World War II was a truly global conflict, fought in every one of the five continents. The players included not only soldiers and statesmen of orthodox background, but three dictators of world stature, Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin; demagogues such as Goebbels and ideologues like Alfred Rosenberg; politicians of charismatic power, like Roosevelt; prophets of national resistance, like Charles de Gaulle and of national liberation like Mahatma Gandhi. Who's Who in World War II brings together over 300 of the most important characters from every sphere of responsibility, and provides a reference source about the life, career, and personality of each character.
Adachi, Lieutenant General Hatazo, 1890-1947
Ainsworth, Rear Admiral Walden, 1886-1960
Alexander, Field Marshal Sir Harold, 1891-1969
Ambrosio, General Vittorio, 1879-1950
Anami, General Korechika, 1887-1945
Anders, Lieutenant General Wladyslaw, 1892-1970
Anderson, General Sir Kenneth, 1891-1959
Antonescu, Marshal Ion, 1882-1946
Antonov, General Alexei I, 1896-1962
Aosta, Duke Amadeo of, 1898-1942
Appleyard, Major Geoffrey, 1916-1943
Arnim, Colonel General Jurgen von, 1889-1971
Arnold, General Henry ‘Hap’, 1886-1950
Attlee, Prime Minister Clement, 1883-1967
Auchinleck, Field Marshal Sir Claude, 1884-1981
Aung San, General U, 1915-1947
Bader, Group Captain Sir Douglas, 1910-1983
Badoglio, Field Marshal Pietro, 1871-1956
Bagramyan, Marshal Ivan, 1897-
Balck, Lieutenant General Hermann, 1893-1950
Bao Dai, Emperor of Assam, 1913-
Bastico, General Ettore, 1876-1976
Bayerlein, General Fritz, 1899-1970
Bazna, Elyesa ‘Cicero’, d. 1970
Beaverbrook, Lord Maxwell Aitken, 1879-1964
Beck, General Ludwig, 1880-1944
Bedell Smith, General Walter, 1895-1961
Bell, Bishop George, 1883-1958
Benes, President Edouard, 1884-1948
Bennett, Air Vice-Marshal Donald, 1910-1986
Bennett, Major General Henry Gordon, 1887-1962
Bernadotte, Count Folke, 1895-1948
Bernhard, Prince of the Netherlands, 1911-
Berzarin, Colonel General Nikolai, 1904-1945
Beurling, Flight Lieutenant George, 1922-1948
Beveridge, Sir William, 1879-1963
Billotte, General Gaston Herve Gustave, 1875-1940
Blakeslee, Colonel Donald, 1915-
Blamey, General Sir Thomas, 1884-1951
Blaskowitz, Colonel General Johannes von, 1883-1948
Bleicher, Sergeant Hugo ‘Colonel Henri,’ 1899-
Blomberg, Field Marshal Werner von, 1878-1943
Blumentritt, General Gunther, 1892-1967
Bock, Field Marshal Fedor von, 1885-1945
Boisson, General Pierre, 1894-1948
Bong, Major Richard, 1920-1945
Bonhoffer, Dietrich, 1906-1945
Borghese, Lieutenant Commander Prince Valerio, 1912-1974
Boris III, King of Bulgaria, 1894-1943
Bor-Komorowski, General Tadeusz, 1895-1966
Bose, Subhas Chandra, 1897-1945
Bradley, General Omar, 1893-1981
Brauchitsch, Field Marshal Walter von, 1881-1948
Brereton, Major General Lewis Hyde, 1890-1967
Brooke, Field Marshal Sir Alan, 1883-1963
Brooke-Popham, Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert, 1878-1953
Brossolette, Pierre, 1903-1944
Browning, Lieutenant General Frederick ‘Boy,’ 1896-1966
Buckmaster, Colonel Maurice, 1902-1992
Buckner, General Simon Bolivar, 1886-1945
Budenny, Marshal Semyon, 1883-1973
Bulganin, Political Marshal Nikolay, 1895-1975
Busch, Field Marshal Ernest, 1885-1945
Callaghan, Rear Admiral Daniel, 1892-1942
Campbell, Major General John ‘Jock,’ 1894-1942
Canaris, Admiral Wilhelm, 1888-1945
Carlson, Brigadier Evans Fordyce, 1896-1947
Carol II, King of Rumania, 1893-1957
Carre, Mathilde ‘The Cat,’ 1910-
Carton de Wiart, General Sir Adrian, 1880-1963
Catroux, General Georges, 1877-1969
Cavallero, Marshal Ugo, 1880-1943
Chamberlain, Prime Minister Neville, 1869-1940
Chennault, Major General Claire Lee, 1890-1958
Chernyakhovsky, General Ivan, 1906-1945
Cheshire, Group Captain Leonard, 1917-1992
Chiang Kai-shek, Generalissimo, 1887-1975
Chifley, Joseph Ben, 1885-1951
Chuikov, General Vasili, 1900-1982
Churchill, Peter ‘Michel,’ 1909-1972
Ciano, Count Galeazzo, 1903-1944
Clark, Admiral Joseph, 1893-1971
Clark, General Mark, 1896-1984
Clay, General Lucius, 1897-1977
Cockcroft, Sir John, 1897-1967
Collins, Lieutenant General ‘Lightnin’ Joe’ Lawton, 1896-1963
Coningham, Air Marshal Sir Arthur, 1895-1948
Cooper, Alfred Duff, 1890-1954
Crace, Rear Admiral Sir John, 1887-1968
Creasy, Admiral George, 1895-1972
Crerar, General Henry, 1888-1965
Cripps, Sir (Richard) Stafford, 1889-1952
Crutchley, Rear Admiral Victor, 1893-1986
Cunningham, General Alan, 1887-1983
Cunningham, Admiral Sir Andrew, 1883-1963
Cunningham, Group Captain John, 1917-
Curtin, Prime Minister John, 1885-1945
Daladier, Prime Minister Edouard, 1884-1970
Damaskinos, Archbishop, 1891-1949
Darlan, Admiral Jean Francois, 1881-1942
De Gaulle, General Charles, 1890-1970
De Guingand, Major General Francis, 1900-1979
De Lattre de Tassigny, General Jean 1889-1952
Dempsey, General Miles, 1896-1969
Dentz, General Henri, 1871-1945
Devers, General Jacob, 1887-1979
Dietl, Major General Eduard, 1890-1944
Dietrich, General Sepp, 1892-1976
Dill, Field Marshal Sir John Greer, 1881-1944
Dobbie, General Sir William, 1879-1964
Doenitz, Admiral Karl, 1891-1980
Donovan, William Joseph, 1883-1959
Doolittle, Lieutenant General James, 1896-
Doorman, Admiral Karel, 1889-1942
Dorman-Smith, Major General Sir Eric ‘Chink,’ 1895-1969
Douglas, Air Marshal Sir William Sholto, 1893-1969
Dowding, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh CT, 1882-1970
Dulles, Alien Welsh, 1893-1969
Edson, Major General Merritt Austin, 1897-1955
Eichelberger, Lieutenant General Robert Lawrence, 1886-1961
Eisenhower, General Dwight D, 1890-1969
Embry, Air Vice-Marshal Basil, 1902-1977
Esmonde, Lieutenant Commander Eugene, 1909-1942
Falkenhausen, General Alexander von, 1878-1966
Falkenhorst, Colonel General Nikolaus von, 1885-1968
Farouk, King of Egypt, 1920-1965
Fergusson, Major Bernard, 1911-1980
Fitch, Rear Admiral Aubrey, 1883-1978
Fleischer, General Carl, 1883-1942
Fletcher, Vice-Admiral Frank, 1885-1973
Franco, General Francisco-Bahamonde, 1892-1975
Frank, Karl Hermann, 1898-1946
Fraser, Admiral Sir Brace, 1888-1981
Fredendall, Major General Lloyd, 1884-
Freyberg, General Sir Bernard, 1889-1963
Friedeburg, Admiral Hans von, 1895-1945
Friedman, William Frederic, 1891-1969
Friessner, Field Marshal Johannes, 1892-1971
Fritsch, General Werner von, 1880-1939
Fromm, General Friedrich, 1888-1945
Fuchida, Commander Mitsuo, 1902-1976
Fyfe, Sir David Maxwell, 1900-1967
Gale, General Sir Humphrey, 1890-1971
Galen, Archbishop Clemens von, 1878-1946
Galland, Lieutenant General Adolf, 1912-
Gamelin, General Maurice Gustave, 1872-1958
Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand, 1869-1948
Geiger, General Roy, 1885-1947
Genda, Commander Minoru, 1904-1989
Gensoul, Admiral Marcel, 1880-1974
George II, King of Greece, 1889-1947
George VI, King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1895-1952
Georges, General Joseph, 1875-1951
Ghormley, Vice-Admiral Robert Lee, 1883-1958
Giap, General Vo Nguyen, 1910-1975
Gibson, Wing Commander Guy, 1918-1944
Giffard, General Sir George, 1886-1964
Giraud, General Henri, 1879-1949
Goebbels, Dr Joseph, 1897-1945
Goering, Reichsmarschall Hermann, 1893-1946
Golikov, Colonel General Filipp, 1900-
Golovanov, Air Chief Marshal Alexander, 1903-
Gort, Field Marshal John, 1886-1946
Gott, Lieutenant General William ‘Strafer,’ 1897-1942
Govorov, Marshal Leonid, 1897-1955
Grechko, General Andrey, 1903-1976
Griswold, Major General Oscar, 1886-1954
Groves, General Leslie, 1898-1970
Guderian, Colonel General Heinz, 1888-1953
Guerisse, Albert, ‘Pat O’ Leary,’ 1911-1989
Hacha, President Emil, 1872-1945
Haile Selassie, Emperor of Abyssinia, 1891-1976
Halder, General Franz, 1884-1971
Halifax, Earl of (Edward Wood), 1881-1959
Halsey, Vice-Admiral William ‘Bull,’ 1882-1959
Harmon, Major General Millard, 1888-1945
Harriman, William Averell, 1891-1986
Harris, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur, 1892-1984
Hart, Admiral Thomas, 1877-1971
Hassell, Baron Ulrich von, 1881-1944
Heinrici, Colonel General Gotthard, 1889-
Henderson, Sir Nevile, 1882-1942
Hewitt, Rear Admiral Kent, 1887-1972
Heydrich, Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard, 1904-1942
Himmler, Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich, 1900-1945
Hirohito, Emperor of Japan, 1901-1987
Hitler, Fuhrer Adolf, 1889-1945
Hodges, General Courtney Hicks, 1887-1966
Holland, Vice-Admiral Lancelot, 1887-1941
Homma, General Masaharu, 1888-1946
Honda, Lieutenant General Masaki, 1889-1964
Hopner, General Erich, 1886-1944
Hor-Belisha, Sir Leslie, 1894-1957
Horrocks, General Sir Brian, 1895-1985
Horthy, Admiral Miklos, 1868-1946
Horton, Admiral Sir Max, 1883-1951
Hoth, General Herrmann, 1885-1971
Hoxha, General Enver, 1908-1985
Hurley, Major General Patrick, 1883-1963
Husseini, Amin el (Grand Mufti of Jerusalem), 1893-1974
Hyakutake, Lieutenant General Haruyoshi, 1888-1947
Ibn Saud, Abd-ul Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia, 1880-1953
Inayat Khan, Noor, ‘Madeleine,’ 1914-1944
Inonu, President Ismet, 1884-1974
Ironside, Field Marshal Sir Edmund, 1880-1959
Ismay, General Sir Hastings, 1887-1965
Jeschonnek, General Hans, 1899-1943
Jodl, General Alfried, 1890-1946
Johnson, Group Captain James, 1916-
Joubert de la Ferte, Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip, 1897-1965
Joyce, William ‘Lord Haw-Haw,’ 1906-1946
Juin, Marshal Alphonse Pierre, 1888-1967
Kaltenbrunner, Ernst, 1902-1946
Katukov, General Mikhail, 1900-
Keitel, Field Marshal Wilhelm, 1882-1946
Kenney, General George, 1889-1977
Kesselring, Field Marshal Albrecht, 1885-1960
Keyes, Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey, 1917-1941
Kido, Marquis Koicho, 1886-1977
Kimmel, Admiral Husband, 1882-1968
King, Admiral Ernest, 1878-1956
King, Prime Minister William MacKenzie, 1874-1950
Kinkaid, Admiral Thomas, 1888-1972
Kirponos, Colonel General Mikhail, 1892-1941
Kleist, Field Marshal Paul Ewald von, 1881-1954
Kluge, Field Marshal Gunther von, 1882-1944
Koenig, General Marie Pierre, 1898-1970
Koga, Admiral Mineichi, 1885-1943
Koiso, Lieutenant General Kuniaki, 1880-1950
Kondo, Admiral Nobutake, 1886-1953
Konev, Marshal Ivan, 1897-1973
Konoye, Prince Fumimaro, 1891-1945
Kretschmer, Commander Otto, 1912-
Krueger, Lieutenant General Walter, 1881-1967
Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Alfried, 1907-1967
Kuribayashi, General Tadamichi, 1885-1945
Kurita, Admiral Takeo, 1889-1977
Kurochkin, Lieutenant General Pavel, 1900-
Kuznetsov, Admiral Nikolay, 1902-1974
Kuznetsov, General Vasiliy, 1894-1964
Langsdorff, Commander Hans, 1890-1939
Laycock, General Robert ‘Lucky,’ 1907-1968
Leahy, Admiral William, 1875-1959
Leclerc, General Philippe, 1902-1947
Leeb, Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von, 1876-1956
Leese, General Sir Oliver, 1894-1978
Leigh-Mallory, Air Marshal Sir Trafford, 1892-1944
Lemay, General Curtis, 1906-1990
Liddell Hart, Captain Basil, 1895-1970
List, Field Marshal Wilhelm, 1880-1971
MacArthur, General Douglas, 1880-1964
McCreery, General Sir Richard, 1898-1967
Maclean, Brigadier Fitzroy, 1911-
McNair, General Lesley, 1883-1944
Malinovsky, Marshal Rodion, 1898-1967
Mannerheim, Marshal Carl von, 1867-1951
Manstein, Field Marshal Erich von, 1887-1973
Marshall, General George, 1880-1959
Meretskov, Marshal Kirill, 1897-1968
Merrill, Brigadier General Frank, 1903-1950
Metaxas, General Joannis, 1871-1941
Michael, King of Rumania, 1921-
Mihajlovic, General Draza, 1893-1946
Mikawa, Vice-Admiral Guinichi, 1890-
Mikolajczyk, Stanislaw, 1901-1967
Mikoyan, Major General Artem, 1905-1970
Milch, Field Marshal Erhard, 1892-1972
Mitscher, Vice-Admiral Marc, 1887-1947
Model, Field Marshal Walther, 1891-1945
Molders, Oberst Werner, 1913-1941
Molotov, Viachislav M, 1890-1970
Montgomery, Field Marshal Bernard, 1887-1976
Morgan, General Sir Frederick, 1894-1967
Morshead, Lieutenant General Sir Leslie, 1889-1959
Mountbatten, Vice-Admiral Lord Louis, 1900-1979
Nagumo, Admiral Chuichi, 1887-1944
Neurath, Konstantin von, 1873-1956
Nimitz, Admiral Chester, 1885-1966
Nomura, Admiral Kochisaburo, 1877-1964
Novikov, Colonel General Aleksandr, 1900-1976
Nye, General Archibald, 1895-1967
O’Connor, General Sir Richard, 1889-1981
Olbricht, General Friedrich, 1886-1944
Oldendorf, Rear Admiral Jesse, 1887-
Onishi, Admiral Takijiro, 1891-1945
Oppenheimer, J Robert, 1904-1967
Ozawa, Vice-Admiral Jisaburo, 1896-1966
Papagos, General Alexander, 1883-1955
Park, Air Marshal Sir Keith, 1892-1975
Patch, General Alexander McCarrell, 1889-1945
Patton, General George, 1885-1945
Paul, Prince Regent of Yugoslavia, 1893-1976
Paulus, Field Marshal Friedrich, 1890-1957
Pavlov, General Dimitry, d. 1941
Peirse, Air Marshal Sir Richard, 1892-1970
Percival, Lieutenant General Arthur, 1887-1966
Peron, President Juan Domingo, 1895-1975
Petain, Marshal Henri Philippe Omer, 1856-1951
Peter II, King of Yugoslavia, 1923-1970
Petrov, General Ivan, 1896-1950
Phillips, Admiral Sir Tom, 1888-1941
Popov, General Markian, 1902-1969
Portal, Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles, 1893-1971
Pound, Admiral Sir Dudley, 1877-1943
Prien, Lieutenant Gunther, 1908-1941
Raeder, Admiral Erich, 1876-1960
Ramsay, Admiral Sir Bertram Home, 1883-1945
Rashid Ali, el-Gaylani, 1892-1944
Reichenau, Field Marshal Walther von, 1884-1942
Ribbentrop, Joachim von, 1893-1946
Ridgway, General Matthew Bunker, 1895-1993
Ritchie, General Neil, 1897-1983
Roey, Cardinal Joseph van, 1874-1961
Rokossovsky, Marshal Konstantin, 1896-1968
Rommel, Field Marshal Erwin, 1891-1944
Roosevelt, President Franklin Delano, 1882-1945
Rosseler, Rudolf ‘Lucy,’ 1897-1958
Rotmistrov, Marshal Pavel, 1901-1982
Rundstedt, Field Marshal Gerd von, 1875-1953
Rybalko, General Pavel, 1894-1948
Rydz-Smigly, Marshal Edward, 1886-1943
Saito, General Yoshitsugu, 1890-1944
Salazar, Prime Minister Antonio, 1889-1972
Schacht, Dr Hjalmar, 1877-1970
Schellenberg, General Walther, 1911-1952
Schirach, Baldur von, 1907-1974
Scholl, Hans and Sophie, 1917-1943 and 1920-1943
Schorner, Field Marshal Friedrich, 1892-1973
Scobie, General Ronald, 1893-1969
Scoones, General Sir Geoffrey, 1893-1975
Scott, Rear Admiral Nicholas, 1889-1942
Serov, General Ivan, 1905-1968
Seyss-Inquart, Artur von, 1892-1946
Shaposhnikov, Marshal Boris, 1882-1945
Sherman, Rear Admiral Frederick, 1888-1957
Sikorski, General Wladyslaw, 1881-1943
Simonds, Lieutenant General Guy, 1903-1974
Simovic, General Dusan, 1882-1962
Skorzeny, Lieutenant Colonel Otto, 1908-1975
Slessor, Air Marshal Sir John, 1897-1979
Slim, General Sir William, 1891-1970
Smith, General Holland, 1882-1967
Smuts, Prime Minister Jan Christiaan, 1870-1950
Sokolovsky, Marshal Vasiliy, 1897-1968
Somervell, General Brehon, 1892-1955
Somerville, Admiral Sir James, 1882-1949
Spaatz, General Carl ‘Tooey,’ 1891-1974
Speidel, General Hans, 1897-1984
Sperrle, Field Marshal Hugo, 1885-1953
Spruance, Vice-Admiral Raymond, 1886-1969
Stark, Admiral Harold, 1880-1972
Stauffenberg, Colonel Claus von, 1907-1944
Stilwell, General Joseph, 1883-1946
Stirling, Colonel David, 1915-1990
Stopford, General Sir Montagu, 1892-1971
Strydonck de Burkel, General Victor van, 1876-1953
Student, General Kurt, 1890-1978
Stulpnagel, General Karl von, 1886-1944
Sugiyama, General Hajime, 1880-1945
Sultan, General Daniel, 1885-1947
Suzuki, Prime Minister Kantaro, 1867-1948
Tanaka, Rear Admiral Raizo, 1892-1969
Tedder, Air Marshal Sir Arthur, 1890-1967
Terauchi, Field Marshal Hisaichi, 1879-1945
Timoshenko, Marshal Semyon, 1895-1970
Tiso, President Joseph, 1887-1946
Tito, Marshal (Josip Broz), 1892-1980
Tojo, General Hideki, 1884-1948
Tokyo Rose (Mrs Iva Ikuko Toguri d’Aquino), 1916-
Tolbukhin, Marshal Fyodor, 1894-1949
Tovey, Admiral Sir John, 1885-1971
Toyoda, Admiral Soemu, 1885-1957
Treskow, Major General Henning von, 1901-1944
Tupolev, General Andrey, 1888-1972
Turner, Admiral R Kelly, 1885-1961
Twining, General Nathan F, 1897-1982
Udet, Lieutenant General Ernst, 1896-1941
Umezu, General Yoshijiro, 1880-1949
Ushijima, General Mitsuru, 1887-1945
Vandegrift, Lieutenant General Alexander, 1887-1972
Vargas, President Getulio Dornelles, 1883-1954
Vasilievsky, Marshal Alexander, 1895-1977
Vatutin, General Nikolay, 1901-1944
Vian, Admiral Sir Philip, 1894-1968
Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, 1869-1947
Vlasov, Lieutenant General Andrey, 1900-1945
Voronov, General Nikolay, 1899-1968
Voroshilov, Marshal Kliment, 1881-1969
Wainwright, Major General Jonathan, 1883-1953
Warlimont, General Watcher, 1894-
Watson-Watt, Sir Robert, 1892-1974
Wavell, Field Marshal Sir Archibald, 1883-1950
Wedemeyer, Major General Albert, 1897-1990
Weygand, General Maxime, 1867-1965
Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands, 1880-1962
Wilson, Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland, 1881-1964
Wingate, Major General Orde, 1903-1944
Witzig, Lieutenant (later Major)
Witzleben, Field Marshal Erwin von, 1881-1944
Yamamoto, Admiral Isoroku, 1884-1943
Yamashita, Lieutenant General Tomoyuki, 1885-1946
Yeo-Thomas, Wing Commander F F Edward ‘White Rabbit,’ 1902-1964
Yeremenko, Marshal Andrey, 1892-1970
Zeitzler, General Kurt, 1895-1963
Zhdanov, Political General Andrey, 1896-1948
Zhukov, Marshal Georgi, 1896-1974