title: World War II by country

text: Ireland remained neutral throughout the war, the only member of the British Commonwealth to do so. The Emergency Powers Act 1939 gave sweeping new powers to the government for the duration, including internment, censorship, and government control of the economy. Internment of both Axis and Allied military took place in separate sections of the same camp. No.1 Internment camp, built by the British pre-1922, held republicans who had a suspected link to the IRA.


title: World War II by country

text: Irish citizens were free to work abroad and join foreign militaries. By the end of the war, figures suggest that 50,000 men and women born in the State served in the British armed forces, although this estimate has risen considerably over the years. One Irishman, Brendan Finucane, the youngest wing commander and fighter ace in the Royal Air Force's history, before the age of 22 achieved one of the highest kill rates in the Battle of Britain and in offensive operations over France.


title: World War II by country

text: Some civilians were killed in the Bombing of Dublin in World War II and County Carlow in apparently-accidental bombings by the Luftwaffe. The bombings have been cited as the result of either deliberate attacks, errors in navigation or British electronic countermeasures against the Luftwaffe. It was established much later that the Luftwaffe bombed Dublin's North Strand district as part of Operation Roman Helmet, an operation carried out in retribution for Ireland's breaches of neutrality which included Eamon DeValera's decision to send fire engines across the border to assist in fighting fires in the Belfast blitz.


title: World War II by country

text: In June 1940 British Major General Bernard Montgomery was tasked to make plans to invade Ireland in order to seize Cork and Cobh. Winston Churchill also made plans to invade to take the three former Treaty Ports. The decision to go ahead with the D-day landings was decided by an Atlantic Ocean weather report from Blacksod Lighthouse, County Mayo Ireland.


title: World War II by country

text: Italy had completed conquests (Ethiopia and Albania) prior to its entry into World War II. After the initially successful campaigns of Nazi Germany, Italy joined in the war in June 1940, planning to get a share of Allied territory with the defeat of France.


title: World War II by country

text: The Italians bombed Mandatory Palestine, invaded Egypt and occupied British Somaliland with initial success. A friendly Fascist regime had been installed in Spain, and a puppet regime installed in Croatia following the Invasion of Yugoslavia. Albania, Ljubljana, coastal Dalmatia, and Montenegro had been directly annexed into the Italian state. Most of Greece had been occupied by Italy (despite initial defeat), as had the French territories of Corsica and Tunisia following Vichy France's collapse and Case Anton. However, after the German-Italian defeat in Africa and Eastern Front, the Allies started to invade Italy in the summer of 1943 and Mussolini's government collapsed.


title: World War II by country

text: The new royal government of Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice with the allies, but most of the country was quickly occupied by the Germans, who established a puppet government under Mussolini in the north, the Italian Social Republic (also known as the Salò Republic, from its headquarters). Badoglio and King Victor Emmanuel III escaped to Brindisi without giving any order to the army, which was left in chaos and without leadership: some divisions surrendered to the Germans, other fought back on their own.


title: World War II by country

text: The royal government remained in control of the south and declared war on Germany; the military forces it still controlled joined the Allies in a position of co-belligerence. It was eventually re-established as the government of all of Italy shortly before the end of the war in the spring of 1945, when partisan uprisings liberated northern Italy. Italy would become a member of NATO after the war, but lost the region of Istria and the Dalmatian city of Zadar to Yugoslavia, and all its colonies excluding Somalia.


title: World War II by country

text: Benito Mussolini had formed Italian East Africa in 1936 by merging recently conquered Ethiopia with the older colonies of Eritrea and Somaliland. On 10 June 1940, Mussolini declared war on Britain and France, which made Italian military forces in East Africa a danger to the bordering British and French colonies. The "Comando Supremo" (Italian General Staff) had planned for a war after 1942; in the summer of 1940 Italy was not ready for a long war or for the occupation of large areas of Africa.


title: World War II by country

text: The East African Campaign began on 13 June 1940 with an Italian air raid on a British air base at Wajir in Kenya. To mount their counterattack, the Allies assembled a largely multi-African force that included Ethiopians, Eritreans, soldiers from Britain's African colonies and from India, and soldiers of the Congolese Force Publique fighting for Free Belgium. The campaign continued until Italian forces had been pushed back from Kenya and Sudan, through Somaliland, Eritrea and Ethiopia in 1940 and early 1941. The bulk of the Italian forces still in the colony surrendered after the Battle of Gondar in November 1941, but small groups kept fighting a guerrilla war in Ethiopia until the Armistice of Cassibile in September 1943. The East African Campaign was the first Allied strategic victory in the war.


title: World War II by country

text: After the campaign, the victorious Allies dismantled Italian East Africa. The Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement restored Haile Selassie to the Ethiopian throne (see the section on Ethiopia). Somaliland and Eritrea were placed under British military administration. In 1945, during the Potsdam Conference, the United Nations granted Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland under close supervision, on condition that Somalia achieve independence within ten years. In 1950 Eritrea was ceded to Ethiopia. Both British and Italian Somaliland became independent in 1960 soon after united as the Somali Republic.


title: World War II by country

text: The Empire of Japan was the leader of the Axis powers in the Pacific Theatre. Some scholars consider the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began when Japan invaded China after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, to be the true beginning of World War II. This conflict merged with the world war following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, which was immediately followed by a series of coordinated attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam and Wake Island; on the British colonies of Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong; and on the Kingdom of Thailand. During 1942 Japan launched offensives in the China, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Theatres of the war. By late 1942 Japan was on the defensive as the Allies reversed its earlier gains. The Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States convinced the Japanese government to surrender unconditionally on September 2, 1945. Many political and military leaders from Japan were convicted for war crimes before the Tokyo tribunal and other Allied tribunals in Asia.


title: World War II by country

text: During the war, Kenya was one of the most important conscription grounds for the British Army in Africa. During the course of the war, 98,240 Kenyans were enlisted as "Askaris" into the King's African Rifles (KAR), representing 30% of the unit's total strength. The soldiers from Kenya, of whom most were conscripted, were overwhelmingly African, and the policy of racial segregation in the British Army meant that they were commanded by white officers and NCOs. Blacks were not able to rise above the rank of Warrant Officer. Kenyan soldiers served in the successful East African Campaign against the Italians, as well as the invasion of Vichy-held Madagascar and the Burma Campaign against the Japanese, alongside troops from west Africa. Individual Kenyans also served in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.


title: World War II by country

text: Fighting occurred in northern Kenya as part of the Southern Front of the East African Campaign. In July 1940, Italian forces advanced as far as Buna, about 100 km south of the border with Ethiopia. By early 1941, the Italians had withdrawn to the border. In January and February 1941, British forces launched an offensive across the border into southern Ethiopia.


title: World War II by country

text: Korea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 50-year imperialist expansion (22 August 1910 to 15 August 1945). During World War II more than 100,000 Koreans were mandatorily drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army.


title: World War II by country

text: Independence movements during the colonial era included the March 1st Movement. Koreans created an official, formal government to prepare for independence. The Provisional Government of Republic of Korea was established in 1919. It created the Korean Liberation Army (KLA) on September 17, 1940, and declared war against the Empire of Japan on December 10, 1941.


title: World War II by country

text: The KLA failed to initiate Operation Eagle, a plan to liberate the Korean Peninsula by first attacking the capital region (Seoul and Incheon), on August 18, 1945. The Office of Strategic Services of the United States also promised to assist the KLA with warplanes, submarines, and airborne troops during the operation. However, the plan failed due to the early surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945. The Provisional Government also faced heavy oppositions against the United States military government in Korea after World War II. The government of the Republic of Korea was established on August 15, 1948, and the Provisional Government was disbanded officially.


title: World War II by country

text: Formally, Japanese rule ended on 2 September 1945 upon the Japanese defeat in World War II in 1945. Postwar Korea was jointly occupied by Soviet and American forces, with political disagreements leading to the separation of the peninsula into two independent nations. This eventually escalated into the Korean War.


title: World War II by country

text: When the war began on September 1, 1939, Latvia declared its neutrality. After the conclusion of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Latvia was compelled by a Soviet ultimatum to accept Red Army garrisons on its territory in 1939. On 16 June 1940, the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum demanding that government be replaced and that unlimited number of Soviet troops be admitted. The government acceded to the demands, and Soviet troops occupied the country on June 17. On August 5, 1940, Latvia was annexed into the USSR. The following year, USSR security agencies "Sovietized" Latvia, resulting in the deaths of between 35,000 and 50,000 residents of Latvia. The legality of the annexation was not recognised by most Western countries and the Baltic states continued to exist as formally independent nations until 1991.


title: World War II by country

text: After the outbreak of German-Soviet hostilities, Soviet forces were quickly driven out by German forces. Initially, the German forces were almost universally hailed as liberators, but Nazi occupation policies gradually changed that. Riga was retaken by Soviet forces on 13 October 1944, and a major part of the German Army Group North (Heersgruppe Nord) was cut off in Kurzeme, the peninsula that forms the northwestern part of Latvia. There, they and locally raised Latvian units formed the "Kurland Fortress", which successfully held out until the end of the war in May 1945.


title: World War II by country

text: The first Latvian Police Battalions were formed in early 1943, and the Latvian Waffen SS Volunteer Legion on 16 March 1943. The German Occupation Government soon resorted to conscription, and Latvia became one of two countries (the other was Estonia) from where the Waffen SS soldiers were draftees. By 1 July 1944, more than 110,000 men were under arms in German-controlled units. The Latvian Legion consisted of 87,550 men, of them 31,446 serving in the 15th and 19th Waffen-Grenadier Divisions, 12,118 served in Border Guard regiments, 42,386 in various Police Forces, and 1,600 in other units. 22,744 men served in units outside the Legion such as Wehrmacht Auxiliaries and as Luftwaffenhelfer.


title: World War II by country

text: Approximately 70,000 Latvians (both from Latvia and the Russian SFSR) were recruited, mostly through conscription, into national units in the Red Army (Latvian Riflemen Soviet Divisions). Also, a small fleet of Latvian ships, which did not return to their home country after the start of the Soviet occupation, became a part of the Allied merchant marine while flying the Latvian flag.


title: World War II by country

text: Some Latvian personnel took an active part during the Holocaust, working as part of both the Soviet and the Nazi occupation governments. Attempts were made by various movements to restore an independent and democratic Latvia with ties to the Western Allies, such as the Latvian Central Council, but these efforts were thwarted by Nazi and Soviet regimes. At the end of the war, the subsequent Forest Brothers armed insurrection against the Soviet authorities lasted in the Baltic states until the mid-1950s.


title: World War II by country

text: Lebanon, then under French rule, was controlled by the Vichy government after the fall of the French Third Republic. Most Lebanese people did not tolerate the Vichy government and the way it ruled, many Lebanese would mock and criticize the French soldiers for becoming Nazi Germany's ally. Lebanon was invaded and occupied by Allied forces from Palestine during the Syria–Lebanon Campaign. De Gaulle declared Lebanon independent on 22 November 1943. In 1945, Lebanon declared war on Germany and Japan.


title: World War II by country

text: Liberia granted Allied forces access to its territory early in the war. It was used as a transit point for troops and resources bound for North Africa, particularly war supplies flown from Parnamirim (near Natal) in Brazil. Perhaps more importantly, it served as one of the Allies' only sources of rubber during the war when the plantations of Southeast Asia had been taken over by the Japanese.


title: World War II by country

text: The importance of this resource led to significant improvement of Liberia's transport infrastructure and a modernisation of its economy. Liberia's strategic significance was emphasised when Franklin Roosevelt, after attending the Casablanca Conference, visited Liberia and met President Edwin Barclay. Despite its assistance to the Allies, Liberia was reluctant to end its official neutrality and did not declare war on Germany until 27 January 1944.


title: World War II by country

text: The coastal parts of Italian Libya became an integral part of Italy under a law of 9 January 1939, and Libya came to be called "the Fourth Shore of Italy" ("Quarta Sponda"). Libyans were given "Special Italian Citizenship" that was only valid within Libya. Libyans were allowed join the Muslim Association of the Lictor, a branch of the National Fascist Party. This allowed the creation of Libyan military units within the Italian army: the 1st Sibille and 2nd Pescatori The units had Italian officers with Libyan NCOs and soldiers. The Libyan divisions were loyal to Italy and performed well in combat. Squadrons of Libyan Spahis served as light cavalry. These measures reduced the appeal of the Libyan resistance movement and kept it mostly limited to Fezzan, and even there it remained weak before the arrival of Free French troops in the area. Beginning in the late 1930s, Libyan Jews faced the persecution of the Holocaust in Libya.


title: World War II by country

text: Libya saw some of the fiercest fighting of the North African Campaign. At the start of the war, Italy aimed to extend Libya's borders to the south and annex a land bridge connecting it to Italian East Africa. In September 1940, Italy launched the Western Desert Campaign with its invasion of Egypt. That December, the British counterattacked with Operation Compass, which pushed Italian forces back over the border, occupied all of Cyrenaica, and captured most of the Tenth Army. With German support, this territory was regained during Operation Sonnenblume, though the Allies successfully lifted the Siege of Tobruk. The Battle of Gazala in 1942 finally drove the Allies from Tobruk and back into Egypt. The Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt spelled doom for the Axis forces in Libya and the end of the Western Desert Campaign.


title: World War II by country

text: In February 1943, retreating German and Italian forces abandoned Libya and withdrew to Tunisia, permanently ending Italian rule. The Free French occupied Fezzan in 1943. At the close of World War II, Britain and France collaborated with local resistance in the Allied administration of Libya. In 1951, the Allies ceded power to Idris, now king of an independent Libya.


title: World War II by country

text: After the end of World War I, Liechtenstein concluded a customs and monetary agreement with Switzerland and entrusted its larger neighbor with its external relations. Following the Austrian Anschluss of March 1938, Prince Franz abdicated in favor of his third cousin, Franz Joseph II. Franz's wife Elisabeth von Gutmann was Jewish, and it was worried that her ancestry could provoke Nazi Germany. With the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the vast lands that the House of Liechtenstein owned there were confiscated, forcing Prince Franz Joseph to move to Liechtenstein itself, the first prince to take up residence within the principality.


title: World War II by country

text: When war broke out, Franz Joseph kept the principality out of the war and relied upon its close ties to Switzerland for its protection. The neutrality of the country itself was never violated, but the House of Liechtenstein never recovered its landholdings outside the principality, including its former seat in Lednice–Valtice. The country took in some 400 Jewish refugees from occupied Europe and granted citizenship to some others, mostly people of means who were able to pay. Jewish laborers at a concentration camp in Strasshof were hired out to work on estates belonging to the princely family. In 1945 Liechtenstein gave asylum to nearly 500 Russians of the pro-Axis First Russian National Army. It refused Soviet demands to repatriate them, and most eventually resettled in Argentina.


title: World War II by country

text: The National Socialist "German National Movement in Liechtenstein" was active but small. It called for unification with Germany and the expulsion of Liechtenstein's Jews. In March 1939, the party attempted a coup that ended in total failure, its leaders having fled or been arrested. The organization was formed anew in 1940 but did not gain any power. Its publication "Umbruch" was banned in 1943 and its leader was convicted of high treason after the war.


title: World War II by country

text: As a result of Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Lithuania was occupied by the Red Army and forcibly annexed into the Soviet Union along with Latvia and Estonia, with no military resistance. The legality of the annexation was not recognised by most Western countries and the Baltic states continued to exist as formally independent nations until 1991.


title: World War II by country

text: Some Lithuanians sided with Germany after Hitler eventually invaded the Soviet Union in the hopes of restoring Lithuania's independence. Some collaborators were involved in the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity. A Lithuanian division (the 16th Rifle Division) and other units (29th Rifle Corps) were formed in the Red Army. Unlike in Latvia, an attempt by the German authorities to form a 'Lithuanian Legion' failed, with the most notable unit formed being the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force.


title: World War II by country

text: At the end of the war, the subsequent Forest Brothers armed insurrection against the Soviet authorities started, which lasted in the Baltic states until the mid-1950s.


title: World War II by country

text: When Germany invaded France by way of the Low Countries in the spring of 1940, it also invaded Luxembourg, despite its neutrality. The country was occupied quickly: the government made an attempt to slow the advancing German forces, but local forces put up little resistance and surrendered before the end of the first day. During the German occupation, the administration was led by Gustav Simon, who pursued a policy of Germanisation and carried out the Holocaust in Luxembourg. In August 1942, Germany fully annexed Luxembourg and attached it to Gau Moselland.


title: World War II by country

text: The exiled Luxembourgish government meanwhile fled to France and then Portugal before establishing itself in London for the remainder of the war, while Grand Duchess Charlotte settled in Montreal. The exiled government committed its very limited resources to the Allied war effort, signing the Declaration of St James's Palace and Declaration by United Nations. It also formed the agreement that created the Benelux customs union with the exiled governments of Belgium and the Netherlands.


title: World War II by country

text: Some Luxembourgers collaborated with Nazi Germany or were drafted into the German armed forces. A total of 12,000 Luxembourgers served in the German military, of whom nearly 3,000 died during the war. Others joined the Luxembourg Resistance. The general strike of 1942 was an act of passive resistance that mobilized a large portion of the population and led to the execution of 21 leaders. American forces liberated the capital in September 1944, but the country continued to see combat. Luxembourg Resistance fought German forces in the Battle of Vianden in November, and the Battle of the Bulge was fought in the country between December and January.


title: World War II by country

text: French Madagascar played an important role in the war due to the presence of critically important harbors and the contribution of Malagasy troops. After the fall of France in 1940, Madagascar became a crucial flashpoint in the conflict between the Free French movement and Vichy France. The island was consequential in the Pacific theater of the war as Imperial Japanese naval forces operated unopposed off the island for some time. Madagascar was also briefly considered as the solution to the Jewish Question by the government of Nazi Germany who floated the idea of deporting Europe's Jewish population to the island in 1940. This scheme, the Madagascar Plan, never came to fruition for a variety of reasons.


title: World War II by country

text: In May 1942, the British and several other Allied forces launched an invasion of Madagascar, seeking to protect its position as a link in Allied shipping and deny its use to the Axis. The northern naval base at Diego Suarez quickly surrendered. That September, newly arrived troops from East Africa, South Africa, and Northern Rhodesia launched an offensive to capture the rest of the island. British forces took the capital Tananarive in late September; on 8 November, the last Vichy forces surrendered. The British handed the island over to Free France in 1943, under whose control it remained for the rest of the war.


title: World War II by country

text: Malaya was under British rule before the war began. It was occupied by Japan in 1942 through 1945. The Malayan Communist Party became the backbone of the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army.


title: World War II by country

text: During World War II, the Maldives were a British protected state ruled by a succession of sultans. The islands were only lightly affected by the war. Britain built RAF Gan on Addu Atoll at the southern end of the country, which was later redeveloped as Gan International Airport. The Action of 27 February 1941 occurred near the Maldives. The Italian auxiliary cruiser "Ramb I" had escaped the destruction of the Red Sea Flotilla and sailed for Japanese-controlled territory. HMNZS "Leander" engaged and sank "Ramb I"; most of the crew were rescued and taken to Gan.


title: World War II by country

text: Malta was a British colony during World War II. The Legislative Council of Malta reaffirmed the people's loyalty to Britain on 6 September 1939. Between June 1940 and December 1942, Malta became the besieged and battered arena for one of the most decisive struggles of World War II. Malta was the most bombed place in the war and was crucial to Allied efforts to thwart Axis maneuvers in Africa. Britain awarded the George Cross to the island of Malta in a letter dated 15 April 1942, from King George VI to Governor William Dobbie: "To honour her brave people, I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history".


title: World War II by country

text: The fortitude of the population under sustained air raids and a naval blockade, which almost saw them starved into submission, won widespread admiration, with some historians dubbing it "The Mediterranean Stalingrad". The George Cross is woven into the modern Flag of Malta.


title: World War II by country

text: Established in 1931 as a puppet state of Japan, the Empire of Manchukuo was led by Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China, who reigned as Emperor Kang De. The state remained a loyal ally to Japan until 1945. In 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and Manchukuo was subsequently invaded and abolished. The former puppet state was returned to communist China.


title: World War II by country

text: During the Second World War, the Mauritius Territorial Force was expanded to two battalions and renamed the Mauritius Regiment. The 1st Battalion went to Diego Suarez, Madagascar, in December 1943 to relieve imperial forces who had captured the island in the Battle of Madagascar. Shortly after landing, the battalion mutinied due to poor conditions and because they had been told they would not leave Mauritius. Disarmed by the King's African Rifles, 300 soldiers were arrested, but only 6 remained imprisoned by 1946.


title: World War II by country

text: Mauritius also had a home guard formation, the Mauritius Defence Force of 2,000 men, and a naval Coastal Defence Force.


title: World War II by country

text: Mengjiang was established in Inner Mongolia as a puppet state of Japan, and contributed troops which fought alongside the Japanese in China. It ceased to exist following the Soviet invasion in 1945.


title: World War II by country

text: Mexico entered World War II in response to German attacks on Mexican ships. The "Potrero del Llano," originally an Italian tanker, had been seized in port by the Mexican government in April 1941 and renamed in honor of a region in Veracruz. It was attacked and crippled by the on 13 May 1942. The attack killed 13 of 35 crewmen. On 20 May 1942, a second tanker, "Faja de Oro," also a seized Italian ship, was attacked and sunk by the , killing 10 of 37 crewmen. In response, President Manuel Ávila Camacho and the Mexican government declared war on the Axis powers on 22 May 1942.


title: World War II by country

text: A large part of Mexico's contribution to the war came through an agreement January 1942 that allowed Mexican nationals living in the United States to join the American armed forces. As many as 250,000 Mexicans served in this way. In the final year of the war, Mexico sent one air squadron to serve under the Mexican flag: the Mexican Air Force's "Escuadrón Aéreo de Pelea 201" (201st Fighter Squadron), which saw combat in the Philippines in the war against Imperial Japan. In addition to those in the armed forces, tens of thousands of Mexican men were hired as farm workers in the United States during the war years through the "Bracero" program, which continued and expanded in the decades after the war.


title: World War II by country

text: World War II helped spark an era of rapid industrialization known as the Mexican Miracle. Mexico supplied the United States with more strategic raw materials than any other country, and American aid spurred the growth of industry. President Ávila was able to use the increased revenue to improve the country's credit, invest in infrastructure, subsidize food, and raise wages.


title: World War II by country

text: The Soviet Union controlled some of Moldova before World War II, and it took the rest of Moldova from Romania during World War II. See this article's sections on the Soviet Union and Romania.


title: World War II by country

text: While Prince Louis II's sympathies were strongly pro-French, he tried to keep Monaco neutral during World War II, and he supported the Vichy France government of his old army colleague, Philippe Pétain. In 1943, the Italian army invaded and occupied Monaco, setting up a fascist government administration. Shortly thereafter, following Mussolini's collapse in Italy, the German army occupied Monaco and began the deportation of the Jewish population. Among them was René Blum, founder of the Ballet de l'Opera, who died in a Nazi extermination camp. In August 1944, the Germans executed three Resistance leaders. Under Prince Louis's secret orders, the Monaco police, often at great risk to themselves, warned in advance those people whom the Gestapo planned to arrest. The country was liberated, as German troops retreated, on 3 September 1944.


title: World War II by country

text: During the war, Outer Mongolia—officially the Mongolian People's Republic—was ruled by the communist government of Khorloogiin Choibalsan and was closely linked to the Soviet Union. Mongolia was considered a breakaway province of the Republic of China by most nations. In August 1937, as part of their effort to support China, the Soviets decided to station troops along Mongolia's southern and southeastern frontiers. The arrival of the Soviet army coincided with a series of intensified terrors and purges (the "Great Terror").


title: World War II by country

text: The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact of 13 April 1941 recognized the neutrality of Mongolia and its place with the Soviet sphere of influence. Its geographical situation made it a buffer state between Japanese forces and the Soviet Union. In addition to keeping around 10% of the population under arms, Mongolia provided supplies and raw materials to the Soviet military and financed several units, and half million military trained horses.


title: World War II by country

text: Mongolian troops took part in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in the summer of 1939 and in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945, both times as small part in Soviet-led operations. On 10 August 1945, the Little Khural, the Mongolian parliament, issued a formal declaration of war against Japan.


title: World War II by country

text: For Mongolia, the most important result of World War II was the recognition of its independence by China, American consent having been given with the Yalta agreement.


title: World War II by country

text: Most of Morocco was a protectorate of France during World War II, and entered on France's side at the beginning. When France was defeated, Morocco came under the control of the Vichy regime, and therefore was nominally on the side of the Axis powers, although an active resistance movement operated. In November 1942, it was invaded by the Allies as part of Operation Torch. From that point, Moroccan forces (especially the Goumier's) fought on the side of the Allies.


title: World War II by country

text: A small area in northern Morocco, Spanish Morocco, was a Spanish protectorate and remained neutral throughout the war, as did the international city of Tangier.


title: World War II by country

text: Nauru was administered by Australia under a League of Nations mandate. Nauru was shelled by a German surface raider in December 1940, aiming to incapacitate its phosphate mining operations (this action was probably the most distant military activity carried out by Germany during the entire war). Phosphates are important for making ammunition and fertilizers.


title: World War II by country

text: Nauru was occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945, and was the target of shelling by American battleships and cruisers, and aerial bombing by the Allies. For example, Nauru was bombarded by the American battleships "North Carolina", "Washington", "South Dakota", "Indiana", "Massachusetts", and the "Alabama", on 8 December 1943, and also bombed by U.S. Navy carrier airplanes on the same day. See the article on the "Washington".


title: World War II by country

text: The Kingdom of Nepal declared war on Germany on September 4, 1939. Once Japan entered the conflict, sixteen battalions of the Royal Nepalese Army fought in the Burma Campaign. In addition to military support, Nepal contributed guns, equipment, and hundreds of thousands of pounds of tea, sugar and raw materials such as timber to the Allied war effort.


title: World War II by country

text: Besides RNA troops, Nepalese fought in the British Indian Gurkha units and were engaged in combat all over the world. A total of 250,280 Gurkhas served in 40 battalions during the war, in almost all theatres. In addition to keeping peace in India, Gurkhas fought in Syria, North Africa, Italy, Greece and against the Japanese in Burma, northeast India and Singapore. They did so with considerable distinction, earning 2,734 bravery awards and suffering around 32,000 casualties in all theatres. After the war, Gurkha troops formed part of the Allied occupation force in Japan.


title: World War II by country

text: Like the Belgians, the Netherlands declared neutrality in 1939. In May 1940, the Netherlands was invaded after fierce resistance against the Nazis. Rotterdam and Middelburg were heavily bombed. The Dutch joined the Allies and contributed their surviving naval and armed forces to the defense of East Asia, in particular, the Netherlands East Indies. Until their liberation in 1945, the Dutch fought alongside the Allies around the globe, from the battles in the Pacific to the Battle of Britain. On the islands of Aruba and Curaçao (Netherlands West Indies) a large oil refinery was of major importance for the war effort in Europe, especially after D-day. As a protection, a considerable U.S. military force was stationed on the island.


title: World War II by country

text: New Zealand declared war on 3 September 1939, backdating the date to the time of Britain's declaration.


title: World War II by country

text: New Zealand sent one Army division that served in Greece, North Africa, and Italy, and it offered a fair number of pilots and aircrew to the Royal Air Force in England. Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) warships fought in the South Atlantic, including in the Battle of Rio de la Plata in 1939, before being called back to defend the homeland.


title: World War II by country

text: New Zealand fought in the Pacific War through warships of the Royal New Zealand Navy, the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), and independent army brigades, such as on Vella Lavella. While New Zealand's home islands were not attacked, the casualty rate suffered by the military was the worst per capita of all Commonwealth nations, except for Great Britain.


title: World War II by country

text: In the South West Pacific theater, the RNZAF participated in a unique force, AirSols, in the Solomon Islands, consisting of squadrons from the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, USAAF, and RNZAF, with occasional help from the Royal Australian Air Force.


title: World War II by country

text: During World War II the Dominion of Newfoundland was governed directly by the United Kingdom. It joined the war on 4 September 1939, declaring war on Germany. The defenses of Newfoundland, and the Newfoundland Home Guard forces were integrated with the Canadian military, and both governments agreed to form a joint coastal defense organization. As part of the Anglo-American Destroyers for Bases Agreement, the United States was granted Air Force and U.S. Navy bases on Newfoundland's territory. The influx of American money and personnel had significant social, economic, and political effects on the island.


title: World War II by country

text: Newfoundlanders were encouraged to enlist in the large armed forces of the United Kingdom and of Canada. Over 3,200 Newfoundlanders enlisted in the Royal Navy. On 14 September 1939, The Royal Navy requested 625 experienced fishermen or seamen for special service in the Northern Patrol, guarding the Atlantic shipping lanes. The Royal Artillery raised the 57th Newfoundland Field Regiment, which fought in North Africa and Italy, and the 59th Newfoundland Heavy Artillery, which fought in Normandy and northwestern Europe. Another 700 Newfoundlanders served in the Royal Air Force, most notably with the 125th Newfoundland Squadron. In all, some 15,000 Newfoundlanders saw active service, and thousands more were engaged in the hazardous duty of the Merchant Navy. Some 900 Newfoundlanders (including at least 257 Merchant Mariners) lost their lives in the conflict.


title: World War II by country

text: Newfoundland was directly attacked by German forces when U-boats attacked four Allied ore carriers and the loading pier at Bell Island. The cargo ships S.S. "Saganaga" and S.S. "Lord Strathcona" were sunk by the on 5 September 1942, and the S.S. "Rosecastle" and "P.L.M. 27" were sunk by the on 2 November 1942. German troops were landed in Labrador to establish weather stations.


title: World War II by country

text: During the war, Nicaragua was ruled by Anastasio Somoza García, who had assumed the presidency after a military coup in 1937. Somoza was an ally of the United States, and Nicaragua declared war on Japan immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Three days later, on 11 December, Nicaragua declared war on Germany and Italy, and, on 19 December, on Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. Out of these six Axis countries, only Romania reciprocated, declaring war on Nicaragua on the same day (19 December 1941).


title: World War II by country

text: During World War II, three battalions of the Nigeria Regiment fought in the East Africa campaign. Nigerian units also contributed to two divisions serving with British forces in Palestine, Morocco, Sicily and Burma. Wartime experiences provided a new frame of reference for many soldiers, who interacted across ethnic boundaries in ways that were unusual in Nigeria. Inside Nigeria, union membership increased sixfold during the war to 30,000. This rapid growth of organised labour brought new political forces into play. The war also made the British reappraise Nigeria's political future. In 1944, Herbert Macaulay and Nnamdi Azikiwe founded the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, a nationalist and pro-labour political party advocating Nigerian independence.


title: World War II by country

text: North Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia during World War II. See this article's section on Yugoslavia.


title: World War II by country

text: Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) was a British colony. As such, it was covered by the British declaration of war. Northern Rhodesian units served in East Africa, Madagascar and Burma.


title: World War II by country

text: Norway was strategically important as a route for the transport of iron ore from Sweden to Germany, via Narvik. Both sides had designs on Scandinavia. Norwegian neutrality was compromised in the Altmark Incident.


title: World War II by country

text: Norway remained neutral until it was invaded by Germany on 9 April 1940, as part of Operation Weserübung. The Norwegian government fled the capital and after two months of fighting went to Britain and continued the fight in exile.


title: World War II by country

text: The Norwegian Shipping and Trade Mission (Nortraship) was established in London in April 1940 to administer the merchant fleet outside German-controlled areas. Nortraship operated some 1,000 vessels and was the largest shipping company in the world. British politician, Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker commented after the war that ""Without the Norwegian merchant fleet, Britain and the allies would have lost the war.""


title: World War II by country

text: After the occupation, the Germans began producing heavy water in Norway. After commando raids and bomber attacks, the Germans decided to move heavy water supplies to Germany. The Allies maintained a deception of a planned invasion of Norway. As a result, additional German forces were held there to repel any attempts. In 1944, Finnmark was liberated by the Soviet Union, and (together with the northern parts of Troms) totally destroyed by the retreating Nazis. German forces surrendered on 8 May 1945.


title: World War II by country

text: Norway declared war on Japan on 6 July 1945, with reciprocal effect dating back to 7 December 1941. The delay was because it had been impossible for the parliament to convene during the German occupation. Several hundred Norwegian sailors died when their ships were sunk by Japanese forces or during subsequent captivity. After the war, Norway became one of the founding members of NATO.


title: World War II by country

text: Throughout the war, the Nyasaland Protectorate was an economic asset for the Allies and contributed a significant number of soldiers to fight in the British Army. At the outbreak of war, the Acting Governor requested aid, fearful that the German settlers might organize a pro-Nazi uprising. In response, 50 soldiers from Southern Rhodesia arrived in Nyasaland by air. They returned to Salisbury after only a month, having found no risk of a possible rebellion. A number of camps were constructed in Nyasaland intended to house Polish war refugees. Additionally, perceived "enemy aliens" – primarily members of the German community, but also Italian settlers – were brought to Southern Rhodesia for internment during the war.


title: World War II by country

text: Many Nyasas fought for the British, primarily as askaris of the King's African Rifles (KAR). Others were recruited into the Artillery, Engineers, Service Corps and Medical Corps, placing the total number of enlisted Nyasas at around 27,000. Nyasas fought in a number of theatres, including the East African Campaign, the Italian invasion of British Somaliland, the Battle of Madagascar, and the Burma Campaign. Nyasaland's economy benefited from the end of the war as returning soldiers came home with useful skills, such as the 3,000 who had been trained as lorry drivers.


title: World War II by country

text: The Sultan of Oman declared war on Germany on September 10, 1939. During the Second World War, Great Britain recognized the strategic importance of Oman's geographical location by expanding facilities throughout the country. A new airfield was built on Masirah Island, which, from 1943 onwards, housed No. 33 Staging Post. In 1943, both Masirah and Ras Al-Hadd became Royal Air Force stations in their own right. Units of No. 2925 Squadron of the RAF Regiment guarded these bases while the marine craft was based in Oman to perform air-sea rescue duties.


title: World War II by country

text: The population, culture and infrastructure of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (the Pacific Islands) were completely changed between 1941 and 1945 due to the logistical requirements of the Allies in their war against Japan. At the start of the war the islands had experienced 200 years of colonialism from Europe and its colonies; some islands were on the verge of being fully annexed while others were close to independence. The early Japanese expansion through the western Pacific then introduced a new colonial system to many islands. The Japanese occupation subjected the indigenous people of Guam and other Islands to forced labor, family separation, incarceration, execution, concentration camps, and forced prostitution, but also created opportunities for advanced education.


title: World War II by country

text: The Pacific Islands then experienced military action, massive troop movements, and resource extraction and building projects as the Allies pushed the Japanese back to their home islands. The juxtaposition of all these cultures led to a new understanding among the indigenous Pacific Islanders of their relationship with the colonial powers. In communities that had very little contact with Europeans before the war, the sudden arrival and rapid departure of men and machines spurred the growth of so-called "cargo cults" in parts of Melanesia, such as the cult of John Frum that emerged in the New Hebrides (modern Vanuatu).


title: World War II by country

text: Mandatory Palestine remained under British rule via the League of Nations mandate system. During the war, Palestine was a location of hostilities, a staging area for the British and a source of troops. In July 1940, Italy began bombing Tel Aviv, Haifa and other coastal cities.


title: World War II by country

text: Since Nazi Germany was seen as a greater threat, David Ben-Gurion directed the Jews in Palestine to set aside their grievances against the British stemming from the 1939 White Paper restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine, stating "support the British as if there is no White Paper and oppose the White Paper as if there is no war". The Irgun also felt this way and many of its leaders were released from prison. The more radical branch of the Irgun disagreed and, on 17 July 1940, it split under the leadership of Avraham Stern and became known as "The National Military Organization in Israel" as opposed to Irgun's official name, "The National Military Organization in the Land of Israel". It would later change its name to Lehi, referred to by the British as the "Stern Gang", as a completely separated militia.


title: World War II by country

text: During the Syria–Lebanon Campaign starting on 8 June 1941, many volunteers from Palestine participated in the fighting, including Palmach units that had been attached to allied troops. It was during this campaign that Moshe Dayan, attached to the Australian 7th Division, lost an eye, requiring him to wear what would become his trademark eye-patch.


title: World War II by country

text: In order to maintain the status quo ante bellum between the Jews and the Arabs, the British instated a policy of equal recruitment from both groups to the Palestine Regiment. However, due to the events of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine and the alliance of exiled former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Mohammad Amin al-Husayni with Adolf Hitler, only one Arab volunteered for every three Jewish volunteers. On August 6, 1942, the policy was relinquished and the regiment was formed, containing three Jewish battalions and one Arab. The regiment was assigned mostly to guard duty in Egypt and North Africa.


title: World War II by country

text: On 3 July 1944, Britain agreed to allow the Jews to fight against the Nazis directly and not just in a supportive role. Thus the three Jewish battalions of the Palestine Regiment together with the 200th Field Regiment were reorganized under the aegis of the Jewish Brigade, which would see action in Italy.


title: World War II by country

text: At the start of the war, approximately a thousand German nationals residing in Palestine known as Templers were deported by Britain to Australia, where they were held in internment camps until 1946–47. Although some had been registered members of the Nazi party and Nazi marches had taken place in their settlements, no evidence had been presented until 2007 that the majority supported Hitler. Although their property had been confiscated by the British authorities, the State of Israel chose to compensate them in 1962.


title: World War II by country

text: The small Panama Canal Zone was United States territory, and American forces from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, the USAAF (at Howard Air Force Base), and Colombian forces helped inside the Canal Zone, guarded the Panama Canal from both ends. This Canal provided the United States and its Allies with the ability to move warships and troops rapidly between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Since most of the American shipbuilding capability was on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, the Canal was vital for moving new warships to the Pacific to fight the Imperial Japanese Navy.


title: World War II by country

text: Paraguay's authoritarian government under Higinio Morínigo was sympathetic to the Axis powers early in the war; the country's large German community, in particular, were supporters of Nazism, as well as most of the Paraguayan population. Serious thought was given to joining the war on Germany's side, but United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt avoided this by providing aid and military hardware in 1942. Paraguay declared war on Germany on February 2, 1945, by which time the war was almost over and many Paraguayans joined the Brazilian air force for fighting the Axis Powers.


title: World War II by country

text: Peru broke off relations with the Axis on 24 January 1942. Because of its ability to produce aviation fuel and its proximity to the Panama Canal, the oil refinery and port city of Talara, in northwest Peru, became an American air base. Although Peru did not declare war on Germany and Japan until 1945 (Peru declared a "state of belligerency"), the Peruvian Navy patrolled the Panama Canal area. As many as 2,000 Peruvian citizens of Japanese descent were detained and sent to the United States under American orders as part of the Japanese American internment policy.


title: World War II by country

text: In 1941, the Philippine Commonwealth was a semi-independent commonwealth of the United States, with full Independence scheduled for 4 July 1946. The Philippine Commonwealth Army was commanded by American General Douglas MacArthur, and the Philippines was one of the first countries invaded by the Empire of Japan; combined Filipino and American forces maintained a stubborn resistance against the invasion. General MacArthur was ordered by the President to withdraw his headquarters to Australia, where he made his famous statement "I came out of Bataan, and I shall return". The Americans in the Philippines surrendered at Corregidor, on 6 May 1942.


title: World War II by country

text: Despite the official surrender, there was a significant local resistance movement to the Japanese Occupation. Elements of the Philippine Army continued their activity and were able to free all but twelve of the then-fifty Provinces of the Philippines, whilst other groups such as the Hukbalahap were also involved. While in exile, President Manuel L. Quezon continued to represent the Philippines until his death from tuberculosis in 1944. American forces under General MacArthur made their return in October 1944, beginning with amphibious landing on Leyte.


title: World War II by country

text: The Second World War started in September 1939, as Poland suffered an attack by Nazi Germany and later by the USSR. Many Polish troops and other servicemen escaped the occupied country. They reorganized in France and took part in the Battle of France. Later Poles organized troops in the United Kingdom and were integrated into the forces of Britain with Polish pilots serving with distinction in the Battle of Britain. Polish soldiers also played an important role in the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944. Poland was the only German-occupied country that never had any official collaboration with the Nazis. The Polish Resistance Movement was the largest anti-Nazi resistance in the whole Nazi-occupied Europe and the only non-Communist resistance among the Slavic countries. It is remembered for its daring and brave methods of resisting occupation, often facing German forces in a pitched battle. Polish armies also reformed in Soviet territory. The Polish-Jewish community was mostly exterminated in the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Poland, while Poles themselves were considered to be a threat to the "German race", and were classified as "subhumans". Millions of Poles were sent to concentration camps or were killed in other fashions in occupied Poland. German-occupied Poland was the only territory where any kind of help for Jews was punishable by death for the helper and his whole family. However, many Polish civilians risked their lives, and the lives of their families, to save the Jews from the Nazis. Moreover, Poles created "Żegota" – the only organization in occupied Europe, entirely focused on helping the Jews.


title: World War II by country

text: For the duration of World War II, Portugal was under the control of the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. Early in September 1939, Portugal proclaimed neutrality to avoid a military operation in Portuguese territory. This action was welcomed by Great Britain. Germany's invasion of France brought the Nazis to the Pyrenees, which increased the ability of Hitler to bring pressures on Portugal and Spain.


title: World War II by country

text: Following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, which cut off their supply of tungsten metal, Germany sought tungsten from Portugal. Salazar attempted to limit their purchases, and in late 1941, German U-boats attacked Portuguese ships. In January 1942 Salazar signed an agreement to sell tungsten to Germany. In June 1943, Britain invoked the long-standing Anglo-Portuguese Alliance requesting the use of the Azores, to establish an air force and naval air base. Salazar complied at once. The Allies promised all possible aid in the event of a German attack and guaranteed the integrity of Portugal's territorial possessions. In 1944, Portugal declared a total embargo of tungsten shipments to Germany. Germany protested but did not retaliate.


title: World War II by country

text: Lisbon became a safe-haven to a scattering of Jews from all over Europe. Jewish refugees from Central Europe were granted resident status. After the German invasion of France, Portugal allowed thousands of Jewish refugees to enter the country. As the war progressed, Portugal gave entry visas to people coming via rescue operations, on the condition that Portugal would only be used as a transit point. More than 100,000 Jews and other refugees were able to flee Nazi Germany into freedom via Lisbon. By the early 1940s, there were thousands of Jews arriving in Lisbon and leaving weeks later to other countries.


title: World War II by country

text: Although the Japanese military invaded and occupied the neighboring British colony of Hong Kong in 1941, they initially avoided direct interference in the affairs of Macau. It remained a neutral territory, belonging to Portugal, but Portuguese authorities lacked the ability to prevent Japanese activities in and around Macau. In 1943, Japan ordered the government of Macau to accept Japanese advisors. The limited Portuguese military forces at Macau were disarmed, although Macau was never occupied.


title: World War II by country

text: In early 1942, Portuguese authorities maintained their neutrality, in spite of warnings from the Australian and Dutch East Indies governments that Japan would invade. To protect their own positions in neighboring Dutch Timor, Australian and Dutch forces landed in Portuguese Timor and occupied the territory. There was no armed opposition from Portuguese forces or the civilian population. However, within a matter of weeks, Japanese forces landed but were unable to subdue substantial resistance, in the form of a guerrilla campaign launched by Allied commandos and continued by the local population. It is estimated that 40,000–70,000 Timorese civilians were killed by Japanese forces during 1942–45.


title: World War II by country

text: Qatar was a British protected state under the Persian Gulf Residency. The country's first oil strike occurred at Dukhan in 1939, but the outbreak of war halted production. The petroleum industry that was to transform the country did not resume until after the war. The war also disrupted food supplies, prolonging a period of economic hardship going back to the 1920s with the collapse of the pearl trade, continuing through the Great Depression and a Bahraini embargo in 1937. Entire families and tribes moved to other parts of the Persian Gulf, leaving many Qatari villages deserted. Emir Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani abdicated in 1940 in favor of his second son, Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani.


title: World War II by country

text: Romania had its first involvement in the war in providing transit rights for members of the Polish government, its treasury, and many Polish troops in 1939. During 1940, threatened with Soviet invasion, Romania ceded territory to the Soviet Union, Hungary, and Bulgaria, and following an internal political upheaval, Romania joined the Axis. Subsequently, the Romanian army participated with over 600,000 men in the German-led invasion of the Soviet Union, with its forces taking part in the capture of Odessa, Sevastopol and ultimately suffering irrecoverable losses at Stalingrad. Romania was also a major source of oil for Nazi Germany via the Ploiești oil fields.


title: World War II by country

text: With the entry of Soviet troops into Romania and a royal coup in August 1944, a pro-Allied government was installed, and after Germany and Hungary declared war on Romania, the country joined the Allies as a co-belligerent for the remainder of the war. The total number of troops deployed against the Axis was 567,000 men in 38 army divisions. The Romanian Army was involved in the siege of Budapest and reached as far as Czechoslovakia and Austria.


title: World War II by country

text: After the war, Romania forcibly became a people's republic as the country fell under the Soviet sphere of influence and joined the Warsaw Pact.


title: World War II by country

text: Samoa declared war on Germany along with New Zealand, which administered all of Western Samoa under a League of Nations mandate. Prior to World War I, Samoa had been a German colony and was occupied by New Zealand in 1914. Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany relinquished its claims to the islands.


title: World War II by country

text: Samoa sent many troops to fight with the New Zealand armed forces in the war. After the sinking of a Samoan food ship by a Japanese gunboat in 1940, the Samoan government was forced to dispatch a light-gunned ship. HMS "Fa'i" was in action and sank seven ships, including the attacking gunboat.


title: World War II by country

text: When the American armed forces entered Samoa, using it as a port, four midget submarines were spotted entering the capital Apia's port. The Samoan home guard reacted by firing a fair number of rounds, resulting in the sinking of the "Hirojimi" and the "Shijomiki".


title: World War II by country

text: Ever since the times of Giuseppe Garibaldi, San Marino has maintained strong ties with the Italian state. Throughout the war, San Marino maintained its neutrality, although it did not remain unscathed from both sides. Germany invaded San Marino on 13 September, and on 17–20 September 1944 retreating German troops of the 278th Infantry Division fought the Battle of San Marino within the country against units of the 4th Indian Division. Allied victory was followed by a short occupation.


title: World War II by country

text: Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic contacts with Germany on 11 September 1939, and with Japan in October 1941. Although officially neutral, the Saudis provided the Allies with large supplies of oil. Dhahran was bombed by Italian planes in October 1940, targeting the oil refineries. Diplomatic relations with the United States were established in 1943. King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud was a personal friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Americans were then allowed to build an air force base near Dhahran. On 28 February 1945, Saudi Arabia declared war on Germany and Japan, but no military actions resulted from the declaration.


title: World War II by country

text: Singapore was part of the Straits Settlements, a British Crown colony, and is in a strategic location for shipping routes connecting Asia to Europe. For these reasons, Japan invaded Singapore in the Battle of Singapore from 7 February to 14 February 1942. The city was renamed "Syonan" and kept under Japanese occupation until the end of the war in September 1945.


title: World War II by country

text: Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia during World War II. See this article's section on Czechoslovakia in general, and its subsection on the Slovak Republic in particular.


title: World War II by country

text: Japan occupied several areas in the British Solomon Islands during the first six months of 1942. The Japanese began to build naval and air bases to protect the flank of their offensive in New Guinea. The Allies, led by the United States, launched a counterattack with the Guadalcanal Campaign beginning 7 August 1942. These landings initiated a series of battles in the central and northern Solomons, on and around New Georgia Island, and on Bougainville Island. In a campaign of attrition fought by land, sea, and air, the Allies wore the Japanese down, inflicting irreplaceable losses. The Allies retook parts of the Solomon Islands, but Japanese resistance continued until the end of the war.


title: World War II by country

text: The impact of the war on islanders was profound. The destruction, together with the introduction of modern materials, machinery and Western material culture, transformed traditional ways of life. Some 680 islanders enlisted in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defence Force, while another 3,000 worked as labourers in the Solomon Islands Labour Corps. The experiences of Corps members affected the development of the Pijin language and helped spark the postwar political movement Maasina Ruru. During the war, the capital of Tulagi was damaged, while the Americans did much to develop the infrastructure around Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. After the war, this evolved into the new capital, Honiara.


title: World War II by country

text: As a member of the British Commonwealth, the Union of South Africa declared war on Germany shortly after the United Kingdom, on 6 September 1939. Three South African infantry divisions and one armored division fought under Allied commands in Europe and elsewhere, most notably in the North African campaign and the Italian campaign. Most of the South African 2nd Division was taken prisoner with the fall of Tobruk on 21 June 1942. Under the Joint Air Training Scheme, part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, South Africa trained 33,347 aircrews for the British Royal Air Force, South African Air Force and other Allied air forces. Only Canada trained more.


title: World War II by country

text: The so-called High Commission Territories of Bechuanaland, Basutoland, and Swaziland (modern Botswana, Lesotho, and eSwatini) had autonomous governments under the supervision of the British High Commissioner for Southern Africa. In July 1941, the paramount chiefs of these territories convinced the colonial authorities to create an independent force consisting of their subjects: the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps. During its service the corps provided crucial logistical support to the Allied war effort during the North African and Italian campaigns. Initially a labor battalion, AAPC's duties were gradually expanded to include anti-aircraft artillery operation and other combat duties. Unequal treatment of the African soldiers compared to their white counterparts led to resentment and unrest, including mutinies and riots when the unit's return home was delayed after the end of the war.


title: World War II by country

text: Southern Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) had been a self-governing British colony since 1923. It was covered by the British declaration of war, but its colonial government issued a symbolic declaration of war anyway. Southern Rhodesia's white troops did not serve in a composite unit (unlike their Australian, Canadian, or South African counterparts) because they constituted a significant part of the settler population; it was feared that the colony's future might be placed in jeopardy if an all-Southern Rhodesian unit went into the field and suffered heavy casualties. Southern Rhodesians served in East Africa, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and the Burma Campaign. A significant number of Southern Rhodesian troops, especially in the Rhodesian African Rifles, were black or mixed race. Their service has never been recognised by the ZANU–PF government in Harare. Ian Smith, the future Prime Minister, like many of his white contemporaries, served under British command as a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force.


title: World War II by country

text: The Soviet Union's participation in World War II began with the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against Japan, in Mongolia between May and August 1939. Later that year, by agreement with Germany, it invaded eastern Poland about three weeks after the Germans invaded the west of the country. During the next eleven months the Soviets occupied and annexed the Baltic states. The Soviet Union supported Germany in the war effort against Western Europe through the 1939 German–Soviet Commercial Agreement and larger 1940 German–Soviet Commercial Agreement with supplies of raw materials that were otherwise blocked by the British naval blockade. After Finland rebuffed Moscow's demands for military bases and a territorial swap, the Soviet Union invaded on 30 November 1939, in the Winter War. The Soviet Union also annexed Bessarabia, leading Romania to ally with Germany.


title: World War II by country

text: On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched a massive surprise attack on the Soviet Union. Soviet forces took heavy losses, but this Eastern Front fighting would inflict on German forces about half of their military casualties over the course of the war. After an initial devastating advance, the Wehrmacht suffered its first defeat in war at Moscow. The Germans and their allies tried in 1942 to advance southward, to the Caucasus. After six months of fighting, they suffered a pivotal defeat at Stalingrad. In late 1943, in the wake of Battle of Kursk, the Soviet Red Army gained the initiative with a series of major victories. After the Allies opened a second European front with the June 1944 landings in France, the USSR was able to push the Germans back. Soviet forces advanced into Eastern Europe during 1944 and into Germany in 1945, concluding with the Battle of Berlin. The war against the USSR inflicted loss of lives (both civilian and military), on a scale greater than any countries in the war. Following the end of the war in Europe and the American atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the USSR joined the war against Japan. The Soviet Union, as one of the main victors, gained one of the permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council. After the war, the Soviet sphere of influence was widened to cover most of Eastern Europe, formalized in the Warsaw Pact. The Soviet Union came to be considered one of the two superpowers of the Cold War.


title: World War II by country

text: Armenia participated in the Second World War on the side of the Allies under the Soviet Union. Armenia was spared the devastation and destruction that wrought most of the western Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War of World War II. The Nazis never reached the South Caucasus, which they intended to do in order to capture the oil fields in Azerbaijan. Still, Armenia played a valuable role in aiding the allies both through industry and agriculture. An estimated 300–500,000 Armenians served in the war, almost half of whom did not return. Armenia thus had one of the highest death tolls, per capita, among the other Soviet republics.


title: World War II by country

text: One hundred and nineteen Armenians were awarded with the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union. Many Armenians who were living in the areas occupied regions of the Soviet Union also formed partisan groups to combat the Germans. Over sixty Armenians were promoted to the rank of general, and with an additional four eventually achieving the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. The 89th Tamanyan Division, composed of ethnic Armenians, distinguished itself during the war. It fought in the Battle of Berlin and entered Berlin.


title: World War II by country

text: Azerbaijan played a crucial role in the strategic energy policy of the Soviet Union since much of the petroleum needed on the Eastern Front was supplied by Baku. Mobilization affected all spheres of life in Azerbaijan. The oil workers extended their work to 12-hour shifts, with no days off, no holidays, and no vacations until the end of the war. By decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in February 1942, more than 500 workers and employees of the oil industry of Azerbaijan were awarded orders and medals. In addition to this labor, some 800,000 Azerbaijanis fought in the ranks of the Soviet Army, of which 400,000 died. Azeri Major-General Hazi Aslanov was twice awarded Hero of the Soviet Union. Like the other people of the Caucasus, some Azerbaijanis joined the side of Germany.


title: World War II by country

text: Baku was the primary strategic goal of the right flank of Germany's 1942 Fall Blau offensive. In this attack, labelled Operation Edelweiss, the German Wehrmacht targeted Baku's oil fields. The German army was at first stalled in the mountains of the Caucasus, then decisively defeated at the Battle of Stalingrad and forced to retreat.


title: World War II by country

text: During WWII, Belarus was part of the Soviet Union as the Byelorussian SSR. Byelorussia's borders were expanded in the invasion of Poland of 1939 under the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which divided Poland's territory into German and Soviet spheres. Despite the pact, Nazi Germany invaded on June 22, 1941; Germany occupied all of Belarus by August. The Jewish inhabitants were rounded up by Einsatzgruppen and slaughtered. In 1943 the Germans established the Belarusian Central Council, a collaborationist government. Meanwhile, the Belarusian resistance fought against the occupiers. Soviet forces took back Belarus during Operation Bagration on August 1, 1944.


title: World War II by country

text: Although the Axis powers never penetrated the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Georgia contributed to the war effort almost 700,000 officers and soldiers (about 20% of the total 3.2–3.4 million citizens mobilized), of which approximately 300,000 were killed. 137 Georgians were awarded Hero of the Soviet Union, the most numerous recipients of this award in the Caucasus. The country was also a vital source of textiles as well as an important manufacturer of warplanes.


title: World War II by country

text: Around 30,000 Georgians, both captives and volunteers, fought for the Germans in units such as the Bergmann Battalion. One such Axis unit, the Georgian Legion, staged the Georgian Uprising of Texel in the Netherlands, often described as Europe's last battle of World War II. When it became clear that the Germans were losing, the Georgians of the "Queen Tamar" Battalion, led by Shalva Loladze, decided to switch sides. On 6 April 1945, they attempted to capture the island's heavily fortified coastal batteries. A German counterattack led to fierce fighting and the failure of the uprising.


title: World War II by country

text: Before the German invasion, Ukraine was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, inhabited by Ukrainians with Russian, Polish, Jewish, Belarusian, German, Romani and Crimean Tatar minorities. It was a key subject of Nazi planning for the post-war expansion of the German state. Upon the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, modern-day Ukraine fell under their occupation. The Nazi occupation of Ukraine ended the lives of millions of civilians in the Holocaust and other Nazi mass killings: it is estimated 900,000 to 1.6 million Jews and 3 to 4 million non-Jewish Ukrainians were killed during the occupation. Under the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, many Ukrainians fled east to aid the Soviet Red Army in resisting the German advance, while others stayed behind and formed the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) (), which waged military campaign against Germans and later Soviet forces as well against Polish civilians.


title: World War II by country

text: Those Ukrainians who remained at times welcomed the Germans as liberators. Those who collaborated with the German occupiers did so in various ways including participating in the local administration, in the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, the Schutzmannschaft, in the German military, and serving as concentration camp guards. An entire Ukrainian volunteer SS division was created. Nationalists in western Ukraine were among the most enthusiastic and hoped that their efforts would enable them to re-establish an independent state later on. For example, on the eve of Operation' Barbarossa, as many as 4000 Ukrainians, operating under Wehrmacht orders, sought to cause disruption behind Soviet lines, and some groups aided the German Army in the invasion, including the infamous Nachtigall and Roland battalions.


title: World War II by country

text: Italian and German intervention had aided the Franco government in the recent Spanish Civil War, but Franco and Hitler did not achieve an agreement about Spanish participation in the new war. Galicia became an alternate source of tungsten for the Reich. Despite its non-belligerency, Spain sent volunteers to fight against the Soviet Union in the form of the Blue Division. As the Allies emerged as possible victors, the regime declared neutrality in July 1943. Removal of Spanish troops from the Eastern Front was completed in March 1944.


title: World War II by country

text: Spain did make plans for defence of the country. Initially, the mass of the Spanish army was stationed in southern Spain in case of Allied attack from Gibraltar during 1940 and 1941. However, Franco ordered the divisions to gradually redeploy in the Pyrenees as Axis interest in Gibraltar grew. By the time it became clear that the Allies were gaining the upper hand, Franco had amassed all his troops on the French border and was assured that the Allies did not wish to invade Spain.


title: World War II by country

text: In 1940, Suriname was a colony of the Netherlands. At the start of the Battle of the Netherlands, it was defended by 200 soldiers of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army and 180 local volunteers of the "Schutterij".


title: World War II by country

text: Suriname was a major producer of bauxite which is used to make aluminium, a vital resource for the aircraft industry. Between 1940 and 1943, Suriname supplied 65% of American imports of bauxite. On 1 September 1941, three months before Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made an offer to Queen Wilhelmina to station 3,000 soldiers in Suriname. The number of troops was later revised to 2,000 soldiers who started to arrive from November 1941 onwards. In December 1941, the American troops started to transform Airstrip Zanderij into the largest airport of South America at the time.


title: World War II by country

text: The border with French Guiana, part of Vichy France, was a major concern, and was defended by the "Schutterij". On 16 March 1943, French Guiana sided with Free France. In 1943, the American troops were replaced by Puerto Ricans.


title: World War II by country

text: In exchange for greater Swazi autonomy from the British, King Sobhuza II gathered a few thousand Swazi volunteers to fight with the Allies in the war. Swazi soldiers served in the Western Desert campaign and the Invasion of Italy.


title: World War II by country

text: Sweden maintained neutrality throughout the war, though some Swedish volunteers participated in the Winter War and in the Continuation War against the Soviet Union.


title: World War II by country

text: After Denmark and Norway were invaded on 9 April 1940, Sweden and the other remaining Baltic Sea countries became enclosed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, then on friendly terms with each other as formalized in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The lengthy fighting in Norway resulted in intensified German demands for indirect support from Sweden, demands that Swedish diplomats were able to fend off by reminding the Germans of the Swedes' feeling of closeness to their Norwegian brethren. With the conclusion of hostilities in Norway this argument became untenable, forcing the Cabinet to give in to German pressure and allow continuous (unarmed) troop transports, via Swedish railroads, between Germany and Norway. Throughout the war, Sweden supplied Germany with iron ore, which they desperately needed to produce weapons.


title: World War II by country

text: Switzerland intended to be a neutral power during the war, but Axis threats and military mobilizations towards its borders prompted the Swiss military to prepare for war. Following the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, this country was completely mobilized within three days. An invasion of Switzerland, codenamed Operation Tannenbaum was planned for 1940, but Hitler decided it would be a waste of resources. Unlike the Netherlands, Belgium, and other western European nations that had easily fallen under German maneuver warfare, Switzerland had a strong military and mountainous terrain offering defenders the traditional advantage of high ground in mountain warfare.


title: World War II by country

text: Despite its neutrality, Switzerland was not free from hostilities. Early in the war, Swiss fighters shot down German aircraft for violating Swiss air space. Counting both sides, hundreds of aircraft, such as those with battle damage, landed in Switzerland and were interned at Swiss airports and their crews held until the end of the war. Allied airmen were interned, in some cases contrary to Swiss law, and some were reportedly subjected to abuse in internment camps. Both sides accidentally bombed Swiss cities. Because of its defensive and hostile nature toward both sides, Switzerland eventually and unofficially proclaimed itself on its own side in the war. Although the Swiss government was anti-Nazi, Swiss troops did not directly participate in the war. After the war, controversies arose over assets of the victims and perpetrators of the Holocaust in Swiss banks.


title: World War II by country

text: Syria was under French control throughout the war. Following the French surrender in 1940, this was the Vichy government, a puppet of the Nazi regime. Winston Churchill feared that Germany could use Syria to threaten Britain's Iraqi oil supplies. These appeared to be substantiated when Luftwaffe supply flights to the new pro-German Iraqi regime (under Rashid Ali) refuelled in Damascus.


title: World War II by country

text: In June 1941, British and Free French forces invaded Syria, and after giving effective opposition, the Vichy forces surrendered in July 1941. British occupation lasted until the end of the war. During the occupation, Syria gradually went on the path towards independence. The proclamation of independence took place in 1944; October 1945 Syrian Republic was recognized by the United Nations; it became a de facto sovereign state on 17 April 1946 with the withdrawal of French troops.


title: World War II by country

text: After the United Kingdom declared war, the British forces in Tanganyika were ordered to intern the German males living in the territory out of fear that they would try to help the Axis. Some of the Germans living in Dar es Salaam attempted to flee the country, but they were stopped and later interned by a small group of Tanganyikan soldiers and British officers that included Roald Dahl.


title: World War II by country

text: During the war about 100,000 people from Tanganyika joined the Allies. Tanganyikans with the King's African Rifles fought in the East African Campaign against the Italians, in the Madagascar Campaign against the Vichy French, and in the Burma Campaign against the Japanese. Tanganyika became an important source of food and Tanganyika's export income greatly increased from the pre-war years of the Great Depression; however, this led to a rise in inflation.


title: World War II by country

text: Tibet was a "de facto" independent state that lacked international recognition. It remained neutral throughout the war. The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was enthroned by the Ganden Phodrang government at the Potala Palace in 1939. Tibet established a Foreign Office in 1942, and in 1946 it sent congratulatory missions to China and India related to the end of the war. Its era of independence ended after the Nationalist government of China lost the Chinese Civil War and the People's Liberation Army entered Tibet in 1950.


title: World War II by country

text: Thailand was nominally an ally of Japan at the beginning of the war. Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram, a military dictator with nationalist leanings, ruled the country under the nominal rule of King Rama VIII, who was just fourteen years old in 1939 and remained in Switzerland until the war ended. Thailand remained uninvolved when war broke out in Europe, but it took the opportunity of France's defeat to settle claims to parts of French Indochina, in the Franco-Thai War. The December 1941 Japanese invasion of Thailand brought five hours of war after which Phibun surrendered and acquiesced, making the country a stepping-stone to open the Burma Campaign.


title: World War II by country

text: Japanese victory in the Malayan Campaign made the Premier more enthusiastic about co-operation, and on 21 December, a formal "alliance" was concluded. On 25 January 1942, Thailand declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom. Some Thais disapproved, and formed the Free Thai Movement to resist. Eventually, when the war turned against the Japanese, Phibun was forced to resign, and Thailand renounced its alliance with Japan.


title: World War II by country

text: Tonga declared war on Germany in 1939 and on Japan in 1941 following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Queen of Tonga, Salote Tupou III, put her island country's resources at the disposal of Britain and supported the Allied cause throughout the war. The Tonga Defense Service (TDS) came into existence in 1939. New Zealand trained two Tongan contingents of about 2000 troops, who saw action in the Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal. In addition, New Zealand and US troops were stationed on Tongatapu, which became a staging point for shipping.


title: World War II by country

text: The Emirate of Transjordan was a British mandate territory, and the Transjordanian forces were under British command during the war.


title: World War II by country

text: Tunisia was a French protectorate and many Tunisians took satisfaction in France's defeat by Germany, but the nationalist parties were unable to derive any benefit from it. The Vichy French Resident-General, Admiral Jean-Pierre Esteva, repressed political activity and arrested leaders of the independence party Neo Destour. The Bey Muhammad VII al-Munsif (Moncef Bey) declared neutrality and attempted to protect Tunisian Jews from persecution.


title: World War II by country

text: Allied forces landed in Algeria with Operation Torch on 8 November 1942. Beginning on 10 November, the British First Army under Kenneth Anderson began to advance toward Tunis. For the next six months, Tunisia was a battlefield as Axis and Allied forces fought on northern and southern fronts. In February 1943 the Axis won a victory at the Battle of Kasserine Pass, the first major engagement involving American troops, but the Operation Ochsenkopf offensive at the end of the month failed to stop the Allied advance. The Battle of Longstop Hill cleared the road to Tunis, which fell on 7 May. All Axis forces in Tunisia surrendered in the following days.


title: World War II by country

text: Following the recapture of Tunis, Free France took control of the country. Charles Mast served as the Resident General for the remainder of the war. The Free French accused Moncef Bey of collaborating with the Vichy Government and deposed him. From Tunisia, the Allies launched Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, in July 1943.


title: World War II by country

text: Turkey was neutral until several months before the end of the war, at which point it joined the Allied powers. Prior to the outbreak of war, Turkey signed a Mutual Aid Pact with France and Britain in 1939. After the German invasion of France, however, Turkey remained neutral, relying on a clause excusing them if military action might bring conflict with the USSR, which, after the division of Poland, Turkey feared, as East Thrace including Istanbul and the Caucasian borderlands were especially vulnerable to a potential Soviet attack. Then, in June 1941, after neighboring Bulgaria joined the Axis and allowed Germany to move troops through to invade Yugoslavia and Greece, Turkey signed a treaty of friendship with Germany.


title: World War II by country

text: Turkey was an important producer of chromite, which is a key ingredient in the manufacture of stainless steel and refractory brick, and Germany had limited access to it. The key issue in Turkey's negotiations with both sides was the sale of chromite to Germany or to the Allies. The Allies had access to other sources and mainly bought the chromite in order to preclude its sale to Germany. Turkey halted its sales to Germany in April 1944 and broke off relations in August. Turkey declared war on the Axis powers in February 1945, after the Allies made its invitation to the inaugural meeting of the United Nations (along with the invitations of several other nations) conditional on full belligerency. No Turkish troops ever saw combat.


title: World War II by country

text: It is noteworthy that in the March 8, 1943 entry in the Diary of Anne Frank, Anne is recording the jubilation felt by herself and her family at the news that Turkey had joined the war on the side of the Allies, replaced on the following day by disappointment when hearing that in fact Turkey had not actually joined the war, all that happened was a Turkish minister saying that Turkey "might" end its neutrality at some future time. This phenomenon of a jubilation followed by disappointment was not limited to the hidden Jews alone. In the March 9 entry is recounted that a newsboy on Amsterdam's Dam Square had been calling out "Turkey stands with England! Read all about it!" and that a sizeable crowd turned out to buy the paper.


title: World War II by country

text: The Tuvan People's Republic was a partially recognized Soviet puppet state. Tuva volunteer forces took part in the battles on the eastern front as part of the formations of the Workers and Peasants Red Army. On October 14, 1944, the Tuva People's Republic became part of the Soviet Union, becoming the Tuva Autonomous Oblast. From that moment on, the Tuvans participated in hostilities until the end of the war as citizens of the Soviet Union.


title: World War II by country

text: The United Kingdom, along with most of its Dominions and Crown colonies, declared war on Nazi Germany in September 1939 to honour its commitments to Poland after the German invasion. After the fall of France, Britain was the only major Allied nation left in Europe. In the early war, the Royal Navy engaged Axis ships in the Battles of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, while the army fought in the Balkans, East African, and Western Desert Campaigns.


title: World War II by country

text: Britain entered the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II when Japan seized many British colonies in Asia in 1941–1942. After the Soviet Union and United States joined the Allies in 1941, the U.K. launched major offensives in North Africa, Italy, and Normandy. As a member of the Big Three, Prime Minister Winston Churchill participated in conferences with the US and USSR to plan the war and the postwar world; Britain became one of the Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.


title: World War II by country

text: While Nazi Germany never attacked Britain with ground forces, it subjected the country to heavy air attacks in the Battle of Britain of 1940, which continued until mid-1941 as the nightly attacks of the Blitz. The air attacks killed 40,000 people and prompted evacuations of major urban centres, but achieved none of Germany's strategic objectives. The economy of Britain was re-oriented to military production. Efforts like the Women's Land Army boosted food production, while a rationing program regulated consumption. The United Kingdom passed a conscription law immediately after declaring war, but conscription was never implemented in Northern Ireland, despite urgings from the Stormont government, due to Irish nationalist opposition.


title: World War II by country

text: The Channel Islands are self-governing Crown dependencies off the coast of France, and were the only British territory to be occupied by Germany during the War. The islands are dependent on the United Kingdom for their defence and foreign relations. In 1940, the British government demilitarised the islands, and they were subsequently occupied by German forces. Strong German defences were set up, but the Islands were not assaulted except by occasional hit-and-run commando raids. German forces surrendered at the end of the war. Almost all the Jewish people fled the islands before the German occupation; some who remained were deported to extermination camps.


title: World War II by country

text: The Isle of Man is a self-governing Crown dependency external to the United Kingdom. Its foreign relations and defence, however, are the responsibility of the government of the UK. During the Second World War, the Isle of Man had a detention camp for Axis citizens and suspected sympathisers, including members of the British Union of Fascists and the Irish Republican Army. A naval base, radar network and training stations were also established on the island.


title: World War II by country

text: A sense of having been tricked into World War I led Congress, with strong public opinion backing, to pass the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s. After 1939 the Roosevelt Administration made support of Britain, China and France a priority and tried to revoke or avoid the neutrality laws. This new policy included trade with the British under terms that the Axis could not meet. The U.S. passed a Lend-Lease act in March 1941. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the debates on neutrality ended and the nation was unified in support of the war. Washington and the Allies made German defeat the priority, coordinating with London in most major operations. However, it also maintained a strong effort against Japan, being the primary Allied power in the Pacific Theater. The U.S. led the Manhattan Project to develop atomic weapons, which it deployed in August 1945 in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This attack led to the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II.


title: World War II by country

text: Inside the United States, every aspect of life from politics to personal savings was put on a wartime footing. The country directed its massive industrial production to the war effort as what President Roosevelt called "the Arsenal of Democracy." Civilians engaged in volunteer efforts and submitted to government-managed rationing and price controls. The Hollywood film industry produced wartime propaganda. Between 110,000 and 120,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly moved to internment camps. After the war, the United States retained military commitments to European security while providing economic investment to rebuild nations devastated during the war. Politically, the U.S. became a founding member of NATO, and hosts the United Nations in which it gained one of the permanent chairs on the Security Council.


title: World War II by country

text: American Samoa is an American territory and a U.S. Navy base, and was used during the war. See also Pacific Islands.


title: World War II by country

text: 25,000 Native Americans in World War II fought actively: 21,767 in the Army, 1,910 in the Navy, 874 in the Marines, 121 in the Coast Guard, and several hundred Native American women as nurses. As sovereign nations, the tribes joined the war "de facto" alongside the United States with their citizens enlisting in the Armed Forces.


title: World War II by country

text: The Iroquois Confederacy was the only Native American nation to have officially declared war on the Axis powers separately from the United States. The Iroquois representative to the U.S. stated: "We represent the oldest, though smallest, democracy in the world today. It is the unanimous sentiment among Indian people that the atrocities of the Axis nations are violently repulsive to all sense of righteousness of our people, and that this merciless slaughter of mankind can no longer be tolerated. Now we do resolve that it is the sentiment of this council that the Six Nations of Indians declare that a state of war exists between our Confederacy of Six Nations on the one part and Germany, Italy, Japan and their allies against whom the United States has declared war, on the other part."


title: World War II by country

text: More than 65,000 Puerto Ricans served in the United States armed forces during World War II. Some guarded American installations in the Caribbean, while others served in combat in the European and Pacific theatres. Many of the soldiers from the island served in the 65th Infantry Regiment or the Puerto Rico National Guard. As recruitment increased many were assigned to units in the Panama Canal Zone and the British West Indies to replace the continental troops serving in regular Army units. Puerto Ricans residing on the mainland were assigned to regular units of the military. They were often subject to the racial discrimination that was widespread in the United States at the time.


title: World War II by country

text: Borinquen Army Airfield, today Ramey Air Force Base, was established in Puerto Rico in 1939. In 1940, President Roosevelt ordered the construction of a major naval base to serve as "the Pearl Harbor of the Atlantic." Roosevelt Roads Naval Station grew into a major facility but was scaled back after the defeat of Germany. The naval station remained in use until 2003, when it was shut down.


title: World War II by country

text: Uruguay was neutral for most of World War II but eventually joined the Allies. It declared its neutrality on September 4, 1939, although President Alfredo Baldomir was poorly disposed towards the Axis powers. Uruguay's neutrality included a exclusion zone extending from its coast, established as part of the Declaration of Panama.


title: World War II by country

text: Neither side of the conflict acknowledged the exclusion zone, and in December, British warships and the German warship fought the Battle of the River Plate in the zone. This prompted a joint protest from several Latin American nations to both sides. ("Admiral Graf Spee" took refuge in Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, claiming sanctuary in a neutral port, but was later ordered out.) In early 1942, President Baldomir broke off diplomatic relations with the Axis Powers. On 15 February 1945, near the end of the war, Uruguay dropped its neutrality and joined the Allies.


title: World War II by country

text: Vatican City, the smallest autonomous country in the world at 0.44 km (0.16 sq mi), remained unoccupied throughout the war and its small military did not engage in combat. Though Pope Pius XII allegedly supported resistance efforts in secret, issued public statements against racism, and attempted to broker peace before the outbreak of total war; as Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, he signed the very first treaty negotiated by Nazi Germany when it came to power in 1933, the Reichskonkordat, on behalf of Pope Pius XI (a treaty that remains in force today). The Vatican City was also bound by the Lateran Treaty with Italy, requiring the Vatican and the Holy See to remain politically neutral, which Pius XII successfully sought to maintain throughout the war.


title: World War II by country

text: After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Venezuela severed diplomatic relations with Italy, Germany, and Japan, and produced vast oil supplies for the Allies. It maintained a relative neutrality until the last years of war, when it finally declared war on Germany and the rest of the Axis countries.


title: World War II by country

text: The Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, which occupied the northern portion of modern Yemen, followed an isolationist foreign policy under King Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din. It formed an alliance with Italy in 1936, and yet it remained neutral for the duration of the war. The southern portion of modern Yemen, known as the Aden Protectorate, was under British control.


title: World War II by country

text: The Axis Powers occupied Yugoslavia in 1941 and created several puppet states and client states including the Independent State of Croatia, Nedić's Serbia, and the Kingdom of Montenegro. Other parts of Yugoslavia were occupied directly. Yugoslavs opposing the Nazis soon started to organize resistance movements, the Partisans, led by Josip Broz Tito and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and the monarchist Chetniks, led by Draža Mihailović. The Sisak People's Liberation Partisan Detachment of the Yugoslav Partisans established in Sisak, Croatia, was the first armed anti-Fascist movement to take place in occupied Yugoslavia and primarily consisted of Croats. By the end of 1941, of the roughly 7,000 members of Partisans in Croatia, 5,400 were Serbs. By May 1944, the ethnic composition of the Yugoslav Partisans on a national level was made up of 44% Serbs, 30% Croats and 10% Slovenes. The two resistance movements had conflicting goals, and the Chetniks began collaborating in the middle of the war with the Axis powers to fight against the Partisans. The Chetniks also engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs in the territory of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the war. This was in accordance with Mihailović's directive of 20 December 1941 which called for the cleansing of Croats and Bosniaks living in areas intended to be part of Greater Serbia. Communist Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia was convened on in Bihać in 1942 and in Jajce. Near the end of the war, Western governments attempted to reconcile the various sides, which led to the Tito-Šubašić Agreement in June 1944. However, the Communist Party ruled the post-war state. After heavy bloodshed in a complex war, Yugoslavia was reestablished in 1945, including areas previously ruled by Kingdom of Italy (Istria and parts of Dalmatia). General Mihailović and many other royalists were rounded-up and executed by the Partisans. Mihailović was posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit by President Harry S. Truman for his resistance efforts throughout the war and for his role in Operation Halyard.