Why did the US mass produce the Sherman tank during WW2?
Because we could. Granted the Sherman was no match for the Tiger or the Panzer, but the sheer volume of tanks produced overwhelmed the opposition. By using the production capabilities of the US industrial machine, the US dominated the battlefields with the number of tanks they were able to get into action.
Why did the Allies win World War 2?
Various reasons, the most important single reason being that the combined industrial output of the USA, Soviet Union and British Empire was much larger than that of the Axis powers. This meant that, once geared up for war production, the Allies could produce far more armaments in total than the Axis. Next, the huge manpower reserves of the Soviet Union. This enabled them to withstand everything that Nazi Germany could throw at them for two years. Despite massive losses, the Red Army was able to (eventually) turn back the Wehrmacht and drive them back into Germany. Compared to the Soviet advance, D-Day and the Anglo-American-French advance was something of a sideshow. Others: despite its popular image, the Nazi state was actually run pretty shambolically, with various government agencies competing for resources and manpower with each other. This meant the Nazis could not utilise their resources with the same degree of effectiveness as the Allies. Nazi Germany and Japan had no means of direct contact; they were unable to offer each other any military aid or transfer of resources, which hampered both nations considerably. The only means of physical contact was a submarine journey which took months; in contrast, Churchill flew from London to Russia at least twice, and probably more often (a Moscow summit with Stalin in 1942 and the Yalta conference, off the top of my head). Nazi ideology: the Nazi racist mentality meant they alienated many potential allies, such as the Baltic nations - when the Nazis first entered these states they were greeted as liberators from Soviet dictatorship, but their rule was so brutal they managed to turn essentially the entire population against themselves. The same thing happened in Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Yugoslavia... - potentially acquiescent populations ended up rebelling against Nazi brutality. Resources: the Nazis and Japanese did not have access to resources such as oil or metals in anything like the amounts the Allies enjoyed - Caucasian oil was a major reason for the German invasion of the USSR. They struggled to maintain offensives due to chronic shortages of fuel, especially in the later stages of the war. There are many more problems which contributed to the Axis defeat, but these are a few of the more important ones.
Who was the most important allied country in World War 2?
The most important allied country in World War II, was the United States of America with its enormous industrial production and military might which insured crucial naval supremacy and mastery of the air and the capacity to invade massively to the place of its choice. The American 8th Air Force engaged in bombing campaigns from across the channel into Germany, literally obliterated Germany research and manufacturing capabilities. Massive American air attacks on mainland Germany did a pretty crushing blow to these new weapons that Germany was developing. I don't think Britain could have mustered enough of an air campaign to do what was done without the help of the Americans. And I don't think the Soviet Union could have taken on a Germany with full manufacturing capability. Britain and the Soviet Union were most important since they forced the axis forces to fight on two fronts. The Soviet Union's contribution was huge and they suffered the most while inflicting the most damage to the nazis. But at the end of the day, the allies could not have kept fighting without the supplies and the mighty support the U.S. provided. Britain was on the edge of starvation and was only able to keep on fighting because of the invaluable support emanating from the mighty american industrial production to support the allied war effort. Furthermore, we should not overlook the fact that the Soviet Union won its side of the war, with considerable assistance from the United States. This is even without considering the impact of nuclear weapons that Americans had in 1945. Let's not forget that at the end of World War II, the Soviet Union's intentions were to take over the nations of Western Europe and make them Soviet's satellites. Fortunately, after the war, the United States retained military commitments to European security while providing economic investment to rebuild nations suffering devastation during the war. Americans saved Europe twice, from the Nazis and then from the Soviets and their communist hegemony. America was the most important force in World War II and without any possible doubt, saved the world from tyranny.
Why did the Allies win WWII?
very simply out producing. The production of liberty ships.. when the Germans found out the production rate.. that alone indicated the the outcome of the war.
How was Germany able to keep up with its production during WW2 even when the Allies bombed?
Oddly enough, Germany was the last country to switch it's industrial capacity to a total war footing and it was not done until 1944. Prior to that, Germany still produced consumer goods that had disappeared from Britain and the US virtually as soon as the war began. Also much of what was considered "keeping up production" was the result of switching priorities. As an example, fighter aircraft were considered primarily defensive weapons while bombers were offensive weapons. As the bombing stepped up, there was a switch to produce fighters. Fighter production increased as the allied bombing stepped up - German bomber production came close to ending altogether.Also Germany also moved what production facilities they could underground and used a sophisticated system of subcontractors where the same parts were being manufactured multiple places. When one factory was hit, production continued because other factories were producing the same thing.Germany also found that in many cases a factory being destroyed did not destroy the vital machine tools within the factory. The machines could be relocated and production resumed.All of these factors were quite successful in allowing production to continue, however, other industries were not so readily disbursed and moved under ground. In particular the related items petroleum and transportation were very vulnerable and could not be moved underground. Trains, railroad tracks, rail yards, tunnels were vital and plummeted from the air as were roads, trucks, bridges etc. The net result is that in the latter stages of the war, it was common for what was produced to never reach where it was needed. A classic example is Germany's late war highest priority production item: the Me-262. 1,400 were produced. Only 400 ever saw combat.