- Author
- Encyclopaedia Britannica,
- Subjects
- History - WW2
- Tags
- None noted.
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- June 1994 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
“Fifty-seven nations, Allied and Axis, were belligerents in World War II . . . The major portion of the cost was borne by the United States, the British Commonwealth, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China and France, and by the three major Axis powers, Germany and Italy and Japan. The battle dead give a partial picture of that cost”.
“The cost of victory for the United States in battle dead was more than 292,100lives, or about 1 in every 450 of the 1940 population …
“The cost to the British Commonwealth in military personnel killed and missing during the period September 3, 1939 to V-J day was 544,596. This represented 0.09 per cent of the population of the British Commonwealth. These casualties came from all parts of the Empire, but the majority were suffered by people of the home islands. The figures for those killed and missing were approximately 397,762 from the United Kingdom itself, or 1 in every 150 of the population; 39,319 from Canada, 29,395 from Australia, 12,262 from New Zealand, 8,681 from South Africa, 36,092 from India and 21,085 from the rest of the Empire”.
“The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics reported its losses as approximately 7,500,000 military personnel killed and missing, or 1 in every 22 of its 1940 population”.
“In France the number of servicemen killed was 210,671 (1 in every 200 of its 1940 population), including 36,877 prisoners of war who died in captivity. The total number of civilians killed in war operations was 107,874, including 6,450 foreigners killed on French soil”.
“Germany lost 2,850,000 military personnel killed and missing, or 1 in every 25 of its 1940 population”.
“Italy had about 300,000 military casualties, or 1 in every 150 of its 1940 population. It was estimated that losses in the campaign against the Allies, June 10, 1940 to September 8, 1943 totalled 294,297, including 57,422 dead, 112,405 wounded and maimed and 124,470 missing. In the campaign against the Germans, September 8, 1943, to May 2, 1945, losses totalled 13,151, including 3,482 dead, 6,848 wounded and 2,821 missing”.
“During the course of the war, China suffered the second largest number of casualties of any of the Allied nations. Its battle losses numbered 2,200,000 or 1 in every 200 of its 1940 population, excluding Manchuria. These figures covered the period during which time China was formally at war with Japan and did not include the six years of undeclared hostilities beginning in 1931”.
“Japan had lost 1,506,000 military personnel killed and missing since 1937, or 1 in every 46 of the 1940 population of its home islands”.
“The total number of military personnel of the major Allied powers killed and missing during World War II was about 10,650,000. The total number of military personnel of the major Axis powers killed and missing during the war was approximately 4,650,000. The total cost to the principal belligerents, both Allied and Axis, in military personnel killed and missing in battle exceeded 15,000,000”. – Encyclopaedia Britannica, Article, World War II. Volume 23, pages 799,800.
“The data regarding casualties among civilians are only partially available. They are known to be very great, often exceeding the military losses”.
Out of the 820 U-boats the German submarine branch committed to the Battle of the Atlantic from 1939 through 1945, 781 were destroyed in action. Out of 39,000 U-boat crews who fought there, 32,000 lost their lives – most of them in the last two years of the war. (Ref. Hitters Commanders – Mitcham, Mueller, Leo, Cooper London 1992).