All About second world war.(1)

Introduction to World War 2

In Europe, the origins of the war are closely tied to the rise of fascism, especially in Nazi Germany. A discussion of how the Nazis came to power is a requisite in this context.

The origins of the Second World War are generally viewed as being traced back to the First World War (1914-1918). In that war Germany under the ultra-nationalistic Kaiser Wilhelm II along with its allies, had been defeated by a combination of the United Kingdom, United States, France, Russia and others.

The war was directly blamed by the victors on the miltant nationalism of the Kaiser's Germany; it was Germany that effectively started the war with an attack on France through Belgium.

France, which had suffered a previous defeat at the hands of Prussia (a state that merged one year later with others to form Germany) in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, demanded revenge for its financial devastation during the First World War (and its humiliation in the earlier war) ensured that the various peace treaties, specifically the Treaty of Versailles imposed tough financial reparations and restrictions on Germany.

A new democratic German republic, known as the Weimar Republic, came into being. After some success it was hit by hyperinflation and other serious economic problems.

Right wing nationalist elements under a variety of movements, but most notably the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler, sought to blame Germany's "humiliating" status on the harshness of the post-war settlement, on the weakness of democratic government, and on the Jews, whom it claimed possessed a financial stranglehold on Germany.

Hitler was appointed Reichskanzler (Chancellor) on January 30, 1933, by the aged President von Hindenburg.

Hitler's government exercised much of its power through the special emergency powers possessed by the President under the constitution.

World War 2 Timeline

1918
11/11/1918	World War One Armistice signed
1919
6/28/1918	Treaty of Versailles signed
1920
1/16/1920	League of Nations meets for the first time
1921
7/29/1921	Adolf Hitler assumes control of National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party
1922
10/24/1922	Benito Mussolini calls for fascist "Blackshirts" to March on Rome
10/29/1922	Mussolini appointed Premier by King Victor Emmanuel III
1923
11/8-9/1923	Hitler's Munich Beer Hall Putsch fails
1925
1/3/1925	Mussolini dismisses Italian parliament, begins to assume dictatorial powers
7/18/1925	Hitler's autobiography, Mein Kampf, is published
1929
10/29/1929	Wall Street Stock Market crashes
1931
9/18/1931	Japanese Army invades Manchuria
1932
11/8/1932	Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected President of the United States
1933
1/30/1933	Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg
2/27/1933	German Reichstag burns down; communists blamed, arrested.
3/23/1933	Enabling Act passed by Reichstag; Hitler assumes dictatorial power
7/14/1933	Nazi party declared official party of Germany; all other parties banned
10/14/1933	Germany quits League of Nations
1934
6/30/1934	Hitler orders murder of SA Chief Ernst Roehm in "Night of the Long Knives"
8/2/1934	German President Paul von Hindenburg dies
8/19/1934	Hitler combines the offices of president and chancellor; assumes the title of Führer
1935
3/16/1935	Military conscription introduced in Germany in violation of Versailles treaty
9/15/1935	Nuremberg race laws promulgated
10/3/1935	Italian Army invades Ethiopia
1936
3/7/1936	German troops remilitarize the Rhineland in violation of Versailles treaty
5/9/1936	Italian campaign in Ethiopia ends
7/17/1936	Spanish Civil War breaks out; Hitler and Mussolini send aid to Franco
10/1/1936	Franco becomes dictator of Spain
10/25/1936	Rome-Berlin "Axis" alliance formed
1937
1/19/1937	Japan withdraws from Washington Conference Treaty limiting the size of its navy
5/28/1937	Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of England
6/11/1937	Josef Stalin begins purge of Red Army
7/7/1937	Full-scale war erupts between China and Japan
1938
3/12/1938	Germany invades Austria; Anschluss (union) proclaimed
9/30/1938	Germany invades Austria; Anschluss (union) proclaimed
10/15/1938	Germany invades Austria; Anschluss (union) proclaimed
11/9-10/1938	Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)
1939
3/15-16/1939	WGerman troops occupy the rest of Czechoslovakia in violation of Munich Agreement
3/28/1939	Spanish Civil War ends
8/23/1939	Nazi-Soviet nonagression pact signed
9/1/1939	German Army invades Poland
9/3/1939	Britain and France declare war on Germany
9/17/1939	Red Army invades Poland in accordance with Nazi-Soviet Pact
9/27/1939	Warsaw falls to the Nazis
11/30/1939	Red Army attacks Finland
9/14/1939	Soviet Union kicked out of League of Nations
1940
3/12/1940	Finland signs peace treaty with Soviet Union
4/9/1940	German Army invades Denmark and Norway
5/10/1940	German Army invades France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill appointed British Prime Minister
5/15/1940	Holland capitulates to Nazis
5/26/1940	"Miracle at Dunkirk"
5/28/1940	Belgium capitulates to Nazis
6/10/1940	Norway capitulates to Nazis; Italy declares war on Britain and France
6/14/1940	Nazis take Paris
6/22/1940	France capitulates to Nazis
7/10/1940	Battle of Britain begins
7/23/1940	Red Army takes Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
8/3/1940	Italian Army invades British Somaliland
8/13/1940	Luftwaffe begins raids on British airfields and aircraft factories
8/23-24/1940	Off-course German bombers accidentally bomb London
8/25-26/1940	Royal Air Force mounts reprisal raid against Berlin
9/7/1940	German "blitz" on British cities begins in earnest
9/13/1940	Italian Army attacks Egypt
9/16/1940	Military conscription introduced in United States
9/27/1940	Tripartite alliance formed between Germany, Italy and Japan
10/7/1940	German troops occupy Romania
10/28/1940	Italian Army attacks Greece
11/5/1940	Roosevelt re-elected
11/10-11/1940	RAF raid cripples Italian fleet at Taranto
11/20/1940	Romania joins Axis
12/9-10/1940	British counter-attack begins against Italian Army in North Africa
1941
1/22/1941	British take Tobruk in North Africa from Nazis
2/11/1941	British Army attacks Italian Somaliland
2/12/1941	Erwin Rommel assumes command of German Afrika Korps
3/7/1941	British Army comes to the aid of Greece
3/11/1941	Lend-Lease Act signed by Roosevelt
4/6/1941	German Army hastily invades Yugoslavia and Greece
4/17/1941	Yugoslavia capitulates to Nazis
4/27/1941	Greece capitulates to Nazis
5/10/1941	Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland on "peace mission"
5/15/1941	British counter-attack in Egypt
5/24/1941	German battleship Bismarck sinks Hood, pride of the Royal Navy
5/27/1941	Royal Navy sinks Bismarck
6/8/1941	British Army invades Lebanon and Syria
6/22/1941	Hitler launches operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union
6/28/1941	Germans capture Soviet city of Minsk
7/3/1941	Stalin launches "scorched earth" policy
7/31/1941	Planning begins for "Final Solution," the systematic destruction of the Jews
8/12/1941	Atlantic Charter signed by Roosevelt and Churchil
8/20/1941	German siege of Soviet city of Leningrad begins
9/1/1941	Jews order to wear yellow Star of David
9/19/1941	Germans capture Soviet city of Kiev
9/29/1941	German SS mass murders Russian Jews at Kiev
10/16/1941	Germans capture Soviet city of Odessa
10/17/1941	Hideki Tojo becomes Prime Minister of Japan
10/24/1941	Germans capture Soviet city of Kharkov
10/30/1941	German Army occupies the Crimea
11/20/1941	Germans capture the Soviet city of Rostov
11/27/1941	Red Army retakes Rostov
12/6/1941	Red Army launches major counter-offensive
12/7/1941	Japanese attack naval base at Pearl Harbor
12/8/1941	Roosevelt gives "Day of Infamy" speech; United States and Britain declare war on Japan
12/11/1941	Germany declares war on the United States
12/16/1941	Rommel's Afrika Korps forced to retreat in North Africa
12/19/1941	Hitler assumes post of Commander in Chief of German Army
1942
1/1/1942	Mass gassing of Jews begins at Auschwitz
1/1/1942	Allies forge Declaration of the United Nations
1/13/1942	German U-boats begin sinking ships off American coast in "Operation Drumbeat
1/20/1942	Nazis coordinate "Final Solution" efforts at Wannsee Conference
1/21/1942	Rommel counter-attacks in North Africa
4/1/1942	American citizens of Japanese descent forced into "relocation centers"
5/8/1942	Germans launch summer offensive in the Crimea
5/30/1942	Royal Air Force launches first 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne, German
6/4/1942	Japanese Navy resoundingly defeated at Battle of Midway--war reaches its turning point in the Pacific; S.S. Leader Rheinhardt Heydrich dies of wounds sustained in partisan attack at Prague
6/5/1942	German siege of Sevastopol begins
6/10/1942	Nazis annihilate Czech town of Lidice in retaliation for Heydrich's assassination
6/21/1942	German Afrika Korps recaptures Tobruk
7/3/1942	Sevastopol falls to German Army
7/5/1942	Nazi conquest of Crimea achieved
7/9/1942	German Army begins push towards Stalingrad
8/7/1942	General Bernard Montgomery assumes command of British Eighth Army in North Africa
9/13/1942	German attack on Stalingrad begins
11/3/1942	Afrika Korps decisively defeated by British at El Alamein
11/8/1942	Allied invasion of North Africa begins in "Operation Torch"
11/11/1942	Axis forces occupy Vichy France
11/19/1942	Soviet forces encircle German Sixth Army at Stalingrad
12/31/1942	German and British ships engage in the Battle of the Barents Sea
1943
1/2-3/1943	German Army retreats from Caucasus
1/10/1943	Red Army begins siege of German-occupied Stalingrad
1/14-23/1943	Roosevelt and Churchill meet at Casablanca, issue unconditional surrender demand
1/23/1943	British forces take Tripoli
1/27/1943	U.S. Air Force opens daylight bombing campaign with attack on Wilhelmshaven, Germany
2/2/1943	German Sixth Army at Stalingrad surrenders to the Russians; war in Europe reaches its turning point
2/8/1943	Red Army takes Kursk
2/14-25/1943	Battle of Kasserine Pass fought in North Africa between German and U.S. forces
2/16/1943	Red Army retakes Kharkov
3/2/1943	Afrika Korps withdraws from Tunisia
3/15/1943	Germany Army recaptures Kharkov
3/16-20/1943	German submarines achieve their largest tonnage total of the war
4/19/1943	S.S. begins "liquidation" of the Warsaw ghetto
5/7/1943	Allies capture Tunisia
5/13/1943	remaining Axis troops in North Africa surrender to Allies
5/16-17/1943	RAF targets German industry in the Ruhr
5/22/1943	U-boat operations suspended in the North Atlantic due to steep losses
6/11/1943	Nazis order destruction of Polish ghettos
7/5/1943	Largest tank battle in history begins at Kursk
7/9-10/1943	Allied forces land on Sicily
7/22/1943	American forces take Palermo, Sicily
7/25-26/1943	Mussolini and the Fascists overthrown
7/27-28/1943	Allied bombing raid creates firestorm in Hamburg, Germany
8/12-17/1943	Axis forces withdraw from Sicily
8/17/1943	USAF suffers steep losses in bombing run on ball-bearing plants at Regensburg and Schweinfurt, Germany
8/23/1943	Red Army retakes Karkhov
9/8/1943	New Italian government announces Italy's surrender
9/9/1943	Allied forces land in Salerno and Taranto, Italy
9/11/1943	German Army occupies Italy
9/12/1943	Nazi commandos rescue Mussolini
9/23/1943	Fascist government re-established in Italy
10/1/1943	Allies take Naples
11/6/1943	Red Army recaptures Kiev
11/28/1943	"Big Three" of Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill meet at Tehran
12/24-26/1943	Soviets begin large offensive in Ukraine
1944
1/6/1944	Red Army advances into Poland
1/22/1944	Allied forces land at Anzio, Italy
1/27/1944	Red Army breaks 900-day siege of Leningrad
1/31/1944	American forces invade Kwajalein
2/16/1944	German 14th Army counter-attacks at Anzio
2/18-22/1944	American forces take Eniwetok
4/8/1944	Red Army begins offensive in the Crimea
5/9/1944	Soviet troops recapture Sevastopol
5/12/1944	German forces in the Crimea surrender
6/5/1944	Allied forces enter Rome
6/6/1944	D-Day: invasion of Europe begins with Allied landings at Normandy
6/9/1944	Red Army advances into Finland
6/13/1944	Germans begin launching V-1 rockets against London
6/15/1944	American marines invade Saipan
6/19-20/1944	"Marianas Turkey Shoot" results in destruction of over 200 Japanese aircraft
6/22/1944	Red Army begins massive summer offensive
6/27/1944	American forces liberate Cherbourg
7/3/1944	Soviet forces recapture Minsk
7/9/1944	Allied troops liberate Caen
7/18/1944	American troops liberate St Lô
7/20/1944	Hitler survives assassination attempt
7/24/1944	Soviet forces liberate concentration camp at Majdanek
7/25-30/1944	Allied forces break-out of Normandy encirclement in "Operation Cobra"
7/28/1944	Red Army recaptures Brest-Litovsk
8/1/1944	Polish Home Army begins revolt against Nazis in Warsaw
8/15/1944	Allies invade Southern France
8/19-20/1944	Soviet forces invade Romania
8/23/1944	Rumania capitulates to Soviets
8/25/1944	Paris liberated
8/31/1944	Red Army takes Bucharest
9/3/1944	Brussels liberated
9/4/1944	Antwerp liberated
9/8/1944	Soviets and Finns sign peace treaty
9/13/1944	American troops reach the Siegfried Line in western Germany
9/26/1944	Red Army occupies Estonia
10/2/1944	Nazis brutally crush revolt in Warsaw; Allies advance into Germany
10/5/1944	British invade Greece
10/14/1944	British liberate Athens; Rommel forced to commit suicide for alleged involvement in July assassination plot against Hitler
10/20/1944	Belgrade, Yugoslavia falls to Soviet forces
10/23-26/1944	U.S. naval forces destroy remnants of Japanese Navy at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval engagement in history
11/7/1944	Roosevelt elected to fourth term
12/3/1944	Civil war erupts in Greece; Japanese retreat in Burma
12/15/1944	American forces invade Phillipine island of Mindoro
12/16/1944	German Army launches "Battle of the Bulge" offensive on the Western Front
12/17/1944	Waffen SS executes 81 American prisoners of war in "Malmedy Massacre"
1945
1/9/1945	American forces invade Phillipine island of Luzon
1/16/1945	Battle of the Bulge ends in German defeat
1/17/1945	Red Army liberates Warsaw
1/19/1945	German lines on Eastern Front collapse; full retreat begins
1/20/1945	Hungary signs armistice with Allies
1/26/1945	Soviets liberate Auschwitz
1/27/1945	Red Army occupies Lithuania
2/4-11/1945	Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet at Yalta Conference
2/13-14/1945	Allied incendiary raid creates firestorm in Dresden
2/19/1945	American forces land on Iwo Jima
3/3/1945	American forces liberate Manila in the Phillipines; Finland declares war on Germany
3/7/1945	Allies capture Cologne; Ludendorff Rail Bridge on Rhine River captured intact at Ramagen
3/9/1945	Tokyo firebombed
3/16/1945	Japanese resistance on Iwo Jima ends
3/21/1945	Allies take Mandalay, Burma
3/30/1945	Red Army liberates Danzig
4/1/1945	American troops encircle German forces in the Ruhr
4/12/1945	Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies of stroke; Harry Truman becomes President; Allies liberate Belsen and Buchenwald concentration camps
4/16/1945	Red Army launches Berlin offensive; Allies take Nuremberg
4/18/1945	German forces in the Ruhr capitulate
4/28/1945	Mussolini hanged by Italian partisans; Venice falls to Allied forces
4/29/1945	Dachau concentration camp liberated
4/30/1945	Adolf Hitler and wife Eva Braun commit suicide in Chancellery bunker
5/2/1945	All German forces in Italy surrender
5/7/1945	Unconditional surrender of all German forces
5/8/1945	Victory in Europe (VE) Day
5/23/1945	SS Reichführer Heinrich Himmler commits suicide
6/5/1945	Allies divide Germany into occupation zones
6/26/1945	United Nations World Charter signed in San Francisco
7/16/1945	First U.S. atomic bomb tested at Los Alamos, New Mexico; Potsdam Conference begins
7/26/1945	Clement Attlee becomes British Prime Minister
8/6/1945	First atomic bomb dropped Hiroshima
8/8/1945	Soviet Union declares war on Japan; Soviet forces invade Manchuria
8/9/1945	Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
8/14/1945	Unconditional surrender of Japanese forces
8/15/1945	Victory over Japan (VJ) Day
9/2/1945	Japanese delegation signs instrument of surrender aboard battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay
11/20/1945	Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal begins
1946
1/7/1946	United Nations meets for first time in London
10/16/1946	Hermann Göring commits suicide; 11 other war criminals hanged

World War 2 Pictures

Adolf Hitler

Dresden after Allied bombing. Allied bombing of the German city of Dresden later in the war proved controversial. 85% of the baroque city was destroyed.

The Big Three: The Allied Leaders: Prime Minster Winston Churchill (UK), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (US), and First Secretary Joseph Stalin (USSR)

Benito Mussolini Italy's 'Duce' Founder of Italian fascism.

General Charles de Gaulle Leader of the Free French in opposition to Petáin's Vichy regime.

Thousands of Holocaust victims arriving at the Nazi extermination camp at Birkenau in 1944

Soviet soldiers raise their flag over the Reichstag in Berlin in 1945

Japan's Emperor Hirohito

A mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 60,000 feet into the air on the morning of August 9th, 1945

World War 2 Death Count Per Country

Here we've compiled a comprehensive collection of World War 2 Statistics. Please note that these figues are approximate. Individual sources of statistics sometimes vary.

Country	Military	Civilian	Total
USSR	12 million	17 million	29 million
Poland	597,000	5.86 million	6.27 million
Germany	3.25 million	2.44 million	5.69 million
Yugoslavia	305,000	1.35 million	1.66 million
Romania	450,000	465,000	915,000
Hungary	200,000	600,000	800,000
France	245,000	350,000	595,000
Italy	380,000	153,000	533,000
Great Britain	403,000	92,700	495,000
United States	407,000	6,000	413,000
Czechoslovakia	7,000	315,000	322,000
Holland	13,700	236,000	249,000
Greece	19,000	140,000	159,000
Belgium	76,000	23,000	99,000

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Death Distribution Of Both World Wars

War	Military Dead	Civilian Dead
World War 1	95%	5%
World War 2	33%	67%

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Number of divisions available for these countries over the course of the war

Country	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	End of War
France	86	105	0	0	5	7	14	14
Germany	78	189	235	261	327	347	319	375
Great Britain	9	34	35	38	39	37	31	31
Italy	6	73	64	89	86	2	9	10
Poland	43	2	2	2	2	5	5	5
Romania	11	28	33	31	33	32	24	24
USSR	194	200	220	250	350	400	488	491
USA	8	24	39	76	95	94	94	94

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Aircraft Available In Europe

Date	British	US	Soviet	TOTAL	German	Allied Ratio
June 1942	9500	0	2100	11,600	3700	3.1:1
December 1942	11,300	1300	3800	16,400	3400	4.8:1
June 1943	12,700	5000	5600	23,300	4600	5.1:1
December 1943	11,800	7500	8800	28,100	4700	6:1
June 1944	13,200	11,800	14,700	39,700	4600	8.6:1
December 1944	14,500	12,200	15,800	42,500	8500	5:1

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Aircraft Sorties In World War 2

Campaign	Allied	Axis	Allied Kills Per 1000	Axis Kills Per 1000	Allied Lost Per 1000	Axis Lost Per 1000
France 1940	4480	21,000	28.6	12.5	58.5	6.1
Britain 1940	31,000	42,000	21.8	29.5	29.5	9.6
Pre D-Day 1944	98,400	34,500	12.7	29.3	10.3	36.1
Post D-Day 1944	203,357	31,833	17.3	16.2	2.5	110.6

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Major Warships Sunk In World War 2

Country	Aircraft Carriers	Battleships	Cruisers	Destroyers	Submarines	Total
Germany	0	4	9	53	994	1060
Britain	9	5	29	142	75	260
Italy	0	2	15	99	116	232
USA	11	2	10	82	52	157
France	0	5	10	58	65	138
USSR	0	0	2	34	95	131
Holland	0	0	3	11	15	29
Poland	0	0	1	4	2	9

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Civilian Air Raid Deaths

Country	Deaths
Germany	543,000
Britain	60,400

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German/American Rank Conversion Chart

Waffen SS	Wehrmacht	US Army
Schütze	Schütze/Grenadier	Private
Oberschütze	Oberschütze/Obergrenadier	Private First Class
Sturmann	Gefreiter	--
Rottenführer	Obergefreiter	Corporal
Unterscharführer	Unteroffizier	Sergeant
Scharführer	Unterfeldwebel	Staff Sergeant
Standartenjunker	Fähnrich	--
Oberscharführer	Feldwebel	Technical Sergeant
Hauptscharführer	Oberfeldwebel	Master Sergeant
Standarten-Oberjunker	Oberfähnrich	--
Sturmscharführer	Stabsfeldwebel	Sergeant Major
Untersturmführer	Leutnant	Second Lieutenant
Obersturmführer	Oberleutnant	First Lieutenant
Hauptsturmführer	Hauptmann	Captain
Sturmbannführer	Major	Major
Obersturmbannführer	Oberstleutnant	Lieutenant Colonel
Standartenführer	Oberst	Colonel
Oberführer	--	--
Brigadeführer	Generalmajor	Brigadier General
Gruppenführer	Generalleutnant	Major General
Obergruppenführer	General der... (Infanterie, etc.)	Lieutenant General
Oberstgruppenführer	Generaloberst	General
Reichsführer	Generalfeldmarschall	General of the Army

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German Occupational Forces, 1939-1940

Country	Population	Area In Sq. Mi.	German Forces	German Ratio To Population
Balkans	21 million	403,000	200,000	1:105
Belgium	8 million	30,400	100,000	1:80
Denmark	3.6 million	22,700	40,000	1:90
France	40 million	550,700	500,000	1:80
Holland	8.5 million	34,200	100,000	1:85
Norway	2.8 million	324,000	150,000	1:19

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Location Of German Divisions In June Of Each Year

Country	1941	1942	1943	1944
USSR	34	171	179	157
France, Belgium & Holland	38	27	42	56
Norway & Finland	13	16	16	16
Balkans	7	8	17	20
Italy	0	0	0	22
Denmark	1	1	2	3
North Africa	2	3	0	0

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A look at fuel consumption of German tanks

Year	Types Of Tanks In A Division	Tons Of Fuel Consumed Per 100 Miles
1941	PzII, PzIII, PzIV, Pz38	22.1
1942	PzIII, PzIV	23.7
1943	PzIII, PzIV, Panther, Tiger	31.7
1944	PzIV, Panther, Tiger	35.8

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Luftwaffe Aircraft Used Only Against Allied Bombers

Month	Year	Percentage
June	1940	0%
June	1941	7%
June	1942	17%
June	1943	21%
June	1944	29%
January	1945	50%

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Oil Production In Tons

Year	Germany	USA
1939	8 million	N/A
1940	6.7 million	N/A
1941	7.3 million	N/A
1942	7.7 million	184 million
1943	8.9 million	200 million
1944	6.4 million	223 million

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Percentage Of German Forces On The Eastern Front Each Year

Unit	1941	1942	1943	1944
Divisions	67%	75%	60%	57%
Troops	84%	74%	72%	40%
Aircraft	64%	65%	42%	45%

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U-Boat Losses

Sunk By	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	Total
Aircraft Carrier	0	2	3	36	140	68	40	289
Ships	5	11	24	32	59	68	17	216
Bombs	0	0	0	0	2	24	36	62
Mines	3	2	0	3	1	9	7	25
Submarines	1	2	1	2	4	5	3	18
Other	0	4	5	6	17	43	17	92
Total	9	23	35	86	236	235	122	746

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German Flak

Unit	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944
Heavy Guns	2600	3164	3888	4772	8520	10,600
Light Guns	6700	8290	9020	10,700	17,500	19,360
Searchlights	2988	3450	3905	4650	5200	7500
% Under The Luftwaffe	50%	61%	54%	64%	74%	70%

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Mid-Year Manpower On The Eastern Front

Year	Soviet	German
1941	5 million	3.3 million
1942	5 million	3.1 million
1943	6.2 million	2.9 million
1944	6.8 million	3.1 million

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Percentage Of All Allied Bombs Dropped

Year	%
1940	.8%
1941	2%
1942	3%
1943	12.8%
1944	57.9%
1945	23.5%

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Percentage Of Fighters and Bombers KIA or MIA

Tour Of Duty	% KIA or MIA
Fighters (300 combat hours)	24%
Medium bombers (50 missions	48%
Heavy bombers (30 missions)	71%

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D-Day Statistics

Unit	Allies	Germans	Ratio
Ground Troops	1 million	700,000	1.43:1
Replacements	120,000	20,000	6:1
Other Men	1.75 million	780,000	2.25:1
Total	2.87 million	1.5 million	1.92:1

Unit	Allies	Germans	Ratio
Tanks	5500	1400	3.93:1
Artillery	4800	3200	1.5:1
Others	2000	800	2.5:1

Air Force	Bombers	Fighters	Total
RAF	624	2172	2796
USAAF	1922	1311	3233
Luftwaffe	400	420	820
Ratio	6.4:1	8.3:1	7.4:1

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Percentage Of Combat Strength Kept In Non-Divisional Formations (regiment, battalion, etc.)

Country	%
USA	45%
USSR	20%
Germany	10%

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Total Number Of Weapons During World War 2

Weapon Type	World	USA	US %
Aircraft	542,000	283,000	52%
Vehicles	5.1 million	2.47 million	48%

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Convoy Battles

Date	Convoy Code	Ships	Sunk	Tonnage	German Subs	Sunk
October 1940	SC-71, HX-79	79	32	154,600	12	0
September 1941	SC-42	70	18	73,200	19	2
July 1942	PQ-17	42	16	102,300	11	0
November 1942	SC-107	42	15	82,800	18	3
December 1942	ONS-154	45	19	74,500	19	1
March 1943	SC-121, HX-228	119	16	79,900	37	2

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800 U-Boats sank 2640 ships in the Atlantic

Year	Total Ships Sunk	Sunk By Submarine
1939	222	114
1940	1059	471
1941	1299	432
1942	1664	1160
1943	597	377
1944	205	132
1945	105	56

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US Daily Ammunition Expenditure In Tons

Action	Armor divisions	Infantry divisions	155mm battalions
Attack	436-832	353-658	66-121
Defense	596-969	472-768	86-142
Pursuit	107	83	15
Delay	321	256	51

World War 2 Casualties

Here we offer detailed break-down of World War 2 Casualties listed by country. Please note that the figures in this table are unofficial estimates obtained from various sources.

Country	Soldiers	KIA	Wounded
Australia	1,000,000	26,976	180,864
Austria	800,000	280,000	350,117
Belgium	625,000	8,460	55,513
Brazil	40,334	943	4,222
Bulgaria	339,760	6,671	21,878
Canada	1,086,343	42,042	53,145
China	17,250,521	1,324,516	1,762,006
Czechoslovakia	---	6,683	8,017
Denmark	---	4,339	---
Finland	500,000	79,047	50,000
France	---	201,568	400,000
Germany	20,000,000	3,250,000	7,250,000
Greece	---	17,024	47,290
Hungary	---	147,435	89,313
India	2,393,891	32,121	64,354
Italy	3,100,000	149,496	66,716
Japan	9,700,000	1,270,000	140,000
Netherlands	280,000	6,500	2,860
New Zealand	194,000	11,625	17,000
Norway	75,000	2,000	---
Poland	---	664,000	530,000
Romania	650,000	350,000	---
South Africa	410,056	2,473	---
U.S.S.R.	---	6,115,000	14,012,000
United Kingdom	5,896,000	357,116	369,267
United States	16,112,566	291,557	670,846
Yugoslavia	3,741,000	305,000	425,000

Civilians killed during World War 2

• Albania: 10,000


• Austria: 125,000


• Belgium: 76,000


• Bulgaria: 10,000


• China: 7,750,000


• Czechoslovakia: 294,000


• Denmark: 2,000


• Ethiopia: 5,000


• Finland: 2,000


• France: 350,000


• Germany: 1,600,000


• Greece: 325,000


• Hungary: 290,000


• India: 25,000


• Italy: 153,000


• Japan: 672,000


• Netherlands: 200,000


• Norway: 7,000


• Philippines: 91,000


• Poland: 5,680,000


• Romania: 200,000


• Soviet Union: 7,000,000


• United Kingdom: 92,700


• United States: 6,000


• Yugoslavia: 1,200,000

World War 2 Facts

• The first German serviceman killed in the war was killed by the Japanese (China, 1937)


• The first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940).


• 80% of Soviet males born in 1923 didn't survive World War 2


• The highest ranking American killed was Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps.


• Between 1939 and 1945 the Allies dropped 3.4 million tons of bombs, An average of about 27,700 tons of bombs each month.


• 12,000 heavy bombers were shot down in World War 2


• 2/3 of Allied bomber crews were lost for each plane destroyed


• 3 or 4 ground men were wounded for each killed


• 6 bomber crewmen were killed for each one wounded


• Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over Europe


• There were 433 Medals of Honor awarded during World War 2, 219 of them were given after the receipiant's death


• From 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945 in Europe the Allies had 200,000 dead and 550,000 wounded


• The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN. He was wounded in combat and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. (His benefits were later restored by act of Congress).


• At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command was called CINCUS (pronounced “sink us”), the shoulder patch of the US Army’s 45^th Infantry division was the swastika, and Hitler’s private train was named “Amerika”. All three were soon changed for PR purposes.


• Germany lost 110 Division Commanders in combat


• 40,000 men served on U-Boats during World War 2; 30,000 never returned


• More US servicemen died in the Air Corps that the Marine Corps. While completing the required 30 missions, your chance of being killed was 71%. Not that bombers were helpless. A B-17 carried 4 tons of bombs and 1.5 tons of machine gun ammo. The US 8^th Air Force shot down 6,098 fighter planes, 1 for every 12,700 shots fired.


• Germany’s power grid was much more vulnerable than realized. One estimate is that if just 1% of the bombs dropped on German industry had instead been dropped on power plants, German industry would have collapsed.


• Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an average fighter pilot. You were either an ace or a target. For instance, Japanese ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes. He died while a passenger on a cargo plane.


• It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5^th found with a tracer round to aid in aiming. That was a mistake. The tracers had different ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting the target, 80% of your rounds were missing. Worse yet, the tracers instantly told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction. Worst of all was the practice of loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that you were out of ammo. That was definitely not something you wanted to tell the enemy. Units that stopped using tracers saw their success rate nearly double and their loss rate go down.


• When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men did was pee in it. This was pretty universal from the lowest private to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. Patton (who had himself photographed in the act).


• German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City but it wasn’t worth the effort.


• A number of air crewmen died of farts. (ascending to 20,000 ft. in an un-pressurized aircraft causes intestinal gas to expand 300%!)


• Germany lost 40-45% of their aircraft during World War 2 to accidents


• The Russians destroyed over 500 German aircraft by ramming them in midair (they also sometimes cleared minefields by marching over them). “It takes a brave man not to be a hero in the Red Army”. - Joseph Stalin


• The average German officer slot had to be refilled 9.2 times


• The US Army had more ships that the US Navy.


• The German Air Force had 22 infantry divisions, 2 armor divisions, and 11 paratroop divisions. None of them were capable of airborne operations. The German Army had paratroops who WERE capable of airborne operations.


• When the US Army landed in North Africa, among the equipment brought ashore were 3 complete Coca Cola bottling plants.


• 84 German Generals were executed by Hitler


• Among the first “Germans” captured at Normandy were several Koreans. They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until they were capture by the US Army.


• The Graf Spee never sank, The scuttling attempt failed and the ship was bought by the British. On board was Germany’s newest radar system.


• One of Japan’s methods of destroying tanks was to bury a very large artillery shell with on ly the nose exposed. When a tank came near the enough a soldier would whack the shell with a hammer. “Lack of weapons is no excuse for defeat.” – Lt. Gen. Mataguchi


• Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 US and Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska. 21 troops were killed in the fire-fight. It would have been worse if there had been Japanese on the island.


• The MISS ME was an unarmed Piper Cub. While spotting for US artillery her pilot saw a similar German plane doing the same thing. He dove on the German plane and he and his co-pilot fired their pistols damaging the German plane enough that it had to make a forced landing. Whereupon they landed and took the Germans prisoner. It is unknown where they put them since the MISS ME only had two seats.


• Most members of the Waffen SS were not German.


• Air attacks caused 1/3 of German Generals' deaths


• By D-Day, the Germans had 1.5 million railway workers operating 988,000 freight cars and used 29,000 per day


• The only nation that Germany declared war on was the USA.


• During the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, British officers objected to Canadian infantrymen taking up positions in the officer’s mess. No enlisted men allowed!


• By D-Day, 35% of all German soldiers had been wounded at least once, 11% twice, 6% three times, 2% four times and 2% more than 4 times


• Nuclear physicist Niels Bohr was rescued in the nick of time from German occupied Denmark. While Danish resistance fighters provided covering fire he ran out the back door of his home stopping momentarily to grab a beer bottle full of precious “heavy water”. He finally reached England still clutching the bottle, which contained beer. Perhaps some German drank the heavy water…


• Germany lost 136 Generals, which averages out to be 1 dead General every 2 weeks