USSR and Russia in the slaughter. Human losses in the wars of the XX century Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

Civilian casualties and total German population losses in World War II

A great difficulty is the determination of the losses of the civilian German population. For example, the death toll from the Allied bombing of Dresden in February 1945 ranges from 25,000 to 250,000, as the city hosted a significant but undetermined number of West German refugees whose number was impossible to count. Now the most probable death toll in Dresden in February 1945 is 25 thousand people. According to official figures, 410 thousand civilians and another 23 thousand police and civilian employees of the armed forces became victims of air raids within the borders of the Reich in 1937. In addition, 160 thousand foreigners, prisoners of war and displaced persons from the occupied territories died from the bombings. Within the borders of 1942 (but without the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia), the number of victims of air raids increases to 635 thousand people, and taking into account the victims of civilian employees of the Wehrmacht and policemen - up to 658 thousand people. The losses of the German civilian population from ground combat operations are estimated at 400 thousand people, the losses of the civilian population of Austria - at 17 thousand people (the latter estimate seems to be underestimated by 2-3 times). The victims of Nazi terror in Germany were 450 thousand people, including up to 160 thousand Jews, and in Austria - 100 thousand people, including 60 thousand Jews. It is more difficult to determine how many Germans became victims of hostilities in Germany, as well as how many Germans who were deported from the Sudetenland, Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia, and also from the Balkan countries in 1945-1946 died. In total, more than 9 million Germans were evicted, including 250 thousand from Romania and Hungary and 300 thousand from Yugoslavia. In addition, up to 20,000 war criminals and Nazi functionaries were executed after the war in the zones of occupation of Germany and Austria, mainly in the Soviet one, and another 70,000 internees died in camps. There are other estimates of the victims of the civilian population of Germany (without Austria and other annexed territories): about 2 million people, including 600-700 thousand women aged 20 to 55 years, 300 thousand victims of Nazi terror, including 170 thousand Jews. The most reliable estimate of the dead among the expelled Germans is the figure of 473 thousand people - this is the number of people whose death is confirmed by eyewitnesses. It is not possible to determine the exact number of victims of land hostilities in Germany, as well as the possible number of deaths from starvation and disease (excess deaths during the war).

It is also impossible to estimate today the total irretrievable losses of Germany, as well as the losses of the civilian population. Estimates that sometimes appear of 2-2.5 million civilians who died during the Second World War are conditional, not supported by any reliable statistics or demographic balances. The latter are practically impossible to build due to significant changes in borders and population migrations after the war.

If we assume that the number of victims of hostilities in Germany among the civilian population was approximately equal to the number of victims of aerial bombing, i.e., about 0.66 million people, then the total loss of the civilian population of Germany within the borders of 1940 can be estimated at about 2.4 million people, excluding victims of excess natural mortality. Together with the armed forces, this will give a total loss of 6.3 million people, if we take the estimate of the losses of the armed forces made by B. Müller-Gillebrand. Overmans determines the number of dead German soldiers called up from the territory of Austria at 261 thousand people. Since we consider his estimate of the irretrievable losses of the Wehrmacht to be overestimated by about 1.325 times, then in the same proportion it is necessary to reduce his estimate of the losses of the Austrians in the Wehrmacht - to 197 thousand people. The number of victims of aerial bombardment of Austria was small, since this country had never been the main object of Allied air operations. The population of Austria was no more than one-twelfth the population of the Reich in the 1942 borders, and given the lower intensity of the bombing of Austrian territory, the losses of the Austrians from the bombings can be estimated at about one-twentieth of the total number of victims, i.e. 33 thousand people. We estimate the number of victims of hostilities on the territory of Austria at no less than 50 thousand people. Thus, the total losses of Austria can be estimated, together with the victims of Nazi terror, at 380 thousand people.

It must be emphasized that the figure of total German losses of 6.3 million people cannot be compared with the total losses of the USSR of 40.1-40.9 million people, since the figure of German losses was obtained without taking into account the excess non-violent death of the civilian population. Only the losses of the armed forces can be compared. Their ratio is 6.73:1 in favor of Germany.

From the book Results of the Second World War. Conclusions of the vanquished author Specialists German Military

Human losses in the Second World War During the two world wars, humanity suffered enormous damage, exceeding all the usual concepts that financial and economic statistics operate on. Against the background of those figures that reflect the material losses of a particular people,

From the book Technique and weapons 2001 02 author

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF POPULATION (IN THOUSANDS) OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES PARTICIPATED IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR (EXCEPT GERMANY AND THE SOVIET UNION))