Countries Involved in World WAR TWO

The Second World War was the single most brutal and horrifying conflict in all of recorded history. It commenced at 3AM on Saturday morning, September 1 1939 when Nazi German Armed Forces savagely attacked the innocent nation of Poland from three different directions simultaneously. Unfortunately, Poland was knocked out of the war in just 27 days. However, many of their gallant airmen would escape to Great Britain where they would serve with honor and distinction as fighter pilots in the Royal Air Force. Hitler’s invasion and subsequent conquest of Poland was the opening salvo fired in a war that, within three years time, would engulf, literally, the entire world.

While there were as many as 53 nations involved either directly or indirectly in the Second World War, there were eight main combatants combined on both sides, and they were divided into two armed camps. On one side, there were the Allied Powers. By December 11 1942, they consisted of the following nations: the United States of America, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, Canada, and Australia.

From a power standpoint, the United States of America was the most vital to the Allied cause and ultimate triumph. She mobilized over 21 million Armed Forces Personnel, while the Soviet Union mobilized 20 million herself. The other combatants did their part as well, mobilizing millions themselves. However, without the enormous industrial might of the USA, the war may very well have been lost. From 1942 through August 1945, over 102,000 tanks, 2.2 million jeeps, 1.4 million trucks, 1.1 million armored vehicles, 260,000 artillery pieces and mortars, 315,000 aircraft, 225 submarines, and 32,000 surface ships, rolled off of U.S. productions lines, and were launched out of her shipyards. In fact, U.S. industrial output was so awesome, that she out produced all of the Axis Powers combined 10 times over! That definitely makes one proud to be an American.

On the other side of the coin, there were the Axis Powers. Their three main combatants consisted of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and the Empire of Japan. On paper, Nazi Germany was the most powerful member of he Axis Powers. The Fatherland mobilized more than 10 million Armed Forces Personnel, while her partners in crime only a fraction of that number. Nazi Germany was also the most powerful Axis nation with regard to industrial output. In just a hair over one decade, [Nazi Germany had been gearing up for war since 1935, when Hitler had consolidated his power] 80,000 aircraft, 51,000 tanks and tank destroyers, 300,000 trucks, 19,000 artillery pieces and mortars, and 1,200 U-Boats [Submarines] rolled off production lines and were launched in her shipyards. The Empire of Japan was the second most powerful Axis nation with an army that contained more than 2 million soldiers, and a navy that numbered over 500 surface ships, including 13 aircraft carriers, by April 1942.

In summation, these were the main combatant nations that slugged it out in the single worst and bloodiest conflict in the history of the world.