Military production during World War II was the production or mobilization of arms, ammunition, personnel and financing by the belligerents of the war, from the Anschluss in early 1938 to the surrender and occupation of Japan in late 1945.
The mobilization of funds, people, natural resources and material for the production and supply of military equipment and military forces during World War II was a critical component of the war effort. During the conflict, the Allies outpaced the Axis powers in most production categories. Access to the funding and industrial resources necessary to sustain the war effort was linked to their respective economic and political alliances.
Historical context During the 1930s, political forces in Germany increased their financial investment in the military to develop the armed forces required to support near and long-term political and territorial goals. Germany's economic, scientific, research, and industrial capabilities were among the most technically advanced in the world at the time, supporting a rapidly growing, innovative military. However, access to (and control of) the resources and production capacity required to entertain long-term goals (such as European control, German territorial expansion and the destruction of the USSR) were limited. Political demands necessitated the expansion of Germany's control of natural and human resources, industrial capacity and farmland beyond its borders. Germany's military production was tied to resources outside its area of control, a great disadvantage as compared to the Allies.
In 1938 Britain was the world's superpower, with political and economic control of a quarter of the world's population, industry and resources, and closely allied with the independent Dominion nations (such as Canada and South Africa). From mid-1940 to mid-1942, the British coordinated the Allied effort in all global theatres. They fought the German, Italian, Japanese and Vichy armies, air forces and navies across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, India, the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. British forces destroyed Italian armies in North and East Africa, and occupied or enlisted overseas colonies of occupied European nations. Following engagements with Axis forces, British Empire troops occupied Libya, Italian Somaliland, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran and Iraq. The Empire funded and delivered supplies by Arctic convoys to the USSR, and supported Free French forces to recapture French Equatorial Africa. Britain also established governments in exile in London to rally support in occupied Europe for the Allied effort. The British held back or slowed the Axis powers for three years while mobilising their globally integrated economy and industrial infrastructure to build what became, by 1942, the most extensive military apparatus of the war. This allowed their later allies (such as the United States) to mobilise their economies and develop the military forces required to play a role in the war effort, and for the British to go on the offensive in its theatres of operation.
The entry of the United States into the war in late 1941 injected financial, human and industrial resources into Allied operations. The US produced more than its own military forces required and armed itself and its allies for the most industrialized war in history.Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, p. IX, Random House, New York, NY, 2012. . At the beginning of the war, the British and French placed large orders for aircraft with American manufacturers and the US Congress approved plans to increase its air forces by 3,000 planes. In May 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt called for the production of 185,000 aeroplanes, 120,000 tanks, 55,000 anti-aircraft guns and 18 million tons of merchant shipping in two years. Adolf Hitler was told by his advisors that this was American propaganda; in 1939, annual aircraft production for the US military was less than 3,000 planes. By the end of the war US factories had produced 300,000 planes,Parker (2013), p. 7Wrynn, V. Dennis. Forge of Freedom: American Aircraft Production in World War II, pp. 4-5, Motorbooks International, Osceola, WI, 1995. . and by 1944 had produced two-thirds of the Allied military equipment used in the war — bringing military forces into play in North and South America, the Caribbean, the Atlantic, Western Europe and the Pacific.
The U.S. produced vast quantities of military equipment into late 1945, including nuclear weapons, and became the strongest, most technologically advanced military force in the world. In addition to out-producing the Axis, the Allies produced technological innovations; through the Tizard Mission, British contributions included radar (instrumental in winning the Battle of Britain), sonar (improving their ability to sink U-boats), and the proximity fuze; the Americans led the British-originated Manhattan Project (which eliminated the need to invade Japan). The proximity fuze, for example, was five times as effective as contact or timed fuzes and was devastating in naval use against Japanese aircraft and so effective against German ground troops that General George S. Patton said it "won the Battle of the Bulge for us."Baldwin, Ralph B. The Deadly Fuze: Secret Weapon of World War II, pp. 4-6, 11, 50, 279, Presidio Press, San Rafael, California, 1980. .
The human and social costs of the war on the population of the USSR were immense, with combat deaths alone in the millions. Recognising the importance of their population and industrial production to the war effort, the USSR evacuated the majority of its European territory—moving 2,500 factories, 17 million people and great quantities of resources to the east.Kumanev, G.A., "War and the evacuation of the USSR: 1941-1942", New Age, 2006 Out of German reach, the USSR produced equipment and forces critical to their victory in Europe. Over one million women served in the Soviet armed forces.
The statistics below illustrate the extent to which the Allies outproduced the Axis. Production of machine tools tripled, and thousands of ships were built in shipyards which did not exist before the war.Sawyer, L. A. and Mitchell, W. H. The Liberty Ships: The History of the "Emergency" Type Cargo Ships Constructed in the United States During the Second World War, Second Edition, pp. vii, 1-8, Lloyd's of London Press Ltd., London, England, 1985. . According to William S. Knudsen, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible."Parker (2013), pp. 5, 7
Access to resources and to large, controlled international labour pools, and the ability to build arms in relative peace, were critical to the eventual victory of the Allies. Donald Douglas (founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company) declared, "Here's proof that free men can out-produce slaves."Parker (2013), p. 8
Production summaries, 1939–1945 Personnel, thousands
Service Allies Axis Combat25,00010,000 Auxiliary force15,0007,500 Merchant marine50,0000 Irregulars90,00012,500 Total180,00030,000
Major weapons groups System Allies AxisTanks, self-propelled artillery, vehicles4,358,650670,288Artillery, mortars, guns6,792,6961,363,490Aircraft637,249300,000 Missiles (only for test)45,558Ships54,9311,670
Economy In thousands of international dollars, at 2014 prices. Service Allies AxisGDP 97,707,908,723.20 10,268,201,776.37 Expenditure
Vital commerce and raw materials, tons
CategoryAlliesAxis Cargo ships47,16912,762 Merchant shipping46,817,1725,621,967 Coal4,581,400,000 2,629,900,000 Crude oil 1,043,000,00066,000,000 Steel 733,006,633 x Aluminium 5,104,697 1,199,150 Asbestos 3,934,043 x Cargo and resources in metric tonnes.
Production overview: service, power and type
Land forces
PowerTanks & SPGsArmoured vehiclesOther vehiclesArtilleryMortarsMachine gunsPersonnelBritish Empire47,86247,4201,475,521226,113239,5401,090,41017,192,533USA and territories108,4102,382,311257,390105,0552,679,84016,000,000USSR119,769265,000516,648363,0121,477,40034,401,807Other Allies270,04147,4204,054,9321,000,151707,6075,247,65067,594,000Germany and territories67,42949,777159,14773,484104,8641,000,73014,540,835Hungary9735305,2244472,7004,583730,000Romania2142514,3001,8004,30010,0001,220,000Italian Empire3,3681,24083,0007,20022,000140,0004,300,000Japanese Empire4,5242,200165,94513,35049,000380,0008,100,000Other Axis76,38550,028413,31697,281182,8641,395,31328,890,800
Air forces PowerTotal aircraftFightersAttackBombersReconTransportTrainingOtherPersonnel British Empire177,02538,78633,81138,1587,01412,58546,2564151,927,395USA and territories295,95999,465 96,8724,10623,90058,08513,5312,403,806USSR136,22322,30137,54921,116 17,3324,06133,864Other Allies609,207160,55271,360156,14611,12053,817108,40247,810Germany and territories133,38757,6538,99128,5775,0258,39614,31111,3613,402,200Romania1,113513272128020000Italian Empire13,4029,157343,3813882,4719683Japanese Empire64,48433,4059,55811,9433,7091,0733,4201,376Other9,84988143953181,8805,14557 Axis222,23598,60918,85944,42411,00214,02022,94412,794
Naval forces
PowerTotal large shipsCarriers (escort carriers)BattleshipsCruisersDestroyersFrigates & Destroyer EscortsOther large vesselsCorvettesSloopsPatrol boatsSubmarines (includes midget submarines)De/ MiningLanding craftPersonnelBritish Empire55815 (29)5352022702338334,2092381,2449,5381,227,415USA and territories202029 (121)1052396101439877323435,0004,000,000"Expanding the Size of the U.S. Military in World War II". warfarehistorynetwork.com. 26 June 2017. Archived from the original on 12 August 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2019.USSR630654368France927Other8(2)24191 Allies2658 44(152)17956631284403 33834 4,9825771,24544,538Germany & territories38043311,1195401,500,000Italian Empire82033175983Japanese Empire27814(6)212631756867Romania825Other Axis 398 14(6)918 1112346 2,069
Munitions
+ Munitions Production in World War IIGoldsmith data in Harrison (1988) p. 172(Expenditures in billions of dollars, US 1944 munitions prices) Country/Alliance Year Average1935-3919401941194219431944Total1939–44U.S.A.0.31.54.520.038.042.0106.3Britain0.53.56.59.011.011.041.5U.S.S.R.1.65.08.511.514.016.056.6Allies Total2.410.020.041.564.570.5204.4Germany2.46.06.08.513.517.053.4Japan0.41.02.03.04.56.016.9Axis Total2.87.08.011.518.023.070.3
Commercial forces British Empire USA USSR Germany Hungary Italy Japan RomaniaHarbour craft 1,092Cargo 1,361 Cargo tonnage 12,823,942 33,993,230 1,469,606 4,152,361
Resources Country Coal Iron ore Crude oil Steel Aluminium Nickel Zinc!a-9999-9999-9999 USA 2,149.7 396.9 833.2 BritainMitchell, B.R. British Historical Statistics, 1988 1,441.2 119.2 90.8 3.700 0.205 Australia 83.11.56 India 196.7 6.0 1.12Canada 101.9 3.6 8.4 16.4 3.500Dialogue on Aluminium 110 years of history in Canada approximation New Zealand 18 1.0 USSR 590.8 71.3 110.6 0.263 0.069 0.384 Total Allied 4581.4 597 104321.223.9680.0691.944 Germany 2,420.3 240.7 33.4Including 23.4 synthetic. 1.9 0.046 2.1 Japan 184.5 21.0 5.2 Italy 16.9 4.4 2.3 Hungary 6.6 14.1 3.1 Romania 1.6 10.8 25.0 Total Axis 2629.9 291691.90.0462.1~z999999999999999999999999 All figures in millions of tonnes
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product (GDP) provides insight into the relative strength of the belligerents in the run up to, and during the conflict.