What were the human costs of World War 2 with particular attention to the civilian and military losses in Russia Germany Britain United States China and Japan?

Answer 1

Hello John, It is usually stated that around 56 000 000 people died in the war (i.e. because of the war), of which around 25 000 000 were combattants. This at least according to the "official" list published by the UN. It is of course impossible to get any precision in these figures. Remember, these figures do not include the Holocaust, nor the Soviet purges or any other nationally domestic killing that took place during the war. It counts only people killed by other nations than their own. In terms of nation list, there is a UN such as well. It lists only the dead, not wounded/maimed/missing. Numbers could not be had from all nations, and all nations used very approximate figures. Nations such as Finland; Norway and USA did lose civilians, as did others not listed at all (Denmark e.g.), and the Baltic countries lost combattants, but all either unknown or too few to list (less than 10 000 were not taken up on the list). So in terms of "human cost", it tells perhaps half a truth. But here it is anyway; USA 220 000 (all combattants) Australia 30 000 (all combattants) Belgium 60 000 (10 000 combattants) Britain 430 000 (370 000 combattants) Bulgaria 10 000 (all combattants) Estonia 140 000 (all civilians) Finland 90 000 (all combattants) France 520 000 (250 000 combattants) Greece 100 000 (20 000 combattants) Yugoslavia 1 600 000 (300 000 combattants) China 13 500 000 (3 500 000 combattants) Lithuania 120 000 (all civilians) Netherlands 135 000 (23 000 combattants) Norwegians 10 000 (all combattants) New Zeeland 10 000 (all combattants) Poland 2 620 000 (120 000 combattants) Romania 240 000 (200 000 combattants) USSR 18 600 000 (13 600 000 combattants) Czechoslovakia 90 000 (20 000 combattants) Hungary 200 000 (120 000 combattants) Austria 270 000 (230 000 combattants) Italy 400 000 (330 000 combattants) Japan 2 060 000 (1 700 000 combattants) Germany 6 890 000 (3 250 000 combattants) Hope that enlightens a bit. But as I said, for a total human cost you need to add a whole lot of people to these lists. Germany alone had over 7 000 000 wounded, many of whom were scarred for life. The USA listed 670 000 WIA, the Brits 320 000 wounded (not all in action, as it includes civilians), France 400 000, the USSR 14 000 000 and so on. Sincerely Tommy