how many civilians died in ww2

[40][41], On 9 April, after a long resistance, Knigsberg in East Prussia fell to the Red Army. [58], The forces available to General Weidling for the city's defence included roughly 45,000 soldiers in several severely depleted German Army and Waffen-SS divisions. [117] There is no evidence to suggest that Generals Heinrici, Busse, or Wenck thought that this was even remotely strategically feasible, but Hitler's agreement to allow the IX Army to break through Soviet lines allowed many German soldiers to escape to the west and surrender to the United States Army. [113] On the morning of 7 May, the perimeter of the XII Army's bridgehead began to collapse. Enter your email below, and you'll receive this table's data in your inbox momentarily. (This rate of civilian casualties was higher than World War II's and the Vietnam War's.) This represents the most military deaths of any nation by a large margin. [118], At dawn on 28 April, the youth divisions Clausewitz, Scharnhorst, and Theodor Krner attacked from the south-west toward the direction of Berlin. At that point there was still a large contingent of German soldiers in the basement who launched counter-attacks against the Red Army. How many British civilians died during World War 2? - Answers [105] Early in the morning of 2 May, the Soviets captured the Reich Chancellery. On 9 March, Germany established its defence plan for the city with Operation Clausewitz. Research Starters: Worldwide Deaths in World War II How Many People Died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? - Newsweek See answer (1) Best Answer Copy About 750,000 Japanese civilians were killed during WW2. [90], During the early hours of 30 April, Weidling informed Hitler in person that the defenders would probably exhaust their ammunition during the night. Forces and resources of the European combatants, 1939, The Baltic states and the Russo-Finnish War, 193940, The war in the west, September 1939June 1940, The invasion of the Low Countries and France, Italys entry into the war and the French Armistice, The Atlantic and the Mediterranean, 194041, Pearl Harbor and the Japanese expansion, to July 1942, Developments from autumn 1941 to spring 1942, Allied strategy and controversies, 194042, The Germans summer offensive in southern Russia, 1942, The Solomons, Papua, Madagascar, the Aleutians, and Burma, July 1942May 1943, Montgomerys Battle of el-Alamein and Rommels retreat, 194243, Stalingrad and the German retreat, summer 1942February 1943, The invasion of northwest Africa, NovemberDecember 1942, The Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the North Sea, 194245, The Eastern Front, FebruarySeptember 1943, The Southwest and South Pacific, JuneOctober 1943, The Allied landings in Europe and the defeat of the Axis powers, Developments from autumn 1943 to summer 1944, Sicily and the fall of Mussolini, JulyAugust 1943, The Allies invasion of Italy and the Italian volte-face, 1943, The western Allies and Stalin: Cairo and Tehrn, 1943, The Eastern Front, October 1943April 1944, The war in the Pacific, October 1943August 1944, The Burmese frontier and China, November 1943summer 1944, Developments from summer 1944 to autumn 1945, The Allied invasions of western Europe, JuneNovember 1944, Allied policy and strategy: Octagon (Quebec II) and Moscow, 1944, The Philippines and Borneo, from September 1944, The German offensive in the west, winter 194445, The Soviet advance to the Oder, JanuaryFebruary 1945, The end of the Japanese war, FebruarySeptember 1945, Pop Quiz: 17 Things to Know About World War II. [104] Only a handful of those who survived the initial breakout made it to the lines of the Western Alliesmost were either killed or captured by the Red Army's outer encirclement forces west of the city. These breakthroughs allowed the two Soviet Fronts to envelop the German 9th Army in a large pocket west of Frankfurt. Under Japanese occupation, 170,000 to 250,000 civilians died. Over 2 million Germans are confirmed killed by the expulsions. [51] During the same period, of all the German forces ordered to reinforce the inner defences of the city by Hitler, only a small contingent of French SS volunteers under the command of SS Brigadefhrer Gustav Krukenberg arrived in Berlin. Civilian Casualties of World War Two. In addition to Nazi concentration camps, the Soviet gulags (labor camps) led to the death of citizens of occupied countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as German prisoners of war (POWs) and Soviet citizens who were thought to be Nazi supporters. [5] Many of the 40,000 elderly men of the Volkssturm had been in the army as young men and some were veterans of World War I. Hitler appointed SS Brigadefhrer Wilhelm Mohnke the Battle Commander for the central government district that included the Reich Chancellery and Fhrerbunker. There remains some confusion as to who was in command, as some references say that Student was captured by the British and never arrived. USA military dead is around 416,800 people. over 4.1 million civilians died prematurely on the occupied territories because of disease, starvation . Paul Malley on Twitter: "How many Koreans were killed in the war Some 75 million people died in World War II, including about 20 million military personnel and 40 million civilians, many of whom died because of deliberate genocide, massacres, mass-bombings, disease, and starvation. Thousands and thousands who had sought shelter in them had drowned when the SS had carried out the blowing up of the protective devices on the Landwehr Canal. Photographs Who's Who in Nazi Germany World War II Operation Torch and the Liberation of North African Jews Persecution American Victims of the Holocaust Concentration Camps Estimated Number of Jews Killed Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust & Nazi Persecution Euthanasia Program Einsatzgruppen Final Solution Forced Labor Ghettos Every day, memories of World War IIits sights and sounds, its terrors and triumphsdisappear. National WWII Museum, Various sources. When the Soviet offensive resumed on 16 April, two Soviet fronts (army groups) attacked Berlin from the east and south, while a third overran German forces positioned north of Berlin. Many civilians died because of deliberate genocide, massacres, mass-bombings, disease, and starvation. [43] The 2nd Belorussian Front moved into the positions being vacated by the 1st Belorussian Front north of the Seelow Heights. For most other nations, only estimates of varying reliability exist. Current estimates place military deaths between 21 million and 25.5 million people. Was World War II American Urban Bombing . [101] Goebbels was against surrender. . [41] These lines consisted of anti-tank ditches, anti-tank gun emplacements, and an extensive network of trenches and bunkers. On 20 April 1945, Hitler's birthday, the 1st Belorussian Front led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov, advancing from the east and north, started shelling Berlin's city centre, while Marshal Ivan Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front broke through Army Group Centre and advanced towards the southern suburbs of Berlin. The statistics on World War II casualties are inexact. Historian The numbers are staggering: up to three million Bengalis were killed by famine, more than half a million South Asian refugees fled Myanmar (formerly Burma), 2.3 million soldiers manned. The city's garrison surrendered on 2 May but fighting continued to the north-west, west, and south-west of the city until the end of the war in Europe on 8 May (9 May in the Soviet Union) as some German units fought westward so that they could surrender to the Western Allies rather than to the Soviets. In East Asia, the victims of famine and pestilence in China are to be numbered in the millions, in addition to other millions of both soldiers and civilians who perished in battle and bombardment. [60] They were to anticipate a southward attack by the III Panzer Army and be ready to be the southern arm of a pincer attack that would envelop 1st Belorussian Front, which would be destroyed by SS-General Felix Steiner's Army Detachment advancing from north of Berlin. [112], The German III Panzer Army and the German XXI Army situated to the north of Berlin retreated westwards under relentless pressure from Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front, and was eventually pushed into a pocket 32km (20mi) wide that stretched from the Elbe to the coast. [56], The command of the German V Corps, trapped with the IX Army north of Forst, passed from the IV Panzer Army to the IX Army. [49] The 1st Ukrainian Front, having captured Forst the day before, fanned out into open country. April 4, 2022. [78], On 26 April, Chuikov's 8th Guards Army and the 1st Guards Tank Army fought their way through the southern suburbs and attacked Tempelhof Airport, just inside the S-Bahn defensive ring, where they met stiff resistance from the Mncheberg Division. The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest and costliest of World War II in the Pacific. While this redeployment was in progress, gaps were left in the lines; and the remnants of General Dietrich von Saucken's German II Army, which had been bottled up in a pocket near Danzig, managed to escape into the Vistula delta. Before the main battle in Berlin commenced, the Red Army encircled the city after successful battles of the Seelow Heights and Halbe. The official death figures are listed here . [55] To the north between Stettin and Schwedt, the 2nd Belorussian Front attacked the northern flank of Army Group Vistula, held by Hasso von Manteuffel's III Panzer Army. At the time of World War II, Newfoundland . [15], On 12 January 1945, the Red Army began the VistulaOder Offensive across the Narew River; and, from Warsaw, a three-day operation on a broad front, which incorporated four army Fronts. In cases where the source gave a range of fatality estimates the middle value has been taken for display purposes (e.g. The latter resulted in the destruction of more than 160 cities and the death of more than 600,000 German civilians. He stressed that it was already too late for it to move north-west to Berlin and would have to retreat west. Wenck crossed the Elbe under small arms fire that afternoon and surrendered to the American Ninth Army. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [61] Later in the day, when Steiner explained that he did not have the divisions to achieve this, Heinrici made it clear to Hitler's staff that unless the IX Army retreated immediately, it would be enveloped by the Soviets. Please create an employee account to be able to mark statistics as favorites. [53], On 20 April 1945, Hitler's 56th birthday, Soviet artillery of the 1st Belorussian Front began shelling Berlin and did not stop until the city surrendered. German losses, of which the greater proportion occurred on the Eastern Front, were only slightly less severe. [44], Between 24 April and 1 May, the IX Army fought a desperate action to break out of the pocket in an attempt to link up with the XII Army. Over the course of the next week, the Red Army gradually took the entire city. Profit from the additional features of your individual account. 1944, near 100,000 Japanese civilians were killed, more than died in the Hiroshima atomic bombing. [29] The Supreme Commander [Western] Allied Expeditionary Force, General Eisenhower, lost interest in the race to Berlin and saw no further need to suffer casualties by attacking a city that would be in the Soviet sphere of influence after the war,[30] envisioning excessive friendly fire if both armies attempted to occupy the city at once. World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history in terms of total dead, with some 75 million people casualties including military and civilians, or around 3% of the worlds population at the time. They covered a distance of about 24km (15mi), before being halted at the tip of Lake Schwielow, south-west of Potsdam and still 32km (20mi) from Berlin. [65], Elsewhere, the 2nd Belorussian Front had established a bridgehead 15km (9mi) deep on the west bank of the Oder and was heavily engaged with the III Panzer Army. [110] Regardless of whether von Tippelskirch or Student was in command of Army Group Vistula, the rapidly deteriorating situation that the Germans faced meant that Army Group Vistula's coordination of the armies under its nominal command during the last few days of the war was of little significance. 'What are the targets?' Precise casualty numbers for WWII are impossible to determine for most countries, whose stat-keeping capabilities faltered as nations rose and fell, borders changed, populations shifted, and vast numbers of soldiers were killed, wounded, captured, or declared missing in action. The following countries have the highest estimated World War II casualties: the Soviet Union (20 to 27 million), China (15 to 20 million), Germany (6 to 7.4 million), Poland (5.9 to 6 million), Dutch East Indies/Indonesia (3 to 4 million), Japan (2.5 to 3.1 million), India (2.2 to 3 million), Yugoslavia (1 to 1.7 million), French Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, part of Vietnam) (1 to 2.2 million), and France (600,000). Between 70 to 85 million people died, either as a direct result of the conflict or due to war-related factors like diseases and starvation. [92] To the Soviets the event as represented by the photo became symbolic of their victory demonstrating that the Battle of Berlin, as well as the Eastern Front hostilities as a whole, ended with the total Soviet victory. [62], On 22 April 1945, at his afternoon situation conference, Hitler fell into a tearful rage when he realised that his plans, prepared the previous day, could not be achieved. [84] The initial assaults on buildings, including the Ministry of the Interior, were hampered by the lack of supporting artillery. Statistical accounting broke down in both Allied and Axis nations when whole armies were surrendered or dispersed. [111] Meanwhile, the XII Army's bridgehead, with its headquarters in the park of Schnhausen, came under heavy Soviet artillery bombardment and was compressed into an area eight by two kilometres (five by one and a quarter miles). [96], As the perimeter shrank and the surviving defenders fell back, they became concentrated into a small area in the city centre. [69] Meanwhile, by 24 April 1945 elements of 1st Belorussian Front and 1st Ukrainian Front had completed the encirclement of the city. United Kingdom casualties of war - Wikipedia [20] Adolf Hitler insisted on a counter-attack to recapture the Drau-Danube triangle. [124], On the night of 23 May, General von Manteuffel, commander of the III Panzer Army along with General von Tippelskirch, commander of the XXI Army, surrendered to the US Army. Those totals do not include the more than 14 million Soviet soldiers who were wounded during the war. [103], On the night of 1/2 May, most of the remnants of the Berlin garrison attempted to break out of the city centre in three different directions. However, no positive or specific customary international humanitarian law with respect to aerial warfare existed before or during World War II. The US Library of Congress estimates that in Java, between 4 and 10 million rmusha (Japanese: manual laborers), were forced to work by the Japanese military. Officially, roughly 8.6 million Soviet soldiers died in the course of the war, including millions of POWs. Tools Dead Soviet civilians near Minsk, Belarus, 1943 Kiev, 23 June 1941 A victim of starvation in besieged Leningrad suffering from muscle atrophy in 1941 World War II losses of the Soviet Union were about 27,000,000, both civilian and military from all war-related causes, [1] although exact figures are disputed. [54] While the 1st Belorussian Front advanced towards the east and north-east of the city, the 1st Ukrainian Front pushed through the last formations of the northern wing of Army Group Centre and passed north of Juterbog, well over halfway to the American front line on the river Elbe at Magdeburg. They include Hamilton, who uses the figure of 361,367 without further breakdown (, Captured prisoners included many unarmed men in uniform, such as railway officials and members of the Reich Labour Service (, Bellamy states that most of the rapes occurred between 23 April and 8 May, after which the number of rapes gradually subsided (, "Fall of Berlin: Stopping the Nazi Heart", Hitler and several of his officials committed suicide, Supreme Commander [Western] Allied Expeditionary Force, Medal for Participation in the Battle of Berlin, "They raped every German female from eight to 80", "Boje polskie 19391945: przewodnik encyklopedyczny", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Berlin&oldid=1159148444, Unconditional surrender of the Berlin city garrison on 2 May, Capitulation of German forces outside Berlin on 8/9 May as part of unconditional surrender of all forces. There are no reliable figures for the casualties of the Soviet Union and China, the two countries in which casualties were undoubtedly greatest. [97] These Soviet forces had effectively cut the sausage-shaped area held by the Germans in half and made any escape attempt to the west for German troops in the centre much more difficult. On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. [126] The Soviets claimed to have captured nearly 480,000 German soldiers,[127][p] while German research put the number of dead between 92,000 and 100,000. [86] At dawn the Soviets pressed on with their assault in the south-east. The nations of western Europe, however great their suffering from occupation, escaped with manpower losses that were hardly comparable with those of World War I. Many deaths were caused by war crimes committed by German and Japanese forces in occupied territories. In the evening Heinrici was given permission to make the link-up. German casualties in World War II - Wikipedia While the 1st Belorussian Front and the 1st Ukrainian Front encircled Berlin, and started the battle for the city itself, Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front started his offensive to the north of Berlin. Most suggest that some 75 million people died in the war, including about 20 million military personnel and 40 million civilians. On this same day, Hitler appointed General Helmuth Weidling as the commander of the Berlin Defence Area, replacing Lieutenant General Reymann. Of the total number of deaths in World War II, approximately 85 percentmostly Soviet and Chinesewere on the Allied side and 15 percent on the Axis side. statistic alerts) please log in with your personal account. Between the start of the war in September 1939 and its end in August/September 1945, more than 100 million (and possibly as many as 300 million) combatants entered the fray. After the VistulaOder offensive of JanuaryFebruary 1945, the Red Army had temporarily halted on a line 60km (37mi) east of Berlin. Every fifth person: The USSR's loss of civilian, military life during World War II . [25], Between June and September 1944, the German armed forces had lost more than a million men, and it lacked the fuel and armaments needed to operate effectively. Soviet soldiers roughly around 8.7 million Soviet soldiers died in World War 2. Statista. There was sporadic fighting in a few isolated buildings where some SS troops still refused to surrender, but the Soviets reduced such buildings to rubble. [31] The major Western Allied contribution to the battle was the bombing of Berlin during 1945. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [129] Almost all transport in and out of the city had been rendered inoperative, and bombed-out sewers had contaminated the city's water supplies. One of the other main thrusts was along Wilhelmstrasse on which the Air Ministry, built of reinforced concrete, was pounded by large concentrations of Soviet artillery. A frequently quoted number is that 100,000 women in Berlin were raped by soldiers of the Red Army (Helke Sander & Barbara Johr: BeFreier und Befreite, Fischer, Frankfurt 2005). Wiki User 2009-09-15 18:10:32. Fourthly, Holste's Corps on the defensive. Nobody knows how many civilians died but it could have been as high as 10,000. [142] Additionally, 280 Red Army enlisted personnel earned the Soviet Order of Glory First Class and attained status as Full Cavaliers of the Order of Glory for their heroism during the Battle of Berlin. [89] The Reichstag had not been in use since it had burned in February 1933 and its interior resembled a rubble heap more than a government building. Germany incurred the third-most casualties of World War II, with as many as 7.4 million total deaths Also of note is Poland, whose death toll includes an estimated 3.2 million Jewish civilians who died in Nazi concentration and death camps. On 30 April, Hitler and several of his officials committed suicide. That said, because both China and the Soviet Union were wracked by famine and disease during the war, some experts believe the countries' civilian casualty numbers may be significantly underestimated. British civilians killed in WW2 The number is about 65,000 - mainly from air raids. On 23 April General Helmuth Weidling assumed command of the forces within Berlin. Maz Alpert/Sputnik The 26,6 million estimate of losses clearly is official (as of now), but far from being the only one. [26] On 12 April 1945, Hitler, who had earlier decided to remain in the city against the wishes of his advisers, heard the news that the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died. See estimates for worldwide deaths, broken down by country, in World War II. [28], No plans were made by the Western Allies to seize the city by a ground operation. Ninety-six shells fell in the centre of Berlin in the course of a few minutes. By comparison, civilian deaths include 29 million to 30.5 million from military and war crimes, plus another 19 million to 28 million due to war-related famine and/or disease. [5] To the west of the city was the 20th Infantry Division. It was not until the damaged bridges were repaired that artillery could be moved up in support. [129] Most Germans, both soldiers and civilians, were grateful to receive food issued at Red Army soup kitchens, which began on Colonel-General Berzarin's orders. The War / There Are No Civilians in Japan Article There Are No Civilians in Japan Allied military planners faced a bitter truth as they planned for a possible invasion of Japan: there were no distinctions between soldiers and civilians. In accordance with the Allied agreement made at the Yalta Conference, millions of POWs and civilians were used as forced labor by the Soviet Union. The German IX Army was surrounded in the Halbe pocket. More than half of these-about 10 percent of Korea's prewar population-were civilians. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. [55] These are the known dead, but the remains of more who died in the battle are found every year, so the total of those who died will never be known. The Imperial Japanese Army used a variety of such weapons during its invasion and occupation of China and in early conflicts against the Soviets. [88], By the next day, 30 April, the Soviets had solved their bridging problems and with artillery support at 06:00 they launched an attack on the Reichstag, but because of German entrenchments and support from 12.8cm guns 2km (1.2mi) away on the roof of the Zoo flak tower, close by Berlin Zoo, it was not until that evening that the Soviets were able to enter the building. After 1942, the number reached 10 million. [138], Despite Soviet efforts to supply food and rebuild the city, starvation remained a problem. Secondly, the XII Army therefore unable to continue attack on Berlin. Fourthly of the precise place in which the IX Army will break through. Attempts by the 9th Army to break out to the west resulted in the Battle of Halbe. Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour 1939 - A royal church Furthermore, the figure of 400,000 killed by bombing is highly suspect as is the 20,000 figure for the battles in Germany during 1945. According to Wenck, no attack on Berlin was possible. A Soviet war correspondent, in the style of World War II Soviet journalism, gave the following account of an important event which took place on 22 April 1945 at 08:30 local time:[68]. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Stalin did not believe the Western Allies would hand over territory occupied by them in the post-war Soviet zone, so he began the offensive on a broad front and moved rapidly to meet the Western Allies as far west as possible. What were the turning points of World War II? Surprisingly, more than twice as many civilians died in World War II than did members of the military. Many civilians died because of deliberate genocide, massacres, mass-bombings, disease, and starvation. Second World War: deaths per country 1939-1945 | Statista [106], The 350-strong garrison of the Zoo flak tower left the building. [24] On 30 March, the Soviets entered Austria; and in the Vienna Offensive they captured Vienna on 13 April. [27] This briefly raised false hopes in the Fhrerbunker that there might yet be a falling out among the Allies and that Berlin would be saved at the last moment, as had happened once before when Berlin was threatened (see the Miracle of the House of Brandenburg). Home About History Famous people / organisations Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour 1939 - 1945 Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour 1939 - 1945 By a supplemental charter dated 7th February 1941 the Imperial War Graves Commission was empowered to collect and record the names of civilians who died from enemy action during World War II. Chart. On 20 April between Stettin and Schwedt, Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front attacked the northern flank of Army Group Vistula, held by the III Panzer Army. [55], Having failed to break through to Berlin, Wenck's XII Army made a fighting retreat back towards the Elbe and American lines after providing the IX Army survivors with surplus transport. World War II - Casualties and losses of World War II | Britannica [34] The two goals were complementary because possession of the zone could not be won quickly unless Berlin was taken. [139] Across the city over a million people were without homes.[140]. [17], The newly created Army Group Vistula, under the command of Reichsfhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler,[18] attempted a counter-attack, but this had failed by 24 February. We shall stop the Red hordes at the walls of our Berlin.' . If you are an admin, please authenticate by logging in again. Heinrici correctly assessed that the main Soviet thrust would be made over the Oder River and along the main east-west Autobahn. [82] The Reichstag, the Moltke bridge, Alexanderplatz, and the Havel bridges at Spandau saw the heaviest fighting, with house-to-house and hand-to-hand combat. Poland's dead at between 5.6 and 5.8 million. The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the war, including 8.7 million military and 19 million civilian deaths. Often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, World War II encircled the globe, forcing nearly every country on Earth to align with one of two massive military alliances: the Axis powers, led by Germany, Italy, and Japan; or the Allies, led by Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, France, and China. All told, 402 Red Army personnel were bestowed the USSR's highest degree of distinction, the title Hero of the Soviet Union (HSU), for their valor in Berlin's immediate suburbs and in the city itself. [119] During the night, General Wenck reported to the German Supreme Army Command in Fuerstenberg that his XII Army had been forced back along the entire front. After very heavy fighting they managed to capture Gestapo headquarters on Prinz-Albrechtstrasse, but a Waffen-SS counter-attack forced the Soviets to withdraw from the building.
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