Military production during World War II

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During World War II women worked in factories throughout much of the Western and Eastern United States.

Military production during World War II was a critical component to military performance during the war. Over the course of the war the Allied countries outproduced the Axis countries in most categories of weapons.

GDP - Gross domestic product

This chart shows the relationship in GDP between the Allied and the Axis during 1938-1945.

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

US propaganda during World War II, urging citizens to increase 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+


Note that most Battleships and Cruisers were produced before the war and many served through its entirity.

Production by country

Vehicles and ground weapons

Tanks and self-propelled guns

File:T34 1.jpg
Soviet T-34
  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 calibre or larger. Smaller producing countries do not have this differentiation.

Artillery

Artillery includes anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons with calibres above 37 mm.

  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 60 mm)

  1. Soviet Union = 200,300
  2. United States = 105,055
  3. United Kingdom = 102,950
  4. Germany = 73,484
  5. Commonwealth = 46,014

Machineguns

Machineguns do 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

File:PanzerIII.jpg
German Panzer III
  1. United States = 2,382,311
  2. Canada = 815,729
  3. United Kingdom = 480,943
  4. Germany = 345,914
  5. Soviet Union = 197,100
  6. Japan = 165,945
  7. 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

American Boeing B-17
  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

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[1]
  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

American Essex class aircraft carrier.

Aircraft carriers

  1. United States = 22 (141)
  2. Japan = 16
  3. United Kingdom = 14
  4. Germany = 0 None completed by the end of the war. Two were in production , Graf Zeppelin and Flugzeugträger B.
  5. Italy = 0 None completed by the end of the war. One was in production , see Aquila .

Figure in parentheses indicates merchant vessels converted to Escort carriers.

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

American Fletcher class destroyer.
  1. United States = 420
  2. United Kingdom = 413
  3. Canada = 191
  4. Germany = 23

Submarines

  1. Germany = 1,337
  2. United States = 422[citation needed]
  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. Canada = 3,742,100
  5. Commonwealth = 2,702,943
  6. Italy = 469,606

Concrete bunkers and pillboxes

Estimate - uk only - 72,128,141 tonnes of steel and concrete [2]

Concreted runways

 10,000,000 tonnes  [3]

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
See also: Swedish iron ore during World War II

Crude Oil

In millions of metric tonnes

  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

References

  1. ^ By agreement, the UK drew most of its transport aircraft, excepting converted bombers, from the US allowing it to concentrate on production of bombers
  2. ^ File:War tonnages.xls An estimate of the rates of production carried out in WW2 as a guide to how quickly a crash programme of renewables could be built by comparison.
  3. ^ File:War tonnages.xls An estimate of the rates of production carried out in WW2 as a guide to how quickly a crash programme of renewables could be built by comparison.
  • 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

See also

External links

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