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	<!--This is a very long article. If you have more information regarding World War II, please consider adding it to one of the articles referenced by this article that deal with specific areas of World War II rather than to this article. -->{{Infobox Military Conflict
	\|conflict=World War II
	\|partof=
	\|image=]
	\|caption='''From top counterclockwise''': ] landing on ] beaches on ], the 1936 ], the ] ], ] soldiers raising the ] over the ] in ], the gate of a ] at ]
	\|date=1939–1945
	\|place=], ], ], ], ] and ]
	\|result=Allied victory
	\|combatant1=''']''':<br>],<br>],<br>]/],<br>],<br>],<br>],<br>]
	\|combatant2=''']''':<br>],<br>],<br>],<br>]
	\|casualties1='''Military dead''': 17 million<br>'''Civilian dead''': 33 million<br>'''Total dead''': 50 million
	\|casualties2='''Military dead''': 8 million<br>'''Civilian dead''': 4 million<br>'''Total dead''': 12 million
	}}
	'''World War II''', also '''WWII''', or '''The Second World War''', was a global military conflict that took place between 1939 and 1945. It was the largest and deadliest war in history.

	Even though ] had been fighting in China since 1937, the conventional view is that the war began on ], ], when ] invaded ]. Within two days the ] and ] declared war on Germany, although the only European battles remained in Poland. Pursuant to a then secret provision of its non-aggression ] with the ], Germany was joined in the battle to conquer Poland and to divide Eastern Europe by the Soviet Union on September 17, 1939. The Allies were initially made up of Poland, the ], ], and ]. In May, 1940 Germany invaded western Europe. Six weeks later, France surrendered to Germany. Three months after that, Germany, ], and Japan signed a mutual defense agreement, the ], and were known as the ]. Then, nine months later, in June 1941, while still battling Britain, Germany betrayed and invaded its partner, the Soviet Union, forcing the Soviets into the Allied camp (although they still abided by their non-aggression treaty with Japan). In December 1941, Japan attacked the ] bringing it too into the war on the Allied side. China also joined the Allies, as eventually did most of the rest of the world. By the beginning of 1942, the major combatants were aligned as follows: the British Commonwealth, the United States, and the Soviet Union were fighting Germany and Italy; and the British Commonwealth, China, and the United States were fighting Japan. From then through August 1945, battles raged across all of Europe, in the North Atlantic Ocean, across North Africa, throughout Southeast Asia, throughout China, across the Pacific Ocean and, by air, in Japan.

	Italy surrendered in September 1943, Germany in May 1945. The ] marked the end of the war, on ], ].

	It is possible that around 62 million people ]; estimates vary greatly. About 60% of all casualties were civilians, who died as a result of disease, starvation, ], and aerial bombing. The former Soviet Union and China suffered the most casualties. Estimates place deaths in the Soviet Union at around 23 million, while China suffered about 10 million. Poland suffered the most deaths in proportion to its population of any country, losing approximately 5.6 million out of a pre-war population of 34.8 million (16%).

	After World War II, ] was informally split into western and Soviet ]. ] later aligned as ] (NATO), and ] as the ]. There was a shift in power from Western Europe and the ] to the two new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. These two rivals would later face off in the ]. In Asia, the United States's military occupation of Japan led to Japan's ]. ] continued through and after the war, resulting eventually in the establishment of the ]. The former colonies of the European powers began their road to independence.

	==Causes==
	] (left) and ].]] {{main articles\|], ], and ]}}

	Commonly held general causes for WWII are the rise of nationalism, the rise of militarism, and the presence of unresolved territorial issues. In Germany, resentment of the harsh ], specifically ] the "Guilt Clause", the belief in the '']'', combined with the onset of the ] fueled the rise to power of ]'s militarist ] (the Nazi Party); meanwhile the treaty's provisions were laxly enforced, due to the fear of another war. The ] also failed in its mission of preventing war, for similar reasons. Closely related is the failure of the British and French policy of appeasement, which also through fear of war, gave Hitler time to re-arm.

	Japan in the 1930s was ruled by a militarist clique devoted to Japan's becoming a world power. Japan invaded China to secure additional natural resources to compensate for Japan's lack of natural resources. This angered the United States, which reacted by making loans to China, giving China covert military assistance (see ]), and instituting progressively more inclusive embargoes of raw materials against Japan. The embargo of oil and other raw materials by the U.S. would have eventually wrecked Japan's economy; Japan was faced with the choice of withdrawing from China or going to war in order to conquer the oil resources of the ]. It chose to go ahead with plans for the ]

	==Chronology==
	{{Main articles\| ], ], ], ], ], and ]}}
	]. The picture was staged a few days after the outbreak of the war for use in propaganda.]]

	===1939: War breaks out in Europe===
	'''Pre-war alliances'''
	{{main articles\| ], ] and ]}}

	After the collapse of the ] in March 1939, when German armies entered ] and proceeded to occupy the remainder of ], on ], ] Poland and France pledged to provide each other with military assistance in the event either was attacked. The British already had in March offered support to the Poles, but then on ] Germany and the Soviet Union signed the ]. The pact included a secret protocol, dividing eastern Europe into German and Soviet areas of interest. Each country agreed to allow the other a free hand in its area of influence, to include military occupation. Hitler was now ready to go to war in order to conquer Poland. The signing of a new alliance between Britain and Poland on ] deterred him for only a few days.

	'''The invasion of Poland'''
	], September 1939.]]
	{{main article\|The invasion of Poland}}
	On ] Germany invaded Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. The French mobilized slowly, then mounted only a token offensive in the ], which they soon abandoned, while the British couldn't take any direct action in support of the Poles in the time available (see ]). Meanwhile, on ], the Germans reached ], having slashed through the Polish defenses.

	On ] Soviet troops occupied the eastern part of Poland, taking control of territory that Germany had agreed was in the Soviet sphere of influence. A day later the Polish president and commander-in-chief both fled to ]. The last Polish units surrendered on ]. Some Polish troops ]. Polish forces continued to ].

	After Poland fell, Germany paused to regroup during the winter of 1939-1940 until April 1940, while the British and French stayed on the defensive. The period would be referred to by journalists as "the ]", or the "''Sitzkrieg''", because so little ground combat took place.

	'''The Battle of the Atlantic'''
	]
	{{main article\|Second Battle of the Atlantic}}
	Meanwhile, in the ] German ]s operated against Allied shipping. The submarines made up in skill, luck, and daring what they lacked in numbers. One U-boat sank the British aircraft carrier ] while another U-boat managed to sink the battleship ] in its home anchorage of ]. Altogether the U-boats sank more than 110 vessels in the first four months of the war.

	In the South Atlantic, the ] raided Allied shipping, then was scuttled after the ]. About a year and a half later, another German raider, the ], would suffer a similar fate in the North Atlantic. Unlike the U-boat threat, which had a serious impact a bit later in the war, German surface raiders had little impact due to the fact that their numbers were so small.

	===1940: The war spreads===
	'''Soviet-Finnish War'''
	{{main articles\| ], ]}}
	The Soviet Union attacked Finland on ], ], beginning the ]. Finland surrendered to the Soviet Union in March 1940 and signed the ] in which the Finns made territorial concessions. Later that year, in June the Soviet Union occupied ], ], and ], and annexed ] and ] from Romania.

	'''The invasion of Denmark and Norway'''
	]
	{{main article\| Norwegian Campaign}}
	Germany invaded Denmark and Norway on ], ] in ], in part to counter the threat of an impending Allied invasion of Norway. Denmark did not resist, but Norway fought back, and was joined by British, French, and Polish (exile) forces landing in support of the Norwegians at ], ], and ]. By late June the Allies were defeated, German forces were in control of most of Norway, and what remained of the ] had surrendered.

	'''The invasion of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands'''
	]
	{{main article\| Battle of France}}
	On ], ] the Germans invaded ], ], the ], and France, ending the ''Phony War''. The ] (BEF) and the French Army advanced into northern Belgium, planning on fighting a mobile war in the north while maintaining a static continuous front along the ] further south. The Allied plans were immediately smashed by the most classic example in history of '']''.

	In the first phase of the invasion, ''Fall Gelb'' (CACA), the Wehrmacht's ''Panzergruppe von Kleist'' raced through the ], broke the French line at ], then slashed across northern France to the English Channel, splitting the Allies in two. Meanwhile Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands fell quickly against the attack of German Army Group B. The BEF, encircled in the north, was evacuated from ] in ]. German forces then continued the conquest of France with ''Fall Rot'' (Case Red), advancing behind the Maginot Line and near the coast. France signed an armistice with Germany on ] ], leading to the establishment of the ] puppet government in the unoccupied part of France.

	'''The Battle of Britain'''
	{{main article\| Battle of Britain}}
	Following the defeat of France, Britain chose to fight on, so Germany began preparations in summer of 1940 to invade Britain (]). The first step necessary was for the '']'' to secure control of the air over Britain by defeating the '']''. The war between the two air forces became known as the ]. The ''Luftwaffe'' initially targeted ] but thinking the results poor the ''Luftwaffe'' later turned to terror bombing London. The Germans failed to defeat the Royal Air Force, and Operation Sea Lion was postponed and eventually cancelled.

	'''The North African Campaign'''
	] tanks advance during the North African campaign.]]
	{{main article\| North African Campaign}}
	The Italian declaration of war in June 1940 challenged the British supremacy of the Mediterranean, hinged on ], ], and ]. Italian troops invaded and ] in August 1940. In September 1940 the ] began when Italian forces in ] attacked British forces in ]. The aim was to make Egypt an Italian possession, especially the vital ] east of Egypt. British, ] and ] forces counter-attacked in ], but this offensive stopped in 1941 when much of the Commonwealth forces were transferred to Greece to defend it from German attack. However, German forces (known later as the ]) under General ] landed in Libya and renewed the assault on Egypt.

	'''The invasion of Greece'''
	{{main article\| Balkans Campaign}}
	] on ], ] from bases in ] after the Greek Premier John Metaxas rejected an ultimatum to hand over Greek territory. Despite the enormous superiority of the Italian forces, the Greek army forced the Italians into a massive retreat deep into Albania. By mid-December the Greeks occupied one-fourth of Albania. The Greek army had inflicted upon the Axis Powers their first defeat in the war and Nazi Germany would soon be forced to intervene.

	===1941: The war becomes global===
	]
	====European Theatre====
	;Lend-Lease
	{{main\|Lend-Lease}}
	U.S. President ] signed the Lend-Lease Act on ]. This program was the first large step away from American isolationism, providing for substantial assistance to the U.K., the Soviet Union, and other countries.

	;The invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia
	]
	] government succumbed to the pressure of the Axis and signed the Tripartite Treaty on ] but the government was overthrown in a coup which replaced it with a pro-Allied one prompting the Germans to invade Yugoslavia on April 6. In the early morning 6th of April Germans bombarded Belgrade with around 450 aircraft. Yugoslavia was occupied in a matter of days and the army surrendered on April 17 but the partisan resistance would last throughout the war. The rapid downfall of Yugoslavia however, allowed German forces to enter Greek territory through the Yugoslav frontier. The 58,000 British and Commonwealth troops who had been sent to help the Greeks were driven back and soon forced to evacuate. On April 27, German forces entered Athens which was followed by the end of organized Greek resistance. The occupation of Greece would prove costly as guerilla warfare would continually plague the Axis occupiers.

	;The invasion of the Soviet Union
	].]]
	{{main articles\|], ], ], ] and ]}}
	On ], ] Operation Barbarossa, the largest invasion in history, began. Three German army groups, an Axis force of over four million men, advanced rapidly deep into the Soviet Union, destroying almost the entire western Soviet army in huge battles of encirclement. The Soviets dismantled as much industry as possible ahead of the advancing Axis forces, moving it to the Ural mountains for reassembly. By late November the Axis had reached a line at the gates of Leningrad, Moscow, and Rostov, at the cost of about 23 percent casualties, but now their advance ground to a halt. The German General Staff had badly under-estimated the size of the overall Soviet army and its ability to draft new troops and were now dismayed by the presence of new forces, including fresh Siberian troops under General ], and by the onset of a particularly cold winter. German forward units had advanced within distant sight of the golden onion domes of Moscow's ], but then on ] the Soviets counter-attacked and pushed the Axis back some 100-150 miles, the first major German defeat of World War II.

	Meanwhile, on ] the ] between Finland and the Soviet Union began with Soviet air attacks shortly after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa.

	;Allied conferences
	The ] was issued as a joint declaration by ] and President Roosevelt, at Argentia, Newfoundland on ] 1941.

	In late December 1941 Churchill met with Roosevelt again at the ]. They agreed that defeating Germany had priority over defeating Japan. The Americans proposed a 1942 cross-channel invasion of France which the British strongly opposed, suggesting instead a small invasion in Norway or landings in ]. The ] was issued.

	;The Mediterranean
	]
	{{main articles\|], ], ], ] and ]}}
	Rommel's forces advanced rapidly eastward, laying siege to the vital seaport of Tobruk. Two Allied attempts to relieve Tobruk were defeated, but a larger offensive at the end of the year (]) drove Rommel back after heavy fighting.

	On ], the ] began when elite German parachute and glider-borne mountain troops launched a massive airborne invasion of the Greek island. Crete was defended by Greek and Commonwealth troops. The Germans attacked the island simultaneously on the three airfields. Their invasion on two of the airfields failed, but they successfully captured one, which allowed them to reinforce their position and capture the island in a little over one week.

	In June 1941, Allied forces invaded ] and ], capturing ] on ]. Later, in August, British and Soviet troops ] in order to secure its oil and a southern supply line to Russia.

	====Pacific Theatre====
	;Sino-Japanese war
	]
	{{main\|Second Sino-Japanese War}}
	A war had begun in East Asia before World War II started in Europe. On ], ], Japan, after occupying ] in 1931, ] against China near ]. The Japanese made initial advances, but were stalled at ]. The city eventually fell to the Japanese and in December 1937, the capital city, Nanking (now ]), fell and the Chinese government moved its seat to ] for the rest of the war. The Japanese forces committed brutal atrocities against civilians and prisoners of war ], slaughtering as many as 300,000 civilians within a month. The war by 1940 had reached a stalemate with both sides making minimal gains. The Chinese had successfully defended their land from oncoming Japanese on several occasions while strong resistance in areas occupied by the Japanese made a victory seem impossible to the Japanese.

	;Japan and the United States enter the war
	] under attack on December 7, 1941]]
	{{main\|Attack on Pearl Harbor}}

	Protesting Japan's incursion into French Indo-China and Japan's continued invasion of China, in the summer of 1941 the United States began an oil embargo against Japan. Japan planned an attack on ] to cripple the ] before consolidating oil fields in the Dutch East Indies. On ], a ] launched a surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor, ]. The raid resulted in two U.S. battleships sunk, and six damaged but later repaired and returned to service. The raid failed to find any aircraft carriers, nor damage Pearl Harbor's usefulness as a naval base. The attack strongly united public opinion in the United States against Japan. The following day, ], the ] on Japan. On the same day, China officially declared war against Japan. Germany declared war on the United States on ], even though it was not obliged to do so under the ]. Hitler hoped that Japan would support Germany by attacking the Soviet Union. Japan did not oblige and this diplomatic move by Hitler proved a catastrophic blunder, unifying the American public's support for the war.

	;Japanese offensive
	] surrendering Singapore to the Japanese on ], ]. It was the greatest defeat in British history.]]
	{{main articles\|], ], ] and ]}}
	Japan soon invaded the Philippines and the British colonies of ], ], ], and ], with the intention of seizing the oilfields of the Dutch East Indies. Despite fierce resistance by American, Philippine, ], ], and ] forces, all these territories capitulated to the Japanese in a matter of months. The British island fortress of ] ] in what Churchill considered one of the most humiliating British defeats of all time.

	Japan attacked the Philippines on ], ], just ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Initial aerial bombardment was followed by landings of ground troops both north and south of Manila. The defending Philippine and United States troops were under the command of United States General Douglas MacArthur. The aircraft of his command were destroyed on the ground, for which he was later criticized by military historians; the naval forces were ordered to leave; and because of the circumstances in the Pacific region, reinforcement and resupply of his ground forces were impossible. Under the pressure of superior numbers, the defending forces withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula and to the island of Corregidor at the entrance to Manila Bay. Manila, declared an open city to prevent its destruction, was occupied by the Japanese on January 2, 1942.

	The Philippine defense continued until the final surrender of United States-Philippine forces on the Bataan Peninsula in April 1942 and on Corregidor in May. Most of the 80,000 prisoners of war captured by the Japanese at Bataan were forced to undertake the infamous "Death March" to a prison camp 105 kilometers to the north. It is estimated that as many as 10,000 men, weakened by disease and malnutrition and treated harshly by their captors, died before reaching their destination.

	===1942: Deadlock===
	====European Theatre====
	;Western and Central Europe
	{{main articles\|] and ]}}
	In May, top Nazi leader ] was assassinated by Allied agents in ]. Hitler ordered severe reprisals. (''See ]'').

	On August 19 British and Canadian forces launched the ] (codenamed Operation Jubilee) on the German occupied port of Dieppe, France. The attack was a disaster but provided critical information utilized later in ] and ].
	] ] to ] ].]]

	;Soviet winter and early spring offensives
	{{main articles\|], ], ], ] and ]}}
	In the north, Soviets launched the ] ] to ] 1942, trapping a German force near ]. The Soviets also surrounded a German garrison in the ] which held out with air supply for four months (] until ], and established themselves in front of Kholm, Velizh and Velikie Luki.

	In the south, Soviet forces launched an offensive in May against the ], initiating a bloody 17 day battle around ] which resulted in the loss of over 200,000 Red Army personnel.

	;Axis summer offensive
	{{main articles\|], ] and ]}}
	On ], the Axis began their summer offensive. German Army Group B was to capture the city of Stalingrad which would secure the German left while Army Group A was to capture the southern oil fields. The ], fought in the late summer and fall of 1942, saw the Axis forces capturing the oil fields.

	;Stalingrad
	].]]
	{{main articles\|], ] and ]}}
	After bitter street fighting which lasted for a couple of months, the Germans captured 90% of Stalingrad by November. The Soviets however had been building up massive forces on the flanks of Stalingrad launched ] on ], with twin attacks that met at Kalach four days later trapping the Sixth Army in Stalingrad. The Germans requested permission to attempt a break-out, which was refused by Hitler, who ordered Sixth Army 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 Army Group Center and to prevent it from reinforcing Army Group South at Stalingrad.

	In December German relief forces got within 30 miles of the trapped Sixth Army before being turned back by the Soviets. By the end of the year, Sixth Army was in desperate condition, as the ''Luftwaffe'' was only able to supply about a sixth of the supplies needed.

	;Eastern North Africa
	].]]
	{{main\|Second Battle of El Alamein}}

	At the beginning of 1942, the Allied forces in North Africa were weakened by detachments to the Far East. Rommel once again attacked and recaptured ]. Then he defeated the Allies at the ], and captured Tobruk with several thousand prisoners and large quantities of supplies. Following up, he drove deep into Egypt but with overstretched forces.

	The ] took place in July 1942. Allied forces had retreated to the last defensible point before ] and the ]. The ''Afrika Korps'', however, had outrun its supplies, and the defenders stopped its thrusts. The ] occurred between ] and ]. Lieutenant-General ] was in command of the Commonwealth forces, now known as the ]. The Eighth Army took the offensive, and was ultimately triumphant. After the German defeat at El Alamein, the Axis forces made a successful strategic withdrawal to ].

	'''Western North Africa'''
	{{main articles\| ] and ]}}
	] was launched on ], ] and aimed to gain control of ] and ] through simultaneous landings at ], ] and Algiers, followed a few days later with a landing at ], the gateway to Tunisia. It was hoped that the local forces of ] would put up no resistance and submit to the authority of ] General ]. In response Hitler invaded and occupied Vichy France and Tunisia, but the German and Italian forces were caught in the pincers of a twin advance from Algeria and Libya. Rommel's victory against American forces at the ] could only hold off the inevitable.

	====Pacific Theatre====
	'''Central and South West Pacific'''
	] over the burning Japanese cruiser Mikuma during the ].]]
	{{main articles\|], ] and ]}}
	On ] 1942, Roosevelt signed ], leading to the ] for the duration of the war.

	In April, the ], the first U.S. air raid on Tokyo, boosted morale in the U.S. and caused Japan to shift resources to homeland defence, but did little actual damage.

	In early May, a Japanese naval invasion of ], ], was thwarted by Allied navies in the ]. This was both the first successful opposition to a Japanese attack and the first battle fought between aircraft carriers.

	A month later, on ], American carrier-based dive-bombers sank four of Japan's best aircraft carriers in the ]. Historians mark this battle as a turning point, the end of Japanese expansion in the Pacific. Cryptography played an important part in the battle, as the United States had ] and knew the Japanese plan of attack.

	In July a Japanese ] on Port Moresby was led along the rugged Kokoda Track. An outnumbered and untrained Australian battalion defeated the 5,000-strong Japanese force, the first land defeat of Japan in the war, and one of the most significant victories in ].
	]
	On ], United States Marines began the ]. For the next six months, US 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 Guadalcanal, an amphibious Japanese attack on the eastern tip of New Guinea was met by Australian forces in the ].

	'''Sino-Japanese War'''
	{{main article\|Battle of Changsha (1942)}}
	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 Changsha which the Japanese had failed to capture on two previous occasions. For the attack the Japanese massed 120,000 soldiers under 4 divisions. The Chinese responded with 300,000 men and soon the Japanese army was encircled and had to retreat.

	===1943: The war turns===
	====European Theatre====
	'''German and Soviet spring offensives'''
	]
	]s and ]s of the ] during the start of ''Operation Zitadelle'']]
	{{main articles\| ] and ]}}
	After the surrender of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad on ], ], the ] launched eight offensives during the winter, many concentrated along the ] near Stalingrad, which resulted in initial gains until German forces were able to take advantage of the weakened condition of the Red Army and regain the territory it lost.

	'''Operation Citadel'''
	{{main article\| Battle of Kursk}}
	On July 4, the Wehrmacht launched a much-delayed offensive against the Soviet Union at the ] salient. Their intentions were known by the Soviets who had hastened to defend the salient with an enormous system of earthwork defenses. Both sides massed their armor for what became a decisive military engagement. 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 got ground down as little progress was made through the Soviet defenses. The Soviets then brought up their reserves and the largest tank battle of the war occurred near the city of Prokhorovka. The Germans had exhausted their armored forces and could not stop the Soviet counter-offensive that threw them back across their starting positions.

	'''Soviet fall and winter offensives'''
	{{main articles\| ], ] and ]}}
	In August Hitler agreed to a general withdrawal to the Dnieper line and as September proceeded into October, the Germans found the Dnieper line impossible to hold as the Soviet bridgeheads grew, and 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.

	First Ukrainian Front attacked at Korosten on Christmas eve. The Soviet advance continued along the railway line until the 1939 Polish-Soviet border was reached.

	'''Italy'''
	]
	{{main article\|Italian Campaign}}
	The surrender of Axis forces in Tunisia on ], ] yielded some 250,000 prisoners. The North African war proved to be a disaster for Italy and when the Allies invaded ] on ] in ], capturing the island in a little over a month, it caused the regime of ] to collapse. On ] he was removed from office by the King of Italy, and arrested with the positive consent of the Great Fascist Council. A new government, led by ], took power but declared that Italy would stay in the war. Badoglio actually had begun secret peace negotiations with the Allies.

	The Allies ] on ], ]. Italy surrendered to the Allies on ], as had been agreed in negotiations. The royal family and Badoglio government escaped to the south, leaving the Italian army without orders, while the Germans took over the fight, forcing the Allies to a complete halt in the winter of 1943-44 at the ] south of ].

	In the north the Nazis let Mussolini create what was effectively a ], the ] or "Republic of Salò", named after the new capital of ] on ] .

	Mid-1943 brought the fifth and final German ] against the Yugoslav ].

	====Pacific Theatre====
	'''Central and South West Pacific'''
	] leading ], ], ] and ] into ], ], January 1945.]]
	], called the Stalingrad of the East. Both China and Japan lost a combined total of 100,000 men in this battle.]]
	{{main articles\|] and ]}}
	On ] Buna, New Guinea was ]. This ended the threat to Port Moresby. By ], ], the Allied forces had achieved their objective of isolating Japanese forces in eastern New Guinea and cutting off their main line of supply.

	American authorities declared Guadalcanal secure on February 9. Australian and U.S. forces undertook the prolonged campaign to retake the occupied parts of the ], New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, experiencing some of the toughest resistance of the war. The rest of the Solomon Islands were retaken in 1943.

	In November U.S. Marines won the ]. This was the first heavily opposed amphibious assault in the Pacific theater. 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.

	'''Sino-Japanese War'''
	{{main article\|Battle of Changde}}
	A vigorous, fluctuating battle for Changde in China's Hunan province began on ], ]. The Japanese threw over 100,000 men into the attack on the city, which changed hands several times in a few days but ended up still held by the Chinese. Overall, the Chinese ground forces were compelled to fight a war of defense and attrition while they built up their armies and awaited an Allied counteroffensive.

	'''South East Asia'''
	{{main article\|Burma Campaign}}
	The Nationalist ] Army, under ], and the ] Chinese Army, under ], both opposed the Japanese occupation of China but never truly allied against the Japanese. Conflict between Nationalist and Communist forces emerged long before the war; it continued after and, to an extent, even during the war, though more implicitly. The Japanese and its auxiliary ] had captured most of ], severing the ] by which the Western Allies had been supplying the Chinese Nationalists. This forced the Allies to create a large sustained airlift, known as "flying ]". ] Chinese divisions, a British division and a few thousand U.S. ground troops cleared the Japanese forces from northern Burma so that the ] could be built to replace the Burma Road.

	===1944: The beginning of the end===
	====European Theatre====
	'''Soviet winter and spring offensives'''
	]
	] Gunners during the ]]]
	{{main articles\| ], ], ], ] and ]}}
	In the north, a Soviet offensive in January 1944 had relieved the ]. The Germans conducted an orderly retreat from the Leningrad area to a shorter line based on the lakes to the south.

	In the south, in March, two Soviet fronts encircled ''Generaloberst'' ]'s ] north of the ] river. The Germans escaped the pocket in April saving most of their men but losing their heavy equipment.

	In early May, the Red Army's 3rd Ukrainian Front engaged German Seventeenth Army of Army Group South which had been left behind after the German retreat from the Ukraine. The battle was a complete victory for the Red Army, and a botched evacuation effort across the Black Sea led to over 250,000 German and Romanian casualties.

	During April 1944, a series of attacks by the Red Army near the city of Iaşi, Romania was aiming at capturing the strategically important sector. The German-Romanian forces successfully defended the sector throughout the month of April. The attack aiming at Târgul Frumos was the final attempt by the Red Army to achieve its goal of having a spring-board into Romania for a summer offensive.

	With Soviet forces approaching, German troops occupied Hungary on ] as Hitler thought that the Hungarian leader, Admiral ], might no longer be a reliable ally.

	Finland sought a separate peace with Stalin in February 1944, but the terms offered were unacceptable. On ], the Soviet Union began the ] on the ] that after three months would force Finland to accept an armistice.

	'''Soviet summer offensive'''
	{{main article\| Operation Bagration}}
	] soldiers defending a barricade during the ].]]
	Operation Bagration, a Soviet offensive involving 2.5 million men and 6,000 tanks, was launched on ] and was intended to clear German troops from Belarus. 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 ].

	'''Soviet fall and winter offensives'''
	{{main articles\| ], ], ], ], ] and ]}}
	After the destruction of Army Group Center, the Soviets attacked German forces in the South in mid-July 1944 and in a month's time cleared the Ukraine of German presence.

	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 battle was complete victory for the Red Army, and a switch of Romania from the Axis to the Allied camp.

	In October 1944 General der Artillerie Maximilian Fretter-Pico's Sixth Army encircled and destroyed three corps of Marshal Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky's Group Pliyev near Debrecen, Hungary. This was to be the last German victory in the Eastern front.

	The Red Army's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Baltic Fronts engaged German Army Group Centre and Army Group North to capture the Baltic region from the Germans. The result of the series of battles was a permanent loss of contact between Army Groups North and Centre, and the creation of the Courland Pocket in Latvia.

	From ], 1944 to , 1945, Soviet forces laid siege to Budapest which was defended by German Waffen-SS and Hungarian forces. It was one of the bloodiest sieges of the war.

	'''Warsaw Uprising'''
	] on ], 6 June 1944.]]
	{{main article\|Warsaw Uprising}}
	The proximity of the Red Army led the Poles in Warsaw to believe they would soon be liberated. On ] they rose in revolt as part of the wider ]. Nearly 40,000 Polish resistance fighters seized control of the city. The Soviets however stopped outside the city and gave the Poles no assistance, 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.

	'''Allied invasion of Western Europe'''

	{{main articles\| ] and ]}}
	{{ref\|war5}}On "]" (], ]) the western Allies of mainly ], ] and ] ]. German resistance was stubborn and during the first month, the Allies measured progress in hundreds of yards and bloody rifle fights in the '']''. An Allied breakout was effected at ], and German forces were almost completely destroyed in the ] while counter-attacking. Allied forces stationed in Italy ] the ] on ] and linked up with forces from Normandy. The clandestine ] in ] rose against the Germans on ], and a French division under ], pressing forward from Normandy, received the surrender of the German forces there and liberated the city on ].

	'''Operation Market Garden'''
	] during ].]]
	]
	{{main article\| Operation Market Garden}}
	Allied paratroopers attempted a fast advance into the Netherlands with ] in September but were repulsed. Logistical problems were starting to plague the Allies' advance west as the supply lines still ran back to the beaches of Normandy. A decisive victory by the ] in the ] secured the entrance to the port of ], freeing it to receive supplies by late November 1944.

	'''German winter offensive'''
	{{main article\| Battle of the Bulge}}
	In December 1944, the German Army made its last major offensive in the West, known as the ]. Hitler sought to drive a wedge between the western Allies, causing them to agree to a favourable armistice, after which Germany could concentrate all her efforts on the Eastern front and have a chance to defeat the Soviets. The mission was doomed to failure, since the Allies had no intention of granting an armistice under any conditions. At first, the Germans scored successes against the unprepared Allied forces. Poor weather during the initial days of the offensive favoured the Germans because it grounded Allied aircraft. However, with clearing skies allowing Allied air supremacy to resume, the German failure to capture ], and with the arrival of the ], the Germans were forced to retreat back into Germany. The offensive was defeated but was the bloodiest battle in U.S. military history.

	'''Italy and the Balkans'''
	{{main article\| Operation Shingle}}
	During the winter the Allies tried to force the Gustav line on the southern Apennines of Italy but they could not break enemy lines until the landing of ] on ], ], on the southern coast of ], named ]. Only after some months the Gustav line was broken and the Allies marched towards the north of the peninsula. On ] ] fell to Allies, and the Allied army reached ] in August, then stopped along the ] on the Tuscan Apennines during the winter.

	Germany withdrew from the ] and held ] until February 1945.

	] turned against Germany in August 1944 and ] surrendered in September.

	====Pacific Theatre====
	'''Central and South West Pacific'''
	] on fire, east of ], ], ] after being hit by a Japanese Kamikaze attack.]]
	{{main articles\| ], ] and ]}}
	The American advance continued in the southwest Pacific with the capture of the ] before the end of February. 42,000 U.S. Army soldiers and Marines landed on Kwajalein atoll on January 31. ] occurred and the island was taken on ]. U.S. Marines next defeated the Japanese in the ].

	The main objective was the Marianas, especially ] and to a lessor extent, ]. The Japanese in both places were strongly entrenched. On ] Saipan was bombarded from the sea and a landing made four days later; it was captured by ]. The Japanese committed much of their declining naval strength in the ] but suffered severe losses in both ships and aircraft and 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 July 21 and taken on August 10, but Japanese fought fanatically and mopping up operations continued long after the ] was officially over. The island of ] was invaded on ] and saw the first usage of napalm. The island fell on ].
	]
	General MacArthur's troops invaded the Philippines, landing on the island of ] on ]. The Japanese had prepared a rigorous defense and then used the last of their naval forces in an attempt to destroy the invasion force in the ], ] through ], ], arguably the largest naval battle in history. The battle saw the first use of ] attacks.

	Throughout 1944 American submarines and aircraft attacked Japanese merchant shipping, depriving Japan's industry of the raw materials it had gone to war to obtain. The effectiveness of this stranglehold increased as U.S. Marines captured islands closer to the Japanese mainland. In 1944 submarines sank three million tons of shipping while the Japanese were only able to replace less than one million tons.

	'''Sino-Japanese War'''
	]
	{{main articles\| ], ] and ]}}
	In April 1944, the Japanese launched Operation Ichigo whose aim was to secure the railway route across Japanese occupied territories of North East China and Korea and those in South East Asia and to destroy airbases in the area which serviced USAAF aircraft. In June 1944 the Japanese deployed 360,000 troops to invade Changsha for the fourth time. The Operation involved more Japanese troops than any other campaign in the Sino-Japanese war and after 47 days of bitter fighting, the city was taken but at a very high cost. By November, the Japanese had taken the cities of Guilin and Liuzhou which served as USAAF airbases from which it conducted bombing raids on Japan. However, despite having destroyed the airbases in this region, the USAAF could still strike at the Japanese main islands from newly acquired bases in the Pacific. By December, the Japanese forces reached French Indochina and achieved the purpose of the operation but only after incurring heavy losses.

	'''South East Asia'''
	{{main articles\| ] and ]}}
	In March 1944, the Japanese began their "march to Delhi" by crossing the border from Burma into India. On ], they attacked the town of Imphal which involved some of the most ferocious fighting of the war. The Japanese soon ran out of supplies and withdrew resulting in a loss of 85,000 men, one of the largest Japanese defeats of the war. The Anglo-Indian forces were constantly re-supplied by the RAF.

	===1945: The end of the war===
	====European Theatre====
	'''Soviet winter offensive'''
	]
	{{main articles\| ] and ]}}
	On January 12 the Red Army was ready for its next big offensive. Konev's armies attacked the Germans in southern Poland, expanding out from their Vistula River bridgehead near Sandomierz. January 14, Rokossovsky's armies attacked from the Narew River north of Warsaw. They broke the defenses covering East Prussia. Zhukov's armies in the centre attacked from their bridgeheads near Warsaw. The German front was now in shambles.

	On ] the Zhukov took Warsaw. On ] his tanks took Lódz. That same day Konev's forces reached the German pre-war border. At the end of the first week of the offensive the Soviets had penetrated 100 miles deep on a front that was 400 miles wide. By ] the Soviets took Budapest. The Soviet onslaught finally halted at the end of January only 40 miles from Berlin, on the Oder river.

	'''Yalta Conference'''
	]
	{{main article\|Yalta Conference}}
	Meanwhile, ], ], and ] made arrangements for post-war Europe at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. Their meeting resulted in many important resolutions:
	*An April meeting would be held to form the ];
	*Poland would have free ]s (though in fact they were heavily rigged by Soviets);
	*Soviet nationals were to be ];
	*The Soviet Union was to attack Japan within three months of Germany's surrender.

	'''Soviet spring offensive'''
	{{main articles\|], ] and ]}}
	The Red Army (including 78,556 soldiers of the ]) began its ] on ]. By now, the German Army was in full retreat and Berlin had already been battered due to preliminary air bombings.

	By ] the three Soviet army groups had completed the encirclement of the city. Hitler had sent the main German forces which were suppose to defend the city to the south as he believed that was the region where the Soviets would launch their spring offensive and not in Berlin. As a final resistance effort, Hitler called for civilians, including teenagers, to fight the oncoming Red Army in the '']'' militia. Those forces were augmented by the battered German remnants that had fought the Soviets in Seelow Heights. But even then the fighting was heavy, with house-to-house and hand-to-hand combat. The Soviets sustained 305,000 dead; the Germans sustained as many as 325,000, including civilians. Hitler and his staff moved into the ], a concrete bunker beneath the Chancellery, where on ], ], ], along with his bride, ].

	'''Western Europe'''
	]
	{{main article\| Western Front (World War II)}}
	The Allies resumed their advance into Germany once the Battle of the Bulge officially ended on January 27, 1945. The final obstacle to the Allies was the river Rhine which was crossed in late March 1945.

	Once the Allies had crossed the Rhine, the British fanned out northeast towards Hamburg crossing the river Elbe and on towards Denmark and the Baltic. The U.S. Ninth Army went south as the northern pincer of the Ruhr encirclement and the U.S. First Army went north as the southern pincer of the Ruhr encirclement. On ] the encirclement was completed and the German Army Group B commanded by Field Marshal Walther Model was trapped in the Ruhr Pocket and 300,000 soldiers became POWs. The Ninth and First U.S. armies then turned east and then halted their advanace at the Elbe river where they met up with the Soviet forces in mid-April and letting them take Berlin.

	'''Italy'''

	Allied advances in the winter of 1944-45 up the Italian peninsula had been slow due the troop re-deployments to France. But by ], the ] which was composed of the ] and the ] broke through the ] and attacked the ] gradually enclosing the main German forces. ] was taken by the end of April and the US 5th Army continued to move west and linked up with French units while the British 8th Army advanced towards ] and made contact with the Yugoslav partisans.

	A few days before the surrender of German troops in Italy, Italian partisans intercepted a party of Fascists trying to make their escape to Switzerland. Hiding underneath a pile of coats was Mussolini. The whole party, including Mussolini's mistress, ], were summarily shot on ], ]. Their bodies were taken to Milan and hung up on public display, upside down.

	'''Germany Surrenders'''
	]
	{{main article\|End of World War II in Europe}}
	Admiral ] became leader of the German government after the death of Hitler, but the German war effort quickly disintegrated. German forces in Berlin surrendered the city to the Soviet troops on ], ].

	The German forces in Italy surrendered on ], ] at General Alexander's headquarters and German forces in northern Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands surrendered on ]; and the German High Command under Generaloberst ] surrendered unconditionally all remaining German forces on ] in ]. The western Allies celebrated "]" on ].

	The Soviet Union celebrated "]" on ]. Some remnants of German Army Group Center continued resistance until May 11 or 12 (See ]).

	'''Potsdam'''

	The last Allied conference of World War II was held at the suburb of Potsdam, outside Berlin, from ] to ]. The ] saw agreements reached between the Allies on policies for occupied Germany. An ultimatum was issued calling for the unconditional surrender of Japan.

	====Pacific Theatre====
	'''Central and South West Pacific'''
	{{main articles\|], ] and ]}}
	]. <br /><!--Do not mess with this copyright!--><small>(©]/])</small>]]
	In January the U.S. Sixth Army landed on Luzon, the main island of the Philippines. Manila was re-captured by March. U.S. capture of islands such as ] in February and ] (April through June) brought the Japanese homeland within easier range of naval and air attack. Amongst dozens of other cities, ], and about 90,000 people died from the initial attack. The dense living conditions 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 island nation.

	The last major offensive in the ] was the ] of mid-1945, which was aimed at further isolating the remaining Japanese forces in South East Asia and securing the release of Allied prisoners of war.

	'''South East Asia'''
	{{main article\|Operation Dracula}}
	In ], from August 1944 to November 1944, 14th Army pursued the Japanese in Burma after their failed attack on India. The British Commonwealth forces launched a series of offensive operations back into Burma during late 1944 and the first half of 1945. On ], ], ], the capital city of Myanmar (Burma) was taken in ]. The planned amphibious assault on the western side of Malaya was cancelled after the dropping of the atomic bombs and Japanese forces in South-East Asia surrendered soon afterwards.

	'''Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki'''
	] ] resulting from the ] over ] rises 18 km (60,000 ft) into the air from the ].]]
	{{main article\|Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki}}

	The U.S. military and political chiefs had decided to use their new super-weapon to bring the war to a speedy end. The battle for Okinawa had shown that an invasion of the Japanese mainland (planned for November), seen as an Okinawa type operation on a far larger scale, would result in more casualties than the United States had suffered so far in all theatres since the war began.

	On ], ], the ] "'']''", piloted by Col. ], dropped a ] named "]" on ], destroying the city. After the destruction of Hiroshima, the United States again called upon Japan to surrender. No response was made, and accordingly on ], the B-29 "]", piloted by Maj. ], dropped a second atomic bomb named "]" on ].

	'''Soviet invasion of Manchuria'''
	{{main article\|Operation August Storm}}
	On ], two days after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the Soviet Union, having renounced its nonaggression pact with Japan, 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 Soviets. The Red Army moved into North Korea on ]. Korea was subsequently divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet and U.S. zones.

	'''Japan Surrenders'''
	]]
	{{main article\|Victory over Japan Day}}
	The American use of atomic weapons against Japan prompted ] to bypass the existing government and intervene to end the war. The entry of the Soviet Union to the war may have also played a part, but in his radio address to the nation Emperor Hirohito did not mention it as a major reason for his country's surrender.

	The ] on ], ] (]), signing the ] on ], ], aboard the ] anchored in ]. The Japanese troops in China formally surrendered to the Chinese on ], ]. This did not fully end the war, however, as Japan and the Soviet Union never signed a peace agreement. In the last days of the war, the Soviet Union occupied the southern ], an area claimed by the Soviets and still contested by Japan (see ]).

	==Aftermath==
	] (in the French zone) shown with stripes as it was not removed from Germany until 1947]]
	'''Europe in ruins'''
	{{main\|Effects of World War II}}

	At the end of the war, millions of refugees were homeless, the European economy had collapsed, and 70% of the European industrial infrastructure was destroyed.

	'''Partitioning of Germany and Austria'''
	{{main article\| Allied Occupation Zones in Germany}}
	Germany was partitioned into four zones of occupation. An ] was created to co-ordinate the zones. The original divide of Germany was between America, Soviet Union and Britian. Stalin agreed to give France a zone but it had to come from the American or British zones and not the Soviet zone. The American, British, and French zones joined in 1949 as the ] and the Soviet zone became the ].

	] was once again separated from Germany and it, too, was divided into four zones of occupation, which eventually reunited and became the Republic of Austria.

	'''Reparations'''
	{{main article\| Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union}}
	Germany paid reparations to France, Britain and Russia, in the form of dismantled factories, forced labour, and shipments of coal. The U.S. settled for confiscating German patents and German owned property in the U.S., mainly subsidiaries of German companies.

	In accordance with the ], payment of war reparations was assessed from the countries of Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland.

	'''Morgenthau Plan'''
	{{main article\| Morgenthau Plan}}
	The initial occupation plans proposed by the United States were harsh. The Morgenthau Plan of 1944 called for dividing Germany into two independent nations and stripping her of the industrial resources required for war. All heavy industry was to be dismantled or destroyed, the main industrial areas (Upper ], ], ], and the German speaking parts of ]), were to be annexed.

	While the Morgenthau Plan itself was never implemented per se, its general economic philosophy did end up greatly influencing events. Most notable were the toned-down offshoots, including the ], ] (April 1945 - July 1947), and the industrial plans for Germany.

	'''Marshall Plan'''
	{{main article\| Marshall Plan}}
	Germany had long been the industrial giant of Europe, and its poverty held back the general European recovery. The continued scarcity in Germany also led to considerable expenses for the occupying powers, which were obligated to try and make up the most important shortfalls.

	In view of the continued poverty and famine in Europe, and with the onset of the Cold War, a change of policy was required. The most notable example of this change was a plan established by U.S. Secretary of State ], the "European Recovery Program", better known as the Marshall Plan, which called for the U.S. Congress to allocate billions of dollars for the reconstruction of Europe. Also as part of the effort to rebuild global capitalism and spur post-war reconstruction, the ] was put into effect after the war.

	]
	'''Border revisions and population shifts'''
	:''Main article: ]''
	As a result of the new borders drawn by the victorious nations, large populations suddenly found themselves in hostile territory.
	The main benefactor of these border revisions was the Soviet Union, which expanded its borders at the expense of Germany, Finland, Poland and Japan. Poland was compensated for its losses to the Soviet Union by receiving most of Germany east of the ], including the industrial regions of ]. The German state of the ] was ] of France but it later returned to German administration.

	The number of Germans expelled totaled roughly 15 million, including 11 million from Germany proper and 3,500,000 from the ].

	Germany officially states that 2,100,000 of these expelled lost their lives due to violence on the part of the Russians, Polish and Czech, though Polish and Czech historians dispute this figure.

	'''The Cold War begins'''
	{{main\|Cold War}}
	], a symbol of the ].]]

	The end of World War II marked the end of the ]'s position as a global ] and the emergence of the ] and the ] as the dominant powers in the world. Friction had been building up between the two before the end of the war and after the collapse of Nazi Germany, relations spiralled downward.

	In the areas occupied by Western Allied troops, pre-war governments were re-established or new democratic governments were created; in the areas occupied by Soviet troops, including the territories of former Allies such as Poland, ]s were created. These became ] of the Soviet Union.

	As the relationship between the victors deteriorated, the military lines of demarcation became the de facto country boundaries. ] ] along the ] by the Soviets and Americans. In 1950, communist ], backed by the Soviets, invaded U.S.-supported ] and the ] broke out.

	'''United Nations'''
	], located in ]. The United Nations was founded as a direct result of World War II.]]
	{{main\|United Nations}}
	Because the ] had failed to actively prevent the war, in 1945 a new international body was considered and then created, the ].

	The UN operates within the parameters of the ], and the reason for the UN’s formation is outlined in the ]. Unlike its predecessor, the United Nations has taken a more active role in the world, such as fighting diseases and providing humanitarian aid to nations in distress. The UN also served as the diplomatic front line during the Cold War.

	The UN also was responsible for the initial creation of the modern state of ] in 1948, in part as a response to the Holocaust.

	==Casualties, civilian impact, and atrocities==
	'''Casualties'''
	] of the ]. At least 641,000 Soviet citizens died during the 900 day siege.]]
	{{main\|World War II casualties}}

	Possibly 62 million people lost their lives in World War II—about 25 million soldiers and 37 million civilians, with estimates varying widely. This total includes the estimated 12 million lives lost due to ]. Of the total deaths in World War II approximately 80% were on the Allied side and 20% on the Axis side.

	Allied forces suffered approximately 17 million military deaths, of which about 10 million were Soviet and 4 million Chinese. Axis forces suffered about 8 million, of which more than 5 million were German. The Soviet Union suffered by far the largest death toll of any nation in the war; perhaps 23 million Soviets died in total, of which more than 12 million were civilians. The figures include deaths due to internal Soviet actions against its own people. The statistics available for Soviet and Chinese casualties are only rough guesses, as they are poorly documented. Some modern estimates double the amount of Chinese casualties.

	'''Genocide'''
	] routes to ] during ].]]
	{{main\|The Holocaust}}

	The ''Holocaust'' was the organized murder of at least nine million people, about two-thirds of whom were Jewish. Originally, the Nazis used killing squads, '']'', to conduct massive open-air killings, shooting as many as 33,000 people in a single massacre, as in the case of ]. By 1942, the Nazi leadership decided to implement the ] (''Endlösung''), the genocide of all Jews in Europe, and increase the pace of the Holocaust. The Nazis built six ] specifically to kill Jews. Millions of Jews who had been confined to massively overcrowded ]s were transported to these ] where they were gassed or shot, usually immediately after arriving.

	'''Concentration camps, labour camps and internment'''
	] ], ].]]
	{{main articles\|], ], and ]}}

	In addition to the Nazi ]s, the Soviet ], or ]s, led to the death of many citizens of occupied countries such as Poland, ], ], and ], as well as German ] and even Soviet citizens themselves: opponents of Stalin's regime and large proportions of some ethnic groups (particularly ]). Japanese ] also had high death rates; many were used as labour camps, and starvation conditions among the mainly U.S. and Commonwealth prisoners were little better than many German concentration camps. Sixty percent (1,238,000 ref. Krivosheev) of Soviet POWs died during the war. Vadim Erlikman puts it at 2.6 million Soviet ]s that died in German Captivity.{{ref\|war8}}

	Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of ] by the U.S. and Canadian governments. Though these camps did not involve heavy labour, forced isolation and sub-standard living conditions were the norm.

	'''War crimes and attacks on civilians'''
	{{main articles\|], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]}}

	From 1945 to 1951 German and Japanese officials and personnel were prosecuted for war crimes. Top German officials were tried at the ] and many Japanese officials at the ] and ].

	None of the alleged allied war crimes such as the ], the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the alleged ] on the Eastern front were ever prosecuted.

	==Resistance and collaboration==
	{{main articles\|] and ]}}
	] in front of the Eindhoven cathedral during ] in September 1944.]]
	Resistance during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation, and propaganda to outright warfare.

	Among the most notable resistance movements were the ], the ] and the ]. The ] resistance was among the fiercest since they were already organised and militant even before the war and they were ideologically opposed to the Nazis.

	Before ] there were also many operations performed by the ] to help with the forthcoming invasion. Communications lines were cut, trains derailed, roads, water towers and ammunition depots were destroyed and some German ]s were attacked.

	Many countries had resistance movements dedicated to fighting the Axis invaders, and Germany itself also had an anti-Nazi movement. Although Great Britain did not suffer invasion in World War II, the British made preparations for a British resistance movement, called the ]. Various organisations were also formed to establish foreign resistance cells or support existing resistance movements, like the British SOE and the American OSS (the forerunner of the CIA).

	==The home fronts==
	{{main\|Home Front during World War II}}

	]

	"]" is the name given to the activities of the ]s of a nation that is in a state of total war.

	In the United Kingdom, women joined the work force doing jobs that the men did. Food, clothing, petrol, and other items were ]. Access to luxuries was severely restricted, though there was also a significant ]. Families grew ] to supply themselves with food, and the ] recruited or conscripted over 80,000 women to work on farms. Civilians also served as ], volunteer emergency services and other critical functions. ]s and organisations held scrap drives and money collections to help the war effort. Many things were conserved to turn into weapons later, such as fat to turn into ].

	In the United States and Canada women also joined the workforce. In the United States these women were called "Rosies" for ]. President Roosevelt stated that the efforts of civilians at home to support the war through personal sacrifice were as critical to winning the war as the efforts of the soldiers themselves. In Canada, the government established three military compartments for women: the CWAAF (Canadian Women's Auxiliary Air Force), CWAC (Canadian Women's Army Corps) and WRCNS (Women's Royal Canadian Naval Services).

	In Germany, until 1943 there were few restrictions on civilian activities. Most goods were freely available. This was due in large part to the reduced access to certain luxuries already experienced by German civilians prior to the beginning of hostilities; the war made some less available, but many were in short supply to begin with. It was not until comparatively late in the war that the civilian population was effectively organised to support the war effort. For example, women's labour was not mobilised as thoroughly as in the United Kingdom or the United States. Foreign slave labour substituted for the men who served in the armed forces.

	American production was the major factor in keeping the Allies better supplied than the Axis. For example, in 1943 the United States produced 369 warships (1.01/day). In comparison, Japan produced 122 warships, and Germany only built three. The United States also succeeded in rebuilding the Merchant Marine, reducing the build time of a Liberty or Victory ship from 105 days to 56 days. Much of this improved efficiency came from technological advances in shipbuilding. Hull plates were being welded rather than bolted, plastics were beginning to take the place of certain metals, and modular construction was being used.

	==Technologies==
	] for encryption.]]
	{{main articles\|] and ]}}
	Weapons and technology improved rapidly during World War II and played a crucial role in determining the outcome of the war. Many major technologies were used for the first time, including ]s, ], ]s, and electronic ]s. Enormous advances were made in ], and ] design such that models coming into use at the beginning of the war were long obsolete by its end.

	More new inventions, as measured in the U.S. by numbers of patent applications and weapon contracts issued to private contractors, were deployed to the task of killing humans more effectively and to a lesser degree, avoiding being killed, than ever before.

	The massive research and development demands of the war had a great impact on the growth of the scientific community. After the war ended, these developments led to new sciences like ] and computer science, and created entire new ].

	{{see also\|Military production during World War II\|List of World War II military equipment}}
	{{-}}

	==See also==
	{{World War II}}
	==References==
	<div style="font-size: 90%;">
	*{{note\|war8}} ] (1948–1953), ''The Second World War'', 6 vols.
	*{{cite book
	\| author = {{note\|war}}]
	\| year = 1995
	\| title = Second World War
	\| publisher = Phoenix
	\| id = ISBN 1857993462
	}}
	*{{cite book
	\| author = {{note\|war2}}]
	\| year = 1989
	\| title = The Second World War
	\| publisher = Hutchinson
	\| id = ISBN 0091740118
	}}
	*{{cite book
	\| author = {{note\|war3}}]
	\| year = 1970
	\| title = History of the Second World War
	\| publisher = Cassell
	\| location = London
	\| id = ISBN 0304935646
	}}
	*{{cite book
	\| author = {{note\|war4}}Murray, Williamson and Millett, Allan R.
	\| Year = 2000
	\| title = A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War
	\| publisher = ]
	\| id = ISBN 067400163X
	}}
	*{{cite book
	\| author = {{note\|war5}}]
	\| year = 1995
	\| title = Why the Allies Won
	\| publisher = Pimlico
	\| id = ISBN 0712674535
	}}
	*{{note\|war6}} Shirer, William L. (1959). ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Simon & Schuster.'' ISBN 0671624202.
	* Smith, J. Douglas and Richard Jensen. ''World War II on the Web: A Guide to the Very Best Sites'' (2002)
	*{{cite book
	\| author = {{note\|war7}}Weinberg, Gerhard L.
	\| year = 1994
	\| title = A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II
	\| publisher = ]
	\| id = ISBN 0521443172
	}}
	*{{cite book
	\| author = {{note\|war8}}Erlikman, Vadim
	\| year = 2004
	\| title = Poteri narodonaseleniia v XX veke : spravochnik
	\| publisher =
	\| id = ISBN 5931651071
	}}
	</div>

	==External links==
	<div style="font-size: 90%;">
	;General
	*
	*
	* created by one of Germany's public broadcasters on World War II and the world 60 years after.
	*
	*
	*
	*
	* <!-- NOTE TO WIKI EDITORS: I did ask to add this link via the talk page, and received permission. -->

	;Media
	*
	*
	* - Presentation that covers the war from the invasion of Russia to the fall of Berlin
	*
	* - pictures & info
	*
	*
	*

	;Stories
	* - A project by the ] to gather the stories of ordinary people from World War II
	* - from an online issue from www.cafebabel.com
	* - A project by London Metropolitan University, TUC and the National Pensioners Convention to document the history of workers during World War II
	* Experiences as a German soldier on the Eastern and Western Front
	*http://www.stvincent.edu/napp17 They Say There Was A War. Oral Histories. European Pacific Theatre. Saint Vincent College Center for Northern Appalachian Studies. Richard Wissolik.
	*http://www.stvincent.edu/napp14 The Long Road From Oran to Pilsen. Oral Histories. European Theatre. Saint Vincent College Center for Northern Appalachian Studies. David Wilmes. Richard Wissolik.
	*

	;Specific
	* — History and uniforms in color (WAAC/WAC, WAVES, ANC, NNC, USMCWR, PHS, SPARS, ARC and WASP)
	*.
	*
	* Services, information, resources, and image gallery for veterans of the United States Armed Forces.
	* of ].
	*
	* - Extremely detailed daily action reports from the German side
	* - An indepth examination of one of ]'s greatest WWII contributions: ].

	;Documentaries
	* '']'' (1974) is a 36-part BBC series that covers most aspects of World War II from many points of view. It includes interviews with many key figures (], ], ] etc.) ()
	* ''The Second World War in Colour'' (1999) is a three episode documentary showing unique footage in color ()
	</div>

	]

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	{{Link FA\|vi}}
	{{Link FA\|zh}}

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Revision as of 16:56, 1 May 2006