A vast amount of weapons and manpower were needed in World War Two. Figures for industrial production were massive in any of the main protagonists in the war. The total number of people called up during the war ran into tens of millions worldwide. The figures given below are some indication as to what was meant by ‘total war’ – when everything in a country was directed towards the war effort. Ironically, when the bombing of Germany was all but at its peak, her industrial output was at its highest – the same was true for Japan in 1944.

Tanks produced 1940 to 1945:

Great Britain USA USSR Germany Japan
1940 1,400 300 2,800 1,600 not known
1941 4,800 4,100 6,400 3,800 1,000
1942 8,600 25,000 24,700 6,300 1,200
1943 7,500 29,500 24,000 12,100 800
1944 4,600 17,600 29,000 19,000 300
1945 not known 12,000 15,400 3,900 100
Total 20,150 88,500 102,300 46,700 3,400


Total tanks produced Allied forces = 210,950 tanks
Total tanks produced Axis forces = 50,400 tanks

Warships produced by total tonnage 1940 to 1945:

Great Britain USA USSR Germany Japan
1940 263,200 52,600 not known 23,800* 94,700
1941 437,200 219,300 not known 147,000* 225,000
1942 481,400 859,500 not known 193,000* 254,000
1943 609,600 2,667,400 not known 211,400* 230,000
1944 583,400 3,176,800 not known 275,300* 468,400
1945 312,800 1,190,000 not known 54,900* 66,700
Total 2,687,600 8,165,600 — 905,400* 1,338,800

* = submarines only. Germany produced very few surface vessels between 1940 and 1945

Total warship production Allied forces = 10,853,200 tons
Total warship production Axis forces = 2,244,200 tons 


Merchant ships produced by total tonnage 1940 to 1945:

Great Britain USA USSR Germany Japan
1940 810,000 444,700 not known not known 293,600
1941 1,156,000 749,100 not known not known 210,400
1942 1,301,000 5,392,800 not known not known 260,100
1943 1,204,000 12,485,600 not known not known 769,100
1944 1,014,000 11,403,200 not known not known 1,699,200
1945 856,000 7,614,900 not known not known 559,600
Total 6,341,000 38,090,300 — — 3,792,000

Total merchant ship production Allied forces = 44,431,300 tons
Total merchant ship production Axis forces = 3,792,000 tons
Germany produced very few surface vessels between 1940 and 1945

Warplanes produced 1940 to 1945:

Great Britain USA USSR Germany Japan
1940 15,000 6,100 7,000 10,200 4,800
1941 20,100 19,400 12,500 11,000 5,100
1942 23,600 47,800 26,000 14,200 8,900
1943 26,200 85,900 37,000 25,200 16,700
1944 26,500 96,300 40,000 39,600 28,200
1945 12,100 46,000 35,000 not known 11,100
Total 123,500 301,500 157,500 100,200 74,000

Total warplane production Allied forces: 582,500
Total warplane production Axis forces: 174,200

Combined military manpower 1940 to 1945:

Great Britain USA USSR Germany Japan
1940 2,212,000 458,300 2,500,000 5,600,000 1,723,200
1941 3,278,000 1,795,000 4,207,000 7,200,000 2,411,400
1942 3,784,000 3,844,500 9,000,000 8,600,000 2,829,400
1943 4,300,000 8,918,600 10,000,000 9,500,000 3,808,200
1944 4,500,000 11,241,200 12,400,000 9,100,000 5,365,000
1945 4,653,000 11,858,500 10,800,000 not known 7,193,200
Total 22,727,000 38,116,100 48,907,000 40,000,000 21,160,400

Total used combined manpower in World War Two Allied forces: 109,750,100
Total used combined manpower in World War Two Axis forces: 61,160,400

Summary of total Allied forces 1940 to 1945:

Tanks 210,950
Merchant shipping 44,431,300
Warships 10,853,200
War planes 582,500
Total Manpower 109,750,100

Summary of total Axis forces 1940 to 1945:

Tanks 50,400
Merchant shipping 3,792,000
Warships 2,244,200
War planes 174,200
Total manpower 61,160,400

Note: in places the figures are slanted. The figures for the Axis powers does not include Italy and shipping figures for the USSR are not known – hence their impact on the total Allied shipping figure.