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Armed forces by country - a reliable estimate

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Australia

During the First World War the authorised strength of Australian infantry battalions was 1,023. During the Second World War it dropped to 803 men.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30th_Battalion_(Australia)#cite_note-2

Telsor said:
Sources (mostly wikipedia, some of the gaps are filled from from my readings over the years, although I hope I was clear which was which).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Australia_during_World_War_II
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Royal_Australian_Navy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Australian_Army
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Royal_Australian_Air_Force

'36 figures would have been similar. The navy would have been slightly different with the 2 of the 3 new LCs were commissioned in 1936 (the first, HMAS Sydney was commissioned in Sep 35). There is reference to their numbers dropping to 3,117 due to the depression, but no date on that, but it's alongside a reference to reserves being 5,446 in '32.
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Telsor said:
Army had a Cadre of 3,000 regulars and 80,000 Militia at the outbreak of war in '39.
Navy Fielded 2 HC, 4LC (3 new, 1 old) & 5 obsolete destroyers, at the outbreak of war, they had 5,440 regulars and 4,819 reservists.
Air force 246 mostly obsolete planes, total troops numbers unsure, but 450 were serving with the RAF when war broke out.
(all figures above taken from various wiki pages that have references)

Over 100,000 men were raised and sent overseas in the army by 1941 (4 divisions, the 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th, each 16-18,000 + support units), with conscription providing many times that for militia/home defense (nb. Aus had 2 'armies'..The all volunteer AIF for overseas service and the conscript militia for home defense, and officially it remained that way, although things got a little 'blurry' as the war went on, with Aus colonies like New Guinea declared 'home' for the purpose of militia serving there, and militia battalions deemed to have all volunteered for AIF service if 65% of the personel agreed to serve overseas).
(my estimates, except for the division sizes)

With the threat of invasion from Japan, a massive buildup happen in 42 which eventually had something like a million men under arms across all services, although that was rapidly decreased both due to the reducing threat and the simple fact that the Australian economy had practically stopped with such a massive loss of manpower. (total population was just over 7 million at the time).
(I don't have the reference at hand, but I'm fairly confident of these numbers..wikipedia has Aus fielding 10 inf divs, 3 arm Divs & 'hundreds of other units' in mid-42, and the airforce fielding 53 squadrons and the navy also having a major buildup that by the end of the war meant we had 337 ships).
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Turkey

McIltis said:
I hope this heşp for the Turkish datas

Source: Turkish Foreign Policy During the Second World War: An 'Active' Neutrality
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S. Deringil, Turkish Foreign Policy During the Second World War: An 'Active' Neutrality

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Hayro said:
https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/II._Dünya_Savaşı_ve_Türkiye#T.C3.BCrk_ordusunun_2.D.C3.BCnya_sava.C5.9F.C4.B1nda_kulland.C4.B1.C4.9F.C4.B1_silahlar:
small arms used by turkey during that time

heres the Turkish OOB of 1941:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Army_order_of_battle_in_1941
3 corps attached to 1st Ordu(Army) have been moved up to Edirne/Thrace area
2nd Army moved up to Balıkesir/Aegean in order to defend the Istanbul and Ankara
3rd Army moved up to Erzincan/Eastern Anatolia in order to defend any attacks that gonna come from Soviet Union/Iran/Middle East
Turkish Army mobilized people that born in 1920,1921,1922 and thus upped their personnel to 1.300.000 men
(no 1936 figures, sorry)
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Hayro said:
in 1935 Turkey's total population was 16.158.018

Then in 1938 Turkey's total population was around 17 million

Finally in 1940 Turkey's total population was 17.820.950

Turkey enacted mobilization in 1941
before the mobilization i suspect Turkish Army had 100k-300k personnel

About Armored Equipments
1-)In 1936 Turkey formed its first Armor Brigade mainly consisting of T-24s, and BA-3s (source: http://derintarihimiz.blogcu.com/iki-dunya-savasi-arasinda-turk-silahli-kuvvetleri/10923592 )

2-)Pre ww2 Turkish army had 60 T-26s 5 T-27s and 60 BA-6 Armored Cars then during ww2 Brits begin to supply Turkey with limited amounts of Armored Vehicles (according to this source: https://tanklarvetarih.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/2-dunya-savasi-turk-zirhli-birlikleri-durumu/ )
afv.jpg
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Hayro said:
here, found something:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_Republic_of_Turkey#World_War_II

"In 1938, the Turkish Army at peacetime strength consisted of 174,000 soldiers and 20,000 officers forming 11 army corps, 23 divisions, one armoured brigade, 3 cavalry brigades and 7 frontier commands.[1][2] It was ill-equipped with primarily World War I era weapons.[1] The rifles used were a mixture including Mausers, Mannlichers, Lee–Enfields, Martinis, Lebels and others.[2] As late as February 1940, the British Foreign Office noted: "The Turkish Army is very short of rifles and has asked us to supply 150,000".[2]"

"As for the air force, Turkey had 131 first line aircraft in 1937, of them only half were relatively modern.[2] Turkey hoped to increase its aircraft quantity to 300 by 1938.[2] Although Turkey had 300 trained pilots"

"At the beginning of World War II the Turkish Air Force consisted of some 370 aircraft of all types, 450 pilots and 8,000 men.[4]"

"The Turkish Navy was the weakest of the services. It consisted of the outdated battle cruiser Yavuz (ex-Goeben), 4 destroyers, 5-6 submarines, 2 light cruisers, 3 mine-sweepers, 2 gunboats, 3 motor torpedo boats, 4 minelayers and a surveying vessel.[8][9] The personnel strength was approximately 800 officers and 4,000 men.[10] The Navy lacked all modern appliances for defending coasts and harbours, and the ships were defenceless against air attacks.[8]"

"During the Anglo-Turkish Treaty negotiations in September 1939 a military credit agreement amounting to £25 million was agreed upon.[11] A Turkish Ministry of Defence letter to the Turkish General Staff dating 22.03.1940 stated that the Turkish Army was to be increased to 1.3 million effectives forming 14 army corps consisting of 41 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions, 7 fortified positions and one armoured brigade.[11] Yet, the letter stated, "the material resources of the nation were unable to provide for the provisioning and transport of this large number of effectives".[12]"
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Portugal

For the time being no info about the total strength in 1936 however

Jolt said:
On Portuguese strength, according to the Portuguese wiki on Operation Felix: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operação_Félix

And a Portuguese military website: http://www.areamilitar.net/analise/analise.aspx?NrMateria=38&p=7

Portugal had by the Fall of France 3 divisions with WW1 equipment. Wikipedia mentions that those 3 divisions totalled 50.000 men.

The Portuguese website mentions that by 1943, Portuguese armed forces had a total of 114.000 men:

- 55.000 in mainland Portugal
- 27.000 in the Azores
- 4.000 in Madeira
- 7.000 in Cape Verde
- 19.000 in the rest of the empire.
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Soviet army kept going through various reorgs from 1935 to 1940. The total personnel number as of 1936 would have been about 13,000 per division, including support units. Not sure about number of regular divisions in 1936, but by 1937 there were 49 total.
Note that during peacetime only 10% of divisions would be maintained at full staff.

Double sorry on the link: a) it's on Russian and b) it's wiki (they do reference official docs from the period, however).
https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Стрелковая_дивизия_РККА
 
Mokael said:
Soviet army kept going through various reorgs from 1935 to 1940. The total personnel number as of 1936 would have been about 13,000 per division, including support units. Not sure about number of regular divisions in 1936, but by 1937 there were 49 total.
Note that during peacetime only 10% of divisions would be maintained at full staff.

Double sorry on the link: a) it's on Russian and b) it's wiki (they do reference official docs from the period, however).
https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Стрелковая_дивизия_РККА
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How many men were in the army?
 
"At the outbreak of war, Canada's commitment to the war in Europe was limited by government to one division, and one division in reserve for home defence. Nevertheless, the eventual size of the Canadian armed forces greatly exceeded those envisioned in the pre-war period's so-called mobilization "schemes". Over the course of the war, the army enlisted 730,000; the air force 260,000; and the navy 115,000 personnel. In addition, thousands of Canadians served in the Royal Air Force. Approximately half of Canada's army and three-quarters of its air-force personnel never left the country, compared to the overseas deployment of approximately three-quarters of the forces of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. By war's end, however, 1.1 million men and women had served in uniform for Canada. The Navy grew from only a few ships in 1939 to over 400 ships, including three aircraft carriers and two cruisers. This maritime effort helped keep the shipping lanes open across the Atlantic throughout the war."

from the wikipedia Military history of Canada during WWII page.
 
hammercat said:
"At the outbreak of war, Canada's commitment to the war in Europe was limited by government to one division, and one division in reserve for home defence. Nevertheless, the eventual size of the Canadian armed forces greatly exceeded those envisioned in the pre-war period's so-called mobilization "schemes". Over the course of the war, the army enlisted 730,000; the air force 260,000; and the navy 115,000 personnel. In addition, thousands of Canadians served in the Royal Air Force. Approximately half of Canada's army and three-quarters of its air-force personnel never left the country, compared to the overseas deployment of approximately three-quarters of the forces of Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. By war's end, however, 1.1 million men and women had served in uniform for Canada. The Navy grew from only a few ships in 1939 to over 400 ships, including three aircraft carriers and two cruisers. This maritime effort helped keep the shipping lanes open across the Atlantic throughout the war."

from the wikipedia Military history of Canada during WWII page.
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Sure. How many men were in the Army in 1936?
 
So based on your calculations, as of 1936 Italy had a bigger army than Germany and could have taken them on. This is fairly consistent with Germany not walking to go up against Italy in 1935. Germany advanced and grew quickly. So it would seem to suggest a smart strategy would be for someone to attack germany early, and an accurate result would be Germany not dominating.
Maybe do more research on the state of german equipment at the time.
 
Anichent said:
So based on your calculations, as of 1936 Italy had a bigger army than Germany and could have taken them on. This is fairly consistent with Germany not walking to go up against Italy in 1935. Germany advanced and grew quickly. So it would seem to suggest a smart strategy would be for someone to attack germany early, and an accurate result would be Germany not dominating.
Maybe do more research on the state of german equipment at the time.
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In 1935 according to what I reported Germany had 500,000 immediately available men + 5.5 million of reservist. Italy alone was not a problem at all but the issue for Germany was a multiple front with many enemies.

PS
In Victoria you have the distinction between mobilization and not. Until when in HOI there will be no such distinction things will be distorted.
 
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