European theatre of World War II

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.

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
• Australia (until 1942)
• New Zealand
• India
* French Third Republic[nb 3]
* Free France[nb 4]
* Provisional Government of the French Republic[nb 5]
* Canada
* Australia (from 1942)
* South Africa
* Poland
* Kingdom of Yugoslavia
* DF Yugoslavia[nb 6]
* 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
* Greece
* Vichy France[nb 15]

* * *

Kingdom of Yugoslavia (for two days)
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
* Dušan Simović
* Josip Broz Tito
* 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 †
* Karl Dönitz
* Benito Mussolini
* Ion Antonescu
* Miklós Horthy
* Ferenc Szálasi
* Boris III #
* Risto Ryti
* Jozef Tiso
* Ante Pavelić
* Ioannis Rallis
* Philippe Pétain

Strength
44,150,000+ 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]
Casualties and losses
Killed:
9,007,590–10,338,576
Captured:
5,778,680[nb 17][nb 18][14]|  Killed:
5,406,110–5,798,110[nb 19][15][16]
Captured:
8,709,840[16][nb 20]
19,650,000–25,650,000 civilians killed[nb 21][27]

* v
* t
* e

Campaigns of World War II

Europe

* Poland
* Phoney War
* Finland
* Winter War
* Karelia
* Lapland
* Denmark and Norway
* Western Front
* 1940
* Resistance
* 1944–1945
* Alps 1940
* 1944
* Britain
* Balkans
* Yugoslavian Partisans
* Eastern Front
* Italy
* Sicily

Asia-Pacific

* China
* Pacific Ocean
* South West Pacific
* Franco-Thai War
* South-East Asia
* Burma and India
* Japan
* Manchuria and Northern Korea
* pre-war border conflicts
* Australia

Mediterranean and Middle East

* Africa
* North Africa
* East Africa
* Mediterranean Sea
* Adriatic
* Malta
* Middle East
* Iraq
* Syria–Lebanon
* Iran
* Dodecanese
* Southern France

Other campaigns

* Americas
* Ecuador–Peru
* Antarctica
* Atlantic
* Arctic
* Air Warfare
* Strategic bombing
* French West Africa
* Indian Ocean
* Madagascar

Coups

* Baltic Nations
* Yugoslavia
* Iraq
* Italy
* Romania
* Bulgaria
* Hungary
* French Indochina
* Japan

The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat[nb 22] during World War II, taking place from September 1939 to May 1945. The Allied powers (including the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union) fought the Axis powers (including Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy) on both sides of the continent in the Western and Eastern fronts. There was also conflict in Scandinavia, Iceland, and the Mediterranean and Balkan regions. It was an intense conflict that led to at least 39 million deaths and a dramatic change in the balance of power in the continent.

Throughout the mid-to-late 1930s, Adolf Hitler, the leader of fascist Nazi Germany, expanded German territory by annexing all of Austria and the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia in 1938. This was motivated in part by Germany's racial policy that believed the country needed to expand in order for the "Aryan race" to survive. They were aided by Italy, another fascist state which was led by Benito Mussolini. World War II started with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, and the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, joined the invasion later that month. They partitioned Poland so the country was split up among the two nations.

Poland's allies, France and the United Kingdom, declared war on Germany days after the invasion of Poland but did not want to actually engage in conflict. This changed after Germany invaded Norway, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The six countries were taken over, and Germany began two successive aerial bombardments of the United Kingdom, in the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill led his country's war effort. Germany also began a widespread genocide of Jews in the Holocaust. In 1940, Italy invaded Greece, and in 1941, Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Greece. Germany then began an invasion of the Soviet Union, breaking the countries' non-aggression pact, and Germany declared war on the United States after Imperial Japan did so. The United States was led by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1942, the Soviets stopped further invasion of their country at the Battle of Stalingrad. In 1943, the Allied powers began an invasion of Italy, causing the end of Mussolini's regime. In 1944, the Allied powers began an invasion of German-occupied western Europe, as the Soviets launched a massive counterattack in eastern Europe in Operation Bagration. Both campaigns were successful for the Alies. In 1945, Roosevelt died and was succeeded by Harry S. Truman. The Soviet Union conquered most of Eastern Europe including the German capital Berlin, as Mussolini was hanged and Hitler committed suicide. Concentration camps that were used in the Holocaust were liberated. Germany unconditionally surrendered 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 then moved to finishing the Pacific War against Japan. Once World War II ended, the Allies occupied the continent, giving some countries back to their pre-war leaders or creating new governments, before funding their nations' economic recovery. German military leaders were subject to the Nuremberg criminal trials. Western Europe became a series of capitalist governments and eastern Europe became communist, beginning the Cold War among the former Allied nations.

## Background

[edit]

Main articles: Events preceding World War II in Europe and Causes of World War II

Germany was defeated in World War I, and the 1919 Treaty of Versailles placed punitive conditions on the country after finding Germany and the other Central Powers guilty for starting the war. These punishments included the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, the temporary loss of the Saarland, military limitations, and reparation payments to the Allied powers. The Rhineland region of Germany was also made a demilitarized zone. Germany would also join the League of Nations, an international governmental body devoted to peacekeeping. Historians are divided on whether or not the treaty was harsh or actually "very restrained" compared to other peace treaties at the time. Many Germans back then blamed their country's post-war economic collapse on the treaty's conditions and these resentments contributed to the political instability, which made it possible for Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party to come to power.[28][29]

Hitler became the chancellor and fuhrer of Germany in 1933. He made Germany an absolute dictatorship, and he withdrew from the League of Nations in 1933. In 1936, Benito Mussolini of Fascist Italy and Hitler formed the "Rome-Berlin axis" alliance, under a treaty known as the Pact of Steel.[30] In 1936, the Empire of Japan, under the government of Hideki Tojo, allied with the two countries, and during World War II they would be known as the Axis powers.[30][31] Japan and Germany signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936, to counter the perceived threat of the communism of the Soviet Union.[32] Other smaller powers also later joined the Axis throughout the war.[33]

Under the Nazi Party, Germany developed a hierarchy which considered the "Aryan race", including white ethnic Germans, as the most superior race, and Jews and Slavs at or near the bottom. A major part of Nazi Germany's racial policy was the concept of lebensraum, or "living space": increasing the amount of land in Europe where members of the Aryan race could live. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum writes:

> The Nazis also adopted the social Darwinist take on Darwinian evolutionary theory regarding the “survival of the fittest.” For the Nazis, survival of a race depended upon its ability to reproduce and multiply, its accumulation of land to support and feed that expanding population, and its vigilance in maintaining the purity of its gene pool, thus preserving the unique “racial” characteristics with which “nature” had equipped it for success in the struggle to survive. Since each “race” sought to expand, and since the space on the earth was finite, the struggle for survival resulted “naturally” in violent conquest and military confrontation. Hence, war—even constant war—was a part of nature, a part of the human condition.

This formed a key motivation of Germany's expansion in Europe in the mid-to-late 1930s. In 1934, Germany signed a non-aggression pact with Poland, but this would not last as Poland was considered a part of the lebensraum; Nazi mythology considered eastern Europe to be lost German land.[34][35][36]

In 1935, Germany revoked the Treaty of Versailles' limitations on its military, and remilitizared the Rhineland in 1936. The U.K. and France responded to German aggression through appeasement, "maintain[ing] peace in Europe by making limited concessions to German demands", which was seen as reasonable by the countries' populaces because the Treaty of Versailles was thought of as indeed too restrictive, and they did not want to go to war with Germany.[36] On 13 March 1938, Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss.[36][37] Hitler then threatened to go to war with Czechoslovakia, and in response, on 30 September 1938, Hitler, Mussolini, U.K. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and French premiere Edouard Daladier signed the Munich Agreement, which gave Germany the Sudetenland, a Czech region near its border with Germany which had long been ethnically German.[36][38] Chamberlain returned back to England and proclaimed that the U.K. had achieved "Peace for our time".[38] Germany revoked its non-aggression pact with Poland on 28 April 1939, and made a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, named the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, on 23 August.[36][39]

## Events

[edit]

### Beginning of the war in Europe (1939-1940)

[edit]

#### Invasion of Poland

[edit]

Europe at the beginning of World War II in September 1939, showing the movements of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during the invasion of Poland

On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, falsely claiming that Poland was trying to encircle and partition Germany, and that ethnic Germans were being persecuted in Poland. They also staged an attack on a German radio station and blamed it on the Poles. 1.5 million soldiers were involved in the invasion, and had overwhelming military superiority to Poland. Germany employed "Blitzkrieg attacks", or "surprise attack[s] with massive, concentrated forces of fast-moving armored units supported by overwhelming air power".[36] The Luftwaffe air force provided support.[40] France and the U.K. declared war on the Germany on 3 September, as they had made promises to protect Poland's border as the country's allies.[36] The Battle of the Atlantic began, over control of sea routes in the Altantic Ocean.[41]

On 17 September, the Soviet Union invaded Poland, and Polish troops began fighting on two fronts. On the 28th, Poland surrendered, and the next day, Germany and Soviet Union partitioned the county between them in accordance with a secret provision of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The last Polish unit surrendered on 6 October.[36] The invasion ended with 14,000 Germans dead or missing and 66,000 Poles dead.[40] From October 1939 to March 1940, the European theatre was in a phase known as the Phoney War, when no major land operations were made by the Allied powers.[42]

#### Winter War and Soviet occupation of the Baltics

[edit]

After 28 September 1939, the Soviet government presented the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with ultimatums threatening military invasion, thus compelling the three small nations to conclude mutual assistance pacts which gave the Soviets the right to establish military bases there.[citation needed]

Finnish soldiers during the Winter War

The beginning of World War II escalated tensions between Finland and the Soviet Union. The Soviets thought the Axis would use Finland as a base to attack them, and the Finns thought the Soviets were trying to expand into Finnish territory. Finland had declared neutrality at the beginning of the war, but the Soviets wanted concessions to further assure this. The Finns mobilised their army and unsuccessfully attempted to gain Allied support.[43]

On 30 November 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland, justifying it with a staged incident at the countries' border. This began the Winter War. Initially, the Soviets faced intense resistance from the Finns, who had better organization and tactics. The Finns made use of the molotov cocktail, a type of makeshift grenade, naming it after Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov who was blamed for the war. Over the next few months, Soviet organization and tactics improvement, while the Finns, who had no outside help, were worn down in a war of attrition. In early February 1940, the Soviets overran Finnish defensive lines, and on 12 March 1940, the two countries signed the Treaty of Moscow, which gave 11% of Finnish territory to the Soviet Union.[43] The Hanko Peninsula was leased to the Soviets for 30 years.[44]

The Baltic Republics were occupied by the Soviet army in June 1940, and formally annexed to the Soviet Union in August 1940.[citation needed]

#### Events in Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands

[edit]

On 9 April 1940, in Operation Weserubrung, Germany invaded Norway and Denmark as essentially a preventative measure to stop the U.K. and France from occupying Norway, as well as to protect German industry; Britain previously had set up naval blockades between Norway and Germany which cut off the import of iron from northern Sweden that was being shipped out of the Norwegian port of Narvik. The invasion was led by General of the Infantry Nikolaus von Falkenhorst. Germany notified the U.K. and France of the invasion in a memorandum claiming that the Allies were trying to use Scandinavia as a base from which to attack Germany from the north, and that Scandinavia needed to be protected from Allied "aggression".[45]

German Pz.Kpfw. I tanks in Aabenraa, Denmark on 9 April 1940

Norwegian resistance quickly faltered, and Norwegian government heads fled for the countryside. Vidkun Quisling, of the Nasjonal Samling fascist party, proclaimed a new government on the evening of 9 April 1940, and he became the Prime Minister of Norway under Germany's administration during the war. Norway's army agreed to cooperate with Germany, and began attacking the Allies. The U.K. tried to defend Norway with ground, air, and sea presence, but it was difficult. On 27 April, the British ground soldiers began to retreat. On 28 May, the British recaptured Narvik, but the Axis took it again on 9 June. The invasion was over by 10 June 1940.[45] The British occupied the Faroe Islands in response to Germany's gains.[46]

Winston Churchill, meanwhile, tried to convince Iceland to join the Allies, but they wanted to stay neutral. Ultimately, the U.K. decided to invade, as the country was strategically important as a base to control the North Atlantic. The invasion began on 10 May 1940. The government disliked the violation of their sovereignty, but capitulated to the U.K., who occupied the country. The U.K. promised to compensate the Icelandic population and leave at the end of the war. Canadian troops arrived in Iceland in June 1940 and the Americans arrived a year later; foreign troops continued staying in Iceland after the war, as the country became a NATO member.[47]

Sweden was able to remain neutral.[citation needed]

### Axis powers' expansion (1940-1941)

[edit]

#### German invasion of Western Europe

[edit]

Winston Churchill at his desk while leading as U.K. Prime Minister, taken c. 1940-1945

On 10 May 1940, Germany began an invasion of France and the Low Countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg). Three German commanders, Willhelm von Leeb, Fedor von Bock, and Gerd von Rundstedt took control of an army each and invaded France through the northern end of its German border, and also by crossing into France through the Low Countries, the latter movement resembling the Schlieffen Plan from World War I.[48]

On the 10th, the Germans first entered the Netherlands and Belgium,[48] and Neville Chamberlain resigned, making Winston Churchill the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Chamberlain had been criticized for the failure of the Norwegian campaign, and Churchill had become the Labour Party's choice for leading the nation — even if they disliked his anti-socialist beliefs — because of his willingness to fight Germany. A coalition government was formed, led by a war cabinet of Churchill, Chamberlain, the conservative Lord Halifax, and the Labour members Clement Attlee and Arthur Greenwood. Churchill also became the Minister of Defence.[49] On 12 May, the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina fled with her ministers to England, where she established the Dutch government-in-exile. The next day, the Germans crossed the Meuse river, entering France.[48]

The center of the Dutch city of Rotterdam after its bombing during the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940

On 14 May 1940, Dutch Commander-in-Chief Henri Winkelman surrendered his forces east of the Scheldt river, essentially all of the Netherlands. On the 15th, French general Maurice Gamelin reported to French Premier Paul Reynard that the Germans might take Paris within days. Reynard then replaced Gamelin with retired general Maxime Weygand, who was in Syria. Reynard arrived from Syria on the 19th, leaving the French high command without a top general for days while the Germans pushed towards Paris. Weygand arrived and replaced 12 generals, notably employing general Charles de Gaulle.[48]

The Germans broke through the French line on the 15th and marched swiftly into undefended land. They reached the English Channel by the 20th, and days later, moved north towards Calais and Dunkirk. The Belgians became encircled in Flanders. On the 24th, the Germans almost reached Dunkirk, but Hitler ordered them back, giving the British Expeditionary Forces and other Allies in Dunkirk some time to evacuate to England. They moved quickly, and the situation worsened on the 27th, when Leopold III, the king of Belgium, surrendered his army.[48] The Allies successfully evacuated by 4 June, saving 198,000 British men and 140,000 French men.[50] At this point, the French front had been pushed back to the Somme and Aisne rivers. French numbers and morale weakened, and many retreated westward across France. On 9 June, the Germans crossed the Seine.[48]

German troops in Paris after the Fall of France, 14 June 1940

On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on France and the United Kingdom. They began attacking France on the 20th, but it made little effect. Reynaud had fled Paris to Tours, and he and his ministers were told by Weygand on the 12th that the French battle had been lost. Meanwhile, French Major General Victor Fortune surrendered his 10,000 men of the British Expeditionary Forces' 51st Highland Division who were being exhausted at Saint-Valéry-en-Caux. On the 14th, the French military evacuated Paris and the Germans entered the city. Reynaud again moved the government, this time to Bordeaux. The next day, Verdun fell, and on the 16th, Reynaud resigned, being succeeded by Philippe Petain. On the 17th, Petain asked the Germans for an armistice. The terms were dictated with Hitler on the 21st, and on the 25th, war between France and Germany/Italy was officially over. On 22 June, France was divided into two sections under the Franco-German Armistice; one was occupied by the German military and the other, Vichy France, had some autonomy.[48]

The Chasselay massacre occurred in France in June 1940.[51]

#### The Battle of Britain and the start of the Blitz

[edit]

Starting in June 1940, in the Battle of Britain, the German Luftwaffe air branch launched air assaults on the United Kingdom in preparation to launch an amphibious invasion of Britain codenamed Operation Sea Lion. The British Royal Air Force (RAF) successfully defended Britain, and that phase of bombing ended in September 1940. On September 7, the Luftwaffe started an aerial bombing campaign on Britain known as the Blitz, which instead destroyed strategic targets to hurt the British war effort.[52][53]

The Greek counteroffensive from 13 November 1940 to 7 April 1941

#### Italian invasion of Greece

[edit]

On 28 October 1940, Italy began invading Greece.[54][55] This surprised the Greeks, as well as Hitler, who did not want Axis troops to be taken away from the North African campaign. Mussolini was convinced that Italy would quickly win, but they were pushed back into Albania after a week. The Italians then spent the next three months in Albania defending against the Greeks. At the Battle of Taranto, the British navy destroyed almost half of the Italian fleet.[55] In March 1941, the British sent 58,000 Commonwealth troops to help Greece, despite their intense combat in North Africa.[54]

#### The United States begins aiding the Allies

[edit]

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act in 1941

During the Battle of Britain, the U.K. asked the United States for help, but the American public was divided over the need to get involved in the war. In the November 1940 U.S. presidential election, the incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to his third term in office. America was becoming more certain of the need to send aid to the U.K.; for example, Roosevelt's main opponent in the election, Wendell Wilkie of the Republican Party, differed from his party's previous sentiment by agreeing to give aid.[56] In December 1940, president-elect Roosevelt gave a speech in which he explained his "Arsenal of democracy" approach to the war and justifying providing the U.K. with aid. In March 1941, the U.S. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, which allowed the U.S. to send large amounts of aid: it ranged from "tanks, aircraft, ships, weapons and road building supplies to clothing, chemicals and food." The program soon expanding to giving aid to the Soviet Union, China, and allied France.[57]

#### The Holocaust begins

[edit]

Hungarian Jews being selected to either work or die in the gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, 19 May 1944

From 20 to 24 November 1940, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia joined the Axis powers under the Tripartite Pact. In 1941, Hitler and other Nazi Party leaders including Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich agree on a program of mass extermination of Jews throughout occupied Europe, beginning the Holocaust; this was referred to as the "Final Solution" to the "Jewish question", or the debate over what should happen to the Jews living on the continent. On 1 March 1941, Himmler ordered the construction of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. At the same time, Bulgaria joined the Tripartite Pact, and two days later, Germany began sealing off a Jewish ghetto in Krakow, Poland.[58] Germany used the Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing units, to carry out the Final Solution.[58][59] Croatia joined the Tripartite Pact on 15 June.[58]

#### German invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece

[edit]

On 6 April 1941, Germany, aided by Bulgarian and Hungarian forces, started invading Yugoslavia and Greece. This was to help the Italian invasion of Greece, overthrow the pro-Allied Yugoslavia government, secure the German flank during the planned invasion of Russia, protect German oil in Romania from Allied air attacks, and create a base to attack British communication lines with the east. Major Yugoslavian cities, including Belgrade, were bombed. On 17 April, Yugoslavia capitulated, as Germany moved into northern Greece. Greek cities were subject to Blitzkrieg attacks; despite intense resistance, Athens fell on 27 April. 2,500 Germans were killed. 11,000 Allied men were captured, and 45,000 evacuated to the island of Crete.[54]

On 20 May, 1941, Germany began an invasion of Crete. They launched paratrooper assaults on multiple Cretan cities, overwhelming the Allies, who evacuated the island. Germany fought off guerilla resistance in Yugoslavia and Greece for the rest of the war. In late 1941, the Brits started aiding the Chetnik guerillas, led by Dragoljub Mihailovic. Eventually, the Chetniks fought in a civil war against another group of guerillas, the Partisans, led by Josip "Tito" Broz. The Chetniks collaborated with the Allies, and in 1943, the British switched their alliance to the Partisans. In Greece, the communist ELAS fought a civil war with the republican EDES. They fought until a peace deal was made by the Allies.[54]

### Greatest extent of Axis power (1941-1943)

[edit]

#### Operation Barbarossa

[edit]

German advances in Operation Barbarossa, from 22 June to 25 August, 1941

On 22 June 1941, Germany launched the invasion of the Soviet Union, code-named Operation Barbarossa.[60] It had originally been planned for May, but Hitler used his troops to invade Yugoslavia and Greece, which was a more pressing matter. The campaigns in southern Europe were quick, but June would end up being a less ideal date for Barbarossa, as it was closer to the brutal Russian winter. Hitler and the Nazi high command were convinced that by October, Germany would have taken the entirety of European Russia and the Soviet regime would collapse after losing support domestically. 3 million German soldiers were involved in Barbarossa, the largest invasion force in history. The northern end of the invasion was led by Wilhelm von Leeb; the center by Fedor von Bock, Heinz Guderian, and Hermann Hoth; and the south by Gerd von Rundstedt and Paul Ludwig von Kleist.[61]

The Soviets were taken by surprise, and had trouble creating an opposing force in time. By 27 June 1941, the Germans had reached Minsk. The local Soviets were encircled; 300,000 became prisoners, while others escaped to the east. Guderian crossed the Dneiper river on 10 July, and on the 16th, his troops entered Smolensk, taking 200,000 prisoners. Meanwhile, the Soviets used a scorched earth policy, burning many parts of western Russia. The western manufacturing industries were moved eastward. At the same time, series of storms had turned the roads to Russia into mud, and the German tanks moved slowly. However, by mid-July, the Germans had moved 640 kilometers east from their starting positions, and were 320 kilometers to Moscow. At the end of July, the Germans broke through the Soviet front in Kyiv. 520,000 Soviets were encircled and captured.[61]

#### Operation Reinhard and Aktion T4

[edit]

Operation Reinhard, named after Reinhard Heydrich, began in the autumn of 1941. It was the plan to kill the 2 million Jews living in occupied Poland. For this purpose, Germany constructed three extermination camps, Bełżec, Sobibór, and Treblinka, and the Reich Security Main Office lead by Heydrich deported Polish Jews to these locations. By the end of the war, around 1.5 million Jews were killed in the three camps. German police and the Schutzstaffel (SS) also led a number of killing missions. Operation Reinhard was directed by SS general Odilo Globocnik from autumn 1941 until summer 1943. It had overlap with Aktion T4, or Germany's program of euthanizing disabled people with carbon monoxide gas.[62]

On 19 September 1941, the Germans entered the city of Kyiv in Ukraine. Some of them were killed in explosions from mines left by retreating Soviet soldiers, and the Germans used this as a pretext to take revenge on the local Jews, whom the explosions were blamed on. From the 29th to the 30th, in the Babyn Yar massacre, approximately 33,771 of Kyiv's Jews were massacred. They had been summoned to a ravine near the city, where they were made to undress and enter the ravine before being shot.[63]

#### Continuation War starts, Operation Barbarossa ends

[edit]

As the Soviet Union was in a weakened position, in 1941, Finland used the opportunity to start the Continuation War, an attempt to take back the lands that they had lost during the Winter War. It would be fought until 1944.[64] On 8 September 1941, Germany and Finland began the Siege of Leningrad, which also continued until 1944.[65] In October 1941, at Vyazma, 600,000 of them were encircled and captured.[61]

German mechanized forces move through a hamlet towards Moscow in the Battle of Moscow, December 1941.

As winter approached, the Germans in the Soviet Union were beaten down by cold weather; many got frostbite and had their military equipment freeze. Meanwhile, new waves of Soviets came to defend the front. On 22 November 1941, the Germans reached Rostov-na-Donu, an important location to continue the Caucasus campaign, but the Soviets launched a counteroffensive and took back the city on the 28th. On 2 December, some Germans had reached the suburbs of Moscow, but this is the closest they got to the center of the city. On 6 December, Soviet commander Georgy Zhukov started a large counteroffensive at Moscow which confirmed Barbarossa's failure.[61]

#### America joins the war

[edit]

Imperial Japan declared war on the United States by attacking the American military base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7. The next day, the Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Oshima went to German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, asking him to finally have Germany declare war on the United States. von Ribbentrop believed that the Americans entering the war would overwhelm the German war effort, but Hitler did not think so. On 11 December, Germany declared war on the United States, and the next day, Hitler defended the decision in a speech to the Reichstag. He claimed that Roosevelt's New Deal policies were the actual cause of World War II.[66]

British troops watching an oil factory burn during Operation Archery

#### Operation Archery

[edit]

On 27 December 1941, the British Army, Royal Navy, and the RAF launched Operation Archery, an attack on the Axis in the town of Vaagso in Vaagso Island, Norway. The objective was to "sink, burn and destroy any enemy shipping found in the convoy assembly anchorage, and to put out of action the garrison (kill or capture) and the German installations in the port including the fish factories." Two British Commando units attacked, one to attack the German garrison in the town and the other to stop the German guns at the nearby Maaloy Island. The Army was supported by the British cruiser HMS Kenya and RAF aircraft taking off from Scotland and the Shetlands. The British sunk eight German ships and 120 Germans were killed before the British quickly retreated. The tactics of the operation would be used the Allies during the later Normandy landings.[67]

#### Channel Dash

[edit]

On 12 February 1942, in Operation Cerberus or the Channel Dash, three of the Kreigsmarine's biggest ships (the Gneisenau, Prinz Eugen, and Sharnhorst) attempted to move from Brest, France — a vital German naval port[68] — to the German coast in the North Sea through the English Channel's slim Dover Strait, despite the presence of the Royal Navy and RAF Coastal Command there.[69][70] Once at Germany, they were supposed to be used for defending Norway. As part of the pre-existing Operation Fuller, launched in 1941 to defend the channel, the British responded with naval and air power; the Luftwaffe defended the Germans.[70] The British destroyed some German aircraft, but the Royal Navy and RAF faced heavy losses and were unable to prevent the ships from reaching their destination. The ships' later use was limited, however, and only the Prinz Eugen took part in defending Norway.[68][70][nb 24]

#### St Nazaire Raid

[edit]

On 28 March 1942, in Operation Chariot or the St Nazaire Raid, the Royal Navy attacked the German dry dock at St Nazaire in occupied France. The dock served as one of the bases of operation for German u-boats, and was defended by 6,000 soldiers. If it was destroyed, then the powerful German battleship Tirpitz — which had been defending Norway — could not be repaired at St Nazaire during potential future involvement in the Battle of the Atlantic, instead having to take trips to two other docks, during which the British could attack her easier. Operation Chariot used 611 British soldiers, first destroying the gate to the dock with the HMS Campbeltown, then attacking the ships. The British faced heavy losses, with 169 of them killed and 200 taken prisoner, but they greatly hurt the German navy, forcing Germany to divert troops from elsewhere to defend their Atlantic operations.[71][72]

#### Operation Millennium

[edit]

On the night of 30-31 May 1942, the RAF Bomber Command performed Operation Millennium. 1,047 bombers - the command's first raid involving more than 1,000 bombers - led by the Commander-in-Chief of the Bomber Command, Arthur Harris, launched a raid on Cologne, Germany. This used 2 1/2 times more pilots than any previous night raid, and was important for publicity and psychological warfare. Harris gathered large amounts of spare aircraft, and had some of them used by those who were still in pilot training. The raid was a success, starting more than 2,500 fires, destroying around 13,000 buildings, and killing less than 500 people. 41 RAF aircraft were lost. The operation's tactics were implemented by the Bomber Command for future use during the war. 135,000 to 150,000 of the city's previous population of around 700,000 fled.[73]

#### Assassination of Reinard Heydrich

[edit]

In 1942, Reinard Heydrich was assassinated by Czech agents while in Prague. On 27 May, he was traveling through the city in an open vehicle; he did not give himself appropriate security, as he was convinced of the efficacy of his anti-resistance campaign within German-occupied Europe. His car went through a usual route taken to get to the nearby airport, where he would fly back to Hitler's headquarters. Along the way, Free Czech parachute agents (who had been trained in Britain)[74] rolled a hand grenade under the vehicle. Heydrich was not immediately killed, but his leg and back were hit with grenade splinters, causing an infection which killed him on 4 June 1942. On 9 June, the day of his funeral in Berlin, Hitler announced attacks targeting Czechs in retaliation, and the towns of Lidice and Ležáky were destroyed.[75][76]

#### Case Blue and the Battle of Stalingrad

[edit]

Adolf Hitler with generals Friedrich Paulus, Adolf Heusinger and Fedor von Bock in Poltawa, German-occupied Ukraine, June 1942

In 1942, Germany wanted to capture Stalingrad to cut the Soviet's transportation hub with southern Russia, which would let the Germans take the Caucasus region and its oil fields. It would also be a symbolic victory to capture the city that included Joseph Stalin's name. On 5 April 1942, Hitler confirmed Case Blue, which planned to destroy the Soviet forces in the south, and then afterwards, go north to take Moscow or finish taking the Caucasus. On 28 June, Fedor von Bock's Army Group South began the operation. On 9 July, Hitler amended Operation Blue to involve the taking of Stalingrad and the Caucasus at the same time. Army Group South would be split into Army Group A, led south by Wilhelm List, and Army Group B, led to Stalingrad by Bock. Days later, Bock was replaced by Maximilian von Weichs. The Soviets had faced encirclement until Army Group B split, allowing them to retreat eastwards.[77]

Army Group A captured Rostov-na-Donu and went into the Caucasus in Operation Edelweiss. Army Group B's advance was Operation Fischreiher. Hitler then reassigned the 4th Panzer Army in Army Group B to help out Army Group A. Stalin and the Soviet high command formed the Stalingrad Front of multiple armies: the 21st, 62nd, 63rd, and 64th Armies, as well as the 8th Air Army. He ordered them on 28 July to take "Not One Step Back" and defend Stalingrad. He disallowed the evacuation of civilians from the city, for the purpose of motivating soldiers who would be defending civilians. Hitler then moved the 4th Panzer Army to move north and attack Stalingrad from the south. On the way there, the 4th Panzer Army converged with the 6th Army.[77]

The German advance to Stalingrad from 24 July to 18 November 1942

On 23 August 1942, the Battle of Stalingrad began, as a German spearhead attacked the city from the north and the Luftwaffe began bombing. The fighting was some of the most intense of World War II, as the Soviets and Germans fought over blocks and buildings. The Germans pushed the Soviets through the city until they only occupied a strip of the city near the Volga river 15 kilometers long and 3 to 5 kilometers wide. The Soviets on the other side of the river took supply crossings into the city. On 14 October, the Germans fired on a supply crossing, greatly hurting the Soviets. As winter came, the Germans faced heavy losses and fatigue.[77]

From 19 to 23 November 1942, the Soviets launched Operation Uranus, a large counteroffensive formulated by Zhukov, Aleksandr Vasilevsky, and Nikolai Voronov. It attacked the weak and undefended flanks of the 4th Panzer Army and 6th Army, greatly surprising the Germans. The German high command asked Hitler to allow the 6th Army, which was fighting near the Volga, to join the rest of the German forces in the west of the city, but Hitler told ordered the leader of the 6th Army, Freidrich Paulus, to stay at the Volga. The Luftwaffe made minor deliveries of supplies to the 6th Army.[77]

In mid-December 1942, Hitler began Operation Winter Storm, forming a special army corps led by Erich von Manstein which would help the 6th Army. The operation failed, and Hitler told the troops to fight to the death. On 10 January 1943, the Soviets began Operation Koltso, which surrounded the 6th Army. On 31 January, Paulus disobeyed Hitler by surrendering, and soon, 22 generals surrendered with him. By 2 February, the remaining 91,000 German men had surrendered. There were more than 800,000 Axis casualties, 1.1 million Soviet casualties, and 40,000 civilian casualties. Many of the surrendering Germans were put in Soviet prison camps.[77]

#### Planning the invasion of Italy

[edit]

Churchill, Roosevelt, and their Chiefs of Staff at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943

Roosevelt, Churchill, de Gaulle, and French general Henri Giraud attended the Casablanca Conference in Casablanca, French Morocco from 14 to 24 January 1943. The conference, with the knowledge that the North African campaign would be over soon, heavily focused on the idea of opening a front against the Axis to relieve the pressure on the Soviets on the Eastern Front. The leaders debated invading occupied France or Italy first, and they decided to invade Italy later that year and invade France in 1944.[78]

As the Allies prepared for the invasion, they formulated Operation Mincemeant; they wanted to take Axis attention off the island of Sicily, which would be invaded first. British intelligence took the body of a homeless worker who died of ingesting rat poison, and disguised him as a Major in the British Royal Marines named "William Martin", fitting him with various documentation that established the fake identity. On 30 April, the British submarine HMS Seraph dropped his body off the coast of Spain, intending for him to be discovered by the Axis, who would find a note on his person that mentioned the Allies were planning to invade Greece and the idea of Sardinia, launching a small attack on Sicily as a feint. The mission was successful, as German intelligence officers in Spain found the body and directed false intelligence to higher Axis authorities, who built up troops in Greece and Sardinia.[79]

### Allied resurgence (1943-1944)

[edit]

#### Raids on German cities in 1943

[edit]

On the night of 16-17 May 1943, in the Dambusters Raid, the Royal Air Force destroyed three dams in the German Ruhr valley.[80] On the evening of 24 July 1943, the British performed a large air raid of Hamburg, Germany known as Operation Gomorrah.[81] On 17 August 1943, in the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission, or the first Schweinfurt raid, the Allies destroyed many German ball bearing factories in Schweinfurt, Germany.[82][83] The Allies launched a bombing raid of Bremen on 8 October 1943, followed by Marienburg on the 9th and Munster on the 10th.[84] On 14 October, German ball bearing factories were attacked again in the Second Schweinfurt Raid.[82]

#### Invasion of Italy begins

[edit]

The Allied invasion of Italy in 1943

In May 1943, the Allies won the North African campaign, and captured many Axis soldiers and military equipment. On 20 May, the invasion of Italy began. From 20 May to 13 June, they took the islands of Pantelleria, Lampedusa, and Linosa. On 9 July 1943, the Allies began an invasion of Sicily in Operation Husky. The Allies faced little resistance while establishing beachheads, and was able to take the rest of the island partially due to their frequent resupplying of soldiers to the front. On the night of 24-25 July, Mussolini told the Italian Fascist Grand Council that Germany was considering evacuating southern Italy. The Council voted for a resolution against him, who resigned. King Victor Emmanuel III ordered Mussolini to be arrested and for a new government to be formed by Marshal Petro Badoglio. The new government secretly collaborated with the Allies. On 17 August, the Allies took Sicily. There were 23,000 Allied casualties and 165,000 Axis casualties, 30,000 of them Germans.[85] The remaining Axis Italins fought with the Allies over the next two years.[86]

#### Operation Citadel and the Battle of Kursk

[edit]

Soviet troops counterattacking during the Battle of Kursk in July 1943

On 5 July 1943, the Germans began Operation Citadel, an assault on a bulge in the Soviet salient around the city of Kursk.[87][88] The bulge went 100 miles west towards the German lines. 900,000 German troops attacked from the north and south, beginning the Battle of Kursk. It was the largest tank battle in history, involving 6,000 tanks among both sides. The Soviets had predicted the attack, and moved their main forces out of the area. They had also placed minefields and antitank defenses, which costed the Germans.[87] On the 9th, the Allies began invading Sicily, and Hitler had to move troops there from the Eastern Front.[88] Meanwhile, the Soviets began a buildup of forces, and on 12 July, they counterattacked. The Soviets' better numbers allowed them to make a larger offensive; they took back Orel on 5 August and Kharkov on 23 August.[87] There were 800,000 Soviet casualties and 200,000 German casualties.[88] On 24 December 1943, Nikolai Vatutin's Soviet forces broke out of their salient in Kyiv and soon retook Zhytomyr and Korosten.[89]

#### Battle of the North Cape

[edit]

On 25 December 1943, the British and German navies fought in the Battle of the North Cape in the Arctic Circle.[90][91]

#### Soviet gains on the Eastern Front

[edit]

Throughout 1944, the Germans on the Eastern Front faced having less troops while needing to defend the same wide frontlines. In January, the Germans' surrounding of Leningrad was weakened. On 4 January 1944, the Soviets crossed the pre-war Polish borders. Erich von Manstein's German forces slowed Vatutin's progress, but Germany lost many soldiers, and their defensive line across the Eastern Front was weakened. The Soviets used this to capture Lutsk in modern Ukraine on 5 February. In March, the Soviets crossed the Dnieper and Bug rivers, coming near Romania and Hungary. Hitler reinforced his troops in Hungary to stop further Soviet advance into central Europe, and to maintain his control of the Balkans. On 1 April, Zhukov attempted to break through these defenses into Hungary, but was unsuccessful. Later that month, the Soviets regained the Crimea and Odesa, and German troops left Sevastopol. In May, Germany stabilized the Eastern Front, but they were "unstable, both politically and militarily, under the surface."[89]

#### Operation Harvest Festival

[edit]

Operation Harvest Festival, the name for Germany's killing of the Jews that remained in the Lublin District of occupied Poland, started in autumn of 1943.[92]

#### Liberation of Rome

[edit]

On 4 June 1944, the Allies liberated Rome.[86]

#### Allied invasion of occupied Western Europe

[edit]

The first day of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Neptune

On 6 June 1944, American, British, Canadian, and Australian soldiers began the invasion of German-occupied western Europe, named Operation Overlord. In Operation Neptune, they invaded five different beaches in the French region of Normandy - nicknamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword \- and established a beachhead. The allies eventually reached the French bocage, where they met intense German resistance in the Battles of Villers-Bocage, Caen, and Carentan.[93][94] They were successful in the Battle of Cherbourg, breaking into the Cotentin Peninsula. Allied advancements disrupted the German high command. In the 20 July 1944 plot, many figures of the German high command attempted to assassinate Hitler in East Prussia; Hitler took revenge on many people in the military, and Erwin Rommel and Günther von Kluge committed suicide.[93]

In Operation Cobra, starting on 25 July 1944, the Allies broke out of the front with Germany, and started heading toward Brittany. Hitler ordered Operation Luttich to reestablish the front, but it failed.[93] On 15 August, the Allies landed in the French Riviera in Operation Dragoon, starting an invasion of southern France.[93][95] The next day, Hitler allowed the Germans in Normandy to retreat. As they left, they were encircled by American and British spearheads at Falaise, creating the Falaise pocket. However, many Germans broke out between 16 and 19 August. By the time the Germans left Normandy, 50,000 of theirs were dead and 200,000 were taken prisoner.[93]

#### Operation Bagration

[edit]

A map of German and Soviet deployments during Operation Bagration from June to August 1944

On 23 June 1944, the Soviets launched a large counter-offensive, Operation Bagration, against Germany along a 450-mile front across eastern Europe. The Germans expected an offensive from the south and were surprised at the operation's scale. The Soviets were quickly successful, killing thousands within days. After reaching Minsk on 3 July, 100,000 Germans were killed. The way to Poland and Lithuania opened up to the Soviets. Lviv and all of Byelorussia were liberated by the end of July.[96][89] From 22 to 23 July, Madjanek near Lublin, Poland became the first major Nazi concentration camp was liberated by the Allies. The Soviets then liberated Lublin on the 24th.[97] Operation Bagration ended on 19 August 1944. There were 750,000 Soviet casualties and 360,000 to 670,000 German casualties.[96]

As the Soviets advanced towards Warsaw in July 1944, they had promised aid to the underground resistance in the city, the Home Army, and encouraged them to start an uprising against the occupying Germans. The Home Army attempted to gain control over the city before the Soviets got there. Starting on 1 August, in the Warsaw Uprising, the Poles captured most of the city from a weakened German garrison. On 25 August, the Germans launched a successful and brutal counterattack. The Soviets gave aid to the Home Army on 13 September, but it was too late to significantly help them. The Home Army split into smaller units and continued the uprising, but they were forced to surrender on 2 October. The Germans deported the city's population and razed it. The Soviets had allowed the Germans to suppress the uprising, thus causing the end of the military organization that supported the Polish government-in-exile located in London.[98]

On 20 August 1944, the Romanians formed a new government which sided with the Soviets and thus allowed them to pass through. They moved into Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. Germany began to move its forces out of Yugoslavia and Greece.[89] In October, the Allies invaded Greece, but fought little resistance. Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill then agreed that Greece would fall under the "British sphere of influence". In the Yugoslavian campaign of World War II, 1.2 million died, and in the Greek campaign, 300,000 died.[54]

On 20 October 1944, Belgrade was liberated. Meanwhile, the Soviets reached Hungary. On 4 November, they reached Budapest, which was greatly defended. A siege began which lasted for months.[89]

#### Continuation War ends

[edit]

The Finns defeated the Soviets at the Battle of Tali-Ihantala in late June and early July 1944. The battle likely convinced Stalin that conquering Finland was not worth the cost,[99] and the Moscow Armistice was signed on 19 September 1944. The Finns agreed to remove all German troops from Finnish territory.[100]

#### Allies liberate Paris and reach the Siegfried Line

[edit]

The Liberation of Paris on 26 August 1944

In 1944, during the invasion of France, American General Dwight D. Eisenhower at first was going to bypass Paris; however, on 19 August, the French in the city started a resistance against the remaining Germans, and the Allies headed towards the city. On 25 August, the Germans in Paris surrendered.[93] By September 1944, three Allied Army Groups were in line against German formations in the west. There was optimism that the war in Europe might be over by the end of the year.[95]

In mid-September 1944, Allied forces reached the Siegfried Line, the German defensive line across western Europe.[101] The Allies made minor gains in September and October 1944, as Germans reinforced the front with new troops.[102] From 17 to 24 September, in Operation Market Garden, the Allies sent three airborne divisions to seize road bridges in the Netherlands, to be held open for the British Second Army to cross. The Allies faced serious resistance on the ground, and the operation was abandoned.[93] The Allies then began heading towards the Roer river dams to stop the Germans from destroying them and flooding the area, which would delay the Allied advance. The fastest way to the dams was through Hurtgen Forest, which was one of the most fortified areas of the Germans. The Battle of Hurtgen Forest started on 19 September, as American troops forced their way through the forest. The advance was delayed by the events of the Battle of the Bulge.[103]

#### The Battle of the Bulge

[edit]

The German western advance in the Battle of the Bulge from 16 to 25 December 1944

The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive of the war. It was an attempt to push the western Allies away from Germany. It started on 16 December 1944. Germany's 5th and 6th Panzer Armies advanced west through the Ardennes forest, attempting to cross the Meuse river. This caught the allies by surprise.[104] The battle happened amidst extremely cold weather.[105] On 17 December, 84 American prisoners of war were murdered by the Germans in the Malmedy massacre.[106] The Germans failed to reach the Meuse or take Bastogne, which was held by Americans. On 3 January 1945, the western Allies began a counterattack, and by 16 January, the battle was over. The Allies suffered 75,000 casualties, and the Germans 120,000.[104] Afterwards, German forces were not resupplied to the front in great numbers.[107] This depletion of manpower stopped any chances of German large-scale resistance to the Allied invasion.[104] In early February, the Battle of Hurtgen Forest continued, and the Allies captured the desired dams. The battle cost 33,000 American casualties.[103]

#### Soviets close in on Germany

[edit]

Movements during the Vistula-Oder offensive from January to February 1945

At the beginning of 1945, Germany unsuccessfully attempted to take back Budapest. On 12 January, the Soviets launched the Vistula–Oder offensive, crossing the Vistula river at Sandomierz. On the 14th, the armies of Zhukov and Konstantin Rokossovsky joined the offensive, greatly expanding its size. Warsaw was isolated and liberated on the 17th.[89] Also on the 17th, those in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp who were still healthy were told to march west into more fortified German territory.[108]

Rokossovsky then moved into East Prussia. By 26 January 1945, he reached the Baltic Sea, isolating all German forces east of Danzig. Meanwhile, Ivan Konev's forces reached the Oder river, isolating the Germans in Upper Silesia.[89] On the 27th, the Soviets liberated those were left behind at Auschwitz,[108] and the Siege of Leningrad ended.[65] Zhukov went through the corridor between the Vistula and Warta rivers and reached Brandenburg in Germany on 30 January. The Germans at this point benefited from a smaller front, meaning there was less to defend, but they were being attacked on both the western and eastern fronts. On 13 February, the Siege of Budapest ended, and the Soviets captured the city.[89]

### End of the war in Europe (1945)

[edit]

Main article: End of World War II in Europe

#### Massive losses for Germany

[edit]

The "Big Three" Allied leaders at the 1945 Yalta Conference. From left to right in the foreground: Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin.

From January 1945, Hitler remained in Berlin at the Chancellery and its bunker, canceling a plan to lead a resistance in southern Germany as the Soviets closed in on Berlin.[109]

From 4 to 11 February, 1945, Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill met at the Yalta Conference in Crimea. They created a plan for the defeat and occupation of Nazi Germany and its occupied states. They agreed to abolish or confiscate Germany's military industry, try war criminals before an international court, and create interim governments in Eastern Europe before further questions of their governance can be settled.[110]

On 14 February 1945, a raid on Dresden produced one of the most devastating fires in history. A firestorm was created in the city, and between 18,000 and 25,000 people were killed.[111][112][113] 20 to 25 February is known as the "Big Week" because of Operation Argument, in which Allied air forces took off from southern Italy to perform a series of bombing raids on German industrial targets such as aircraft factories. It significantly weakened the Luftwaffe.[114]

In early March 1945, Allied troops began assaults to help them cross the Rhine. This allowed them to continue the invasion of Germany and encircle German forces in the Ruhr. On 7 March, at the Battle of Remagen, the Ludendorff Bridge spanning the Rhine at Remagen was attacked by the Germans, and its foundation collapsed, but the bridge ultimately sat intact over the river. This allowed the U.S. to establish a bridgehead on the other side. All four U.S. armies in Western Europe went over the Rhine in the next few weeks; the First and Ninth Armies encircled 300,000 German soldiers in the Ruhr pocket, while the Third and Seventh Armies continued on towards central and southern Germany. German officer Walter Model dissolved the army inside the Ruhr pocket, and the 300,000 were taken as prisoners of war.[107][115][116]

On 12 April 1945, Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage, and his vice president Harry S. Truman succeeded him as U.S. President.[117] On the 27th, as Allied forces closed in on Milan, Mussolini was captured by Italian Partisans. He was trying to flee Italy to Switzerland and was travelling with a German anti-air battalion. On 28 April, Mussolini and several of the other fascists captured with him were taken to Giulino di Mezzegra and executed by firing squad.[118] In April and May 1945, the Allies liberated the concentration camps of Buchenwald, Dachau, Dora-Mittelbau, Flossenburg, Mauthausen, Ravensbruck, Sachsenhausen, and Stutthof.[119]

#### The Battle of Berlin and Germany's surrender

[edit]

A map of the Battle of Berlin from 16 to 25 April 1945

The Battle of Berlin began on 16 April as the Soviets encircled the city and began shelling the last pockets of resistance with large amounts of artillery.[109][120][121] Hitler became exhausted and began to accept Germany's inveitable failure and the idea of him committing suicide. In his last will and testament, he appointed Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as the new head of state and Joseph Goebbels as chancellor. On 30 April, Adolf Hitler, with his wife of one day, Eva Braun, committed suicide in his bunker.[109] The German garrison commander, General Helmuth Weidling, then surrendered. Individual German troops continued fighting while the surrendered troops were captured and committed suicide.[120]

The Battle of Berlin ended on May 2. It caused 100,000 Soviet casualties and an unknown number of German deaths.[120] On May 4, Karl Dönitz went to British officer Bernard Montgomery's headquarters in Hamburg and surrendered the German forces in northern Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands.[122] The next day, at the Battle for Castle Itter in Tirol, renegade German troops and Americans allied to stop the Waffen-SS from assaulting a stronghold filled with French politicians held as prisoner. It was the only time Germans and Americans allied during the war.[123]

On 7 May, Eisenhower accepted Germany's unconditional surrender of all their forces, which went into effect the next day.[122] Norway was thus liberated.[124] 8 May was Victory in Europe Day, and celebrations were had around the world.[122] The Russian Federation celebrates 9 May as Victory Day.[125] In northern Italy, anti-fascist parties formed a new national government which was led by Ferruccio Parri.[126] On 5 June 1945, the Allies signed the Berlin Declaration, which formally took over the supreme authority of Germany, bringing about the end of Nazi Germany.[127]

### Aftermath

[edit]

Deaths in the European theatre compared to World War II's other theatres

39 million people died in the European theatre.[128] More Soviet citizens died during World War II than those of all other European countries combined. Nazi ideology considered Slavs to be "subhuman" and German forces committed ethnically targeted mass murder. Civilians were rounded up and burned alive or shot in squads in many cities conquered by the Nazis. At least 27 million civilians and military personnel perished during the war.[citation needed] 8 million Red Army troops died facing the Axis on the Eastern Front.[129]

At the Potsdam Conference of 17 July to 2 August 1945, the Allies formally agreed to many of the ideas considered at the Yalta Conference. Germany, Austria, and specifically Berlin and Vienna were all divided into four regions each occupied by the U.S., U.K., France, and the Soviet Union. The countries used the "Five Ds" when governing these regions: "demilitarization, denazification, democratization, decentralization, and deindustrialization."[130] In the Nuremberg trials of 1945 to 1946, many officials of the Nazi high command were tried for war crimes, crimes against the peace, and crimes against humanity.[131] European cities such as Berlin, Prague, and Dresden, had been destroyed, and many died during the abnormally strong winter later that year. The U.S. paid billions of dollars to rebuild Europe in the Marshall Plan.[132] The Cold War started as the capitalist and communist former Allied states began fighting for control over the new global order.[133]

## See also

[edit]

* European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
* Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II
* Pacific War

Atlas of the World Battle Fronts

1943-07-01  |
1943-11-01  |
1944-07-01

1944-09-01  |
1944-12-01  |
1945-03-01  |

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ From 1941
2. ^ From 1941
3. ^ To 1940
4. ^ From 1940 to 1944
5. ^ From 1944
6. ^ From 1943
7. ^ From 1942
8. ^ The official designation of these countries under the 1947 Paris Peace Treaties[1]
9. ^ Until the Armistice of Cassibile, 8 September 1943
10. ^ Until King Michael's Coup, 23 August 1944
second Axis power in Europe from 8 September 1943[2]
11. ^ German occupation from 19 March 1944
12. ^ Until 17 August 1944[3]
13. ^ 25 June 1941–19 September 1944
14. ^ From 23 September 1943
15. ^ Vichy officially pursued a policy of armed neutrality and conducted military actions against armed incursions from both Axis and Allied belligerents. The cease fire and pledging of allegiance to the Allies of the Vichy troops in French North Africa during Operation Torch convinced the Axis that Vichy could no longer be trusted to continue this policy, so they invaded and occupied the French rump state in November 1942. Collaborationist units, such as the Milice, continued to fight alongside German troops against French Resistance fighters until the liberation of France in 1944.
16. ^ Although Germany surrendered to the Allies on 8 May, the fighting continued insignificantly until 25 May.
17. ^ Ellis:
* Danish: no figures;
* Norwegian: 2,000 killed or missing with no information provided on those wounded or captured;
* Dutch: 2,890 killed or missing, 6,900 wounded, with no information provided on those captured;
* Belgian: 7,500 killed or missing, 15,850 wounded, and 200,000 captured;
* French: 120,000 killed or missing, 250,000 wounded, and 1,450,000 taken prisoner;
* British: 11,010 killed or missing, 14,070 wounded (only those who were evacuated have been counted), and 41,340 taken prisoner.[10][11]
18. ^ Ellis's numbers:
* American: 109,820 killed or missing, 356,660 wounded, and 56,630 captured;
* British: 30,280 killed or missing, 96,670 wounded, 14,700 captured;
* Canadian: 10,740 killed or missing, 30,910 wounded, 2,250 captured;
* French: 12,590 killed or missing, 49,510 wounded, 4,730 captured;
* Pole: 1,160 killed or missing, 3,840 wounded, 370 captured.[12] Thus according to Ellis' information, the Western Allies incurred 783,860 casualties.
US Army/Air Forces breakdown:
* According to a post-war US Army study using war records, the army and army air forces of the United States suffered 586,628 casualties in western Europe, including 116,991 killed in action and 381,350 wounded, of whom 16,264 later died of their wounds.[13][page needed]
Total US casualties come to 133,255 killed, 365,086 wounded, 73,759 captured, and 14,528 missing, two thousand of whom were later declared dead.
19. ^ 43,110 Germans killed or missing, 111,640 wounded, no information is provided on any who were captured. Italian losses amounted to 1,250 killed or missing, 4,780 wounded, and no information is provided on any who were captured.[10]
20. ^ Total German casualties between September 1939 to 31 December 1944, on the Western Front for both the army, Waffen SS, and foreign volunteers amounts to 128,030 killed, 399,860 wounded. 7,614,790 were held in POW camps by early June of 1945 (including 3,404,950 who were disarmed following the surrender of Germany).[12] See also: Disarmed Enemy Forces
21. ^ All totals listed only include direct deaths due to military activity and crimes against humanity, including the Holocaust.[17]
Germany: 910,000. 410,000 in Allied strategic bombing, 300,000 in the Holocaust not including Austrian civilian deaths or deaths from the Nazi T4 program.[18] Counting the Aktion T4 program adds 200,000+ deaths to the total.[19]
France: 390,000. Includes 77,000 French Jews in the Holocaust.[20]
Netherlands: 187,300. Includes 100,000 Dutch Jews in the Holocaust.[21]
Belgium: 76,000. Includes 27,000 Belgian Jews in the Holocaust.[22]
United Kingdom: 67,200. Mostly died in German bombing.[23]
Norway: 8,200.[24] Includes 800 Norwegian Jews in the Holocaust.
Denmark: 6,000.[25]
Luxembourg: 5,000. Includes 2,000 Luxembourgish Jews.[26]
22. ^ The other main theatre of operations was the Pacific War.
23. ^ All German forces were to cease operations on 23:01 hours Central European time on 8 May 1945, which was already 9 May in Moscow and other parts of the USSR; therefore 9 May was considered to be the end of the war in the Soviet Union and still is in its successor states
24. ^ The Sharnhorst had to undergo repairs until 1943, and was sunk by the British in December 1943 during the Battle of the North Cape; the Gneisenau was badly damaged, never again being used as a warship, and was intentionally sank near Goteshafen by the Germans to prevent advancing Soviet ships in 1945; and the Prinz Eugen defended Norway, lasting until the end of war — she was then used in the U.S.' post-war Bikini Atoll nuclear tests before sinking from a leak in 1946.[68][70]

## References

[edit]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ Claus Kreß, Robert Lawless, Oxford University Press, 2020, Necessity and Proportionality in International Peace and Security Law, p. 450
2. ^ David Stahel, Cambridge University Press, 2018, Joining Hitler's Crusade, p. 78
3. ^ Robert Bideleux, Ian Jeffries, Routledge, 2007, The Balkans: A Post-Communist History, p. 84
4. ^ Frieser, Karl-Heinz (2013)The Blitzkrieg Legend. Naval Institute Press
5. ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 478.
6. ^ a b Glantz & House 2015, pp. 301–303.
7. ^ Overmans, Rüdiger (2004). Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg (in German). München: Oldenbourg. p. 215.
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Regio Esercito: The Italian Royal Army in Mussolini's Wars, 1935–1943, Patrick Cloutier, p. 211.
10. ^ a b Ellis 1993, p. 255.
11. ^ 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".
12. ^ a b Ellis 1993, p. 256.
13. ^ U.S. Army Casualties in World War II 1951.
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* Italy:
* Ufficio Storico dello Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito. Commissariato generale C.G.V. . Ministero della Difesa – Edizioni 1986
* Romania: Krivosheev 2001, Tables 200–203.
* Hungary: Krivosheev 2001, Tables 200–203.
* Hungarian wounded: Clodfelter 2017, p. 527.
* Soviet volunteer deaths:
* Percy Schramm Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht: 1940–1945: 8 Bde. ISBN 9783881990738 pp. 1508–1511
* German prisoners: Krivosheev 2001, Table 198.
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### Works cited

[edit]

* Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). "The Toll of World War II". Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 (4th ed.). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-7470-7.
* Ellis, John (1993). The World War II Databook: The Essential Facts and Figures for all the combatants. BCA. ISBN 978-1-85410-254-6.
* Frumkin, Gregory (1951). Population Changes in Europe Since 1939. Geneva: Allen & Unwin.
* Glantz, David M.; House, Jonathan M. (2015). When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler. Modern War Studies (2nd ed.). University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-2121-7.
* Keegan, John (1989). The Second World War. Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-174011-8.
* Krivosheev, G. I. (1997). Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-280-7.
* Krivosheev, G. I. (2001). Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil; statisticheskoe issledovanie (in Russian). OLMA Press. ISBN 5-224-01515-4.
* MacDonald, C. (2005). The Last Offensive: The European Theater of Operations. University Press of the Pacific.
* Office of the Adjutant General, U.S. Army (25 June 1953). U.S. Army Battle Casualties and Non-battle Deaths in World War II: Final Report (Report). CSCAP (OT) 87 - via HyperWar Foundation.
* Overy, Richard (1995). Why the Allies Won. Pimlico. ISBN 0-7126-7453-5.

## Further reading

[edit]

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for World War II in Europe.

Main article: Bibliography of World War II battles and campaigns in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East

* Churchill, Winston. The Second World War. 6 volumes, 1948–1953
* Hanson, Davis Victor (2017). The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won. Basic Books.
* Lee, Loyd E., ed. (1997). World War II in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, with General Sources: A Handbook of Literature and Research. Westport, CN / London: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29325-2.
* Murray, Williamson; Millett, Allan R. (2000). A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-00163-X.
* Powaski, Ronald E. (2003). Lightning War: Blitzkrieg in the West, 1940. John Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-39431-0.
* Powaski, Ronald E. (2016). Lightning War: Blitzkrieg in the West, 1940. Book Sales. ISBN 978-0-7858-2097-0.
* Weinberg, Gerhard L. (2005). A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-44317-2.

* v
* t
* e

World War II

* Outline
* Battles
* Operations
* Leaders
* Allied
* Axis
* Commanders
* Casualties
* Conferences

General|

| Topics|

* Air warfare of World War II
* In Europe
* Blitzkrieg
* Comparative military ranks
* Cryptography
* Declarations of war
* Diplomacy
* Governments in exile
* Home front
* Australian
* United Kingdom
* United States
* Lend-Lease
* Manhattan Project
* British contribution
* Military awards
* Military equipment
* Military production
* Naval history
* Nazi plunder
* Opposition
* Technology
* Allied cooperation
* Mulberry harbour
* Total war
* Strategic bombing
* Puppet states
* Women
* Art and World War II
* Music in World War II
* Weather events during World War II

|

Theaters|

* Asia and Pacific
* China
* South-East Asia
* Pacific
* North and Central Pacific
* South-West Pacific
* Indian Ocean
* Europe
* Western Front
* Eastern Front
* Mediterranean and Middle East
* North Africa
* East Africa
* Italy
* West Africa
* Atlantic
* timeline
* Americas

Aftermath|

* Chinese Civil War
* Cold War
* Decolonization
* Division of Korea
* First Indochina War
* Expulsion of Germans
* Greek Civil War
* Indonesian National Revolution
* Keelhaul
* Marshall Plan
* Occupation of Germany
* Occupation of Japan
* Osoaviakhim
* Paperclip
* Soviet occupations
* Baltic
* Hungary
* Poland
* Romania
* Territorial changes of Germany
* Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany
* United Nations

War crimes|

* Allied war crimes
* Soviet war crimes
* British war crimes
* United States war crimes
* German war crimes
* forced labour
* Wehrmacht war crimes
* The Holocaust
* Aftermath
* Response
* Nuremberg trials
* Italian war crimes
* Japanese war crimes
* Nanjing Massacre
* Unit 731
* Prosecution
* Croatian war crimes
* Genocide of Serbs
* Persecution of Jews
* Romanian war crimes
* Sexual violence
* German military brothels
* Camp brothels
* Rape during the occupation of Germany / Japan / Poland
* Rape during the liberation of France / Serbia
* Sook Ching
* Comfort women
* Rape of Manila
* Marocchinate

Participants|

| Allies|

* Algeria
* Australia
* Belgium
* Brazil
* Bulgaria (from September 1944)
* Canada
* China
* Cuba
* Czechoslovakia
* Denmark
* Ethiopia
* Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
* Finland (from September 1944)
* France
* Free France
* Greece
* India
* Italy (from September 1943)
* Luxembourg
* Mexico
* Netherlands
* Newfoundland
* New Zealand
* Norway
* Philippines
* Poland
* Romania (from August 1944)
* Sierra Leone
* South Africa
* Southern Rhodesia
* Soviet Union
* Tuva
* United Kingdom
* British Empire
* United States
* Puerto Rico
* Yugoslavia

|

Axis|

* Albania protectorate
* Bulgaria (until September 1944)
* Wang Jingwei regime
* Independent State of Croatia
* Finland (until September 1944)
* German Reich
* Hungary
* Azad Hind
* French Indochina
* Iraq
* Italy (until September 1943)
* Italian Social Republic
* Empire of Japan
* Manchukuo
* Philippines
* Romania (until August 1944)
* Slovak Republic
* Thailand
* Vichy France
* Collaboration

Neutral|

* Afghanistan
* Andorra
* Bhutan
* Ireland
* Liechtenstein
* Portugal
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Tibet
* Vatican City

Resistance|

* Albania
* Austria
* Belgium
* Bulgaria
* Czech lands
* Denmark
* Dutch East Indies
* Estonia
* Ethiopia
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Hong Kong
* Italy
* Japan
* Jews
* Korea
* Korean Liberation Army
* Korean Volunteer Army
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malaya
* Netherlands
* Northeast China
* Norway
* Philippines
* Poland
* Romania
* Thailand
* Soviet Union
* Slovakia
* Western Ukraine
* Vietnam
* Quốc dân Đảng
* Viet Minh
* Yugoslavia

POWs|

* Finnish prisoners in the Soviet Union
* German prisoners
* Soviet Union
* Azerbaijan
* United States
* United Kingdom
* Italian prisoners in the Soviet Union
* Japanese prisoners
* Soviet Union
* Soviet prisoners
* Finland
* atrocities by Germans
* Polish prisoners in the Soviet Union
* Romanian prisoners in the Soviet Union

Timeline|

| Prelude|

* Africa
* Second Italo-Ethiopian War
* Asia
* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battles of Khalkhin Gol
* Europe
* Anschluss
* Munich Agreement
* Occupation of Czechoslovakia
* Operation Himmler
* Italian invasion of Albania

|

1939|

* Invasion of Poland
* Battle of the Atlantic
* Phoney War
* First Battle of Changsha
* Battle of South Guangxi
* Winter War
* 1939–1940 Winter Offensive

1940|

* Norwegian campaign
* German invasion of Denmark
* Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang
* German invasion of Luxembourg
* German invasion of the Netherlands
* German invasion of Belgium
* Battle of France
* Dunkirk evacuation
* Battle of Britain
* Battle of the Mediterranean
* North Africa
* West Africa
* British Somaliland
* Hundred Regiments Offensive
* Baltic states
* Eastern Romania
* Japanese invasion of French Indochina
* Italian invasion of Greece
* Compass

1941|

* Battle of South Henan
* Battle of Shanggao
* Invasion of Yugoslavia
* German invasion of Greece
* Battle of Crete
* Anglo-Iraqi War
* Battle of South Shanxi
* Syria–Lebanon campaign
* East African campaign
* Invasion of the Soviet Union
* Summer War
* Finland (Silver Fox)
* Lithuania
* Battle of Kiev
* Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
* Second Battle of Changsha
* Siege of Leningrad
* Battle of Moscow
* Bombing of Gorky
* Siege of Sevastopol
* Attack on Pearl Harbor
* Japanese invasion of Thailand
* Fall of Hong Kong
* Fall of the Philippines
* Battle of Guam
* Battle of Wake Island
* Malayan campaign
* Battle of Borneo
* Japanese invasion of Burma
* Third Battle of Changsha
* Greek famine of 1941–1944

1942|

* Fall of Singapore
* Battle of the Java Sea
* St Nazaire Raid
* Battle of Christmas Island
* Battle of the Coral Sea
* Battle of Madagascar
* Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign
* Battle of Gazala
* Battle of Dutch Harbor
* Battle of Midway
* Aleutian Islands campaign
* Kiska
* Attu
* Blue
* First Battle of El Alamein
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Kokoda Track campaign
* Rzhev
* Jubilee
* Second Battle of El Alamein
* Guadalcanal campaign
* Torch
* Chinese famine of 1942–1943

1943|

* Tunisian campaign
* Battle of West Hubei
* Battle of Attu
* Bombing of Gorky
* Battle of Kursk
* Allied invasion of Sicily
* Smolensk
* Solomon Islands campaign
* Cottage
* Battle of the Dnieper
* Allied invasion of Italy
* Armistice of Cassibile
* Burma
* Northern Burma and Western Yunnan
* Changde
* Second Battle of Kiev
* Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
* Tarawa
* Makin
* Bengal famine of 1943

1944|

* Tempest
* Monte Cassino / Anzio
* Korsun–Cherkassy
* Narva
* Ichi-Go
* Overlord
* Neptune
* Mariana and Palau
* Bagration
* Western Ukraine
* Second Battle of Guam
* Tannenberg Line
* Warsaw Uprising
* Eastern Romania
* Liberation of Paris
* Dragoon
* Gothic Line
* Belgrade offensive
* Lapland
* Market Garden
* Estonia
* Crossbow
* Pointblank
* Vietnamese famine of 1944–1945
* Philippines (1944–1945)
* Leyte
* Syrmian Front
* Hungary
* Budapest
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