Military production during World War II was a critical component to military performance during World War II. Over the course of the war, the Allied countries outproduced the Axis countries in most categories of weapons.
Gross domestic product (GDP)[]
This table shows the relationships in Gross domestic product (GDP), between a selection of Allied and Axis countries, from 1938 to 1945, counted in billion international dollars and 1990 prices.
Country | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Austria | 24 | 27 | 27 | 29 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 12 |
France[1] | 186 | 199 | 164 | 130 | 116 | 110 | 93 | 101 |
Germany | 351 | 384 | 387 | 412 | 417 | 426 | 437 | 310 |
Italy[2] | 141 | 151 | 147 | 144 | 145 | 137 | 117 | 92 |
Japan[3] | 169 | 184 | 192 | 196 | 197 | 194 | 189 | 144 |
Soviet Union[4] | 359 | 366 | 417 | 359 | 274 | 305 | 362 | 343 |
British Isles | 284 | 287 | 316 | 344 | 353 | 361 | 346 | 331 |
USA[5] | 800 | 869 | 943 | 1,094 | 1,235 | 1,399 | 1,499 | 1,474 |
Allied Total:[6] | 1,629 | 1,600 | 1,331 | 1,596 | 1,862 | 2,065 | 2,363 | 2,341 |
Axis Total:[7] | 685 | 746 | 845 | 911 | 902 | 895 | 826 | 466 |
Allied/Axis GDP:[8] | 2.38 | 2.15 | 1.58 | 1.75 | 2.06 | 2.31 | 2.86 | 5.02 |
Notes on the table (remember that the distribution values are rough estimates):
- ^ France-Axis distribution: 1940: 56%, 1941-43: 100%, 1944: 58%.
- ^ Italy distribution: 1938-1943: 100% Axis, 1944-1945: 100% Allies
- ^ Japanese values are included in Axis totals for all years in order to illustrate potential contribution
- ^ Soviet Union-Allies distribution: 1939: Only 67% due to the pact with Germany, but none to Axis. During 1940 Soviet Union is not counted at all. 1941: 44% is distributed to the Allies (after Operation Barbarossa), 1942-1945: 100%.
- ^ US values are included in Allied totals for all years in order to illustrate potential contribution & Lend-Lease
- ^ The Allied total is not the immediate sum of the table values; see the distribution rules used above.
- ^ The Axis total is not the immediate sum of the table values; see the distribution rules used above.
- ^ Allied/Axis GDP: This row shows the relation in GDP between the Allies and the Axis; i.e. 2.00 means the Allied production was 2 times larger than the Axis. Only a selection of countries are included in the table. The distribution of values into alliances is described in the previous notes.
Table data source: Harrison, Mark, "The Economics of World War II: Six Great Powers in International Comparison", Cambridge University Press (1998).
Summary of production[]
System | Allies | Axis |
Tanks and SP guns | 227,235 | 52,345 |
Artillery | 914,683 | 180,141 |
Mortars | 657,318 | 100,000+ |
Machineguns | 4,744,484 | 1,058,863 |
Military trucks | 3,060,354 | 594,859 |
Military aircraft total | 633,072 | 278,795 |
Fighter aircraft | 212,459 | 90,684 |
Attack aircraft | 37,549 | 12,539 |
Bomber aircraft | 153,615 | 35,415 |
Reconnaissance aircraft | 7,885 | 13,033 |
Transport aircraft | 43,045 | 5,657 |
Training aircraft | 93,578 | 28,516 |
Aircraft carriers | 155 | 16 |
Battleships | 13 | 7 |
Cruisers | 82 | 15 |
Destroyers | 814 | 86 |
Convoy escorts | 1,102 | - |
Submarines | 422 | 1,336 |
Merchant shipping tonnage | 33,993,230 | 5,000,000+ |
Other: | ||
Pillboxes, bunkers (steel, concrete - uk only) | 72,128,141 tonnes | 132,685,348 tonnes |
Estimate Concrete runways | 10,000,000 tonnes |
Most Battleships and Cruisers were produced before the war and many served through its entirety.
Vehicles and ground weapons[]
Country | Total tanks and self-propelled guns | Tanks and self-propelled guns [1] | Artillery [2] | Mortars [3] | Machineguns [4] | Military trucks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Soviet Union | 105,251 | 92,595 | 516,648 | 200,300 | 1,477,400 | 197,100 |
United States | 102,410 | 71,067 | 257,390 | 105,055 | 2,679,840 | 2,382,311 |
United Kingdom | 27,896 | 124,877 | 102,950 | 297,336 | 480,943 | |
Canada | 5,678 | 2,150 | 43,552 | 251,925 | 815,729 | |
Other Commonwealth | 5,215 | 46,014 | 37,983 | |||
Germany | 67,429 | 43,920 | 159,147 | 73,484 | 674,280 | 345,914 |
Japan | 2,515 | 13,350 | 380,000 | 165,945 | ||
Italy | 2,473 | 7,200 | 83,000 | |||
Hungary | 500 | 447 | 4,583 |
Aircraft[]
Country | Military aircraft of all types | Fighter aircraft | Attack aircraft | Bomber aircraft | Transport aircraft | Training aircraft |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | 324,750 | 99,950 | 97,810 | 23,929 | 57,623 | |
Soviet Union | 143,145 | 63,087 | 37,549 | 21,116 | 17,332 | 4,061 |
United Kingdom | 131,549 | 49,422 | 34,689 | 1,784[5] | 31,864 | |
Canada | 16,431 | 1,740 | 1,134 | 2,670 | ||
France [6] | 4,016 | 1,597[7] | 280 | 712 | ||
Other Commonwealth | 3,081 | |||||
Germany | 119,307 | 53,215 | 12,539 | 18,449 [8][9] | 3,079 | 11,546 |
Japan | 76,320 | 36,571 | 15,117 | 2,110 | 15,201 | |
Italy | 11,122 | 4,510 | 2,063 | 468 | 1,769 | |
Hungary | 1,046 | |||||
Romania | 1,000 |
[]
Country | Aircraft carriers [10] | Battleships | Cruisers | Destroyers | Convoy escorts | Submarines | Merchant tonnage |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | 22 (141) | 8 | 48 | 349 | 420 | 203[11] | 33,993,230 |
United Kingdom | 14 (25) | 5 | 32 | 240 | 413 | 167 | 6,378,899 |
Soviet Union | 2 | 25 | 52 | ||||
Canada | 1 | 344[12] | 3,742,100 | ||||
Other Commonwealth | 3 | 60+ | 2,702,943 | ||||
Japan | 16 | 2 | 9 | 63 | 183[13] | 167 | 4,152,361 |
Germany | 0 [14] | 2 | 17 | 23 | 1,141[11] | ||
Italy | 0 [15] | 3 | 6 | 6 | 28 | 1,469,606 |
Large Scale Civil Engineering Construction[]
Country | Concrete bunkers and pillboxes (Tonnes)[16] |
---|---|
United Kingdom | 72,128,141 |
Germany | 132,685,348 |
Materials[]
Country | Coal [17] | Iron Ore[17] | Crude Oil[17] |
---|---|---|---|
United States | 2,149.7 | 396.9 | 833.2 |
United Kingdom | 1,441.2 | 119.2 | 90.8 |
Soviet Union | 590.8 | 71.3 | 110.6 |
Canada | 101.9 | 3.6 | 8.4 |
Germany | 2,420.3 | 240.7 | 33.4 [18] |
Japan | 184.5 | 21.0 | 5.2 |
Italy | 16.9 | 4.4 | |
Hungary | 6.6 | 14.1 | 3.1 |
Romania | 1.6 | 10.8 | 25.0 |
See also: Swedish iron ore during World War II
See also[]
- American armored fighting vehicle production during World War II
- Army-Navy "E" Award
- German armored fighting vehicle production during World War II
- Rosie the Riveter
- Soviet armored fighting vehicle production during World War II
- World War II aircraft production
- World War II
Notes[]
- ↑ Those equipped with main weapons of 75 mm calibre or larger. This number is a subset of the total number.
- ↑ Includes anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons with calibres above 37 mm.
- ↑ Over 60 mm.
- ↑ Does not include sub-machineguns, or machine guns used for arming aircraft.
- ↑ By agreement, the UK drew most of its transport aircraft, excepting converted bombers, from the US allowing it to concentrate on production of bombers
- ↑ France production figures are from 09/39 to 06/40.
- ↑ 542 MS.406 + 437 D.520+ 518 MB.151+ 80 C.714 + 20 VG-33.
- ↑ The number of Nazi Germany bomber aircraft does not include more than 3,172 operational V-2 rockets and approximately 10,000 operational V-1 unmanned aircrafts used by for bombing.
- ↑ 214 Ar 234 + 475 Do 17 + 1,366 Do 217 + 5,656 He 111 + 1,146 He 177 + 9,122 Ju 88 + 466 Ju 188 + 4 Ju 388
- ↑ Figure in parentheses indicates merchant vessels converted to Escort carriers.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Wagner, Kennedy, Osborne, and Reyburn. The Library of Congress World War II Companion. pp 202-203.
- ↑ Number of ships in the RCN All escort vessels of the frigate, minesweeper and corvettes classes were built in Canada and 10 Corvettes were supplied to the USN.
- ↑ 67 Type D escort ships + 56 Type C escort ships + 29 Ukuru class escort ships + 9 Hiburi class escort ships + 8 Mikura class escort ships + 14 Etorofu class escort ships
- ↑ None completed by the end of the war. Two were in production , Graf Zeppelin and Flugzeugträger B.
- ↑ None completed by the end of the war. Two were in production: see Aquila and Sparviero.
- ↑ Tonnes of steel and concrete.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 In millions of tonnes (metric ton) (1 tonne = ~7.2 barrels of oil)
- ↑ Including 23.4 synthetic.
References[]
- GDP values: Harrison, Mark, "The Economics of World War II: Six Great Powers in International Comparison", Cambridge University Press (1998).
- Milward, Alan S., "War, economy, and society, 1939-1945", University of California Press (1979).
- Overy, Richard, "Why the Allies Won (Paperback)", W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (1997).
- Barnett, Correlli, "The audit of war : the illusion & reality of Britain as a great nation", Macmillan, (1986).
- 'Gross Domestic Product' 1940
- "Canada at War" wwii.ca
External links[]
The original article can be found at Military production during World War II and the edit history here.