badoglio
Michael I
Kimon Georgiev
C.G.E. Mannerheim
Christian X
Adolf Hitler †
Benito Mussolini
Ion Antonescu
Miklós Horthy
Ferenc Szálasi
Boris III #
Risto Ryti
Jozef Tiso
Ante Pavelić
Philippe Pétain
Strength
18,950,000+ troops (total that served)[4][5][6]
18,000,000+ troops (total that served)[7][8][6] 2,560,000 troops (total that served)[9]
The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat[nb 22] during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the Western Allies conquering most of Western Europe, the Soviet Union conquering most of Eastern Europe including the German capital Berlin, and Germany's unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945[nb 23] although fighting continued elsewhere in Europe until 25 May. On 5 June 1945, the Berlin Declaration proclaiming the unconditional surrender of Germany to the four victorious powers was signed. The Allied powers fought the Axis powers on two major fronts (Eastern Front and Western Front), but there were other fronts varying in scale from the Italian campaign (the 3rd largest campaign in Europe), to the Polish Campaign, as well as in a strategic bombing offensive and in the adjoining Mediterranean and Middle East theatre.
Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).
^Claus Kreß, Robert Lawless, Oxford University Press, Nov 30, 2020, Necessity and Proportionality in International Peace and Security Law, p. 450
^David Stahel, Cambridge University Press, 2018, Joining Hitler's Crusade, p. 78
^Robert Bideleux, Ian Jeffries, Routledge, Jan 24, 2007, The Balkans: A Post-Communist History, p. 84
^Frieser, Karl-Heinz (2013)The Blitzkrieg Legend. Naval Institute Press
^MacDonald 2005, p. 478.
^ abGlantz & House 2015, pp. 301–303.
^Overmans, Rüdiger (2004). Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg (in German). München: Oldenbourg. Page 215.
^Total German soldiers who surrendered in the West, including 3,404,950 who surrendered after the end of the war, is given as 7,614,790. To this must be added the 263,000–655,000 who died, giving a rough total of 8 million German soldiers having served on the Western Front in 1944–1945.Ellis 1993, p. 256
^Regio Esercito: The Italian Royal Army in Mussolini's Wars, 1935–1943, Patrick Cloutier, p. 211.
^ abEllis 1993, p. 255.
^MacDonald 2005, p. 478: "Allied casualties from D-day to V–E totaled 766,294. American losses were 586,628, including 135,576 dead. The British, Canadians, French, and other allies in the west lost slightly over 60,000 dead".
^ abEllis 1993, p. 256.
^U.S. Army Casualties in World War II 1951.
^Vadim Erlikman, Poteri narodonaseleniia v XX veke: spravochnik. Moscow 2004. ISBN 5-93165-107-1;
Mark Axworthy, Third Axis Fourth Ally. Arms and Armour 1995, p. 216. ISBN 1-85409-267-7
^George C Marshall, Biennial reports of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army to the Secretary of War : 1 July 1939 – 30 June 1945 Washington, DC : Center of Military History, 1996. Page 202 Archived 1 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
^ ab
Rüdiger Overmans, Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1, "German military deaths to all causes EF". Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
Richard Overy The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia (2004), ISBN 0-7139-9309-X[page needed]
Italy:
Ufficio Storico dello Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito. Commissariato generale C.G.V. . Ministero della Difesa – Edizioni 1986
Romania: Krivosheev 2001.
Hungary: Krivosheev 2001.
Hungarian wounded: Clodfelter 2017, p. 527.
Soviet volunteer deaths:
Percy Schramm Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht: 1940–1945: 8 Bde. (ISBN 9783881990738 ) Pages 1508 to 1511
German prisoners: Krivosheev 2001.
^Niewyk, Donald L. The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust, Columbia University Press, 2000; ISBN 0-231-11200-9, p. 421.
^Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960 Bonn 1961 p. 78
^Bundesarchiv Euthanasie" im Nationalsozialismus, bundesarchiv.de; accessed 5 March 2016.(German)
^Frumkin 1951, pp. 58–59.
^"Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Netherlands" (PDF). Retrieved 4 March 2016.
^Frumkin 1951, p. 44–45.
^Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2013–2014, page 44.
^Frumkin 1951, p. 144.
^"Hvor mange dræbte danskere?". Danish Ministry of Education. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
^Frumkin 1951, p. 59.
^Krivosheev 1997.
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Global Information
Denmark (1940)
18,000,000+ troops (total that served)[7][8][6]
2,560,000 troops (total that served)[9]
