Western Front commonly refers to battlefronts in western Europe during World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). In both wars, the Western Front divided the armies of Germany and the Allies . The Allied nations included France , the United Kingdom , the United States , and Belgium . British forces included soldiers from Canada , Australia , New Zealand , South Africa , and India . French forces included many troops from North Africa , particularly Algeria and Morocco , as well as Senegal and other parts of French West Africa. In both wars, the Western Front was just one of several battlefronts.
World War I.
The Western Front was created in August 1914 after German troops invaded Belgium and northern France. Allied troops—mainly French and British—stopped the Germans in September. In October, a series of maneuvers by both sides drove the battlefront north toward the English Channel . Allied and German troops dug in, creating strongly fixed defensive lines. The Western Front then settled into a static (nonmoving) line of trench systems that stretched from Belgium through northern France to the Swiss border.
For the next three years, both sides repeatedly tried and failed to break the deadlock of the Western Front. Millions of soldiers died for extremely small gains in such Western Front battles as Verdun and the Somme in France, and Ypres in Belgium. Fighting on the Western Front came to symbolize the misery and hopelessness of trench warfare in World War I.
In 1918, the massive German Spring Offensive finally broke the stalemate on the Western Front. German troops overran Allied positions and made great advances. The offensive exhausted the Germans, however. Allied forces—now including hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops—launched massive counterattacks. The Germans were steadily driven back until they surrendered in November 1918.
World War II.
The Western Front in World War II was created in May 1940, after German troops invaded Belgium, Luxembourg , the Netherlands , and France. The Allies were unable to stop the Germans, and Germany took control of most of western Europe. For several years, fighting in World War II shifted mainly to eastern Europe, North Africa, Italy , and the Pacific .
On June 6, 1944—a date known as D-Day —Allied forces invaded German-occupied Normandy , France. The invasion reopened fighting on the Western Front. Allied troops drove the Germans back in a series of bloody battles across France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and, eventually, Germany. With Soviet forces closing from the east, Germany surrendered in May 1945.
Fighting on the Western Front was fairly mobile during World War II, but the battles still claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The largest battles included Normandy , Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, and the Battle of the Bulge fought mostly in Belgium.
