In the final year of the Second World War, the ordinary soldier fighting for the world’s major powers took home wages that varied so dramatically that a private in one army might earn more than four times as much as a private in another. Among the five main combatant nations, the lowest-paid soldier on any battlefield was the Japanese private, whose monthly salary in 1945 was just six yen, the equivalent of 1. 38 American dollars at the time, or roughly 16. 56 dollars when adjusted to 2026 values.
That amounted to about 369 dollars a year in modern terms. A few conditions applied to every army in this comparison. All of the major powers provided their soldiers with free housing and food, which meant that a private’s actual spending money was what remained after his basic needs were covered. That money could be sent home to family or spent on cigarettes, personal hygiene items, civilian clothes, or entertainment.
Promotions, of course, brought higher pay in every service. The Japanese case, however, was complicated by rapid wartime inflation, which severely eroded the purchasing power of a soldier’s wages. Japanese troops serving overseas were not paid in yen at all but in occupation currency, a special paper money issued for use in the conquered territories. The notes were not backed by any reserve, though they gave Japanese forces considerable local purchasing power in places such as occupied China, Malaya, Hong Kong, and Borneo.
When the war ended, Japan’s Ministry of Finance declared all military banknotes worthless, leaving many soldiers with money that could never be exchanged again. Japanese privates also received a small daily cash allowance intended to supplement their official rations of rice and barley, but the total remained exceptionally low. The Soviet soldier ranked fourth. A Red Army conscript serving on the front lines received a base salary of roughly 600 rubles per year.
Because paying troops directly in combat zones was difficult, the entire amount was usually sent to their families at home. The state also provided soldiers with rations of bread, meat, fish, and vegetables, plus twenty grams of tobacco each day and three boxes of matches every month, and that was the full extent of the soldier’s benefits. When adjusted to modern values, the annual pay of a Red Army private in 1945 came to only about 2,100 American dollars. The British soldier sat in third place, and his low wages were a source of constant grievance.
In 1945, a British private earned a basic daily rate of just two shillings, which came to roughly three pounds sterling per month, or about twelve American dollars. Men called into military service often took a serious financial hit. The average industrial wage in Britain that year was eight pounds per month, while a soldier made only three. For married men, a substantial portion of that pay was automatically deducted and sent directly to their wives, along with a government marriage allowance, so that families could survive while their husbands served.
The Family Allowance Act, which took effect in 1945, added five shillings per week for every child beyond the first. Soldiers also received a small daily tobacco ration of eight grams, roughly seven or eight cigarettes a day. Despite these government payments, many families with a serving soldier lived at or below the poverty line, and food rationing was the only thing that prevented the poorest households from suffering severe malnutrition. The reasons for Britain’s low military pay were partly tradition and partly hard financial reality.
Britain had been effectively bankrupt since around 1941, having transferred its entire gold reserve to the United States in an attempt to finance the war, and thereafter depended heavily on American loans. The debt, with interest, was not fully repaid until 2006. The British private’s total annual pay in 1945, before any allowances, was a meager 2,664 dollars in modern equivalent. The German soldier was paid considerably better.
In 1945, a German private received a base salary of roughly 35 Reichsmarks per month, which came to about fourteen American dollars at the time, compared to the British soldier’s twelve dollars. Married soldiers and those with children received substantial government allowances, which in the German case could effectively double their pay. German soldiers, wives, and children also had access to free medical treatment from army doctors. The annual equivalent of the German private’s 1945 pay, in today’s money, was approximately 3,180 dollars.
The best-paid soldier of the Second World War was the American GI. During the war, a popular saying in Britain about the Americans went: “Overpaid, oversexed, and over here. ” The first part of that saying was certainly true. In 1945, an American private earned fifty dollars per month, or six hundred dollars per year, which was just over four times what his British counterpart received and nearly three times what the German soldier earned.
With millions of American troops stationed in Britain in the lead-up to D-Day, their enormous purchasing power allowed them to spend freely and meaningfully supported the struggling British economy. The United States, like Britain and Germany, operated a family allowance system. From the monthly fifty-dollar base pay, a standard deduction of twenty-two dollars was sent directly to wives, children, or dependent parents. American soldiers serving overseas automatically received a twenty percent increase in their base pay, while paratroopers received an additional fifty dollars per month as a hazard allowance.
A GI serving in Europe or the Pacific in 1945 therefore earned roughly 720 dollars per year in the prices of that era, which equates to about 13,320 dollars in modern currency. The comparison reveals a striking hierarchy of military pay at the end of the war. The Japanese private, at the bottom, received about 369 dollars a year in today’s money. The Soviet soldier earned roughly 2,100 dollars.
The British private took home about 2,664 dollars without allowances. The German soldier received approximately 3,180 dollars. And the American GI, serving overseas with his hazard pay included, earned around 13,320 dollars.
For the ordinary soldiers of the world’s major fighting forces, the value placed on their service varied as widely as the fortunes of the armies they fought for.