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World War Ii Casualties




World War II was the single deadliest conflict the world has ever seen, causing many tens of millions of deaths. The tables below provide a detailed country-by-country count of death by side.


COMBINED TOTAL

The total estimated human loss of life caused by World War II, irrespective of political alignment, was roughly 62 million people. The civilian toll was around 37 million, the military toll about 25 million. The Allies lost around 51 million people, and the Axis lost 11 million. (Note that some Axis countries switched sides and reentered the war on the side of the Allies; those nations are included in the Allied count, regardless of when the deaths occurred.) There was a disproportionate loss of life and property; some nations had a higher casualty rate than others, due to a number of factors including military tactics, crimes against humanity, economic preparedness and the level of technology.


CASUALTIES BY COUNTRY

The casualties of World War II were suffered disproportionately by the various participants. This is especially true regarding civilian casualties. The following chart gives data on the casualties suffered by each country, along with population information to show the relative impact of losses.

Notes:

Population in 1939-Sources-Vadim Erlikman. ''Poteri narodonaseleniia v XX veke : spravochnik''. Moscow 2004. ISBN 5931651071. and Population Statistics {Link without Title}

Military Deaths Losses include deaths of regular military forces from combat as well as non combat causes. Whenever possible the losses of irregular and paramilitary forces have been included. The deaths of prisoners of war in captivity and missing in action are included with military losses. The armed forces of the various nations are treated as a single entities, for example American deaths in the RAF are included with the UK; Austrians, Soviets and French in the Wehrmacht are included with German military losses. The exception being China because some factions supported the Japanese. Prisoner of war deaths in Nazi captivity totaled 3.1 Million and in Japanese captivity 540,000

Civilian Deaths - Includes civilian losses from military action and war related deaths caused by famine and disease. These figures include civilian deaths due to Nazi terror and the Holocaust totaling 17.8 million and Japanese War Crimes 5.4 million The deaths related the Soviet annexations in 1939-40 are included with civilian dead. Civilian losses in the postwar era ( 1946-47) due to famine and disease are not included with these losses.

Jewish Holocaust Deaths-Source- Martin Gilbert , ''Atlas of the Holocaust'' 1988 ISBN 0688123643

Sources-The footnotes and discussion page list the details of the losses and their sources.


CASUALTIES BY ALLIANCE






CASUALTIES BY BRANCH OF SERVICE


Notes:

Germany

1-The number killed in action was 2.3 million; dead of non-combat causes 550,000; missing in action 2.0 million and 459,000 POW deaths, of whom 77,000 where in the custody of the U.S., U.K. and France; POW dead includes 266,000 in the post war period after June 1945 , primarily in Soviet captivity.

2-The number of wounded includes 1,700,000 permanently disabled which was listed in ''Geschichte Des Zweiten Weltkrieges'' A.G. Plotz 1960.

USSR

1-Recorded losses were 6,329,600 combat related deaths and 555,500 non combat deaths, this includes Navy losses of 154,771. Estimated total losses including missing, POW and partisan deaths range from 8.6 to 10.6 million

2- Does not include the following dead and missing, Khalkhin Gol (1939) 7,974; Polish campaign(1939) 996; Finland (1939-40) 126,875.

3-The number of wounded includes 2,576,000 permanently disabled.

4-The number of Soviet POW who survived the war was 2,776,000. Deaths of 2.6 million POW are included in the killed and missing total.

British Commonwealth

1-Number served- U.K.& Colonies(5,896,000); India( 2,582,000),Australia(993,000); Canada(1,100,000); South Africa(250,000); New Zealand(295,000). and {Link without Title}

2-Killed and Missing-U.K.& Colonies(383,038); India( 86,838),Australia(40,376); Canada(45,363); South Africa(11,837); New Zealand(11,928)).

3-Wounded-U.K.& Colonies(284,049); India( 64,354),Australia(39,803); Canada(53,174); South Africa(14,363); New Zealand(19,314)

4-Prisoner of war - U.K.& Colonies(180,488); India( 79,481),Australia(26,358); Canada(9,334); South Africa(14,750); New Zealand(8,415)

U.S.

1-Battle deaths were 292,131, Army 234,874, Navy 36,950, Marine Corps 19,733, Coast Guard 574,
and Army Air Corps (included in Army 49,112)

2-The U.S. Coast Guard was a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces during World War Two.

3-The U.S. Merchant Marine war dead of 9,512 are included with civilian losses {Link without Title} .

4-During World War Two 1.2 million African Americans served in the Armed Forces and 708 were killed in combat. 350,000 American women served in the military during World War Two and 16 were killed in action.


EQUIPMENT LOSSES

Hundreds of thousands of planes and hundreds of ships were destroyed during WWII.


Aircraft losses

While the reporting of air losses varied from country to country and even between campaigns, it is not reasonable to provide a clean overall listing of aircraft losses during the war. A summary by nation indicates the best known information regarding losses.
  • Finland: Reported losses during the Winter War totaled 67, of which 42 were operational, while 536 aircraft were lost during the Continuation War, of which 209 were operational losses. (Overall 603).

  • France: From the beginning of the war until the capitulation of France in 1940, 892 aircraft were lost, of which 413 were in action and 234 were on the ground. Losses included 508 fighters and 218 bombers.

  • Germany: Estimated total losses for the war totaled 116,584 aircraft, of which 70,000 were total losses and the remainder significantly damaged. By type, losses totaled 41,452 fighters, 22,037 bombers, 15,428 trainers, 10,221 twin-engine fighters, 8,548 ground attack, 6,733 reconnaissance, and 6,141 transports

  • Italy: Total losses were 5,272 aircraft, of which 3,269 were lost in combat.

  • Japan: Estimates vary from 35,000 to 50,000 total losses, with about 20,000 lost operationally.

  • Netherlands: Total losses were 81 aircraft during the May, 1940 campaign.

  • Poland: Total losses were 398 destroyed, including 116 fighters, 112 dive bombers, 81 reconnaissance aircraft, 36 bombers, 21 sea planes, and 9 transports.

  • Soviet Union: Estimated total losses were over 100,000 from all causes.

  • United Kingdom: Total losses in Europe were 22,010, including 10,045 fighters and 11,965 bombers. (This figure does not include aircraft lost in Asia or the Pacific.)

  • United States: Total losses were nearly 45,000, including 22,951 operational losses (18,418 in Europe and 4,533 in the Pacific).



Naval losses



FOOTNOTES