Military and Civilian War Related Deaths Through the Ages

Derived from Official and Multiple Reference Sources ^References

Finding Out True Combat Losses

Combat losses are difficult to fully ascertain in many cases. Some countries kept excellent records and some none at all. Some countries include people who died of combat wounds years after they were inflicted some do not count them.

I created a page of sources to help locate aircraft, personnel, ships, graves and service information.

Historians like original source documents: after action combat reports filled out by unit commanders, ration requests, orders for weapons and other such documents. However, you must keep the time period in which these documents were created. What could be valid in one time period in history where 1 weapon ordered was the same as 1 person in the ranks while in other times 500 items could be ordered but they went to both field personnel and into stock in various places but only 50 actual soldiers in the field ever got them. Sometimes these equipment and food ration records give accurate records of personnel before and after an engagement.

This is not designed to be an exhaustive inclusive list of all wars. Record keeping of figures is good from the 1200s onward for European nations. Prior to that valid records are spotty. Roman era records as well as Greek records in some cases can be verified. Most have to be calculated estimates within valid realms of probability. Some Chinese record keeping go back a lot further are also good. Modern Chinese records are hard to establish due to the many changes of governments that have occurred in China over the past 150 years. Records for other locations on Terra Firma is almost nonexistent prior to a European arrival.

Civilian casualty figures for most wars are impossible to verify. Most historians and governments guessed at them. Some guess due in part that the records of the people living in an area were themselves destroyed, and sometimes they were never counted to hide the true losses from their own people as to the number killed as well as to keep those numbers from enemy.

Coming up with accurate numbers for KIA — Killed in Action; WIA — Wounded in Action; DOW— Died Of Wounds; MIA — Missing in Action; POW — Prisoner Of War varies widely by country. With the creation of paid standing armies it becomes much easier to find these things out — since pay records exist. When money is paid to individual soldiers then records tend to be more accurate.

Finding those paper records can still be difficult with the passage of time. Secondary sources from church records, tax rolls, emigration records and others sources that tend to identify individuals can fill in the gap if enough data can be collected to form a statistically valid sample.

Hague conventions of 1899 and 1907 were the first international set of international treaties that codified the rules of war.

US American Revolutionary War 1775-1783

Napoleonic Wars 1792-1815

War of 1812

US Civil War 1861-1865

US Indian Wars

The most famous single battle was with General George Armstrong Custer at the Little Big Horn. Actually, three separate battles over two days. Major Reno and Captain Benteen united their commands and survived. Around 40 Indian warriors are known killed, likley higher. 268 soldiers killed (210 Custer, rest Reno and Benteen.)

Spanish American War of 1898

Philippine Insurrection February 1898 to July 1902

World War One 1914-1918

  WW I US cemetery at Chateau Thierre, France.
  American Battle Monuments Commission photo.
  My photos of this site are, of course, from the
  perspective of walking along the ground back
  in 1982.

"Give us a tot of rum tonight And over the top once more we'll go Where we'll bugger the German army all right And show old Fritz how to put on a show."

Main statistics source for WW I: A 1930s Military study done by US Army Officer Vincent J. Esposito, Colonel, US Military Academy. All are Official figures.

*Australia totals included in British Empire total.

American Cemetery outside Cambridge, England, looking down the
reflecting pool toward the chapel. The wall on the right has the names of
5125 Americans who died and were reported MIA (Missing in Action) in the
European theatre inscribed on it, most are from aviation units. 3811 Americans
are buired in the cemetary.

World War II 1937 — 31 Dec 1946

Yugoslavia death toll is mainly as a result of guerilla warfare after the initial German conquest in Spring of 1941.

WWII Civilian Deaths

Events that caused the most casualties:

• Dresden Feb 13, 1945 An estimated 40,000 people were burned or suffocated to death in the raid on the city. Prior to the raid it was known as the "Florence of the Elbe" which had hardly any military significance at all and came less than three months before Nazi Germany surrendered. There were also several hundred British and U.S. prisoners of war in Dresden, including American author Kurt Vonnegut who recounted his experiences in the book "Slaughterhouse Five."
• Tokyo Fire Bombing Raid. March 1945. 100,000.
• Stalingrad. Russian armies surrounded 335,000 Germans. 96,000 surrendered in February 1943. 5,000 German and Italians (plus others) who were still alive were finally released from Russian POW camps in 1955. Russian combat losses were estimated at 600,000 dead and 230,000 civilians. Stalin refused to let civilians out of the city during the German advance thus most died as a result of the siege.
• SS Wilhelm Gustloff. 10,582 civilians fleeing from the Russian advance in East Prussia in 1945 are torpedoed by Russian Sub S-13. 964 were pulled from the water (many later dying due to hypothermia). Other picked up by other small boats. 6,500 known to have died.
• On December 24, 1944, over 750 American soldiers of the 61st Division lost their lives when the troopship S.S. Leopoldville (operated by Compgnie Maritime Belge with a crew from the Belgian Congo - thanks to Jaap Geensen for this crew info) was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Cherbourg France on Dec 24, 1944.

WW II Selected Equipment Losses

Korean War

25 Jun 1950 — 27 Jul 1953

Algeria Uprising November 1 1954 - July 1, 1962

Vietnam / South East Asia 4 Aug 1964 — 29 Mar 1973

"Operation Desert Storm" - 1991

17 Jan 1991 — 11 Apr 1991

Somalia

Oct 1993

Rwanda

Summer 1995

"Afganistan" - November 2001 - Present Day

As of 19 April 2008 to include Dutch Soldiers.

When totals in KIA or Casualties do not match across it is because I do not know the breakdowmn by service. Then I give the actual total till I can re-find the breakdown. One of the problems living in the US is that the news services only report on US casualties and seldom about the other nationss involved.

"Operation Iraqi Freedom" - March 2003 - January 2008

See notes below table about updates.

Updated 19 April 2008 to include Dutch soldiers killed.

Spain ran away after electing a new government due to the Madrid bombings by terrorists. No Queen Isabella there anymore.

After two and a half years of being in Iraq, March 2003 through November 2005, the number of US Soliders killed in action (1501) was close to the number killed on a single day during World War II in just ONE location: Normandy on June 6, 1944.

More Iraqis have died as a result of insurgent bombings, revenge killings, than were killed by US military by accident (collateral damage in military parlance) during the 2003 invasion (Bush Speak: Regime Change). True number of Iraqis killed by terrorists was published in newspapers October 30, 2005 but they are guessing also.

On average, around 45 Iraqis died due to bombings and revenge killings each day against their own citizens from July 2005 till July 2006. Since August 2006 the total has averaged around 100 a day - mainly due to car bombings at markets to kill the "average" Iraqi - but of the other Muslim sect of course. The average per day was 15 since March 2003 till around fall 2004 then it upped to around 25 a day. These were more of a revenge killing and "targeted" bombing against people now in power. Since the "surge" started in Summer of 2007 the civilian daily total has now dropped down to around 25 a day killed and equal number wounded. As of January 2008 the average number of Iraqis killed by Al Quaeda and others is back again to around 15 a day.

A 2007 "study" claims that there has been 654,965 Iraqui civilian deaths as seen in the British Medical Journal "Lancet" in January 2008. However, unlike other studies, the people who created it are not releasing any of the raw data collected so the methods cannot be repeatedly redone to check their validity unlike normal scientific studies. It also used regular statistical polling methods - but its predictions is like those of the 2008 New Hampshire polls that predicted Sen. Obama winning - valid but flawed to the extreme. Other studies state anywhere between 30,000 to 50,000 civilian Iraqi deaths.

This means I my "guess" at total Iraqi civilian deaths at being around 26,000 as of 1 January 2007 was pretty darn accurate and a total of around 53,000 by January of 2008 is the most likely number. And I did not have to spend a few million dollars and use of a computer to come up with that figure.

The number of wounded Iraqis is usually around three times the reported number killed due to the bombings. That would mean around 150,000 have been wounded in some physical manner. Anything from a scratch that required a few stiches to losing arms, legs, to trauma requiring major surgery.

The US based Liberal radio spectrum ("left side of the dial") network has quoted 100,000 civilian dead since 2005 and used the same number in 2007. Totally made up figure. Of course around 2 million have fled Iraq to neighbor nations to avoid the revenge killings. Revenge killings by tribes stop usually around 200 to 300 years after they first started based on historical timelines of the past. Even Doonesbury® has had comics about that.

Operation Telic is the name given by the British

Number Killed during the Actual War Initial Combat Phase

There were 137 US Soldiers actually killed during the fight to Bagdad. The rest were killed while trying to re-establish an Iraqi government that US, UN, French, German and even the Iraqis would like to see run their country. i.e.: Trying to replace the destroyed (mainly by Iraqi looters) power stations, fuel lines, telephones and get a functioning government and police force up to a point so that the Allied military forces who attacked Iraq could be withdrawn.

For all tables: If you see whole numbers (100, 200, 10,000) it means best esitmate from multiple sources. Exact number means official sources or estimated from 3 or more sources.

Avoiding Military Duty

In the US there were an estimated 200,000 Conscientious Objectors during the Vietnam War, 4,300 in the Korean War, 37,000 in World War II, and 3,500 in World War I. 16.1 million people served on active duty in World War II. From the upward count it has become quite popular to avoid serving in the armed forces in the last 50 years in the US. From what I have read this is true in all democratic counties where you have a choice to serve or not.

During the US Civil War you could pay someone to serve in your place. This came about due to the implementation of a levy (in essence a state draft) being instutitued in 1863 and 1864. If your name was pulled to serve, and you had enough money, you could have someone else serve in your place. Going price was usually around $350.

Draft riots occurred in New York City and Baltimore during the war, as well as other large cities, when this was instituted. Over 200 people died during the riots. (A passing reference to this occurs in the movie "Gangs of New York" when a ship is firing on the city.)

References

Here are some official government records archives that are online where you can research military combat related information as well as some good research done by others.

• National Archives & Records Administration
• George Duncan— Maritime disasters
• WWII Burial Sites US Army Carlisle Barracks
• Merchant Marine Deaths WWII
• US Marine Corp
• Army Air Forces Statistical Digest, Carlise Barracks
• American Battle Monuments Commission
• British Graves Commission
• Pearl Harbor
• Battle of Britain Royal Air Force
• Combat Studies Institute U.S. Army Ft Leavenworth Kansas
• Center for Military History
• Military History Institute
• Center for Army Lesson Learned
• World War One
• World War Two
• http://ww2.vet.org/
• U.S. Civil War
• Military Casualty Information (1980 to current)
• Iraq & Afganisan (PDF)
• Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office

The history of "Taps".