soviet union suffered the greatest military and civilian loss of life during world war ii.
soviet union suffered the greatest military and civilian loss of life during world war ii.
what allies suffered the greatest military and civilian loss of life during world war ii?
soviet union
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 campaign (1941–42)|philippines]], [[battle of guam (1941)|guam]] and [[battle of wake island|wake island]]; on the [[british empire|british]] colonies of [[japanese invasion of malaya|malaya]], [[battle of singapore#outbreak of war|singapore]], and [[battle of hong kong|hong kong]]; and on the [[japanese invasion of thailand|kingdom of thailand]]. during 1942 japan launched offensives in the [[second sino-japanese war#japanese expansion|china]], [[south-east asian theatre of world war ii|southeast asian]], and [[south west pacific theatre of world war ii|pacific theatres]] of the war. by late 1942 japan was on the defensive as the [[allies of world war ii|allies]] reversed its earlier gains. the [[atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki]] by the united states, together with the [[soviet–japanese war|declaration of war by the soviet union]], convinced the japanese government to [[surrender of japan|surrender unconditionally on september 2, 1945]]. many political and military leaders from japan were [[japanese war crimes|convicted for war crimes]] before the [[tokyo tribunal]] and other allied tribunals in asia.
world war ii by country
unable to push north into the netherlands, the allies in western europe were forced to consider other options to get into germany. in the summer of 1944, the allies suffered from a large supply crisis, due to the long supply route. but by the fall of 1944, this has largely been resolved (red ball express). as part of the siegfriend line campaign, the allies tried to push into germany towards the rhine. as a first step, aachen was captured during a heavy battle. the germans now had the advantage of their old fortification system, the siegfried line. during the battle of hürtgen forest, the allies fought a long battle of attrition with the germans, which ended initially in a stalemate, with the allies unable to take the complete forest. the battle of the hürtgen forrest was later absorbed by a larger offensive, operation queen. during this offensive, the allies intended to push towards the rur river, as a staging point for a subsequent thrust over the river to the rhine into germany. however, against underestimated and stiffened german resistance, the allies were only able to make slow progress. by mid-december the allies were finally at the rur, but by then the germans had prepared their own offensive through the ardennes, which was launched in the midst of an unsuccessful allied attack against the rur dams.
military history of the united states during world war ii