The Home Fronts:
Part 1: The Entente
Table 1: Entente Military Production in 1941
Aircraft
Armor
Artillery
United Kingdom
(Total Commonwealth)
23,000
5,500
50,000
France *
15,000
3,500
25,000
Japan
13,000
2,000
20,000
Manchuria
2,000
1,000
10,000
* (Could not find reliable sources to have fudged it at half of UK's total.)
The Home Front situation of the Entente reached critical point by the end of 1941. Defeats in Greece, Malta and North China had eroded the morale of the civilian and political classes. Nonetheless, the key Entente powers held on: powered on by the fear of a harsh post-war settlement from the seemingly victorious Axis.
United Kingdom:
The UK was sagging from the weight of fighting a three front war and fighting a war on her home front from Fascist and Communist agitation. The UK Labour Party had reluctantly thrown herself into the coalition government following the German declaration of war, but had previously opposed the "Colonial Adventure" in China. This reluctant coalition oversaw a massive increase in the United Kingdom's borrowing from America in order to finance an increasingly expensive war.
India and her colonies was another major issue on the home front. The entry of UK Labour had softened up what had previously been a hardline stance. More devolution and post-war independence was guaranteed to India in order to win her support for what had become an exhausting conflict. Indian manpower was needed to sustain the losses suffered by the Empire. Although some of the manpower could be plugged by Commonwealth Canada, Australia and New Zealand, India's massive manpower reserves were thought to be limitless. This strategy was useful, but was limited by the continued bubbling away of discontent of more fervent Nationalists who were receiving arms, materiel and propaganda from across the Indo-Chinese border.
Another way to deal with them was by increasing the use of women in factories and workplaces. The Commonwealth economy was increasingly being geared towards war production and this required the total mobilization of all resources.
The combined GDP of the Commonwealth was approximately worth $700 billion (in 1990 terms. ) (1) This did not necessarily translate into Industrial production as a lot of India, Africa and other of Britain's colonial possessions were not industrialized. Nonetheless, the British Commonwealth was the most industrially productive of the Entente Powers, producing about 23,000 aircraft of various types, 5,500 armoured fighting vehicles (5,000 of which were tanks) and 50,000 various pieces of artillery (excluding mortar calliber pieces and below.)
France:
France fought on. Despite the lack of support for the war among the Communists and sections of the Hard Left, France proceeded with a crash-course program of mobilization. The was was not necessarily a popular one to start with, but as it had been transformed into a defensive one, it gained some measure of popular legitemacy with all but the most Moscow-Line communists getting onboard.
Unlike the British, France was not blessed with a colonial Empire as well resourced, as advanced and as Industrialized as the British one. France had no equivalent to Canada, Australia or New Zealand and so Metropolitan France contributed to a great deal of her production capacity with the colonies playing a role of supplying manpower both to fight for and to toil away in French factories and farms as well as crucial raw materials to keep her economy going.
However, despite this, French factories were able to keep pace and be the second most productive part of the Entente powers. French tanks and aircraft were highly advanced and very competitive on the field. Under the unlikely leadership of a reluctant Reynauld, France continued on the war, afraid of what would happen if she didn't.
Japan:
It is with some irony that the most totalitarian and 'mobilized' society out of the Entente had the least amount of production. But that would be an unfair verdict. Japan's rapid industrialization and modernization was the envy of much of the non-white world and sought to follow her example. Nonetheless, much of Japan's industrial capacity was essentially limited by the fact that Japan industrialization was quite recent.
The "Imperial Aid Association," encouraged by Prime Minister Tojo had monopolized political power within the Empire and faciliated a total mobilization of society. Despite this mobilization, Japan was still hampered by a low industrial base. There was only so much that "total Mobilization" could do when there were only a limited amount of factories.
Raw materials was not a problem for the Empire. Korean iron and Manchurian coal were complemented with Dutch rubber when Japan "secured" Dutch Indonesia in early 1941. There wasn't much that the Dutch Government-in-Exile in London could do but send formal protests. Japan was too important to the war effort. While much of Franco-British production was concentrated on the Italo-German fronts, Japanese troops bore the brunt of combat against China.
Nonetheless, while Japanese industrial capacity was not on par with her European allies, it was still capable of producing advanced design. The Japanese Zero fighter was universally acknowledged as being one of the best designs of the war, being able to go long-rangers and manoeuvre beautifully. It was also a relatively easy and uncomplicated aircraft to fly. Japanese tank design was not so advance, but then again - set against the Chinese made modified CV 38s, they were more than adequate to deal with the opposition.
Despite the long strides that Japan made and the advanced nature of Japanese aircraft design, France and Britain still looked at Japan with a colonialist mindset. When Japanese troops were slowly beaten back across North China over the course of 1941, there was some thinking that "White Troops" could solve the Chinese Question. Japan used this to her advantage in arguing for a "Southern Strategy" whereby Franco-British troops would invade Southern China as the 'tip' of the spear and Japanese troops would follow. Increasingly, in the wake of the strategic stalemate that developed, this was becoming more and more of a serious option...
Sources
(1)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_production_during_World_War_II#Major_weapons_groups
http://ww2-weapons.com/History/Production/
(Part 2: The Axis Powers is next)