German casualties in World War II

Dead German soldier in Russia, 1942.

Statistics for German World War II military casualties are divergent and contradictory. The wartime military casualty figures compiled by German High Command, up until January 31, 1945, are often cited by military historians when covering individual campaigns in the war. A recent study by the German historian Rüdiger Overmans found that the German High Command statistics are not reliable, he estimated German military dead at 5.3 million.[1][2] However the German government still maintains that its records list 4.3 million dead and missing military personnel.[3][4] Civilian deaths during the war include air raid deaths, estimates of German civilians killed only by Allied strategic bombing have ranged from around 350,000[5][6] to 500,000.[7][8][9][10][11] Civilian deaths, due to the flight and expulsion of Germans and the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union are disputed and range from 500,000[12][13][14] to over 2.0 million.[15][16][17] According to the German government Suchdienste (Search Service) there were 300,000 German victims (including Jews) of Nazi racial, political and religious persecution.[18] This statistic does not include 200,000 German persons with mental and/or physical disabilities who were murdered in the Nazi euthanasia program.[19]

German Sources for Military Casualties

Wartime statistics compiled by German High Command (OKW)

The German military system for reporting casualties was based on a numerical reporting of casualties by individual units and a separate listing of the names of individual casualties. The system was not uniform because various military branches such as the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen SS and the military hospitals each had different systems of reporting. In early 1945 the German High Command (OKW) prepared a summary of total losses up to January 31, 1945. The German historian Rüdiger Overmans believes, based on his research, that these figures are incomplete and unreliable. According to Overmans, the casualty reporting system broke down in the chaos at the end of the war. Many men who went missing or were taken prisoner were not included in the German High Command (OKW) figures. Overmans maintains that many individual reports of casualties were not processed by the end of the war and are not reflected in the German High Command (OKW) statistics.[20]

The following schedules summarize the OKW figures published in post war era.

Reported in the press in 1945

According to a report published by the Reuters News Agency, on July 29, 1945 highly confidential archives found at Flensburg, in the house of General Reinecke showed German losses up to November 30, 1944 as 3.6 million, detailed in the following schedule.

Army Navy Air Force Total
Killed 1,710,000 52,000 150,000 1,912,000
Missing 1,541,000 32,000 141,000 1,714,000
Total 3,251,000 84,000 291,000 3,626,000

Source of figures: Gregory Frumkin. Population Changes in Europe Since 1939, Geneva 1951. Page 72

OKW War Diary

Percy Ernst Schramm was responsible for maintaining the official OKW diary during the war. In 1949 he published an article in the newspaper Die Zeit, in which he listed OKW Casualty Figures [21] these figures also appeared in a multi-volume edition of the OKW diaries.

OKW Casualty Figures Sept 1, 1939 to Jan 31, 1945

Description Dead Missing & POW Total Wounded & Sick
Army
Eastern Front 1,105,987 1,018,365 2,124,352 3,498,059
North: Norway/Finland 16,639 5,157 21,796 60,451
Southwest: N Africa/Italy 50,481 194,250 244,731 163,602
Southeast: Balkans 19,235 14,805 34,040 55,069
West: France/Belgium 107,042 409,715 516,757 399,856
Training Forces 10,467 1,337 11,804 42,174
Died of Wounds-All Fronts 295,659 - 295,659 -
Location not Given 17,051 2,687 19,738 -
Subtotal (Army) 1,622,561 1,646,316 3,268,877 4,188,037
Navy 48,904 100,256 149,160 25,259
Air Force 138,596 156,132 294,728 216,579
Total Combat: All Branches 1,810,061 1,902,704 3,712,765 4,429,875
Other deaths (Disease, accidents, etc.) 191,338 - 191,338 -
Overall total 2,001,399 1,902,704 3,904,103 4,429,875

Source of Figures: Percy Schramm Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht: 1940 - 1945: 8 Bde. 1961 (ISBN 9783881990738) Pages 1508-1511

Notes:

1-These statistics include losses of the Waffen SS as well as Volkssturm and paramilitary serving with the regular forces.[22]

2-These statistics include casualties of the volunteer forces from the Soviet Union. 83,307 dead; 57,258 missing and 118,127 wounded.

3-Included in these statistics are 322,807 POWs held by the US and UK.

4-The figures for Army wounded add up to 4,219,211. Schramm put the total at 4,188,057.

5-Figures of missing include POWs held by Allies.

West German government Statistisches Jahrbuch (Statistical Yearbook).

A. OKW figures from 9/1/1939 to 12/31/1944

Description Dead Missing and Prisoners of War Total Wounded
Army & Waffen SS 1,750,000 1,610,000 3,360,0005,026,000
Navy 60,000 100,000 160,000 21,000
Air Force 155,000 148,000 303,000193,000
Total Wehrmacht 1,965,000 1,858,000 3,823,000 5,240,000

Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page 78

B. Monthly Field Army (Feldheer) casualties September 1939 to November 1944

Year Casualties January February March April May June July August September October November December
1939 Dead - -- - - - - - 16,400 1,800 1,000 900
1939 Missing - - - - - - - - 400 - - -
1940 Dead 800 700 1,100 2,600 21,600 26,600 2,200 1,800 1,600 1,300 1,200 1,200
1940 Missing - 100 - 400 900 100 - - 100 100 100 -
1941 Dead 1,400 1,300 1,600 3,600 2,800 22,000 51,000 52,800 45,30042,400 28,200 39,000
1941 Missing 100 100 100 600 500 900 3,200 3,500 2,100 1,900 4,300 10,500
1942 Dead 44,400 44,500 44,900 25,600 29,60031,500 36,000 54,100 44,300 25,500 24,900 38,000
1942 Missing 10,100 4,100 3,600 1,5003,600 2,100 3,700 7,300 3,400 2,600 12,100 40,500
1943 Dead 37,000 42,000 38,100 15,300 16,200 13,400 57,800 58,000 48,800 47,000 40,200 35,300
1943 Missing 127,600 15,500 5,200 3,500 74,500 1,300 18,300 26,400 21,900 16,800 17,90014,700
1944 Dead 44,500 41,200 44,600 34,000 24,400 26,000 59,000 64,000 42,400 46,000 31,900-
1944 Missing 22,000 19,500 27,600 13,000 22,000 32,000 310,000 407,600 67,200 79,200 69,500 -

Notes: Figures include Waffen SS, Austrians and conscripted ethnic Germans. Figures for missing include POW held by Allies. Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page 78

Das Heer 1933–1945 by Burkhart Müller-Hillebrand

In 1969, the West German military historian Burkhart Müller-Hillebrand (de) published the third volume of his study of the German Army in World War II Das Heer 1933–1945 that listed OKW casualty figures and his estimate of total German casualties. Müller-Hillebrand maintained that the OKW figures did not present an accurate accounting of German casualties because they understated losses in the final months of the war on the eastern front and post war deaths of POW in Soviet captivity. According to Müller-Hillebrand actual irrecoverable losses in the war were between 3.3 and 4.5 million men. Overall Müller-Hillebrand estimated the total dead and missing at 4.0 million men.[23]

A. Losses Reported by OKW Sept. 1, 1939-April 30, 1945 (For all branches of service)

Period Dead from all causes MIA and Prisoners of War Total
Actual:Sept 1, 1939- Dec 31,1944 1,965,324 1,858,404 3,823,728
Estimated: Jan 1, 1945 - April 30, 1945 265,000 1,012,000 1,277,000
Total 2,230,324 2,870,404 5,100,728

Source: Müller-Hillebrand Das Heer 1933–1945 Vol 3. Page 262

The figure of 1,277,000 killed and missing from Jan 1, 1945 - April 30, 1945 was estimated by the U.S. Army in the 1947 report German Manpower[24]

B. Field Army (Feldheer) casualties September 1939 to November 1944

Year Dead Missing
1939/40 76,848 2,038
1940/41 140,378 8,769
1941/42 455,635 58,049
1942/43 413,009 330,904
1943/44 502,534 925,088
1944 until Nov 30. 121,335215,981
Total 1,709,739 1,540,829

Source: Müller-Hillebrand Das Heer 1933–1945 Vol3. Page 264

C. Field Army (Feldheer) casualties September 1939 to November 1944

Campaign Dead Missing
Poland 1939 16,343 320
Norway 1940 4,975 691
West until May 31, 1944 66,266 3,218
West June 1944-November 30, 1944 54,754 338,933
Africa 1940 - May 1943 12,808 90,052
Balkans 1941 - November 30, 1944 24,267 12,060
Italy May 1943 - November 30, 1944 47,873 97,154
Russia June 1941-November 30, 1944 1,419,728 997,056
Home front 1939-November 30, 1944 64,055 1,315

Source: Müller-Hillebrand Das Heer 1933–1945 Vol.3 Page 265

Records of German military search service

In the post war era the military search service Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) has been responsible for providing information for the families of those military personnel who were killed or went missing in the war. They maintain the files over 18 million men who served in the war. By the end of 1954, they had identified approximately 4 million military dead and missing (2,730,000 dead and 1,240,629 missing).[25] (Since the fall of communism the records in the former GDR (East Germany) have become available to the WASt). The German Red Cross reported in 2005 that the records of the military search service WAS list total Wehrmacht losses at 4.3 million men (3.1 million dead and 1.2 million missing) in World War II. Their figures include Austria and conscripted ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe.[26] The German historian Rüdiger Overmans used the files of WASt) to conduct his research project on German military casualties.

Statistical study by Rüdiger Overmans

The German historian Rüdiger Overmans in 2000 published the study Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg (German Military Casualties in the Second World War), which has provided a reassessment of German military war dead based on a statistical survey of German military personnel records. The financial support for the study came from a private foundation. When Overmans conducted his research project during 1992 to 1994 he was an officer in the German Armed Forces. Overmans was an associate of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office from 1987 until 2004 and was on the faculty of the University of Freiburg from 1996-2001. In 1992 when Overmans began the project, German military dead in the war listed at the military search service Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) were 4.3 million men (3.1 million confirmed dead and 1.2 missing and presumed dead). Since the collapse of communism previously classified documentation regarding German military casualties became available to German researchers.

The research project involved taking a statistical sample of the confidential German military personnel records located at the (WASt). The project sought to determine total deaths and their cause, when and in which theatre of war the losses occurred as well as a demographic profile of the men who served in the war. Nineteen employees at Deutsche Dienststelle assisted in the survey. The personnel records included 3,070,000 men who were confirmed dead in the Death Files and another 15,200,000 men in the General Files who had served in the war including those listed as missing and presumed dead. The total sample pulled for the research consisted of the files of 4,844 personnel dead or missing in military service during the war: The first group 4,137 from Army, Air Force and 172 from Waffen SS and paramilitary organizations including (3,051 confirmed dead from the Death Files and another 1,258 found to be dead or missing in the General Files) The Second Group of 535 men found to be dead or missing was selected from the separate Navy files. Overmans maintains that based on the size of the sample selected that there was a 99% confidence level that the results were accurate. The research by Overmans concluded in 2000 that the total German military dead and missing were 5,318,000. The results of the Overmans research project were published with the endorsement of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office of the Federal Ministry of Defense (Germany).[27]

The following schedules give a brief overview of the Overmans study.

By Official Status (per R. Overmans) [28]
Description Number of Deaths
Confirmed Dead 3,068,000
Declared dead in legal proceedings 1,095,787
Recorded in Records (Registrierfall) 1,154,744
Total Dead 5,318,531
By Official Cause of Death (per R. Overmans)[28]
Cause of Death Amount
Killed in Action 2,303,320
Died of Wounds, Illness etc. 500,165
Suicides 25,000
Sentenced to Death 11,000
No Information 12,000
Subtotal-Dead in Active Service 2,851,485
Missing 1,306,186
Final Report "Letzte Nachricht" 701,385[29]
Sub-total- Presumed Dead 2,007,571
Confirmed deaths as POW 459,475
Total Dead 5,318,531

Of the 2 million presumed dead, Overmans believes 700,000 were actually dead in Soviet custody but not reported as POW.[30]

By Front (per R. Overmans)[31]
Front Total Dead
Eastern Front until 12/31/44 2,742,909
Western Front until 12/31/44 339,957
Final Battles in Germany (East & West fronts Jan.-May, 1945) 1,230,045
Other (Germany,Naval, Poland etc.) 245,561
Italy (until the surrender in 1945) 150,660
The Balkans (until Oct. 1944) 103,693
Northern Europe (Scandinavia without Finland) 30,165
Africa 16,066
Prisoners of War 459,475
Total 5,318,531

Overmans stated that there is not sufficient data to break down the 1,230,045 deaths in the 1945 Final Battles in Germany between the Western Allied invasion of Germany and Eastern Front in 1945, although he estimates that 2/3 of these casualties can be attributed to the Eastern Front. Overall he estimated losses for the entire war on the Eastern front at 4 million and in the West 1 million.[32] In the entire year 1945 Overmans put total losses at 1,540,000 ( 1,230,045 in the final battles; 57,495 in other theaters and 252,188 POW)[33]

Monthly German military casualties at point of death per Overmans study (Not including Living POW held)

Year January February March April May June July August September October November December Total
1939 - -- - - - - - 15,000 3,000 1,000 -19,000
1940 2,000 - 5,000 3,000 21,000 29,000 7,000 4,000 4,000 5,033 1,000 2,00083,000
1941 10,000 1,000 4,000 4,000 13,000 29,000 67,132 51,066 53,033 44,099 38,000 42,198 357,000
1942 53,165 52,099 46,132 24,066 44,099 34,033 46,099 74,231 46,033 30,000 38,231 83,792572,000
1943 185,376 74,363 59,099 21,066 31,099 21,066 79,231 66,198 69,49561,330 77,396 66,330812,000
1944 81,330 91,495 112,759 92,363 78,495 182,178 215,013 348,960 151,957 184,089 103,561 159,3861,802,000
1945 451,742 294,772 284,442 281,848 94,52820,066 13,000 27,099 22,132 19,000 21,033 10,0661,540,000
1946 7,000 13,099 14,000 6,00010,066 3,000 3,000 6,000 5,033 3,000 2,000 4,00076,000
1947 3,008 2,000 5,033 3,000 1,000 5,0332,000 5,033 1,000 2,000 3,000 1,00033,000
After 1947 - - - - - - -- - - --25,000
Total All Years -- - - - - - - - ---5,518,000

Notes: Figures include Waffen SS, Austrians, conscripted ethnic Germans, Volkssturm, and other paramilitary forces. Figures do not include prisoners held by Allies. Prisoners held during the war are listed in a separate schedule below. Monthly figures do not add because of rounding.

Total Missing and Presumed Dead (not including POW) per Overmans[34]

Year of Death Amount (of which on Soviet-German front)
1941 & before 30,000 (26,000)
1942 116,000(108,000)
1943 289,000 (283,000
1944 845,000 (719,000)
1945 728,000(400,000)
1946 & later 00
Total 2,007,000 (1,536,000)
German military dead on the Eastern Front (per R. Overmans)[28]
Total During Year Total Dead
1941 302,000
1942 507,000
1943 701,000
1944 1,233,000
Total 1941-1944 2,742,000

Soviet sources reported that "In 1945 the German Army lost more than 1,000,000 men killed on the Soviet-German front alone."[35]

Figures do not include POW deaths of 363,000 in Soviet captivity; these losses were listed separately by Overmans.

By Service Branch (per R. Overmans)[28]
Branch Total Dead
Army 4,202,030
Air Force (including infantry units) 432,706
Navy 138,429
Waffen SS 313,749
Volkssturm 77,726
Paramilitary and support forces 153,891
Total 5,318,531
By Nation of Origin (per R. Overmans)[36][37]
Germany (post war borders) 3,546,000
Germany (former Eastern Territories and Danzig) [38] 910,000
Total Germany (1937 borders including Danzig) [38] 4,456,000
Annexed Territories(Warthgau,Sudetenland,Eupen-Malmedy, Moresnet & Memel) 206,000
Austria 261,000
Subtotal Greater German Reich 4.932,000
Persons of German ancestry from East and Southeast Europe[39] 332,000
French (Alsace-Lorraine) 30,000
Others(from Western Europe) 33,000
Total 5,318,000

Overmans does not include Russian volunteers in the Wehrmacht in his figures, only persons of German ancestry (Deutsche nach Abstammung). According to Overmans there is no reliable data on losses of Soviet volunteers[40] Russian military historian G. I. Krivosheev estimated losses in the Wehrmacht of volunteer formations and SS troops (Vlasovites, Balts, Muslims etc.) at 215,000.[41] The statistics of the German High Command put casualties of the volunteer forces from the Soviet Union up until 1/31/1945 at: 83,307 dead; 57,258 missing and 118,127 wounded[42]

Comparison of figures at 12/31/1944 of Overmans and German High Command

Overmans maintains that his research project taking a statistical sample of the records of the Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) found that the German military casualty reporting system broke down during the war and that losses were understated. The following schedule compares the total dead and living POW according to Overmans at 12/31/1944 with the figures of the German High Command.

Description - Total
Total Dead per Overmans @12/31/44 3,643,000 [43]
Add:POW held by Allies per Overmans 1,283,000 [44]
Add:Estimated losses of Soviet Volunteers 140,000[42]
Adjusted Losses @12/31/1944 5,066,000
Total Dead & Missing per OKW @12/31/1944 3,823,000[45]
Difference 1,243,000

German Prisoners of War

See also: German prisoners of war in northwest Europe, German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union and German prisoners of war in the United States

The fates of German prisoners of war have been a concern in post war Germany. By 1950 the Soviets reported that they had repatriated all German prisoners of war except a small number of convicted war criminals. During the cold war in West Germany there were claims that one million German prisoners of war were held in secret by the USSR. The West German government set up the Maschke Commission to investigate the fate of German POW in the war; in its report of 1974 the Maschke Commission found that about 1.2 million German military personnel reported as missing more than likely died as POWs, including 1.1 million in the USSR.[46] Based on his research, Rüdiger Overmans believes that the deaths of 459,000 dead POWs can confirmed be in the files of Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)(including 363,000 in the USSR). Overmans estimates the actual death toll of German POWs is about 1.1 million men (including 1.0 million in the USSR); he maintains that among those reported as missing were men who actually died as prisoners.[47] Data from the Soviet Archives published by G. I. Krivosheev put the deaths in the USSR of German POWs at 450,600 including 356,700 in NKVD camps and 93,900 in transit.[41] After the collapse of communism, data from the Soviet Archives became available concerning the deaths of German POWs in the USSR. In recent years there has been a joint Russian-German project to investigate the fate of POWs in the war.[48]

According to the records of the western Allies 2.8 million German soldiers surrendered on the Western Front between D-day and the end of April 1945; 1.3 million between D-day and March 31, 1945,;[49] and 1.5 million of them in the month of April.[50] From early March these surrenders seriously weakened the Wehrmacht in the West, and made further surrenders more likely, thus having a snowballing effect. On March 27 Eisenhower declared at a press conference that the enemy were a whipped army .[51] In March the daily rate of POWs taken on the Western Front was 10,000;[52] in the first 14 days of April it rose to 39,000[53] and in the last 16 days the average peaked at 59,000 soldiers captured each day.[54] The number of prisoners taken in the west in March and April was over 1,800,000,[55] more than double the 800,000 German soldiers who surrendered to the Russians in the last three or four months of the war.[56]

The Western Allies also took 134,000 German soldiers prisoner in North Africa[57] , and at least 220,000 by the end of April 1945 in the Italian campaign[57] . The total haul of German POWs held by the Western Allies by April 30, 1945 in all theatres of war was over 3,150,000, rising in NW Europe to 7,614,790 after the end of the war.[58]

It is worth noting that the allied armies which captured the 2.8 million German soldiers up to April 30, 1945, while Hitler was still alive and resisting as hard as he could, comprised at their peak 88 divisions[59] which amounted to roughly 1.2 to 1.4 million men. The casualties suffered by the Western Allies in making this remarkable contribution to the defeat of the Wehrmacht were relatively light, 164,590 killed and 78,680 taken prisoner[60] , a total loss of 243,270 to inflict a loss of 2.8 million on the German army.

German POW deaths- Overmans estimate 2000
Nation holding Prisoners of War Number captured Deaths
UK ca. 3,600,000 c. 2,000
USA ca. 3,000,000 5-10,000
USSR ca. 3,000,000 max. 1,000,000
France ca.1,000,000more than 22,000
Yugoslavia ca.200,000 ca. 80,000
Poland ca.70,000 ca. 10,000
Belgium ca.60,000 ca. 500
Czechoslovakia ca.25,000 ca. 2,000
Netherlands ca. 7,000 ca. 200
Luxemburg ca. 5,000 15
Total ca. 11,000,000 ca. 1,100,000

Source of figures-Rüdiger Overmans, Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkriege. Page 246.

Confirmed POW Deaths
Nation holding POW Total Dead
USSR 363,000
France34,000
USA22,000
UK21,000
Yugoslavia11,000
Other nations 8,000
Total459,000

Source of figures Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg page 286

German POW Held in Captivity (Per R. Overmans)[61]
Average during Quarter Held Western Allies Held by Soviets & their Allies Total Living POW
4th Quarter 1941 6,60026,00032,600
4th Quarter 1942 22,300100,000122,300
4th Quarter 1943 200,000155,000355,000
4th Quarter 1944 720,000563,0001,283,000
1st Quarter 1945 920,0001,103,0002,023,000
2nd Quarter 1945 5,440,0002,130,0007,570,000
3rd Quarter 1945 6,672,0002,163,0008,835,000

Source:Rüdiger Overmans Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkriege. Ullstein Taschenbuch vlg., 2002 Pages 272-273

Overmans has made the following points in Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg

Russian Sources

The Russian military historian G. I. Krivosheev has published figures for the casualties on all fronts compiled by the German High Command up until April 30, 1945 based on captured German records in the Soviet Archives.

Period Killed or Died of Wounds MIA and Prisoners of War Total Wounded
Sept 1, 1939- Dec 31,1944 1,965,300 1,858,500 3,823,800 5,240,000
Jan 1, 1945 - April 30, 1945 265,000 1,012,000 1,277,000 795,000
Total 2,230,300 2,870,500 5,100,800 6,035,000

Krivosheev gave a separate set of statistics that put losses at 2,230,000 Killed; 2,400,000 missing and 5,240,000 wounded. According to Krivosheev "The figures in the Wehrmacht documents relating to Germany's war losses are therefore contradictory and unreliable."[64]

Based on Soviet sources Krivosheev put German losses on the Eastern Front from 1941-1945 at 6,923,700 men : including-Killed 4,137,100, taken prisoner 2,571,600 and 215,000 dead among Russian volunteers in the Wehrmacht. Deaths of POW were 450,600 including 356,700 in NKVD camps and 93,900 in transit.[41] Soviet sources claimed that "In 1945 the German Army lost more than 1,000,000 men killed on the Soviet-German front alone." [35]

German casualties in English language sources

Estimated figures for German World War II casualties are divergent and contradictory. The authors of the Oxford Companion to World War II maintain that casualty statistics are notoriously unreliable[65] The following is a list of published statistics for German casualties in World War II.

A. German war dead- 5,200,000 (3,200,000 military and 2,000,000 civilians)[77]
B. Nazi Democide 895,000 (762,000 in Germany and 133,000 in Austria)[78]
C. Soviet Democide- 1,576,000, (469,000 civilians and 1,107,000 German POW)[79]
C. British Democide- 378,000 civilians killed in area bombing of Germany[80]
D. United States Democide- 37,000 (32,000 civilians killed in area bombing of Germany and 5,000 German POW.)[81]
E. French Democide-23,000 German POW.[82]
F. Yugoslav Democide- 145,000 (75,000 ethnic Germans and 70,000 POW)[83]
g. Hungarian Democide-12,000 ethnic Germans[84]
H. Expulsion of the Germans after World War II- 1,863,000 (Poland 1,583,000, Czechoslovakia 197,000 and Yugoslavia 82,000)[85]

United States Army Figures for German and Italian Losses

According to the report of General George Marshall the breakdown of German and Italian losses against American, British, and French forces in the war in Europe is as follows:

Campaign Battle Dead Permanently Disabled Captured Total
Tunisia 19,600 19,000 130,000(A) 168,000
Sicily 5,000 2,000 7,100 14,100
Italy 86,000 15,000 357,089 458,089
Western Front 263,000 49,000 7,614,794 (B) 7,926,794
Total 373,600 85,000 8,108,983 8,567,583

Source of figures: Biennial report of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army to the Secretary of War : July 1, 1943, to June 30, 1945 [99]

(A) 252,415 Germans and Italians were captured in Tunisia [100] According to the Imperial War Museum Following the Italian surrender in 1943, 100,000 Italians volunteered to work as 'co-operators'. They were given considerable freedom and mixed with local people.[101]

(B)Includes 3,404,949 disarmed enemy forces.

Demographic estimates of military losses

Based on information available in January 1946, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. put German military dead at 3,250,000. According to Gregory Frumkin this presumably referred to aggregate German forces including those conscripted outside the 1937 German borders.[102][103]

In 1951, Gregory Frumkin, who was throughout its existence the editor of the Statistical Year Book of the League of Nations, provided an assessment of German military losses based on a demographic analysis of the European population from 1939 to 1947. Frumkin put total German military dead and missing at 3,975,000: Germany (1937 borders) 3,500,000; Austria 230,000; 200,000 Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia; 40,000 from France, 3,700 from the Netherlands; 700 from Norway and 398 from Denmark.[104]

The West German government in November 1949, based on an analysis of the population balance for Germany within its 1937 borders, put German military losses at 3,250,000: 1,650,000 killed and 1,600,000 missing. Figures exclude Austria and conscripted ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe[105]

A demographic analysis of the population balance by the West German government in 1960 put the total military losses of the Wehrmacht at 4,440,000; 3,760,000 for Germany (1937 borders); 430,000 conscripted ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe and 250,000 from Austria.[106]

Civilian Casualties

Air raid deaths

A pile of bodies before cremation after a bombing raid on Dresden, 1945.

Official statistics published by the West German government 1956 put the death toll due to air raids at 635,000.[107] However, estimates from other sources tend to be lower, ranging from 305,000 to 500,000 persons killed by Allied bombing of German cities.

1956 West German government report

The schedule below details the statistics published by the West German government 1956. They estimated 635,000 total deaths, 500,000 due to the strategic bombing of Germany and an additional 135,000 killed in air raids during the 1945 flight and evacuations on the eastern front.[108] The civilian deaths in the air raids on eastern Front after 1/31/1945 are also included with the figures of the losses during the Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)[109]

Air War Dead 1956 West German government estimate
Description Not including refugees
on Eastern Front		 Refugees
on Eastern Front		 Total
Germany 1942 Borders
Civilians 436,000 134,000 570,000
Foreigners and POW 39,000 - 39,000
Military and Police 25,000 1,000 26,000
Total 500,000135,000 635,000

Sources for figures in schedule:

(1) Hans Sperling, Die Luftkriegsverluste während des zweiten Weltkriegs in Deutschland, Wirtschaft und Statistik October 1956, journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. (German government Statistical Office)

(2) Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page 78.

(3) Erich Hampe "Der Zivile Luftschutz im Zweiten Weltkrieg" pp.138-142

The United States Strategic Bombing Survey

The United States Strategic Bombing Survey gave three different figures for German air raid deaths

1-The summary report of September 30, 1945 put total casualties for the entire period of the war at 305,000 killed and 780,000 wounded.[110]

2- The section Effects of Strategic Bombing on the German War Economy of October 31, 1945 put the losses at 375,000 killed and 625,000 wounded [111][112]

3-The section The Effect of Bombing on Health and Medical Care in Germany of January 1947 made a preliminary calculated estimate of air raid dead at 422,000 [113][114] According to the report "no complete and accurate figures on German civilian air raid casualties, covering the entire period of the war, are available". The authors maintain that the German figures for 1940 through 1943 of 111,000 killed was generally correct and that their estimate of 311,000 dead for the years 1944 and 1945 was based on the tons of bombs dropped and the population size of the cities bombed. Regarding overall losses they concluded that "It was further estimated that an additional number, approximately 25% of known deaths in 1944 and 1945, were still unrecovered and unrecorded. With an addition of this estimate of 1944 and 1945 unrecorded deaths, the final estimation gave in round numbers a half a million German civilians killed by Allied aerial attacks" [115]

Analysis by Richard Overy

Historian Richard Overy in 2014 published a study of the air war The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940-1945 in which he disputed the official German figures of air war dead. He estimated total air raid deaths at 353,000. The main points of Overy's analysis are as follows.[116]

Other Estimates of air raid deaths

Civilians killed in 1945 military campaign

The West German government in made a rough estimate in 1956 of 20,000 civilians killed during the 1945 military campaign in current post war German borders, not including the former German territories in Poland.[8] However, there is a more recent estimate of 22,000 civilians killed during the fighting in Berlin only.[120] Not included in these figures are civilians who died in the fighting and atrocities in East-Prussia (Konigsberg, Pillau), Pommerania (Danzig, Kolberg) and Silesia (Breslau). The losses of civilians from East-Central Europe in the 1945 are included with the expulsion dead, the German Archives report of 1974 estimated 150,000 violent deaths of civilians in East-Central Europe during the 1945 military campaign.[121]

Deaths due to Nazi political, racial and religious persecution

The West German government put the number of Germans killed by the Nazi political, racial and religious persecution at 300,000 (including 160,000 German Jews)[122]

A 2003 report by the German Federal Archive put the total murdered during the Action T4 Euthanasia program at over 200,000 persons.[123][124][125]

NKVD special camps in East Germany 1945-1950

The Soviets set up NKVD special camps in the Soviet-occupied parts of Germany and areas east of the Oder-Neisse line to intern Germans accused of alleged ties to the Nazis, or because they were hindering the establishment of Stalinism in East Germany. Between 122,000 and 150,000 were detained and at least 43,000 did not survive.[126]

Expulsion of Germans after World War II and the Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union

See Also: Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50) and Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union

Civilian deaths, due to the flight and expulsion of Germans and the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union, are sometimes included with World War II casualties. During the Cold War, the West German government estimated the death toll at 2.225 million [127] in the wartime evacuations, forced labor in the Soviet Union as well as the post war expulsions. This figure was to remain unchallenged until the 1990s when some German historians put the actual death toll in the expulsions at 500,000 confirmed deaths listed in a 1965 German Red Cross study.[14][128] The German Historical Museum puts the figure at 600,000 dead; they maintain the figure of 2 million expulsion deaths cannot be supported.[12] However, the position of the German government, the German Federal Agency for Civic Education and the German Red Cross is that the death toll in the expulsions is between 2.0 and 2.5 million civilians.[17][129] The German historian Rüdiger Overmans maintains that there are more arguments for a lower figure of 500,000 rather than the higher figures of over 2.0 million. He believes that the previous studies by the German government should be subject to critical revision and new research is needed to establish the actual number of expulsion deaths.[130]

The following studies were published by the West German government estimating expulsion deaths.

Recent research on German expulsion losses:

Total Population Losses 1939–1946

Estimated total German population losses (in 1937 German borders) directly related to the war range between 5.5[141] to 6.9 million persons.[142] These figures do not include ethnic Germans from other nations in the German military and ethnic German civilians who were killed in expulsions. In 1956 the West German government figures in the table below list an estimated about 5.5 million deaths (military and civilian) directly caused by the war within the borders of 1937.[143] A study by the German demographer Peter Marschalck put the total deaths directly related to the war both military and civilians at 5.2 million, plus an estimated decline in births of 1.7 million, bringing total population losses related to the war at 6.9 million persons within the borders of 1937.[142] There were additional deaths of the ethnic Germans outside of Germany in Eastern Europe, men conscripted during the war and ethnic German civilian deaths during post war expulsions

German government figures (2005)

In 2005 the German government Suchdienste (Search Service) put the total combined German military and civilian war dead at 7,375,800, including ethnic Germans outside of Germany and Austrians. This figure includes 4.3 million military dead and missing, 500,000 killed by strategic bombing, 300,000 victims of Nazi political, racial and religious persecution, 2,251,500 civilian dead in expulsions and 24,300 Austrian civilians.[144]

Population Balance for Germany in 1937 borders (not including Austria or the ethnic Germans of East Europe): May 1939 to October 1946

According to West German Government 1956

Germany in 1937 borders Population Balance
Population May 1939 Census 69,310,000
Live Births 8,670,000
Net Immigration-German Refugees 4,080,000
Subtotal Additions 12,750,000
Civilians-Death by natural causes (7,130,000)
Civilians Killed in Air war (410,000)
Civilians Killed in 1945 Land Battles (20,000)
Military Dead (3,760,000)
POW held by Allies (1,750,000)
Germans remaining in Poland (1,750,000)
Germans Remaining Abroad (130,000)
Expulsion and Deportation Civilian Dead/Missing (1,260,000)
Emigrated & Murdered Jews (200,000)
Net Emigration of Foreign Population (200,000)
Other, Misc. (140,000)
Subtotal Reductions (16,750,000)
Population October 1946 Census 65,310,000

Sources for figures: Wirtschaft und Statistik October 1956, Journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. (German government Statistical Office)

Notes:

  1. -Population May 1939 Census- These figures are for Germany in 1937 borders, they do not include Austria or the ethnic Germans of East Europe.[8]
  2. -Live Births- are those actually recorded from May 1939 until June 1944 and from January to October 1946. The gap in vital statistics between the middle of 1944 and the end of 1945 was estimated.[8]
  3. -Net Immigration-German Refugees were ethnic Germans of Eastern Europe who lived outside Germany in 1937 borders before the war.[8]
  4. -Civilian Deaths- These are deaths due to natural causes not directly related to the war. Figure includes deaths actually recorded from May 1939 until June 1944 and from January to October 1946. The gap in vital statistics between the middle of 1944 and the end of 1945 was estimated.[8] The German government Statistical Office figures in the above table put the deaths due to natural causes at 7,130,000. A study by the German demographer Peter Marschalck estimated the expected deaths from natural causes based on the peacetime death rate would have been 5,900,000.[145] The German economist de:Bruno Gleitze from the German Institute for Economic Research estimated that included in the total of 7.1 million deaths by natural causes that there were 1,2 million excess deaths caused by an increase in mortality due to the harsh conditions in Germany during and after the war[146] In Allied occupied Germany the shortage of food was an acute problem in 1946–47 the average kilocalorie intake per day was only 1,600 to 1,800, an amount insufficient for long-term health.,[147]
  5. -Killed in Air war - Figure for civilians only, does not include 23,000 police and military and 32,000 POW and foreign workers.[8]
  6. -Killed in 1945 Land Battles- This is a rough estimate made in 1956 for Germany in current post war borders, not including the former German territories in post war Poland.[8] However, there is a more recent estimate of 22,000 civilians killed during the fighting in Berlin only.[120]
  7. -Military Dead - Includes Wehrmacht as well as SS/police and paramilitary forces. The Statistisches Bundesamt put the total at 3,760,000.[8] The Overmans study of German military casualties put the total at about 4.4 million.[148]
  8. -POW still held by Allies- 1,750,000 POW from Germany within in the 1937 borders were still held by the allies in October 1946.[8] Total German POW held at that time were about 2.5 million, including 300,000 men from other nations conscripted by Nazi Germany not included in the 1939 population[149] and 384,000 POW held in Germany who are included in the 1946 census figures. By 1950 almost all POW had been released except for 29,000 men held in forced labor in the USSR or convicted as war criminals.
  9. -Germans remaining in Poland in October 1946 were 1,750,000, but by 1950 the number had been reduced to 1,100,000 because of expulsions after October 1946. Those remaining in 1950 became Polish citizens but were German nationals in 1939.[8]
  10. -Germans Remaining Abroad-Includes expelled Germans who had emigrated to other countries or were in Denmark.[8]
  11. -Expulsion and Deportation Dead - This estimate is only for the Oder-Neisse region of Germany in the 1937 borders, not including the ethnic Germans of other Eastern European nations. Figure includes civilian deaths in the 1945 military campaign, the forced labor in the USSR as well as excess deaths due to post war famine and disease.[8] The German Church Service put the total of confirmed expulsion dead at about 300,000 for Germany in the 1937 borders, the balance of 960,000 were reported as missing and whose fate had not been clarified.[136]
  12. -Emigrated & Murdered Jews- The Statistisches Bundesamt (German government Statistical Office) gave a total of 200,000 Jews who had emigrated or were murdered, they did not estimate those actually who were murdered.[8] Most sources outside of Germany put the Holocaust death toll in Germany at about 150,000 Jews.
  13. -Net Emigration of Foreign Population - The Statistisches Bundesamt pointed out that this was a rough estimate.[8]
  14. -Other, Misc. - The Statistisches Bundesamt defined the others as "emigrated Germans, POW remaining abroad voluntarily, and German concentration camp deaths" (deutsche KZ-Opfer).[8]
  15. -Population October 1946 Census- Figure of 65,310,000 does not include 693,000 displaced persons (DPs) living in Germany. Figure includes 853,000 in the Saarland.[150]

Population Balance for Austria

The Austrian government provides the following information on human losses during the rule of the Nazis. For Austria the consequences of the Nazi regime and the Second World War were disastrous: During this period 2,700 Austrians had been executed and more than 16,000 citizens murdered in the concentration camps. Some 16,000 Austrians were killed in prison, while over 67,000 Austrian Jews were deported to death camps, only 2,000 of them lived to see the end of the war. In addition, 247,000 Austrians lost their lives serving in the army of the Third Reich or were reported missing, and 24,000 civilians were killed during bombing raids.[151]

Population Balance for the ethnic Germans of eastern Europe

In 1958 the West German government statistical office put the losses of the ethnic Germans at 1,318,000 (886,000 civilians in the expulsions and 411,000 in the German military and 22,000 in the Hungarian and Romanian military) [152] The research of Rüdiger Overmans puts military losses of ethnic Germans at 534,000 [153]Ingo Haar points out that of the 886,000 estimated civilian dead from east Europe only about 170,000 deaths have been confirmed; the balance are considered unsolved cases.[136]

Controversies over German Losses

In post-war Germany the fate of civilians and prisoners of war has been a contentious topic. The current view of the German government is that these losses were due to an aggressive war started by the German nation.[154] However, there are fringe groups who attempt to trivialize the crimes of the Hitler period by comparing German losses to the Holocaust.

The ultra-right in Germany has coined the phrases "Bombing Holocaust" and "Expulsion Holocaust". The bombing of Dresden and the bombing campaign in general has been a topic of ultra-right propaganda in post-war Germany. Amongst others, the German historian Wolfgang Benz believes that the use of the term "Bombing Holocaust" runs contrary to historical fact.[155] Civilian losses in the expulsions from Eastern Europe are viewed as an enormous human tragedy in Germany. The German government currently places the ultimate blame for the mass flight and expulsion on the wartime policy of the Nazis in Eastern Europe.[154] There are those like Heinz Nawratil who try to equate the expulsions from Eastern Europe with the Holocaust. The German historian Martin Broszat (former head of Institute of Contemporary History in Munich) described Nawratil's writings as "polemics with a nationalist-rightist point of view", and that Nawratil "exaggerates in an absurd manner the scale of 'expulsion crimes'".[156] The Federation of Expellees has represented the interests of Germans from Eastern Europe. Erika Steinbach, the current President of the Federation, provoked outrage when she supported the statements of other members of the expellee organization claiming that Hitler's attack on Poland was a response to Poland's policy.[157] The Federation of Expellees initiated the formation of the Center Against Expulsions.[158] The current President of Germany Joachim Gauck and the German chancellor Angela Merkel have voiced support for the Center Against Expulsions. However, in Poland it is viewed by some as an attempt to reopen the wounds of the war and to revert to pre-war borders.

The fate of over one million missing German soldiers in the USSR was an issue in post-war West Germany, with some claiming that they were held in secret labor camps by the Soviets. It is now known that they did not survive the war, Rüdiger Overmans believes that more than likely they died in Soviet custody.[159]

The Canadian author James Bacque (a novelist with no previous historical research experience) has written a book Other Losses in which he claims that the United States are responsible for the deaths of 800,000 to 1,000,000 German POW. Based on his own research Bacque claims that documents from the US Archives show that there were 800,000 German POW who did not survive US captivity. Bacque alleges that General Eisenhower and the US military deliberately withheld support for the German POW, causing their deaths. Bacque presents his arguments with a description of the horrific conditions at the Rheinwiesenlager POW camps and eyewitness accounts of retired US military officers. Bacque maintains that there has been a conspiracy by the United States to cover up these losses. Bacque’s book received wide attention when it was first published in 1989, since then his claims have been challenged by historians who have found his thesis to be unsubstantiated. The US military historian Stephen Ambrose was co-editor of the book Eisenhower and the German POWs in which he refutes Bacque’s claims. Ambrose maintains that the figure of 800,000 POW missing from the US records was a bookkeeping error, that many POW were released and no records were maintained. Ambrose points out that the US and the UK had to cope with a major logistical problem in order to maintain the huge number of surrendered German personnel and finds the claim that Eisenhower and the US military deliberately withheld support for the German POW to be without merit.[160] Rüdiger Overmans believes that "on the basis of factual individual data, shown before, the thesis of the Canadian James Bacque cannot be supported".[62]

Notes

  1. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans, Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1 page 228
  2. ↑ Hartmann, Christian (2013). Operation Barbarossa: Nazi Germany's War in the East, 1941–1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-966078-0. "Since the end of the 1990s, we have known that the total German military losses were actually far higher that had long been believed: close to 5,318,000 men"
  3. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans, Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1 pp.147-48
  4. ↑ Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005 p.17(Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The forward to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily)
  5. 1 2 Gregory Frumkin. Population Changes in Europe Since 1939, Page 74 Geneva 1951.
  6. ↑ Richard Overy, The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940-1945 (2013) pp 304-7
  7. ↑ Erich Hampe "Der Zivile Luftschutz im Zweiten Weltkrieg" pp.138-142 The figure of 500,000 includes 436,000 civilians, 39,000 foreign workers and prisoners of war and 25,000 police and military personnel.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Wirtschaft und Statistik October 1956, journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. (German government Statistical Office)
  9. ↑ The Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page 78.
  10. ↑ United States Strategic Bombing Survey, The Effect of Bombing on Health and Medical Care in Germany, P. 13 According to the report "no complete and accurate figures on German civilian air raid casualties, covering the entire period of the war, are available". The authors maintain that the German figures for 1940 through 1943 of 111,000 killed was generally correct and that their estimate of 311,000 dead for the years 1944 and 1945 was based on the tons of bombs dropped and the population size of the cities bombed. Regarding overall losses they concluded that "It was further estimated that an additional number, approximately 25% of known deaths in 1944 and 1945, were still unrecovered and unrecorded. With an addition of this estimate of 1944 and 1945 unrecorded deaths, the final estimation gave in round numbers a half a million German civilians killed by Allied aerial attacks"
  11. ↑ Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005 p.17(Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The forward to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily)
  12. 1 2 3 Die Flucht der deutschen Bevölkerung 1944/45
  13. ↑ Herausforderung Bevölkerung: zu Entwicklungen des modernen Denkens über die Bevölkerung vor, im und nach dem Dritten Reich Ingo Haar, "Bevölkerungsbilanzen und Vertreibungsverluste". Zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte der deutschen Opferangaben aus Flucht und Vertreibung Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2007 ISBN 978-3-531-15556-2
  14. 1 2 Hans Henning Hahn and Eva Hahn: Die Vertreibung im deutschen Erinnern. Legenden, Mythos, Geschichte. Paderborn 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-77044-8
  15. ↑ Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. Bevölkerungsbilanzen für die deutschen Vertreibungsgebiete 1939/50. Herausgeber: Statistisches Bundesamt - Wiesbaden. Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1958
  16. ↑ Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005 p.17(Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The forward to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily)
  17. 1 2 Christoph Bergner, Secretary of State in Germany's Bureau for Inner Affairs, outlines the stance of the respective governmental institutions in Deutschlandfunk on 29 November 2006,
  18. ↑ |Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005 p.12 (Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The forward to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily
  19. ↑ Das Bundesarchiv Das Inventar der Quellen zur Geschichte der "Euthanasie"-Verbrechen 1939–1945 (report available online at Bundesarchiv website)
  20. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans (de). Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1 Page 13-66
  21. ↑ Die Zeit 27 October 1949
  22. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1 Pages 49-52
  23. ↑ Burkhart Müller-Hillebrand Das Heer 1933–1945. Entwicklung des organisatorischen Aufbaues. Band III. Der Zweifrontenkrieg. Das Heer vom Beginn des Feldzuges gegen die Sowjetunion bis zum Kriegsende. Mittler, Frankfurt am Main 1969 Pages 258-266
  24. ↑ Overmans, Rüdiger: Die Toten des Zweiten Weltkrieges in Deutschland. Bilanz der Forschung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Wehrmacht und Vertreibungsverluste, in: Der Zweite Weltkrieg. Analysen, Grundzüge, Forschungsbilanz, Michalka, Wolfgang (Hrsg.), München: Piper 1989, pages 862-63
  25. ↑ Ploetz Geschichte des zweiten Weltkrieges Würzburg, Ploetz 1960 page 80
  26. ↑ Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005 ( Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The forward to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily)
  27. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1 Pages 151 to 204
  28. 1 2 3 4 Rüdiger Overmans, Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1,
  29. ↑ Overmans on page 176 of Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg defines "Letze Nachricht" das nur bekannt ist, von wann der letzte Feldpost oder ein anders Lebenszeichen stammt. All that is known is the origin of the last postal address or other sign of life
  30. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1 Page 289
  31. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans, Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1,P. 336 and P.174
  32. ↑ Overmans, p. 265
  33. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1 Page 266
  34. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000, Page 239
  35. 1 2 Great patriotic war of the Soviet Union, 1941-1945 : a general outline - Moscow : Progress Publishers, [1974] Page 392
  36. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000, pp. 228-232
  37. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000, pp. 170-172
  38. 1 2 Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000, Page 172
  39. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000, Page 228,Deutsche nach Abstammung
  40. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000, Page 228-232,Deutsche nach Abstammung
  41. 1 2 3 G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 1-85367-280-7 Pages 276-278
  42. 1 2 Percy Schramm Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht: 1940 - 1945: 8 Bde. (ISBN 9783881990738 ) Pages 1508 to 1511
  43. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans, Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1, Page 241
  44. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkriege. Ullstein Taschenbuch vlg., 2002
  45. ↑ Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960 Page 78
  46. ↑ Erich Maschke, Zur Geschichte der deutschen Kriegsgefangenen des Zweiten Weltkrieges Bielefeld, E. und W. Gieseking, 1962-1974 Vol 15 P 185-230.
  47. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans, Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkriege. Ullstein., 2000 Page 246 ISBN 3-549-07121-3
  48. ↑ Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 \Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005 (published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross). The forward to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily.
  49. ↑ 2,055,575 German soldiers surrendered between D-day and April 16, 1945, The Times, April 19 p 4; 755,573 German soldiers surrendered between April 1 and 16, The Times, April 18 p 4, which means that 1,300,002 German soldiers surrendered to the Western Allies between D-day and the end of March 1945.
  50. ↑ The Daily Telegraph Story of the War Vol. 5 p153, ‘The Allied armies in the west captured more than 1,500,000 prisoners during April.’
  51. ↑ The Times, March 28 page 4, headline "A WHIPPED ARMY, REVIEW BY SUPREME COMMANDER." ... "Quarter of a million German soldiers have been captured since March 1," press release dated March 27.
  52. ↑ Eisenhower Crusade in Europe William Heinemann 1948, p 421
  53. ↑ The Daily Telegraph "Story of the War", Vol. 5 p 127. "In the first fourteen days of April 548,173 German prisoners were taken..."
  54. ↑ In the last sixteen days of April, (over) 951,827 Germans were captured to make a total of (over) 1,500,000 for the whole of April, see Ref. 2
  55. ↑ The number of prisoners taken in March was approaching 350,000, SHAEF Weekly Summary No. 54 w.e.April 1st. PART I LAND Section A, ENEMY OPERATIONS. Thus the total for March and April was well over 1,800,000. (over 300,000 plus 1,500,000.)
  56. ↑ The Times, May 1st 1945 p 4
  57. 1 2 The Times, Feb 23rd 1945 p 4
  58. ↑ The World War II Databook, by John Ellis, 1993 p256.
  59. ↑ The World War II Databook, by John Ellis, p185.
  60. ↑ The World War II Databook, by John Ellis, p256.
  61. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans, Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkriege. Ullstein Taschenbuchvlg., 2002 ISBN 3-548-36328-8
  62. 1 2 3 4 5 Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1 Page 286-289
  63. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1 Page 176
  64. ↑ G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978-1-85367-280-4 Page 276
  65. 1 2 I. C. B. Dear and M. R. D. Foot Oxford Companion to World War II Oxford, 2005 ISBN 0-19-280670-X page 225
  66. ↑ Encyclopedia Britannica, article World Wars, 2010
  67. ↑ Brinkley, Douglas, World War II Desk Reference , Collins Reference , 2004 ISBN 9780060526511 pages 432-435
  68. ↑ Spencer C. Tucker ,Encyclopedia of world war two, Abc-Clio Inc , 2004 9781576079997 pages 300-301
  69. ↑ Clodfelter, Michael. Warfare and Armed Conflicts – A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500–2000. 2nd Ed. 2002 ISBN 0-7864-1204-6. p. 582-583
  70. ↑ John Keegan Atlas of the Second World War , HarperCollins 1997 Pages 204-205
  71. ↑ Ellis, John. World War II – A statistical survey Facts on File 1993. ISBN 0-8160-2971-7. pp. 253–254
  72. ↑ Dupuy, Col. Trevor N.; Dupuy, R. Ernest, Harper Encyclopedia of Military History, Harper Collins , 1993 ISBN 9780062700568 p.1309
  73. ↑ Alan Bullock, Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives Knopf, 1992 ISBN 0394586018, pages 986-988
  74. ↑ Keegan, John, Second World War, Penguin Books , 1990 ISBN 9780140113419 pages 592-593
  75. ↑ Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999 (on table 1.6 R. J. Rummel lists 169.2 million Democide deaths and 34.0 million war dead from 1900-1987 for a combined total of 203.2 million)
  76. ↑ Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder, Transaction Publishers, 1992 (on table 1.1 R. J. Rummel breaks out war dead of 5.2 million for Germany separately from Nazi democide)
  77. ↑ Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder, Transaction Publishers, 1992 Table A
  78. ↑ Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder, Transaction Publishers, 1992 Table A
  79. ↑ Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder since 1917, Transaction Publishers, 1990, Tables 7A and 8A
  80. ↑ Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999 Table 14.1
  81. ↑ Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999 Table 13.1
  82. ↑ Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999 Table 15.1
  83. ↑ Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999 Table 9.1
  84. ↑ Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999 Table 15.1
  85. ↑ Death by Government, Transaction Publishers, 1997 Table 12.1
  86. ↑ Eckhardt, William Wars and War-Related Deaths. 1700-1987,in World Military and Social Expenditures: 1987-1988, ed. Ruth Leger Sivard page 29
  87. ↑ Melvin Small and J. David Singer Resort to Arms: International and Civil Wars, 1816-1980 Sage 1982 page 91
  88. ↑ Quincy Wright A Study of War revised ed University of Chicago Press. 1965 page 1542
  89. ↑ R.J. Rummel.Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900 (1,863,000 in post war expulsions and an additional 1.0 million in wartime flight)
  90. ↑ Alfred M. de Zayas, A terrible Revenge. Palgrave Macmillan, New York (1994); ISBN 1-4039-7308-3, pp. 152- (2,111,000)
  91. ↑ Charles S. Maier, The Unmasterable Past: History, Holocaust, and German National Identity, Harvard University (1988); ISBN 0-674-92975-6, pp. 75- (2,000,000)
  92. ↑ Douglas Botting, The Aftermath: Europe (World War II), Time-Life Books (1983); ISBN 0-8094-3411-3, pp. 21, 81- (2,000,000)
  93. ↑ H.W. Schoenberg, Germans from the East: A Study of their migration, resettlement and subsequent group history, since 1945, Springer, London, Ltd. (1970); ISBN 90-247-5044-X, pp. 33- (2,225,000)
  94. ↑ Hermann Kinder, Werner Hilgemann & Ernest A. Menze, Anchor Atlas of World History, vol. 2: 1978– (3,000,000)
  95. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica: 1992– (2,384,000)
  96. ↑ Kurt Glaser & Stephan Possony, Victims of Politics (1979) – (2,111,000)
  97. ↑ Sir John Keegan, The Second World War, 1989 - (3.1 million including 1.0 million during wartime flight)
  98. ↑ Steffen Prauser and Arfon Rees, The Expulsion of German Communities from Eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War, European University Institute, Florence. HEC No. 2004/1. pp. 4- (2,000,000)
  99. ↑ George C Marshall, Biennial reports of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army to the Secretary of War : 1 July 1939-30 June 1945. Washington, DC : Center of Military History, 1996. Page 202
  100. ↑ George C Marshall, Biennial reports of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army to the Secretary of War : 1 July 1939-30 June 1945. Washington, DC : Center of Military History, 1996. Page 61
  101. ↑ Imperial War Museum- German and Italian Prisoners of War in the United Kingdom Click on "read more"
  102. ↑ Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Statistical bulletin January 1946 Page 7
  103. ↑ Gregory Frumkin. Population Changes in Europe Since 1939, Geneva 1951. Page 72
  104. ↑ Gregory Frumkin. Population Changes in Europe Since 1939, Geneva 1951.
  105. 1 2 Wirtschaft und Statistik November 1949, journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. (German Federal Statistical Office)
  106. ↑ The Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page 78
  107. ↑ Hans Sperling, Die Luftkriegsverluste während des zweiten Weltkriegs in Deutschland, Wirtschaft und Statistik October 1956, journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. (German government Statistical Office)
  108. ↑ Erich Hampe "Der Zivile Luftschutz im Zweiten Weltkrieg" pp.138-142
  109. ↑ Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. Bevölkerungsbilanzen für die deutschen Vertreibungsgebiete 1939/50.Herausgeber: Statistisches Bundesamt - Wiesbaden. - Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1958 p. 14
  110. ↑ United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Summary Report
  111. ↑ 'United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Effects of Strategic Bombing on the German War Economy pages 13 and 136
  112. ↑ Germany and the Second World War, Volume 9, Part 1 Page 475 By Germany (West). Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt
  113. ↑ United States Strategic Bombing Survey, The Effect of Bombing on Health and Medical Care in Germany, P. 13
  114. ↑ Germany and the Second World War, Volume 9, Part 1 Page 475 By Germany (West). Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt
  115. ↑ United States Strategic Bombing Survey, The Effect of Bombing on Health and Medical Care in Germany, pp. 11-13
  116. 1 2 3 Richard Overy, The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940-1945 (2014) pp 304-7
  117. ↑ United States Strategic Bombing Survey,Civilian Defense Division final report. pp. 3-4
  118. ↑ Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005 p.12(Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The forward to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily)
  119. ↑ Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, Bd. 9/1, ISBN 3-421-06236-6. p. 460
  120. 1 2 Peter Antill, Peter Dennis, Berlin 1945: end of the Thousand Year Reich ISBN 1-84176-915-0 Page 85. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
  121. 1 2 German Federal Archive, Siegel, Silke Vertreibung und Vertreibungsverbrechen 1945-1948. Bericht des Bundesarchivs vom 28. Mai 1974. Archivalien und ausgewählte Erlebnisberichte. Bonn 1989
  122. ↑ Germany reports. With an introd. by Konrad Adenauer. Germany (West). Presse- und Informationsamt. Wiesbaden, Distribution: F. Steiner, 1961] Page 32
  123. ↑ Bundesarchiv Euthanasie" im Nationalsozialismus
  124. ↑ Bundesarchiv: Euthanasie-Verbrechen 1939 - 1945 (Quellen zur Geschichte der "Euthanasie"-Verbrechen 1939-1945 in deutschen und österreichischen Archiven. Ein Inventar. Einführung von Harald Jenner)
  125. ↑ Quellen zur Geschichte der "Euthanasie"-Verbrechen 1939-1945 in deutschen und österreichischen Archiven. Ein Inventar
  126. ↑ Kai Cornelius, Vom spurlosen Verschwindenlassen zur Benachrichtigungspflicht bei Festnahmen, BWV Verlag, 2004, p.126, ISBN 3-8305-1165-5
  127. ↑ Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. Bevölkerungsbilanzen für die deutschen Vertreibungsgebiete 1939/50. Herausgeber: Statistisches Bundesamt - Wiesbaden. Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1958
  128. ↑ Herausforderung Bevölkerung: zu Entwicklungen des modernen Denkens über die Bevölkerung vor, im und nach dem Dritten Reich Ingo Haar, "Bevölkerungsbilanzen und Vertreibungsverluste". Zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte der deutschen Opferangaben aus Flucht und Vertreibung Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2007 ISBN 978-3-531-15556-2
  129. ↑ Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005 p.17(Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The forward to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily)
  130. ↑ DRüdiger Overmans (de). Personelle Verluste der deutschen Bevölkerung durch Flucht und Vertreibung. (A parallel Polish translation was also included, this paper was a presentation at an academic conference in Warsaw Poland in 1994), Dzieje Najnowsze Rocznik XXI-1994
  131. ↑ Wirtschaft und Statistik April 1950
  132. ↑ Bundesministerium für Vertriebene, Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa Vol. 1-5, Bonn, 1954-1961
  133. ↑ Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. Bevölkerungsbilanzen für die deutschen Vertreibungsgebiete 1939/50. Herausgeber: Statistisches Bundesamt - Wiesbaden. - Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1958 See pages 102, 143,174,323 381
  134. 1 2 3 Rüdiger Overmans- Personelle Verluste der deutschen Bevölkerung durch Flucht und Vertreibung. (A parallel Polish summary translation was also included, this paper was a presentation at an academic conference in Warsaw Poland in 1994), Dzieje Najnowsze Rocznik XXI-1994
  135. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1
  136. 1 2 3 Ursprünge, Arten und Folgen des Konstrukts "Bevölkerung" vor, im und nach dem "Dritten Reich" Zur Geschichte der deutschen Bevölkerungswissensch: Ingo Haar Die deutschen ›Vertreibungsverluste‹ – Forschungsstand, Kontexte und Probleme, in Ursprünge, Arten und Folgen des Konstrukts "Bevölkerung" vor, im und nach dem "Dritten Reich" Springer 2009: ISBN 978-3-531-16152-5
  137. ↑ Herausforderung Bevölkerung : zu Entwicklungen des modernen Denkens über die Bevölkerung vor, im und nach dem Dritten Reich Ingo Haar, Bevölkerungsbilanzen" und "Vertreibungsverluste. Zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte der deutschen Opferangaben aus Flucht und Vertreibung Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2007 ISBN 978-3-531-15556-2
  138. ↑ Ingo Haar, Die Deutschen "Vertreibungsverluste –Zur Entstehung der "Dokumentation der Vertreibung - Tel Aviver Jahrbuch, 2007, Tel Aviv : Universität Tel Aviv, Fakultät für Geisteswissenschaften, Forschungszentrum für Geschichte ; Gerlingen [Germany] : Bleicher Verlag
  139. ↑ Hans Henning Hahn and Eva Hahn : Die Vertreibung im deutschen Erinnern. Legenden, Mythos, Geschichte. Paderborn 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-77044-8 Pages 659-726
  140. ↑ Christoph Bergner, Secretary of State in Germany's Bureau for Inner Affairs, outlines the stance of the respective governmental institutions in Deutschlandfunk on 29 November 2006,
  141. ↑ Hubert, Michael, Deutschland im Wandel. Geschichte der deutschen Bevolkerung seit 1815 Steiner, Franz Verlag 1998 ISBN 3-515-07392-2 p. 272
  142. 1 2 Marschalck, Peter. Bevölkerungsgeschichte Deutschlands im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Suhrkamp 1984.
  143. ↑ Wirtschaft und Statistik October 1956, figure includes 3,760,000 military dead and missing; Civilian deaths: 410,000 in air war; 20,000 in military campaign and 1,260,000 expellee deaths east of the Oder Neisse line
  144. ↑ |Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005 p.12 (Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The forward to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily
  145. ↑ Marschalck, Peter. Bevölkerungsgeschichte Deutschlands im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert- Suhrkamp 1984
  146. ↑ Bruno. Gleitze, Deutschlands Bevölkerungsverluste durch den Zweiten Weltkrieg, „Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung” 1953, s. 375-384 Gleitze estimated 400,000 excess deaths during the war and 800,000 in post war Germany
  147. ↑ Alan S. Milward, The Reconstruction of Western Europe
  148. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1 Page 335
  149. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkriege. Ullstein Taschenbuch vlg., 2002
  150. ↑ Gregory Frumkin. Population Changes in Europe Since 1939, Geneva 1951. Page 4
  151. ↑ Austria facts and Figures Page 44
  152. ↑ Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. Bevölkerungsbilanzen für die deutschen Vertreibungsgebiete 1939/50. Herausgeber: Statistisches Bundesamt - Wiesbaden. - Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1958
  153. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans, Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1, p. 265
  154. 1 2 German President Horst Köhler, Speech on September 2, 2006
  155. ↑ Wolfgang Benz: Feindbild und Vorurteil: Beiträge über Ausgrenzung und Verfolgung. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-423-04694-5, S. 139
  156. ↑ Ursprünge, Arten und Folgen des Konstrukts "Bevölkerung" vor, im und nach dem "Dritten Reich" Zur Geschichte der deutschen Bevölkerungswissensch: Ingo Haar Die deutschen ›Vertreibungsverluste‹ – Forschungsstand, Kontexte und Probleme, in Ursprünge, Arten und Folgen des Konstrukts "Bevölkerung" vor, im und nach dem "Dritten Reich" Springer 2009: ISBN 978-3-531-16152-5 Page 373
  157. ↑ Paterson, Tony (September 11, 2010). "Merkel ally quits after claiming Nazis didn't start war". The Independent. London.
  158. ↑ Centre Against Expulsions, foundation website, "Our Foundation"
  159. ↑ Rüdiger Overmans, Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-56531-1, pages 284-292
  160. ↑ Bischoff, Gunter; Ambrose, Stephen (1992), "Introduction", in Bischoff, Gunter; Ambrose, Stephen, Eisenhower and the German POWs, New York: Louisiana State University Press, ISBN 0-8071-1758-7
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