With so many countries technically participating in World War 2 in some way,
shape or form, it’s a shame that they just don’t get any exposure. In this potential 5
or even 6 parter series, we plan to go through pretty much every country that
so much as dipped their toes in the waters of World War 2 and provide you
with the simplified highlights of what they were known for and what they did.
To reiterate if it wasn’t clear enough, these are simplified pockets of information.
We know that there will be country specific political, social and cultural context missing,
but this series isn’t going for depth, and rather, we’re looking to give a general view
on how the rest of the world participated in the war through fun snippets of information
that we’ll hope you’ll enjoy. Anyways guys, without further adieu, let’s get into part 2.
A young Soviet Union still picking up the pieces of its bloody history, was really not keen in
1939 when this whole world war thing happened. They managed to get away with staying relatively
neutral for roughly 3 years until, in the summer of 1942, the frustrated Germans attacked. Despite
massive casualties, numbering over 25 million dead by the wars end, the Soviets somehow
managed to hang on by their fingertips and push the Germans all the way back to Berlin.
Fighting with the allies under the Soviet Union,
Armenia had one of the highest death tolls per capita with half of the estimated 500,000 sent
to fight never returning. Luckily for the country itself, it was spared from much of
the destruction of the Eastern Front, as the Germans never did reach the South Caucasus.
Much like its neighbour, Armenia, Azerbaijan fought for the allies under the Soviet union,
and similarly lost roughly 400,000 troops of the 800,000 sent to fight. Because they were
a primary supplier of petrol to the USSR, the oil workers of the country extended
their work shifts to 12 hours with no days off, holidays or vacation until the end of the war.
Yet another country located in the Caucasus, Georgia was the birthplace of the infamous
Josef Stalin. During World War 2, it, like all the other countries under the USSR was
worked over time to supply goods to the Red Army. Georgia specialised in textiles and war planes
and ultimately sent over 700,000 soldiers to fight, 300,000 of which, were killed.
A partially recognised Soviet Puppet state, Tuvan volunteers took part in some battles
on the Eastern front, until the country was absorbed by the Soviet Union on October 12th 1944.
Although no Turkish troops actually saw combat, Turkey’s influence on the war can’t
be forgotten. A politically important country in the war, Turkey was more so a battle between
the intelligence agencies. It was also a battle of resources, and one of Turkey’s
key exports was Chromite, of which was a point of heavy contention for the Allies and Axis,
as the Axis were in desperate need of it and the Allies wanted to deny them access to it.
Turkey eventually halted its sales to Germany in mid-1944 and declared war in February 1945.
Originally refusing to remove German nationals from their soil at British request at the start
of the war, Iran went too far when they refused the British again at the sign of
German intelligence and sabotage in the country that could have affected British Oil Factories.
This scenario however, never played out, as in a joint Anglo-Soviet invasion of the country,
the allies removed the problem leadership and replaced the Government for the rest of the war.
Despite formerly close relations with the Germans, when war kicked off and the Krauts
formally allied with the Japanese in 1940, China back-tracked a little bit, as they had
been fighting the Japanese intermittently since 1931. Like many other countries,
China officially joined World War 2 after the attack on Pearl Harbour and both the
Nationalist and Communist parties fought together to repel the Japanese. Ultimately,
both armies suffered over 3 million combined casualties, whilst civilian
deaths numbered over 8 million, unfortunately, with millions more yet to come after World war 2.
A de facto state that lacked any real recognition in World War 2, Tibet remained neutral the whole
time and sent congratulatory missions to both China and India after the wars end.
Under the control of France in World War 2, the colony of Indochina had a pretty rough
time at the start of the conflict. When France was blitzed by the Germans, it transitioned to Vichy
French rule, and then as if things weren’t bad enough, the Japanese took the reign,
using the landmass to launch more invasions into SouthEast Asia. Indochinese resistance groups,
including the famous communist front Viet Minh that was led by Ho Chi Minh,
were used by the allies to fight the Japanese occupation throughout the war,
which mind you, only truly ended after their Governments surrender in 1945.
Existing as a buffer between China and the USSR, Mongolia was essentially used
as a gateway to send Soviet troops back and forth from the region. The
Mongolians only really participated in one battle alongside the Soviets in 1939,
which resulted in a victory against the Japanese. Their biggest victory however came in the fact
that China officially recognised its independence by the end of the war. Uncharacteristic, I know.
Home of the world-renowned Gurkha soldiers, Nepal was one of Britain's staunchest
allies and fought heroically alongside British Infantry Divisions against the
Japanese and Germans. Remember, in the words of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw,
if a man says he’s not afraid of dying, he’s either lying or is a Gurkha.
The Indians not only fought gallantly in World War 2, earning 30 Victoria Crosses,
but their labour was the backbone of the Commonwealth, especially in the early
days. Although their contributions helped push the allies to victory,
many Indians were subject to terrible working conditions and constant Japanese air raids,
which resulted in millions of civilian deaths that boosted independence movements after the war.
A neutral country that sent the British
Raj in India a gift of 100,000 rupees as a sign of friendship.
A rather opportunistic country in the war, Thailand and its nationalistic Government
took the chance to settle border disputes in Indochina after France capitulated to
the Germans in the Blitzkrieg. This however was short lived, and the Japanese soon after,
took over the country, where the Thai Government then allied with them, declaring war on the UK and
US in early 1942. Many Thais disagreed and formed the Free Thai Movement as a country
wide resistance that eventually overthrew the pro-Japanese Thai military Government.
Occupied by Japan from 1942 all the way to their surrender in 1945,
the Malayans were brutalised by the Imperial Army, and formed several resistance groups,
with the backbone being the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese army.
The British Borneo region, unlike Malaya, was still under control of… well, the British.
Unfortunately, like most other regions in the South East Asian pacific, the Japanese
took control of Borneo in a typically brutal and efficient fashion, with the only small consolation
prize coming from the fact that thee Brits managed to destroy 2 oilfields before it was captured.
As the dominoes continued to fall in the Pacific,
the Dutch East Indies was now on the chopping block. After 3 months of fighting, the Japanese
overwhelmed Dutch and Allied forces in this large swath of territory, and were initially
welcomed warmly by the Indonesians. As soon as the Indonesians realised these captors were way
worse than the Dutch however, sentiment quickly changed and sympathy toward the
allied cause became popular. Over 4 million Indonesians died under Japanese occupation.
The Philippines, being a Northern region in the pacific theatre, was one of the first countries
to be invaded by the Japanese. Having close ties to the US, both the Filipinos and Americans fought
with absolute tenacity, only to be overwhelmed by the numerically superior Japanese. Despite
the surrender, the native population continued the fight by creating local resistance movements all
over the country, which helped allied forces when they returned to the country in 1944.
Although only a single battalion was ever recruited from the Native Papua New Guinea to
serve with Aussie and American infantrymen, there were many more natives that were recruited to
form supply lines and help evacuate wounded. These brave natives came to be known as the Fuzzy Wuzzy
Angels by Aussie troops who always felt at ease when being carried out of danger by these men.
We may have lost the Emu War, but we sure as hell put up a good fight in World War 2. Aussie efforts
were concentrated in the Pacific theatre as well as the North African campaign, and approximately
1 million Australian men and women served in the war out of a total population of 7 million.
The loveable sheep-shaggers from across the ditch, the New Zealanders joined the
war on the 3rd of September 1939. With one army division fighting in Greece,
North Africa and Italy, as well as having decent contributions through their Navy and
Airforce, the New Zealanders were notable participants of the war,
and unfortunately suffered some of the worst per capita casualty rates in the Commonwealth,
with the only country beating them on this grim statistic being Great Britain.
Directly supported the Allied cause by providing resources
and around 2000 Tongan troops who saw action in the Solomon Islands.
One of the most contested territories of the war, the Solomon Islands went back and forth
between Allied and Japanese hands from mid 1942 to almost the end of the war. Many soldiers of
smaller island nations were integral to this campaign, as well as the natives themselves,
680 of whom joined the Army and 3000 of whom comprised the Solomon Islands Labour Corps.
Encompassing Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, the pacific islands experienced their fair share
of military action, massive troop movements and resource extraction as the allies gritted
their teeth in pushing the Japs back to their homeland. As with most countries,
the Islands that were captured by the Japanese such as Guam were subject to harsh treatment
including execution, forced labour, forced prostitution and even concentration camps.
Like many other territories in the pacific, Fiji was used in the allied war effort to
house facilities such as airfields, barracks and training grounds. They
also had an independent force consisting of 3 infantry battalions, that fought under
the 37th American infantry division in the Solomon Islands and even the Philippines.
Part of the British Gilbert Islands and filled with a surprisingly bloody history in World War 2,
Naaru was initially in 1940 subject to Germany’s most distant military activity,
where the island was shelled to try and slow phosphate mining operations. Then in 1942,
it was occupied by Japan and was subject to heavy bombings
and shelling by allied Navies and air forces. Not a fun time for the natives.
Doesn’t geographically fit with the rest of the video, but adding it in
now because I forgot in part 1. Pretty much Canada’s annoying and weird younger brother,
Newfoundland was up to the task in World War 2 and provided 15,000 men for active
service. Thousands more also took up hazardous work in the Merchant Navy
and the country’s ports were subject to constant attacks by German U-boats.