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As we all know, Nazi Germany was the main participant in World War II, they launched World War II, but also the "big brother" of the Axis power camp, Germany's strength during World War II is extremely strong, and its comprehensive national strength can rank among the top three in the world.
Speaking of this, many friends often compare Japan with Germany, thinking that little Japan during World War II can be on an equal footing with Nazi Germany, because they are also a "fierce character"!
But in fact, little Japan is still too far behind Germany, it can be said that The comprehensive strength of Germany during World War II was more than that of Japan and Italy combined, and even at the beginning of World War II, it was not much inferior to the old United States. So, how strong was Nazi Germany at its peak in 1941?
Germans in World War II
On June 22, 1941, Germany unilaterally tore up the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact without declaring a war, and began a comprehensive blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union. At the end of 1941, Germany expanded to 6.4 million square kilometers and controlled nearly 200 million people!
In the middle and early period of World War II, Germany swept through and controlled most of Europe almost "sideways", and already formed a strategic encirclement of the Soviet Union. Throughout Germany's history, they are a small European country with relatively poor resources, and their narrow land and lack of resources are their shortcomings, which seriously restricts the development of their strength.
After Germany occupied most of Europe, they directly broke through this bottleneck, and oil, iron ore, grain and other resources were continuously transported to Germany itself, which also injected sufficient fuel into the German war machine, which had been trapped by resources.
German production capacity in World War II
Germany as the world's second industrial power at that time, its production capacity is never lacking, and Germany's industrial technology is very advanced, industrial capacity and human resources are also very rich, in terms of industry and science and technology can be said that the Germans into their own second oldest, there is really no country dare to self-proclaimed boss.
Let's take the machine tool as an example, at that time Germany had more than 1.2 million machine tools, and the old United States, which was the world's first industrial power in the same period, only had more than 900,000 machine tools, and as for little Japan, at its peak, there were only more than 220,000 machines, and many of them were old and old civil machine tools Compared with Germany, the gap was very large.
After the Germans occupied a large amount of land and resources, their production capacity advantage and war potential were quickly stimulated. By 1941, Germany's steel production exceeded 32 million tons, pig iron production reached 25 million tons, coal production was 500 million tons, oil production was 4.8 million tons, and Germany had nearly 5,000 factories throughout Western Europe to produce military supplies for Germany.
German production capacity in World War II
In 1944, after Nazi Germany's production capacity was fully fired, its annual production of fighters reached nearly 40,000, 27,000 tanks, and 87,000 guns of various types.
If it were not for the indiscriminate bombardment of the Allies at that time, Germany's arms production could even increase by at least 30%, and it is conceivable how strong Germany's industrial production capacity and war potential during World War II were, so the arrogance of the Germans was based on strong capital.
To say that Germany's arms production and industrial capacity at that time were far more than Japan's, it can be said that although the two countries were in the same camp, they were not in the same grade at all. In 1941, Germany's steel production reached 31.8 million tons, while Japan's output was only 6.85 million tons in the same period, less than a quarter of Germany's.
German production capacity in World War II
If we take into account the gap in steel quality, then the gap between Germany and Japan will be even greater, as for Italy's steel production, compared to that, it is even less, and Italy's steel production during World War II was only more than 2 million tons at its peak, which is only a fraction of Germany's steel production.
In this way, relying on their strong industrial capacity and plundered resources, Germany established itself as the most powerful military state in the world at that time.
After the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, Germany directly dispatched 5.5 million troops, 3,700 tanks, 4,900 warplanes, 47,000 artillery pieces, 190 warships and more than 600,000 transport trucks. It can be said that this german force was the most powerful mobile force in the world at that time, and almost no one could match it.
German production capacity in World War II
If the European battlefield of World War II had not been aided by the United States and Britain at any cost, then the Soviet Union would not have been able to hold on, and France, which was known as the "world's first army" at that time, would not have been able to hold out for even a month if it were not for the assistance of the old hegemon Britain.
To be fair, before the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, Germany was definitely the world's largest military power, and if it were not for the joint efforts of the United States, Britain, and Britain at any cost, I am afraid that no country in the world would be able to stop Germany, even if it was the old United States, at best it would be a draw with Germany. Therefore, the Germans dared to launch World War II with absolute strength!
It is a pity that the ambitions of the Germans are really too big, and they want to swallow the Soviet Union in one go and directly lead to the comprehensive expansion of World War II, and the Soviet Union and the United States are also fully involved in the war. Eventually, Germany was defeated unconditionally by the Allies. If the Germans had known how to accept what was good at that time, perhaps they would now be absolutely a world-class power!
German production capacity in World War II
References for this article: "The Complete History of World War II", "History of Germany", "Soviet-German War", "Baidu Encyclopedia Related Terms - World War II, Germany in World War II, etc."