The 19th Army was a World War II field army of the German Army. Active from 1943 to 1945 on the Western Front, it was tasked with defending southern France and before being pushed back to the French–German border during Operation Dragoon and then into southern Germany.
1944, anti-tank fortifications in Southern France
Image: Bundesarchiv Bild 101I 209 0086 12, Russland Nord, Brandenberger (cropped)
Western Front (World War II)
The Western Front was a military theatre of World War II encompassing Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The Italian front is considered a separate but related theatre. The Western Front's 1944–1945 phase was officially deemed the European Theater by the United States, whereas Italy fell under the Mediterranean Theater along with North Africa. The Western Front was marked by two phases of large-scale combat operations. The first phase saw the capitulation of Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, and France during May and June 1940 after their defeat in the Low Countries and the northern half of France, and continued into an air war between Germany and Britain that climaxed with the Battle of Britain. The second phase consisted of large-scale ground combat, which began in June 1944 with the Allied landings in Normandy and continued until the defeat of Germany in May 1945 with its invasion.
Dieppe's pebble beach and cliff immediately following the raid on 19 August 1942. A scout car has been abandoned.
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel visiting the Atlantic Wall defences near the Belgian port of Ostend
Routes taken by the D-Day invasion
Crowds of French people line the Champs Élysées following the Liberation of Paris, 26 August 1944.