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World War II casualties of the Soviet Union

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. A figure of 20 million was considered official during the Soviet era. The post-Soviet government of Russia puts the Soviet war losses at 26.6 million,[2] on the basis of the 1993 study by the Russian Academy of Sciences, including people dying as a result of effects of the war.[3][4][5] This includes 8,668,400 military deaths as calculated by the Russian Ministry of Defence.[2][6][7]

The figures published by the Russian Ministry of Defence have been accepted by most historians outside Russia. However, the official figure of 8.7 million military deaths has been disputed by Russian scholars who believe that the number of dead and missing POWs is not correct and new research is necessary to determine actual losses.[8] Officials at the Russian Central Defense Ministry Archive (CDMA) maintain that their database lists the names of roughly 14 million dead and missing service personnel.[9][10][11] Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated in 2009 that more than 2.4 million people are still officially considered missing in action, and that of the 9.5 million persons buried in mass graves, six million are unidentified.[12] Some Russian scholars put the total number of losses in the war, both civilian and military, at over 40 million.[13][14][15][16] In 2020, Mikhail Meltyukhov, who works with the Russian Federal archival project, claimed that 15.9–17.4 million civilians were killed on Soviet territory by Germany and its allies during the war.[17]

The Krivosheev study listed 8,668,400 irreplaceable losses (from listed strength): 5,226,800 killed in action, 1,102,800 died of wounds in field hospitals, 555,500 non combat deaths, POW deaths and missing were 4,559,000. Deductions were 939,700 who "were encircled or missing in action in occupied areas who were reconscripted once areas liberated" and 1,836,000 POWs returned from captivity.[19]

[18]

The Krivosheev study listed 500,000 reservists captured by the enemy after being conscripted but before being taken on strength.

[19]

Russian sources report 2,164,000 deaths as civilian "forced labor in Germany". Viktor Zemskov believed that these were actually military deaths not included in the Krivosheev report. Zemskov put the military death toll at 11.5 million.[a]

[20]

Convicts and deserters listed in the Krivosheev study. 994,300[22] were sentenced by court martial and 212,400[23] were reported as deserters.[24] They are not included with the 8,668,000 irreplaceable losses listed by Krivosheev.

[21]

Russian sources list 7.420 million civilians killed in the war, including the . Sources cited for this figure are from the Soviet period.[20] The figure of 7.4 million has been disputed by Viktor Zemskov who believed that the actual civilian death toll was at least 4.5 million. He maintained that the official figures included POWs, persons who emigrated from the country, persons evacuated during the war counted as missing as well as militia and partisan fighters.[25]

siege of Leningrad

Russian sources maintain that there were 4.1 million famine deaths in the regions occupied by Germany.

[20]

Gulag prisoners. According to "due to general difficulties in 1941–1945 in the camps, the GULAG and prisons about 1.0 million prisoners died.[26] Anne Applebaum cites Russian sources that put the Gulag death toll from 1941 to 1945 at 932,000.[27]

Viktor Zemskov

. Russian sources put the death toll at 309,000.[28]

Deportation of ethnic minorities

War-related deaths of those born during war – according to Andreev, Darski and Kharkova (ADK), there was an increase in infant mortality of 1.3 million.

[3]

The war related deaths detailed in Russian sources are as follows.

Military losses[edit]

Krivosheev's analysis[edit]

In 1993, the Russian Ministry of Defense report authored by a group headed by General G. F. Krivosheev detailed military casualties.[29] Their sources were Soviet reports from the field and other archive documents that were secret during the Soviet era, including a secret Soviet General Staff report from 1966 to 1968. Krivosheev's study puts Soviet military dead and missing at 8.7 million and is often cited by historians. Krivosheev maintained that the figure of 8.668 million is correct because it excludes called up reservists that were never inducted, men who were duplicated as conscripts because they were conscripted again into the Soviet army and Navy during the war as territories were being liberated and non-combat related causes. The statistic of 8.668 million military dead includes only the combat related deaths of the forces in the field units of the Army and Navy[b] and does not include civilian support forces in rear areas, conscripted reservists killed before being listed on active strength, militia units, and Soviet partisan dead, Krivosheev maintained that they should be included with civilian war losses.[36]

The sources cited for these figures are from the Soviet period. The Statistic of 7.420 million civilian war dead has been disputed by Viktor Zemskov who believed that the actual civilian death toll was at least 4.5 million. He maintained that the official figures included POWs, persons who emigrated from the country and militia/partisan fighters. According to his analysis the forced laborer death figure of 2.164 million includes the balance of losses not reported in Krivosheev's figure of 8.668 million military war dead, including POWs[8][48][60]

[20]

Civilian losses include 57,000 killed in bombing raids (40,000 Stalingrad and 17,000 Leningrad).

[20]

Russian sources include Jewish Holocaust deaths among total civilian dead. put Jewish losses at one million within 1939 borders; Holocaust deaths in the annexed territories numbered an additional 1.5 million, bringing total Jewish losses to 2.5 million.[92]

Gilbert

Civilian losses include deaths in the siege of Leningrad. According to the 1945 Soviet estimate presented at the Nuremberg Trials was 642,000 civilian deaths. He noted that Soviet era source from 1965 put the number of dead in the Siege of Leningrad at "greater than 800,000" and that a Russian source from 2000 put the number of dead at 1,000,000.[93] Other Russian historians put the Leningrad death toll at between 1.4 and 2.0 million.[94]

David Glantz

Russian sources maintain that there were 4.1 million famine deaths in the regions occupied by Germany. Russian sources also report 2.5 to 3.2 million Soviet civilians who died due to famine and disease in non-occupied territory of the USSR, which was caused by wartime shortages in the rear areas.[95]

[20]

These casualties are for 1941–1945 within the 1946–1991 borders of the USSR. Included with civilian losses are deaths in the territories annexed by the USSR in 1939–1940 including 600,000 in the Baltic states[55] and 1,500,000 in Eastern Poland (500,000 ethnic Poles and 1 million Jews).[96]

[3]

Documents from the Soviet archives number the total deaths of prisoners in the from 1941 to 1945 at 621,637. In a 1995 report Viktor Zemskov noted "due to general difficulties in 1941–1945 in the camps, the GULAG, and prisons, about 1.0 million prisoners died.[26]

Gulag

A 1995 paper published by M.V. Filimoshin, an associate of the Russian Defense Ministry, put the civilian death toll in the regions occupied by Germany at 13.7 million. Filimoshin cited sources from Soviet era to support his figures and used the terms "genocide" and "premeditated extermination" when referring to deaths of 7.4 million civilians caused by direct, intentional violence. Civilians killed in reprisals during the Soviet partisan war account for a major portion.[20] Filimoshin estimated that civilian forced laborer deaths in Germany totaled 2.1 million. Germany had a policy of forced confiscation of food that resulted in famine deaths of an estimated 6% of the population, or 4.1 million.[20] Russian government sources currently cite these civilian casualty figures in their official statements.[91]

According to Andreev, Darski and Kharkova (ADK) the total population loss due to the war was 26.6 million (1941–1945). They maintain that between 9-10 million of the total Soviet war dead were due to the worsening of life conditions in the entire USSR, including the region that was not occupied.[3] The total loss of 26.6 million is based on the assumptions that the wartime increase in infant mortality was 1.3 million and that persons dying of natural causes declined during the war. Overall the annual Mortality rate (persons dying of natural causes) declined from 2.17% in 1940 to 1.58% in 1946.[97] The decline in persons dying of natural causes during the war was due to the fact that a disproportionate number of adults, especially men were killed during the war, than those persons under 18 and women who survived. The figure for births during the war is based on a post war survey of the Total fertility rate which put the number of births during the war at about one half of the prewar level. The main areas of uncertainty were the estimated figures for the population in the territories annexed from 1939 to 1945 and the loss of population due to emigration during and after the war. The figures include victims of Soviet repression and the deaths of Soviet citizens in German military service.[98] Michael Haynes noted, "We do not know the total number of deaths as a result of the war and related policies". We do know that the demographic estimate of excess deaths was 26.6 million plus an additional 11.9 million natural deaths of persons born before the war and 4.2 million children born during the war that would have occurred in peacetime, bringing the total dead to 42.7 million. At this time the actual total number of deaths caused by the war is unknown since among the 16.1 million "natural deaths" some would have died peacefully and others as a result of the war.[5]

[3]

Civilian deaths were detailed in the Russian study - Human Losses of the USSR in the Period of WWII: Civilian deaths by intentional actions of violence 7,420,000;[20] Deaths of forced laborers 2,164,000;[20] Deaths due to famine and disease 8,500,000 (including 4.1 million in the occupied territories).[20]

[99]

The official total military dead per the analysis of Krivosheev is 8,668,000. The Russian Ministry of Defense maintains that their figure of 8.668 million is correct based on a reconciliation of those conscripted.[29] The official toll of 2,164,000 forced laborers dead could include POWs considered civilians by the military. Critics of Krivosheev maintain that the war dead should include an additional 2.9 million persons, according to their analysis the number of POWs and missing was understated in the official figures. Viktor Zemskov puts total military dead (1941–45) at 11.5 million.[8] A 2013 academic study put Soviet military dead at 11.4 million.[100]

[29]

In addition to the war dead there were 622,000 persons who remained abroad after the war.

[3]

Births and natural deaths during war are rough estimates since vital statistics were inaccurate.

Figures do not include an estimated 20 million children not born because the war depressed fertility/birth rates.

ADK pointed out that the beginning population in 1941 and the ending population at 1 January 1946 are rough estimates since figures for the territories annexed in 1939–1940 and emigration from the USSR during the war are based on fragmentary information.

maintains that "the war with Nazi Germany cost the Soviet Union at least 29 million military casualties" (dead, wounded and sick) "The exact numbers can never be established, and some revisionists have attempted to put the number as high as 50 million"[166]

David Glantz

believes the "figures for military dead published in 1993... give the fullest account yet available, but they omit three operations that were clear failures. The official figures themselves must be viewed critically, given the difficulty of knowing in the chaos of 1941 and 1942 exactly who had been killed, wounded or even conscripted"[167] Regarding military dead Richard Overy believes that "for the present the figure of 8.6 million must be regarded as the most reliable"[168]

Richard Overy

The authors of the Cambridge History of Russia have provided an analysis of Soviet wartime casualties. Overall losses were about 25 million persons plus or minus 1 million. Red Army records indicate 8.7 million military deaths, "this figure is actually the lower limit". The official figures understate POW losses and armed partisan deaths. Excess civilian deaths in the Nazi occupied USSR were 13.7 million persons including 2 million Jews. There were an additional 2.6 million deaths in the interior regions of the Soviet Union. The authors maintain "scope for error in this number is very wide". At least 1 million perished in the wartime GULAG camps or in deportations. Other deaths occurred in the wartime evacuations and due to war related malnutrition and disease in the interior. The authors maintain that both Stalin and Hitler "were both responsible but in different ways" for these deaths.
The authors of the Cambridge History of Russia believe that "In short the general picture of Soviet wartime losses suggests a jigsaw puzzle. The general outline is clear: people died in colossal numbers but in many different miserable and terrible circumstances. But individual pieces of the puzzle do not fit well; some overlap and others are yet to be found"

[169]

puts the war related demographic losses of the USSR from 1941 to 1945 at 22.0 to 26.0 million persons (7.8 million military and 14.2 to 18.2 million civilians). The actual wartime losses are higher because some persons who would have died peacefully actually perished as a result of the war. Rosefielde estimated the actual military dead at 8.7 million men and 17.7 to 20.3 million civilians killed by the Nazis in the war (exterminated, shot, gassed burned 6.4 or 11.3 million; famine and disease 8.5 or 6.5 million; forced laborer in Germany 2.8 or 3.0 million and 500,000 who did not return to USSR after war.)[165]: 72  In addition to these war deaths Rosefielde also estimated the excess deaths attributed to the "total potential crimes against humanity" due to Soviet repression at 2.183 million persons in 1939–40 and 5.458 million from 1941 to 1945. The figures for losses due to Soviet repression do not include 1 million military deaths of men drafted from the Gulag into penal suicide battalions.[165]: 179 

Steven Rosefielde

According to historian "More inhabitants of Soviet Ukraine died in the Second World War than inhabitants of Soviet Russia as calculated by Russian historians." These remarks were presented at the conference "Germany's Historical Responsibility towards Ukraine" ("Deutschen Historischen Verantwortung für die Ukraine"), German Bundestag, Berlin, Germany, 20 June 2017.[170]

Timothy Snyder

Nazi crimes against Soviet POWs

Soviet historiography

The Holocaust in Russia

World War II casualties

List of Soviet military units that lost their standards in World War II

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"Soviet Armed Forces Losses in Wars, Combat Operations and Military Conflicts: A Statistical Study"

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Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century

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doi

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"Population dynamics: consequences of regular and irregular changes"

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Russia's War

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Rummel, Rudolph J.

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(in Russian)