World War II by country


Almost every country in the world participated in World War II. Most were neutral at the beginning, but relatively few nations remained neutral to the end. World War II pitted two alliances of nations against each other, the Allies and the Axis powers. It is estimated that 74 million people died, with estimates ranging from 40 million to 90 million deaths. The main Axis powers were Nazi Germany, the Empire of Japan, and the Kingdom of Italy; while the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union and China were the "Big Four" Allied powers.
The countries which were either involved in or affected by World War II are listed alphabetically, along with a description of the role which they played in the conflict.

Participants and non-participants during World War II

Full Neutral powers

Under Prime Minister Mohammad Hashim Khan, Afghanistan stayed neutral. Despite British pressure, Afghanistan maintained friendly relations with the Axis during the war, in the hopes that the Axis would help stop British influence in the region, which came from the British Raj and Mesopotamia. In 1940, the Afghanistan legation in Berlin asked whether Germany would cede land in British Raj to Afghanistan if it should win the war; specifically, the king and minister wanted to acquire all the ethnic Pashtun land between the Durand Line and the Indus River. Despite this stated goal, Afghanistan stayed out of the war, neither suffering an attack nor attacking any other country.
In 1941, Western press reported that Amanullah Khan, a former king who lost his throne in a civil war in the 1920s, was working as an agent for Nazi Germany in Berlin. It is believed he was involved in plans to regain his throne with Axis help. Following the Axis loss in Stalingrad in 1943, the plans cooled off and were never executed.

Albania

After the Italian invasion of Albania in April 1939, 100,000 Italian soldiers and 11,000 Italian colonists who wanted to integrate Albania into the Italian Empire settled in the country. Initially the Albanian Fascist Party received support from the population, mainly because of the unification of Kosovo and other Albanian-populated territories with Albania proper after the conquest of Yugoslavia and Greece by the Axis in Spring 1941. Benito Mussolini boasted in May 1941 to a group of Albanian fascists that he had achieved the Greater Albania long wanted by the Tirana nationalists. On June 22, 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa and on June 28 Albania also declared war on the USSR.
In October 1941, small Albanian Communist groups established an Albanian Communist Party in Tirana of 130 members under the leadership of Enver Hoxha. In mid-1942, however, party leaders increased their popularity by calling young people to fight for the liberation of their country from Italy. In September 1942, the party organized the Albanian National Anti-Fascist Front, from a number of resistance groups, including several that were strongly anti-communist. They assembled a National Liberation Army.
Germany occupied Albania in September 1943, dropping paratroopers into Tirana before the Albanian guerrillas could take the capital, and soon drove the guerrillas into the hills and to the south. Berlin subsequently announced it would recognize the independence of a neutral Albania and organized an Albanian government, police, and military. Many Balli Kombëtar units and leaders collaborated. The partisans entirely liberated Albania from German occupation on November 29, 1944. The Albanian partisans also helped in the liberation of Kosovo and parts of Yugoslavia.

Algeria

After the Fall of France, Algeria, along with France's other possessions in Africa, were under the control of Nazi Germany and Vichy France. Next, the British Empire launched a squadron of the Royal Navy to attack the port of Mers-El-Kébir, near Oran because it was full of French warships. On November 8, 1942, the Allies launched a major offensive codenamed Operation Torch. Afterwards, the Italians bombed Algiers. Then, the Allies attempted to capture the cities of Oran and Algiers by naval landing but the French troops and navy were in large quantity. So, they first took Morocco and then Algeria along the way, establishing the liberation of northern Africa.
During the War, large numbers of both Muslim and European Algerians served with the French Army. Algerian troops particularly distinguished themselves in the French Expeditionary Corps under General Juin during the Italian campaign of 1943 and in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France in 1944.

Andorra

Andorra remained politically neutral throughout the war but was used as a smuggling route by Axis Vichy French and Axis-aligned Spanish personnel.

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

The condominium of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was at war from the time of the United Kingdom's declaration in 1939. Fighting reached Sudan in 1940 when Italy entered the war. Sudan had a long border with Italian East Africa and therefore became the Northern Front in the East African campaign. Italian forces captured the railway junction at Kassala and other towns and raided as far north as Port Sudan. Units of the Sudan Defence Force were combined with the Indian 1st Horse to form Gazelle Force, which helped drive the Italian forces out of Sudanese territory in January 1941.
Another SDF battalion was part of Gideon Force, which invaded Ethiopia, while others took part in the invasion of Eritrea. The SDF took part in the Western Desert campaign along the northern Sudanese border with Libya, supplying the Free French and then the Long Range Desert Group stationed there.

Antarctica

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina

Before the start of World War II in 1939, Argentina had maintained a long tradition of neutrality regarding European wars, which had been upheld and defended by all major political parties since the 19th century. One of the main reasons for this policy was related to Argentina's economic position as one of the world's leading exporters of foodstuffs and agricultural products, to Europe in general and to the United Kingdom in particular. Thus, initially, even though the government of Argentina was sympathetic to the Allies and provided economic assistance to the United Kingdom, the country's political tradition of neutralism prevailed. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent American declaration of war upon Japan, American pressure for Argentine entry into the war begun to increase. Relations worsened further following a military coup in 1943, as the plotters were accused of holding Axis sympathies. Because of strong divisions and internal disputes between members of the Argentine military, the country would continue to remain neutral, even after American sanctions. However, Argentina eventually gave in to the Allies' pressure, broke relations with the Axis powers on January 26, 1944, and declared war on March 27, 1945. Over 4,000 Argentine volunteers fought on the Allied side. Beginning in the late stages of the war and continuing for some years after, the Ratlines were systems of escape routes for German Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe. Argentina, with the clandestine support and encouragement of Juan Perón and his government, was the principal destination of these escape routes and became a haven for thousands of people associated with the Hitler regime.

Australia

was among the first countries to announce it was at war with Germany, on 3 September 1939. The Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, considered that the British declaration legally bound Australia, and he announced a state of war between Australia and Germany as a direct consequence of the British declaration.
More than one million Australian men served in the war out of a total population of around seven million. Although it was ill-prepared for war, the Australian government soon dispatched squadrons and personnel to serve with the Royal Air Force. The Royal Australian Navy commenced operations against Italy in June 1940. Later that year the Australian Army entered the North Africa campaign and fought in Greece. German submarines and raiding ships operated in Australian waters throughout the war. After the outbreak of hostilities with Japan in late 1941, Japanese aircraft launched a bombing attack on Darwin in February, and smaller air raids on Australia, 1942–43.
For the remainder of the war, the Australian war effort was concentrated in south-east Asia and the South West Pacific Area: they were involved from January 1942 in Malaya, the Dutch East Indies and the Australian territory of New Guinea. During mid-1942 Militia troops fought the Kokoda Track campaign, and the New Guinea campaign came to occupy the attention of most of the Australian armed forces until 1945.

Papua and New Guinea

What is now Papua New Guinea consisted of two territories under Australian administration, the Territories of Papua and New Guinea. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles were organized as a militia unit of white expatriates in the New Guinea territory, while the bulk of the Australian military was deployed in the Mediterranean. Japanese forces invaded beginning in January 1942 with the Battle of Rabaul; in the following months Japan occupied most of the Territory of New Guinea. From late 1942 until the Japanese surrender, the Allies, mostly Australian and US forces, cleared the Japanese first from Papua, then the Territory of New Guinea, and finally from Dutch West New Guinea. The campaign resulted in heavy losses for Japan. Disease and starvation claimed more Japanese lives than combat. Allied forces effectively besieged enemy garrisons, cutting them off from food and medical supplies.
During the war, civil administration in both territories ceased and the whole area was placed under martial law. Only a single battalion, the Papuan Infantry Battalion, was ever recruited from the native Papuan population. Many other people were recruited to bring supplies up to the front and carry injured Australian troops: the so-called Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels. Civil government was restored after the war, and in 1949 the two territories were united as the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.