More than 60 states, in which 80% of the world's population lived, were drawn into World War II. Jews living in warring countries were active participants in hostilities.

In the Axis states, due to anti-Semitic policies, Jews could not serve in the armies, and were victims of persecution. Therefore, they participated in hostilities only as part of the Resistance movement. It is known that among the Italian partisans there were from 2 to 5 thousand Jews. In addition, 250 Jews fought among the Bulgarian partisans.

Only the Hungarian army used Jews in the so-called "labor battalions" on the Eastern Front. About 80% of the 50,000 “labor battalions” were killed.

In the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, Jews had more opportunities to participate in the battles of World War II in the ranks of regular armies.

In total, approximately 1.5 million Jews participated in the battles of World War II in the armies of the allies of the Anti-Hitler coalition. Accurate counting by historians is complicated by the lack of data in army statistics, the changed surnames that Jews took, entering into mixed marriages and assimilating, as well as the fact that some Jews changed their names to increase their chances of survival if captured.

Historians have been able to establish that the Jews served at various levels of the army hierarchy in all military branches. For example, about 500 thousand people of Jewish nationality served in the Soviet army. Of these, 305 people were in command positions of admirals and generals. According to rough estimates, 39.6% of Jews serving in the army did not return from the war.

In addition to the regular army, from 15 to 49 thousand Jews fought among the partisans. It is known that there are 70 units in which exclusively Jews fought. According to rough estimates, there were four thousand of them.

Seven Jews during the war rose to the rank of Colonel General. According to statistics, among those awarded with military medals and awards, Jews accounted for 1.8% of the total. They were the fourth national group of the USSR after the Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians, by the number of awarded. At the same time, Jews were only in seventh place in number, among the groups living in the country.

556 thousand Jews fought in the ranks of the American army. This is approximately 13% of all Jews living in the United States in 1941. According to statistics, more than 80% of them fought as part of the ground forces and 16% in the navy. During the war, the American army lost 11.3 thousand Jewish soldiers.

Six major generals, 13 brigade generals, 2 admirals and 2 rear admirals of Jewish nationality served in the highest command of the US Armed Forces.

61.5 thousand Jews were awarded various military medals and awards.

In the British army served 60 thousand Jews. Up to 40 thousand Jews from Palestine who volunteered for the English army should be added to this number. In addition, up to 200 thousand Jews served in the armies of British dominions (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa).

In addition to regular armies, Jews participated in the war in partisan units, underground organizations in occupied countries, in ghettos and concentration camps. According to rough estimates, up to 1.5 million Jews fought in the ranks of the Resistance movement.