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Countries around the world experienced enormous caualties. Heavy casualties began at the outset of the War launched by Germany and the Soviet Union when they invaded Poland (September 1939). Casualties varied greattly from county to country. The largest casualties were experienced by the Soviet Union and China. Soviet casualties are commonly given at 25 million people. Chinese casualtis are even more difficult, but certainly exceeded 15 million people and probably were higher. Many small countries experienced enormous casualties as well when measured in terms of a percentage of the population. In countries like the Baltic, Belarus (not independent at the time), Poland, and Yugoslavia occcupied by the Germans this reached levels unknown in modern times, except perhaps the Turkish genocide of the Armenians during World War I. Casualties in Belarus and Poland totaled an incredible 16-17 percent of the population, mostly civilians. The Axis countries (primarily Germany and Japan) experienced far lower casualties, casulties given the intensity with which their armed forces pursued the War, pimarily because their defeat and occupation did not involve genocide by the Soviets and Western Allies. Unlike World War I, the casualties were not concentated mostly in Europe. We also see huge casualties in Asia and Oceania. The military casualties were primarily experienced by the combatants on the European Eastern Front and the genocidal treatment of POWs. There were also massive milkitary casualties in Asia because the Japanese did not take prisoners in China. Also unlike World War I, the casualties were not confined primarily to the militry. There were of course massive militarty casualties, but much larger casualties were sustained by civilians. Here the casualties involved both genocide and often related food shortages. This was primarily with one notable exception in the countries invaded and occuied by Axis countries and reflected the genocidal policies of the Axis. With the Germans it was carefully planned genocide. Relatively few German civilians were killed despite the Allied Strategic Bombing Campaign, And only when the Germans were driven out of occupied countries did their civilians bgan to experence the hunger and starvation they imposed on those countries. With the Japanese civilian casualties were more of a mixture of terror tactics and incopetent admnistration. In the end it would be Japanese who would begin to sarve in far-flung garrisons that could be supplied and the population on the Home Islands that would be brought to the edge of starvation. Only America food aid, as in World War I prevented massive world-wide starvation, including among the people of the Axis countries. Stalin to the detriment of the Soviet people was intent on an Eastern European empire did not receive continued American aid.
North Ameica was protected from the Axis by two enormous ocean barriers--the Atlntic and acific oceans. North American World War II casualties killed totaled less than 0.5 million men, almost all militarty. Most of the casulaties were American , but only because the American populstion was much larger. This was about 0.3 percent of the total population, very low by World War II standards. The enormous American afrcultural sectors mean thatNorth America could not only feed its own people, but also large armies and civilian populations in Allied countries. North American military casualties were kept down because the Canadians ansd American militaries were primarily deployed in Europe during the later phase of the War and the Americans in the Pacific were primarily deployed in island engagements involving relatively small numbers of sodies cimpaed to the massive engagements in the Eastern Front in Europe. And neither the United States or Canada was occupied by the Axis powers which is when the great bulk of World War II casualties occurred.
Canada declared war on Germany to support Britain. As with all of the Dominions, casualties were almost all military. The Canadians played an important ground role from the beginning of the War. At the time of the Dunkirk evacuation (May 1940), the Canadian First Divion was the only fully equipped, battle ready division in a position to resist a German invasion. The Italianns played a role in the Italian campaign, but its most importanbt role was during D-Day and the liberation of France and the Low Countries. Canada's other major role was naval. Canada developed a huge navy, mostly escort ships to safeguard the North Atlantic convoys that sustained the British war effort. Some 45,000 servicemen were killed in the War, primarily casualties during bitter Normandy figting around Caen. Civilian casualties were negligibe. Total casualties were less than 0.5 percent of the population.
Fighting began in Asia before the outbrealk of the War in Europe. The Japanese seized Manchuria (1931), but the Nationalist realising they did not have adequate forces did not contest it. They did contest the invaxion of China proper (1937). There were large scale casualities in the first year of fighting in which the Nationalists committed their best units. The casualties killed where much higher than might be expected because the Japanese did not take POWs, they simolly killed all the Chinese soldiers they captured as well as many civilians they though might be supporting them. Military casualties declined after the first year of fighting as the Nationalists began withdrawing into the interior shere the Japanes had trouble bringing their superior military capabilities to bear. The War or China incident continued at a low level for several years. But over time the Japanese extended their control over the richest agricultural land in China. This reduced the food supplies available to the Nationalisrs to feed their population and Army. And at the same time, Chinese refugees because of the brutality og the Japanese flooded into the Nationazlist controlled area, substantially increasing the demand for food. And the Nationalists because of the loss of agricultural land becme increasingly unable to fill that demand. The other major engagement until the end of the War occured in Burma and the Indian frontier. The forces deployed here were only a fraction of forces fighting in China. The Japanese easily seized Malaya and Burma, but were unable to sustain a drive into India, primarily because of a limited logistical capability. The military casualties, however, were a fraction of the civilain casualties, primarily famines generated by the Japanese in occupied areas. he loss of Burma cut off food shipments to India, resulting in the terrible Bengal Famine. The Nationalists allowed the Japanese to surrender at the emd of the War and reaptriated them. The Soviets invaded Manchuraia in the final days of the War. The Japnese who surrendered were intered in the Gulag. Many died there some finally were repatraited after years od slave labor in Siberia.
World War I was primarily fought in Europe and casualties were primarily military. Civilians suffered, but for the most part were not especilly targeted. An American food aid during and after the War saved millions of starvation, even in the Soviet Union where the Bolsheviks were intent on desroying America and other capitalist countries.
World war II was very different. Not only was it more of a global war, but the civilan casaltues far exceeding military casualties. This may seem surprising given the steadiy increasingg leathality of weaponry, especiall the expasion of airpower which expanded the dimensions of the battlefield. While world War II wa more of alobal war, the central coflict of the War was fought out in the bloodlands of Eastern Erope. Despite this catalcismic struggle, commanders learned from World War I and fought the War diffrently, although the outright murder of POWs significantly added to military casualties. Civilians are of course always part of the casualties of War. Civilians were especially targetted. Both Hitler and Stain wee intent on remaking the ethnic map of Europe. And no where on the world map were imperiled than the Eastern European bloodlands.
Stalin showed even before the War,in the Ukraine that he was willing to kill millions to achieve this. Horrible plans were
executed by these evil men and their acolytes, invluding the Ukranian Famine, the Hunger Plan, the Holocust, and Generalplan Ost. Military commanders not uncommonl justify the use of force to win a war in the shorted period of time, thus limiting casualties. For Hitler, the fog of war provided the cover under which he could conduct geocide on an unprecedented level.
Hitler targetted a much wider section of humanity for destruction and slavery. The Japanese had aess industralized approoach but no less deadly. Losss in China were only exceeded by those of the Soviet Union. And argely because of the goal of killing civilians, American food only reaced civilian victims of war after the occupied countries were liberated.
Britain along with Poland were the two Allied countries that fought the Germans during the entire 5 yeats of World War II. Poland had no choice. Britain did and even though most observers including Hitler expected thevBritish to make peave, the British diggedly fought on wjen prosprcts for victory looked bleak. Military casulaties were less than half of those suffered during World war I despite fighting on a much more global scale. Military deaths totaled about 383,000 people. Notably this is about the same number of troops that the Germans might have captured has the BEF not have exaped at Dunkirk, although this included some 100,000 French troops. The smaller number of casualties was primrily because the British Government set out fight the war differently than the First World War. There were no more massed charges against fixed German positions. And unlike World War I, there was mo heavy fighting on the Continent for most of the War. Thus the main British and German armies were not in contact until the last year of the War. Fear of casualties was the primary British concern in discussions with the Americans about the Cross-Channel invasion. Even so, Montgomery's tactics after D-Day were constrained by manpower shortages. The British were able conduct a much more potent war effort than suggested by the casualty rates because of the substantial participation of Empire forces. Military deaths wre less than 0.4 million people. Civilian casualties were less than 0.1 million. This was primarily the result of German bombing, both the Blitz (1940-41) and than the V-1 and V-2 attacks (1944-45). Unlike World War I, deaths due to malnutrition and disease were minimal. As a result of the U-boat campaign, theBritish diet was dull during the War with shirtsges of sugar and fats, but the caloric intake was more than sufficient. Had the British not fought off the Germans and prevented a cross-Channel invasion, the casualties would have been much higher. The Germans had draconian plans to punish the British for daring to resist. An Einsatzgruppe was organized to carry out the plans. Overall war casualties were about 1 percent of the population.
The French Armny was the mainstay of the Allied Western Front. during the first years of World War I. They severely weakened the Germany Army in the struggle for Verdun. In the process the Frenh Army suffered tremendous casualties and lmost broke. In the end they stood, but werre no longer capable of major offensive operations The Western Front was finally craked open by the British and newly arrived Americans. The War had a enormous impact on the Frech psyche. Few families were untouched by the War. And in the inte-War era the growth of pacifist and socialist though not only led to the belied that the war had been a terrible mistake but that war irself was the great evil. This meant tht France was not ideologically prepared to confront Hitler and the NAZIs. Nor did they fully understand te exestential evil posed by the NAZIs. This and the incompetence of French military leadership led to the collapse of theFrench Army when the German attcked (May-June 1940). As result French casualties were confined to a relatively brief month of fighting. Some of the French Army fought the Germans in bloody enggements, but large numbers of soldiers through down their weapns and surrendered in mass. Most of the French Army spent the War in German POW camps. Here coditions were severe, but not genocidal like the cams for Polese and Soviets. There were some casualties sufferd by the Free French and Vichy forces and the reconstituted French Army, but they were lkmited by the relative small number of fighting French forces. The French began buildng an army after D-Day as areas of France was liberated, but the bulk of the fighting was sutained by the Americans, British and Canadians. German occupation policy was relatively correct, although Vichy did not understand what the Germans were plannng fr the French after the Warwas won. Civilin casualties were thus limited. Food became increasingly scarce because of German pillging of the economy, but neve reached starvation levels as in the East. Many of the civilian casuaties were suffered as a reslt of bombing raids on German targets in occupied France incliding the French rail systemnd and then in the figting after D-Day, especially in Normandy. The French atitude toward war changed significantly after 4 years of German occupation, especially after the German began conscripting French workers for war work in the Reich. The actual number of casualties is better documented than in most other countrues because an actual French Ggovernment continued to function throughout the War, incuding the German occupation. France suffered some 0.2 million military deaths. This is interesting becaise it is still substantial despite the fact the French Army was interned for most of the War. It is testimony to thge intensity of Ftrench cmbat during the German invasion and after Day. Civilian casualties totaled 0.3-0.4 million people. This surprised us becuse it is subsantilly more than Italian civilian deaths and outside of Normandy, the Italian campaign was longer and more intense han the French campaign. We believe tht it is primarily due to the intensity of the aied bombing campaign leading up to Normandy and the large scale fighting in Normandy after D-Day. Total casualties were some 0.5-0.6 million casualties.
Despite the massive Allied bombing of German cities, most of the German World War II casualties were military personnel. This contrasts to most other European countries where civilians perished in large numbers, largely because of genocidal German policies. The exception here is the Germans living in Eastern and Central Europe that were driven out by authorities after the War. NAZI German launched World War II with the Blitzkrieg on Poland in cooperation with the Soviet Union (September 1939). Germany held the ininitative in the early years of the War ewith its early development of Blitzkrieg tactics. After the success in Poland, the Wehrmacht swept over most of Western Europe and later the Balkans. Caualties were very light--especially in the Baslkans. This was startling in view of the horific casualties sustained on the Western Front during World War I. The doctrine of war developed by the Wehrmacht overwealmed poorly prepared European armies, even the French Army which had been considered the strongest in Europe. The Wehrmacht continued its string of victories with the invasion of the Soviet Union--Operation Barbarossa (June 1941). Again casualties were at first relattively light, but stiffened as the Wehrmact drove beyond the non-Russian areas of the western Soviet Union and the Wehrmacht for the first time in the War began to sustain sizeable casualties. Zukov's Winter Offence (December 1941) inflicted massive casualties on the Wehrmacht--casualties that the Germans could not possibly make up. After successes during the summer 1942, casualties again mounted culminating in the Stalingrad disaster. And after Stalingrad the Red Army through a series of offensives steadily bled the Wehrmacht. This was combined with the loss of another entire army in Tuniia (May 1942). Competent generalship kept losses low in Sicily and Italy (where Hitler did not intefere as much) (1943-44). The Allied invasion of France (June 1944) reopened the Western Front another front and more heavy losses. The NAZIs finally surrendered only after Hitler's suiside in Berlin (May 1945). The German military is believed to have suffered about 3.5 million killed and 4.6 million wounded during the War. A substantial portion of the men killed died after being taken prisioner by the Red Army. The casualties Germany inflicted on countries it invaded were astomomical, especially in the Soviet Union, Poland, and Yugoslavia, because of the genocidal treatment of POWs and civilians. German civilians were not much affected by the War until the fighting began to go decisively against Germany in 1943. Probably about 2 million German civilians died in the War. The Reich was not occupied until the final months of the War, but civilians began to be affected when the allies began to serious escalate the strategic bombing campaign. Even so, only about 0.3 million Germans were killed by the bombing, largely as a result of effective civilian defense measures. Most of the civilian casualties occurred when German civilians were driven out of the countries they occupied and the German territory transferred to Poland.
Mussolini under Fascism glorified war. Despite nearly two decades of Fascist rulle, Mussolini never suceeded in inculkcating the blood lust among his soldiers that Hitle and the Japanese militarists achieved. Italy began the military engagements leading up to World War II in Europe by invading Ethiopia (1935), but casualties were limited because Ethiopia did not have a modern army. Casualties were also limited in Spain when Mussolini intervened to support Franco's Nationalists (1936-39). There was little resisance when Mussolini invaded Albania (1939). This changed when Mussolini joined Hitler in World War II (June 1940). Te French although essentially already defeated by the Germans fought the Italaians. Significant casualtes began when Mussolini rdred an invasion of Greece just before the onset of winter weather (October 1940). Fighting in the moutaneous area between Albania and Greece resultd in substantial casualties for the first time. More csualties were suffered when the Italians invaded British held Egypt (Sepember 1040). This began a desprat struggle in the Western Desert. The Italians fared poorly and Mussolini had to ask for German support. Large numbers of Italians finally surrendered in Tunisia (May 1943). Casualties were limited by th fact tht theItalians wre prone to sundring eather than figting a pitched battle, esecially when not operating with German units. gnifant losses were sustained in the soviet Union as a result of the Stalingrad fighting. The despirited Itlian Army offered little resistance when the Allies invded Sicily (July 1943). After the Italins surrendered to the Alies, the Germans interned most of the Italiam Army (September 1943). While the talian Army did not suffer significan casualties in the fighting for Italy, the Resistance did sustain casualties and there were substantial civilian csualties. Military cualties totaled about 0.3 million. Civilian casulties were under 0.2 million, mostly occuring as the Allies fought the Germans up the Italian Peninsula (1943-45).
No accounting of World War II casualties would be complete without addressing the Holocaust. The Jews of course were not a country, but the Germans waged war on them and this Jewish casualties needed to be considered as a separate category. Notably Soviet histories generally avoid doing this despite the huge nimber of Soviet Jews murdered by the Germans. Military histories deal with those killed and wounded which comprise the total casualties. Wih the German war agnst the Jews there wre no wounded. The German goal became to kill as many Jews as rapidly as possible. And this included Jews that were aiding the German war effort as slave labor. The killing began when Hitler still thought he was going to win the war and continued even after he War a irredeamingly lost. It became a major German war goal. And the Germans were very effective in accompising their objective. They and their allies (especially the Romanians) managed to kill 75 percent or more of he Jews in most of the counties or regions they occupied. They killed half of the Jews in Europe and adjacent areas of North Africa and the Middle East. This with the exception of the United States is where mot of the world's Jews lived. Half of the tarageted Jews perished, the remining half survived only because the Red Army prevaild in the East and the Anglo-American alliance prevailed in the West. Precice numbers will never be known, but the widely accepted estimate is that the Germans murdered some 6 million Jews througugh abuse, exposure, starvation, shooting, and gas.
The surprise German invasion brought a quick Dutch surrender, especialy after the terror bombing of Rotterdam. Thebrevity of the fighting limted both military and civilian casualties (May 1940). TheDutch had expected the Germans to respect their neutrality as they had done in World War I. The German occupation was reltively correct, at leat in comparison with German actions in the East. Dutch soldiers were released and ot held in POW camps like the French. The arrest and deportion of Jews was a notable exception. The Germans considered the Dutch to be valuable racial material needed to build a Greater Reich to rule Europe. The Germans began conscripting the Dutch for war work inthe Reich (1942), but for racial reasons, the non-Jewish Dutch workers were relatively well treated and most survived the War. The situaton changed, however, when the Allies reached the Netherlands and began liberating the country. The Allies moved into the Nethelands from Belgium, but the Germans made a stand at the Rhine, defeating Market Garden (October 1944). The Germans shelled towns and villages that had been celebraing the liberation. And to punish the Dutch, they cut off food deliveries to the cities resulting in the terrible Hunger Winter. When the Allies finally liberated the Netherlands north of the Rhine, the Dutch were starving (April 1945). Only 17,000 Dutch soldiers were killed during the War, almost all fightng the German invasion. Civilians fared less well. Some 0.2 million civilans were killed as a result of military action and German war crimes, many were Jews deported and killed. Another 0.1 million Dutch scumbed to staevation and diseases resulted from malniutrition. This was especially ironic as the Dutch had shipped large quantities of food to Germany after World War I to alieviate serious food shortages. As a result, of German polices, total Dutch casualties were about 3.5 percent of the population, a very high rate given the fact that the Dutch surrendered after only afew days of fighting. It was the higest rate of the occupied Nordic countries (Denmark and Norway) and much higher than Belgium that had suffered so severly at German hands during World War I.
Poland suffered more casualties than any other World War II belligerant in percentage terms. This was because of the genocidal race-based policies of the German ooccupation authorities. A factor here was the large Jewish population of Poland which the Germans largely anilated in the Holocaut. Less well known is the German plans to decimate Poland's slavic population as part of Generalplan Ost. This was begun after the the Germans invaded and seized Poland (September 1939). This proved, however disruptive after the fall of France (June 1940) when the Germans turned east. German actions against Poles were disrupting the preparations for Barbarossa. The Germans did not let up on actions against Jews, but they did slow deportations of Poles. Himmler had begun began implementing actions again non-Jewish Poles and was ordered by Hitler to hold back until after Barbarossa had suceeded and the Red Army destroyed. The Poles unlike the French nevered surrendered to the Germans, in part because Hitler did not reconize the Poles as a legitimate government and also because of the strength of the Polish national spirit.
The Ukranian peasantry was devestated before the War by a terrible famine engineeered by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. It was still a part of the Soviet Union when Hitler turned on his Soviet ally and invaded. It became one of the central battlefields of World War II. This was because it was the area of the Soviet Union most coveted by Hitler because of the natural resources and the rich farm land. Stalin knew this and deployed a substantial portion of Soviet armor to defend the Ukraine. Army Group South and the Romanian Army attacked with overwealming force (June 1941). Hitler wanted the Ukraine, but not the Ukranians. Durung Barbarossa, Ukranian Jews were largely murdered by the Romanian Army, the Whermacht, and two Einsatzgruppen. But German plans went far beyond killing Jews. As part of Generalpln Ost and the Hunger Plan, ethnic Ukranians were to be murdered or depoted beyond the Urals where most were intended to die from starvation and exposure. The Ukranians allowed to live were to be converted into slaves for German agricultural colonists. Ukranian cities were to be leveled and returned to farm land.
Australia declared war on Germany to support Britain. As with all of the Dominions, casualties were almost all military, although the country was the only one of the Dominions treatened with invasion by the Axis. Its main role in the War was to send much of its Army to Egypt to fight with the British in the Western Desert. The Australians played a major role there. Much of the Australian military casualties were sustained there. This put the country in danger when after Pearl Harbor the Australian Army was in North Africa and not in a position to defend against a possible Japanese invasion. t was American troops and military supplies that sustained the defense of Australia until the Australian Army was brought home. There primary contribution to the Pacific War was in the fight for New Guinea, but did not play a role in the Ametican Central Pacific campaign. Civilian casualties were very limited, suffered during Japanese bombing rids. There were some limited food shortages when the American military build up strained the countries agricultural sector. Military casualties totaled some 40,000, including losses in Japanese prison camps and actual murder of some of the POWs. Civilian casualties were less than a thousand. Otal casualties were only about 0.5 percent of the population.
The Japanee military conscripted large numbers of romusha (manual laborers) in te Dutch East Indies (DEI). The numbers are in dispute, but were clearly large numbers. Thre are estimates of 4-10 million romusha conscripted on Java. [LOC] Some were reptedly deported to other Japanese held areas, one report indicated that 0.3 million were deported, but only about 50,000 survived to return hme to Java--adeath rate of 80 percent.
Iwo Jima was a rare World War II engagemnt in which civilians were not involved. Iwo was an unihbited island. It ws purely a militafy ngagenent between The Japanese garrison and the invading marine force.
The northern Marianas were Japanese before the War. The Japanese seized Anerican Guam without a fight after Pearl Harbor. The Chamoros on Guam suffered severly under Japanese occupation, experienced one of the highest casualty rates of any occupied people. The Ametican campaigns to take the islands were bitterly contested actions(June-July 1944). The Japanese knew that the islands brought the Home Islands into range of the new B-29 bombers. With the loss of the carrier Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Japanese gearisons on the Maianas were cut off from reinforcement and resupply and thus doomed. They were well equipped and dug in and thus a costly campaign. The campaihn in the northern Marinnas was unique in that for the first time the Americans encountered Japanese civilians. The Japanese had moved many Chomoros to the Carolines and settled Japanese colonists on the islands. The Japanese garisons with few exceptions fought to a man. Civilians suffered terribly in the fierce fighting. And the Japanese soldies incouraged the civilians to commit suiside. The Americans were horrifid and managed to sav many who his in the caves from the fighting.
The United Sstaes at the time of Pearl Harbor was in the process of granting independence to the Philippines. The Japanese after destroying the America air forces on he Philppines invaded the ialands 2 weeks after Pearl Harbor, The poorly supplied Americans and Philipponis held out on Bataan. Thec resulting Amerivan surrendr was th largest in American military history. Many if the mens were killed by the Japanee in th Death March and in the horrendous POW camps. American civilians were also interned under terrible conditions. Japanese propaganda ptoclaimed a Coprosperity Sphere. In actuality the occupation was brutal and explotive. Poorly armed American and Philppino guerillas resisted the Japanese in remote areas, but could do ittle more than harass. Most of the Pacific war campaigns were fought on small islands with only a few divisions involved at the most. The Philippines was different. The battles were fought primarily on two large islands, Leyte and Luzon. The Japanese had moved a substantial force to the islands and the American invasions were enormous affairs on the scale of D-Day. The Filipinos welcomed the advancing Ameticans. This infuriated he Japanese and villages believe to be aiding the americans wee burnt to the ground and the inhabitants including the women and children killed. The great crime of the Pacific War--was the Japanese Rape of Manila.
Collingham, Lizze. The Taate of War: World War II and the Battlke for Food (New York: Peguin: 2012), 634p.
Library of Congress (LOC). "Indonesia: World War II and the Struggle For Independence, 1942-50; The Japanese Occupation, 1942-45".
Mitter, Rana. Forgotton Ally: World War II, 1937-45
Rummel, R. J. "Statistics of Democide: Chapter 3 - Statistics Of Japanese Democide Estimates, Calculations, And Sources," Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War (1999).
Wikipedia, "World War II casualties". Gor our discussion of World War II casualties we hve tended to ue the Wikipedia assessment, supplmented with our research. The Wikipedia is a good basic effort to assess caualties taken nto account that for many countries no precise accounting can be made. We rely heavily n Wikipedia because there are controversies concerning csualty figures. Thus using a neutral source frees us from potenyial charges that we are inflaing or otherwise manpulating the numbers. We welcome reader contributins with more detailed country estimates.
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