The Normandy American Cemetery
The Normandy American Cemetery
bigpigeon.us webpage WWII-Germany > The ETO, updated by RAC 30 Sep 2022.

European Theater ground combat began in Normandy, France on D-Day, 6 June 1944, and ended on 8 May 1945.
Below are links to all of Big Pigeon's WWII-Germany > The ETO subpages:
​ETO Overview 1 - The Normandy Campaign, June-July 1944 2&3 - Liberation, July-September 1944 5 - The War of Attrition, September-December 1944  4 - Ardennnes/The Bulge, December 1944 - January 1945 4&5 - Alsace 1945, January-February 19455 - The Siegfried Line, 1945, January-February 1945 5 - The Advance to the Rhine, 1945, January-March 1945 ​6 - The Central Europe Campaign, March-May 1945 The ETO Air War
The ETO Sea War
The ETO Communications Zone
About the above links to WWII-Germany > The ETO subpages:
  • Combat in the ETO, European Theater of Operations, took place in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg & Germany.
  • Numbers before major webpages correspond with the following official list of ETO campaigns.
  • Some webpages are currently incomplete.
​United States Army official list of ETO campaigns:
  1. Normandy Campaign, 6 June – 24 July 1944, Allied success, German lines around Normandy Beachhead are stretched.
  2. Northern France Campaign, 25 July – 14 September 1944, Allied victory; Germans lines are broken followed by Germany withdraw from most of France and Belgium but Allied offensives in France, the Netherlands, and Germany then stall.
  3. Southern France Campaign, 5 August – 14 September 1944, Allied victory, Germans are driven out of Southern France.
  4. Ardennes-Alsace Campaign, 16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945, Allied victory, German offensives are driven back in the Ardennes and contained in Alsace.
  5. Rhineland Campaign, 15 September 1944 – 21 March 1945, Allied victory, Germans retreat across Rhine River.
  6. Central Europe Campaign 22 March – 11 (sic) May 1945, Allies are triumphant, war in Europe ends with Germany's surrender effective 8 May.
European Theater Executive Summary, June 1944 - May 1945
Beginning with D-Day, ground combat in the European Theater of Operations raged over northern and eastern France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, and western Germany.
European Theater operations consisted of two periods of grinding combat, each followed by a breakout:
  1. War of Attrition, Normandy, 6 June - mid August 1944.
  2. Breakout, liberation of France and Belgium, late August - mid September 1944.
  3. War of Attrition, combat near the German border, September 1944 - March 1945.
  4. Breakout, conquest of western Germany, March - early May 1945.  Meanwhile the Soviet Army was moving westward through eastern Germany.
European Theater Overview
European Theater Overview
The Allied Armies on D-Day, 6 June 1944
The initial Allied forces that landed in Normandy consisted of elements of two armies, comprising the 21 Army Group, under the command of British General Bernard Montgomery.
  • The US First Army commanded by General Omar Bradley.
  • The British Second Army, with a large Canadian contingent, commanded by General Miles Dempsey.
The Allied Armies on VE-Day, 8 May 1945
This map locates the seven front-line armies of the Western Allies at the end of hostilities on Victory in Europe day. Counterclockwise from upper-middle:
British 21st Army Group (Montgomery)
  • Canadian First Army (Crerar)
  • British Second Army (Dempsey)
US 12th Army Group (Bradley)
  • US Ninth Army (Simpson)
  • US First Army (Hodges)
  • US Third Army (Patton)
US 6th Army Group (Devers)
  • US Seventh Army (Patch)
  • French First Army (De Lattre)
The US 15th Army (Gerow), also shown, never saw substantial front-line combat and is barely mentioned herein.
Victory in Europe
Victory in Europe (from "The Guns at Last Light")
Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII-Germany > The ETO webpage:
Major Sources:
  • None at this time.
Sources for webpage images: (C/O = courtesy of)
  • The webpage header photo, The Normandy American Cemetery, webpage header photo - C/O the American Battle Monuments Commission.​
  • The European Theater Overview map is courtesy of the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas in Austin, TX.
  • https://history.army.mil/html/reference/campaigns.html lists the US Army campaigns in WW II.
  • The Victory in Europe map appeared in the the third and final volume of Rick Aktinson's magnificent trilogy about United States land operations in the German War. All maps from the trilogy are on-line.
​Other Sources: