The ETO

The D-Day Invasion ArmiesEuropean Theater Overview

In June 1944, the Western Allies staged a massive invasion of German-occupied Europe on France's Normandy coast. This was followed by eleven months of ground combat against the Wehrmacht of the German Third Reich. This area of operations was known within the United States as the ETO, shorthand for the European Theater of Operations.

The D-Day Invasion Armies

Within the European Theater of Operations, the Western Front existed from the D-Day invasion of France on 6 June 1944 until the German surrender took effect on 8 May 1945. Throughout its existence, General (later President) Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded the combined Allied Expeditionary Force.

The initial Allied ground forces in Normandy consisted of elements of two armies. Together they comprised 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 US Ninth Air Force provided air support, both with combat and transport aircraft. The two largest efforts to involve fleets of heavy bombers from the Eighth Air Force in support of ground operations did not go well.

Hundreds of ships from many nations provided support in the English Channel.

Germany Armies in France - June 1944

In the spring of 1944, four German armies waited on the coast of France for the impending Allied invasion.

15th Army - along the northern coast of France and coastal Belgium.
7th Army - along the Normandy and Brittany coasts.
1st Army - along the Bay of Biscay coast south of the Loire River.
19th Army - facing the Mediterranean Sea in southern France.

German intelligence thought the most likely landing would be in 15th Army territory, with the second most likely the 7th Army front on the northern coast of the Normandy Peninsula. Elaborate Allied deception tactics worked flawlessly; not until the invasion began was the true location of the landing known to German forces.

The words OB West on the accompanying map abbreviate Oberbefehlshaber West, the German High Command in the West. General Gerd von Rundstedt was OB West commander on D-Day. General Erwin Rommel commanded Army Group B, which consisted of the 7th and 15th Armies. The German 7th Army went through several commanders during ETO operations. The first died of a heart attack, the second was shot in the jaw but unfortunately survived.

Disposition of German Forces in France - June 1944

The accompanying aerial reconnaissance photo from before D-Day shows one of the invasion beaches at low tide. This gives some idea of the obstacles awaiting landing craft. Beach obstacles were complemented by fortified positions called Widerstandeneste ( Resistance Nests) that were constructed above the high tide mark.

European Theater Overview, June 1944 - May 1945

Beginning with D-Day, combat in the European Theater of Operations raged over northern and eastern France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and western Germany. The United States Army breaks American participation up into six campaigns:

Normandy 6 June-24 July '44
Northern France 25 July-14 September '44
Southern France 15 August-14 September '44
Rhineland 15 September '44-21 March '45
Ardennes-Alsace 16 December '44-25 January '45
Central Europe 22 March-11 May '45

European Theater Overview

Physical Maps of European Theater Countries

Physical Map of France

Physical Map of Germany

Physical Map of Belgium

Physical Map of The Netherlands

European Theater Background Information

In May and June of 1940, in what was called the Blitzkrieg, the German army overran much of France along with the smaller nearby countries of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

In addition to the well-known evacuation from Dunkirk, around 150,000 Allied troops escaped via other French ports.

A junior French general, Charles de Gaulle, fled to London where he began efforts to rally the French people. Over the next four years, General de Gaulle became the leader of an ad hoc French government in exile, along with a military arm of several divisions.

As part of the terms of the June 1940 armistice between France and Germany, much of southern France was set aside as Vichy France, an area administered by a new French government based in the small city of Vichy. The Vichy government was sympathetic to German goals. The Germany army, which had penetrated part way into the Vichy region in June 1940, withdrew to occupied France.

France at the end of the 1940 Blitzkrieg

Aftermath of the German Blitzkrieg of 1940

In November 1942, the German army occupied Vichy France in response to the Anglo-American invasion of Vichy-controlled Morocco and Algeria in North Africa.

The June 1944 Allied landing in Normandy began ground combat in the European Theater of Operations. Periods of grinding battles were followed by two great breakouts, one which liberated much of France and Belgium in August and early September1944 and one which drove eastward across much of Germany in April 1945. The accompanying map shows the location of Allied armies at the end of hostilities on May 8, 1945.

The bulk of Allied ETO forces were American and British. Canada and France each contributed an army and the Polish Government in Exile made a substantial contribution. Other nations provided smaller numbers.

Victory in Europe (from "The Guns at Last Light")

Sources for the European Theater of Operations (ETO) webpage:

The webpage header photo, The Normandy American Cemetery, is courtesy of the American Battle Monuments Commission.
To scroll through all of Gene Thorp's maps from Rick Atkinson's ETO history, The Guns at Last Light, go to http://liberationtrilogy.com/books/guns-at-last-light/maps-from-the-guns-at-last-light/images-for-maps-from-the-guns-at-last-light/. The Guns at Last Light is Volume 3 of a series that includes the war in North Africa and the first part of the war in Italy.
The Disposition of German Forces in France - June 1944 map is taken from https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-XChannel/index.html.
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 physical map of France is courtesy of freeworldmaps.org.
The physical map of Germany is courtesy of http://libertaddeeleccion.org.
The physical map of Belgium is courtesy of d1softball.net.
The physical map of The Netherlands is courtesy of freeworldmaps.net.
The Aftermath of the German Blitzkrieg map is courtesy of themaparchive.com.
The Victory in Europe map appeared in the the third and final volume of Rick Aktinson's magnificant trilogy about United States land operations in the German War. All maps from the trilogy are on-line.