The North West Europe Campaign was the name given by the British and Commonwealth armed forces to the two land campaigns they fought on the Western Front during World War II.
In British and Canadian military history, North-West Europe refers to the land campaigns on the northern flank of the Western Front during World War II. Two separate battle honours were awarded to regiments who took part in these campaigns "North-West Europe Campaign of 1940" and "North-West Europe Campaign of 1944-1945". A third battle honour, the "North-West Europe Campaign of 1942", was awarded to regiments that took part in the coastal raids on France including the largest — the Dieppe raid of 1942.[1][2]
The North West Europe Campaign of 1940,[3] was part of the Battle of France, and was restricted to the Belgium and the French Channel ports. During this campaign, the French Army was responsible for the rest of the Western Front from Luxembourg to Switzerland, much of which was defended by the preprepared Maginot Line. The first campaign ended for the British forces with the defeat of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and its evacuation from the beaches of Dunkirk.
The North West Europe Campaign of 1944-1945,[4] fought by the British Second Army and First Canadian Army as elements of the British 21st Army Group. The campaign started with the landings in Normandy and ended on 4 May 1945 with Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery taking the German military surrender of all German forces in Holland, north west Germany and Denmark on Lüneburg Heath, (situated between the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen). As with the first campaign the British Commonwealth forces were on the northern flank of the Western Front. The Twelfth United States Army Group, was to their immediate south, further south still was the Sixth United States Army Group, (that was also known as the Southern Group of Armies as the French First Army was a constituent part)