Theatre of military operations during World War II
European theatre of World War II Part of World War II From left to right, top to bottom Belligerents
Allies :Former Axis powers Denmark (1940 )
Axis :Axis puppet states Kingdom of Yugoslavia (for two days ) Commanders and leaders
Strength
44,150,000+ troops (total that served)[ 4]
18,000,000+ troops (total that served)[ 7] [ 8] 2,560,000 troops (total that served)[ 9] Casualties and losses
9,007,590–10,338,576+ killed, 5,778,680+ captured[ nb 17] [ nb 18] [ 14]
5,406,110–5,798,110+ killed,[ nb 19] [ 15] [ 16] 8,709,840 captured[ 16] [ nb 20]
19,650,000–25,650,000 civilians killed[ nb 21]
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 .
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^ Claus Kreß, Robert Lawless, Oxford University Press, 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, 2007, The Balkans: A Post-Communist History , p. 84
^ Frieser, Karl-Heinz (2013)The Blitzkrieg Legend . Naval Institute Press
^ Overmans, Rüdiger (2004). Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg (in German). München: Oldenbourg. p. 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.
^ 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".
^ 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. p. 202 Archived 1 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine .
^ a b
^ 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)
^ "Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Netherlands" (PDF). Retrieved 4 March 2016.
^ Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2013–2014, page 44.
^ "Hvor mange dræbte danskere?". Danish Ministry of Education. Retrieved 4 March 2016.