Japan during World War II reconstruct the "'critical mass' of both large numbers of carriers and well-trained air groups". Australian land forces defeated Japanese Marines in New Guinea at the Battle of Milne Bay in September 1942, which was the first land defeat suffered by the Japanese in the Pacific. Further victories by the Allies at Guadalcanal in September 1942, and New Guinea in 1943 put the Empire of Japan on the defensive for the remainder of the war, with Guadalcanal in particular sapping their already-limited oil supplies. During 1943 and 1944, Allied forces, backed by the industrial might and vast raw material resources of
Military equipment of Sweden during World War II full payload. Number of bombers pre-war: 88 Number of bombers in 1939: 116 Number of bombers in 1940: 276 Number of bombers in 1941: 346 Number of bombers in 1942: 534 Number of bombers in 1943: 743 Number of bombers in 1944: 775 Number of bombers in 1945: 879 Military equipment of Sweden during World War II Sweden was formally a non-belligerent nation throughout World War II, but saw considerable military build-up as the level of threat from the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany increased. Between 10,000 and 20,000 Swedes fought as volunteers abroad, a majority of them in service