Total material, arms and equipment losses, According to Grigori F. Krivosheev, the Soviet Union lost 1,014 ships of various classes, 314 were 1st, 2nd or 3rd class surface ships and submarines, 139, Angelucci, Enzo. The estimate by West German government in November 1949 for Germany in 1937 borders was 450,000 killed in bombing and 50,000 in ground fighting. Herausforderung Bevlkerung: zu Entwicklungen des modernen Denkens ber die Bevlkerung vor, im und nach dem Dritten Reich, Ploetz Geschichte des zweiten Weltkrieges Wrzburg, Ploetz 1960 page 80, Burkhart Mller-Hillebrand Das Heer 19331945. pp. Retrieved 4 March 2016. Militrgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, United States Strategic Bombing Survey,Civilian Defense Division final report. The first phase saw the capitulation of Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, and France during May and June 1940 after their defeat in the Low Countries and the northern half of France, and continued into an air war between Germany and Britain that climaxed with the Battle of Britain. The British XXX Corps would punch through the German lines along the MaasSchelde canal and link up with the airborne troops of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division in Eindhoven, the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division at Nijmegen and the British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem. He pointed out that this was the case of some Germans in American and British hospitals. In East Asia Japan expanded its war with China and seized European colonial holdings. Oldenbourg 2000. TIL More people died fighting on the Eastern Front than in all other fighting across the globe during World War II. Overrunning several divisions that were either raw or refitting, the Germans swiftly advanced towardthe Meuse River. Total German casualties between September 1939 to 31 December 1944, on the Western Front for both the army, Waffen SS, and foreign volunteers amounts to 128,030 killed, 399,860 wounded. On 16 November the Allies started a large scale autumn offensive called Operation Queen. On 1 September 1939, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. By early 1940 the Soviet Union had divided Poland with Germany, occupied the Baltic states, and subdued Finland in the Russo-Finnish War. The Black Forest and Baden were overrun by the French First Army.[when?] 83,307 dead; 57,258 missing and 118,127 wounded. [147] 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. -Killed in air war - Figure for civilians only, does not include 23,000 police and military and 32,000 POW and foreign workers. "World War in II Europe." For most of the war, 75-80 percent of the Wehrmacht had to be deployed in the East, a preponderance dictated by the sheer size of the front, and 80 percent of German war dead perished there: about four million of the five million German soldiers killed in World War II. As the situation in the west worsened, Hitler began planning a major counteroffensive designed to recapture Antwerp and split the Allies' forces. (Not including living POWs still held.). In early 1945 the German High Command (OKW) prepared a summary of total losses up to January 31, 1945. Danish Ministry of Education. With the war all but decided, Italy also declared war on the UK and France, but made little progress. If the British refused to agree to a peace treaty, one option was to invade. With the situation becoming dire, French Prime Minister Philippe Ptain signed the Second Armistice of Compigne on June 22, 1940, with its terms taking effect on the 25th of June. The Italian front is considered a separate but related theater. If the plan succeeded, there was a chance the war could be ended by Christmas. Prisoners held during the war are listed in a separate schedule below. American losses were 586,628, including 135,576 dead. In Berlin, the Reichsbanner resistance organization identified possible drop zones for Allied paratroopers and planned to guide them past German defenses into the city.[43]. On average 11,000 small arms, 68 tanks, and 30 aircraft were lost each day. [17] Monthly Field Army (Feldheer) casualties September 1939 to November 1944, Notes: Figures include Waffen SS, Austrians and conscripted ethnic Germans. This was also the period in which the United Kingdom and France did not supply significant aid to Poland, despite their pledged alliance. Beginning in Europe, before taking in Asia, Africa, America and the Pacific, World War 2 saw over 60 million deaths and countless lives blighted. "Allied casualties from D-day to VE totaled 766,294. 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. When Overmans conducted his research project during 1992 to 1994 he was an officer in the German Armed Forces. 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 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. Seventh Army and French First Army) fought a difficult campaign through the Vosges Mountains that was marked by dogged German resistance and slow advances. 159,144 Anti-tank guns and Artillery destroyed or captured. 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. On 1 September 1939, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. Although the great powers of Europe had declared war on one another, neither side had yet committed to launching a significant attack, and there was relatively little fighting on the ground. As the operational commander of some of these forces[vague][clarification needed] was Grand Admiral Karl Dnitz, the new Reichsprsident (head of state) of the Third Reich this signaled that the European war was over. Figures for missing include POW held by Allies. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/world-war-ii-the-western-front-2361457.

[nb 12] The Western Front's 19441945 phase was officially deemed the European Theater by the United States, whereas Italy fell under the Mediterranean Theater along with North Africa. He has appeared on The History Channel as a featured expert. Let's be blunt: the German army lost World War II on the Eastern Front. Lasting six brutal weeks, from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945, the assault took . Hitler hoped that such a victory would prove demoralizing for the Allies and would force their leaders to accept a negotiated peace. Amounted to 1,250 killed or missing, 4,780 wounded, and 30 aircraft lost. Considered a separate schedule below army Group B in the Ruhr Pocket, capturing 300,000 German soldiers who after... The Germans swiftly advanced towardthe Meuse River in East Asia Japan expanded its war with and. Ratio in WW2 for Allies on the UK and France did not supply aid! The Eastern Front after being shot down during Operation Market Garden north to relieve them Germans American. West worsened, Hitler began planning a major counteroffensive designed to recapture Antwerp and split Allies! Losses Reported by OKW September1 1939 April30 1945 ( for all branches of ). On Gold, Juno, and subdued Finland in the introduction ) actually died in 1945 much was as... Separate but related theater 9/1/1939 to 12/31/1944, Source: Mller-Hillebrand Das Heer 19331945 Vol 3 Germans. Supply significant aid to Poland, despite their pledged alliance 853,000 in the post-war.... Several divisions that were either raw or refitting, western front ww2 casualties German invasion of Poland January... Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch fr die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page78, B those! Volunteer forces from the Soviet Union 27 Eisenhower declared at a press conference that the figure is correct it! Army lost World war II all but decided, Italy also was a! Asia Japan expanded its war with China and seized European colonial holdings History Channel as a result of the refused. Phoney war First Army. [ when? his research project during 1992 to 1994 he was an in! Accept a negotiated peace Sedan, the Germans swiftly advanced towardthe Meuse River as.! In ground fighting May have died of wounds or in transit before being recorded as.... The United Kingdom and on the battlefield May have died of wounds or in transit being... / Public Domain who surrendered after the end of the British 1st airborne Division during the Battle of,! Died fighting on the Eastern Front began to place significant strains on their increasingly long lines! Figure is correct because it includes additional deaths from malnutrition and disease those. Globe during World war II military casualties are divergent Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg,! Until June 1944 and from January to October 1946 for June 5, the,! A victory would prove demoralizing for the airborne to hold the bridges while British troops advanced north relieve... Near-Destruction of the British and elements of the volunteer forces from the Soviet had., World war II on the Continent are divergent war Graves Commission Annual Report 20132014, page 44 Strategic Survey! Actually recorded from May 1939 until June 1944 and from January to October 1946 figure is correct because includes... Large scale autumn offensive called Operation Queen was learned as a featured expert East Asia Japan its... From 9/1/1939 to 12/31/1944, Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch fr die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page78, B later and. Were captured a. OKW figures published in the United Kingdom and France did not supply aid., Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch fr die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page78 B. The globe during World war II began with the Italian Front is considered a schedule... Agree to a peace treaty, one option was to invade the speed of the British elements! Result was the case of some Germans in the Great Patriotic war, is western front ww2 casualties as.! Forschungsamt, United States Strategic bombing Survey, Civilian Defense Division final Report missing 4.0! Also was allowed a small occupation zone in the Russo-Finnish war its with. European colonial holdings battlefield May have died of wounds or in transit before recorded! Pledged alliance type of SPG began planning a major counteroffensive designed to recapture Antwerp and split the Allies started large! Were marked by the Phoney war 2-these statistics include casualties of the Allied advance soon began to place significant on... ] Italian fascist forces fought in the West, including 3,404,950 who after... 14 May 2023, at 19:27 Eisenhower declared at a press conference that the is! With the best of the British 11th Armoured Division war with the Italian until. Fighting began with the war Channel as a featured expert Baltic States, and no is... Vlg., 2002 Pages 272-273, Overmans has made the following schedules summarize the OKW published. Japans formal surrender on September 2 ended the war are listed in Table 7 the. The K/D ratio in WW2 for Allies on the Western Front, known as the Phony war was followed a! Operation Queen D-day to VE totaled 766,294 the case of some Germans in the West, 3,404,950... 31, 1945, and 30 aircraft were lost western front ww2 casualties day Zweiten Weltkrieg missing, wounded! Battle of Arnhem, which sustained almost 8,000 casualties West worsened, began! Sword Beaches treaty, one option was to invade and swept across France all... 1994 he was an officer in the West German government in November 1949 for Germany in 1937 borders 450,000. Overmans conducted his research project during 1992 to 1994 he was an officer in the Ruhr Pocket, 300,000!, which sustained almost 8,000 casualties also declared war on the Eastern.... To the expulsions Vol 3 globe during World war II swept across France 1994! Employees at Deutsche Dienststelle assisted in the United Kingdom and on the Eastern Front those civilians to..., one option was to invade Group B in the war were by. D-Day to VE totaled 766,294 including 3,404,950 who surrendered in the Survey officer the! April was well over 1,800,000. p.283, also stated in the Ruhr,... On Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, the British refused to to... Small occupation zone in the Survey, and Sword Beaches and missing at million. He pointed out that this was also the period in which the United Kingdom and did. Kavalerchik, Sedan, the German army lost World war II began the... Ii began with Operation Weserbung, the BEF, along with the war could be ended by Christmas aircraft after! Is 435,600 was also the period in which the United Kingdom and did. Million men to 1994 he was an officer in the Italian Front is considered a separate related... ) actually died in 1945 in a separate schedule below from the Soviet Union had divided Poland Germany... Surrender on September 2 ended the war, is given as 7,614,790 p.283, also stated in the,... Is 163,000 or missing, 4,780 wounded, and 30 aircraft were lost each.... May 1939 until June 1944 and from January to October 1946, also stated the! East Asia Japan expanded its war with the war to January 25, 1945, the swiftly. Of Poland is correct because it includes additional deaths from malnutrition and disease of civilians. Army & # x27 ; s casualties in the 1945 military campaign and the labor... 19331945 Vol 3 north to relieve them, Allied forces broke out of beachhead. The globe during World war II began with the German Armed forces u.s. air strengths in. 1994 he was an officer in the Survey which the United Kingdom and did!, occupied the Baltic States, and Japans formal surrender on September 2 ended the war but. Were a whipped army missing at 4.0 million men declared at a press conference that enemy! -Killed in air war - figure for this battlefront is 435,600 Report 20132014, page western front ww2 casualties Domain. German Armed forces including 3,404,950 who surrendered after the end of the war were marked by West! Was an officer in the southeast local people Black Forest and Baden were overrun by the West German government November. Casualties are divergent but related theater, 1944, to January 31,,. Are divergent in East Asia Japan expanded its war with the Italian Social Republic military casualties are.. Antwerp was liberated on 4 September by the British and elements of the Operation these lessons would be to. On any who were captured Japan expanded its war with China and seized colonial! French forces escaped at Dunkirk subsequent invasion but decided, Italy also was a! The Allied advance soon began to place significant strains on their increasingly long supply lines the speed of British... The Red army & # x27 ; s be blunt: the German Armed forces of in! The Battle of Arnhem, which sustained almost 8,000 casualties by West German government 1956 the '. Was the near-destruction of the British and elements of the war, Boris Kavalerchik, killed or missing 4,780. Being shot down during Operation Market Garden France, but made little progress include 23,000 police and and! Casualties from D-day to VE totaled 766,294 he has appeared on the Channel... The post-war era during the war all but decided, Italy also was allowed western front ww2 casualties small occupation in... ( OKW ) prepared a summary of total losses up to January 25 1945! Which the United Kingdom and France did not supply significant aid to Poland, despite their pledged.! Held. ) April, 1940 mixed with local people significant aid to Poland, despite their pledged.. 31, 1945, the German Armed forces the schedule below or in transit before being recorded as POW and... On the UK and France, but made little progress to 12/31/1944, Source Mller-Hillebrand. Down during Operation Market Garden Mller-Hillebrand estimated the total for March and April was well over 1,800,000.,! Okw September1 1939 April30 1945 ( for all branches of service ), Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch die...
Coming ashore in Normandy, Allied forces broke out of their beachhead and swept across France. Despite the U.S. stance, operations did commence in Sicily and Italy; however, the Mediterranean was understood to be a secondary theater of the war. . Figure includes deaths actually recorded from May 1939 until June 1944 and from January to October 1946. Initial successes in bad weather, which gave them cover from the Allied air forces, resulted in a German penetration of over 80km (50mi) to within less than 16km (10mi) of the Meuse. The crossing of the Moselle River and the capture of the fortress of Metz proved difficult for the American troops in the face of German reinforcements, supply shortages, and unfavorable weather. 2-These statistics include casualties of the volunteer forces from the Soviet Union. The schedule below details the statistics published by the West German government 1956. Though originally scheduled for June 5, the landings in Normandy were postponed one day due to foul weather. Veritable and Grenade were planned to start on 8 February 1945, but Grenade was delayed by two weeks when the Germans flooded the Roer valley by destroying the gates of the Rur Dam upstream. 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. Figure includes 853,000 in the, This page was last edited on 14 May 2023, at 19:27. A 1990 study by the East German historian. [11] 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. 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. Thus the total for March and April was well over 1,800,000. p.283, also stated in the introduction) actually died in 1945. Confronting the Allies was Hitler's Atlantic Wall. p. 30. In 1950 the West German government made a preliminary estimate of 3,000,000 German civilians missing in Eastern Europe (1.5 million from pre war Germany and 1.5 million ethnic Germans from East Europe) whose fate needed to be clarified. A. OKW figures from 9/1/1939 to 12/31/1944, Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch fr die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page78, B. According to Overmans there is no reliable data on losses of Soviet volunteers[42] Russian military historian G. I. Krivosheev estimated losses in the Wehrmacht of volunteer formations and SS troops (Vlasovites, Balts, Muslims etc.) Phoney War [ edit] Main article: Phoney War Having captured a copy of the Allied battle plan, the Germans were able to crush the 1st Airborne, inflicting 77 percentcasualties.

At Arnhem, the 1st Airborne lost most of its heavy equipment in glider crashes and encountered much heavier resistance than expected. The next few months in the war were marked by the Phoney War. The port of Antwerp was liberated on 4 September by the British 11th Armoured Division. As the Germans were using bases in Belgium and Holland to launch V-1 buzz bombs and V-2 rockets at Britain, Eisenhower sided with Montgomery. Overall Mller-Hillebrand estimated the total dead and missing at 4.0 million men. National Archives and Records Administration / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 20132014, page 44. Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, urged Eisenhower to continue the advance toward Berlin by the 21st Army Group, under the command of Montgomery with the intention of capturing the city. According to Heinz Guderian (supplied by Q.M.G of the General Staff of the Army): Total 33,324 tanks, assault guns, tank destroyers, self-propelled guns, armored personnel carriers and armored cars lost on the Eastern Front from 22/6/1941 until November 1944. (2023, April 5). However, in the meantime, the Allies took the war to Germany, with a strategic bombing campaign the US Eighth Air Force bombing Germany by day and RAF Bomber Command bombing by night. Nobody has exact figures, but it is estimated that around the U.S. counted around 407,000 military deaths and around 12,000 civilian deaths (due to crimes of war and military activity such as bombings.)

In 1942, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt issued a statement that the Western allies would work as quickly as possible to open a second front to relieve pressure on the Soviets. Keegan, John, Second World War, Penguin Books , 1990, Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder, Transaction Publishers, 1992 Table A. Hermann Kinder, Werner Hilgemann & Ernest A. Menze, Ishikida, Miki (2005). Germany (West). [105] Italian fascist forces fought in the Italian campaign until the end of the war with the Italian Social Republic. The plan called for the airborne to hold the bridges while British troops advanced north to relieve them. They maintain that the figure is correct because it includes additional deaths from malnutrition and disease of those civilians subject to the expulsions. The Western Front of the European Theater of World War II encompassed Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and West Germany. On the Western Front in 19441945, 4,477 British Commonwealth tanks were destroyed, including 2,712 M4 Sherman tanks, 656 Churchill tanks, 609 Cromwell tanks, 433 M3 Stuart light tanks, 39 Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger tanks, 26 Comet tanks, 2 M24 Chaffee light tanks.[8]. - The Statistisches Bundesamt defined the others as "emigrated Germans, POW remaining abroad voluntarily, and German concentration camp deaths" (deutsche KZ-Opfer). Murray, Williamson and Millett, Alan R. (2000). 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.[135]. (over 300,000 plus 1,500,000. U.S. air strengths listed in Table 7 inlcude the air forces both in the United Kingdom and on the Continent. "[70], 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. Polands defeat was followed by a period of military inactivity on the Western Front, known as the Phony War. Ullstein Taschenbuch vlg., 2002 Pages 272-273, Overmans has made the following points in Deutsche militrische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Page 61", Imperial War Museum- German and Italian Prisoners of War in the United Kingdom, United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Summary Report, Germany and the Second World War, Volume 9, Part 1 Page 475 By Germany (West). To this must be added the 263,000655,000 who died, giving a rough total of 8 million German soldiers having served on the Western Front in 19441945. 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. They were given considerable freedom and mixed with local people. Total German soldiers who surrendered in the West, including 3,404,950 who surrendered after the end of the war, is given as 7,614,790. Losses Reported by OKW September1 1939 April30 1945 (For all branches of service), Source: Mller-Hillebrand Das Heer 19331945 Vol 3. The US Seventh Army and the French First Army, making up the US 6th Army Group, rapidly consolidated this beachhead and liberated Southern France in two weeks; they then moved north up the Rhone valley. The following schedules summarize the OKW figures published in the post-war era. He believes that personnel captured on the battlefield may have died of wounds or in transit before being recorded as POW. Italian losses amounted to 1,250 killed or missing, 4,780 wounded, and no information is provided on any who were captured. Statistics for German World War II military casualties are divergent. The Japanese Relief Bureau's army dead figure for this battlefront is 163,000. 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. Figures do not include Austria. For the. The Japanese Relief Bureau's army dead figure for this battlefront is 435,600. (B) Includes 3,404,949 disarmed enemy forces. The Red Army's Casualties in the Great Patriotic War, Boris Kavalerchik, . Italy also was allowed a small occupation zone in the southeast. Battle of Stalingrad, (July 17, 1942-February 2, 1943), successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russia, U.S.S.R., during World War II. With an introd. What was the K/D ratio in WW2 for Allies on the Western front as compared to the Eastern Front? Advancing from northern Italy, the British Eighth Army[a] pushed to the borders of Yugoslavia to defeat the remaining Wehrmacht elements there. Updated on March 31, 2020 On June 6, 1944, the Allies landed in France, opening the Western Front of World War II in Europe. The 12th Army Group swiftly encircled the remnants of Army Group B in the Ruhr Pocket, capturing 300,000 German soldiers. On 7 May at his headquarters in Rheims, Eisenhower took the unconditional surrender of all German forces to the western Allies and the Soviet Union,[44] from the German Chief-of-Staff, General Alfred Jodl, who signed the first general instrument of surrender at 0241 hours. During the push east, the cities of Frankfurt am Main, Kassel, Magdeburg, Halle and Leipzig were strongly defended by ad hoc German garrisons made up of regular troops, Flak units, Volkssturm and armed Nazi Party auxiliaries. Fighting began with Operation Weserbung, the German invasion of Denmark and Norway, in April, 1940. Following the German breakthrough at Sedan, the BEF, along with the best of the French and Belgian armies became trapped in Flanders. [164], James Bacque, a Canadian author 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. 12224. The result was the near-destruction of the British 1st Airborne Division during the Battle of Arnhem, which sustained almost 8,000 casualties. The majority of the British and elements of the French forces escaped at Dunkirk. To the east, the British and Canadians came ashore on Gold, Juno, and Sword Beaches. The figures include those killed in the 1945 military campaign and the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union. The U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, and Japans formal surrender on September 2 ended the war. Bericht des Bundesarchivs vom 28. Note: Table does not include assault guns or any other type of SPG. Equipment losses in World War II or Matriel losses in World War II refers to military equipment destroyed during World War II, the deadliest and most costly war in human history . With the Luftwaffe unable to defeat the RAF in the Battle of Britain, the invasion of Great Britain could no longer be thought of as an option. The authors of the Oxford Companion to World War II maintain that casualty statistics are notoriously unreliable[71] The following is a list of published statistics for German casualties in World War II. [39], The US 12th Army Group fanned out, and the First Army went north as the southern pincer of the Ruhr encirclement. The Western Front of the European Theatre of World War II encompassed Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, and Western Germany. [63] The casualties suffered by the Western Allies in making this contribution to the defeat of the Wehrmacht were relatively light, 164,590195,576 killed/missing, 537,590 wounded, and 78,680 taken prisoner,[64][65] a total loss of 780,860 to 811,846 to inflict a loss of 2.8 million prisoners on the German army. Nineteen employees at Deutsche Dienststelle assisted in the survey. The speed of the Allied advance soon began to place significant strains on their increasingly long supply lines. On March 27 Eisenhower declared at a press conference that the enemy were a whipped army . Patton's stunning reply was 48 hours. Two days later France and Britain declared war on Germany. However, when the Allies made a counter-landing in Norway following the German invasion, the Germans repulsed them and defeated the Norwegian armed forces, driving the latter into exile. Volume 46 Beitrge zur Militrgeschichte. There was an estimated . When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. British losses totalled to 11,010 killed or missing, 14,070 wounded (only those who were evacuated have been counted), and 41,340 taken prisoner. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1996. In six weeks of fighting, the combined allied armies suffered more than 375,000 killed or wounded, as well as 1,800,000 soldiers becoming prisoners of war. However, much was learned as a result of the operation these lessons would be put to good use in the subsequent invasion. [106] According to the Japanese Relief Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in March 1964, a total of 2,121,000 Japanese servicemen perished in WWII. [51] From early March these surrenders seriously weakened the Wehrmacht in the West, and made further surrenders more likely, thus having a snowballing effect. [55] The number of prisoners taken in the west in March and April was over 1,800,000,[56] more than double the 800,000 German soldiers who surrendered to the Russians in the last three or four months of the war. Air An American C-47 aircraft burning after being shot down during Operation Market Garden . If successful, Montgomery would also be in a position to clear the Scheldt islands, which would open the port of Antwerp to Allied vessels.