Portal:World War II

The World War II Portal

Clockwise from top left: Commonwealth troops in the desert; Chinese civilians being buried alive by Japanese soldiers; Soviet forces during a winter offensive; Carrier-borne Japanese planes readying for take off; Soviet troops fighting in Berlin; A German submarine under attack.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global military conflict. It began as the joining of what had initially been two separate conflicts, with the first beginning in Asia in 1937 (the Second Sino-Japanese War) and the other beginning in Europe in 1939 (the German and Soviet invasion of Poland).

The war split the majority of the world's nations into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history, and placed the participants in a state of "total war", which erased the distinction between civil and military resources and resulted in the complete activation of a nation's economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities for the purposes of the war effort. Over 70 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.

The Allies won the war, and as a result, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as the world's leading superpowers. This set the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 45 years. The United Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The self-determination spawned by the war accelerated decolonization movements in Asia and Africa, while Europe itself began moving toward integration.

More about World War II...

Featured article -

Major General Pedro del Valle (second from left) is greeted by Colonel Chesty Puller on Pavuvu in late October 1944, while Major General Rupertus (far left) looks on

The participation of Puerto Ricans in World War II as members of the United States armed forces included guarding U.S. military installations in the Caribbean and active combat participation in both the European and Pacific theatres of the war. Puerto Ricans and people of Puerto Rican descent have participated as members of the U.S. armed forces in every conflict in which the United States has been involved since World War I.Puerto Ricans had obtained U.S. citizenship as a result of the 1917 Jones–Shafroth Act and were expected to serve in the military. When an Imperial Japanese Navy carrier fleet launched an unexpected attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Puerto Ricans were required to bear arms in defense of the United States. During World War II, more than 53,000 Puerto Ricans served in the U.S. military.Puerto Rican women who served had their options restricted to nursing or administrative positions. In World War II some of the island's men played active roles as commanders in the military. The military did not keep statistics in regard to the total number of Hispanics who served in the regular units of the Armed Forces only of those who served in Puerto Rican units; therefore, it is impossible to determine the exact number of Puerto Ricans who served in World War II

Selected equipment -

HMAS Melbourne in 1981, with USS Midway in line astern

The Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne (R21) was the lead ship of the Royal Navy's Majestic class of light aircraft carriers. Operating from 1955 until 1982, she was the third and final conventional aircraft carrier to serve in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Melbourne also served as the RAN flagship, and was the only British Commonwealth naval vessel to sink two friendly warships in peacetime. Her keel was laid down in April 1943, and she was launched as HMS Majestic (R77) in February 1945. At the end of World War II, work on the ship was suspended until she was purchased by the Royal Australian Navy in 1947. At the time of purchase, it was decided to incorporate new aircraft carrier technologies into the design, making Melbourne the third ship to be constructed with an angled flight deck. Delays in construction and integrating the enhancements meant that the carrier was not commissioned until 1955.Melbourne never fired a shot in anger during her career, having only peripheral, non-combat roles in the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation and the Vietnam War. However, she was involved in two major collisions with allied vessels. collising with and sinking HMAS Voyager on 10 February 1964, and USS Frank E. Evans on 3 June 1969.

Selected battle -

USS Minneapolis at Tulagi with torpedo damage a few hours after the battle on December 1, 1942

The Battle of Tassafaronga, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Battle of Savo Island or, in Japanese sources, as the Battle of Lunga Point (ルンガ沖夜戦), was a nighttime naval battle that took place November 30, 1942 between United States (US) Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy warships during the Guadalcanal campaign. The battle took place in Ironbottom Sound near the Tassafaronga area on Guadalcanal.In the battle, a US warship force of five cruisers and four destroyers under the command of Carleton H. Wright attempted to surprise and destroy a Japanese warship force of eight destroyers under the command of Raizo Tanaka. Tanaka's warships were attempting to deliver food supplies to Japanese forces on Guadalcanal.Using radar, the US warships opened fire and sank one of the Japanese destroyers. Tanaka and the rest of his ships, however, reacted quickly and launched numerous torpedoes at the US warships. The Japanese torpedoes hit and sank one US cruiser and heavily damaged three others, enabling the rest of Tanaka's force to escape without significant additional damage but also without completing the mission of delivering the food supplies.

General images

The following are images from various World War II-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 11919 Austrian postcard showing a Jew stabbing a German Army soldier in the back (from The Holocaust)
Image 2British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Hitler at a meeting in Germany on 24 September 1938, and Hitler demanded the immediate annexation of Czechoslovak border areas. (from Causes of World War II)
Image 3Shooting from behind became popular because killers did not have to look at their victims' faces and the dead were likely to fall into the grave. (from The Holocaust)
Image 4Territorial expansion of Germany from 1933 to 1941 (from The Holocaust)
Image 51935 poster of the puppet state of Manchukuo promoting harmony among peoples. The caption reads: "With the help of Japan, China, and Manchukuo, the world can be in peace." (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 6Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 which directly led to the Anglo-French declaration of war on Germany on 3 September. The Soviet Union joined Germany's invasion of Poland on 17 September. (from Causes of World War II)
Image 7Bodies of U.S. Marines on the beach of Tarawa. The Marines secured the island after 76 hours of intense fighting. Over 1,000 American and ~4600 Japanese troops died in the fighting. (from World War II casualties)
Image 8The Japanese march into Zhengyangmen, Beijing, after they captured the city in July 1937 (from Causes of World War II)
Image 9Cheering crowds greet the Nazis in Innsbruck (from Causes of World War II)
Image 10Hitler and Finnish commander-in-chief Field MarshalMannerheim (right) (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 11Deportation to Chełmno (from The Holocaust)
Image 12Italian Social Republic (RSI) as of 1943 in yellow and green. The green areas were German military operational zones under direct German administration. (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 13Shōwa Steel Works was a mainstay of the Economy of Manchukuo (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 14Jews are deported from Würzburg, Germany to the Lublin District of the General Governorate, 25 April 1942. (from The Holocaust)
Image 15The Warsaw Ghetto uprising became significant as a symbol of Jewish resistance against the Nazis. (from The Holocaust)
Image 16Chiang Kai-shek of China with Roosevelt and Churchill at the Cairo Conference in 1943. (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 17Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, 2016
Image 18The Polish Corridor and the Free City of Danzig (from Causes of World War II)
Image 19Attack on Pearl Harbor, December 1941 (from Causes of World War II)
Image 20Hitler in action (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 21UN vs Axis War Production, near equality of strength in 1942 (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 22Greek counteroffensive against Italian-controlled Albania, late 1940. (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 23At least 3,000 Jews were killed during the 1941 Lviv pogroms, mainly by local Ukrainians. (from The Holocaust)
Image 24Marshal Pétain, left, head of Vichy France, shaking hands with Hitler on October 24, 1940. (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 25Holocaust deaths as an approximate percentage of the 1939 Jewish population:
  90
  80
  70
  60
  50
  40
  30
  20
  Low
Image 26Italy and its colonial possessions in 1940 (from Causes of World War II)
Image 27Jews from Carpathian Ruthenia, annexed by Hungary in 1938, on the selection ramp at Auschwitz II in May or June 1944. Men are lined up to the right, women and children to the left. About 25 percent were selected for work and the rest gassed. (from The Holocaust)
Image 28Roosevelt and Churchill drafted the Atlantic Charter in August 1941. (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 29Adolf Hitler meeting Japanese ambassador to Germany Hiroshi Ōshima, 1942 (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 30Japanese troops entering Saigon (from Causes of World War II)
Image 31Cumulative murders of Jews from the General Governorate at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka from January 1942 to February 1943 (from The Holocaust)
Image 32Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill meeting at the Cairo Conference in 1943 (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 33Nazi leaders (from left) Karl Wolff and Heinrich Himmler meet with Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and his Foreign Minister Serrano Súñer in Madrid, October 1940. (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 34Atomic cloud over Hiroshima, 1945 (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 35Soviet soldiers killed during the Toropets–Kholm Offensive, January 1942. Officially, roughly 8.6 million Soviet soldiers died in the course of the war, including millions of POWs. (from World War II casualties)
Image 36Auschwitz SS guards enjoying themselves on vacation in Solahütte (from The Holocaust)
Image 37Gloster Gladiators of British RAF refuel in Iraq, 1941 (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 38Woman with Ostarbeiter badge at work at IG-Farbenwerke in Auschwitz (from The Holocaust)
Image 39Francisco Franco and Heinrich Himmler in Madrid, Spain, 1940 (from Causes of World War II)
Image 40Map of territorial changes in Europe after World War I (as of 1922) (from Causes of World War II)
Image 41View of the Pegnitz River (c. 1900) with the Grand Synagogue of Nuremberg, destroyed in 1938 during the November pogroms (from The Holocaust)
Image 42Public execution of Masha Bruskina, a Belarusian Jew who helped Soviet prisoners escape (from The Holocaust)
Image 43Japanese occupation of China in 1937 (from Causes of World War II)
Image 44The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in 1942. (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 45All territories taken from Czechoslovakia by its neighbours in October 1938 ("Munich Dictate") and March 1939 (from Causes of World War II)
Image 46View of the old synagogue in Aachen after its destruction during Kristallnacht (from The Holocaust)
Image 47Clement Attlee, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, c.28 July – 1 August 1945 (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 48The destroyer USS Shaw explodes during the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 (from Causes of World War II)
Image 49The major long-term goal of Roosevelt's foreign policy during the war was creating a United Nations to resolve all world problems (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 50Soviet POWs held by the Nazis in Mauthausen concentration camp. It is estimated that at least 3.3 million Soviet POWs died in German custody. (from World War II casualties)
Image 51Grave of German soldiers fallen during invasion of Poland in Końskie. Visible inscription "For Führer und Vaterland" (from Causes of World War II)
Image 52A body lying in the street of the Warsaw Ghetto in the General Governorate (from The Holocaust)
Image 53Danzigers rallying for Hitler, shortly after the free city's annexation into Germany (from The Holocaust)
Image 54Animation of the European Theatre (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 55Defendants in the dock at the International Military Tribunal, November 1945
Image 56Einsatzgruppen murder Jewish civilians outside Ivanhorod, Ukraine, 1942. Over 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators in the Holocaust. (from World War II casualties)
Image 57Polish military officers executed by the Soviet NKVD in the Katyn massacre, exhumation photo taken by the Polish Red Cross delegation in 1943 (from World War II casualties)
Image 58Jews of Mogilev, Belarus, forced to clean a street, July 1941 (from The Holocaust)
Image 59During the Battle of Westerplatte, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein attacks Westerplatte at the start of the war, September 1, 1939 (from Causes of World War II)
Image 60Original Nazi propaganda caption: "Too bad even for a bullet... The Jews shown here were shot at once." 28 June 1941 in Rozhanka, Belarus (from The Holocaust)
Image 61The prime ministers of five members of the Commonwealth of Nations at the 1944 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference. (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 62"The Big Four" made all the major decisions at the Paris Peace Conference (from left to right, David Lloyd George of Britain, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando of Italy, Georges Clemenceau of France, Woodrow Wilson of the U.S.) (from Causes of World War II)
Image 63Unpaved street in the Frysztak Ghetto, Krakow District (from The Holocaust)
Image 64A mass grave at Bergen-Belsen after the camp's liberation, April 1945 (from The Holocaust)
Image 65Roosevelt, İnönü of Turkey and Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference which was held between December 4–6, 1943. (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 66Germany after Versailles----
  Administered by the League of Nations
  Annexed or transferred to neighbouring countries by the treaty or later by plebiscites and League of Nation actions
  Weimar Germany
(from Causes of World War II)
Image 67Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov (left) meets with German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop at the signing of the German–Soviet non-aggression pact on 23 August 1939 (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 68Adolf Hitler in Bad Godesberg, Germany, 1938 (from Causes of World War II)
Image 69Prime Minister Churchill and General de Gaulle at Marrakesh, January 1944 (from Diplomatic history of World War II)
Image 70A bunker where Jews attempted to hide during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising (from The Holocaust)

Selected picture -

Polish cavalry

Polish cavalry in Sochaczew in 1939 during the Battle of the Bzura.

Selected biography -

Admiral of the Fleet Lord Andrew Cunningham

Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, KT, GCB, OM, DSO (7 January 1883 – 12 June 1963), older brother of General Sir Alan Cunningham, was a British admiral of the Second World War. Cunningham was born in Rathmines in the southside of Dublin on 7 January 1883. After starting his schooling in Dublin and Edinburgh, he enrolled at a naval academy, at the age of ten, beginning his association with the Royal Navy. After passing out of Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, in 1898, he progressed rapidly in rank. He commanded a destroyer during the First World War and through most of the interwar period. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and two Bars, for his performance during this time, specifically for his actions in the Dardanelles and in the Baltics. In the Second World War, as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, Cunningham led British naval forces to victory in several critical Mediterranean naval battles. These included the attack on Taranto in 1940, the first completely all-aircraft naval attack in history, and the Battle of Cape Matapan in 1941.

Did you know...? -

...that the World War II Italian submarine Cappellini was in all three major Axis navies, before being captured by the U.S. Navy?

...that the first German U-boat sunk by the United States Navy in World War II was U-656, sunk on 1 March 1942?

...that Target for Tonight was a 1941 documentary filmed, acted, and written by the Royal Air Force?

Selected quote -

"The people of England will curse themselves for having preferred ruin from Churchill to peace from Hitler."

— William Joyce, 2 August 1940

Topics

World War II

Theatres

Main events

Specific articles

Participants

Prelude
• Causes
• in Europe
• in Asia

Main theatres
• Europe
• Eastern Europe
• China
• Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa
• Asia and the Pacific
• Atlantic

General timeline
• Timeline

1939
• Invasion of Poland
• Winter War

1940
• Invasion of Denmark/Norway
• Battle of France
• Battle of Britain

1941
• Invasion of the Soviet Union
• Battle of Moscow
• Attack on Pearl Harbor

1942
• Battle of Midway
• Battle of Stalingrad
• Second Battle of El Alamein

1943
• Battle of Kursk
• Guadalcanal campaign
• Invasion of Italy

1944
• Battle of Normandy
• Operation Bagration
• Battle of Leyte Gulf
• Operation Market Garden
• Battle of the Bulge

1945
• Battle of Iwo Jima
• Battle of Okinawa
• Battle of Berlin
• End in Europe
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Surrender of Japan

• more...

• Blitzkrieg
• Cryptography
• Equipment
• Home Front
• Military engagements
• Production
• Resistance
• Technology

Civilian impact and atrocities
• Nanking Massacre
• The Holocaust
• Siege of Leningrad
• Bataan Death March
• Dutch famine of 1944
• Bengal famine of 1943
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Unit 731
• Strategic bombings
• Comfort women
• Allied war crimes
• German war crimes
• Japanese war crimes

Aftermath
• Effects
• Casualties
• Expulsion of Germans
• Denazification
• Cold War
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Decline of the British Empire

The Allies
• Australia
• Belgium
• Brazil
• British India
• Canada
• Czechoslovakia
• Egypt
• El Salvador
• France (after June 16, 1940: Free France)
• Greece
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Philippines
• Poland
• Republic of China
• South Africa
• Soviet Union
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Yugoslavia

more...

The Axis
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
• Slovakia
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Finland
• Vichy France
• Hungary
• Romania
• Thailand

more...

Related portals

Things you can do

From the World War II task force of the Military history WikiProject:

Attention needed: ...to referencing and citation • ...to coverage and accuracy • ...to structure • ...to grammar • ...to supporting materials
Popular pages: Full list
Cleanup needed: Battle of Kiev (1943) • Battle of Ko Chang • Colditz Castle • Spiritual national defence • Tuskegee Airmen
Requested articles: Battle of Uhtua-Kiestinki • Battles of Repola-Rukajärvi • Battle of Siiranmäki • Battle of Łuck • Battle of Równe • Battle of Włodzimierz Wołyński • Battle of Lubartów • Battle of Miedniki • Battle of Jodła • Francis Blanchain • Shinshou Draenger • Christer Lyst Hansen • Ove Kampman • League for Combat Policy • Julien Meline • Operation Mittelmeer • Operation Richard • Otto Program • Martin Poppel • Roehm's Avengers • Poul Bruun • Raoul Boulanger • Battle of West Ukraine (1941) • Battle of Zunyi • Liberation of Denmark (currently redirect) • Operation Vado (currently redirect) • Finnish 19th Division (Continuation War) • Finnish 11th Division (Continuation War) • Finnish Cavalry Brigade • 1st Jaeger Brigade • 2nd Jaeger Brigade • 168th Rifle Division (Soviet Union) • 71st Rifle Division (Soviet Union) • Group Oinonen • Operation Vesuvius (currently redirect) • Capture of Kassala (currently redirect) • Battle of Pankow • Brandenburg–Rathenow Offensive • Japanese internment of European civilians during World War II • Miranda de Ebro concentration camp • German occupation of the Netherlands (current redirect) • Soviet home front during World War II • Labour Charter (Vichy France) • Berles-Monchel and Aubigny-en-Artois massacres (1940) • Febvin-Palfart massacre (1940) • German massacres of French colonial prisoners of war • 1941 Nord-Pas de Calais miners' strike • Spitfire funds • Good War (historiography) • Nederlandsche Oost Compagnie • West African Pioneers • 2nd Marching Battalion of Ubangui-Shari • Bataillon du Pacifique • Persecution of freemasons in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe • Mohammed El Maadi • Luxembourgers in the Wehrmacht • Chantiers de la Jeunesse (Vichy France) • Netherlands East Indies Government in exile • Burma Government in exile (1942-1945) • Free Republic of Nias
Expansion needed: Princess Irene Brigade • Battle of Bay of Viipuri • Demilitarisation • Free Dutch Forces • Martha Desrumeaux • Mochitsura Hashimoto • Operation Cascade • Operation Tan No. 2 • Burma Area Army • Battle of Courland • Battle of Munda Point • Battle of Voronezh (1943) • Drive on Munda Point • First Battle of Kharkov • Race to Berlin • Marie Fourcade • Donald Blakeslee • Operation Nordwind • Battle of Skerki Bank • Michael Sinclair (soldier) • Battle of Maastricht • Battle of Zeeland • Landings on Rendova • New Georgia counterattack • Operation Waterfall • Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive • American-British-Dutch-Australian Command • Battle of Viru Harbor • Battle of Wickham Anchorage • Western New Guinea campaign (and the individual battles of the campaign) • Operation Blockbuster • Operation Cooney • The Holocaust in France • Knowledge of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe • Francoist Spain and the Holocaust • Japan campaign • Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign • Légion Français des Combattants • more
Images needed: Twelfth Army (United Kingdom) • 4th Airborne Division (United Kingdom) • 5th Airborne Division (United Kingdom) • XVI Corps (United Kingdom) • Battle of Dakar • Battle of the Lys (1940) • Battle of Zeeland • Battle of the Grebbeberg • Franco-Thai War • Battle of Ko Chang • Switzerland during the World Wars • Berthe Fraser • Western Allied invasion of Germany • LXXXIII Army Corps (Wehrmacht)
Merging needed: Add an article here!
Citations needed: Battle of Borneo (1941–42) • Battle of Imphal • Garderegiment Fuseliers Prinses Irene • Japanese invasion of French Indochina • Japanese invasion of Thailand • Luxembourg in World War II • New Georgia Campaign • Operation Cartwheel • Operation Chastise • Royal Netherlands Motorized Infantry Brigade • Solomon Islands campaign • Battle of Radom • Seishin Operation • Moravia–Ostrava Offensive • Panzerjäger
Translation needed: 5th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment • Novorossiysk-Taman Operation • 1943 Novorossiysk Operation • 1943 Air Battles over Kuban • Battle of Rostov (1943) • Battle of Olshansky • Nalchik-Ordzhonikidzevskaya Operation • Bukrinsky Landing • Cape Tarhan Landing • 1942 Sudak Landing • Mozdok-Malgobek Operation • Alexander Sergeyevich Ksenofontov • Henri de Vernejoul • André Bergeret • Battle of Nice • Liberation de Saint-Malo • Battle of Seuil Valley • René-Jean-Paul Cassagne • Cameroun's rallying to the Free French • Battle of Bouno-Misaki

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