Military production during World War II

Military production during World War II was a critical component to victory during the war.

Contents 1 GDP - Gross domestic product 2 Summary of production 3 Production by nation 3.1 Vehicles and ground weapons 3.1.1 Tanks and self-propelled guns 3.1.2 Artillery 3.1.3 Mortars (over 60mm) 3.1.4 Machineguns 3.1.5 Military trucks 3.2 Aircraft 3.2.1 Military aircraft of all types 3.2.2 Fighter aircraft 3.2.3 Attack aircraft 3.2.4 Bomber aircraft 3.2.5 Reconnaissance aircraft 3.2.6 Transport aircraft 3.2.7 Training aircraft 3.3 Naval ships 3.3.1 Aircraft carriers 3.3.2 Battleships 3.3.3 Cruisers 3.3.4 Destroyers 3.3.5 Convoy escorts 3.3.6 Submarines 3.3.7 Merchant tonnage 3.4 Materials 3.4.1 Coal 3.4.2 Iron Ore 3.4.3 Crude Oil 4 See also 5 References

GDP - Gross domestic product

This table shows the relationships in GDP (Gross domestic product) 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
UK	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):

1. ^  France-Axis distribution: 1940: 56%, 1941-43: 100%, 1944: 58%.
2. ^  Italy distribution: 1938-1943: 100% Axis, 1944-1945: 100% Allies
3. ^  Japanese values are included in Axis totals for all years in order to illustrate potential contribution
4. ^  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%.
5. ^  US values are included in Allied totals for all years in order to illustrate potential contribution & Lend-Lease
6. ^  The Allied total is not the immediate sum of the table values; see the distribution rules used above.
7. ^  The Axis total is not the immediate sum of the table values; see the distribution rules used above.
8. ^  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. Please note that 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                          914,682     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       1,337
Merchant shipping tonnage       33,993,230   5,000,000+

Production by nation

Vehicles and ground weapons

Tanks and self-propelled guns

1. Soviet Union = 105,251 (92,595)
2. United States = 88,410 (71,067)
3. Germany = 46,857 (37,794)
4. United Kingdom = 27,896
5. Canada = 5,678
6. Japan = 2,515
7. Italy = 2,473
8. Hungary = 500

Note: Number in parenthesis equals the number of tanks and self-propelled guns equipped with main weapons of 75 mm or larger. Smaller producing nations do not have this differentiation.

Artillery

Artillery includes antiaircraft and antitank weapons, above 37mm

1. Soviet Union = 516,648
2. United States = 257,390
3. Germany = 159,147
4. United Kingdom = 124,877
5. Japan = 13,350
6. Canada = 10,552
7. Italy = 7,200
8. Other Commonwealth = 5,215
9. Hungary = 447

Mortars (over 60mm)

1. Soviet Union = 200,300
2. United States = 105,054
3. United Kingdom = 102,950
4. Germany = 73,484
5. Commonwealth = 46,014

Machineguns

Machineguns does not include sub-machineguns, or machine guns used for arming aircraft.

1. United States = 2,679,840
2. Soviet Union = 1,477,400
3. Germany = 674,280
4. Japan = 380,000
5. United Kingdom = 297,336
6. Canada = 251,925
7. Other Commonwealth = 37,983
8. Hungary = 4,583

Military trucks

1. United States = 2,382,311
2. United Kingdom = 480,943
3. Germany = 345,914
4. Soviet Union = 197,100
5. Japan = 165,945
6. Italy = 83,000

Aircraft

Military aircraft of all types

1. United States = 324,750
2. Germany = 189,307
3. Soviet Union = 157,261
4. United Kingdom = 131,549
5. Japan = 76,320
6. Canada = 16,431
7. Italy = 11,122
8. Other Commonwealth = 3,081
9. Hungary = 1,046
10. Romania = 1,000

Fighter aircraft

1. United States = 99,950
2. Soviet Union = 63,087
3. Germany = 55,727
4. United Kingdom = 49,422
5. Japan = 30,447
6. Italy = 4,510

Attack aircraft

1. Soviet Union = 37,549
2. Germany = 12,539

Bomber aircraft

1. United States = 97,810
2. United Kingdom = 34,689
3. Soviet Union = 21,116
4. Germany = 18,235
5. Japan = 15,117
6. Italy = 2,063

Reconnaissance aircraft

1. Germany = 6,299
2. Japan = 5,654
3. United Kingdom = 3,967
4. United States = 3,918
5. Italy = 1,080

Transport aircraft

1. United States = 23,929
2. Soviet Union = 17,332
3. Germany = 3,079
4. Japan = 2,110
5. United Kingdom = 1,784
6. Italy = 468

Training aircraft

1. United States = 57,623
2. United Kingdom = 31,864
3. Japan = 15,201
4. Germany = 11,546
5. Soviet Union = 4,061
6. Italy = 1,769

Naval ships

Aircraft carriers

1. United States = 141
2. Japan = 16
3. United Kingdom = 14

Battleships

1. United States = 8
2. United Kingdom = 5
3. Italy = 3
4. Japan = 2
5. Germany = 2

Cruisers

1. United States = 48
2. United Kingdom = 32
3. Japan = 9
4. Italy = 6
5. Soviet Union = 2

Destroyers

1. United States = 349
2. United Kingdom = 240
3. Japan = 63
4. Soviet Union = 25
5. Germany = 17
6. Italy = 6

Convoy escorts

1. United States = 498
2. United Kingdom = 413
3. Canada = 191

Submarines

1. Germany = 1,337
2. United States = 422
3. Japan = 167
4. United Kingdom = 167
5. Soviet Union = 52
6. Italy = 28

Merchant tonnage

1. United States = 33,993,230
2. United Kingdom = 6,378,899
3. Japan = 4,152,361
4. Commonwealth = 2,702,943
5. Italy = 469,606

Materials

Coal

In millions of metric tons

1. Germany = 2,420.3
2. United States = 2,149.7
3. United Kingdom = 1,441.2
4. Soviet Union = 590.8
5. Japan = 184.5
6. Canada = 101.9
7. Italy = 16.9
8. Hungary = 6.6
9. Romania = 1.6

Iron Ore

In millions of metric tons

1. United States = 396.9
2. Germany = 240.7
3. United Kingdom = 119.3
4. Soviet Union = 71.3
5. Japan = 21.0
6. Hungary = 14.1
7. Romania = 10.8
8. Italy = 4.4
9. Canada = 3.6

Crude Oil

In millions of metric tons

1. United States = 833.2
2. Soviet Union = 110.6
3. United Kingdom = 90.8
4. Germany = 33.4 (including 23.4 synthetic)
5. Romania = 25.0
6. Canada = 8.4
7. Japan = 5.2
8. Hungary = 3.2

See also

• World War II
• American tank production during World War II
• German tank production during World War II
• Soviet tank production during World War II
• WW2 aircraft production
• US weapon production (1942-1945)
• Italian aircraft production 1935 to 1945
• Rosie the Riveter

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).

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