Losses in World War II

Losses and casualties during World War II.
Military personnel and civilian losses, aircraft, warships and merchant ships of the combatants from 1939 to 1945.

Military and civilian losses of the combatants from 1939 to 1945

Losses of WW2

World War II was one of the deadliest conflicts in human history, resulting in massive losses of life and extensive destruction.

Overview of the major losses

Human casualties:
– Total deaths: Estimated 70-85 million
– Military deaths: Around 20-25 million
– Civilian deaths: Around 50-55 million (including deaths from war-related famine and disease)

Countries with highest casualties:
– Soviet Union: 20-27 million
– China: 15-20 million
– Germany: 6-7 million
– Poland: 5.6-5.8 million
– Japan: 2.5-3.1 million

Material losses:
– Widespread destruction of cities, infrastructure, and industrial facilities across Europe and Asia
– Significant damage to global economy and trade

Displaced persons:
– Millions of refugees and internally displaced people

Political changes:
– Redrawing of national boundaries
– Fall of empires and rise of superpowers

Social and cultural impacts:
– Massive demographic changes
– Psychological trauma affecting generations

Environmental damage:
– Pollution and destruction of natural habitats

Financial costs:
– Enormous expenditures on military operations and post-war reconstruction

These losses had long-lasting effects on global politics, economics, and society, shaping the world for decades to come.

Military and civilian casualties of combatants from 1939 to 1945

Allies

Note on the Soviet Union: During the Communist era documents about the Second World War in the Soviet Union were kept under wraps and the officially stated loss figures were propagandistic whitewashed. Joseph Stalin himself declared in May 1946 that the Soviet losses from 1941 to 1945 amounted to 7 million deaths.
A more detailed investigation in March 2008 verifying registered Red Army officers revealed that 14.241 million (970,000 officers and 13,271,269 conscripts) soldiers must be dead or missing. However, this work is not yet completed, as war graves continue to be investigated on the territory of the former Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe.

Axis Powers

Victims Total

Holocaust

Aircraft losses

With regard to the losses of aircraft, it is not possible to resort to precise comparison values. There are several reasons for that.

For one, various armed forces have made no official statements at all.
Second, there is a different definition of what a ‘lost’ plane is. For example, in the German Luftwaffe losses were measured by the percentage of damage to the aircraft. One hundred percent damage is obviously a loss, but in fact, aircraft with 60 percent or more damage were scored as such. In contrast, aircraft with less than 60 percent damage were considered repairable, although the extent and duration of recovery varied.
Thirdly, most of the available numbers of casualties do not make it clear whether they existed for all reasons (combat and the numerous accidents during training, landing, transfer, etc.) or only from combat missions.

It is therefore not possible to give an accurate and reliable overview of aircraft losses, even for the major air forces involved. Only for the losses of the Allied heavy strategic bombers in Europe and during the Battle of Britain there are exact numbers, which were incorporated here but in the more or less complete details.

Any aircraft losses from combat missions:

Losses of warships and merchant ships

Losses of Warships:

Remarks:

• In addition, 217 German U-boats were scuttled during the surrender in May 1945. The fourth German capital ship, the battlecruiser ‘Scharnhorst’, which was still under reconstruction, was sunk at the end of March 1945. All three pocket-battleships are included according to their classification in the Second World War as heavy cruisers.
• In the aircraft carriers also escort carriers (but no seaplane carriers) are included.
• Three more inactive Japanese battleships capsized in their harbors after US air strikes shortly before the war ended. The Japanese destroyers also include escort destroyers.
• Most of the French losses are from scuttling during the German and Italian occupation of southern France in November 1942.

Merchant Shipping Losses:

Tank losses

see Tank losses on the Eastern Front

References and literature

Illustrierte Geschichte des Dritte Reiches (Kurt Zentner)
World War II – A Statistical Survey (John Ellis)
Chronology of World War II (Christopher Argyle)