World War II

World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a military ; the  of two separate conflicts, one beginning in  in 1937 as the, and the other beginning in  in 1939 with the. It is regarded as the historical successor to.

This global conflict split a into two opposing military alliances: the  and the. Spanning much of the globe, World War II resulted in the deaths of over, making it the deadliest conflict in.

World War II was the most widespread war in history, and countries involved mobilized more than 100 million military personnel. erased the distinction between civil and military resources and saw the complete activation of a nation's economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities for the purposes of the war effort; nearly two-thirds of those killed in the war were civilians. For example, nearly 11 million of the civilian casualties were victims of the, which was conducted by , largely in Eastern Europe, and the.

The conflict ended in an Allied victory. As a result, the and  emerged as the world's two leading s, setting the stage for the  for the next 45 years. The was founded in the hopes of preventing another such conflict, and  gave rise to  movements in Asia and Africa, while Europe itself began traveling the.

Overview
[[Image:Ww2 allied axis.gif|thumb|400px|right|This is an animated map conveying the territories controlled by the            Allies and the Axis over the course of the war.

{{legend|#04acfc|}} {{legend|red| and allies}} {{legend|black|, Axis occupied territories and }} {{legend|#d3d3d3|Neutral countries}} ]] In September 1931, Japan under false pretexts and captured it from the Chinese.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler of the became the leader of Germany. Under the Nazis, Germany began to rearm and to pursue a new foreign policy. By 1937, Hitler also began demanding the cession of territories which had historically been part of Germany, like the and.

In July 1937, Japan launched a, beginning with the and followed by the  in December.

In Europe,, and to a lesser extent , asserted increasingly hostile and aggressive foreign policies and demands, which the and  initially attempted to defuse primarily through diplomacy and.

In September 1939, Germany  in, and war in Europe followed. The French and British did not declare war at first, hoping they could persuade Hitler through appeasement, but Hitler did not respond. The United Kingdom and France declared war. During the winter of 1939–1940 there was little overt indication of hostilities since neither side was willing to engage the other directly. This period was called the.

In spring 1940, Germany captured and, and in the early summer France and the. declared war in June 1940 and the attacked  just before the surrender. The United Kingdom was then targeted; the Germans attempted to cut the island off from vitally needed supplies and obtain air superiority in order to make a seaborne invasion possible. This never came to pass, but the continued to attack the British mainland throughout the war, primarily from the air. Unable to engage German forces on the continent, the United Kingdom concentrated on combating German and Italian forces in the. It had limited success however; it failed to prevent the Axis and fought indecisively in the. It had greater, dealing severe damage to the , and inflicted the first major defeat on Germany by winning the.

In June 1941, the extent of the war increased when Germany, bringing the Soviet Union into alliance with the United Kingdom. The German attack was initially highly successful, overrunning great tracts of Soviet territory, but began to stall by the winter.

Since mainland China and  in 1940, Japan had been subject to increasing economic sanctions by the United States, Great Britain and Netherlands, and was attempting to reduce these sanctions through diplomatic negotiations. In December 1941, however, the war expanded once more when, already in its fifth year of war with , launched near simultaneous attacks and British assets in ; four days later, Germany declared war on the United States. This brought the United States and Japan into the greater conflict and turned previously separate Asian and European wars into a single global one.

In 1942, though Axis forces continued to make gains, the tide began to turn. Japan suffered its first major defeat against American forces in the, where four of Japan's were destroyed. German forces in were being, and Germany’s renewed summer offensive in the Soviet Union had ground to a halt.

In 1943 Germany suffered devastating losses to the Soviets at, and then again at , the greatest tank battle in military history. Their forces were expelled from Africa, and Allied forces. was forced to sign the in September 1943. The Japanese continued to lose ground as the American forces seized island after island in the Pacific Ocean.

In 1944, the course of the war was clearly becoming unfavourable for the Axis. Germany became boxed in as the Soviet offensive became a juggernaut in the east, pushing the Germans out of Russia and pressing into Poland and ; in the west, the Western Allies, and the Low Countries and reaching Germany’s western borders. While Japan launched a, in the Pacific, their navy suffered continued heavy losses as American forces captured airfields within bombing range of.

In 1945 the war ended. In Europe, a final failed, while Soviet forces  in May, forcing Germany to surrender. In Asia, American forces captured the Japanese islands of and  while British forces in South East Asia managed to expel Japanese forces there. Initially unwilling to surrender, Japan finally capitulated after the and the.

Events leading up to the war in Europe


Germany and France had been struggling for dominance in Continental Europe for 80 years and had fought two previous wars, the and. Following the, Communist revolutionary movements began spreading across Europe, briefly taking power in both and ; in response, fascist and nationalist groups were born.

In 1922, Italian dictator and his  party took control of the  and set the model for German dictator 's, which, aided by the civil unrest caused by the , took power in Germany and eliminated its democratic government, the. These two leaders began to re-militarise their countries and become increasingly hostile. Mussolini first and then seized, with both Italy and Germany actively supporting   in the  against the  (which was supported by the Soviet Union). Hitler then broke the by increasing the size of the Germany’s military, and. He started his own expansion by and sought the same against the  (Sudetenland) of.

The British and French governments followed a policy of in order to avoid military confrontation after the high cost of the First World War. This policy culminated in the in 1938, which would give the Sudetenland to Germany in exchange for Germany making no further territorial claims in Europe. In March 1939, Germany annexed the remainder of Czechoslovakia. Mussolini, following suit, in April.

The failure of the pushed the United Kingdom and France to prepare for war with Germany. France and pledged on, , to  in the event either was attacked. The following August, the British.

On, , Germany and the Soviet Union signed the which provided for sales of oil and food from the Soviets to Germany, thus reducing the danger of a British blockade such as the one that had nearly starved Germany in World War I. Also included was a secret agreement that would divide  into German and Soviet areas of interest, including a provision to partition Poland. Each country agreed to allow the other a free hand in its area of influence, including.

Blitzkrieg


On, , Germany , using the false pretext of a faked "" on a German border post. On, the United Kingdom issued an ultimatum to Germany. No reply was received, and Britain, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany, followed later that day by France. Soon afterwards, South Africa, Canada and Nepal also declared war on Germany. Immediately, the UK began seizing German ships and implementing a blockade.

Despite the French and British treaty obligations and promises to the Polish government, both France and the UK were. The French mobilized slowly and then mounted only a short in the ; neither did the British send land forces in time to support the Poles. Meanwhile, on, the Germans , having ripped through the Polish defences. On, the Soviet Union, pursuant to its prior agreement with Germany,. Poland was soon overwhelmed, and the on.

After Poland fell, Germany paused to regroup during the winter while the British and French stayed on the defensive. The period was referred to by journalists as "the " because of the inaction on both sides. In Eastern Europe, the Soviets began leading to a, a conflict which ended with  to the Soviets on ,. In early April 1940, both German and Allied forces launched nearly simultaneous operations around over. It was a two month which resulted in complete German control of  and Norway, though at a heavy cost to their surface navy. The fall of Norway led to the in London, which resulted in the resignation of , who was replaced by.

On, , the Germans. The (BEF) and the  advanced into  and planned to fight a mobile war in the north, while maintaining a static continuous front along the  further south. This was foiled by an unexpected German thrust through the, splitting the Allies in two. The BEF and, encircled in the north, were evacuated from in. attacked France in the in. France, overwhelmed by the, was forced to sign an with Germany on  , leading to the direct German occupation of  and two-thirds of France, and the establishment of a German  headquartered in  known as.

With only the United Kingdom remaining as an opposing force in Europe, Germany began to prepare, the invasion of Britain. Most of the British Army's heavy weapons and supplies had been lost at Dunkirk, but the was still stronger than the  and kept control of the. The Germans then attempted to gain by destroying the  (RAF) using the. The ensuing air war in the late summer of 1940 became known as the. The initially targeted  aerodromes and radar stations, but Luftwaffe Commander  and Hitler switched their attention towards bombing British cities, an offensive which became known as. This diversion of resources allowed the RAF to rebuild their airbases, eventually leading Hitler to give up on his goal of establishing air superiority over the English Channel; this in turn led to the permanent postponement of.

With Germany and her allies having total control of the continent, the United Kingdom and its allies settled for and  in mainland Europe. Many of the conquered nations formed and military units within the United Kingdom as well as domestic. Germany, meanwhile, fortified its position by constructing the.

Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, a nautical campaign which lasted the duration of the war, started after the German invasion of Poland with the ing of the British liner by a  (U-boat). Having faced, the British quickly implemented a solution to protect merchant vessels; they were short of  ships though, so many merchant ships had to sail without protection. At first, U-boats primarily operated within British waters while the Atlantic Ocean was covered by German surface vessels. The British attempted to counter the U-boat threat by forming anti-submarine hunting groups, which were ultimately ineffective because the U-boats proved too elusive.

With the German conquest of Norway and France by June 1940, U-boats enjoyed decreased resistance. The was removed as an Allied force, and additional ports in France on the Atlantic Ocean became available to the  (Kriegsmarine), allowing them to increase the range of their vessels. The became severely stretched, having to remain stationed in the  to protect against a German invasion, send forces to the  to make up for the loss of the French fleet, and provide escort for merchant vessels. This was somewhat mitigated by the with the  in September 1940, in which the British exchanged several of their overseas bases for fifty  which were then used for escort duties. The success of U-boats in this period led to an increase of their production and the development of the technique.

The German surface navy, which had suffered substantial losses in the capture of Norway, had mixed results. While there were several successful merchant raids, such as, they also suffered several losses, such as the  and battleship. The had deeper ramifications on naval policy though, because as a result Hitler ordered all heavy surface vessels to Norwegian waters, shifting them from raiding operations to protection from a potential Allied invasion of. While the Royal Navy also suffered the loss of s, such as the, the battleship  and the  , their larger surface navy was better able to absorb the losses.

In May 1941, the British captured an intact, which greatly assisted in and allowed for plotting convoy routes which evaded U-boat positions. In the summer of 1941, the Soviet Union entered the war on the side of the Allies, but they lost much of their equipment and manufacturing base in the first few weeks following the German invasion. The Western Allies attempted to remedy this by sending, which faced constant harassment from German forces. In September, many of the U-boats operating in the Atlantic were to block British supply routes. When the United States entered the war that December, they did not take precautionary anti-submarine measures; this resulted in shipping losses so great that the Germans referred to it as a.

In February 1942, several German capital ships that were stationed in the port of, managed to comply with Hitler's earlier order and to their home bases in German waters, dealing a significant blow to the Royal Navy's reputation. In June, the allowed Allied aircraft to illuminate U-boats that had been detected by the aeroplanes, but this was soon negated by the Germans with , a radar detection system that gave them advance notice of such an aircraft's approach. In American waters, the institution of shore and an interlocking convoy system resulted in a drop in attacks, and the U-boats shifted their operations back to the mid-Atlantic by August. In December, a strong German surface navy force and failed to destroy a single merchant ship; this resulted in the resignation of  (Großadmiral), supreme commander of the Kriegsmarine. He was replaced by Commander of Submarines, and all naval building priorities turned to the U-boats.

In January, 1943, the British developed the system which was undetectable by Metox. As before, this was followed by a counter-invention on the German side, the, which allowed German fighters to home in on Allied aircraft utilizing the H2S. In the spring, the Battle of the Atlantic began to turn in favour of the Allies with the pivotal point being, a period where the Allies had fewer ships sunk and the Kriegsmarine lost 25% of their active U-boats. That December, the German surface fleet lost their last active battlecruiser in the. By this time, the Kriegsmarine was unable to regain the initiative; Allied production, such as the s, improved  tactics, sea route patrols with, and ever-improving technology led to increasing U-boat losses and more supplies getting through. This allowed for the massive supply build up in the United Kingdom needed for the eventual invasion of Western Europe in mid-1944.

Mediterranean, Africa, and the Middle East
Control of, the and  was important because the British Empire depended on shipping through the. If the canal fell into Axis hands or if the Royal Navy lost control of the Mediterranean, then transport between the United Kingdom, India, and Australia would have to go around the, an increase of several thousand miles.

Almost immediately after declaring war on France and the United Kingdom in June 1940, Italy initiated the, an island under British control located in the Mediterranean between mainland Italy and its. Minimal resources were initially placed by both sides though, the Italians needing to reserve their strength for other planned invasions and the British not believing they could effectively defend it. As the importance of the increased though, so did that of Malta and the disruptions of Axis supply lines that Allied forces stationed there could provide.

Following the French surrender, the British anchored in North Africa in July 1940, out of fear that it might fall into German hands; this contributed to a souring of British-French relations for the next few years. Soon following this action was the, the first large conflict between the Allied navies and the (Regia Marina).

With France no longer a threat, the was able to relax its guard on its western possessions in Africa which bordered French territory and focus on the  forces in the east. In June 1940 the Italians made small incursions into, starting the , and into and. In August, Italy, located in the , expelling British Commonwealth forces and enlarging the in. The Allies, including, under , then attempted to replace Vichy control over French territories with that of the Free French. In September, 1940, they made a, though in November, they later. Between these attempts, the Italians launched their own offensive from Albania and.

Starting in November of 1940, the Allies had a string of successful operations against Italian forces. On they launched the first all-aircraft naval attack. Then, in December, British Commonwealth forces under, launched , expelling Italian forces from Egypt and pushing them all the way west across. Starting in January, 1941, British Commonwealth forces began an offensive into Italian East Africa, culminating in an Italian defeat. Italy was also facing problems in the Balkans, where the had pushed the Italians out of Greece and were now stalemated in southern Albania.

Alarmed by the Italian setbacks, Hitler authorized reinforcements, and in February. British Commonwealth leader started redeploying their forces, starting in early March; in an effort to secure their transportation lines, the Allied navies managed to engage the Regia Marina in the, doing significant damage to the Italian fleet. The German forces in Africa, led by German General, however, launched an offensive against the now depleted British Commonwealth forces near the end of March. During this offense, the Allies also feared having their oil supply cut due to a in early April. They were further pressed when the. By the middle of April, Rommel's forces had pushed British Commonwealth forces forces back into Egypt with the exception of the port of, which he. Shortly after, the British responded to the coup in Iraq by. By the end of April, German forces (with Italian and other Axis Armies) had conquered Yugoslavia, mainland Greece and further, forcing a withdraw of all British Commonwealth forces from the Balkans.

In, British Commonwealth and Free French forces due to the Vichy allowance of Axis forces to pass through the area and utilize military bases. A week later, Wavell launched, which was intended to be a major offensive in the Western Desert, but resulted in the loss of nearly half of the British Commonwealth tanks in the region. Frustrated by the lack of success, Churchill had Wavell replaced with in early July. In late August, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the British and the Soviets launched a to secure its oilfields and the  supply route for Soviet use.

There was then a lull in activity. The Soviet-German war had significantly reduced the importance of the Mediterranean theatre to the Germans and the British Commonwealth armies were re-grouping. On, the Allies launched , an offensive in the Western Desert which pushed Rommel back to his original starting point at in Libya. The British suffered a significant blow in the though, losing several ships shortly after the.

With the entry of Japan into the war in December 1941, the British Commonwealth forces were again forced to withdraw units in North Africa, transferring some to.

Once again Rommel took advantage of the situation, and on, launched an offensive which pushed the British Commonwealth forces back to , just west of Tobruk. There was another lull in activity as both sides built up their forces. In May, after the Japanese, British Commonwealth forces to prevent the  from using as launch point for further such attacks. Rommel (with his and the )  in late May, overrunning successively the British position in the Western Desert  and chasing them well into Egypt,. Shortly after, the Royal Navy from the Italian.

Like Wavell before him, Auchinleck's perceived failures led to his replacement by Churchill, this time by with  taking over.

In late October, after building up his forces, Montgomery, pushing the Axis forces back and pursuing them across the desert. In November, Allied forces with minimal resistance; in retaliation, the Germans, though they. Soon, Rommel's forces were and by May of 1943, were forced to evacuate Africa entirely.

In July, the began with the. The continued series of Italian defeats led to Mussolini being dismissed by the, and subsequently arrested. His successor,, then began negotiating surrender with the Allies. On the Allies invaded  and the. This was made public on, the same day the Allies launched a subsequent invasion of the Italian held. Germany had been planning for such an event though, and executed, the seizure of northern and central Italy. A few days later, and before the end of September created the, a German.

From October until mid-1944, the Allies fought through a series of defensive lines and fortifications designed to slow down their progress. One of strongest of the German defensive lines, the, was breached nearly simultaneously in May at by British-led forces and at  by the Americans; though the Allies could have encircled and potentially destroyed the  in Italy, the American forces instead moved towards Rome, capturing the city on.

In August, Allied forces in Italy were divided, with a significant portion to assist in the liberation of Western Europe while the remainder pressed north to engage the remaining German forces, notably at the. On, 1945, a little over a year and half after its creation, the Italian Social Republic was overthrown by ; Mussolini, and several of his ministers were captured by the partisans while attempting to flee and executed. Fighting in Italy would continue until early May, 1945, only a few days prior to the general German surrender.

Liberation of Western Europe




By the Spring of 1944, the Allied preparations for the invasion of France and the initial stages for the liberation of western Europe were complete. They had assembled around 120 Divisions, consisting of over 2 million men, of which 1.3 million were Americans, 600,000 were British and the rest Canadian, Free French and Polish. The invasion, code-named but commonly referred to as, was set for June 5th but bad weather postponed the invasion to June 6, 1944. Almost 85–90% of all German troops were deployed on the Eastern Front and only 400,000 Germans in two armies, the and the newly-created, were stationed in the area. The Germans had also constructed an elaborate series of fortifications along the coast called the, but in many places the Wall was incomplete. The Allied forces under supreme command of had launched an elaborate deception campaign to convince the Germans that the landings would occur in the  area which caused the Germans to deploy many of their forces in that sector. Only 50,000 Germans were deployed in the Normandy sector on the day of the invasion.

The invasion began with 17,000 airborne troops being dropped in Normandy to serve as a screening force to prevent the Germans from attacking the beaches. During the early morning, a massive naval flotilla bombarded German defenses on the beaches, but due to lack of visibility most of the shots missed their targets. Additionally, most of the troop transport ships (with personnel, trucks, and equipment) were off-course, some as much as thousands of yards from their respective landing zone amongst the five beach areas (Utah, Omaha, Sword, Juno and Gold). The Americans in particular suffered heavy losses on Omaha beach due to the German fortifications being left intact. However by the end of the first day, most of the Allied objectives were accomplished even though the British and Canadian objective of capturing proved too optimistic. The Germans launched no significant counter-attack on the beaches as Hitler believed the landings to be a decoy. Only three days later the German High command realized that Normandy was the actual invasion, but by then the Allies had already consolidated their s.

The terrain of Normandy where the Americans had landed made it ideal ground for defensive warfare. Nevertheless, the Americans made steady progress and captured the deep-water port of on June 26, one of the primary objectives of the invasion. However, the Germans had the harbor and destroyed most of the port facilities before surrendering, and it would be another month before the port could be brought back into limited use. The British launched another on June 13 to capture Caen but were held back as the Germans had moved in large number of troops to hold the city. The city was to remain in German hands for another 6 weeks. It finally fell to British and Canadian forces on July 9.

Allied firepower, improved tactics, and numerical superiority eventually resulted in a of American mechanized forces at the western end of the Normandy pocket in  on July 23. The allied advance to this point had been considerably slower than expected. Seven weeks after, was holding an east-west line that ran from Caumont to  to  on the Channel. Pre-D-Day projections had put the Americans on that line by D Plus Five. When Hitler learned of the American breakout, he ordered his forces in Normandy to launch an immediate counter-offensive. However the German forces moving in open countryside were now easily targeted by Allied aircraft, as they had initially escaped Allied air attacks due to their well camouflaged defensive positions.

The Americans placed strong formations on their flanks which blunted the attack and then began to encircle the and large parts of the  in the. Some 50,000 Germans were captured, but 100,000 managed to escape the pocket. Worse still, the British and Canadians—whose initial strategic objective to draw in enemy reserves and protect the American flanks so as to promote a later turning movement north had been achieved —now began to break through the German lines. Any hope the Germans had of containing the Allied thrust into France by forming new defensive lines was now gone. The Allies raced across France, advancing as much as 600 mi in two weeks. The German forces retreated into Northern France, Holland and Belgium.

By August 1944, Allied forces stationed in launched, invading the  on  with the , led by  ), and linked up with forces from Normandy. The clandestine  in  rose against the Germans on , and the Free French  under , pressing forward from Normandy, received the surrender of the German forces on behalf of  from Paris and liberated the city on.

Around this time the Germans began launching (known as the "buzz bomb"), the world's first, at targets in southern England and Belgium. Later they would employ the much-larger, a guided. These weapons were inaccurate and could only target large areas such as cities; they had little military effect and were intended to demoralize and/or terrorize Allied civilians.



Logistical problems plagued the Allies as they fanned out across France and the Low Countries, advancing towards the German border. With the supply lines still running back to Normandy, and critical shortages in fuel and other supplies all along the front, the Allies slowed the general advance and focused the available supplies on a narrow front strategy. Allied paratroopers and armour attempted a war-winning advance through the Netherlands and across the Rhine River with in September (the goal was to end the war by ). The plan was to land near bridges on the Rhine River, hold the position, and wait for the armour to cut through enemy lines to reinforce them and then cross into Germany. The plan was conceived and led by British General Montgomery, and included British, American, Polish, and Canadian forces. Although the plan encountered some initial success, many of the bridges were blown up, and the advancing armoured columns ran into delays. As a result, the, holding the last bridge, was nearly annihilated. The Germans were able to entrench all along the front and the war continued through the winter.

In order to improve the supply situation, the was assigned to clear the entrance to the port of, the  estuary, which they successfully accomplished by late November 1944 making  the only country to successfully complete all D-Day objectives. In October, the Americans captured, the first major German city to be occupied.

Hitler had been planning to launch a major counter-offensive against the Allies since mid-September. The objective of the attack was to capture Antwerp. Not only would the capture or destruction of Antwerp prevent supplies from reaching the allied armies, it would also split allied forces in two, demoralizing the alliance and forcing its leaders to negotiate. For the attack, Hitler concentrated the best of his remaining forces in the west, launching the attack through the Ardennes in southern, a hilly and in places a heavily wooded region, and the site of his victory in 1940. Dense cloud cover denied the Americans the use of their reconnaissance and ground attack aircraft.

Parts of the attack managed to break through the thinly-held American lines (about 4 divisions which were either new or refitting to cover about 70 mi of the front-line), and dash headlong for the. However the northern section of the line held, constricting the advance to a narrow corridor. The German advance was delayed at, which American forces defended for several days. At the vital road junction of, the American held out, surrounded, for the duration of the battle. 's to the South made a rapid 90 degree turn and rammed into the German southern flank, relieving Bastogne.

The weather by this time had cleared unleashing allied air power as the German attack ground to a halt at. In an attempt to keep the offensive going, the Germans launched a on Allied airfields in the Low Countries on January 1, 1945. The Germans destroyed 465 aircraft but lost 277 of their own planes. Whereas the Allies were able to make up their losses in days, the Luftwaffe was not capable of launching a major air attack again.

Allied forces from the north and south met up at and by the end of January they had pushed the Germans back to their starting positions. Many German units were caught in the pocket created by the Bulge and forced to surrender or retreat without their heavy equipment. Months of the Reich's war production were lost whereas German forces on the Eastern front were virtually starved of resources at the very moment the Red Army was preparing for its massive offensive against Germany. The final obstacle to the Allies was the river, which was crossed in late March 1945, aided by the fortuitous capture of the at. Also,, a parachute-assault in late March, got a foothold on the east bank of the. Once the Allies had crossed the Rhine, the British fanned out northeast towards Hamburg, crossing the river and moving on towards Denmark and the.

The went south as the northern pincer of the Ruhr encirclement, and the  went north as the southern pincer of the Ruhr encirclement. These armies were commanded by  who had over 1.3 million men under his command (the 12th Army Group). On, the encirclement was completed, and the German Army Group B, which included the 5th Panzer Army, 7th Army and the 15th Army and was commanded by , was trapped in the. Some 300,000 German soldiers then became. The 1st and 9th U.S. Armies then turned east, halting their advance at the river where they met up with Soviet troops in mid-April.

Soviet-German War
The Eastern Front of the European Theatre of World War II encompassed the conflict in central and eastern Europe from June 22, 1941 to May 8, 1945. It was the largest theatre of war in history in terms of numbers of soldiers, equipment and casualties and was notorious for its unprecedented ferocity, destruction, and immense loss of life. It was here that the bulk of the European war was fought; where the Red Army halted the Germans in 1941 and then inflicted the first major defeats at and  in 1943. The fighting involved millions of German and Soviet troops along a broad front hundreds of kilometres long. It was by far the deadliest single theatre of World War II, with over 5 million Axis deaths; Soviet military deaths were about 10.6 million (out of which 2.8 - 3.5 million Soviet (of 5.5 million) died in German captivity   ), and civilian deaths were about 14 to 19 million. More people fought and died on the Eastern Front than in all other theatres of World War II combined; the German army suffered 80% to 93% of all its casualties there. Although the Soviet Union was victorious in the war, the cost to the nation was an estimated 27 million dead, about half of all World War II casualties and the vast majority of deaths, and had devastated the Soviet economy in the struggle. In Soviet and Russian sources, the conflict is referred to as the .

Invasion of the Soviet Union


For the campaign against the Soviet Union, the Germans allotted three army groups, totalling approximately 3.3 million men, along with 1 million from other Axis countries. Among these were 19 panzer divisions, and in total the “Barbarossa” force had about 3,000 tanks, 7,000 artillery pieces, and 2,500 aircraft. It was in effect the largest and most powerful invasion force in human history. Their Soviet opponents had just recently seen a in  that had crippled the, reducing its morale and efficiency just before the German invasion. With up to 50% of army officers executed, the result was that the Red Army officer corps in 1941 had many inexperienced senior officers.

The and the  delayed the German invasion of the Soviet Union by a critical six weeks, but on, 1941, Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union.

Germany’s was deployed in. Its main objectives were to secure the Baltic states and seize Leningrad. Opposite Army Group North were 2 Soviet armies. The Germans threw their 600 tanks at the junction of the two Soviet Armies in that sector. The 's objective was to cross the Neman River and the which were the two largest obstacles in route to. On the first day, the tanks crossed the Neman and penetrated 50 mi. Near Rasienai, the panzers were by 300 Soviet tanks; it took 4 days for the Germans to encircle and destroy the Soviets. The panzers then crossed the Dvina near, and approached Leningrad.

was deployed in Poland. Its main objective was to capture Moscow. Opposite Army Group Center were 4 Soviet armies occupying a salient which jutted into German territory with its center at. Beyond Bialystok was which was a key railway junction and guardian of the main highway to Moscow. punched through the junction of the two Soviet armies from the North and crossed the Neman River, and the crossed the  from the south. While the panzers attacked, the infantry armies struck at the salient and encircled Soviet troops at Bialystok. The panzer armies' objective was to meet at Minsk and prevent any Soviet withdrawal. On June 27, 2nd and 3rd Panzer Armies met up at Minsk advancing 200 mi into Soviet territory. In the vast pocket between Minsk and the Polish border, 32 Soviet infantry and 8 tank divisions were encircled and were. Soviet soldiers numbering 135,000 were killed or wounded, 290,000 were captured, while another 250,000 managed to escape.



was deployed in southern Poland and Romania and also included two Romanian armies and several Italian, Slovakian and Hungarian divisions. Its objective was to secure the oil fields of the Caucasus. Opposite the Germans in the south were 3 Soviet armies. The majority of the Axis forces struck at the junctions of the Soviet armies but struck right through the Soviet Army with the objective of capturing. On June 26, Soviet commanders reacted to the German attack and mounted a massive on 1st Panzer Army with five mechanized corps with over 1,000 tanks. The battle was among the fiercest of the invasion, lasting over 4 days. In the end the Germans prevailed but the Soviets inflicted heavy losses on the 1st Panzer Army. With the failure of the Soviet armoured offensive, the last substantial Soviet tank forces in the south were now spent.

On July 3, Hitler finally gave the go-ahead for the panzers to resume their drive east after the infantry armies had caught up. The next objective of Army Group Center was the city of, which commanded the road to Moscow. Facing the Germans was an old Russian defensive line where the Soviets had deployed 6 armies. On July 6, the Soviets launched an attack with 700 tanks against the 3rd Panzer Army. The Germans, using their overwhelming air superiority, wiped out the Soviet tanks. The 2nd Panzer Army crossed the Dneiper River and closed on Smolensk from the south while 3rd Panzer Army, after defeating the Soviet counter-attack, approached Smolensk from the north. Trapped between their pincers were 3 Soviet armies. On July 26, the panzers closed the gap and then began to the pocket, which yielded over 300,000 Soviet prisoners, although 200,000 evaded capture. Hitler by now had lost faith in battles of encirclement and wanted to defeat the Soviets by inflicting severe economic damage which meant seizing the oil fields in the south and Leningrad in the north. Tanks from Army Group Centre were diverted to Army Group North and South to aid them. Hitler's generals vehemently opposed this as Moscow was only 200 mi away from Army Group Centre and the bulk of the Red Army was deployed in that sector and only an attack there could hope to end the war quickly. But Hitler was adamant and the tanks from Army Group Centre arrived and reinforced the in the north which subsequently broke through the Soviet defenses on August 8 and by the end of August was only 30 mi from Leningrad. Meanwhile the Finns had pushed south-east on both sides of reaching the old Finnish-Soviet frontier.

In the South by mid-July below the, the Germans had gotten to within a few miles of. The 1st Panzer Army then went South while the German 17th Army, which was on 1st Panzer Army's southern flank, struck east and between them trapped 3 Soviet armies near. As the Germans eliminated the pocket, their tanks turned north and crossed the Dneiper. Meanwhile, 2nd Panzer Army, which was diverted from Army Group Centre, had crossed the Desna River with on its right flank. This move resulted in the trapping of 4 Soviet armies and parts of two others. The encirclement of Soviet forces in Kiev was achieved on September 16. The encircled Soviets did not give up easily, a ensued, lasting for 10 days, after which the Germans claimed over 600,000 Soviet soldiers captured. Hitler called it the greatest battle in history. After Kiev, the Red Army no longer outnumbered the Germans and there were no more reserves. To defend Moscow, Stalin had only 800,000 men left.



The Red Army was outflanked and on September 8 1941 the Germans had fully encircled Leningrad and Hitler ordered the city to be besieged. The siege lasted for a total of 900 days, from September 8 1941 until January 27 1944. The city's almost 3 million civilians (including about 400,000 children) refused to surrender and endured rapidly increasing hardships in the encircled city. Food and fuel stocks were limited to a mere 1-2 month supply, public transport was not operational and by the winter of 1941-42 there was no heating, no water supply, almost no electricity and very little food. In January 1942 in the depths of an unusually cold winter, the city's food rations reached an all time low of only 125 grams (about 1/4 of a pound) of bread per person per day. In just two months, January and February of 1942, 200,000 people died in Leningrad of cold and starvation. Despite these tragic losses and the inhuman conditions the city's war industries still continued to work and the city did not surrender.

The Soviets had mounted an increasing number of attacks against Army Group Centre, but lacking tanks it was in no position to go on the offensive. Hitler had changed his mind and decided that tanks be sent back to Army Group Center for its all out drive on Moscow. , the drive on Moscow began on October 2. In front of Army Group Center was a series of elaborate defence lines. The Germans easily penetrated the first line as 2nd Panzer Army, returning from the south, took which was 75 mi behind the Soviet first defence line. The Germans then pushed in and the vast pocket yielded 663,000 Soviet prisoners. Soviet forces now had only 90,000 men and 150 tanks left for the defense for Moscow.



Almost from the beginning of Operation Typhoon the weather had deteriorated steadily, slowing the German advance on Moscow to as little as 2 mi a day. On October 31, the German High Command ordered a halt on Operation Typhoon as the armies were re-organized. The pause gave the Soviets time to build up new armies and bring in the Soviet troops from the east as the signed by the Soviets and Japanese in April, 1941 assured Stalin that there was no longer a threat from the Japanese.

On November 15, the Germans resumed the attack on Moscow. Facing the Germans were 6 Soviet armies. The Germans intended to let the 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies cross the and envelop Moscow from the North East. The 2nd Panzer Army would attack and then close in on Moscow from the south and the 4th Army would smash in the center. However, on November 22, Soviet Siberian troops were unleashed on the 2nd Panzer Army in the South which inflicted a shocking defeat on the Germans. The 4th Panzer Army succeeded in crossing the Moscow canal and on December 2 had penetrated to within 15 mi of the Kremlin. But by then the first blizzards of the winter began and the Wehrmacht was not equipped for winter warfare. Frostbite and disease had caused more casualties than combat; dead and wounded had already reached 155,000 in 3 weeks. Some divisions were now at 50% strength and the bitter cold had caused severe problems for weapons and equipment. Weather conditions grounded the. Hitler's plans miscarried at the onset of severe winter weather; he was so confident of a lightning victory that he did not prepare for even the possibility of winter warfare. Yet his eastern army suffered more than 734,000 casualties (about 23 percent of its average strength of 3,200,000 troops) during the first five months of the invasion, and on 27 November 1941, General Eduard Wagner, the Quartermaster General of the German Army, reported that "We are at the end of our resources in both personnel and materiel. We are about to be confronted with the dangers of deep winter." Newly built up Soviet troops near Moscow now numbered over 500,000 men and Zhukov on December 5 launched a massive counter attack which pushed the Germans back over 200 mi but no decisive breakthrough was achieved. The invasion of the Soviet Union had so far cost the Germans over 250,000 dead, 500,000 wounded and most of their tanks.

Germany’s Second offensive


On January 6, 1942, Stalin, confident of his earlier victory, ordered a general. Initially the attacks made good ground as Soviet pincers closed around Demyansk and Vyazma and threatening attacks were made towards Smolensk and Bryansk. But despite these successes the Soviet offensive soon ran out of steam. By March, the Germans had recovered and stabilized their line and secured the neck of the Vyazma Pocket. Only at was there any serious prospect of a major Soviet victory. Here a large part of the had been surrounded. Hitler ordered no withdrawal and the 92,000 men trapped in the pocket were to hold their ground while they were re-supplied by air. For 10 weeks they held out until April when a land corridor was opened to the west. The German forces retained Demyansk until they were permitted to withdraw in February 1943.

In May, the Soviets attempted to retake the city of Kharkov, in Eastern Ukraine. They opened with concentric attacks on either side of Kharkov and in both sides broke through German lines and a serious threat to the city emerged. In response, the Germans accelerated the plans for their own offensive and launched it 5 days later. The struck at the salient from the south and encircled the entire Soviet army assaulting Kharkov. In the last days of May, the Germans destroyed the forces inside the pocket. Of the Soviet troops inside the pocket, 70,000 were killed, 200,000 captured and only 22,000 managed to escape.



Hitler had by now realized that his Armies were too weak to carry out an offensive on all sectors of the Eastern Front, but if the Germans could seize the oil and fertile rich area of the Southern Soviet Union this would give the Germans the means to continue with the war. attempted the destruction of the Red Army's southern front, consolidation of the west of the, and the capture of the Caucaus oil fields. The Germans reinforced Army Group South by transferring divisions from other sectors and getting divisions from Axis allies. By late June, Hitler had 74 Divisions ready to go on the offensive, 51 of them German.

The Soviets did not know where the main German offensive of 1942 would come. Stalin was convinced that the German objective of 1942 would be Moscow and over 50% of all Red Army troops were deployed in the Moscow region. Only 10% of Soviet troops were deployed in the Southern Soviet Union.

On June 28, 1942, the German offensive began. Everywhere Soviet forces fell back as the Germans sliced through Soviet defenses. By July 5, forward elements of 4th Panzer Army reached the River Don near and got embroiled in a bitter battle to capture the city. The Soviets, by tying down 4th Panzer Army, gained vital time to reinforce their defenses. The Soviets for the first time in the war were not fighting to hold hopelessly exposed positions but were retreating in good order. As German pincers closed in they only found stragglers and rear guards. Angered by the delays, Hitler re-organized Army Group South to two smaller Army Groups, and Army Group B. The bulk of the Armored forces were concentrated with Army Group A which was ordered to attack towards the Caucasus oil fields while Army Group B was ordered to capture Stalingrad and guard against any Soviet counter attacks.

By July 23, the German 6th Army had taken but Soviet troops fought a skillful rearguard action which embroiled the Germans in heavy urban fighting to take the city. This also allowed the main Soviet formations to escape encirclements. With the River Don's crossing secured in the south and with the 6th Army's advance flagging, Hitler sent the 4th Panzer Army back to join up with 6th Army. In late July, 6th Army resumed its offensive and by August 10, 6th Army cleared the Soviet presence from the west bank of the River Don but Soviet troops held out in some areas, further delaying 6th Army's march east. In contrast, Army Group A after crossing the River Don on July 25 had fanned out on a broad front. The German 17th Army swung west towards the Black Sea, while the 1st Panzer Army attacked towards the south and east sweeping through country largely abandoned by Soviet troops. On August 9, 1st Panzer Army reached the foothills of the Caucasus mountains, an advance of more than 300 mi.



In order to protect their forces in the Caucasus, the Germans attempted to capture, on their northeastern flank, crossing the Don River and advancing on the city. Germans bombers killed over 40,000 people and turned much of the city into rubble. The Soviet leadership realized that the German plan was the seizure of the oil fields and began sending large number of troops from the Moscow sector to reinforce their troops in the South. , one of Stalin's most trusted generals, assumed command of the Stalingrad front in early September and mounted a series of attacks from the North which further delayed the German 6th Army's attempt to seize Stalingrad. On September 13, the Germans advanced through the southern suburbs and by September 23, 1942, the main factory complex was surrounded and the German artillery was within range of the quays on the river, across which the Soviets evacuated wounded and brought in reinforcements. Ferocious, hand-to-hand conflict of the most savage kind, now ensued in the ruins of the city. Besides being a turning point in the war, Stalingrad was also revealing in terms of the discipline and determination of both the German  and the Soviet.

The Soviets first defended Stalingrad against a fierce German onslaught. So great were Soviet losses that at times, the of a newly arrived soldier was less than a day, and life expectancy of Soviet officer was three days. Their sacrifice is immortalized by a soldier of General, about to die, who scratched on the wall of the main railway station (which changed hands 15 times during the battle) “Rodimtsev’s Guardsmen fought and died here for their Motherland.” Exhaustion and deprivation gradually sapped men's strength. Hitler, who had become obsessed with the battle of Stalingrad, refused to countenance a withdrawal. General Paulus, in desperation, launched yet another attack early in November by which time the Germans had managed to capture 90% of the city. The Soviets, however, had been building up massive forces on the flanks of Stalingrad which were by this time severely undermanned as the bulk of the German forces had been concentrated in capturing the city and Axis satellite troops were left guarding the flanks. The Soviets launched on  1942, with twin attacks that met at the city of Kalach four days later, encircling the 6th Army in Stalingrad.

The Germans requested permission to attempt a breakout, which was refused by Hitler, who ordered to remain in Stalingrad where he promised they would be supplied by air until rescued. About the same time, the Soviets launched in a salient near the vicinity of Moscow. Its objective was to tie down and to prevent it from reinforcing  at Stalingrad.

Meanwhile, Army Group A's advance into the Caucasus had stalled as Soviet troops had destroyed the oil production facilities and a year's work was required to bring them back up, the other remaining oil fields lay south of the Caucasus Mountains. Throughout August and September, German Mountain troops probed for a way through but by October, with the onset of winter, they were no closer to their objective. With German troops encircled in Stalingrad, and Soviet armies threatening their lines of retreat, Army Group A began to fall back.

By December, Field Marshal hastily put together a German relief force of units composed from Army Group A to relieve the trapped Sixth Army. Unable to get reinforcements from Army Group Center, the relief force only managed to get within 50 kilometers (30 mi) before they were turned back by the Soviets. By the end of the year, the Sixth Army was in desperate condition, as the Luftwaffe was able to deliver only about a sixth of the supplies needed.

Shortly before surrendering to the Red Army on, 1943, was promoted to. This was a message from Hitler, because no German Field Marshal had ever surrendered his troops or been taken alive. Of the 300,000 strong 6th Army, only 91,000 survived to be taken prisoner, including 22 generals, of which only 5,000 men ever returned to Germany after the war. This was to be the greatest, and most costly, battle in terms of human life in history. Around 2 million men were killed or wounded on both sides, including civilians, with casualties estimated to be approximately 850,000 and 750,000 for the Soviets.

Germany’s Third offensive
After the surrender of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad on, 1943, the launched eight offensives during the winter. Many were concentrated along the near Stalingrad. These attacks resulted in initial gains until German forces were able to take advantage of the over extended and weakened condition of the Red Army and launch a counter attack to re-capture the city of Kharkov and surrounding areas. This was to be the last major strategic German victory of World War II.

The rains of spring inhibited campaigning in the Soviet Union, but both sides used the interval to build up for the inevitable battle that would come in the summer. The start date for the offensive had been moved repeatedly as delays in preparation had forced the Germans to postpone the attack. By, the Wehrmacht, after assembling their greatest concentration of firepower during the whole of World War II, launched their offensive against the Soviet Union at the salient. Their intentions were known by the Soviets, who hastened to defend the salient with an enormous system of earthwork defenses. The Germans attacked from both the north and south of the salient and hoped to meet in the middle, cutting off the salient and trapping 60 Soviet divisions. The German offensive in the Northern sector was ground down as little progress was made through the Soviet defenses but in the Southern Sector there was a danger of a German breakthrough. The Soviets then brought up their reserves to contain the German thrust in the Southern sector, and the ensuing became the largest tank battle of the war, near the city of. The Germans lacking any sizable reserves had exhausted their and could not stop the Soviet counteroffensive that threw them back across their starting positions.





The Soviets captured Kharkov following their victory at Kursk and with the Autumn rains threatening, Hitler agreed to a general withdrawal to the Dnieper line in August. As September proceeded into October, the Germans found the Dnieper line impossible to hold as the Soviet bridgeheads grew. Important Dnieper towns started to fall, with Zaporozhye the first to go, followed by Dnepropetrovsk. Early in November the Soviets broke out of their bridgeheads on either side of Kiev and recaptured the Ukrainian capital. The attacked at Korosten on, and the Soviet advance continued along the  until the 1939 Soviet-Polish border was reached.

Soviet offensive
The Soviets launched their winter offensive in January 1944 in the Northern sector and relieved the brutal. The Germans conducted an orderly retreat from the to a shorter line based on the lakes to the south. By March the Soviets struck into Romania from Ukraine. The Soviet forces encircled the north of the  river. The Germans escaped the pocket in April, saving most of their men but losing their heavy equipment. During April, the Red Army launched a series of attacks near the city of, Romania, aimed at capturing the strategically important sector which they hoped to use as a springboard into Romania for a summer offensive. The Soviets were held back by the German and Romanian forces when they launched the attack through the forest of as Axis forces successfully defended the sector through the month of April.

As Soviet troops neared Hungary, German troops occupied Hungary on. Hitler thought that Hungarian leader Admiral might no longer be a reliable ally. Germany’s other Axis ally, Finland had sought a separate peace with Stalin in February 1944, but would not accept the initial terms offered. On, the Soviet Union began the on the  that, after three months, forced Finland to accept an armistice.

Before the Soviets could begin their Summer offensive into Belarus they had to clear the Crimea peninsula of Axis forces. Remnants of the German Seventeenth Army of Army Group South and some Romanian forces were cut off and left behind in the peninsula when the Germans retreated from the Ukraine. In early May, the Red Army's attacked the Germans and the ensuing battle was a complete victory of the Soviet forces and a botched evacuation effort across the  by Germany failed.



With the Crimea cleared, the long awaited Soviet summer offensive codenamed,, began on , 1944 which involved 2.5 million men and 6,000 tanks. Its objective was to clear German troops from Belarus and crush German Army Group Center which was defending that sector. The offensive was timed to coincide with the but delays caused the offensive to be postponed for a few weeks. The subsequent battle resulted in the destruction of German Army Group Centre and over 800,000 German casualties, the greatest defeat for the Wehrmacht during the war. The Soviets swept forward, reaching the outskirts of Warsaw on.

The proximity of the Red Army led the Poles in Warsaw to believe they would soon be liberated. On, they revolted as part of the wider. Nearly 40,000 Polish resistance fighters seized control of the city. The Soviets, however, did not advance any further. The only assistance given to the Poles was artillery fire, as German army units moved into the city to put down the revolt. The resistance ended on. German units then destroyed most of what was left of the city.

In Yugoslavia, the tide of the civil war was turning to favor the Partisans. On 16 June 1944, was signed between the Partisans and the Royal Government, officially making the Partisans the regular army of Yugoslavia. By the end of August, Josip Tito was appointed as the Chief-of-Staff of the, although his Royalist rival Mihajlović and many Chetniks continued fighting their own resistance until their final defeat in the by a Croatian coalition.

Following the destruction of German, the Soviets attacked German forces in the south in mid-July 1944, and in a month's time they cleared Ukraine of German presence inflicting heavy losses on the Germans. Once Ukraine had been cleared the Soviet forces struck into Romania. The Red Army's 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts engaged German Heeresgruppe Südukraine, which consisted of German and Romanian formations, in an operation to occupy Romania and destroy the German formations in the sector. The result of the was a complete victory for the Red Army, and a switch of Romania from the Axis to the Allied camp. surrendered to the Red Army in September. Following the German retreat from Romania, the Soviets entered Hungary in October 1944 but the German Sixth Army encircled and destroyed three corps of Marshal Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky's Group Pliyev near, Hungary. The rapid assault the Soviets had hoped that would lead to the capture of Budapest was now halted and Hungary would remain Germany’s ally until the end of the war in Europe. This battle would be the last German victory in the Eastern Front.

As the continued their advance into the Balkans,  left the Axis on, and German troops abandoned  on. Concurrently, Yugoslav Partisans shifted operations into, freed on  with Soviet help, and assisted the  rout the Germans by. By year end, the Partisans controlled the eastern half of Yugoslavia and the coast, and were ready for a final westward offensive by late March, 1945.

The Soviets recovered from their defeat in Debrecen and advancing columns of the Red Army liberated Belgrade in late December and reached Budapest on, 1944 and en-circled the city where over 188,000 Axis troops were trapped including many German Waffen-SS. The Germans held out till, 1945 and the siege became one of the bloodiest of the war. Meanwhile the Red Army's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Baltic Fronts engaged the remnants of German Army Group Center and to capture the  from the Germans in October 1944. The result of the series of battles was a permanent loss of contact between Army Groups North and Centre, and the creation of the in Latvia where the  and  German Armies, numbering over 250,000 men were trapped and would remain there till the end of the war.

Invasion of Germany
With the Balkans and most of Hungary cleared of German troops by late December 1944, the Soviets began a massive re-deployment of their forces to Poland for their upcoming Winter offensive. Soviet preparations were still on-going when Churchill asked Stalin to launch his offensive as soon as possible to ease German pressure in the West. Stalin agreed and the offensive was set for January 12, 1945. ’s armies attacked the Germans in southern Poland and expanded out from their bridgehead near Sandomierz. On, ’s armies attacked from the north of Warsaw. Zhukov's armies in the center attacked from their bridgeheads near Warsaw. The combined Soviet offensive broke the defenses covering, leaving the German front in chaos.

Zhukov took Warsaw by and by, his tanks took. That same day, Konev's forces reached the German prewar border. At the end of the first week of the offensive, the Soviets had penetrated 160 kilometers (100 mi) deep on a front that was 650 kilometers (400 mi) wide. The Soviet onslaught finally halted on the at the end of January, only 60 kilometers (40 mi) from Berlin.

The Soviets had hoped to capture Berlin by mid-February but that proved hopelessly optimistic. German resistance which had all but collapsed during the initial phase of the attack had stiffened immeasurably. Soviet supply lines were over-extended. The spring thaw, the lack of air support, and fear of encirclement through flank attacks from, and  led to a general halt in the Soviet offensive. The newly created Army Group Vistula, under the command of Heinrich Himmler, attempted a counter-attack on the exposed flank of the Soviet Army but failed by February 24. This made it clear to Zhukov that the flank had to be secure before any attack on Berlin could be mounted. The Soviets then re-organized their forces and then struck north and cleared Pomerania and then attacked the south and cleared Silesia of German troops. In the south, three German attempts to relieve the encircled Budapest garrison failed, and the city fell to the Soviets on February 13. Again the Germans counter-attacked; Hitler insisting on the impossible task of regaining the Danube River. By March 16, the attack had failed, and the Red Army counter-attacked the same day. On March 30, they entered Austria and captured Vienna on April 13.



Hitler had believed that the main Soviet target for their upcoming offensive would be in the south near and not Berlin and had sent the last remaining German reserves to defend that sector. The Red Army's main goal was in fact Berlin and by it was ready to begin its. Zhukov's forces struck from the center and crossed the but got bogged down under stiff German resistance around. After three days of very heavy fighting and 33,000 Soviet soldiers dead, the last defenses of Berlin were breached. Konev crossed the Oder river from the South and was within striking distance of Berlin but Stalin ordered Konev to guard the flanks of Zhukov's forces and not attack Berlin, as Stalin had promised the capture of Berlin to Zhukov. Rokossovskiy’s forces crossed the Oder from the North and linked up with British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's forces in northern Germany while the forces of Zhukov and Konev captured Berlin.



By, the Soviet army groups had encircled the and part of the. These were the main forces that were supposed to defend Berlin but Hitler had issued orders for these forces to hold their ground and not retreat. Thus the main German forces which were supposed to defend Berlin were trapped southeast of the city. Berlin was encircled around the same time and as a final resistance effort, Hitler called for civilians, including teenagers and the elderly, to fight in the  militia against the oncoming Red Army. Those marginal forces were augmented by the battered German remnants that had fought the Soviets in. Hitler ordered the encircled under General  to break out and link up with the  under General. After linking up, the armies were to relieve Berlin, an impossible task. The surviving units of the Ninth Army were instead driven into the forests around Berlin near the village of Halbe where they were involved in particularly trying to break through the Soviet lines and reach the Twelfth Army. A minority managed to join with the Twelfth Army and fight their way west to surrender to the Americans. Meanwhile the fierce urban fighting continued in Berlin. The Germans had stockpiled a very large quantity of s and took a very heavy toll on Soviet tanks in the rubble filled streets of Berlin. However, the Soviets employed the lessons they learned during the urban fighting of Stalingrad and were slowly advancing to the center of the city. German forces in the city resisted tenaciously, in particular the which was made of foreign SS volunteers, because they were ideologically motivated and they believed that they would not live if captured. The fighting was house-to-house and hand-to-hand. The Soviets sustained 360,000 casualties; the Germans sustained 450,000 including civilians and above that 170,000 captured. Hitler and his staff moved into the, a concrete bunker beneath the Chancellery, where on , 1945, , along with his bride,.

End of the war in Europe
, Churchill, and made arrangements for post-war Europe at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. Their meeting resulted in many important resolutions such as the formation of the, democratic elections in Poland, borders of Poland at the  Germany, Soviet nationals were to be  and it was agreed that Soviet Union would attack Japan within three months of Germany’s surrender.

After Hitler's death (on April 30),  became leader of the German government but the German  quickly disintegrated. German forces in Berlin surrendered the city to Soviet troops on, 1945. The German forces in Italy surrendered on, 1945, at General Alexander's headquarters, and German forces in , Denmark, and the Netherlands surrendered on. The German High Command under Generaloberst surrendered unconditionally all remaining German forces on  in, France. The western Allies celebrated "" on, since the final German surrender was signed in Berlin on that day. The Soviet Union celebrated "" on due to time zone differences; the final cessation of German military activity happened at one minute past midnight by their clock. Some remnants of German Army Group Center continued resistance until or  (see ).

Events leading up to the war in Asia


After World War I, the victorious Western powers adopted policies that recognized  as a colonial power. Many Japanese politicians and militarist leaders, such as and, promoted the idea that Japan had a , under the rule of Emperor.

Japan under the diplomatic pretext of the staged  in 1931, and converted Manchuria into the puppet state of  in 1932. It in 1937 to bolster its meager stock of natural resources, to relieve Japan from  and to extend its colonial realm to a wider area. The made initial advances but were stalled in the. The city eventually fell to the Japanese in December 1937, with the capital city. As a result, the Chinese Nationalist government, run by the party moved its seat to  and then to  for the remainder of the war. Conquered areas of China became subject to a harsh occupation, with many, most notably the. The Japanese Army also frequently used. Neither Japan or China officially declared war, for a similar reason—fearing declaration of war would alienate Europe and the United States, who might then cut off supplies badly needed to continue their war efforts.

In Spring 1939, Soviet and Japanese forces clashed in. The growing Japanese presence in the Far East was seen as a major strategic threat by the Soviet Union, and Soviet fear of having to fight a was a primary reason for the  with the Nazis (other historians mention the  as a supposition to this pact). The Japanese invasion of Mongolia was repulsed by Soviet units under. Following this battle, the Soviet Union and Japan were at peace until 1945. Japan looked south to expand its empire, leading to conflict with the United States over the and control of shipping lanes to the. The Soviet Union and Japan eventually signed a in 1941. The Soviet Union focused on the west, with their eastern flank secured, while the Japanese directed their attention south, towards the British, Dutch, and American colonies of the South Pacific.

Japanese forces invaded on, 1940. The (after having renounced the U.S.-Japanese  of 1911),,  and the  (which controlled the  of the ), reacted in 1941 by instituting embargoes on exports of natural resources to Japan. The western powers also began making loans to and providing.

Japan was faced with the choice of withdrawing from China and Indochina, negotiating some compromise, buying what they needed somewhere else, or going to war to conquer territories that contained oil,, and other resources necessary for continued operations in China. Japan's leaders believed that the existing Allies were preoccupied with the war against Germany, and that the United States would not be war-ready for years and would compromise before waging full-scale war. Japan thus proceeded with its plans for the by launching nearly simultaneous attacks on, , , , , and.

For propaganda purposes, Japan's leaders stated that the goal of its military campaigns was to create the. This, they claimed, would be a co-operative league of Asian nations, freed by Japan from European imperialist domination, and liberated to achieve autonomy and self-determination. In practice, occupied countries and peoples were completely subordinate to Japanese authority.

China
'' The Chinese, under , and the , under , had been fighting a civil war since 1927, but agreed to a truce to fight the invading Japanese. Mao's forces were incorporated into the and the, subordinate units within the Nationalist Army. Following the, the cooperation between the KMT and CCP fell apart. Conflict between Nationalist and Communist forces emerged long before the war; it continued after and, to an extent, even during the war, though less openly.

On December 3, 1941, the authorized general  to implement the  in North China.

Japan launched a major offensive in China following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The aim of the offensive was to take the strategically important city of, which the Japanese had failed to capture on two previous occasions. For the attack, the Japanese massed 120,000 soldiers under four divisions. The Chinese responded with 300,000 men, and soon the Japanese army was encircled and had to retreat.

Following the Changsha offensive, the war in China returned to the stalemate that had existed in 1940. The Chinese did not have the strength in terms of manpower or equipment to drive the Japanese out. The Japanese had taken heavy casualties as well, and were having trouble pacifying already conquered territory. The front lines changed little until the Japanese mounted a major offensive in early 1944.

In April 1944, the Japanese launched, to secure the railway route from Peking to Nanking, and to clear southern China of American airfields under the command of General The operation was successful in that it opened a continuous corridor from Peking to Indochina, and the airfields were forced to relocate inland. However it failed to destroy the army of, and the Americans soon acquired the , from which they could bomb the.

Japanese offensives (1941–1942)


On 1941, a  launched a  on Pearl Harbor. The raid destroyed most of the American aircraft on the island and knocked the main American out of action (three battleships were sunk, and five more were heavily damaged, though only  and  were permanently lost, the other six battleships were repaired and eventually returned to service). Nevertheless, the four American aircraft carriers were at sea and escaped destruction. At Pearl Harbor, the main dock, supply, and repair facilities were quickly repaired. Furthermore, the base's fuel storage facilities, whose destruction could have crippled the Pacific fleet, were untouched. The attack united American public opinion to demand vengeance against Japan. The following day,, the on Japan as did the.

Simultaneously with the attack on Hawaii, the Japanese attacked, an American territory in the central Pacific. The initial landing attempt was repulsed by the garrison of, and fierce resistance continued until December 23. The Japanese sent heavy reinforcements, and the garrison surrendered when it became clear that no American relief force was coming.

Japan also, a U.S. Commonwealth, on ,. American and Filipino forces, under, were forced to retreat to the. Dogged resistance continued until April, buying precious time for the Allies. Following their surrender, the survivors were led on the. Allied resistance continued for an additional month on the island fortress of, until it too surrendered. General MacArthur, who had been ordered to retreat to Australia, vowed, "I shall return."

Less than 24 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan invaded. The of, , and  soon followed, with Japan's intention of seizing the oilfields of the Dutch East Indies. Despite fierce resistance by Philippine, Australian, New Zealand,, , , and , all these territories capitulated to the Japanese in a matter of months. on February 15. Approximately 80,000 British Commonwealth personnel (along with 50,000 taken in Malaya), went into Japanese POW camps, representing the largest-ever surrender of British-led personnel. Churchill considered the British defeat at Singapore as one of the most humiliating British defeats of all time.

Disaster struck the British on December 10, 1941, when they lost two major capital ships, and. Both ships had been attacked by 85 Japanese bombers and torpedo planes based in, and 840 UK sailors perished. Churchill was to say of the event, "In all of the war I have never received a more direct shock." ABDACOM naval forces were all but destroyed in the —the largest naval battle of the war up to that point—on February 28 through March 1 1942. The joint command was wound up shortly afterwards, to be replaced by three Allied supreme commands in southern Asia and the Pacific.

In the six months after Pearl Harbor the Japanese had achieved nearly all of their naval objectives. Their fleet of eleven battleships, ten carriers, eighteen heavy and twenty light cruisers remained relatively intact. They had seriously damaged or sunk all U.S. battleships in the Pacific. The British and Dutch Far Eastern fleets had been destroyed, and the Royal Australian Navy had been driven back to port. Their ring of conquests settled on a defensive perimeter of their choosing, extending from the Central Pacific to New Guinea to Burma. The only significant strategic force was the U.S. Pacific Fleet's four aircraft carriers.

Allies re-group and counterattack
The Allies were officially formed in the on, 1942. Soon afterwards, the (ABDACOM) was formed to unite Allied forces in South East Asia. It was the first Allied supreme command of the war.

More significantly, in April 1942, the US-British was formed, the highest military command for the  during the war. The CCS was a body constituted from the British and the. Although it was responsible to the British and US governments, the CCS controlled forces from many different countries, in all theatres of war.

In early May 1942, the Japanese implemented  (Operation Mo), a plan to take,. The first stage was thwarted by the and  in the. This was both the first battle fought between aircraft carriers, and the first battle where the opposing fleets never made direct visual contact. The American aircraft carrier was sunk and the  was severely damaged, while the Japanese lost the light carrier  and the large carrier  suffered moderate damage. lost half of her air complement, and along with Shōkaku, was unable to participate in the upcoming battle at Midway. The battle was a tactical victory for the Japanese, as they inflicted heavier losses on the American fleet, but it was a strategic American victory, as the Japanese attack on Port Moresby was deflected, and both Zuikaku and Shōkaku would not be ready to participate in the upcoming battle of Midway the following month.

In April, the, the first Allied air raid on Tokyo, boosted morale in the United States and caused Japan to shift resources to homeland defense, but did little physical damage. The raid was unique in that 16 land-based bombers took off from an aircraft carrier,.

Both sides viewed a decisive battle between aircraft carriers as inevitable, and the Japanese were confident in that they held a numerical advantage in heavy carriers of 10:3. They also had an excellent carrier-based aircraft in the fighter. The Japanese sent a task force towards Midway Island, an outlier of the Hawaiian Islands, with the goal of drawing the remainder of the American fleet to battle.

On, American carrier-based dive-bombers sighted the Japanese force and sank four of Japan's best aircraft carriers in the , at the cost of the carrier Yorktown. This was a major victory for the United States and, as Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto predicted would happen six months after the Pearl Harbor attack, it marked the turning point of the war in the Pacific where the USA gained the initiative. American shipbuilding and aircraft production vastly outpaced the Japanese, and the Japanese fleet would never again enjoy such numerical superiority.

New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
In July, the Japanese attempted to take Port Moresby by land,, a rugged, single-file path through the jungle and mountains. An under-strength, poorly trained and ill-equipped Australian brigade waged a fighting retreat against a 5,000-strong Japanese force.

On, began the. For the next six months, U.S. forces fought Japanese forces for control of the island. Meanwhile, several naval encounters raged in the nearby waters, including the, , , and.

In late August and early September, while battle raged on the Kokoda Track and Guadalcanal, an attack by at the eastern tip of New Guinea was defeated by Australian forces, in the. This was the first defeat for Japanese land forces during the Pacific War. On, 1943, after , Australian and U.S. forces took back the major Japanese beachheads in eastern New Guinea, before American authorities declared Guadalcanal secure on February 9.

On June 30, the Allies launched, a grand strategy for the South and South West Pacific, aimed at isolating the major Japanese base at , before proceeding on an "" campaign towards Japan. Three main objectives were identified: recapturing and the ; recapturing the north coast of, and the central  and; the reduction of Rabaul and related bases. By September, Australian and U.S. forces in New Guinea had. Soon afterwards they launched the, the , , and s.

Island hopping campaign
In November 1943, won the. This was the first heavily opposed in the. The high casualties taken by the Marines sparked off a storm of protest in the United States, where the large losses could not be understood for such a tiny and seemingly unimportant island. The Allies adopted a policy of bypassing some Japanese island strongholds and letting them "wither on the vine", cut off from supplies and troop reinforcements.

The Allied advance continued in the Pacific with the capture of the before the end of February. Some 42,000 soldiers and U.S. Marines landed on  on. occurred, and the island was taken on. U.S. Marines next defeated the Japanese in the.

The U.S. strategic objective was to gain airbases within bombing range of the new on the, especially ,  and. Following Allied victories to the east at the Marshall and Gilbert Islands in late 1943 to early 1944, the US Navy pushed into the Central Pacific. The Japanese base at was neutralized by a  on February 17 and 18, 1944. On, the U.S. Naval fleet bombarded Saipan, defended by 32,000 Japanese troops; 77,000 Marines started landing on the 15th, and the island was secure by July 9.

The Japanese committed much of their declining naval strength in the, but suffered severe losses in both ships and aircraft. After the battle, the Japanese aircraft carrier force was no longer militarily effective. With the capture of Saipan, Japan was finally within range of B-29 bombers.

Guam was invaded on and taken on, but the Japanese fought fanatically. Mopping-up operations continued long after the was officially over. The island of was invaded on  and was conquered on. This operation saw the first use of in the war.

Return to the Philippines
General MacArthur's troops liberated the Philippines, landing on the island of on. The Japanese had prepared a rigorous defense and used the last of their naval forces in a failed attempt to destroy the invasion force in the, through , 1944, arguably the. This was the first battle that employed Japanese attacks,  being the first Allied ship targeted by such an attack. The Japanese battleship, one of the two largest battleships ever built, was sunk by 19 torpedoes and 17 bombs.

In January 1945, the landed on, the main island of the Philippines. Manila was recaptured by March, but mopping up operations on Luzon and other islands continued until the end of the war.

Japanese home islands


The United States captured in February. The island was psychologically important because it was traditional Japanese territory, administered by the Tokyo prefecture. It was heavily defended with many underground entrenchments, but was eventually taken by Marines after they captured Mount Suribachi, a keystone of the defense. Iwo Jima proved invaluable because of its two airfields that were used for emergency landings for B29's, and because it was close enough to provide fighter escort that could reach the.

With the subsequent capture of (April through June), the U.S. brought the Japanese homeland within easier range of naval and air attack. The Japanese defended the island with ground forces, kamikazes, and with the one-way suicide mission of the battleship, which was sunk by American dive-bombers. Amongst dozens of other Japanese cities,, and about 90,000 people died from the initial attack. The dense around production centres and the wooden residential constructions contributed to the large loss of life. In addition, the ports and major waterways of Japan were extensively mined by air in, which seriously disrupted the logistics of the.

South-East Asia
The Japanese had captured most of, severing the by which the Western Allies had been supplying the Chinese Nationalists. This loss forced the Allies to create a large sustained airlift from India, known as "flying ". Under the American General, were retrained and re-equipped, while preparations were made to drive the  from India to replace the Burma Road. This effort was to prove an enormous engineering task.

While the Americans steadily built the from  to China, in March 1944, the Japanese began their own offensive into India. This "Delhi Chalo" ('March to ') was initiated by, the commander of (a force comprising POWs from the  who had been captured by the Japanese and had decided to join the war in an attempt to rid India of their colonial rulers, and thereby attain independence).

The Japanese attempted to destroy the main British and Indian forces at the, resulting in ferocious fighting. While the encircled allied troops were reinforced and resupplied by until fresh troops broke the siege, the Japanese, in part due to torrential rains, ran out of supplies and starved. The surviving forces eventually retreated losing 85,000 men, one of the largest Japanese defeats of the war.

During the monsoon from August to November 1944, the Japanese were pursued to the in Burma. With the onset of the in early 1945, while the  finally completed the Ledo Road, although too late to have any decisive effect, the, consisting of Indian, British, and African units, launched an offensive into Central Burma. The Japanese forces were heavily defeated, and the Allies pursued them southward, taking Rangoon on May 2 (see ).

Submarine warfare
After the destruction of the Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, one of the few resources at the American Navy's disposal was her submarine fleet. President Roosevelt ordered the boats to conduct unconditional within hours of the commencement of hostilities.

Throughout 1944, Allied submarines and aircraft attacked Japanese merchant shipping and deprived Japan's industry of the raw materials it had gone to war to obtain. The main target was oil, and Japan ran almost dry by late 1944. In 1944, submarines sank over two million tons of cargo, while the Japanese were only able to replace less than one million tons.

U.S. submarines accounted for 56% of the Japanese merchantmen sunk; most of the rest were destroyed by planes at the end of the war, or were sunk by mines. U.S. submariners also claimed 28% of Japanese warships destroyed, including the carriers and  during the. Furthermore, they played important reconnaissance roles, as at the battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf (and, coincidentally, at Midway), when they gave accurate and timely warning of the approach of the Japanese fleet. Submarines operated from secure bases in, ; Pearl Harbor; , Ceylon; and later.

End of the war in Asia


The last Allied conference of World War II was held at the suburb of, outside Berlin, from to. During the, agreements were reached among the Allies on policies for occupied Germany. An ultimatum was issued calling for the of Japan.

U.S. president decided to use the new  to bring the war to a swifter end. The battle for Okinawa had shown that an of the Japanese mainland (planned for November) would result in large numbers of American casualties. The official estimate given to the Secretary of War was 1.4 to four million Allied casualties, though some historians dispute whether this would have been the case. Invasion would have meant the death of millions of Japanese soldiers and civilians, who were being trained as militia (see also ).

On, , a , the ', dropped a dubbed ' on , destroying the city. On, a B-29 named ' dropped the second atomic bomb, dubbed ', on the port city of.

On, two days after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the Soviet Union, having renounced its with Japan in April, attacked the Japanese in Manchuria, fulfilling its Yalta pledge to attack the Japanese within three months after the. The attack was made by three Soviet army groups. In less than two weeks, the Japanese army in Manchuria, consisting of over a million men, had been destroyed by the battle-hardened Soviets. The Red Army moved into on. Korea was subsequently divided at the into Soviet and U.S. zones.

The American use of atomic weapons against Japan and the Soviet invasion of Manchukuo prompted the prime minister to ask Emperor to intervene to end the war. In his radio address to the nation, the Emperor did not mention the entry of the Soviet Union into the war, but in his "Rescript to the soldiers and sailors" of August 17, ordering them to and lay down arms, he stressed the relationship between Soviet entrance into the war and his decision to surrender, omitting any mention of the atomic bombs.

The on, 1945, or , signing the  on September 2. The Japanese troops in China formally surrendered to the Chinese on, 1945. See image

Aftermath of the war


The end of the war hastened the independence of many (such as India) and  (such as Indonesia) and the formation of new nations and alliances throughout Asia and Africa. The were granted their independence in 1946 as previously promised by the United States. France attempted and failed to regain control of its colonies in.

Poland's boundaries were re-drawn to include portions of, including and , while ceding most of the areas taken by the Soviet Union in the  partition of 1939, effectively moving Poland to the west. Germany was split into four zones of occupation, and the three zones under the Western Allies was reconstituted as a. The Soviet Union's influence increased as they, with the tacit approval of the West, established hegemony over most of eastern Europe and incorporated parts of Finland and Poland into their new boundaries. This appeasement of Stalin by the West became known as the among the Soviet-dominated countries. Europe was informally split into Western and Soviet, which heightened existing tensions between the two camps and helped establish the.

To prevent (or at least minimize) future conflicts, the allied nations, led by the, formed the in  in 1945. One of the first actions of the United Nations was the creation of the State of, partly in response to the Holocaust.

In 1947,  devised the "European Recovery Program", better known as the. Effective from 1948 to 1952, it allocated 13 billion dollars for the reconstruction of Western Europe. Of Germany’s four zones of occupation, coordinated by the, the American, British, and French zones joined in 1949 as the , and the Soviet zone became the. In Germany, and  took place for several years. Millions of Germans and Poles were expelled from their homelands as a result of the territorial annexations in Eastern Europe agreed upon at the and  conferences. Mainstream estimates of from this process range 1–2 million. In the West, was returned to France, and the  was separated from Germany and put in economic union with France. was divided into four zones of occupation, which were united in 1955 to become the Republic of Austria. The Soviet Union occupied much of and  and the. In all the USSR-occupied countries, with the exception of Austria, the Soviet Union helped Communist regimes to power. It also annexed the Baltic countries, , and.

In Asia, was occupied by the U.S, aided by Commonwealth troops, until the peace treaty took effect in 1952. The Japanese Empire's government was dismantled under General and replaced by a  with the emperor as a figurehead. The defeat of Japan also led to the establishment of the Far Eastern commission which set out policies for Japan to fulfill under the terms of surrender. In accordance with the Yalta Conference agreements, the Soviet Union occupied and subsequently annexed and the. Japanese occupation of also ended, but the peninsula was divided between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, along 38th parallel. The U.S.-backed would fight the communist  in the, with Korea remaining divided.

World War II was a pivotal point in China's history. Before the war against Japan, China had suffered nearly a century of intervention at the hands of various imperialist powers and was relegated to a semi-colonial status. However, the war greatly enhanced China's international status. The central government under was able to abrogate most of the unequal treaties China had signed in the past century, and China became a founding member of the  and a permanent member of the. China also reclaimed Manchuria and Taiwan. Nevertheless, eight years of war greatly taxed the central government, and many of its nation-building measures adopted since it came to power in 1928 were disrupted by the war. Communist activities also expanded greatly in occupied areas, making post-war administration of these areas difficult. Vast war damages and hyperinflation thereafter demoralized the populace, along with the continuation of the between the  and the Communists. Partly because of the severe blow his army and government had suffered during the war against Japan, the Kuomintang, along with state apparatus of the, retreated to Taiwan in 1949 and in its place the Chinese communists established the on the mainland.

Casualties, civilian impact, and atrocities
Estimates for the total casualties of the war vary, but most suggest that some 60 million people died in the war, including about 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians. Many civilians died as a result of disease, starvation, massacres,. The lost around 27 million people during the war, about half of all World War II casualties. Of the total deaths in World War II, approximately 85% were on the Allied side (mostly Soviet and Chinese) and 15% on the Axis side. One estimate is that 12 million civilians died in Holocaust camps, 1.5 million by bombs, 7 million in Europe from other causes, and 7.5 million in China from other causes. Figures on the amount of total casualties varies to a wide extent because the majority of deaths were not documented.

Concentration camps and slave work


was the killing of approximately six million, as well as another six million others who were deemed "unworthy of life" (including the disabled and mentally ill, Soviet POWs, , , , and the ) as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by the National Socialist government in Germany led by. About 12 million forced laborers, most of whom were ans, were employed in the German war economy inside the.

In addition to the Nazi s, the Soviet, or s, led to the death of citizens of occupied countries such as Poland, , , and , as well as German (POW) and even Soviet citizens themselves who had been or were thought to be supporters of the Nazis. Sixty percent of Soviet POWs died during the war. Vadim Erlikman puts it at 2.6 million Soviet POWs that died in German Captivity. gives the number of 5.7 million Soviet POW and out of those 57% died or were killed which is 3,6 million. The survivors on their return to the USSR were treated as traitors (see ). Japanese also had high death rates, many were used as labour camp. According to the findings of the, the death rate of Western prisoners was 27.1% (American POWs died at a rate of 37%) , seven times that of POW's under the Germans and Italians The death rate of Chinese was much larger as, according to the directive ratified on 5 August 1937 by , the constraints of international law were removed on those prisoners. Thus, if 37,583 prisoners from the UK, 28,500 from Netherlands and 14,473 from USA were released after the, the number for the Chinese was only 56.

According to a joint study of historians featuring Zhifen Ju, Mark Peattie, Toru Kubo, and Mitsuyoshi Himeta, more than 10 million Chinese were mobilized by the Japanese army and by the  for  in  and north. The U.S. Library of Congress estimates that in, between 4 and 10 million  (Japanese: "manual laborer"), were forced to work by the Japanese military. About 270,000 of these Javanese laborers were sent to other Japanese-held areas in South East Asia. Only 52,000 were repatriated to Java, meaning that there was a death rate of 80%. According to Mitsuyoshi Himeta, at least 2.7 million died during the implemented in Heipei and  by General. On, 1942, Roosevelt signed , leading to the internment of thousands of , , , and some emigrants from Hawaii who fled after the bombing of for the duration of the war. 150,000 by the U.S. and Canadian governments, as well as nearly 11,000 German and Italian residents of the U.S.

Chemical and bacteriological weapons
Despite the and a resolution adopted by the  on 14 May 1938 condemning the use of toxic gas by, the  frequently used. Because of fears of retaliation, however, those weapons were never used against Westerners but only against other Asians judged "inferior" by the imperial propaganda. According to historians and Seiya Matsuno, the authorization for the use of chemical weapons was given by specific orders (rinsanmei) issued by  himself. For example, the Emperor authorized the use of toxic gas on 375 separate occasions during the, from August to October 1938.

The were experimented on human beings by many units incorporated in the Japanese army, such as the infamous, integrated by  in the  army in 1936. Those weapons were mainly used in China and, according to some Japanese veterans, against Mongolians and Soviet soldiers in 1939 during the. According to documents found in the Australian national archives in 2004 by and Yuki Tanaka, cyanide gas was tested on Australian and Dutch prisoners in November 1944 in the Kai islands.

Bombings
Massive by both Axis and Allied air forces took the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Anglo-American bombing of cities claimed up to 600,000 civilian lives. For the first and so far only time, s were used in combat: two atomic bombs released by the United States over Japan devastated and, three days later,.

War trials
From 1945 to 1951, German and Japanese officials and personnel were prosecuted for war crimes. The most senior German officials were tried at the, and many Japanese officials at the and. Many other minor officials were convicted in minor trials.