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Each of the major belligerents at the outbreak of World war II had substantial military forces. hey were almost all located in Europe. Japan was the one outlier. China had a large army, but poorly equipped and trained. The one exception was the Unite States which had such a small army and arms industry that it was largely dismissed by the Axis leaders. Ironically, the United states was the only country with the manpower and economic (industrial and agricultural) to wage global warfare. As in precious wars there were armies and navies. World War II had a third force, air forces, which played a major role in the War. These had begun to evolve as separate forces, although the American air force was still organizationally part of the U.S. Army. Air warfare had begun in World War I, but no where near the importance and scope or the power of World War II. There was considerable similarity in the organization of the military forces built up by the important belligerents. There were also important differences. The U.S. Marine Corps (naval infantry) played a key role in the Pacific War, in part because the scale of many island battles was a fraction of the important European battles. And the Waffen-SS, a highly politically motivated force, became an important part of the German armed fores and German military action in the final 2 years of the War. Several of the belligerents set up commando forces with different names. In the Axis countries, the police/security forces assumed important military or para-military roles. The same was the case in the Soviet Union, often committing unimaginable war crimes. Only in Japan, however, did the military actually take control of the government and in essence played the role of a Fascist political party. At the onset of the War the focus was on weapons, especially planes and tanks. It was not yet understood that the real advantage that the German Wehrmacht held was they had literally invented modern warfare--Blitzkrieg. World War I began as a war of movement, but after the Miracle on the Marne became a war of attrition. A war of attrition as in World War I would be disaster for Germany. The Blitzkrieg doctrine broke the Western front wide open and gave the Germans areal chance of winning the war. What Hitler misjudged was the will of the British to resist, the strength of the Soviet Union, and the war-making capacity of the United States. Germany needed quirk victories to win the war. It would only be so long before the undefeated enemies he created would understand an adopt their own Blitzkrieg doctrine.
Each of the major belligerents at the outbreak of World War II had substantial military forces. hey were almost all located in Europe. Japan was the one outlier. China had a large army, but poorly equipped and trained. The one exception was the Unite States which had such a small army and arms industry that it was largely dismissed by the Axis leaders. Ironically, the United states was the only country with the manpower and economic (industrial and agricultural) to wage global warfare. Germany had many fundamental weaknesses, only incredible mistakes by Allied and Soviets and the Allied desire for peace gave Hitler a real chance to win the war and essential the opportunity to destroy Western civilization. As in precious wars there were armies and navies. World War II had a third force, air forces, which played a major role in the War. These had begun to evolve as separate forces, although the American air force was still organizationally part of the U.S. Army. Air warfare had begun in World War I, but no where near the importance and scope or the power of World War II. There was considerable similarity in the organization of the military forces built up by the important belligerents. There were also important differences. The U.S. Marine Corps (naval infantry) played a key role in the Pacific War, in part because the scale of many island battles was a fraction of the important European battles. And the Waffen-SS, a high politically motivated force, became an important part of the German armed fores and German military action in the final 2 years of the War. Several of the belligerents set up commando forces with different names. In the Axis countries, the police/security forces assumed important military or para-military roles. The same was the case in the Soviet Union, often committing unimaginable war crimes. Only in Japan, however, did the military actually take control of the government and in essence played the role of a Fascist political party.
A country's two major military services were traditionally the army and navy. This was also the case in World War II, at least in case of numbers of personnel. The most important armies were formed by America, Britain, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union. The British Army included substantial forces from its Empire, especially the Dominions and India. The Germans destroyed the powerful French Army in the first year of the War with tragic consequences (1940). Gen. Charles DeGualle formed the Free French forces, but this was was a minor force until France was liberated (1944). Land war became highly mechanized. The Germans were the early masters of the needed tactics--Blitzkrieg. Leading to great victories. The Germans, however, poorly managed their industrial economy and occupation of France and other countries when Hitler forced the Soviet Union and America into a coalition with the beleaguered British.
The major naval powers were the America, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, and Japan. A major transition in naval warfare occurred during the War, from big gun battleships to aircraft carriers. Only two countries fully made that adjustment, America and Japan. Tragically for the Allies, France was knocked out of the War by the Germans in the first year of the War. German possession if the French fleet became a major issue. The Royal Canadian Navy was built virtually from scratch during the War and played a major role in the Battle of the Atlantic. Some of the greatest naval battles in history was fought by the Americans and Japanese in the Pacific. For the first time in two centuries, the British Royal Navy was not the major player. In World War I a new, but still minor service appeared--the air force. And by World War II it was nomlonger a minor branch. In America, Britain, and Germany, the air force consumed about half of the war economy. Air was variously handled by the belligerent powers. In Britain, France, Germany and the Soviet Union the air force was an independent force. In America it was ostensibly part of the Army, but in real terms independent. Japan had no air force, but separate, and highly competitive, air arms as part of the Imperial Army and Navy. There were other minor variation. America had a Coast Guard under the Treasury Department, but it time of war it was transferred to the Navy. The U.S. Navy had a separate, sizeable fleet air arm as did the Royal Navy in Britain. In Germany, Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring made sure that the Kriegs Marine was unable to build a fleet air arm, although they did succeed in building an aircraft carrier. There were also militias, the British Home Guard and the German Volkssturm being the most important. The Japanese Ketsugo Program might be put in that category. A rebated force was political party forces. Thus began before the War with the NAZI SA, but during the War, SS chief Heinrich Himmler with Hitler's blessing turned the Waffen SS into a powerful force. European countries had substantial overseas empires, The most important was the British Empire. The Dominions were basically independent. By far the most important colonial force was the all-volunteer Indian Army. The United States was in the process of granting independence to the Philippines. General MacArthur was in he Philippines to organize the Filipino Army, but the struck before he was able to arm and train the force. It was the only colonial force that remained loyal under occupation. They did play a role in the subsequent resistance movement. A unique World War II innovation, was resistance forces in occupied countries or in the case of the Soviet Union, occupied areas. As in World War I, there were women's auxiliaries, but these were all organized as part of the three established forces. The Soviet Union was somewhat different because so many Soviet women served along side with the men. One unique feature of World War II was the occupying powers with little success attempted to organize military forces in the counties that they occupied.m occupied countries. One example of this was the Russian Liberation Army in Germany. The SS recruited small units in several European countries. A related force was Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army. The Japanese recruited forces in China, Burma, Indonesia and the Philippines. They were largely ineffective during the War, but in Burma and Indonesia became important in the dependent movement after the War.
Most of the combatant countries had distinctive, utilitarian uniforms uniforms which helps identify the huge number of World war II photographs. There were some exceptions. The British Dominions and other Empire countries wore British uniforms. The Indian army had some special touches for their uniforms, but mostly the dress uniforms. The other exception was the revived French Army after Torch, the rebuilt French Army was equipped with American uniforms, although some of the top commanders wore the traditional French caps. Most armies wore khaki uniforms of different shades. The Soviets wore a greenish khaki, the Americans, British and Japanese various shades of a brownish khaki. Given the various manufacturers there were differences even among the individual countries. The Germans had a grey uniform. We include equipment here because soldier wore equipment as part of their combat kit. In fact the helmet is the most recognizable piece of equipment and is commonly considered to be part of the uniform. The British and Germans used their World War I helmets, although the Germans made some design modification. The Americans and Soviets had new helmets.
The best World War II helmet one was definitely the German Stahlhelm. The German Stahlhelm proved to offer great protection from artillery fire. The Stahlhelm had some width so that it would also protect some of the shoulder from air burst shells. It provided protection for the greatest surface area of the head without obstructing the soldier's view while in combat. Its functionality is demonstrated by the fact that after Vietnam, the U.S. Army adopted the basic design.
World War I began as a war of movement, but after the Miracle on the Marne became a war of attrition as the Allies and Germans built a parallel system of trenches from the Swiss border to the English Channel. New weapons such as the machine gun, poison gas, tanks, and airplanes appeared, but the war was largely an infantry war, decided by the superior resources of the Allies and the arrival of the American infantry. The horrors of trench warfare caused military planners to focus on new weapons to restore mobility and to avoid a future war resulting in mass losses of foot soldiers. It was the Allies that developed tanks and won the World War I air war. It was the Germans, however, that after the War gave the greatest attention to developing new weapons, especially the tanks and air planes that would dominate the World War II battlefield. German commanders also conceived of an innovative method of effectively employing the new weapons, a combined arms tactic which has come to be known as Blitzkrieg. Naval commanders in a tradition firmly implanted by Nelson at Trafalgar were wed to the idea of a major decisive fleet action. The Germans in World war I called it Der Tag--the Day. The German Navy was no longer capable of a major fleet action when World war II broke out. The British did not think the German U-boats were a threat. The ACIDIC (SONAR) developed in World War had helped defeat the U-boat threat and British commanders were convinced that it made the submarine obsolete. The major navies had each planned their war winning fleet action, all based on the big-gun battleships. The Japanese termed the action Kantai Kessen--Decisive Battle. The American plan to respond to a Japanese attack on the Philippine Islands was War Plan Orange. The Germans began World war II with the word's most modern air force. It was, however, a tactical air force designed to support the Wehrmacht's land offensive as part of Blitzkrieg. Germany did not have the industrial capacity to build a strategic air force and had no plans to wage an air war. America and Britain did have the industrial capacity to build a strategic air force. World War was the first real air war. Both the British and Germans were preparing a strategic bombing campaign in World War I, but the War ended before it had begun. Thus air commanders when World War II had no real idea how to wage an air campaign.
National pride complicates the assessment of combat effectiveness. Stephen Ambrose writes eloquently about the soldiers of democracy when describing the U.S. Army. Unfortunately the facts clearly suggest that the German Wehrmacht, especially the Heer was the most effective armed force in World War II. Given the brutality and criminal nature of the Wehrmacht, this is a bitter pill to swallow, but the facts lead to no other conclusion. In The opening campaigns the Germans were able to prevail without numerical superiority. In the all important Western campaign, the Germans had numerical superiority at the point of contact, but this was only because of Allied incompetence. The Germans and Allied (Polish, Dutch, Belgian, French, and British) were comparable, but the failure to develop an effective Allied strategy led to German victory. Beginning with Barbarossa, the Germans never faced a comparable force. The Soviets had a much larger army an once American entered the war, the Germans faced forces that were better supplies with superior air support. In the East the Germans could prevail if they faced comparable forces or even forces twice as large, fortunately for humanity, they usually faced forces three time or even larger. And as American Lend Lease arrived in quantity, a Red Army with greater mobility. In the West they faced an enemy with resources that the German war economy could not begin to match. German divisions requited only a fraction of the supplies an American division required. But the Western Allies so outnumbered the Germans that the fight proved hopeless. Ground down in the Est, the Germans in the West could do little more than bottle up the Allies in Normandy for a few weeks. What is not fully understood is how the Wehrmacht could fight as long and effectively as they did for so long, even as the War was cleanly lost. The Japanese soldier was also effective, fanatically committed, but unlike the Germans, the Japanese Army leadership was largely incompetent and the soldiers were poorly armed.
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