WW II Production, Personnel, etc,

samneanderthal

Active member
Guesstimated Airplane Production During WW II:
Axis: Reich 119,000, Japan 76,000, Italy 11,000, Romania & Hungary 2,000 Total 208,000 (very few 4 engine bombers)
Allies:US 320,000, USSR 157,000 (36,000 Sturmoviks, 25,000 Po-2 biplanes), GB 131,000, Canada 16,000 Total 608,000 (about 50,000 of which were 4 engine planes made only by the US and GB. Note that GB alone produced 10% more planes than Germany, 15,000 of them with 4 engines)
Guesstimated Average Flight Hours Before Combat for A Pilot (in Germany, Italy and Japan the time decreased as fuel and pilots became more scarce, while it gradually increased in the USSR, US and Britain as more pilots and fuel became available):
Axis: Reich 250, Italy 180, Japan 150
Allies: US400, GB 350, USSR 220
Guesstimated Tank & Self Propelled gun Production:
Axis: Reich 60,000, Italy 3,000, Japan 3,000. Total 66,000 (only 6,000 Panthers and 1,347 Tigers and 492 King Tigers)+3,600 captured vehicles that they used in the war
Allies: USSR 99,000, US 83,000, GB 28,300, Canada 2,600: Total 213,000
Guesstimated Submachine gun production:
Axis & Finland: Reich 1.6 million, Italy 400,000, Finland 80,000, Japan 25,000 Total 2.105 million
Allies: USSR 7 million, US 2.2 million, GB 620,000: Total 9.82 million (4.7 times more than the Axis)
Guesstimated Mortar Production:
Axis: Germany 74,000, Japan 29,000, Italy 22,000 Total 125,000
Allies: USSR 200,000, US 105,000, GB 103,000 Total 408,000 (3.3 times more than the Axis)
Guesstimated Machine gun Production:
Axis: Reich 680,000, Japan 380,000, Italy 160,000 Total 1,220,000 (by far most of them 8 mm or below)
Allies: US 2,670,000, USSR 1,477,000, GB 297,000, Canada 252,000, Total 4,666,000 (3.8 times more than the Axis, mostly 7.62 mm
over a million 12 mm)
Guesstimated Rifle Production:
Axis & Finland: Reich 7 million, Japan 4 million, Italy 1.8 million, Finland 300,000 Total 13.1 million
Allies: USSR 9 million, US 9 million, GB 6 million Total 24 million (Most of the American rifles were semiautomatic and over a million automatic)
Guesstimated Artillery Production:
Axis: Reich 159,150, Japan 13,350, Italy 7,200, Hungary 447 Total 180,147
Allies: USSR 516,000, US 257,000, GB 124,000,Canada 10,000 Total 907,000 (5 times more than the Axis)
Guesstimated Military Truck Production:
Axis: Reich 346,000, Japan 166,000, Italy 83,000: Total 595,000
Allies: US 2,380,000, Canada 815,000, GB 480,000, USSR 197,000 Total 3,872,000 (6.5 times more than the axis)
 
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Guesstimated Men and Women at Arms Throughout the War (million):
Axis, etc,: Reich 19, Japan 6, Italy 3 (joined the allies in 1943), Romania 0.7 (joined the allies in 1944), Hungary 0.6 (joined the allies in 1944), Finland 0.5 (joined the allies in 1944), Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania 0.5 Total 28,300,000 (German women served mostly in Flak)
Allies: USSR 24, US 12, China 7, GB+Canada, Australia, NZ, etc, 6 India 5 Total 54,000,000 (not including 2 million Frenchmen and 1 million Poles, most of whom only participated for a few months and over 2 million partisans and resistance fighters: Poles, French, Filipinos, Chinese, Yugoslavs, Indonesians, Malays, Vietnamese, Norwegians, Yugoslavs, Czechs, Dutch, Danes, Greeks, Soviets, etc, and other allies: Brazilians, etc,)
Guesstimated Fleet Aircraft Carrier Production (141 American and 25 British light & escort carriers not included):
Axis: Japan 16 Total 16
Allies: US 22, Britain 14 Total 36
Guesstimated Destroyer Production:
Axis: Japan 63, Reich 17, Italy 6 Total 86
Allies: US 349, GB 240, USSR 25 Total 614 (7.14 times more than the Axis)
Guesstimated Submarine production:
Axis: Reich 1,141, Japan 167, Italy 28 Total 1,336 (3.16 times more than the Allies, very successful before 1942, became almost suicidal in 1943).
Allies: US 203, Britain 167, USSR 52 Total 422 (American subs & mines wiped out most of the Japanese merchant fleet)
Guesstimated Merchant Shipping Tonnage Production:
Axis: Japan 4.15 million Italy 1.4 million Total 5.62 million (Germany used mostly captured ships from Norway, Holland, Denmark, etc,)
Allies: US 34 million, GB 6.38 million, Canada 3.74 million Total 44.12 million (7.85 times more than the Axis)
Guesstimated Cruiser Production:
Axis: Japan 9, Italy 6, Reich 2 Total 17
Allies: US 48, GB 32, USSR 2 Total 82 (4.8 times more than the Axis)
Guesstimated Oil Production (million metric tons):
Axis: Reich 33.4 (23.4 of them synthetic), Romania 25, Japan 5.3, Hungary 3.1 Total 66.8
Allies: US 833, USSR 111, GB 91, Canada 8 Total 1,043 (15.6 times more than the Axis!)
Guesstimated Coal Production (million metric tons):
Axis: Reich 2,420, Japan 185, Italy 17, Hungary 7, Romania 2 Total 2.631
Allies: US 2,150, GB 1,441, USSR 591, Canada 102 Total 4,284 (Note that the huge USSR produced 2.44 times less coal than the UK and 3.6 times less than Germany)
Guesstimated Military Deaths (millions):
Axis, etc,: Reich5.5 (1.3 million in the last 4.5 months), Japan 2, Italy 0.5, Romania .4, Hungary .4, Finland .2 Total 9
Allies: USSR 10.8, China 3.8, Yugoslavia .5, UK .5, US .5, India .2, Canada .1, Australia .1 Total 16.1
Guesstimated Civilian Deaths (millions):
Axis, etc,: Reich 2.1, Japan .7, Rumania .3, Hungary .2, Finland .1 Total 3.4
Allies: China & Taiwan 15,USSR 13, Poland 4, Indonesia 4, India 2, French Indochina 0.7, Yugoslavia 0.7, Czechoslovakia 0.4, France 0.4, Greece 0.3, Philippines 0.3, Holland 0.2, UK 0.1 Total 41
 
America also produced 35.000 landing craft, over 600,000 jeeps, thousands of railroad engines, hundreds of thousands of railroad cars, 6 million tons of bombs, 42 billion rounds of ammunition, 24 million uniforms and boots, 8 million helmets, hundreds of thousands of parachutes, billions of tons of grain, meats, eggs, dairy products, vegetables, fruits, steel, non ferrous metals, etc, and most importantly, besides producing prodigious amounts of invaluable supplies for all the allies, the US simultaneously developed and produced the atomic bomb.
The Allies had a proximity fuse for antiaircraft shells, but the Axis’ countries didn´t.
Britain also produced over 100,000 Brent gun carriers (small armored troops carriers with tracks).
The Reich also produced 6 million Panzerfaust and 289,000 Panzerschreck.
The myth of the inferior German aviation gasoline during WW II: The same gasoline can be rated at 100 octane with a lean mixture and at 130 octane with a rich mixture. The allies used the rich rating and the Germans the lean rating. Accordingly, in 1944 the 100 octane German gasoline was equivalent to the 130 octane American gasoline. Incredibly, today’s American avgas is rated at 100 octane with a rich mixture, so that the supposedly inferior German gasoline of 1944 is much superior to todays avgas. This shows how little we really value quality over quantity. Higher octane gasoline allows for higher compression ratios, which produce more power with the same engine displacement and fuel.

The German army used 2.75 million horses, the Red Army 3.5 million horses. The US did not use any horses in France or Germany and only a few thousand in Burma, Italy, etc, Since a horse consumes ten times more food than a soldier, travels slowly and hauls a small load for a short distance before having to rest, it is surprising that they were used so extensively in WW II. A jeep or truck can tow a 5” cannon faster and further with less fuel. A horse can hardly haul much more than its own fodder.

Industries and activities employing more than a million people each during WW II in the US:
1)Steel, 2)Military Trucks, Jeeps, cars, etc,3)Aviation, 4)Smelting & Forming of Copper, Aluminum, Zinc, Tin, Lead & Other Nonferrous Metals, 5)Artillery, Tanks & Self Propelled Guns, 6)Munitions, 7)Machine & Submachine Guns, Rifles, Bazookas, Mortars, etc, 8)Sulfuric & Nitric Acid, Insecticides, Fertilizers, Explosives & Other Chemicals, 9)Building Merchant Ships, 10)Building Naval Ships, 11)Machine Tools, Hand tools, Cutting Tools, Abrasives, etc, 12) Mining, 13)Bolts, Nuts, Nails, Rivets, Welding Rods, Solder, Glues & Other Fasteners, Wire Mesh & Barbed Wire, 4)Lubricants, Paints, Solvents, Primers, Electroplating, etc, 12)Food Processing (pasta, dairy products, canned meats, fruits and vegetables, ham, K-rations), 13)Transportation, Freight, Packaging, Loading & Unloading, 14)Fabrics, Leather & Glass, 15)Uniforms, Boots, Helmets, Bayonets, Canteens, Blankets, Tents, Quanza Huts, etc, 16)Instrumentation, gauges, measuring equipment, 17)Medical Supplies, 18)Lumber, Plywood, Sheetrock, etc, 19)Crude Oil & Refineries, 20)Cement, Gravel, Sand & Stone, 21)Post, Paper Mills, Telephone, Printing, Telegraph, 22)Planning, Logistics, 23)Cigarettes, Low Alcohol Beer, Sodas, Candy Bars, Instant Coffee & Cocoa, Potato Chips, Booze, Soap, Water Treatment Plants, Water Tanks, Boilers, Pumps, Compressors, etc, 24) Manhattan Project, 25)Farming (crops), 26)Fishing, Cattle, Pigs and Poultry.
The miraculous production achieved in the US was made possible by long work hours, millions of housewives, single women and foreign workers and by very efficient production methods, which allowed millions of men to join the navy, army, air force, etc, over a million women also served as nurses, office workers, transport pilots, ferry pilots, etc,
 
Throughout WW II the Soviets received about 2,050 Hurricanes, 1,020 Spitfires, 4,700 Airacobras, 2,100 P-40s, 2,400 Kingcobras, 203 P-47s, 5,000 Douglas A-20s, 866 B-25 Mitchells (18,339 planes in total), 2,000 Railroad engines, 3,485 Valentine tanks, 4,100 Sherman tanks, 832 Matilda tanks, 301 Churchill tanks, some Lee tanks, etc, (over 13,000 tanks in all), over 300,000 Studebaker and Ford trucks, 51,000 Willys MB jeeps, 8,000 Ford GPA amphibious vehicles (over 450,000 vehicles in all), 11,000 railroad cars, millions of tons of high octane aviation fuel, food, steel, explosives, boots, tires, rubber, etc, The Iranian railroad alone transported 5 million metric tons of supplies to the USSR. In total the USSR received 178 million metric tons. In contrast, the Germans had to relocate many Luftwaffe units from the USSR to North Africa in the winter of 1942 (during the Battle of Stalingrad), lost over 25,000 airplanes on the western front and their factories, rail road centers, power plants and cities were consistently bombed, which greatly contributed to the defeat of Germany in the USSR. On average in 1944 Germany lost 1,000 planes per month to the Angloes and 400 planes to the Soviets, in spite of the enormous size of the eastern front and the fact that Soviet pilots did not have to travel long distances to engage German planes (they had more fighting time and less cruising time).
 
Umm can I make a request, this information is good stuff but it has two problems (for me at least):

1) It appears as a wall of text making it impossible to read, space it out a little and you will get far better responses.

2) It needs to be referenced, I am assuming you are not writing these posts with information in your head so some sources would help and also it helps provide context.
 
I agree Monty B, I take one look at the post and think that it is all cut and paste and if I wanted that much information I would look it up my self
 
As ,ex,the Soviet aircraft and tank production figures are not given,there is no context at all ,thus these figures are senseless.The same for saying "millions of tons of high octane aviation fuel"
Btw:the figures of aircraft sent to the SU,are questionable .
 
Just during the last quarter of 1942 (during the battle of Stalingrad, long before the battle of Kursk), Stalin received 350,000 tons of steel, 250.000 tons of aviation fuel, 60,000 trucks, 11,000 jeeps, 2 million boots, 50,000 tons of explosives, 300 Airacobras, etc, At the same time the Allies disembarked in North Africa, forcing Hitler to relocate troops, tanks and planes from the USSR. The reduced strength of the Luftwaffe in Stalingrad allowed the Soviets to gain air superiority over Stalingrad and to move troops from the eastern side of the Volga and finish off the German army, which could not be supplied by air, because of the Soviet air superiority, the bad weather and the lack of Ju-52s (many of which were also sent to Africa and promptly lost there) .
 
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While the production numbers here may be accurate to some extent, they may not reflect the actual situation.

Among the facts not taken into concideration here is that the Germans utilized whatever they captured in the occupied countries, anything including weapons, ordnance, and production capability went into the war machinery.
A considerable number of artillery shells raining down on allied units was of French origin, either pre-war manufacture, or made on Wehrmacht-contract.

Another difficult task is comparing allied and axis pilots, USAAF crews only flew a limited number of missions before their contract ended, the Luftwaffe crews had their contract terminated when they hit the ground for the last time, or was written off as casualties..
 
The Greeks also beat the Italians using a lot of cannon and ammunition captured by the British from the Italians in Libya. The Soviets, in spite of manufacturing a half million cannon and 99,000 tanks also used captured German cannon, tanks, etc,
The japanese captured a lot of supplies from the british (800,000 tons in the docks of Rangoon alone), etc,
There is a big difference between the German Army using 22 different brands of mostly used trucks captured from 7 countries (including Britain, a logistics nighmare without spares) in Barbarossa and the Soviets using 300,000 brand new Studebaker and Ford trucks with American spares and fuel and boots and food for the driver to defeat the Germans or the British using even more American trucks also with American spares and fuel.

Nevertheless the fact is that the numbers of cannon, tanks, planes, trucks, ships, machine guns, fuel tonage, etc, produced and used by the axis were a small fraction of those produced by the allies.

The best indicator is airplanes, the most important weapon of the war and of which very few were captured and used by the enemy. The US alone in 4 years produced more fighters than all the axis together in 6 years.
 
While the Russians (or Soviets back then) were mostly enthusiastic over the supplies they got from the western allies, the picture is still a bit glorified.
Last year a batch of US manufactured Thompson submachineguns was offered on the market here, all greased up, stored and never used.
Turned out they were supplied along with US manufactured tanks shipped to the USSR during WW II and never issued to the tank crews due to a complete lack of ammo.
The .45 ACP wasn't exactly standard issue in the red army...

As for the Germans, they actually captured the French air force intact, and shipped the bulk of it to their allies, a majority ended up in Finland and was used against the USSR.
They also captured the French artillery intact, and made pretty good use of it.
And since they also captured France, and the factories that manufactured most of the French equipment (including tanks and trucks) they had no problem supplying spare parts and ammunition for the captured equipment either.

Have you ever heard of the Skoda works?
Before they focused on automobiles (post-war) they were one of the major weapons manufacturers in europe, and wouldn't you know, when Hitler invaded Checkoslovakia in 1938 he also gained full control over the Check weapons industry.
Do you have any idea about the ammount of artillery manufactured at the Skoda works from 1938 to 1944?
Add the number of artillery pieces taken from Check fortifications that was dismanteled and used in the Atlantic wall...you can't possibly imagine.
 
No the Germans did not capture the modern French planes, they flew to Africa before the capitulation (An H-75 would shoot down a Wildcat during Torch). Only the useless planes were left behind and sent to Finland.

Yes, the Soviets were quite stupid using the American supplies. They probably received the .45 ammo and stored it somewhere else. If they didn't all they had to do was ask for it. But it is even ironic that the soviets producing millions of PPSh-40 woulod ask for Thompsons (they only received what they ordered).
Roosevelt had to threaten Stalin with stopping all deliveries if he didn't start using the tens of thousands of trucks that were piling up in huge lots (Roosevelt received pictures of them and relayed them to Stalin). Only then did they start to reach ithe front in large numbers and be used with great effect.
The US had to make them, make the ships to transport them, pay for the crews in the ships and for the transportation in Iran, send the fuel, spares, etc, and the Soviets were not using them, so the Americans also had to make sure they were used! how stupid and lucky can you get?

Skoda production is included under Germany (Czechoslovakia was part of Germany).

Never has a modern army had so few pieces of artillery per man than in Barbarossa. Incredibly, there were fewer cannon and planes in the German army in Barbarossa than in the invasion of tiny France. Incredibly, the Romanian army had more cannon than the German army, although in most cases less modern. To put things in perspective, In barbarossa the Germans has 7,180 cannon, in France they had 7,300 cannon. In Barbarossa the Romanians had 8,100 cannon. The Soviets used 13,000 cannon alone in Stalingrad and 41,000 in Berlin.

There is a big difference bewteen fortification artillery and field artillery. In WW II the former was pretty useless, except when the attacker was stupid enough to approach it as in Sevastopol. Field artillery killed more men than machine guns, airplanes, rifles, etc, and the Germans never had enough of any kind of it, hell they didn't even have enough mortars or machine guns or trucks at any time. That's is why the achievements in Africa and the USSr are so remarkable.
 
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Between September 1, 1939 and June 22, 1941 the USSR supplied Germany about 1.5 million tons of oil and a similar amount of grain and large quantities of chromium, phosphorous and manganese ores, platinum, etc, mostly on credit, so that when Germany invaded the USSR, Germany owed the USSR a considerable sum (Stalin supplied Hitler and helped to finance the invasions in western Europe, the battle of Britain, Greece, operation Barbarossa, etc,).
 
These are the usual useless,not sourced and out of context figures .
About the oil :1.5 million tons of oil,that's giving the impression of being big,but,
1°1.5 million is unlikely :1939 was 300000,1940 700000,and there are no official figures for 1941
2° Whatever:as the Germans got 8.5 million ton in 1939,300000 tons were less than 4 %,and,as they got 6.1 million tons in 1940(most of them produced in Germany),700000 were less than 12 %,in 1941,Germany got 8.1 million tons,thus,the unsourced 500000 tons would be some 6 %
 
What is your problem? Your also unreferenced figures rather confirm the 1.5 million.
12% of Hitler's oil and on credit, during the invasion of Norway, France, Belgium, Holland, BoB, etc, seems like decisive help. 6% the year of Greece, Africa and Barbarossa seems also quite helpful.
 
My source is :Why was Germany short on oil . on the Axis History Forum
AHF viewtopicphp?f=66
The oil imports from the SU had only a minor importance,the same for the oil imports from Romania;during the whole war,the majority of Germany's oil was coming from Germany (domestic production and synthetic production):
1940:4 million tons on a total of 6.1 million
1941:4.8 million on 8.1
1942:5.6 on 7.6
1943:6.5 on 9
1944:4.7 on 5.8
after the oil imports from the SU stopped in june 1941,the German oil imports increased .
German oil imports(first figure non Soviet imports ,mostly from Romania,second figure :Soviet imports)
1940: 0.9 million /O.7 million
1941: 1.5 million /0.5 million (=an unproved figure)
1942:1.6 million
1943:1.9 million
1944:O.8 million
 
Romania was allied with France and only aligned itself with Hitler when Stalin invaded Bessarabia. Synthetic oil production started much later.
Again 12% in the most critical period of German expansion is far from trivial.
 
Romania was allied with France...
Is was a Treaty of Friendship and was disbanded completely in 1938.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/344056/Little-Entente

Synthetic oil production started much later
Synthetic Oil Production in Germany
Interrogation of Dr. Butefisch
British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee

Dr. Butefisch was asked in the first place to give an outline of the production of synthetic oil in Germany. Dr. Butefisch referred to the start of production in 1927 at Leuna with an output of 300,000 tons per annum at first, subsequently increased to 500,000. It was intended that half of the whole of the oil used in Germany should be synthetic. In 1934-1935 under the "Vierjahres Plan" there were started up additional plants in the following order:
1.Bohlen
2.Mageburg
3.Schwarzheide
4. Zeitz

http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/primary_documents/gvt_reports/BIOS/bios_1697.htm
 
The 4 year plan contained a lot of wishful thinking that didn't come even close to fruition.
According to your data Germany imported 2.1 million tons in 1940, out of which 700,000 came from Stalin, so the USSR provided 33% of the imported oil that years and on credit.
Your reference states that in 1940 synthetic oil production was 4.3 million tons in 1940 yet your data above mention that total production (synthetic + natural in the Reich) was 4 million, so dr Butefisch seems to be full of hot air.
 
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