[WalterBright]

Even in the early stages of the Pacific war, the Japanese soldier was very lightly equipped and the Japanese could not replace their losses, while the US produced a tsunami of equipment and supplies starting from near zero at the outset.

You'll see the impact of free markets even in the Civil War. The Southern slave economy could not produce what was needed - they couldn't even produce shoes for their soldiers. The free Northern economy buried them with well equipped well fed soldiers. (The North and South were both democracies. Slave/free economies made the difference.)

[maoistinquisitr]

Both German and Russian war production increased throughout the war under command economies and massive bombing. They key factor was fuel.