Commanders of World War II


The Commanders of World War II were for the most part career officers. They were forced to adapt to new technologies and forged the direction of modern warfare. Some political leaders, particularly those of the principal dictatorships involved in the conflict, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Emperor Hirohito, acted as supreme military commanders as well as dictators for their respective countries or empires.

Military commanders

Allied Forces

United Kingdom

France

United States



Walter Short

Soviet Union

Republic of China

Australia

New Zealand

Poland

Czechoslovakia

Greece

Netherlands

Yugoslavia



Milan Nedic

Canada

South Africa

Luxembourg

Axis Forces

Germany

Italy

Japan

Hungary

Thailand

Romania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Air force Stoyan Stoyanov

Others

Finland

Burma

Switzerland

Ukraine