"WWII" redirects here. For other uses see WWII (disambiguation). World War II Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the Battle of Wanjialing Australian 25-pounder guns during the First Battle of El Alamein German Stuka dive bombers on the Eastern Front winter 19431944 US naval force in the Lingayen Gulf Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Surrender Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad Date 1 September 1939 2 September 1945 Location Europe Pacific Atlantic South-East Asia China Middle East Mediterranean and Africa briefly North America Result Allied victory Creation of the United Nations Emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers Beginning of the Cold War. (more...) Belligerents Allies

 Soviet Union (194145)  United States (194145)  British Empire  China (at war 193745)  France1  Poland  Canada  Australia  New Zealand  South Africa  Yugoslavia (194145)  Norway (194045)  Netherlands (194045)  Belgium (194045)  Greece (194045)  Brazil (194245) ...and others Axis

 Germany  Japan (at war 193745)  Italy (194043)  Hungary (194145)  Romania (194144)  Bulgaria (194144)

Co-belligerents  Finland (194144)  Iraq (1941)  Thailand (194245)

Puppet states  Manchukuo  Croatia (194145)  Slovakia ...and others Commanders and leaders Allied leaders

Joseph Stalin Franklin D. Roosevelt Winston Churchill ...and others Axis leaders

Adolf Hitler Hirohito Benito Mussolini ...and others Casualties and losses Military dead: Over 16000000 Civilian dead: Over 45000000 Total dead: Over 61000000 (193745) ...further details Military dead: Over 8000000 Civilian dead: Over 4000000 Total dead: Over 12000000 (193745) ...further details World War II seriesv d e Precursors Asian events  European events  Timeline v d e Campaigns of World War II

Europe Poland  Phoney War  Denmark & Norway France & Benelux  Britain Balkans Yugoslav Front  Eastern Front Finland - Western Front (194445) Asia & The Pacific China  Pacific Ocean  South-East Asia  South West Pacific  Japan  Manchuria (1945) Mediterranean Middle East and Africa Other Campaigns Atlantic  Strategic Bombing - America Contemporaneous Wars Chinese Civil  Winter War  SovietJapanese Border  FrenchThai  Ili Rebellion 1939  1940  1941  1942  1943  1944  1945 Eastern front  Western Front  Pacific War  Battles  Mediterranean Middle East and African Campaigns  Commanders Technology  Military operations  Manhattan Project Air warfare of World War II  Home front  Collaboration  Resistance Aftermath Casualties  Further effects  War crimes  Japanese war crimes  Consequences of Nazism Depictions

World War II articles Alphabetical index: 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Campaigns    Countries    Equipment Lists    Outline    Timeline    Portal    Category v d e History of World War II by country and region

Albania  Australia  Austria (Anschluss)  Azerbaijan  Belarus  Belgium  Brazil  Bulgaria  Burma  Cambodia  Canada  Ceylon (Sri Lanka)  Channel Islands  China  Czechoslovakia  Denmark  Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)  Egypt  Estonia  Finland  France  Germany  Gibraltar  Greece  Greenland  Hong Kong  Hungary  Iceland  India  Iran  Iraq  Ireland  Italy  Japan  Laos  Latvia  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Malaya North Borneo and Sarawak (Malaysia)  Manchukuo  Mexico  Mongolia  Nepal  Netherlands  New Zealand  Newfoundland  Norway  Philippines  Poland  Portugal  Romania  Singapore  Slovakia  South Africa  Soviet Union  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland  Thailand  Turkey  Ukraine  United Kingdom  United States  Vietnam  Yugoslavia v d eWorld War II Western Europe  Eastern Europe  Africa  Mediterranean  Asia and the Pacific  Atlantic Casualties  Military engagements  Topics  Conferences  Commanders Participants Allies (Leaders) Ethiopia  China  Czechoslovakia  Poland  United Kingdom  India  France  Australia  New Zealand  South Africa  Canada  Norway  Belgium  Netherlands  Greece  Yugoslavia  Soviet Union  United States  Philippines  Mexico  Brazil Axis and Axis-aligned (Leaders) Bulgaria  Reorganized National Government of China  Croatia  Finland  Germany  Hungary  Iraq  Italy  Italian Social Republic  Japan  Manchukuo  Romania  Slovakia  Thailand  Vichy France Resistance Albania  Austria  Baltic States  Belgium  Czech lands  Denmark  Estonia  Ethiopia  France  Germany  Greece  Hong Kong  India  Italy  Jewish  Korea  Latvia  Luxembourg  Netherlands  Norway  Philippines  Poland (Anti-communist)  Romania  Thailand  Soviet Union  Slovakia  Western Ukraine  Vietnam  Yugoslavia Timeline  Prelude Africa  Asia  Europe 1939 Invasion of Poland  Phoney War  Winter War  Atlantic  Changsha (1939)  China 1940 Weserbung  Netherlands  Belgium  France  UK  North Africa  British Somaliland  Baltic States  Moldova  Indochina  Greece   Compass 1941 East Africa  Invasion of Yugoslavia  Yugoslav Front  Greece  Crete  Soviet Union (Barbarossa)  Karelia  Lithuania  Middle East   Kiev   Leningrad  Moscow  Sevastopol  Pearl Harbor  Hong Kong  Philippines  Changsha (1941)  Malaya  Borneo 1942 Burma  Changsha (1942)  Coral Sea  Gazala  Midway  Blue  Stalingrad  Dieppe  El Alamein  Torch  Guadalcanal 1943 End in Africa  Kursk  Smolensk  Solomon Islands  Sicily  Lower Dnieper  Italy  Gilbert and Marshall  Changde 1944 Monte Cassino and Shingle  Narva  Cherkassy   Tempest  Ichi-Go  Normandy  Mariana and Palau  Bagration  Western Ukraine  Tannenberg Line  Warsaw Uprising  Eastern Romania  Yugoslavia  Paris  Gothic Line  Market Garden  Estonia  Crossbow  Pointblank  Lapland  Hungary  Leyte  Bulge  Burma 1945 Vistula-Oder  Iwo Jima  Okinawa  Surrender of Italy  Berlin  Czechoslovakia  Budapest  West Hunan  Surrender of Germany  Manchuria  Philippines   Borneo  Atomic bombings  Surrender of Japan Aspects General Air warfare of World War II  Attacks on North America  Blitzkrieg  Comparative military ranks  Cryptography  Home front  Military awards  Military equipment  Military production  Nazi plunder  Technology  Total war  Strategic bombing  Bengal famine of 1943 Aftermath Effects  Expulsion of Germans  Operation Paperclip  Operation Keelhaul  Occupation of Germany  Morgenthau Plan  Territorial changes  Soviet occupations (Romania Poland Hungary Baltic States)  Occupation of Japan  First Indochina War  Indonesian National Revolution  Cold War  Decolonization  Popular culture  War crimes German and Wehrmacht war crimes  The Holocaust  Italian war crimes  Japanese war crimes  Allied war crimes  Soviet war crimes  United States war crimes War rape Rape during the occupation of Japan  Comfort women   Rape of Nanking   Rape during the occupation of Germany Prisoners Nazi crimes against Soviet POWs   Italian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union  Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union  Japanese prisoners of war in World War II  German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union   German prisoners of war in the United States Category  Portal  definition   textbooks   quotes   source texts   media   news stories World War II or the Second World War2 (often abbreviated as WWII or WW2) was a global military conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945 which involved most of the world's nations including all of the great powers: eventually forming two opposing military alliances the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history with more than 100 million military personnel mobilised. In a state of "total war" the major participants placed their entire economic industrial and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by significant events involving the mass death of civilians including the Holocaust and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare it was the deadliest conflict in human history3 resulting in 50 million to over 70 million fatalities. The war is generally accepted to have begun on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Germany and Slovakia and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and most of the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Germany set out to establish a large empire in Europe. From late 1939 to early 1941 in a series of campaigns and treaties Germany conquered or subdued much of continental Europe; amid Nazi-Soviet agreements the nominally neutral Soviet Union fully or partially occupied and annexed territories of its six European neighbours. Britain and the Commonwealth remained the only major force continuing the fight against the Axis in North Africa and in extensive naval warfare. In June 1941 the European Axis launched an invasion of the Soviet Union giving a start to the largest land theatre of war in history which from this moment on was tying down the major part of the Axis military power. In December 1941 Japan which had been at war with China since 19374 and aimed to dominate Asia attacked the United States and European possessions in the Pacific Ocean quickly conquering much of the region. The Axis advance was stopped in 1942 after the defeat of Japan in a series of naval battles and after defeats of European Axis troops in North Africa and decisively at Stalingrad. In 1943 with a series of German defeats in Eastern Europe the Allied invasion of Fascist Italy and American victories in the Pacific the Axis lost the initiative and undertook strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944 the Western Allies invaded France while the Soviet Union regained all territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. The war in Europe ended with the capture of Berlin by Soviet and Polish troops and the subsequent German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945. The Japanese Navy was defeated by the United States and invasion of the Japanese Archipelago ("Home Islands") became imminent. The war in Asia ended on 15 August 1945 when Japan agreed to surrender. The war ended with the total victory of the Allies over Germany and Japan in 1945. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world. The United Nations (UN) was established to foster international cooperation and prevent future conflicts. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers setting the stage for the Cold War which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile the influence of European great powers started to decline while the decolonisation of Asia and Africa began. Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration especially in Europe emerged as an effort to stabilise postwar relations. Contents 1 Chronology 2 Background 3 Pre-war events 3.1 Invasion of Ethiopia 3.2 Spanish Civil War 3.3 Japanese invasion of China 3.4 Japanese invasion of the Soviet Union and Mongolia 3.5 European occupations and agreements 4 Course of the war 4.1 War breaks out in Europe 4.2 Axis advances 4.3 The war becomes global 4.4 Axis advance stalls 4.5 Allies gain momentum 4.6 Allies close in 4.7 Axis collapse Allied victory 5 Aftermath 6 Impact 6.1 Casualties and war crimes 6.2 Concentration camps and slave work 6.3 Home fronts and production 6.4 Occupation 6.5 Advances in technology and warfare 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links Chronology See also: Timeline of World War II The start of the war is generally held to be 1 September 1939 beginning with the German invasion of Poland; Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. Other dates for the beginning of war include the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 13 September 19315 and the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937.67 Others follow A. J. P. Taylor who held that there was a simultaneous Sino-Japanese War in East Asia and a Second European War in Europe and her colonies. The two wars merged in 1941 becoming a single global conflict at which point the war continued until 1945. This article uses the conventional dating.8 The exact date of the war's end is not universally agreed upon. It has been suggested that the war ended at the armistice of 14 August 1945 (V-J Day) rather than the formal surrender of Japan (2 September 1945); in some European histories it ended on V-E Day (8 May 1945). The Treaty of Peace with Japan was not signed until 1951.9 Background Main article: Causes of World War II World War I radically altered the diplomatic and political situations in Eurasia and Africa with the defeat of the Central Powers including Austria-Hungary Germany and the Ottoman Empire; and the 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia. Meanwhile the success of the Allied Entente powers including the United Kingdom France the United States Italy Serbia and Romania and the creation of new states from the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire resulted in fundamental changes to the map of Eastern Europe. In the aftermath of the war major unrest in Europe rose especially irredentist and revanchist nationalism and class conflict. Irredentism and revanchism were strong in Germany because she was forced to accept significant territorial colonial and financial losses as part of the Treaty of Versailles. Under the treaty Germany lost around 13 percent of its home territory and all of its overseas colonies while German annexation of other states was prohibited massive reparations were imposed and limits were placed on the size and capability of Germany's armed forces.10 Meanwhile the Russian Civil War had led to the creation of the Soviet Union. After Lenin's death in 1924 Joseph Stalin seized power in the USSR and repudiated the New Economic Policy favouring the Five Year Plans instead.11 The German Empire was dissolved in the German Revolution of 191819 and a democratic government was formed which was known as the Weimar Republic. During the interwar period domestic civil conflict occurred in Germany involving nationalists and reactionaries versus communists and moderate democratic political parties. A similar scenario occurred in Italy. Although Italy as an Entente ally made some territorial gains Italian nationalists were angered that the terms of the Treaty of London upon which Italy had agreed to wage war on the Central Powers were not fulfilled with the peace settlement. From 1922 to 1925 the Italian Fascist movement led by Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy with a nationalist totalitarian and class collaborationist agenda that abolished representative democracy repressed political forces supporting class conflict or liberalism and pursued an aggressive foreign policy aimed at forcefully forging Italy as a world power and promising to create a "New Roman Empire."12 In Germany the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler pursued establishing such a fascist government in Germany. With the onset of the Great Depression Nazi support rose and in 1933 Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany and in the aftermath of the Reichstag fire Hitler created a totalitarian single-party state led by the Nazis.13 The Kuomintang (KMT) party in China launched a unification campaign against regional warlords and nominally unified China in the mid-1920s but was soon embroiled in a civil war against its former Chinese communist allies.14 In 1931 an increasingly militaristic Japanese Empire which had long sought influence in China15 as the first step of its right to rule Asia used the Mukden Incident as justification to invade Manchuria and established the puppet state of Manchukuo.16 Too weak to resist Japan China appealed to the League of Nations for help. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations after being condemned for its incursion into Manchuria. The two nations then fought several minor conflicts in Shanghai Rehe and Hebei until signing the Tanggu Truce in 1933. Thereafter Chinese volunteer forces continued the resistance to Japanese aggression in Manchuria and Chahar and Suiyuan.17 Benito Mussolini (left) and Adolf Hitler (right) Adolf Hitler after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government in 1923 became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933. He abolished democracy espousing a radical racially motivated revision of the world order and soon began a massive rearmament campaign.18 Meanwhile France to secure its alliance allowed Italy a free hand in Ethiopia which Italy desired as a colonial possession. The situation was aggravated in early 1935 when the Territory of the Saar Basin was legally reunited with Germany and Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles speeding up his rearmament programme and introducing conscription.19 Hoping to contain Germany the United Kingdom France and Italy formed the Stresa Front. The Soviet Union concerned due to Germany's goals of capturing vast areas of eastern Europe wrote a treaty of mutual assistance with France. Before taking effect though the Franco-Soviet pact was required to go through the bureaucracy of the League of Nations which rendered it essentially toothless.2021 However in June 1935 the United Kingdom made an independent naval agreement with Germany easing prior restrictions. The United States concerned with events in Europe and Asia passed the Neutrality Act in August.22 In October Italy invaded Ethiopia with Germany the only major European nation supporting the invasion. Italy then revoked objections to Germany's goal of absorbing Austria.23 Hitler defied the Versailles and Locarno treaties by remilitarizing the Rhineland in March 1936. He received little response from other European powers.24 When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July Hitler and Mussolini supported fascist Generalissimo Francisco Franco's nationalist forces in his civil war against the Soviet-supported Spanish Republic. Both sides used the conflict to test new weapons and methods of warfare25 and the nationalists won the war in early 1939. Mounting tensions led to several efforts to strengthen or consolidate power. In October 1936 Germany and Italy formed the Rome-Berlin Axis. A month later Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact which Italy would join in the following year. In China after the Xi'an Incident the Kuomintang and communist forces agreed on a ceasefire in order to present a united front to oppose Japan.26 Pre-war events Invasion of Ethiopia Main article: Second ItaloAbyssinian War The Second ItaloAbyssinian War was a brief colonial war that began in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy (Regno d'Italia) and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia). The war resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana or AOI); in addition it exposed the weakness of the League of Nations as a force to preserve peace. Both Italy and Ethiopia were member nations but the League did nothing when the former clearly violated the League's own Article X.27 Spanish Civil War Main article: Spanish Civil War The ruins of Guernica after the bombing. Germany and Italy lent support to the Nationalist insurrection led by general Francisco Franco in Spain. The Soviet Union supported the existing government the Spanish Republic which showed leftist tendencies. Both sides used this war as an opportunity to test improved weapons and tactics. The Bombing of Guernica a city of 5000 - 7000 inhabitants was considered a horrifying attack at the time with a propaganda figure of 1654 people killed widely circulated in the west leading to charges of "terror bombing".28 In reality the attack was tactical operation against a city with militarily important communications close to the front-line and modern estimates yield no more than 300 - 400 dead at the high-end.2829 Japanese invasion of China Main article: Second Sino-Japanese War A Chinese machine gun nest in the Battle of Shanghai 1937. In July 1937 Japan captured the former Chinese imperial capital of Beiping after instigating the Marco Polo Bridge Incident which culminated in the Japanese campaign to invade all of China.30 The Soviets quickly signed a non-aggression pact with China to lend materiel support effectively ending China's prior cooperation with Germany. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to defend Shanghai but after three months of fighting Shanghai fell. The Japanese continued to push the Chinese forces back capturing the capital Nanjing in December 1937 and committed the Nanking Massacre. In June 1938 Chinese forces stalled the Japanese advance by flooding the Yellow River; although this manoeuvre bought time for the Chinese to prepare their defences at Wuhan the city was taken by October.31 Japanese military victories however did not bring about the collapse of Chinese resistance that Japan had hoped to achieve instead the Chinese government relocated inland to Chongqing to continue their resistance.32 Japanese invasion of the Soviet Union and Mongolia See also: Nanshin-ron and Soviet-Japanese Border Wars Soviet troops fought the Japanese during the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia 1939. On 29 July 1938 the Japanese invaded the USSR and were checked at the Battle of Lake Khasan. Although the battle was a Soviet victory the Japanese dismissed it as an inconclusive draw and on 11 May 1939 decided to move the Japanese-Mongolian border up to the Khalkhin Gol River by force. After initial successes the Japanese assault on Mongolia was checked by the Red Army that inflicted the first major defeat on the Japanese Kwantung Army.3334 These clashes convinced some factions in the Japanese government that they should focus on conciliating the Soviet government to avoid interference in the war against China and instead turn their military attention southward towards the US and European holdings in the Pacific and also prevented the sacking of experienced Soviet military leaders such as Georgy Zhukov who would later play a vital role in the defence of Moscow.35 European occupations and agreements Further information: Anschluss Appeasement Munich Agreement German occupation of Czechoslovakia and Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact From left to right (front): Chamberlain Daladier Hitler Mussolini and Ciano pictured before signing the Munich Agreement. In Europe Germany and Italy were becoming bolder. In March 1938 Germany annexed Austria again provoking little response from other European powers.36 Encouraged Hitler began pressing German claims on the Sudetenland an area of Czechoslovakia with a predominantly ethnic German population; and soon France and Britain conceded this territory to him against the wishes of the Czechoslovak government in exchange for a promise of no further territorial demands.37 Soon after that however Germany and Italy forced Czechoslovakia to cede additional territory to Hungary and Poland.38 In March 1939 Germany invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia and subsequently split it into the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the pro-German client state the Slovak Republic.39 Alarmed and with Hitler making further demands on Danzig France and Britain guaranteed their support for Polish independence; when Italy conquered Albania in April 1939 the same guarantee was extended to Romania and Greece.40 Shortly after the Franco-British pledge to Poland Germany and Italy formalised their own alliance with the Pact of Steel.41 In August 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union signed the MolotovRibbentrop Pact42 a non-aggression treaty with a secret protocol. The parties gave each other rights "in the event of a territorial and political rearrangement" to "spheres of influence" (western Poland and Lithuania for Germany and eastern Poland Finland Estonia Latvia and Bessarabia for the USSR). It also raised the question of continuing Polish independence.43 Course of the war War breaks out in Europe Common parade of German Wehrmacht and Soviet Red Army on 23 September 1939 in Brest Eastern Poland at the end of the Invasion of Poland. At centre is Major General Heinz Guderian and at right is Brigadier Semyon Krivoshein. On 1 September 1939 Germany and Slovakiaa client state in 1939attacked Poland. On 3 September 1939 France and Britain followed by the countries of the Commonwealth declared war on Germany but provided little support to Poland other than a small French attack into the Saarland.44 Britain and France also began a naval blockade of Germany on 3 September which aimed to damage the country's economy and war effort.4546 On 17 September 1939 after signing a cease-fire with Japan the Soviets also invaded Poland.47 Though Poland was divided by Germany the Soviet Union Lithuania and Slovakia; the Poles didn't surrender and established a Polish Underground State and the insurgent Home Army and continued to fight on Allied fronts outside Poland.48 In the Romanian Bridgehead operation some 120000 Polish troops were evacuated to France along with much of the Polish Air Force and Poland's Enigma codebreakers.49 During this time Japan launched its first attack against Changsha a strategically important Chinese city but was repulsed by late September.50 Following the invasion of Poland and a German-Soviet treaty governing Lithuania the Soviet Union forced the Baltic countries to allow it to station Soviet troops in their countries under pacts of "mutual assistance."515253 Finland rejected territorial demands and was invaded by the Soviet Union in November 1939.54 The resulting conflict ended in March 1940 with Finnish concessions.55 France and the United Kingdom treating the Soviet attack on Finland as tantamount to entering the war on the side of the Germans responded to the Soviet invasion by supporting the USSR's expulsion from the League of Nations.53 German troops by the Arc de Triomphe Paris after the 1940 fall of France. In Western Europe British troops deployed to the Continent but in a phase nicknamed the Phoney War by the British and "Sitzkrieg" (sitting war) by the Germans neither side launched major operations against the other until April 1940.56 The Soviet Union and Germany entered a trade pact in February 1940 pursuant to which the Soviets received German military and industrial equipment in exchange for supplying raw materials to Germany to help circumvent the British blockade.57 In April 1940 Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to secure shipments of iron ore from Sweden which the Allies were about to disrupt.58 Denmark immediately capitulated and despite Allied support Norway was conquered within two months.59 In May 1940 Britain invaded Iceland.60 British discontent over the Norwegian campaign led to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain by Winston Churchill on 10 May 1940.61 Axis advances Germany invaded France Belgium the Netherlands and Luxembourg on 10 May 1940 the same day Neville Chamberlain resigned as British Prime Minister.62 The Netherlands and Belgium were overrun using blitzkrieg tactics in a few days and weeks respectively.63 The French fortified Maginot Line was circumvented by a flanking movement through the thickly wooded Ardennes region62 mistakenly perceived by French planners as an impenetrable natural barrier against armoured vehicles.64 British troops were forced to evacuate the continent at Dunkirk abandoning their heavy equipment by the end of the month. On 10 June Italy invaded France declaring war on both France and the United Kingdom;65 twelve days later France surrendered and was soon divided into German and Italian occupation zones66 and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime. On 3 July the British attacked the French fleet in Algeria to prevent its possible seizure by Germany.67 In June during the last days of the Battle of France the Soviet Union initiated staged elections in the Baltic states and forcefully and illegally annexed them52 followed by the annexation of the region of Bessarabia in Romania. Whereas the increased cooperation between the USSR and Nazi Germany which included broad economic cooperation limited military assistance population exchange and border agreements made the former a de facto German ally6869 Soviet takeover of the Baltic states Bessarabia and North Bukovina had been seen with dismay and disquiet by Germany7071 This as well as growing tensions over spheres of influence demonstrated the impossibility of further expansion of Nazi-Soviet cooperation and both states had begun the countdown to war.72 With France neutralized Germany began an air superiority campaign over Britain (the Battle of Britain) to prepare for an invasion.73 The campaign failed and the invasion plans were canceled by September. Using newly captured French ports the German Navy enjoyed success against an over-extended Royal Navy using U-boats against British shipping in the Atlantic.74 Italy began operations in the Mediterranean initiating a siege of Malta in June conquering British Somaliland in August and making an incursion into British-held Egypt in September 1940. Japan increased its blockade of China in September by seizing several bases in the northern part of the now-isolated French Indochina.75 The Battle of Britain ended the German advance in Western Europe. Throughout this period the neutral United States took measures to assist China and the Western Allies. In November 1939 the American Neutrality Act was amended to allow 'cash and carry' purchases by the Allies.76 In 1940 following the German capture of Paris the size of the United States Navy was significantly increased and after the Japanese incursion into Indochina the United States embargoed iron steel and mechanical parts against Japan.77 In September the United States further agreed to a trade of American destroyers for British bases.78 Still a large majority of the American public continued to oppose any direct military intervention into the conflict well into 1941.79 At the end of September 1940 the Tripartite Pact united Japan Italy and Germany to formalize the Axis Powers.80 The Tripartite Pact stipulated that any country with the exception of the Soviet Union not in the war which attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all three.81 During this time the United States continued to support the United Kingdom and China by introducing the Lend-Lease policy authorizing the provision of materiel and other items82 and creating a security zone spanning roughly half of the Atlantic Ocean where the United States Navy protected British convoys.83 As a result Germany and the United States found themselves engaged in sustained naval warfare in the North and Central Atlantic by October 1941 even though the United States remained officially neutral.8485 The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary Slovakia and Romania joined the Tripartite Pact.86 These countries participated in the subsequent invasion of the USSR with Romania making the largest contribution to recapture territory ceded to the USSR and pursue its leader Ion Antonescu's desire to combat communism.87 In October 1940 Italy invaded Greece but within days was repulsed and pushed back into Albania where a stalemate soon occurred.88 In December 1940 British Commonwealth forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa.89 By early 1941 with Italian forces having been pushed back into Libya by the Commonwealth Churchill ordered a dispatch of troops from Africa to bolster the Greeks.90 The Italian Navy also suffered significant defeats with the Royal Navy putting three Italian battleships out of commission by carrier attack at Taranto and neutralising several more warships at Cape Matapan.91 German paratroopers invading the Greek island of Crete May 1941. The Germans soon intervened to assist Italy. Hitler sent German forces to Libya in February and by the end of March they had launched an offensive against the diminished Commonwealth forces.92 In under a month Commonwealth forces were pushed back into Egypt with the exception of the besieged port of Tobruk.93 The Commonwealth attempted to dislodge Axis forces in May and again in June but failed on both occasions.94 In early April following Bulgaria's signing of the Tripartite Pact the Germans intervened in the Balkans by invading Greece and Yugoslavia following a coup; here too they made rapid progress eventually forcing the Allies to evacuate after Germany conquered the Greek island of Crete by the end of May.95 The Allies did have some successes during this time. In the Middle East Commonwealth forces first quashed a coup in Iraq which had been supported by German aircraft from bases within Vichy-controlled Syria96 then with the assistance of the Free French invaded Syria and Lebanon to prevent further such occurrences.97 In the Atlantic the British scored a much-needed public morale boost by sinking the German flagship Bismarck.98 Perhaps most importantly during the Battle of Britain the Royal Air Force had successfully resisted the Luftwaffe's assault and the German bombing campaign largely ended in May 1941.99 In Asia despite several offensives by both sides the war between China and Japan was stalemated by 1940. In order to increase pressure on China by blocking supply routes and to better position Japanese forces in the event of a war with the Western powers Japan had seized military control of southern Indochina100 In August of that year Chinese communists launched an offensive in Central China; in retaliation Japan instituted harsh measures (the Three Alls Policy) in occupied areas to reduce human and material resources for the communists.101 Continued antipathy between Chinese communist and nationalist forces culminated in armed clashes in January 1941 effectively ending their co-operation.102 With the situation in Europe and Asia relatively stable Germany Japan and the Soviet Union made preparations. With the Soviets wary of mounting tensions with Germany and the Japanese planning to take advantage of the European War by seizing resource-rich European possessions in Southeast Asia the two powers signed the SovietJapanese Neutrality Pact in April 1941.103 By contrast the Germans were steadily making preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union amassing forces on the Soviet border.104 The war becomes global German infantry and armoured vehicles battle the Soviet defenders on the streets of Kharkov October 1941. On 22 June 1941 Germany along with other European Axis members and Finland invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. The primary targets of this surprise offensive105 were the Baltic region Moscow and Ukraine with an ultimate goal of ending the 1941 campaign near the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line connecting the Caspian and White Seas. Hitler's objectives were to eliminate the Soviet Union as a military power exterminate Communism generate Lebensraum ("living space")106 by dispossessing the native population107 and guarantee access to the strategic resources needed to defeat Germany's remaining rivals.108 Although the Red Army was preparing for strategic counter-offensives before the war109 Barbarossa forced the Soviet supreme command to adopt a strategic defence. During the summer the Axis made significant gains into Soviet territory inflicting immense losses in both personnel and materiel. By the middle of August however the German Army High Command decided to suspend the offensive of a considerably depleted Army Group Centre and to divert the Second Panzer Group to reinforce troops advancing towards central Ukraine and Leningrad.110 The Kiev offensive was overwhelmingly successful resulting in encirclement and elimination of four Soviet armies and made further advance into Crimea and industrially developed Eastern Ukraine (the First Battle of Kharkov) possible.111 Soviet counter-attack during the battle of Moscow December 1941. The diversion of three quarters of the Axis troops and the majority of their air forces from France and the central Mediterranean to the Eastern Front112 prompted Britain to reconsider its grand strategy.113 In July the UK and the Soviet Union formed a military alliance against Germany114 The British and Soviets invaded Iran to secure the Persian Corridor and Iran's oil fields.115 In August the United Kingdom and the United States jointly issued the Atlantic Charter.116 By October when Axis operational objectives in Ukraine and the Baltic region were achieved with only the sieges of Leningrad117 and Sevastopol continuing118 a major offensive against Moscow had been renewed. After two months of fierce battles the German army almost reached the outer suburbs of Moscow where the exhausted troops119 were forced to suspend their offensive.120 Large territorial gains were made by Axis forces but their campaign had failed to achieve its main objectives: two key cities remained in Soviet hands the Soviet capability to resist was not broken and the Soviet Union retained a considerable part of its military potential. The blitzkrieg phase of the war in Europe had ended.121 The Axis-controlled territory in Europe at the time of its maximal expansion (194142). By early December freshly mobilised reserves122 allowed the Soviets to achieve numerical parity with Axis troops.123 This as well as intelligence data that established a minimal number of Soviet troops in the East sufficient to prevent any attack by the Japanese Kwantung Army124 allowed the Soviets to begin a massive counter-offensive that started on 5 December along a 1000 kilometres (620 mi) front and pushed German troops 100250 kilometres (62160 mi) west.125 German successes in Europe encouraged Japan to increase pressure on European governments in south-east Asia. The Dutch government agreed to provide Japan oil supplies from the Dutch East Indies while refusing to hand over political control of the colonies. Vichy France by contrast agreed to a Japanese occupation of French Indochina.126 The United States United Kingdom and other Western governments reacted to the seizure of Indochina with a freeze on Japanese assets while the United States (which supplied 80 percent of Japan's oil127) responded by placing a complete oil embargo.128 That meant Japan was essentially forced to choose between abandoning its ambitions in Asia and the prosecution of the war against China or seizing the natural resources it needed by force; the Japanese military did not consider the former an option and many officers considered the oil embargo an unspoken declaration of war.129 Japan planned to rapidly seize European colonies in Asia to create a large defensive perimeter stretching into the Central Pacific; the Japanese would then be free to exploit the resources of Southeast Asia while exhausting the over-stretched Allies by fighting a defensive war.130 To prevent American intervention while securing the perimeter it was further planned to neutralise the United States Pacific Fleet from the outset.131 On 7 December (8 December in Asian time zones) 1941 Japan attacked British and American holdings with near-simultaneous offensives against Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific.132 These included an attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor landings in Thailand and Malaya132 and the battle of Hong Kong. The February 1942 Fall of Singapore saw 80000 Allied soldiers captured and enslaved by the Japanese. These attacks led the U.S. Britain Australia and other Allies to formally declare war on Japan. Germany and the other members of the Tripartite Pact responded by declaring war on the United States. In January the United States Britain Soviet Union China and 22 smaller or exiled governments issued the Declaration by United Nations which affirmed the Atlantic Charter.133 The Soviet Union did not adhere to the declaration; it maintained a neutrality agreement with Japan134135 and exempted itself from the principle of self-determination.116 From 1941 Stalin persistently asked Churchill and then Roosevelt to open a 'second front' in France.136 The Eastern front became the major theatre of war in Europe and the many millions of Soviet casualties dwarfed the few hundred thousand of the Western Allies; Churchill and Roosevelt said they needed more preparation time leading to claims they stalled to save Western lives at the expense of Soviet lives.137 Meanwhile by the end of April 1942 Japan and her ally Thailand had almost fully conquered Burma Malaya the Dutch East Indies Singapore138 and Rabaul inflicting severe losses on Allied troops and taking a large number of prisoners. Despite a stubborn resistance in Corregidor the Philippines was eventually captured in May 1942 forcing the government of the Philippine Commonwealth into exile.139 Japanese forces also achieved naval victories in the South China Sea Java Sea and Indian Ocean140 and bombed the Allied naval base at Darwin Australia. The only real Allied success against Japan was a Chinese victory at Changsha in early January 1942.141 These easy victories over unprepared opponents left Japan overconfident as well as overextended.142 Germany retained the initiative as well. Exploiting dubious American naval command decisions the German navy ravaged Allied shipping off the American Atlantic coast.143 Despite considerable losses European Axis members stopped a major Soviet offensive in Central and Southern Russia keeping most territorial gains they achieved during the previous year.144 In North Africa the Germans launched an offensive in January pushing the British back to positions at the Gazala Line by early February145 followed by a temporary lull in combat which Germany used to prepare for their upcoming offensives.146 Axis advance stalls American dive bombers engage the Mikuma at the Battle of Midway June 1942. In early May 1942 Japan initiated operations to capture Port Moresby by amphibious assault and thus sever communications and supply lines between the United States and Australia. The Allies however intercepted and turned back Japanese naval forces successfully preventing the invasion.147 Japan's next plan motivated by the earlier bombing on Tokyo was to seize Midway Atoll and lure American carriers into battle to be eliminated; as a diversion Japan would also send forces to occupy the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.148 In early June Japan put its operations into action but the Americans having broken Japanese naval codes in late May were fully aware of the plans and force dispositions and used this knowledge to achieve a decisive victory at Midway over the Imperial Japanese Navy.149 With its capacity for aggressive action greatly diminished as a result of the Midway battle Japan chose to focus on a belated attempt to capture Port Moresby by an overland campaign in the Territory of Papua.150 The Americans planned a counter-attack against Japanese positions in the southern Solomon Islands primarily Guadalcanal as a first step towards capturing Rabaul the main Japanese base in Southeast Asia.151 Both plans started in July but by mid-September the battle for Guadalcanal took priority for the Japanese and troops in New Guinea were ordered to withdraw from the Port Moresby area to the northern part of the island where they faced Australian and United States troops in the Battle of Buna-Gona.152 Guadalcanal soon became a focal point for both sides with heavy commitments of troops and ships in the battle for Guadalcanal. By the start of 1943 the Japanese were defeated on the island and withdrew their troops.153 In Burma Commonwealth forces mounted two operations. The first an offensive into the Arakan region in late 1942 went disastrously forcing a retreat back to India by May 1943.154 The second was the insertion of irregular forces behind Japanese front-lines in February which by the end of April had achieved dubious results.155 A Soviet soldier waving the Red Banner over the central plaza in Stalingrad 1943. On Germany's eastern front the Axis defeated Soviet offensives in the Kerch Peninsula and at Kharkov156 and then launched their main summer offensive against southern Russia in June 1942 to seize the oil fields of the Caucasus and occupy Kuban steppe while maintaining positions on the northern and central areas of the front. The Germans split the Army Group South into two groups: Army Group A struck lower Don River while Army Group B struck south-east to the Caucasus towards Volga River.157 The Soviets decided to make their stand at Stalingrad which was in the path of the advancing German armies. By mid-November the Germans had nearly taken Stalingrad in bitter street fighting when the Soviets began their second winter counter-offensive starting with an encirclement of German forces at Stalingrad158 and an assault on the Rzhev salient near Moscow though the latter failed disastrously.159 By early February 1943 the German Army had taken tremendous losses; German troops at Stalingrad had been forced to surrender160 and the front-line had been pushed back beyond its position before the summer offensive. In mid-February after the Soviet push had tapered off the Germans launched another attack on Kharkov creating a salient in their front line around the Russian city of Kursk.161 British Crusader tanks moving to forward positions during the North African Campaign. By November 1941 Commonwealth forces had launched a counter-offensive Operation Crusader in North Africa and reclaimed all the gains the Germans and Italians had made.162 In the West concerns the Japanese might utilize bases in Vichy-held Madagascar caused the British to invade the island in early May 1942.163 This success was offset soon after by an Axis offensive in Libya which pushed the Allies back into Egypt until Axis forces were stopped at El Alamein.164 On the Continent raids of Allied commandos on strategic targets culminating in the disastrous Dieppe Raid165 demonstrated the Western Allies' inability to launch an invasion of continental Europe without much better preparation equipment and operational security.166 In August 1942 the Allies succeeded in repelling a second attack against El Alamein and at a high cost managed to deliver desperately needed supplies to the besieged Malta.167 A few months later the Allies commenced an attack of their own in Egypt dislodging the Axis forces and beginning a drive west across Libya.168 This attack was followed up shortly after by an Anglo-American invasion of French North Africa which resulted in the region joining the Allies.169 Hitler responded to the French colony's defection by ordering the occupation of Vichy France;169 although Vichy forces did not resist this violation of the armistice they managed to scuttle their fleet to prevent its capture by German forces.170 The now pincered Axis forces in Africa withdrew into Tunisia which was conquered by the Allies in May 1943.171 Allies gain momentum A contemporary video showing bombing of Hamburg by the Allies. Following the Guadalcanal Campaign the Allies initiated several operations against Japan in the Pacific. In May 1943 Allied forces were sent to eliminate Japanese forces from the Aleutians172 and soon after began major operations to isolate Rabaul by capturing surrounding islands and to breach the Japanese Central Pacific perimeter at the Gilbert and Marshall Islands.173 By the end of March 1944 the Allies had completed both of these objectives and additionally neutralised the major Japanese base at Truk in the Caroline Islands. In April the Allies then launched an operation to retake Western New Guinea.174 In the Soviet Union both the Germans and the Soviets spent the spring and early summer of 1943 making preparations for large offensives in Central Russia. On 4 July 1943 Germany attacked Soviet forces around the Kursk Bulge. Within a week German forces had exhausted themselves against the Soviets' deeply echeloned and well-constructed defences175176 and for the first time in the war Hitler cancelled the operation before it had achieved tactical or operational success.177 This decision was partially affected by the Western Allies' invasion of Sicily launched on 9 July which combined with previous Italian failures resulted in the ousting and arrest of Mussolini later that month.178 On 12 July 1943 the Soviets launched their own counter-offensives thereby dispelling any hopes of the German Army for victory or even stalemate in the east. The Soviet victory at Kursk heralded the downfall of German superiority179 giving the Soviet Union the initiative on the Eastern Front.180181 The Germans attempted to stabilise their eastern front along the hastily fortified Panther-Wotan line however the Soviets broke through it at Smolensk and by the Lower Dnieper Offensives.182 Soviet soldiers preparing the rafts to cross the Dnieper (the sign reads "Let's capture Kiev!")... In early September 1943 the Western Allies invaded the Italian mainland following an Italian armistice with the Allies.183 Germany responded by disarming Italian forces seizing military control of Italian areas184 and creating a series of defensive lines.185 German special forces then rescued Mussolini who then soon established a new client state in German occupied Italy named the Italian Social Republic.186 The Western Allies fought through several lines until reaching the main German defensive line in mid-November.187 German operations in the Atlantic also suffered. By May 1943 as Allied counter-measures became increasingly effective the resulting sizable German submarine losses forced a temporary halt of the German Atlantic naval campaign.188 In November 1943 Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met with Chiang Kai-shek in Cairo189 and then with Joseph Stalin in Tehran.190 The former conference determined the post-war return of Japanese territory189 while the latter included agreement that the Western Allies would invade Europe in 1944 and that the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan within three months of Germany's defeat.190 British troops firing a mortar during the Battle of Imphal North East India 1944. From November 1943 at the 7-week Battle of Changde the Chinese forced Japan to fight a costly war of attrition while awaiting Allied relief.191192 In January 1944 the Allies launched a series of attacks in Italy against the line at Monte Cassino and attempted to outflank it with landings at Anzio.193 By the end of January a major Soviet offensive expelled German forces from the Leningrad region194 ending the longest and most lethal siege in history. The following Soviet offensive was halted on the pre-war Estonian border by the German Army Group North aided by Estonians hoping to re-establish national independence. This delay slowed subsequent Soviet operations in the Baltic Sea region.195 By late May 1944 the Soviets had liberated Crimea largely expelled Axis forces from Ukraine and made incursions into Romania which were repulsed by the Axis troops.196 The Allied offensives in Italy had succeeded and at the expense of allowing several German divisions to retreat on 4 June Rome was captured.197 The Allies experienced mixed fortunes in mainland Asia. In March 1944 the Japanese launched the first of two invasions an operation against British positions in Assam India198 and soon besieged Commonwealth positions at Imphal and Kohima.199 In May 1944 British forces mounted a counter-offensive that drove Japanese troops back to Burma199 and Chinese forces that had invaded northern Burma in late 1943 besieged Japanese troops in Myitkyina.200 The second Japanese invasion attempted to destroy China's main fighting forces secure railways between Japanese-held territory and capture Allied airfields.201 By June the Japanese had conquered the province of Henan and begun a renewed attack against Changsha in the Hunan province.202 Allies close in Allied Invasion of Normandy 6 June 1944 On 6 June 1944 (known as D-Day) after three years of Soviet pressure203 the Western Allies invaded northern France. After reassigning several Allied divisions from Italy they also attacked southern France.204 These landings were successful and led to the defeat of the German Army units in France. Paris was liberated by the local resistance assisted by the Free French Forces on 25 August205 and the Western Allies continued to push back German forces in Western Europe during the latter part of the year. An attempt to advance into northern Germany spear-headed by a major airborne operation in the Netherlands ended with a failure.206 The Allies also continued their advance in Italy until they ran into the last major German defensive line. On 22 June the Soviets launched a strategic offensive in Belarus (known as "Operation Bagration") that resulted in the almost complete destruction of the German Army Group Centre.207 Soon after that another Soviet strategic offensive forced German troops from Western Ukraine and Eastern Poland. The successful advance of Soviet troops prompted resistance forces in Poland to initiate several uprisings though the largest of these in Warsaw as well as a Slovak Uprising in the south were not assisted by the Soviets and were put down by German forces.208 The Red Army's strategic offensive in eastern Romania cut off and destroyed the considerable German troops there and triggered a successful coup d'tat in Romania and in Bulgaria followed by those countries' shift to the Allied side.209 Polish insurgents during the Warsaw Uprising. In September 1944 Soviet Red Army troops advanced into Yugoslavia and forced the rapid withdrawal of the German Army Groups E and F in Greece Albania and Yugoslavia to rescue them from being cut off.210 By this point the Communist-led Partisans under Marshal Josip Broz Tito who had led an increasingly successful guerrilla campaign against the occupation since 1941 controlled much of the territory of Yugoslavia and were engaged in delaying efforts against the German forces further south. In northern Serbia the Red Army with limited support from Bulgarian forces assisted the Partisans in a joint liberation of the capital city of Belgrade on 20 October. A few days later the Soviets launched a massive assault against German-occupied Hungary that lasted until the fall of Budapest in February 1945.211 In contrast with impressive Soviet victories in the Balkans the bitter Finnish resistance to the Soviet offensive in the Karelian Isthmus denied the Soviets occupation of Finland and led to the signing of Soviet-Finnish armistice on relatively mild conditions212213 with a subsequent shift to the Allied side by Finland. By the start of July Commonwealth forces in Southeast Asia had repelled the Japanese sieges in Assam pushing the Japanese back to the Chindwin River214 while the Chinese captured Myitkyina. In China the Japanese were having greater successes having finally captured Changsha in mid-June and the city of Hengyang by early August.215 Soon after they further invaded the province of Guangxi winning major engagements against Chinese forces at Guilin and Liuzhou by the end of November216 and successfully linking up their forces in China and Indochina by the middle of December.217 In the Pacific American forces continued to press back the Japanese perimeter. In mid-June 1944 they began their offensive against the Mariana and Palau islands scoring a decisive victory against Japanese forces in the Philippine Sea within a few days. These defeats led to the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Tj and provided the United States with air bases to launch intensive heavy bomber attacks on the Japanese home islands. In late October American forces invaded the Filipino island of Leyte; soon after Allied naval forces scored another large victory during the Battle of Leyte Gulf one of the largest naval battles in history.218 Axis collapse Allied victory American and Soviet troops meet in April 1945 east of the Elbe River. On 16 December 1944 Germany attempted its last desperate measure for success on the Western Front by marshalling German reserves to launch a massive counter-offensive in the Ardennes to attempt to split the Western Allies encircle large portions of Western Allied troops and capture their primary supply port at Antwerp in order to prompt a political settlement.219 By January the offensive had been repulsed with no strategic objectives fulfilled.219 In Italy the Western Allies remained stalemated at the German defensive line. In mid-January 1945 the Soviets attacked in Poland pushing from the Vistula to the Oder river in Germany and overran East Prussia.220 On 4 February U.S. British and Soviet leaders met in Yalta. They agreed on the occupation of post-war Germany221 and when the Soviet Union would join the war against Japan.222 In February the Soviets invaded Silesia and Pomerania while Western Allied forces entered Western Germany and closed to the Rhine river. In March the Western Allies crossed the Rhine north and south of the Ruhr encircling a large number of German troops223 while the Soviets advanced to Vienna. In early April the Western Allies finally pushed forward in Italy and swept across Western Germany while Soviet forces stormed Berlin in late April; the two forces linked up on Elbe river on 25 April. On 30 April 1945 the Reichstag was captured signalling the military defeat of Third Reich.224 A devastated Berlin street in the city centre post Battle of Berlin taken 3 July 1945. Several changes in leadership occurred during this period. On 12 April U.S. President Roosevelt died and was succeeded by Harry Truman. Benito Mussolini was killed by Italian partisans on 28 April.225 Two days later Hitler committed suicide and was succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Dnitz.226 German forces surrendered in Italy on 29 April and in Western Europe on 7 May.227 On the Eastern Front Germany surrendered to the Soviets on 8 May. A German Army Group Centre resisted in Prague until 11 May.228 In the Pacific theatre American forces accompanied by the forces of the Philippine Commonwealth advanced in the Philippines clearing Leyte by the end of April 1945. They landed on Luzon in January 1945 and seized Manila in March leaving it in ruins. Fighting continued on Luzon Mindanao and other islands of the Philippines until the end of the war.229 Atomic explosion at Nagasaki 9 August 1945. In May 1945 Australian troops landed on Borneo overrunning the oilfields there. British American and Chinese forces defeated the Japanese in northern Burma in March and the British pushed on to reach Rangoon by 3 May.230 Chinese forces started to counterattack in Battle of West Hunan that occurred between April 6 and June 7 1945. American forces also moved towards Japan taking Iwo Jima by March and Okinawa by the end of June.231 American bombers destroyed Japanese cities and American submarines cut off Japanese imports.232 On 11 July the Allied leaders met in Potsdam Germany. They confirmed earlier agreements about Germany233 and reiterated the demand for unconditional surrender of all Japanese forces by Japan specifically stating that "the alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction".234 During this conference the United Kingdom held its general election and Clement Attlee replaced Churchill as Prime Minister.235 When Japan continued to ignore the Potsdam terms the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August. Between the two bombs the Soviets pursuant to the Yalta agreement invaded Japanese-held Manchuria and quickly defeated the Kwantung Army which was the primary Japanese fighting force.236237 The Red Army also captured Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands. On 15 August 1945 Japan surrendered with the surrender documents finally signed aboard the deck of the American battleship USS Missouri on 2 September 1945 ending the war.227 Aftermath Main article: Aftermath of World War II The Supreme Commanders on 5 June 1945 in Berlin: Bernard Montgomery Dwight D. Eisenhower Georgy Zhukov and Jean de Lattre de Tassigny The Allies established occupation administrations in Austria and Germany. The former became a neutral state non-aligned with any political bloc. The latter was divided onto western and eastern occupation zones controlled by the Western Allies and the USSR accordingly. A denazification program in Germany led to the prosecution of Nazi war criminals and the removal of ex-Nazis from power although this policy moved towards amnesty and re-integration of ex-Nazis into West German society.238 Germany lost a quarter of its pre-war (1937) territory the eastern territories: Silesia Neumark and most of Pomerania were taken over by Poland; East Prussia was divided between Poland and the USSR followed by the expulsion of the 9 million Germans from these provinces as well as of 3 million Germans from the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia to Germany. By the 1950s every fifth West German was a refugee from the east. The USSR also took over the Polish provinces east of the Curzon line (from which 2 million Poles were expelled)239 Eastern Romania240241 and part of eastern Finland242 and three Baltic states.243244 Prime Minister Winston Churchill gives the "Victory" sign to crowds in London on Victory in Europe Day. In an effort to maintain peace245 the Allies formed the United Nations which officially came into existence on 24 October 1945246 and adopted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 as a common standard for all member nations.247 The alliance between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union had begun to deteriorate even before the war was over248 Germany had been de facto divided and two independent states Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic249 were created within the borders of Allied and Soviet occupation zones accordingly. The rest of Europe was also divided onto Western and Soviet spheres of influence.250 Most eastern and central European countries fell into the Soviet sphere which led to establishment of Communist led regimes with full or partial support of the Soviet occupation authorities. As a result Poland Hungary251 Czechoslovakia252 Romania Albania253 and East Germany became Soviet Satellite states. Communist Yugoslavia conducted a fully independent policy causing tension with the USSR.254 Post-war division of the world was formalised by two international military alliances the United States-led NATO and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact;255 the long period of political tensions and military competition between them the Cold War would be accompanied by unprecedented arms race and proxy wars.256 World map of colonization at the end of the Second World War in 1945. With the end of the war the Wars of national liberation ensued leading to the creation of Israel the often bloody Decolonization of Asia and (somewhat later) of Africa. In Asia the United States occupied Japan and administrated Japan's former islands in the Western Pacific while the Soviets annexed Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.257 Korea formerly under Japanese rule was divided and occupied by the US in the South and the Soviet Union in the North between 1945 and 1948. Separate republics emerged on both sides of the 38th parallel in 1948 each claiming to be the legitimate government for all of Korea which led ultimately to the Korean War.258 In China nationalist and communist forces resumed the civil war in June 1946. Communist forces were victorious and established the People's Republic of China on the mainland while nationalist forces retreated to Taiwan in 1949.259 In the Middle East the Arab rejection of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine and the creation of Israel marked the escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict. While the European colonial powers attempted to retain some or all of their colonial empires their losses of prestige and resources during the war rendered this unsuccessful leading to decolonisation.260261 The global economy suffered heavily from the war although WWII participants were affected differently. The US emerged much richer than any other nation; it had a baby boom and by 1950 its gross domestic product per person was much higher than that of any of the other powers and it dominated the world economy.262263 The UK and US pursued a policy of industrial disarmament in Western Germany in the years 19451948.264 Due to international trade interdependencies this led to European economic stagnation and delayed European recovery for several years.265266 Recovery began with the mid 1948 currency reform in Western Germany and was sped up by the liberalization of European economic policy that the Marshall plan (19481951) both directly and indirectly caused.267268 The post 1948 West German recovery has been called the German economic miracle.269 Also the Italian270271 and French economies rebounded.272 By contrast the United Kingdom was in a state of economic ruin273 and continued relative economic decline for decades.274 The Soviet Union despite enormous human and material losses also experienced rapid increase in production in the immediate post-war era.275 Japan experienced incredibly rapid economic growth becoming one of the most powerful economies in the world by the 1980s.276 China returned to its pre-war industrial production by 1952.277 Impact Casualties and war crimes Main articles: World War II casualties and War crimes during World War II Estimates for the total casualties of the war vary because many deaths went unrecorded. Most suggest that some 60 million people died in the war including about 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians.278279280 Many civilians died because of disease starvation massacres bombing and deliberate genocide. The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the war281 almost half of all World War II deaths.282 One of every four Soviet citizens was killed or wounded in that war.283 Of the total deaths in World War II approximately 85 percentmostly Soviet and Chinesewere on the Allied side and 15 percent on the Axis side. Many of these deaths were caused by war crimes committed by German and Japanese forces in occupied territories. An estimated 11284 to 17285 million civilians died as a direct or indirect result of Nazi ideological policies including the systematic genocide of around six million Jews during The Holocaust along with a further five million Roma Slavs homosexuals and other ethnic and minority groups.286 Roughly 7.5 million civilians died in China under Japanese occupation287 and the Serbs were targeted by the Axis-aligned Croatian Ustae.288 Chinese civilians to be buried alive by Japanese soldiers. The most well-known Japanese atrocity was the Nanking Massacre in which several hundred thousand Chinese civilians were raped and murdered.289 Between 3 million to more than 10 million civilians mostly Chinese were killed by the Japanese occupation forces.290 Mitsuyoshi Himeta reported 2.7 million casualties occurred during the Sank Sakusen. General Yasuji Okamura implemented the policy in Heipei and Shantung.291 The Axis forces employed limited biological and chemical weapons. The Italians used mustard gas during their conquest of Abyssinia292 while the Imperial Japanese Army used a variety of such weapons during their invasion and occupation of China (see Unit 731)293294 and in early conflicts against the Soviets.295 Both the Germans and Japanese tested such weapons against civilians296 and in some cases on prisoners of war.297 While many of the Axis's acts were brought to trial in the world's first international tribunals298 incidents caused by the Allies were not. Examples of such Allied actions include population transfer in the Soviet Union and Japanese American internment in the United States; the Operation Keelhaul299 expulsion of Germans after World War II mass rape of German women by Soviet Red Army; the Soviet Union's Katyn massacre for which Germans faced counter-accusations of responsibility. Large numbers of famine deaths can also be partially attributed to the war such as the Bengal famine of 1943 and the Vietnamese famine of 194445.300 It has also been suggested by some historians the mass-bombing of civilian areas in enemy territory including Tokyo and most notably the German cities of Dresden Hamburg and Cologne by Western Allies301 which resulted in the destruction of more than 160 cities and killing a total of more than 600000 German civilians302 be considered war crimes. Concentration camps and slave work Further information: The Holocaust Consequences of German Nazism Japanese war crimes and Allied war crimes during World War II The Nazis were responsible for The Holocaust the killing of approximately six million Jews (overwhelmingly Ashkenazim) as well as two million ethnic Poles and four million others who were deemed "unworthy of life" (including the disabled and mentally ill Soviet POWs homosexuals Freemasons Jehovah's Witnesses and Romani) as part of a programme of deliberate extermination. About 12 million most of whom were Eastern Europeans were employed in the German war economy as forced labourers.303 Dead bodies in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp after liberation possibly political prisoners or Soviet POWs In addition to Nazi concentration camps the Soviet gulags (labour camps) led to the death of citizens of occupied countries such as Poland Lithuania Latvia and Estonia as well as German prisoners of war (POWs) and even Soviet citizens who had been or were thought to be supporters of the Nazis.304 Sixty percent of Soviet POWs of the Germans died during the war.305 Richard Overy gives the number of 5.7 million Soviet POWs. Of those 57 percent died or were killed a total of 3.6 million.306 Soviet ex-POWs and repatriated civilians were treated with great suspect as potential Nazi collaborators and some of them were sent to GULAG upon check by NKVD.307 Japanese prisoner-of-war camps many of which were used as labour camps also had high death rates. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East found the death rate of Western prisoners was 27.1 percent (for American POWs 37 percent)308 seven times that of POWs under the Germans and Italians.309 While 37583 prisoners from the UK 28500 from the Netherlands and 14473 from United States were released after the surrender of Japan the number for the Chinese was only 56.310 According to historian Zhifen Ju at least five million Chinese civilians from northern China and Manchukuo were enslaved between 1935 and 1941 by the East Asia Development Board or Kain for work in mines and war industries. After 1942 the number reached 10 million.311 The U.S. Library of Congress estimates that in Java between 4 and 10 million romusha (Japanese: "manual laborers") were forced to work by the Japanese military. About 270000 of these Javanese laborers were sent to other Japanese-held areas in South East Asia and only 52000 were repatriated to Java.312 Mistreated and starved prisoners in the Mauthausen camp Austria 1945 On 19 February 1942 Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 interning thousands of Japanese Italians German Americans and some emigrants from Hawaii who fled after the bombing of Pearl Harbor for the duration of the war. The U.S. and Canadian governments interned 150000 Japanese-Americans313314 as well as nearly 11000 German and Italian residents of the U.S.313 In accordance with the Allied agreement made at the Yalta conference millions of POWs and civilians were used as forced labor by the Soviet Union.315 In Hungary's case Hungarians were forced to work for the Soviet Union until 1955.316 Home fronts and production Main articles: Military production during World War II and Home front during World War II Allied to Axis GDP ratio In Europe before the outbreak of the war the Allies had significant advantages in both population and economics. In 1938 the Western Allies (United Kingdom France Poland and British Dominions) had a 30 percent larger population and a 30 percent higher gross domestic product than the European Axis (Germany and Italy); if colonies are included it then gives the Allies more than a 5:1 advantage in population and nearly 2:1 advantage in GDP.317 In Asia at the same time China had roughly six times the population of Japan but only an 89 percent higher GDP; this is reduced to three times the population and only a 38 percent higher GDP if Japanese colonies are included.317 Though the Allies' economic and population advantages were largely mitigated during the initial rapid blitzkrieg attacks of Germany and Japan they became the decisive factor by 1942 after the United States and Soviet Union joined the Allies as the war largely settled into one of attrition.318 While the Allies' ability to out-produce the Axis is often attributed to the Allies having more access to natural resources other factors such as Germany and Japan's reluctance to employ women in the labour force319320 Allied strategic bombing321322 and Germany's late shift to a war economy323 contributed significantly. Additionally neither Germany nor Japan planned to fight a protracted war and were not equipped to do so.324325 To improve their production Germany and Japan used millions of slave labourers;326 Germany used about 12 million people mostly from Eastern Europe303 while Japan pressed more than 18 million people in Far East Asia.311312 Occupation Main articles: Collaboration with the Axis Powers during World War II Resistance during World War II and German-occupied Europe Soviet partisans hanged by German forces in January 1943 In Europe occupation came under two very different forms. In Western Northern and Central Europe (France Norway Denmark the Low Countries and the annexed portions of Czechoslovakia) Germany established economic policies through which it collected roughly 69.5 billion reichmarks (27.8 billion US Dollars) by the end of the war; this figure does not include the sizable plunder of industrial products military equipment raw materials and other goods.327 Thus the income from occupied nations was over 40 percent of the income Germany collected from taxation a figure which increased to nearly 40 percent of total German income as the war went on.328 In the East the much hoped for bounties of Lebensraum were never attained as fluctuating front-lines and Soviet scorched earth policies denied resources to the German invaders.329 Unlike in the West the Nazi racial policy encouraged excessive brutality against what it considered to be the "inferior people" of Slavic descent; most German advances were thus followed by mass executions.330 Although resistance groups did form in most occupied territories they did not significantly hamper German operations in either the East331 or the West332 until late 1943. In Asia Japan termed nations under its occupation as being part of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere essentially a Japanese hegemony which it claimed was for purposes of liberating colonised peoples.333 Although Japanese forces were originally welcomed as liberators from European domination in many territories their excessive brutality turned local public opinions against them within weeks.334 During Japan's initial conquest it captured 4000000 barrels (640000 m3) of oil (5.5105 tonnes) left behind by retreating Allied forces and by 1943 was able to get production in the Dutch East Indies up to 50 million barrels (6.8106 t) 76 percent of its 1940 output rate.334 Advances in technology and warfare Main article: Technology during World War II Aircraft were used for reconnaissance as fighters bombers and ground-support and each role was advanced considerably. Innovation included airlift (the capability to quickly move limited high-priority supplies equipment and personnel);335 and of strategic bombing (the bombing of civilian areas to destroy industry and morale).336 Anti-aircraft weaponry also advanced including defences such as radar and surface-to-air artillery such as the German 88 mm gun. The use of the jet aircraft was pioneered and though late introduction meant it had little impact it led to jets becoming standard in worldwide air forces.337 U-995 Type VIIC at the German navy memorial at Laboe. Between 1939 and 1945 3500 Allied merchant ships (gross tonnage 14.5 million) were sunk at a cost of 783 German U-boats. Advances were made in nearly every aspect of naval warfare most notably with aircraft carriers and submarines. Although at the start of the war aeronautical warfare had relatively little success actions at Taranto Pearl Harbor the South China Sea and the Coral Sea established the carrier as the dominant capital ship in place of the battleship.338339340 In the Atlantic escort carriers proved to be a vital part of Allied convoys increasing the effective protection radius and helping to close the Mid-Atlantic gap.341 Carriers were also more economical than battleships due to the relatively low cost of aircraft342 and their not requiring to be as heavily armoured.343 Submarines which had proved to be an effective weapon during the First World War344 were anticipated by all sides to be important in the second. The British focused development on anti-submarine weaponry and tactics such as sonar and convoys while Germany focused on improving its offensive capability with designs such as the Type VII submarine and wolfpack tactics.345 Gradually improving Allied technologies such as the Leigh light hedgehog squid and homing torpedoes proved victorious. Land warfare changed from the static front lines of World War I to increased mobility and combined arms. The tank which had been used predominantly for infantry support in the First World War had evolved into the primary weapon.346 In the late 1930s tank design was considerably more advanced than it had been during World War I347 and advances continued throughout the war in increasing speed armour and firepower. At the start of the war most commanders thought enemy tanks should be met by tanks with superior specifications.348 This idea was challenged by the poor performance of the relatively light early tank guns against armour and German doctrine of avoiding tank-versus-tank combat. This along with Germany's use of combined arms were among the key elements of their highly successful blitzkrieg tactics across Poland and France.346 Many means of destroying tanks including indirect artillery anti-tank guns (both towed and self-propelled) mines short-ranged infantry antitank weapons and other tanks were utilised.348 Even with large-scale mechanisation infantry remained the backbone of all forces349 and throughout the war most infantry were equipped similarly to World War I.350 The portable machine gun spread a notable example being the German MG42 and various submachine guns which were suited to close combat in urban and jungle settings.350 The assault rifle a late war development incorporating many features of the rifle and submachine gun became the standard postwar infantry weapon for most armed forces.351352 Most major belligerents attempted to solve the problems of complexity and security presented by using large codebooks for cryptography with the use of ciphering machines the most well known being the German Enigma machine.353 SIGINT (signals intelligence) was the countering process of decryption with the notable examples being the Allied breaking of Japanese naval codes354 and British Ultra which was derived from methodology given to Britain by the Polish Cipher Bureau which had been decoding Enigma for seven years before the war.355 Another aspect of military intelligence was the use of deception which the Allies used to great effect such as in operations Mincemeat and Bodyguard.354356 Other technological and engineering feats achieved during or as a result of the war include the world's first programmable computers (Z3 Colossus and ENIAC) guided missiles and modern rockets the Manhattan Project's development of nuclear weapons the development of artificial harbours and oil pipelines under the English Channel.357 See also World War II portal War portal Book: World War II Wikipedia Books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print. Main article: Outline of World War II Air warfare of World War II Atlas of the World Battle Fronts Battles (list) Effects of World War II List of World War II military operations World War II in contemporary culture Documentaries The World at War (1974) a 26-part Thames Television series that covers most aspects of World War II from many points of view. It includes interviews with many key figures including Karl Dnitz Albert Speer and Anthony Eden. Battlefield (documentary series) a television documentary series initially issued in 19941995 that explores many of the most important battles fought during the Second World War. BBC History of World War II a television series initially issued from 1989 to 2005. Notes After the fall of the Third Republic 1940 the de facto government was the Vichy Regime. It conducted pro-Axis policies until November 1942 while remaining formally neutral. The Free French Forces based out of London were recognized by all Allies as the official government in September 1944. "Second World War" is the official name of this conflict used by Commonwealth historians "World War II" is the name used in official American accounts of the war; both terms are used interchangeably in general usage.citation needed Sommerville Donald (2008). The Complete Illustrated History of World War Two: An Authoritative Account of the Deadliest Conflict in Human History with Analysis of Decisive Encounters and Landmark Engagements. Lorenz Books. p. 5. ISBN 0754818985.  Barrett David P; Shyu Lawrence N (2001). China in the anti-Japanese War 19371945: politics culture and society. Volume 1 of Studies in modern Chinese history. New York: Peter Lang. p. 6. ISBN 0-8204-4556-8.  Bradley James; Powers Ron (2000). Flags of Our Fathers. Bantam. p. 58. ISBN 0553111337.  Chickering Roger (2006) (Google books). A World at Total War: Global Conflict and the Politics of Destruction 19371945. Cambridge University Press. p. 64. ISBN 0275987108. http://books.google.com/idevVPoSwqrG4C&dqA+World+at+Total+War:+Global+Conflict+and+the+Politics+of+Destruction+1937%E2%80%931945&printsecfrontcover&qA%20World%20at%20Total%20War%3A%20Global%20Conflict%20and%20the%20Politics%20of%20Destruction%2C%201937%E2%80%931945. Retrieved 15 November 2009.  Fiscus James W (2007) (Google books). Critical Perspectives on World War II. Rosen Publishing Group. p. 44. ISBN 1404200657. http://books.google.com/id6MTcnkLfDZAC&dqCritical+Perspectives+on+World+War+II&printsecfrontcover&q. Retrieved 15 November 2009.  Among other starting dates sometimes used for World War II are the 1935 Italian invasion of Abyssinia; (Ben-Horin Eliahu (1943). The Middle East: Crossroads of History. W. W. Norton & Co. p. 169; Taylor A. J. P (1979). How Wars Begin. Hamilton. p. 124. ISBN 0241100178; Yisreelit Hevrah Mizrahit (1965). Asian and African Studies p. 191). For 1941 see (Taylor A. J. P (1961). The Origins of the Second World War. Hamilton. p. vii; Kellogg William O (2003). American History the Easy Way. Barron's Educational Series. p. 236 ISBN 0764119737). There also exists the viewpoint that both World War I and World War II are part of the same "European Civil War" or "Second Thirty Years War". (Canfora Luciano; Jones Simon (2006). Democracy in Europe: A History of an Ideology. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 155. ISBN 1405111313; Prin Gwyn (2002). The Heart of War: On Power Conflict and Obligation in the Twenty-First Century. Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 0415369606). Masaya Shiraishi (1990). Japanese relations with Vietnam 19511987. SEAP Publications. p. 4. ISBN 0877271224.  Kantowicz 1999 p. 149 Davies 2008 pp. 134140 Shaw 2000 p. 35 Bullock 1962 p. 265 Preston 1998 p. 104 Myers 1987 p. 458 Smith 2004 p. 28 Coogan Anthony (July 1993). "The Volunteer Armies of Northeast China". History Today 43. http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qstdocId5000186948. Retrieved 14 November 2009. "Although some Chinese troops in the Northeast managed to retreat south others were trapped by the advancing Japanese Army and were faced with the choice of resistance in defiance of orders or surrender. A few commanders submitted receiving high office in the puppet government but others took up arms against the invader. The forces they commanded were the first of the volunteer armies".  Brody 1999 p. 4 Zalampas 1989 p. 62 Record 2005 p. 50 Mandelbaum 1988 p. 96 Schmitz David F (2001). The First Wise Man. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 124. ISBN 0842026320.  Kitson 2001 p. 231 Adamthwaite 1992 p. 52 Graham 2005 p. 110 Busky 2002 p. 10 Barker A. J (1971). The Rape of Ethiopia 1936. Ballantine Books. pp. 1312. ISBN 0345024621.  a b Corum James S.. "Inflated by Air Common Perceptions of Civilian Casualties from Bombing". Thesis. Maxwell Air Force Base Alabama: Air War College. Air University. p. 10. http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDocLocationU2&docGetTRDoc.pdf&ADADA399072. Retrieved 29 December 2010.  Beevor Antony (2006). The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. London: Phoenix. p. 258. ISBN 0753821656.  Fairbank John King; Feuerwerker Albert; Twitchett Denis Crispin (1986). The Cambridge history of China. Cambridge University Press. pp. 547551. ISBN 0521243386.  Fairbank John King; Feuerwerker Albert; Twitchett Denis Crispin (1986). The Cambridge history of China. Cambridge University Press. p. 566. ISBN 0521243386.  Taylor Jay (2009). The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the struggle for modern China. Harvard University Press. pp. 150152. ISBN 9780674033382.  Coox Alvin D. (1990). Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia 1939. Stanford University Press. p. 189. ISBN 0804718350.  Sella Amnon (October 1983). "Khalkhin-Gol: The Forgotten War". Journal of Contemporary History 18 (4): 65187.  Chaney Otto Preston (1996). Zhukov. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 76. ISBN 0806128070.  Collier Martin; Pedley Philip (2000). Germany 191945. Heinemann. p. 144. ISBN 0435327216.  Kershaw 2001 pp. 1212 Kershaw 2001 p. 157 Davies 2008 pp. 1434 Lowe Cedric James; Marzari F (2002). Italian Foreign Policy 18701940. Taylor & Francis. p. 330. ISBN 0415273722.  Dear I. C. B.; Foot M. R. D eds (2002). "Pact of Steel". Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford University Press. p. 674. ISBN 0198604467.  Shore Zachary (2003). What Hitler Knew: The Battle for Information in Nazi Foreign Policy. Oxford University Press US. p. 108. ISBN 0195154592.  Dear I. C. B.; Foot M. R. D eds (2002). "Nazi-Soviet Pact". Oxford University Press. p. 608. ISBN 0198604467.  May Ernest R (2000) (Google books). Strange Victory: Hitler's Conquest of France. I.B.Tauris. p. 93. ISBN 1850433291. http://books.google.com/idArNzWonLNj8C&printsecfrontcover&dqStrange+Victory:+Hitler%27s+Conquest+of+France#vonepage&q. Retrieved 15 November 2009.  Roskill S.W. (1954). The War at Sea 1939-1945 Volume 1 : The Defensive. History of the Second World War. United Kingdom Military Series. London: HMSO. p. 64. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-RN-I/index.html.  Fritz Martin (2005). "Economic Warfare". In Dear I.C.B and Foot M.R.D.. The Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 248. ISBN 9780192806703.  Zaloga Steven J.; Gerrard Howard (2002) (Google books). Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg. Osprey Publishing. p. 83. ISBN 1841764086. http://books.google.com/idoQeAKAjlEwMC&printsecfrontcover&dqpoland+1939:+The+Birth+of+Blitzkrieg#vonepage&q. Retrieved 15 November 2009.  Hempel Andrew (2003) (Google books). Poland in World War II: An Illustrated Military History. Hippocrene Books. p. 24. ISBN 0781810043. http://books.google.com/id9SmbqqQfp1gC&dqPoland+in+World+War+II:+An+Illustrated+Military+History'&printsecfrontcover&q. Retrieved 15 November 2009.  Macintyre Ben Bravery of thousands of Poles was vital in securing victory The Times (London) 10 December 2010; p. 27: "Poland's prewar success in breaking the code of the German Enigma machines had been pivotal. Without these breakthroughs dating back to 1932 Britain would not have been able to read the most secret messages of the German High Command. And without that unique advantage the Allies might have lost the war." Jowett & Andrew 2002 p. 14 Smith David J. (2002) (Google books). The Baltic States: Estonia Latvia and Lithuania. Routledge. 1st edition. p. 24. ISBN 0415285801. http://books.google.com/idYaYbzQQN97EC&lpgPA142&dqThe%20Baltic%20States%3A%20Estonia%2C%20Latvia%20and%20Lithuania&pgPA142#vonepage&q. Retrieved 15 November 2009.  a b Bilinsky Yaroslav (1999) (Google books). Endgame in NATO's Enlargement: The Baltic States and Ukraine. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 9. 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ISBN 0671728687.  Murray & Millett 2001 pp. 5763 Commager Henry Steele (2004) (Google books). The Story of the Second World War. Brassey's. p. 9. ISBN 1574887416. http://books.google.com/idH2nUNdqobOkC&lpgPP1&dqThe%20Story%20of%20the%20Second%20World%20War&pgPP1#vonepage&q. Retrieved 15 November 2009.  Dear I. C. B.; Foot M. R. D eds (2002). "Iceland". Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford University Press. p. 436. ISBN 0198604467.  Reynolds David (27 April 2006) (Google books). From World War to Cold War: Churchill Roosevelt and the International History of the 1940s. Oxford University Press USA. p. 76. ISBN 0199284113. http://books.google.com/idQkxKD62G7cC&lpgPP1&dqFrom%20World%20War%20to%20Cold%20War%3A%20Churchill%2C%20Roosevelt%2C%20and%20the%20International%20History%20of%20the%201940s&pgPP1#vonepage&q. Retrieved 15 November 2009.  a b Crawford Keith; Foster Stuart J (2007) (Google books). 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ISBN 0198228880. http://books.google.com/idZ5p4tGO7-VkC&lpgPA1&dqGermany%20and%20the%20Second%20World%20War%20Volume%202%3A%20Germany's%20Initial%20Conquests%20in%20Europe&pgPA1#vonepage&q. Retrieved 15 November 2009.  Brown David (2004). The Road to Oran: Anglo-French Naval Relations September 1939 July 1940. Taylor & Francis. p. xxx. ISBN 0714654612.  Ferguson Niall (2006). The War of the World Penguin pp.367 376 379 417 Snyder Timothy (2010). Bloodlands Random House from p. 118 onwards H. W. Koch. Hitler's 'Programme' and the Genesis of Operation 'Barbarossa'. The Historical Journal Vol. 26 No. 4 (Dec. 1983) pp. 891-920 Roberts Geoffrey (2006). Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War 19391953. Yale University Press. p. 56. ISBN 0300112041.  Roberts Geoffrey (2006). Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War 19391953. Yale University Press. p. 59. ISBN 0300112041.  Kelly Nigel; Rees Rosemary; Shuter Jane (1998). Twentieth Century World. Heinemann. p. 38. 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ISBN 9780765618214.  Murray & Millett 2001 p. 165 Knell Hermann (2003). To Destroy a City: Strategic Bombing and Its Human Consequences in World War II. Da Capo. p. 205. ISBN 0306811693.  Murray & Millett 2001 pp. 233245 Schoenherr Steven (1 October 2005). "Undeclared Naval War in the Atlantic 1941". History Department at the University of San Diego. http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/ww2Timeline/Prelude18.html. Retrieved 15 February 2010. dead link Dear I. C. B.; Foot M. R. D eds (2002). "Tripartite Pact". Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford University Press. p. 877. ISBN 0198604467.  Deletant Dennis (2002). "Romania". In Dear I. C. B.; Foot M. R. D. Oxford Companion to World War II. pp. 74546. ISBN 0198604467.  Clogg Richard (1992). A Concise History of Greece. Cambridge University Press. p. 118. ISBN 0521808723.  Andrew Stephen (2001). The Italian Army 194045 (2): Africa 194043. Osprey Publishing. pp. 910. ISBN 1855328658.  Brown David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean. Routledge. pp. 6465. ISBN 0714652059.  Jackson Ashley (2006). The British Empire and the Second World War. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 106. ISBN 1852854170.  Laurier Jim (2001). Tobruk 1941: Rommel's opening move. Osprey Publishing. pp. 78. ISBN 1841760927.  Murray & Millett 2001 pp. 26367 Macksey Kenneth (1997). Rommel: battles and campaigns. Da Capo Press. pp. 6163. ISBN 0306807866.  Weinberg 1995 p. 229 Watson William E (2003). Tricolor and Crescent: France and the Islamic World. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 80. ISBN 0275974707.  Jackson Ashley (2006). The British Empire and the Second World War. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 154. ISBN 1852854170.  Stewart Vance (2002). Three Against One: Churchill Roosevelt Stalin Vs Adolph Hitler. Sunstone Press. p. 159. ISBN 0865343772.  Dear I.C.B and Foot M.R.D. (editors) (2005). "Blitz". The Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 108109. ISBN 9780192806703.  United States. Air Force Logistics Management Agency (2004). AFLMA Year in Review. DIANE Publishing. p. 33. ISBN 1428993886.  Joes Anthony James (2004). Resisting Rebellion: The History And Politics of Counterinsurgency. University Press of Kentucky. p. 224. ISBN 0813123399.  Fairbank John King; Goldman Merle (1994). China: A New History. Harvard University Press. p. 320. ISBN 0674116739.  Garver John W (1988). Chinese-Soviet Relations 19371945: The Diplomacy of Chinese Nationalism. Oxford University Press. p. 114. ISBN 0195054326.  Weinberg 1995 p. 195 Sella Amnon (July 1978). ""Barbarossa": Surprise Attack and Communication". Journal of Contemporary History 13 (3): 55583. doi:10.1177/002200947801300308.  Kershaw Ian (2007). Fateful Choices. Allen Lane. pp. 6669. ISBN 0713997125.  Steinberg Jonathan (June 1995). "The Third Reich Reflected: German Civil Administration in the Occupied Soviet Union 19414". The English Historical Review 110 (437): 62051.  Hauner Milan (January 1978). "Did Hitler Want a World Dominion". Journal of Contemporary History 13 (1): 1532. doi:10.1177/002200947801300102.  Roberts Cynthia A (December 1995). "Planning for War: The Red Army and the Catastrophe of 1941". Europe-Asia Studies 47 (8): 129326. doi:10.1080/09668139508412322.  Wilt Alan F. (December 1981). "Hitler's Late Summer Pause in 1941". Military Affairs 45 (4): 18791. doi:10.2307/1987464. JSTOR 1987464.  Erickson John (2003). The Road to Stalingrad. Cassell Military. pp. 114137. ISBN 0304365416.  Glantz 2001 p. 9 Farrell Brian P (October 1993). "Yes Prime Minister: Barbarossa Whipcord and the Basis of British Grand Strategy Autumn 1941". The Journal of Military History 57 (4): 599625. doi:10.2307/2944096. JSTOR 2944096.  Pravda Alex; Duncan Peter J. S (1990). Soviet-British Relations Since the 1970s. Cambridge University Press. p. 29. ISBN 0521374944.  Bueno de Mesquita Bruce; Smith Alastair; Siverson Randolph M.; Morrow James D (2005). The Logic of Political Survival. MIT Press. p. 425. ISBN 0262524406.  a b Louis William Roger (1998). More Adventures with Britannia: Personalities Politics and Culture in Britain. University of Texas Press. p. 223. ISBN 029274708X.  Kleinfeld Gerald R (October 1983). "Hitler's Strike for Tikhvin". Military Affairs 47 (3): 122128. doi:10.2307/1988082. JSTOR 1988082.  Shukman Harold (2001). Stalin's Generals. Phoenix Press. p. 113. ISBN 1842125133.  Glantz 2001 p. 26 "By 1 November the Wehrmacht had lost fully 20% of its committed strength (686000 men) up to 2/3 of its -million motor vehicles and 65 percent of its tanks. The German Army High Command (OKH) rated its 136 divisions as equivalent to 83 full-strength divisions." Reinhardt Klaus; Keenan Karl B (1992). Moscow-The Turning Point: The Failure of Hitler's Strategy in the Winter of 194142. Berg. p. 227. ISBN 0854966951.  Milward A.S. (1964). "The End of the Blitzkrieg". The Economic History Review 16 (3): 499518. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0289.1964.tb01744.x.  Rotundo Louis (January 1986). "The Creation of Soviet Reserves and the 1941 Campaign". Military Affairs 50 (1): 218. doi:10.2307/1988530. JSTOR 1988530.  Glantz 2001 p. 26 Garthoff Raymond L (October 1969). "The Soviet Manchurian Campaign August 1945". Military Affairs 33 (2): 312.  Welch David (1999). Modern European History 18712000: A Documentary Reader. Routledge. p. 102. ISBN 041521582X.  Weinberg Gerhard L (2005). A World At Arms. Cambridge University Press. p. 248. ISBN 0521618266.  Anderson Irvine H. Jr. (May 1975). "De Facto Embargo on Oil to Japan: A Bureaucratic Reflex". The Pacific Historical Review 44 (2): 201.  Peattie Mark R.; Evans David C. (1997). Kaigun: Strategy Tactics and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Naval Institute Press. p. 456. ISBN 0870211927.  Lightbody Bradley (2004). The Second World War: Ambitions to Nemesis. Routledge. p. 125. ISBN 0415224047.  Weinberg Gerhard L (2005). A World At Arms. Cambridge University Press. p. 310. ISBN 0521618266.  Morgan Patrick M (1983). Strategic Military Surprise: Incentives and Opportunities. Transaction Publishers. p. 51. ISBN 0878559124.  a b Wohlstetter Roberta (1962). Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision. Stanford University Press. pp. 34143. ISBN 0804705984.  Mingst Karen A.; Karns Margaret P (2007). United Nations in the Twenty-First Century. Westview Press. p. 22. ISBN 0813343461.  Dunn Dennis J (1998). Caught Between Roosevelt & Stalin: America's Ambassadors to Moscow. The University Press of Kentucky. p. 157. ISBN 0813120233.  According to Ernest May (May Ernest (1955). "The United States the Soviet Union and the Far Eastern War". The Pacific Historical Review 24 (2): 156. ) Churchill stated: "Russian declaration of war on Japan would be greatly to our advantage provided but only provided that Russians are confident that will not impair their Western Front". Rees Laurence (2009). World War Two Behind Closed Doors BBC Books p. 99. Rees Laurence (2009). World War Two Behind Closed Doors BBC Books p. 406-7. Klam Julie (2002). The Rise of Japan and Pearl Harbor. Black Rabbit Books. p. 27. ISBN 1583401881.  Lewis Morton. "XXIX. Japanese Plans and American Defenses". In Greenfield Kent Roberts. The Fall of the Philippines. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 529. Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 53-63678. http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/5-2/5-229.htm.  (Table 11). Hill J. R.; Ranft Bryan (2002). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Royal Navy. Oxford University Press. p. 362. ISBN 0198605277.  Hsiung 1992 p. 158 Perez Louis G. (1 June 1998) (Google Books). The history of Japan. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 145. ISBN 0313302960. http://books.google.com/idahYF-A3oylkC&pgPA145. Retrieved 12 November 2009.  Gooch John (1990). Decisive Campaigns of the Second World War. Routledge. p. 52. ISBN 0714633690.  Glantz 2001 p. 31 Molinari Andrea (2007). Desert Raiders: Axis and Allied Special Forces 194043. Osprey Publishing. p. 91. ISBN 1846030064.  Mitcham Samuel W.; Mitcham Samuel W. Jr (1982). Rommel's Desert War: The Life and Death of the Afrika Korps. Stein & Day. p. 31. ISBN 9780811734134.  Maddox Robert James (1992). The United States and World War II. Westview Press. pp. 11112. ISBN 0813304369.  Salecker Gene Eric (2001). Fortress Against the Sun: The B-17 Flying Fortress in the Pacific. Da Capo Press. p. 186. ISBN 1580970494.  Ropp Theodore (1962). War in the Modern World. Macmillan Publishing Company. p. 368. ISBN 0801864453.  Weinberg 1995 p. 339 Gilbert Adrian (2003). The Encyclopedia of Warfare: From Earliest Times to the Present Day. 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Levine China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan 1937-1945 p.161 Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai (1971) History of The Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) 2nd Ed. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung. Chung Wu Publishing. pp.412-416 Map 38 Weinberg 1995 pp. 660661 Glantz David M (2001). The siege of Leningrad 19411944: 900 days of terror. Zenith Imprint. pp. 16669. ISBN 0760309418.  Glantz David M (2002). The Battle for Leningrad: 19411944. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0700612084.  Chubarov Alexander (2001). Russia's Bitter Path to Modernity: A History of the Soviet and Post-Soviet Eras. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 122. ISBN 0826413501.  Havighurst Alfred F (1962). Britain in Transition: The Twentieth Century. The University of Chicago Press. p. 344. ISBN 0226319717.  Lightbody Bradley (2004). The Second World War: Ambitions to Nemesis. Routledge. p. 224. ISBN 0415224047.  a b Zeiler Thomas W (2004). Unconditional Defeat: Japan America and the End of World War II. 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ISBN 0198604467.  The operation "was the most calamitous defeat of all the German armed forces in World War II" (Zaloga Steven J (1996). Bagration 1944: The destruction of Army Group Centre. Osprey Publishing. p. 7. ISBN 1855324784. ) Berend Ivan T. (1999). Central and Eastern Europe 19441993: Detour from the Periphery to the Periphery. Cambridge University Press. p. 8. ISBN 0521550661.  "Armistice Negotiations and Soviet Occupation". US Library of Congress. http://countrystudies.us/romania/23.htm. Retrieved 14 November 2009. "The coup speeded the Red Army's advance and the Soviet Union later awarded Michael the Order of Victory for his personal courage in overthrowing Antonescu and putting an end to Romania's war against the Allies. Western historians uniformly point out that the Communists played only a supporting role in the coup; postwar Romanian historians however ascribe to the Communists the decisive role in Antonescu's overthrow"  Hastings Max; Paul Henry Collier (2004). 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Furthermore no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs whether it be independent trust non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty"  Kantowicz Edward R (2000). Coming Apart Coming Together. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 6. ISBN 0802844561.  Wettig Gerhard (2008). Stalin and the Cold War in Europe. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 96100. ISBN 0742555429.  Trachtenberg Marc (1999). A Constructed Peace: The Making of the European Settlement 19451963. Princeton University Press. p. 33. ISBN 0691002738.  Granville Johanna (2004). The First Domino: International Decision Making during the Hungarian Crisis of 1956. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 1585442984.  Grenville John Ashley Soames (2005). A History of the World from the 20th to the 21st Century. Routledge. pp. 37071. ISBN 0415289548.  Cook Bernard A (2001). Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia. 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"Source List and Detailed Death Tolls for the Twentieth Century Hemoclysm". Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century. Matthew White's Homepage. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm#Second. Retrieved 20 April 2007.  "World War II Fatalities". secondworldwar.co.uk. http://www.secondworldwar.co.uk/casualty.html. Retrieved 20 April 2007.  "Rulers and victims: the Russians in the Soviet Union". Geoffrey A. Hosking (2006). Harvard University Press. p.242. ISBN 0-674-02178-9 "Leaders mourn Soviet wartime dead". BBC News. 9 May 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4530565.stm. Retrieved 7 December 2009.  "The World's Wasted Wealth 2: Save Our Wealth Save Our Environment". J. W. Smith (1994). p.204. ISBN 0-9624423-2-1 Florida Center for Instructional Technology (2005). "Victims". A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust. University of South Florida. http://fcit.usf.edu/Holocaust/people/victims.htm. Retrieved 2 February 2008.  Niewyk Donald L. and Nicosia Francis R. 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ISBN 0198205996.  Lindberg Michael; Daniel Todd (2001). Brown- Green- and Blue-Water Fleets: the Influence of Geography on Naval Warfare 1861 to the Present. Praeger. p. 126. ISBN 0275964868.  Cox Sebastian (1998). The Strategic Air War Against Germany 19391945. Frank Cass Publishers. p. 84. ISBN 0714647225.  Unidas Naciones (2005). World Economic And Social Survey 2004: International Migration. United Nations Pubns. p. 23. ISBN 9211091470.  Liberman Peter (1998). Does Conquest Pay: The Exploitation of Occupied Industrial Societies. Princeton University Press. p. 42. ISBN 0691002428.  Milward Alan S (1979). War Economy and Society 19391945. University of California Press. p. 138. ISBN 0520039424.  Milward Alan S (1979). War Economy and Society 19391945. University of California Press. p. 148. ISBN 0520039424.  Perrie Maureen; Lieven D. C. B; Suny Ronald Grigor (2007). The Cambridge History of Russia. Cambridge University Press. p. 232. ISBN 0521861942.  Hill Alexander (2005). The War Behind The Eastern Front: The Soviet Partisan Movement In North-West Russia 19411944. Routledge. p. 5. ISBN 0714657115.  Christofferson Thomas R; Christofferson Michael S (2006). France During World War II: From Defeat to Liberation. Fordham University Press. p. 156. ISBN 9780823225637.  Ikeo Aiko (1997). Economic Development in Twentieth Century East Asia: The International Context. Routledge. p. 107. ISBN 0415149002.  a b Boog Horst; Rahn Werner; Stumpf Reinhard; Wegner Bernd (2001). Militrgeschichtliches Forschungsamt Germany and the Second World WarVolume VI: The Global War. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 266. ISBN 0198228880.  Tucker Spencer C.; Roberts Priscilla Mary Roberts (2004). Encyclopedia of World War II: A Political Social and Military History. ABC-CLIO. p. 76. ISBN 1576079996.  Levine Alan J. (1992). The Strategic Bombing of Germany 19401945. Greenwood Press. p. 217. ISBN 0275943194.  Sauvain Philip (2005). Key Themes of the Twentieth Century: Teacher's Guide. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 128. ISBN 1405132183.  Tucker Spencer C.; Roberts Priscilla Mary Roberts (2004). Encyclopedia of World War II: A Political Social and Military History. ABC-CLIO. p. 163. ISBN 1576079996.  Bishop Chris; Chant Chris (2004). Aircraft Carriers: The World's Greatest Naval Vessels and Their Aircraft. Silverdale Books. p. 7. ISBN 1845090799.  Chenoweth H. Avery; Nihart Brooke (2005). Semper Fi: The Definitive Illustrated History of the U.S. Marines. Main Street. p. 180. ISBN 1402730993.  Sumner Ian; Baker Alix (2001). The Royal Navy 193945. Osprey Publishing. p. 25. ISBN 1841761958.  Hearn Chester G. (2007). Carriers in Combat: The Air War at Sea. Stackpole Books. p. 14. ISBN 081173398X.  Gardiner Robert; Brown David K (2004). The Eclipse of the Big Gun: The Warship 19061945. Conway. p. 52. ISBN 0851779530.  Rydill Louis (1995). Concepts in Submarine Design. Cambridge University Press. p. 15. ISBN 052155926X.  Rydill Louis (1995). Concepts in Submarine Design. Cambridge University Press. p. 16. ISBN 052155926X.  a b Tucker Spencer C.; Roberts Priscilla Mary Roberts (2004). Encyclopedia of World War II: A Political Social and Military History. ABC-CLIO. p. 125. ISBN 1576079996.  Dupuy Trevor Nevitt (1982). The Evolution of Weapons and Warfare. Jane's Information Group. p. 231. ISBN 0710601239.  a b Tucker Spencer C.; Roberts Priscilla Mary Roberts (2004). Encyclopedia of World War II: A Political Social and Military History. ABC-CLIO. p. 108. ISBN 1576079996.  Tucker Spencer C.; Roberts Priscilla Mary Roberts (2004). Encyclopedia of World War II: A Political Social and Military History. ABC-CLIO. p. 734. ISBN 1576079996.  a b Cowley Robert; Parker Geoffrey (2001). The Reader's Companion to Military History. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 221. ISBN 0618127429.  "Infantry Weapons Of World War 2". Grey Falcon (Black Sun). http://greyfalcon.us/Infantry%20Weapons%20Of%20World%20War%202.htm. Retrieved 14 November 2009. "These all-purpose guns were developed and used by the German army in the 2nd half of World War 2 as a result of studies which showed that the ordinary rifle's long range is much longer than needed since the soldiers almost always fired at enemies closer than half of its effective range. The assault rifle is a balanced compromise between the rifle and the sub-machine gun having sufficient range and accuracy to be used as a rifle combined with the rapid-rate automatic firepower of the sub machine gun. Thanks to these combined advantages assault rifles such as the American M-16 and the Russian AK-47 are the basic weapon of the modern soldier"  Sprague Oliver; Griffiths Hugh (2006). "The AK-47: the worlds favourite killing machine" (PDF). controlarms.org. p. 1. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ACT30/011/2006/en/11079910-d422-11dd-8743-d305bea2b2c7/act300112006en.pdf. Retrieved 14 November 2009.  Ratcliff Rebecca Ann (2006). Delusions of Intelligence: Enigma Ultra and the End of Secure Ciphers. Cambridge University Press. p. 11. ISBN 0521855225.  a b Schoenherr Steven (2007). "Code Breaking in World War II". History Department at the University of San Diego. http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/ww2timeline/espionage.html. Retrieved 15 November 2009. dead link Macintyre Ben Bravery of thousands of Poles was vital in securing victory The Times (London) 10 December 2010; p. 27 Rowe Neil C.; Rothstein Hy. "Deception for Defense of Information Systems: Analogies from Conventional Warfare". Departments of Computer Science and Defense Analysis U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. Air University. http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/nps/mildec.htm. Retrieved 15 November 2009.  "Konrad Zuse (19101995)". Istituto Dalle Molle di Studi sull'Intelligenza Artificiale. http://www.idsia.ch/juergen/zuse.html. Retrieved 14 November 2009. "Konrad Zuse builds Z1 world's first programme-controlled computer. Despite mechanical engineering problems it had all the basic ingredients of modern machines using the binary system and today's standard separation of storage and control. Zuse's 1936 patent application (Z23139/GMD Nr. 005/021) also suggests a von Neumann architecture (re-invented in 1945) with programme and data modifiable in storage"  References Adamthwaite Anthony P (1992). The Making of the Second World War. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415907160.  Brody J Kenneth (1999). The Avoidable War: Pierre Laval and the Politics of Reality 19351936. Transaction Publishers. p. 4. ISBN 0765806223.  Bullock A. (1962). Hitler: A Study in Tyranny. Penguin Books. ISBN 0140135642  Busky Donald F (2002). Communism in History and Theory: Asia Africa and the Americas. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0275977331.  Davies Norman (2008). No Simple Victory: World War II in Europe 19391945. Penguin Group. ISBN 0143114093  Glantz David M. (2001). "The SovietGerman War 194145 Myths and Realities: A Survey Essay". http://www.strom.clemson.edu/publications/sg-war41-45.pdf  Graham Helen (2005). The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press USA. ISBN 0192803778.  Hsiung James Chieh (1992). China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan 19371945. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 156324246X  Jowett Philip S.; Andrew Stephen (2002). The Japanese Army 193145. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1841763535  Kantowicz Edward R (1999). The rage of nations. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 0802844553.  Kershaw Ian (2001). Hitler 19361945: Nemesis. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393322521  Kitson Alison (2001). Germany 18581990: Hope Terror and Revival. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199134175.  Mandelbaum Michael (1988). The Fate of Nations: The Search for National Security in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Cambridge University Press. p. 96. ISBN 052135790X.  Murray Williamson; Millett Allan Reed (2001). A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674006801  Myers Ramon; Peattie Mark (1987). The Japanese Colonial Empire 18951945. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691102228.  Preston Peter (1998). 'Pacific Asia in the global system: an introduction Wiley-Blackwell. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 104. ISBN 0631202382.  Record Jeffery (2005) (PDF). Appeasement Reconsidered: Investigating the Mythology of the 1930s. DIANE Publishing. p. 50. ISBN 1584872160. http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB622.pdf. Retrieved 15 November 2009.  Shaw Anthony (2000). World War II Day by Day. MBI Publishing Company. ISBN 0760309396.  Smith Winston; Steadman Ralph (2004). All Riot on the Western Front Volume 3. Last Gasp. ISBN 0867196165.  Weinberg Gerhard L. (1995). A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521558794  Zalampas Michael (1989). Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich in American magazines 19231939. Bowling Green University Popular Press. ISBN 0879724625.  External links Find more about World War II on Wikipedia's sister projects: Definitions from Wiktionary Images and media from Commons Learning resources from Wikiversity News stories from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Source texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks World War II Military Situation Maps. Library of Congress World War II Propaganda Leaflet Archive The Art of War Online Exhibition at the UK National Archive Deutsche Welle special section on World War II created by a German public broadcaster on both the war and the world 60 years after. v d eWorld War II Western Europe  Eastern Europe  Africa  Mediterranean  Asia and the Pacific  Atlantic Casualties  Military engagements  Topics  Conferences  Commanders Participants Allies (Leaders) Ethiopia  China  Czechoslovakia  Poland  United Kingdom  India  France  Australia  New Zealand  South Africa  Canada  Norway  Belgium  Netherlands  Greece  Yugoslavia  Soviet Union  United States  Philippines  Mexico  Brazil Axis and Axis-aligned (Leaders) Bulgaria  Reorganized National Government of China  Croatia  Finland  Germany  Hungary  Iraq  Italy  Italian Social Republic  Japan  Manchukuo  Romania  Slovakia  Thailand  Vichy France Resistance Albania  Austria  Baltic States  Belgium  Czech lands  Denmark  Estonia  Ethiopia  France  Germany  Greece  Hong Kong  India  Italy  Jewish  Korea  Latvia  Luxembourg  Netherlands  Norway  Philippines  Poland (Anti-communist)  Romania  Thailand  Soviet Union  Slovakia  Western Ukraine  Vietnam  Yugoslavia Timeline  Prelude Africa  Asia  Europe 1939 Invasion of Poland  Phoney War  Winter War  Atlantic  Changsha (1939)  China 1940 Weserbung  Netherlands  Belgium  France  UK  North Africa  British Somaliland  Baltic States  Moldova  Indochina  Greece   Compass 1941 East Africa  Invasion of Yugoslavia  Yugoslav Front  Greece  Crete  Soviet Union (Barbarossa)  Karelia  Lithuania  Middle East   Kiev   Leningrad  Moscow  Sevastopol  Pearl Harbor  Hong Kong  Philippines  Changsha (1941)  Malaya  Borneo 1942 Burma  Changsha (1942)  Coral Sea  Gazala  Midway  Blue  Stalingrad  Dieppe  El Alamein  Torch  Guadalcanal 1943 End in Africa  Kursk  Smolensk  Solomon Islands  Sicily  Lower Dnieper  Italy  Gilbert and Marshall  Changde 1944 Monte Cassino and Shingle  Narva  Cherkassy   Tempest  Ichi-Go  Normandy  Mariana and Palau  Bagration  Western Ukraine  Tannenberg Line  Warsaw Uprising  Eastern Romania  Yugoslavia  Paris  Gothic Line  Market Garden  Estonia  Crossbow  Pointblank  Lapland  Hungary  Leyte  Bulge  Burma 1945 Vistula-Oder  Iwo Jima  Okinawa  Surrender of Italy  Berlin  Czechoslovakia  Budapest  West Hunan  Surrender of Germany  Manchuria  Philippines   Borneo  Atomic bombings  Surrender of Japan Aspects General Air warfare of World War II  Attacks on North America  Blitzkrieg  Comparative military ranks  Cryptography  Home front  Military awards  Military equipment  Military production  Nazi plunder  Technology  Total war  Strategic bombing  Bengal famine of 1943 Aftermath Effects  Expulsion of Germans  Operation Paperclip  Operation Keelhaul  Occupation of Germany  Morgenthau Plan  Territorial changes  Soviet occupations (Romania Poland Hungary Baltic States)  Occupation of Japan  First Indochina War  Indonesian National Revolution  Cold War  Decolonization  Popular culture  War crimes German and Wehrmacht war crimes  The Holocaust  Italian war crimes  Japanese war crimes  Allied war crimes  Soviet war crimes  United States war crimes War rape Rape during the occupation of Japan  Comfort women   Rape of Nanking   Rape during the occupation of Germany Prisoners Nazi crimes against Soviet POWs   Italian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union  Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union  Japanese prisoners of war in World War II  German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union   German prisoners of war in the United States Category  Portal  definition   textbooks   quotes   source texts   media   news stories v d e History of World War II by country and region Albania  Australia  Austria (Anschluss)  Azerbaijan  Belarus  Belgium  Brazil  Bulgaria  Burma  Cambodia  Canada  Ceylon (Sri Lanka)  Channel Islands  China  Czechoslovakia  Denmark  Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)  Egypt  Estonia  Finland  France  Germany  Gibraltar  Greece  Greenland  Hong Kong  Hungary  Iceland  India  Iran  Iraq  Ireland  Italy  Japan  Laos  Latvia  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Malaya North Borneo and Sarawak (Malaysia)  Manchukuo  Mexico  Mongolia  Nepal  Netherlands  New Zealand  Newfoundland  Norway  Philippines  Poland  Portugal  Romania  Singapore  Slovakia  South Africa  Soviet Union  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland  Thailand  Turkey  Ukraine  United Kingdom  United States  Vietnam  Yugoslavia