North-West Europe campaign of 1944–45

North-West Europe 1944–1945 is a battle honour (more properly known as an honorary distinction)[1] earned by regiments of the British Commonwealth forces during the Second World War that took part in the actions of the northern part of the war's Western Front. The battle honour North-West Europe is suffixed with the year, or years, in which the awarded unit took part in the action.[2]

It refers to the land campaign starting with the 6th June landings in Normandy and ended with Field Marshal Montgomery taking the German military surrender of all German forces in the Netherlands, Northwest Germany and Denmark on Lüneburg Heath in Northwest Germany. The campaign was conducted by Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, of which the British 21st Army Group was a component, along with the American 12th and 6th Army Groups. Together, the three army groups comprised the Allied effort on the Western Front which at its longest stretched from the North Sea to Switzerland.

The battle honours for the Second World War were not awarded until 1957/58 by which point some units had amalgamated or been disbanded.

List of units

The following units were awarded the battle honour,

Canadian regiments

US-Canadian forces

British regiments

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Honorary Distinctions or Battle Honours, Grenadier Guards Association, East Kent Branch, accessed and archived 21 July 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo North-West Europe, canadiansoldiers.com, retrieved and archived 29 June 2019.
  3. ^ Battle Honours, Honourable Artillery Company, accessed and archived 29 June 2019.
  4. ^ a b Battle Honours, Lancashire Infantry Museum, accessed and archived 30 June 2019.
  5. ^ Lewis Pearce, "Battle honours", appx. A in, Julian Paget, Second to None: The History of the Coldstream Guards 1650 2000, Pen and Sword, 2000 ISBN 9781783379392.
  6. ^ Regimental Battle Honours, The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) Regimental Association, accessed and archived 21 July 2019.
  7. ^ Battle Honours, Airborne Assault: ParaData, accessed 21 July 2019 and archived 29 June 2019.
  8. ^ Battle honours of the Staffordshire Regiment, The Staffordshire Regiment Museum, accessed and archived 22 July 2019.
  9. ^ Major James Dunning, A brief history of the Army Commandos (1939-1945), accessed and archived 22 July 2019.
  10. ^ Museum of the Manchester Regiment: Battle Honours of The Manchester Regiment, Tameside Metropolitan Borough, accessed and archived 24 July 2019.
  11. ^ Battle Honours The Gloucestershire Regiment 28th LXI, accessed 9 August 2019 and archived 31 August 2018.
  • Baker, Anthony Battle Honours of the British and Commonwealth Armies 1986. Ian Allan Publishing ISBN 978-0711016002