World War II casualties World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history . Over 60 million people were killed , which was over 2 . 5 % of the world population . The tables below give a detailed country - by - country count of human losses . Total dead . World War II fatality statistics vary , with estimates of total dead ranging from 50 million to more than 80 million . The sources cited in this article document an estimated death toll in World War II that range from approximately 60 to 85 million , making it the deadliest war in world history in absolute terms of total dead but not in terms of deaths relative to the world population . The higher figure of 85 million includes deaths from war - related disease and famine . Civilians killed totaled from 38 to 55 million , including 13 to 20 million from war - related disease and famine . Total military dead : from 22 to 25 million , including deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners of war . Recent historical scholarship . Recent historical scholarship has shed new insight into the topic of Second World War casualties . Research in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union has caused a revision of estimates of Soviet war dead . According to Russian government figures USSR losses within postwar borders now stand at 26 . 6 million . In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance ( IPN ) researchers estimated Poland ' s dead at between 5 . 6 and 5 . 8 million . The German Army historian Rüdiger Overmans published a study in 2000 that estimated German military dead and missing at 5 . 3 million . War dead totals in this article for the British Commonwealth are based on the research of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission . Classification of casualties . Compiling or estimating the numbers of deaths caused during wars and other violent conflicts is a controversial subject . Historians often put forward many different estimates of the numbers killed during World War II . The authors of the " Oxford Companion to World War II " maintain that " casualty statistics are notoriously unreliable " The table below gives data on the number of dead for each country , along with population information to show the relative impact of losses . When scholarly sources differ on the number of deaths in a country , a range of war losses is given , in order to inform readers that the death toll is disputed . < br > Military figures include battle deaths ( KIA ) and personnel missing in action ( MIA ) , as well as fatalities due to accidents , disease and deaths of prisoners of war in captivity . Civilian casualties include deaths caused by strategic bombing , Holocaust victims , Japanese war crimes , population transfers in the Soviet Union , other War Crimes and deaths due to war related famine and disease . The distinction between military and civilian casualties caused directly by warfare and collateral damage is not always clear cut . For nations that suffered huge losses such as the Soviet Union , China , Poland , Germany and Yugoslavia , our sources can give us only the total estimated population loss caused by the war and a rough estimate of the breakdown of deaths caused by military activity , crimes against humanity and war related famine . The casualties listed here include about 4 to 12 million war - related famine deaths in China , Indonesia , Vietnam , the Philippines , India that are often omitted from other compilations of World War II casualties . The footnotes give a detailed breakdown of the casualties and their sources , including data on the number of wounded where reliable sources are available . Human losses by country . USSR . The estimated breakdown for each Soviet Republic of total war dead is as follows Holocaust deaths . Included in the above figures of total war dead are the victims of the Holocaust . Jewish deaths . The Holocaust is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II . Martin Gilbert estimates 5 . 7 million ( 78 % ) of the 7 . 3 million Jews in German occupied Europe were Holocaust victims . Other estimates for Holocaust deaths range between 4 . 9 to 6 . 0 million Jews . Statistical breakdown of Jewish dead : The figures in the table below are from " The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust " . Non - Jews persecuted and killed by the Nazis . Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the other victims persecuted and killed by the Nazis . Estimates of the death toll of non - Jewish victims vary by millions , partly because the boundary between death by persecution and death by starvation and other means in a context of total war is unclear . Donald Niewyk maintains that the Holocaust can be defined in four ways : first , that it was the genocide of the Jews alone ; second , that there were several parallel Holocausts , one for each of the several groups ; third , the Holocaust would include Roma and the handicapped along with the Jews ; fourth , it would include all racially motivated German crimes , such as the murder of Soviet prisoners of war , Polish and Soviet civilians , as well as political prisoners , religious dissenters , and homosexuals . Using this definition , the total number of Holocaust victims is between 11 million and 17 million people . According to the College of Education of the University of South Florida " Approximately 11 million people were killed because of Nazi genocidal policy " . R . J . Rummel estimated the death toll due to Nazi Democide at 20 . 9 million persons . Timothy Snyder put the victims of the Nazis killed only as result of " deliberate policies of mass murder " such as executions , deliberate famine and in death camps at 10 . 4 million persons including 5 . 4 million Jews . The German scholar Hellmuth Auerbach puts the death toll in the Hitler era at 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust and 7 million other victims of the Nazis . puts the total number of victims of the Nazi era at between 12 and 14 million persons , including 5 . 6 – 5 . 7 million Jews . Roma losses by country Included in the figures of total war dead are the Roma victims of the Nazi persecution , some scholars include the Roma deaths with the Holocaust . The following figures are from " The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust " . Japanese war crimes . Included with total war dead are victims of Japanese war crimes . Repression in the Soviet Union . The total war dead in the USSR includes victims of Soviet repression . The number of deaths in the Gulag labor camps increased as a result of wartime overcrowding and food shortages . The Stalin regime deported the entire populations of ethnic minorities considered to be potentially disloyal . Since 1990 Russian scholars have been given access to the Soviet - era archives and have published data on the numbers of persons executed and those who died in Gulag labor camps and prisons . The Russian scholar Viktor Zemskov puts the death toll from 1941 – 1945 at about 1 million based on data from the Soviet archives . The Soviet - era archive figures on the Gulag labor camps has been the subject of a vigorous academic debate outside Russia since their publication in 1991 . J . Arch Getty and Stephen G . Wheatcroft maintain that Soviet - era figures more accurately detail the victims of the Gulag labor camp system in the Stalin era . Robert Conquest and Steven Rosefielde have disputed the accuracy of the data from the Soviet archives , maintaining that the demographic data and testimonials by survivors of the Gulag labor camps indicate a higher death toll . Rosefielde believes that the release of the Soviet Archive figures is disinformation generated by the modern KGB . Rosefielde maintains that the data from the Soviet archives is incomplete ; for example , he pointed out that the figures do not include the 22 , 000 victims of the Katyn massacre . Rosefielde ' s demographic analysis puts the number of excess deaths due to Soviet repression at 2 , 183 , 000 in 1939 – 1940 and 5 , 458 , 000 from 1941 – 1945 . Michael Haynes and Rumy Husun accept the figures from the Soviet archives as being an accurate tally of Stalin ' s victims , they maintain that the demographic data depicts an underdeveloped Soviet economy and the losses in World War Two rather than indicating a higher death toll in the Gulag labor camps . In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance ( IPN ) researchers estimated 150 , 000 Polish citizens were killed due to Soviet repression . Since the collapse of the USSR , Polish scholars have been able to do research in the Soviet archives on Polish losses during the Soviet occupation . Andrzej Paczkowski puts the number of Polish deaths at 90 , 000 – 100 , 000 of the 1 . 0 million persons deported and 30 , 000 executed by the Soviets . In 2005 Tadeusz Piotrowski estimated the death toll in Soviet hands at 350 , 000 . The Estonian State Commission on Examination of Policies of Repression put civilian deaths due to the Soviet occupation in 1940 – 1941 at 33 , 900 including ( 7 , 800 deaths ) of arrested people , ( 6 , 000 ) deportee deaths , ( 5 , 000 ) evacuee deaths , ( 1 , 100 ) people gone missing and ( 14 , 000 ) conscripted for forced labor . After the reoccupation by the U . S . S . R . , 5 , 000 Estonians died in Soviet prisons during 1944 – 45 . The following is a summary of the data from the Soviet archives : < br > Reported deaths for the years 1939 – 1945 1 , 187 , 783 , including : judicial executions 46 , 350 ; deaths in Gulag labor camps 718 , 804 ; deaths in labor colonies and prisons 422 , 629 . Deported to special settlements : ( figures are for deportations to Special Settlements only , not including those executed , sent to Gulag labor camps or conscripted into the Soviet Army . Nor do the figures include additional deportations after the war ) . < br > Deported from annexed territories 1940 – 41 380 , 000 to 390 , 000 persons , including : Poland 309 – 312 , 000 ; Lithuania 17 , 500 ; Latvia 17 , 000 ; Estonia 6 , 000 ; Moldova 22 , 842 . In August 1941 , 243 , 106 Poles living in the Special Settlements were amnestied and released by the Soviets . < br > Deported during the War 1941 – 1945 about 2 . 3 million persons of Soviet ethnic minorities including : Soviet Germans 1 , 209 , 000 ; Finns 9 , 000 ; Karachays 69 , 000 ; Kalmyks 92 , 000 ; Chechens and Ingush 479 , 000 ; Balkars 37 , 000 ; Crimean Tatars 191 , 014 ; Meskhetian Turks 91 , 000 ; Greeks , Bulgarians and Armenians from Crimea 42 , 000 ; Ukrainian OUN members 100 , 000 ; Poles 30 , 000 . < br > A total of 2 , 230 , 500 persons were living in the settlements in October 1945 and 309 , 100 deaths were reported in special settlements for the years 1941 – 1948 . Russian sources list Axis prisoner of war deaths of 580 , 589 in Soviet captivity based on data in the Soviet archives ( Germany 381 , 067 ; Hungary 54 , 755 ; Romania 54 , 612 ; Italy 27 , 683 ; Finland 403 , and Japan 62 , 069 ) . However some western scholars estimate the total at between 1 . 7 and 2 . 3 million . Commonwealth military casualties . The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2010 - 2011 is the source of the military dead for the British Empire The war dead totals listed in the report are based on the research by the CWGC to identify and commemorate Commonwealth war dead . The statistics tabulated The Commonwealth War Graves Commission are representative of the number of names commemorated for all servicemen / women of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth and former U . K . Dependencies , whose death was attributable to their war service . Some auxiliary and civilian organizations are also accorded war grave status if death occurred under certain specified conditions . For the purposes of C . W . G . C . the dates of inclusion for Commonwealth War Dead are 03 / 09 / 1939 to 31 / 12 / 1947 . Footnotes . No reliable statistics on Albania ' s wartime losses exist , but the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration reported about 30 , 000 Albanian war dead . Albanian official statistics claim somewhat higher losses . Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 200 , these Jews were Yugoslav citizens resident in Albania . Jews of Albanian origin survived the Holocaust . The Australian War Memorial reports 39 , 761 military deaths . This figure includes all personnel who died from war - related causes during 1939 – 47 . The Australian government does not regard merchant mariners as military personnel and the 349 Australians killed in action while crewing merchant ships around the world , are included in the total civilian deaths . Other civilian fatalities were due to air raids and attacks on passenger ships . The preliminary 1945 data for Australian losses was 23 , 365 killed , 6 , 030 missing , 39 , 803 wounded and 26 , 363 POWs . Military war dead reported by Rüdiger Overmans of 260 , 749 are included with Germany . 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 . These figures include the genocide of Romani people of 6 , 500 persons and Jewish Holocaust victims totaling 65 , 000 . Belgian government sources reported that military war dead included 8 , 800 killed , 500 missing in action , 200 executed , 800 resistance movement fighters and 1 , 800 POW s . Civilian losses included deaths due to military operations of 32 , 200 and 16 , 900 non - Jewish victims of Nazi reprisals and repression . Losses of about 10 , 000 in the German Armed Forces are not included in these figures , they are included with German military casualties . The genocide of Roma people was 500 persons . Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 24 , 387 . The Brazilian Expeditionary Force war dead were 510 , Navy losses in the Battle of the Atlantic were 492 . Civilian losses due to attacks on merchant shipping were 470 merchant mariners and 502 passengers . Bulgarian military war dead were as follows , 2 , 000 military with Axis in Yugoslavia and Greece ; 10 , 124 military dead as allies of the USSR and 10 , 000 Anti - Fascist Partisan deaths . Regarding partisan and civilian casualties the Russian journalist Vadim Erlikman notes " According to the official data of the royal government 2 , 320 were killed and 199 executed . The communists claim that 20 – 35 , 000 persons died . In reality deaths were 10 , 000 , including and unknown number of civilians . " 3 , 000 civilians were killed by Anglo - American air raids , including 1 , 374 in Bombing of Sofia in World War II . Military dead of 22 , 000 were with the pro - Japanese Burma National Army . Civilian deaths during the Japanese occupation of Burma totaled 250 , 000 ; 110 , 000 Burmese , plus 100 , 000 Indian and 40 , 000 Chinese civilians in Burma . Werner Gruhl estimates Burma ' s dead at 170 , 000 civilians due to the Japanese occupation . The Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists 45 , 383 war dead . is the source of the military dead for the British Empire including 102 deaths from Newfoundland with the Canadian forces . The Canadian War Museum puts military losses at 42 , 000 plus 1 , 600 Merchant Navy deaths . The Canadian Virtual War Memorial contains a registry of information about the graves and memorials of Canadians and Newfoundlanders who served valiantly and gave their lives for their country . The preliminary 1945 data for Canadian losses was killed 37 , 476 , missing 1 , 843 , wounded 53 , 174 and POW 9 , 045 . Sources for total Chinese war dead range from 10 to 20 million as detailed below . John W . Dower has noted " So great was the devastation and suffering in China that in the end it is necessary to speak of uncertain ' millions ' of deaths . Certainly , it is reasonable to think in general terms of approximately 10 million Chinese war dead , a total surpassed only by the Soviet Union . " The official Chinese government statistics for China ' s civilian and military casualties in the Second Sino - Japanese War from 1937 – 1945 are 20 million dead and 15 million wounded . The figures for total military casualties , killed and wounded are : Nationalist 3 . 2 million ; Communist 580 , 000 and collaborator forces 1 . 18 million ; captured : collaborator forces 950 , 000 . The official account of the war published in Taiwan reported the Nationalist Chinese Army lost 3 , 238 , 000 men ( 1 . 797 , 000 WIA ; 1 , 320 , 000 KIA and 120 , 000 MIA . ) and 5 , 787 , 352 civilians in casualties . An academic study published in the United States estimates total war deaths of 15 – 20 million from all causes : military casualties : 1 . 5 million killed in battle , 750 , 000 missing in action , 1 . 5 million deaths due to disease and 3 million wounded ; civilian casualties : due to military activity , killed 1 , 073 , 496 and 237 , 319 wounded ; 335 , 934 killed and 426 , 249 wounded in Japanese air attacks . < br > R . J . Rummel ' s estimate of total war dead from 1937 – 45 is 19 , 605 , 000 . The details are as follows : Military dead : 3 , 400 , 000 ( including 400 , 000 POW ) Nationalist / Communist , and 432 , 000 collaborator forces . Civilian war deaths : 3 , 808 , 000 killed in fighting and 3 , 549 , 000 victims of Japanese war crimes ( not including an additional 400 , 000 POWs ) . Other deaths : Repression by Chinese Nationalist s 5 , 907 , 000 ( 3 , 081 , 000 military conscripts who died due to mistreatment and 2 , 826 , 000 civilian deaths caused by Nationalist government , including the 1938 Yellow River flood ) ; political repression by Chinese Communists 250 , 000 and by Warlord s 110 , 000 . Additional deaths due to famine were 2 , 250 , 000 . Werner Gruhl estimates China ' s war losses at 12 , 392 , 000 civilian dead due to the Japanese occupation and 3 , 162 , 00 military dead . He also estimates an additional 1 , 445 , 000 deaths due to internal Chinese conflicts . Cuba lost 5 merchant ships and 79 dead merchant mariners . The Population of the pre - war Czechoslovakia in 1938 prior to the Munich Agreement was 15 . 3 million ( 10 . 8 million in the Czech lands ; 3 . 8 million in Slovakia and 700 , 000 in Carpathian Ruthenia ) . Population includes about 3 . 3 million ethnic Germans , however the casualties of the ethnic Germans are included with Germany . As a result of the First Vienna Award the population of the Second Czechoslovak Republic ) was reduced to about 10 . 4 million ( 7 . 1 million in the Czech lands ; 2 . 6 million in Slovakia and 700 , 000 in Carpathian Ruthenia ) . The Allies later declared the Munich Agreement to be invalid . Military war dead of 25 , 000 included : killed during 1938 occupation ( 171 ) ; Czechoslovak Forces with the Western Allies ( 3 , 220 ) ; Czechoslovak military units on Eastern front ( 4 , 570 ) ; Slovak Republic Axis forces ( 7 , 000 ) ; partisan losses ( 2 , 170 ) , and those killed in 1945 uprising ( 8 , 000 ) . Civilian losses include those killed during 1938 occupation ( 262 ) ; non - Jewish victims of Nazi reprisals ( 26 , 500 ) , and those killed in military operations ( 10 , 000 ) . Civilian losses include the territories of pre - war Czechoslovakia including Carpathian Ruthenia which was ceded to the USSR after the war . The genocide of Roma people was estimated at 7 , 500 persons . Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 277 , 000 . During the Occupation of Denmark military war dead included 1 , 281Merchant Marine , 797 resistance fighters and 39 Army personnel . Civilian deaths included 628 victims of Nazi reprisals and 427 killed during military operations . Total deaths 3 , 172 . There were an additional 3 , 900 Danish deaths in German military service that are included with German losses . Deaths of Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 77 . John W . Dower cites a UN report that estimated 4 million famine and forced labor dead during the Japanese Occupation of Indonesia . The United Nations reported in 1947 that " about 30 , 000 Europeans and 300 , 000 Indonesian internees and forced laborers died during the occupation . " They reported , " The total number who were killed by the Japanese , or who died from , hunger , disease and lack of medical attention is estimated at 3 , 000 , 000 for Java alone , 1 , 000 , 000 for the Outer Islands . Altogether 35 , 000 of the 240 , 000 Europeans died ; most of them were men of working age . " The Dutch Red Cross reported the deaths in Japanese custody of 14 , 800 European civilians out of 80 , 000 interned and 12 , 500 of the 34 , 000 POW captured . < br > Werner Gruhl estimates the civilian death toll due to the war and Japanese occupation at 3 , 000 , 000 Indonesians and 30 , 000 interned Europeans . Civilian deaths due to the Soviet and German occupation of Estonia from 1940 to 1945 were approximately 51 , 000 persons based on a study by Estonian State Commission on Examination of Policies of Repression . < br > A . Civilian deaths due to the Soviet occupation in 1940 – 1941 were 33 , 900 including ( 7 , 800 deaths ) of arrested people , ( 6 , 000 ) deportee deaths , ( 5 , 000 ) evacuee deaths , ( 1 , 100 ) people gone missing and ( 14 , 000 ) conscripted for forced labor . < br > B . Losses during the 1941 – 1944 Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany were 12 , 040 , including ( 7 , 800 ) executed by Nazis and ( 1 , 040 ) killed in prison camps . ( 200 ) people died in forced labor in Germany . ( 800 ) deaths in Soviet bombing raids against Estonian cities , ( 1 , 000 ) killed in Allied air raids on Germany and ( 1 , 200 ) perished at sea while attempting to flee the country in 1944 – 45 . < br > Included in the above figures is the genocide of Roma people of ( 243 ) persons , Jewish Holocaust victims totaling ( 1 , 000 ) . < br > C . After the reoccupation by the U . S . S . R 5 , 000 Estonians died in Soviet prisons during 1944 – 45 . < br > D . The figures do not include the military deaths of the illegally drafted conscripts by the Soviet ( 10 , 000 ) and German armed forces ( 11 , 000 ) . E . Figures do not include the executions , deportee deaths , and insurgent losses in 1944 – 1989 during the Soviet reoccupation of 11 , 000 persons . < br > Total deaths from 1940 – 53 due the war and the Soviet occupation was approximately 82 , 000 persons ( 8 % of the population ) . Total military and civilian dead in the East African Campaign were 100 , 000 ( not including 15 , 000 native military with Italian forces ) . Small and Singer put the military losses at 5 , 000 . These totals do not include losses in the Italian Second Italo - Abyssinian War and Italian occupation from 1935 – 41 . The official Ethiopian government report lists 760 , 000 deaths due to the war and Italian occupation from 1935 – 41 . However , R . J . Rummel estimates 200 , 000 Ethiopians and Libyans killed by the Italians from the 1920s – 41 , his estimate is " based on Discovery TV Cable Channel Program ' Timewatch 1 / 17 / 92 . The Finnish National Archives website lists the names of the 95 , 000 Finnish military war dead . Figures include killed and missing from the Winter War and Continuation War with the Soviet Union , as well as action against German forces in 1944 – 45 . Winter War ( 1939 – 40 ) losses were 22 , 830 , military deaths from 1941 – 44 were 58 , 715 , and 1 , 036 in 1944 – 45 in the Lapland War . Soviet sources list the deaths of 403 of the 2 , 377 Finnish POW taken in the War . During the Winter war of 1939 – 40 the Swedish Volunteer Corps served alongside the Finns in combat . 1 , 407 Finnish volunteers served in the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen - SS and 256 were killed in action . Civilian war dead were 2 , 000 , due in part to the bombing of Helsinki in World War II . Military war dead include 150 , 000 regular forces ( 1939 – 40 Battle of France 92 , 000 ; 1940 – 45 on Western Front ( World War II ) 58 , 000 ) ; 20 , 000 French resistance fighters and 40 , 000 POWs in Germany . There were an additional 5 , 000 military deaths in French Indochina . The pro - German Vichy France forces lost 2 , 653 killed . Vadim Erlikman a Russian journalist , estimates losses of Africans in the French Colonial Forces at about 22 , 000 . French deaths in German Army ( 30 – 40 , 000 ) , mostly men conscripted in Alsace - Lorraine , are not included in these totals , they are included with Germany Civilian losses of 250 , 000 include : 60 , 000 killed in bombardments , 60 , 000 in land fighting , 30 , 000 murdered in executions , 60 , 000 political deportees , and 40 , 000 workers in Germany . The genocide of Roma people was 15 , 000 persons . Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 83 , 000 . 752 civilians were killed during the US air attacks on French Tunisia in 1942 – 43 . R . J . Rummel estimates the deaths of 20 , 000 anti - Fascist Spanish refugees resident in France who were deported to Nazi camps , these deaths are included with French civilian casualties . Sources for total IndoChinese civilian war dead range from 1 to 1 . 5 million as detailed below . John W . Dower estimated 1 . 0 million deaths due to Vietnamese Famine of 1945 during Japanese occupation . < br > Werner Gruhl estimates the civilian death toll due to the war and Japanese occupation at 1 , 500 , 000 . German population The 1939 Population is for Germany within 1937 borders and Danzig and Memel Territory which were annexed in 1939 , not included with the German population are Austria and the 6 , 700 , 000 ethnic Germans of Europe . However , the 601 , 000 military deaths of ethnic Germans from Eastern and Western Europe and 261 , 000 Austrians are included with total German military losses . Total German war dead Sources for total German war dead range from 5 . 5 to 6 . 9 million , the lower number are losses in 1937 borders , the higher figure of 6 . 9 million includes losses of the ethnic Germans in east - central Europe . In 1956 The German government estimated 5 . 5 million of deaths directly caused by the war in 1937 borders . A German demographic study estimated 6 . 9 million excess deaths above the pre war level caused by the war in the 1937 borders . These losses included about 4 . 4 million military dead and missing ; 1 . 0 million civilian deaths during the war and 1 . 5 civilians who died as a result of expulsions from Poland and the famine in Germany during 1945 – 46 . There were additional deaths of the ethnic Germans in Eastern Europe . A recent study by Rüdiger Overmans found 538 , 000 military deaths of ethnic Germans who were conscripted by Germany in Eastern Europe . The number of war related civilian deaths among the ethnic Germans from Eastern European countries is disputed . An analysis by the West German government in 1958 estimated civilian deaths among the ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe countries at 886 , 000 . However , a more recent study by the German government archives estimated c . 200 , 000 civilian deaths directly caused by the war among the ethnic Germans from Eastern European countries . German military casualties In January 1946 the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co . put German military dead at 3 , 250 , 000 , this figure still appears in many reference works . According to the German Red Cross the records of the military search service Deutsche Dienststelle ( WASt ) list total Wehrmacht losses at 4 . 3 million men ( 3 . 1 million dead and 1 . 2 million missing ) in World War II . However in 2000 Rüdiger Overmans , an associate of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office provided a reassessment of German military war dead based on a statistical survey of German military personnel records . The results of the Overmans research project was financed by a private foundation and published with the endorsement of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office of the Federal Ministry of Defense ( Germany ) . The study found that the statistics compiled by German military during the war were incomplete and did not provide an accurate accounting of casualties . In the mid - 1990s when Overmans began the project German military dead in the war were estimated by the military search service at about 4 . 3 million men . Since the collapse of communism previously classified documentation regarding German military casualties became available to German researchers . The research by Overmans concluded that German military dead and missing were 5 , 318 , 000 . Included in this total are 344 , 000 deaths that were previously listed as civilian expulsion losses in eastern Europe ; 230 , 000 deaths of paramilitary , Volkssturm and police forces fighting with the regular forces and the deaths of 266 , 000 POW after the surrender in May 1945 . Overmans did not include an additional 215 , 000 deaths of Soviet citizens conscripted by Germany . Military losses by theatre Overmans lists the following losses : Africa 16 , 066 ; the Balkans 103 , 693 ; Northern Europe 30 , 165 ; Western Europe until 12 / 31 / 44 339 , 957 ; Italy 150 , 660 ; against the U . S . S . R . until 12 / 31 / 44 2 , 742 , 909 ; final battles in Germany during 1945 1 , 230 , 045 ; other ( including air war in Germany and at sea ) 245 , 561 ; confirmed deaths of POWs in captivity 459 , 475 . Military losses by country of origin Overmans lists deaths of 4 , 456 , 000 men from pre - war Germany ( 1937 borders ) and the Free City of Danzig , 261 , 000 from Austria , 534 , 000 ethnic Germans conscripted in eastern Europe , 30 , 000 French ( mostly men conscripted in Alsace - Lorraine ) , and 37 , 000 volunteers from western Europe . Military losses by branch of service Overmans lists losses by branch as : Army 4 , 202 , 030 ; Air Force 432 , 706 ; Navy 138 , 429 ; Waffen SS 313 , 749 ; Volkssturm 77 , 726 ; other paramilitary and support forces 153 , 891 . Military prisoners of war and missing < br > Overmans includes in the total of 5 , 318 , 000 war dead 2 , 008 , 000 men that are listed as missing in action or unaccounted for after the war and 459 , 000 prisoners of war who died in captivity . The details of these POW deaths by country that held them in custody are as follows : USSR 363 , 000 ; France 34 , 000 ; USA 22 , 000 ; UK 21 , 000 ; Yugoslavia 11 , 000 ; other nations 8 , 000 . Rüdiger Overmans believes that " " It seems entirely plausible , while not provable , that one half of the 1 . 5 million missing on the eastern front were killed in action , the other half ( 700 , 000 ) however in fact died in Soviet custody " " . A 1995 study by the Russian Academy of Science lists the deaths of 474 , 967 of the 2 , 652 , 672 German Armed Forces POW taken in the War . Military casualties in other sources < br > The casualty figures compiled by the German High Command ( OKW ) as of January 31 , 1945 put total military losses at 2 , 001 , 399 dead , 1 , 902 , 704 missing and POW held by Allies and 4 , 429 , 875 wounded . These casualty figures compiled by the German High Command ( OKW ) are often cited by military historians . < br > The West German government in November 1949 estimated military losses for Germany in 1937 borders at 3 , 250 , 000 ( 1 , 650 , 000 killed and 1 , 600 , 000 missing ) . Figures do not include Austria and conscripted ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe . < br > Based on a demographic estimate the West German government in 1960 put the total military losses of the Wehrmacht at 4 , 440 , 000 : 3 , 760 , 000 for Germany in 1937 borders ; 430 , 000 conscripted ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe and 250 , 000 from Austria . < br > The German Red Cross Reported that their records list 3 . 1 million dead and 1 . 2 million missing German military personnel from World War Two . Their figures include Austria and conscripted ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe . < br > German civilian casualties during the war The West German government estimated 655 , 000 civilian deaths during war in Germany and Austria : 500 , 000 killed by strategic bombing , 135 , 000 in the 1945 flight and evacuations from East Europe and 20 , 000 civilians killed during the land campaign in Germany . For Germany within the 1937 borders 465 , 000 killed by strategic bombing , 127 , 000 in the 1945 flight and evacuations from East Europe and 20 , 000 civilians were killed during the land campaign in Germany . A 1990 study by the German historian estimated 360 , 000 – 370 , 000 civilians were killed by Allied strategic bombing within the 1937 German boundaries , for the German Reich including Austria , forced laborers , POW and military the total is estimated at 406 , 000 . This revised estimate was published in the authoritative series " The German Reich and the Second World War " . < br > 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 ) . A 2003 report by the German Federal Archive put the total murdered during the Action T4 euthanasia program at 200 , 000 . < br > Civilian deaths due to the flight and expulsion of Germans ( 1944 – 1950 ) and the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union < br > These losses are sometimes included with World War II casualties . The figures for these losses are currently disputed , estimates of the total deaths range from 500 , 000 to 2 , 000 , 000 . The following is a summary of the various estimates for German civilian deaths in Eastern Europe . A . In 1950 the West German government made a preliminary estimate of 3 . 0 million civilian deaths in the expulsions . At the same time German Red Cross began to investigate the cases of persons reported missing in the area of the expulsions . The first attempt to compute the losses was made in 1953 by the German scholar Gotthold Rhode who estimated German military and civilian deaths in East Europe at 3 , 140 , 000 . The Schieder commission estimated a civilian death toll in the expulsions of about 2 . 3 million persons , broken out as follows : Poland 2 , 000 , 000 ; Czechoslovakia 225 , 600 ; Yugoslavia 69 , 000 ; Romania 20 , 000 ; Hungary 6 , 000 . These early estimates are no longer considered valid because subsequent investigations provided a revised accounting of the losses . B . A 1958 West German government demographic study estimated 2 , 225 , 000 civilians died during the flight during the war , post war expulsions and the forced labor in the Soviet Union , broken out as follows : Poland 1 , 607 , 000 ; Czechoslovakia 273 , 000 ; Yugoslavia 136 , 000 ; Romania 101 , 000 ; Hungary 57 , 000 ; Baltic States 51 , 000 . A figure of about 2 million civilian deaths is often cited in English language sources dealing with the expulsions based on the 1958 German government statistical analysis as well as the report of the Schieder commission . In 1967 the West German government issued a revised figure of 2 , 111 , 000 total dead . In 2006 The German government reaffirmed its belief that 2 million civilians perished in the flight and expulsion from Eastern Europe . However , the German historian Ingo Harr believes that civilian losses in the expulsions have been overstated in Germany for decades for political reasons . Harr argues that Cold War political pressure influenced the findings of the Schieder commission and the 1958 West German government demographic study of Expulsion deaths . The German scholar Rüdiger Overmans believes that the statistical foundations of the 1958 West German government demographic report are questionable and cannot be regarded as definitive . A recent analysis by a Polish scholar found that " Generally speaking , the German estimates . . . are not only highly arbitrary , but also clearly tendentious in presentation of the German losses " . He maintains that the German government figures from 1958 overstated the total number of the ethnic Germans living in Poland prior to war as well as the total civilian deaths due to the expulsions . C . By 1965 , the Suchdienst ( search service ) of the German churches was able to confirm 473 , 013 civilian deaths in eastern Europe due to the war and expulsions , broken out as follows : Poland 367 , 392 ; Sudetenland 18 , 889 ; Slovakia , Hungary , Romania and Yugoslavia 64 , 779 ; Baltic States 9 , 064 ; and Germans resettled in Poland 12 , 889 . There were an additional 1 , 905 , 991 unsolved cases of persons reported missing and presumed dead . Rüdiger Overmans gave a summary of this data at a 1994 historical symposium in Poland . Overmans pointed out that the figures are incomplete and only a partial not an exact accounting of total deaths . Overmans believed that since there were only about 500 , 000 confirmed deaths of German civilians in eastern Europe , the balance being a demographic estimate , that new research on the number of expulsion deaths was needed . However , the German historian Ingo Harr believes that the Church Service figure of 473 , 000 confirmed deaths is a realistic view of the total deaths due to the flight during the war and expulsions . D . A 1974 study by the German government archives estimated a death toll of about 600 , 000 of civilians who died as a result of what they call " crimes against international law " . Their definition of crimes includes deaths caused by military activity in the 1944 – 45 campaign as well as deliberate killings . The total of 600 , 000 is broken out as follows : Poland c . 400 , 000 ( 120 , 000 killed by Soviet forces and their Allies ; 200 , 000 dead during the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union ; 60 , 000 dead in Polish internment and labor camps and 40 , 000 in Soviet camps in the Kaliningrad Oblast ) ; Czechoslovakia 30 , 000 killed by Soviet forces and their Allies , and an estimated 100 , 000 in internment camps ; Yugoslavia c . 80 , 000 ( killed by Soviet forces and their Allies 15 – 20 , 000 ; dead during the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union 4 , 500 ; dead in internment camps c . 60 , 000 ) . This report did not provide an estimate for ethnic German deaths in Romania and Hungary . Rüdiger Overmans believes that the 1974 report is only a partial not a definitive accounting of total deaths in the expulsions . However , the German historian Ingo Harr believes the Archives study has provided a more realistic view of the total deaths due to the expulsions . E . A revised demographic analysis published in 1995 , which has the support of the German government , estimated 2 , 020 , 000 civilians died during the post war expulsions and the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union broken out as follows : Poland 1 , 192 , 000 ; Czechoslovakia 220 , 000 ; Yugoslavia 106 , 000 ; Romania 75 , 000 ; Hungary 84 , 000 ; Baltic States 33 , 000 ; USSR 310 , 000 . The German government maintains that the figure of about 2 million deaths is correct because it includes additional post war deaths from hunger and disease of those civilians subject to the expulsions . F . In 1996 a joint Czech – German Historical Commission determined that between 15 , 000 and 30 , 000 Germans perished in the expulsions . The commission found that the demographic estimates by the German government of 220 , 000 to 270 , 000 civilian deaths due to expulsions from Czechoslovakia were based on faulty data . The Commission determined that the demographic estimates by the German government counted as missing 90 , 000 ethnic Germans assimilated into the Czech population ; military deaths were understated and that the 1950 census data used to compute the demographic losses was unreliable . G . Research by former ethnic Germans from Yugoslavia determined that 58 , 730 civilians perished after the war , broken out as follows : killed by partisans 8 , 049 ; dead during the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union 1 , 994 ; dead in internment camps 48 , 687 . H . In his 2000 study of German military casualties Rüdiger Overmans found 344 , 000 additional military deaths of Germans from the former eastern territories of Germany and conscripted ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe . Overmans believes this will reduce the number of civilians previously listed as missing in the expulsions . I . The Polish historian Bernadetta Nitschke has provided a summary of the research in Poland on the calculation of German losses due to the flight and resettlement of the Germans from Poland only , not including other eastern European countries . Nitschke contrasted the estimate of 1 . 6 million deaths in Poland reported in 1958 by the West German government with the more recent figure of 400 , 000 that was detailed by Rűdiger Overmans in 1994 . She noted that the Polish researcher Stefan Banasiak estimated in 1963 that the death toll in the post deportations was 1 , 136 persons , a figure accepted by other Polish historians who maintain that most of the deaths occurred during the flight and evacuation during the war , the deportation to the U . S . S . R . for forced labor , and after the resettlement due to the harsh conditions in the Soviet occupation zone in post war Germany . This is in sharp contrast to the West German Schieder commission report which maintained that 1 . 7 million civilian deaths occurred after the war on Polish territory . J . In 2006 The German government reaffirmed its belief that 2 million civilians perished in the flight and expulsion from Eastern Europe . They maintain that the figure is correct because it includes additional post war deaths from malnutrition and disease of those civilians subject to the expulsions State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of the Interior , Christoph Bergner , outlined the stance of the respective governmental institutions in Deutschlandfunk saying that the numbers presented by the German government and others are not contradictory to the numbers cited by Haar , and that the below 600 , 000 estimate comprises the deaths directly caused by atrocities during the expulsion measures and thus only includes people who on the spot were raped , beaten , or else brought to death , while the above two millions estimate also includes people who on their way to post - war Germany have died of epidemics , hunger , cold , air raids and the like . K . In 2005 the German Red Cross Search Service still maintained that their research put losses at 2 , 252 , 500 persons in the expulsions and deportations . They did not provide details of the figure . Famine deaths 1945 – 1946 The German economist Bruno Gleitze from the German Institute for Economic Research estimated that there were 1 , 200 , 000 deaths caused by an increase in mortality due to harsh conditions in Germany during and after the war . 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 . Gregory Frumkin , who was throughout its existence editor of the " Statistical Year - Book of the League of Nations " gave the following assessment of Greek losses in the war . He points out that that " " the data on Greek war losses are frequently divergent and even inconsistent " . " His estimates for Greek losses are as follows : the war dead included 20 , 000 military deaths in the Greco - Italian War of 1940 – 41 , 60 , 000 non - Jewish civilians , 20 , 000 non - Jewish deportees , 60 , 000 Jews and 140 , 000 famine deaths during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II . The Greek National Council for Reparations from Germany reports the following casualties during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II . Military dead 35 , 077 , including : 13 , 327 killed in the Greco - Italian War of 1940 – 41 ; 1 , 100 with the Greek Forces in the Mid - East , and 20 , 650 partisan deaths . Civilian deaths 771 , 845 , including : 56 , 225 executed by Axis forces ; 105 , 000 dead in German concentration camps ( including Jews ) ; 7 , 120 deaths due to bombing ; 3 , 500 merchant marine dead ; and 600 , 000 war - related famine deaths . Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 69 , 500 . Tamás Stark of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences has provided the following assessment of Hungarian losses . Total losses were 750 , 000 in the Greater Hungary ; 350 , 000 Military dead including 110 – 120 , 000 killed in action , 20 – 25 , 000 Jews in Hungarian military labor camps and 200 , 000 in Soviet POW and labor camps . Civilian dead included 340 , 000 Hungarian Jews and 50 , 000 deaths attributed to military actions and the persecution of national minorities . However only 64 % of these losses ( 480 , 000 ) were within the 1939 borders of Hungary , military killed were 80 , 000 and 130 , 000 in Soviet POW and labor camps , Jewish Holocaust dead were 220 , 000 and civilian war dead 44 , 000 . Hungarian military losses include 110 , 000men who were conscripted from the annexed territories of Greater Hungary in Slovakia , Romania and Yugoslavia and the deaths of 20 , 000 – 25 , 000 Jews conscripted for Army labor units . Civilian losses were 44 , 500 killed in the 1944 – 45 military campaign and in air attacks . Russian sources give the deaths of 54 , 700 of the 513 , 700 Hungarian POW taken in the War . The genocide of Roma people of 28 , 000 persons . Jewish Holocaust victims within the 1939 borders were 200 , 000 . Confirmed losses of civilian sailors due to German attacks and mines . India was a British Colony during World War II , India under British administration is sometimes referred to as the British Raj . The 1939 Population of India included the present day India , Pakistan and Bangladesh . The war dead listed here are those reported by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission , total deaths were 87 , 032 . is the source of the military dead for the British Empire The ' Debt of Honour Register ' from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists the men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars . Gurkha s recruited from Nepal fought with the British Indian Army during the Second World War . Gurkha casualties with the British Indian Army can be broken down as : 8 , 985 killed or missing and 23 , 655 wounded . The preliminary 1945 data for Indian losses was , killed 24 , 338 , missing 11 , 754 , wounded 64 , 354 and POW 79 , 489 . Out of 60 , 000 Indian Army POWs taken at the Fall of Singapore , 11 , 000 died in captivity . The pro - Japanese Indian National Army lost 2 , 615 dead and missing . Sources for total Indian civilian war dead range from 1 . 5 to 2 . 5 million as detailed below . < br > John W . Dower estimated 1 . 5 million civilian deaths in the Bengal famine of 1943 . Amartya Sen currently the Lamont University Professor at Harvard University has recently estimated that a figure of 2 . 0 to 2 . 5 million fatalities may be more accurate . < br > Werner Gruhl estimates the civilian death toll due to the Bengal famine of 1943 at 2 , 000 , 000 . Losses during allied occupation in 1941 . Losses during Anglo - Iraqi War and UK occupation in 1941 . Despite being neutral , Ireland suffered casualties serving in the UK Armed Forces . Between 1939 – 1945 an estimated 70 , 000 citizens of neutral Ireland served in the British armed forces , together with 50 , 000 or so from Northern Ireland . In April 1995 Taoiseach John Bruton spoke at Islandbridge and paid tribute to the 150 , 000 Irish people North and South who " volunteered to fight against Nazi tyranny in Europe , at least 10 , 000 of whom were killed while serving in British uniforms . . . In recalling their bravery , we are recalling a shared experience of Irish and British people . . . We remember a British part of the inheritance of all who live in Ireland " . The civilian death figure includes 33 Irish merchantmen were killed when a U - Boat torpedoed the SS Irish Pine ( 1919 ) and deaths caused by the presumably accidental bombing of Ireland in three instances . The official Italian government accounting of World War II 1940 – 45 losses listed the following data . Total military dead and missing from 1940 – 45 were 291 , 376 , losses prior to the September 8 , 1943 Armistice with Italy totaled 204 , 346 ( 66 , 686 killed , 111 , 579 missing , 26 , 081 died of disease ) , after the September 8 , 1943 Armistice with Italy , 87 , 030 ( 42 , 916 killed , 19 , 840 missing , 24 , 274 died of disease ) . Losses by branch of service : Army 201 , 405 ; Navy 22 , 034 ; Air Force 9 , 096 ; Colonial Forces 354 ; Chaplains 91 ; Fascist militia 10 , 066 ; Paramilitary 3 , 252 ; not indicated 45 , 078 . Military Losses by theatre of war : Italy 74 , 725 ( 37 , 573 post armistice ) ; France 2 , 060 ( 1 , 039 post armistice ) ; Germany 25 , 430 ( 24 , 020 post armistice ) ; Greece , Albania , and Yugoslavia 49 , 459 ( 10 , 090 post armistice ) ; USSR 82 , 079 ( 3 , 522 post armistice ) ; Africa 22 , 341 ( 1 , 565 post armistice ) , at sea 28 , 438 ( 5 , 526 post armistice ) ; other and unknown 6 , 844 ( 3 , 695 post armistice ) . POW losses are included with military losses mentioned above . Civilian losses were 153 , 147 ( 123 , 119 post armistice ) including 61 , 432 ( 42 , 613 post armistice ) in air attacks . A brief summary of data from this report can be found online . There were in addition to these losses the deaths of African soldiers conscripted by Italy which were estimated by the Italian military at 10 , 000 in East African Campaign of 1940 – 41 . Civilian losses as a result of the fighting in Italian Libya were estimated by an independent Russian journalist to be 10 , 000 . < br > Included in the losses are 64 , 000 victims of Nazi reprisals and genocide including 30 , 000 POWs and 8 , 500 Jews . Russian sources list the deaths of 28 , 000 of the 49 , 000 Italian war prisoners in Soviet Union 1942 - 1954 . Military losses in Italy after the September 1943 Armistice with Italy , included 5 , 927 with the Allies , 17 , 488 Italian resistance movement fighters and 13 , 000 RSI Italian Social Republic Fascist forces . The genocide of Roma people was 1 , 000 persons . Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 8 , 562 ( including Libya ) . 1939 Japanese population includes 1 . 7 million Japanese in China and Korea . Japanese military losses were 2 , 120 , 000 including 1 , 740 , 000 in the war from 1937 to 1945 and 380 , 000 POW deaths after the surrender . John W . Dower reported that Japanese government figures list the military deaths of 1 , 740 , 955 during 1937 – 45 . The details are as follows : 185 , 647 in China from 1937 to 1941 , and 1 , 555 , 308 from 1941 to 1945 in the Pacific War . Army : against US 485 , 717 ; against UK / Netherlands 208 , 026 ; in China 202 , 958 ; against Australia 199 , 511 ; French Indochina 2 , 803 ; against USSR 7 , 483 ; other overseas 23 , 388 ; Japan proper 10 , 543 . Navy : 1941 – 45 414 , 879 . " Only one third of the military deaths occurred in actual combat , the majority being caused by illness and starvation . " In addition there were the deaths of prisoners after the surrender . According to John W . Dower , the " known deaths of Japanese troops awaiting repatriation in Allied ( non - Soviet ) hands were listed as 81 , 090 by U . S . authorities " . An additional 300 , 000 Japanese prisoners died in Soviet hands after the surrender in Manchuria , Korea and the USSR . " The Japanese Ministry of Welfare and Foreign Office reported that 347 , 000 military personnel and civilians were dead or missing in Soviet hands after the war . The Japanese list the losses of 199 , 000 in Manchurian transit camps , 36 , 000 in North Korea , 9 , 000 from Sakhalin and 103 , 000 in the USSR . These figures were disputed by the Soviet Union , Russian sources report the POW deaths of 62 , 105 ( 61 , 855 Japanese and 214 collaborator forces ) out of the 640 , 105 captured ( 609 , 448 Japanese and 30 , 657 collaborator forces ) . Military deaths include Koreans and Chinese from Taiwan conscripted by Japan . Not included in Japanese war dead are 432 , 000 Chinese military forces collaborating with Japan . Estimates for Japanese civilian losses range from 500 , 000 , to 1 , 000 , 000 dead . The lower figure of 500 , 000 includes those deaths during the war caused by allied bombing and the fighting on Okinawa . The higher estimate of 1 , 000 , 000 includes additional post war deaths of persons injured in the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and excess deaths due to adverse post war conditions . In Allied occupied Japan the shortage of food was an acute problem , in 1946 the average kilocalorie intake per day was only 1 , 530 compared to the average of 1 , 950 during the war years , this was an amount insufficient for long - term health . The General Headquarters for the Allied Powers in Tokyo reported the civilian death rate in Japan in the first year after the war to be 2 . 1 % compared to the pre - war level of 1 . 6 % . John W . Dower reports civilian losses due to U . S . strategic bombing according to official Japanese figures were 393 , 367 dead , including 210 , 000 killed in the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and 97 , 031 in the Bombing of Tokyo in World War II . In addition to these deaths 150 , 000 civilians were killed on Okinawa and 10 , 000 on Saipan during the fighting . The Japanese government reported that 60 , 000 civilians dead or missing in Soviet hands after the war . War related deaths of Japanese merchant marine personnel were 27 , 000 . The US Strategic bombing survey estimated 252 , 769 killed Japanese in the air war . They also estimated the death toll in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at 105 , 000 to 115 , 000 . The Yasukuni Shrine in Japan lists a total of 2 , 325 , 128 military deaths from 1937 to 1945 including civilians who participated in combat , Chinese ( Taiwan ) and Koreans in the Japanese Armed Forces . Sources for total Korean civilian war dead range from 378 , 000 to 483 , 000 as detailed below . < br > The American researcher R . J . Rummel estimates 378 , 000 Korean dead due to forced labor in Japan and Manchuria . According to Rummel , " Information on Korean deaths under Japanese occupation is difficult to uncover . We do know that 5 , 400 , 000 Koreans were conscripted for labor beginning in 1939 , but how many died can only be roughly estimated . " < br > John W . Dower has noted " Between 1939 and 1945 , close to 670 , 000 Koreans were brought to Japan for fixed terms of work , mostly in mines and heavy industry , and it has been estimated that 60 , 000 or more of them died under harsh conditions of their work places . Over 10 , 000 others were probably killed in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki " . < br > Werner Gruhl estimates the civilian death toll due to the war and Japanese occupation at 483 , 000 and an additional 50 , 000 deaths of Koreans conscripted in the Japanese military service . < br > A Korean demographic study reports " the mortality level and the course of mortality changes among Koreans in Korea during the war , appear not to have been much affected . Even for all Koreans living in Korea , Japan and Manchuria , the impact of World War II on the trend and level of mortality is not likely to have been significant . The same source reports 6 , 369 Koreans to have died in the Japanese military forces , and the number rising to 14 , 527 when civilians attached to the military forces are added . Korean military forces fighting against Japan were the Korean Liberation Army under Chinese Nationalist command and the Korean Volunteer Army which fought with the Chinese Communist guerrillas . Includes civilian losses due to war ( 220 , 000 ) and Soviet occupation in 1940 – 41 ( 7 , 000 ) . Does not include military dead with Soviet ( 13 , 000 ) and German Armed Forces ( 24 , 000 ) . Total deaths from 1940 to 1953 due the war and the Soviet occupation were 287 , 000 ( 14 % of the population ) . The genocide of Roma people was 2 , 500 persons . Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 80 , 000 . Includes civilian losses due to war ( 345 , 000 ) and Soviet occupation in 1940 – 41 ( 8 , 000 ) . Does not include military dead with Soviet ( 27 , 000 ) and German Armed Forces ( 8 , 000 ) . Total deaths from 1940 to 1953 due the war and the Soviet occupation were 448 , 000 ( 15 % of the population ) . The genocide of Roma people was 1 , 000 persons . Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 141 , 000 . Total war dead were 5 , 000 which included military losses of about 3 , 000 with the German Armed Forces and 200 in Belgian Army . The genocide of Roma people was 200 persons . Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 700 . Victims of forced labor and reprisals during the Japanese occupation . Air attack victims . The BBC has an online report on the siege of Malta . Mexico lost 7 merchant ships and 63 dead merchant mariners . A Mexican Air Force unit Escuadrón 201 served in the Pacific and suffered 5 combat deaths . Military losses with USSR against Japan in the 1939 Battle of Khalkhin Gol ( 200 ) and the 1945 Soviet invasion of Manchuria ( 72 ) campaigns . Deaths are 463 Nauruan labourers deported by Japanese authorities to the Caroline Islands . < br > Gurkha s recruited from Nepal fought with the British Indian Army and Nepalese Army during the Second World War . The war dead reported by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for India include Nepalese in the British Indian Army and Nepalese Army . Gurkha casualties can be broken down as : 8 , 985 killed or missing and 23 , 655 wounded . In addition to the Nepalese serving in the British Indian Army Nepal sent 16 battilialions to fight in the Burma campaign . There was a bilateral treaty between Nepal and Britain about the mobilization of Nepalese soldiers . The units which took part were Sri Nath , Kalibox , Surya Dal , Naya Gorakh , Barda Bahadur , Kali Bahadur , Mahindra Dal , Second Rifle , Bhairung , Jabbar Jung , Shumsher Dal , Sher , Devi Dutta , Bhairab Nath , Jagannath and Purano Gorakh Battalions . Besides , there were many high ranking Nepalese in the Joint Army HQ . Late Commander - in - Chief Kiran Shumsher Rana and ex - Commander - in - Chief and Field Marshal Nir Shumsher Rana were amongst the officers deployed by the Nepalese Army . Nepalese battalions – Mahindra Dal , Sher , Kali Bahadur and Jagannath – were also deployed . These Nepalese battalions fought under Allied Command . The Jagannath Battalion took part as engineers to construct tracks , bridges , water points etc . Nepalese troops fought with distinction in the 14th Army under Slim and helped force the eventual Japanese retreat . Dutch government figures for losses in Europe released in 1948 listed 210 , 000 direct war casualties plus an additional 70 , 000 post - war disease deaths caused by the war . The details are as follows . Military deaths of 8 , 100 , which included 2 , 200 regular Army , 1 , 700 Dutch Resistance forces , 2 , 600 Navy forces , 250 POW in Germany and 1 , 350 Merchant seaman . Civilian deaths of 271 , 900 , which included 27 , 000 forced workers in Germany , 7 , 500 missing and presumed dead in Germany , 2 , 800 victims of executions , 2 , 500 deaths in Dutch concentration camps , 18 , 000 political prisoners in Germany , 20 , 400 deaths due to military activities , 3 , 700 Dutch serving in the German military , 104 , 000 deported Jews and 16 , 000 deaths in the Dutch famine of 1944 . The official statistics also reported an additional 70 , 000 " indirect war casualties " , which are attributed to various diseases caused by wartime conditions . Not included in these figures are an additional 1 , 650 foreign nationals killed while serving in the Dutch Merchant Marine . The losses of the 3 , 700 Dutch in the German Armed Forces are not in Dutch war casualties in this article , they are included with the military of Germany . The Dutch suffered additional losses in the Far East which were not included in the above figures except for the Navy . Military losses in Asia were 900 in the 1942 Dutch East Indies campaign and 8 , 500 military POW deaths in Japanese captivity . The Australian War Memorial reports 8 , 000 of the 37 , 000 Dutch POW died in Japanese captivity . Civilian losses in Asia reported by the Dutch Red Cross included the deaths in Japanese custody of 14 , 800 Europeans out of 80 , 000 interned in the Dutch East Indies . The Netherlands War Graves Foundation maintains a registry of the names of Dutch war dead . The genocide of Roma people was 500 persons . < br > Newfoundland ' s losses are not listed separately by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission since they served with U . K . and Canadian Forces during the war . Military losses were 1 , 058 : 956 with the UK : Navy ( 351 ) , Army ( 115 ) , Air Force ( 134 ) , and Merchant Navy ( 356 ) , and 102 with Canada : Navy ( 21 ) , Army ( 41 ) , and Air Force ( 40 ) . The losses of the Newfoundland Merchant Navy are commemorated at the Allied Merchant Navy Memorial in Newfoundland , Civilian losses were due to the sinking of the SS Caribou in October 1942 . The military deaths listed here are those reported by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Total deaths were 11 , 929 . is the source of the military dead for the British Empire . The ' Debt of Honour Register ' from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists the men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars . Details can be found online at the New Zealand Armed Forces Memorial Project . The preliminary 1945 data for New Zealand losses was , killed 10 , 033 , missing 2 , 129 , wounded 19 , 314 and POW 8 , 453 . Military deaths were 2 , 000 regular forces ; 1 , 500 resistance fighters and political prisoners . Civilian dead include 3 , 600 merchant marine , 1 , 800 war related civilian deaths and 700 Jews . The 700 deaths with German Armed Forces are included with Germany on this schedule . The Norwegian Foreign Ministry reported that " 10 , 262 Norwegians had been killed , including 3 , 670 seamen . The Germans had executed 366 and tortured 39 to death . Among political prisoners and members of the underground , 658 died at home and 1 , 433 abroad . About 6 , 000 Norwegians had served the German war cause , and 709 of them had fallen in battle . Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 728 . Civilian deaths were caused by Allied bombing and shellfire and Japanese atrocities . Both the Allies and Japanese also conscripted civilians to work as laborers and porters . Sources for total Filipino civilian war dead range from 500 , 000 to 1 , 000 , 000 as detailed below . The United States State Dept . has reported that , " In total , an estimated one million Filipinos lost their lives in the war " . The primary reason for this high death toll was war related famine and disease . Civilian losses included victims of Japanese war crimes , such as the Bataan Death March and the Manila massacre which claimed the lives of 90 , 000 Filipinos . < br > Werner Gruhl estimates the civilian death toll due to the war and Japanese occupation at 500 , 000 ( 141 , 000 massacred , 22 , 500 forced labor deaths and 336 , 500 deaths due war related famine ) . The estimate in 1946 by the U . S . War Dept . for Filipino military war dead was 27 , 260 . More recent figures for military war dead , include 7 , 000 in the Battle of the Philippines ( 1941 - 42 ) , 8 , 000 anti - Japanese guerrillas and 42 , 000 ( out of 98 , 000 ) POW s in Japanese captivity . Werner Gruhl estimates an 27 , 000 Filipinos died serving in the military ( including 20 , 000 POW ) . Total Polish war dead < br > In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance ( IPN ) put the figure of Poland ' s dead at between 5 , 620 , 000 and 5 , 820 , 000 ; including an estimated 150 , 000 Polish citizens who died due to Soviet repression . The IPN ' s figures include 2 . 7 to 2 . 9 million Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust as well as 2 , 770 , 000 ethnic Poles , other ethnic minorities are not included in these figures . < br > The Institute of National Remembrance ( IPN ) figure for deaths of ethnic Poles . due the German occupation is 2 , 770 , 000 . This figure includes " Direct War Losses " −543 , 000 ; " Murdered in Camps and in Pacification " −506 , 000 ; " Deaths in prisons and Camps " 1 , 146 , 000 ; " Deaths outside of prisons and Camps " 473 , 000 ; " Murdered in Eastern Regions " 100 , 000 ; " Deaths in other countries " 2 , 000 . < br > Polish researchers have determined that the Nazis murdered 1 , 860 , 000 Polish Jews in the extermination camps in Poland , in addition over 1 . 0 million Polish Jews were murdered by the Einsatzgruppen in the eastern regions or died of starvation and disease while in ghettos . The classification of ethnic groups in pre - war Poland is disputed . The Polish demographer Piotr Eberhardt maintains that it is commonly agreed that the criterion of declared language given in the 1931 census led to an overestimation of the number of Poles in pre - war Poland . He notes that in general , the numbers declaring a particular language do not mesh with the numbers declaring the corresponding nationality . Members of ethnic minority groups believe that the language criterion led to an overestimation of Poles . Czesław Łuczak estimated in 1994 the actual total of war dead to be 5 . 9 to 6 . 0 million , including 2 . 9 to 3 . 0 million Jews . He estimated the number of ethnic Poles who died at 2 . 0 million , including 1 . 5 million , due to the German occupation of the territory of modern - day Poland and the balance of 500 , 000 in the former eastern Polish regions under both Soviet and German occupation . Łuczak also included in his figures an estimated 1 , 000 , 000 war dead of Polish citizens from the ethnic Ukrainian and Belarusian ethnic groups who comprised 20 % of Poland ' s pre - war population . The Polish government estimate made in 1947 of 6 . 0 million war dead excluded ethnic Ukrainian and Belarusian losses . < br > Tadeusz Piotrowski estimated in 2005 Poland ' s losses in World War II to be 5 . 6 million ; including 5 , 150 , 000 victims of Nazi crimes against ethnic Poles and The Holocaust , 350 , 000 deaths during the Soviet occupation in 1940 – 41 and about 100 , 000 Poles killed in 1943 – 44 during the massacres of Poles in Volhynia . Losses by ethnic group were 3 , 100 , 000 Jews ; 2 , 000 , 000 ethnic Poles ; 500 , 000 Ukrainians and Belarusians . Civilian losses by were about 3 . 5 million in present - day Poland and about 2 . 0 million in the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union . Contemporary Russian sources also include Poland ' s losses in the annexed territories with Soviet war deaths . < br > The official Polish government report on war damages prepared in 1947 listed 6 , 028 , 000 war victims during the German occupation ( including 123 , 178 military deaths , 2 . 8 million Poles and 3 . 2 million Jews ) , out of a population of 27 , 007 , 000 ethnic Poles and Jews ; this report excluded ethnic Ukrainian and Belarusian losses . Losses were calculated for the territory of Poland in 1939 , including the territories annexed by the USSR . The figure of 6 . 0 million war dead has been disputed by Polish scholars since the fall of communism who now put the total actual losses at about 3 . 0 million Jews and 2 . 0 million ethnic Poles , not including other ethnic groups ( Ukrainians and Belarussians ) . They maintain that the official statistics include those persons who were missing and presumed dead , but actually remained abroad in the west and the USSR after the war . The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum maintains that in addition to 3 million Polish Jews killed in the Holocaust . " Documentation remains fragmentary , but today scholars of independent Poland believe that 1 . 8 to 1 . 9 million Polish civilians ( non - Jews ) were victims of German Occupation policies and the war . " < br > The genocide of Roma people was 35 , 000 persons . Jewish Holocaust victims , in 1939 borders , totaled 3 , 000 , 000 , including 2 million within the borders of contemporary Poland and 1 million in the territories annexed by the USSR . Polish losses during the Soviet occupation ( 1939 – 1941 ) In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance ( IPN ) researchers estimated 150 , 000 Polish citizens were killed due to Soviet repression . Since the collapse of the USSR , Polish scholars have been able to do research in the Soviet archives on Polish losses during the Soviet occupation . Andrzej Paczkowski puts the number of Polish deaths at 90 , 000 – 100 , 000 of the 1 . 0 million persons deported and 30 , 000 executed by the Soviets . In 2005 Tadeusz Piotrowski estimated the death toll in Soviet hands at 350 , 000 . An earlier estimate made in 1987 by Franciszek Proch of the Polish Association of Former Political Prisoners of Nazi and Soviet Concentration Camps estimated the total dead due to the Soviet occupation at 1 , 050 , 000 . Polish military casualties Poland lost a total of 139 , 800 regular soldiers and 100 , 000 Polish resistance movement fighters during the war . Polish military casualties . Military dead and missing were 66 , 000 and 130 , 000 wounded in the 1939 Invasion of Poland , in addition 17 , 000 – 19 , 000 were killed by the Soviets in the Katyn massacre and 12 , 000 died in German POW camps . The Polish contribution to World War II included the Polish Armed Forces in the West , and the 1st Polish Army fighting under Soviet command . Total casualties of these forces in exile were 33 , 256 killed in action , 8 , 548 missing in action , 42 , 666 wounded and 29 , 385 interned . The Polish Red Cross reported that the 1944 Warsaw Uprising cost the lives of 120 , 000 - 130 , 000 Polish civilians and 16 , 000 – 17 , 000 Polish resistance movement fighters . The names of Polish war dead are presented at a database online . During the war , 2 , 762 , 000 Polish citizens of German descent declared their loyalty to Germany by signing the Deutsche Volksliste . A West German government report estimated the deaths of 108 , 000 Polish citizens serving in the German armed forces , these men were conscripted in violation of international law . The Institute of National Remembrance ( IPN ) estimates 200 , 000 – 210 , 000 Polish citizens , including 76 , 000 ethnic Poles were conscripted into the Soviet armed forces in 1940 – 1941 during the occupation of the eastern regions . The ( IPN ) also reported that the Germans conscripted 250 , 000 Polish nationals into the Wehrmacht , 89 , 300 later deserted and joined the Polish Armed Forces in the West . Officially neutral , East Timor was occupied by Japan during 1942 – 45 . Allied commandos initiated a guerilla resistance campaign and most deaths were caused by Japanese reprisals against the civilian population . The civilian death toll is estimated at 40 , 000 to 70 , 000 . Total Romanian military war dead were approximately 300 , 000 . Total killed were 93 , 326 ( 72 , 291 with Axis and 21 , 035 with Allies ) . Total missing and POW were 341 , 765 ( 283 , 322 with Axis and 58 , 443 with Allies ) , only about 80 , 000 survived Soviet captivity . Russian sources list the deaths of 54 , 600 of the 201 , 800 Romanian POW taken in the War . Figures do not include an additional estimated 40 , 000 to 50 , 000 dead included with the Hungarian Army . Civilian losses of 64 , 000 included 20 , 000 during Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Bukovina in 1940 – 41 ; the genocide of Roma people 36 , 000 deaths ; Allied air raids on Romania caused the deaths of 7 , 693 civilians . Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 469 , 000 in 1939 borders which includes 300 , 000 in Bessarabia and Bukovina occupied by the U . S . S . R . in 1940 . The 1943 famine in Ruanda which took 300 , 000 lives was due to a local drought and the harsh wartime policies of the Belgian colonial administration to increase food production for the war effort in the Congo . Since Rwanda was not occupied nor the supply of food cut off , these deaths are not usually included with World War II casualties . However , at least one historian has compared the 1943 famine in Ruanda to the Bengal famine of 1943 which is attributed to the war . Victims of Japanese war crimes including the Japanese Occupation of Singapore and the Sook Ching massacre . The military deaths listed here are those reported by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Total deaths were 11 , 903 . is the source of the military dead for the British Empire . The ' Debt of Honour Register ' from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists the men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars . The preliminary 1945 data for South African losses was killed 6 , 840 , missing 1 , 841 wounded 14 , 363 and POW 14 , 589 . This territory includes areas now known as the Marshall Islands , Micronesia , Palau , and the Northern Mariana Islands . The estimate by R . J . Rummel of the number of victims due to Japanese war crimes on the various Pacific Islands is 57 , 000 . Micronesian war related civilian deaths were caused by American bombing and shellfire ; and malnutrition caused by the U . S . blockade of the islands . In addition the civilian population was conscripted by the Japanese as forced laborers and were subjected to numerous mindless atrocities . During the Battle of Guam ( 1944 ) the number of Chamorro people killed or wounded is not accurately known but it was well over six hundred . During the Battle of Saipan 10 , 000 persons in a mass suicide of the Japanese civilian population . Sources for total Soviet population losses due to the war vary with estimates by professional demographers putting total losses at between 22 . 0 to 30 . 0 million persons . Russian demographers E . M . Andreev , L . E . Darski and T . L . Kharkova ( ADK ) authored a study of the Soviet population from 1922 - 1991 which was published by the Russian Academy of Science , they put total losses from 1941 - 1945 at 26 . 6 million which is the figure accepted by the Russian government for total losses in the war . Figures for Soviet military losses are disputed . Russian government sources list losses at 8 . 7 million men based on the report of General G . I . Krivosheev The analysis of Krivosheev is based on the field reports of the Red Army and the reconciliation of the balance for persons conscripted . An alternative method to determine Soviet war losses is the Russian Military Archives data base of individual war dead . S . A . Il ’ enkov an official of the Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense maintains " We established the number of irreplaceable losses of our Armed Forces at the time of the Great Patriotic War of about 13 , 850 , 000 . Military losses The official Russian Ministry of Defense figure for military total dead and missing from 1941 to 1945 is 8 , 668 , 400 ; including 6 , 330 , 000 killed in action or died of wounds and 556 , 000 dead from non - combat causes ; 500 , 000 MIA and 1 , 283 , 000 dead and missing POW . Official Russian figures indicate 4 , 559 , 000 POWs and missing , out of which about 500 , 000 missing were killed in battle , 939 , 700 were conscripted back into the Soviet army during the war as territories were being liberated , 2 , 016 , 000 POW survived the war , 1 , 836 , 000 POWs are known to have returned to the USSR after the war , this leaves 1 , 103 , 300 POW dead and another 180 , 000 missing POWs who most likely emigrated to other countries . Richard Overy has noted that " 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 " . The official Russian statistics for military dead do not include an additional estimated 500 , 000 conscripted reservists missing or killed before being listed on active strength , 1 , 000 , 000 civilians treated as POW by Germany ; and an estimated 150 , 000 militia and 250 , 000 Soviet partisan dead , which are considered civilian war losses in the official figures . The estimate by most western historians of Soviet military POW deaths is about 3 million out of 5 . 7 million total POWs in German hands . There were additional casualties in 1939 – 40 , which totaled 136 , 945 : Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939 ( 8 , 931 ) ; Invasion of Poland of 1939 ( 1 , 139 ) ; and the Winter War with Finland ( 1939 – 40 ) ( 126 , 875 ) . The names of many Soviet war dead are presented in the OBD Memorial database online . Total population losses of the Soviet Union 1941 – 1945 < br > A report published by the Russian Academy of Science in 1993 estimated that the total Soviet population losses from 1941 to 1945 , within Soviet borders of 1946 – 1991 , were 26 . 6 million out of a total population of 196 . 7 million , which included the annexed territories . < br > In 2000 , the late S . N . Mikhalev of the History department of Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University published a critical analysis of the official Russian wartime casualty statistics , he estimated actual Soviet military war dead at more than 10 . 9 million persons . He maintained that the official figures cannot be reconciled to the total men drafted and that POW deaths were understated . Mikhalev believed that the official figure of 26 . 6 million war dead should not be regarded as definitive . His analysis of the demographic balance of the USSR in the war indicated total losses ranging from 21 . 240 million to 25 . 854 million , with the mid range being 23 . 568 million total war dead . Mikhalev pointed out that the estimate of total war deaths are based on a range of estimates for the population in 1939 and the population of the annexed territories that are by no means certain . < br > Michael Haynes has noted that " 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 16 . 1 million natural deaths 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 . Civilian war dead < br > Civilian deaths listed on the table above of are for the and includes an estimated 3 . 0 million civilian dead in the territories annexed by the USSR in 1939 – 1945 and the 215 , 000 Soviet war dead in the German armed forces . Civilian losses in territories annexed by USSR are also included in totals of the Baltic states ( 650 , 000 ) , Poland ( 2 , 000 , 000 ) , Romania ( 300 , 000 ) , and Czechoslovakia ( 50 , 000 ) . The deaths of Soviet civilians , including Jews , were documented from 1942 to 1946 by the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission . In 1995 the Russian Academy of Science published a report that summarized Soviet losses in the war . They reported civilian deaths in the German occupied USSR ( including annexed territories ) totaling 13 . 7 million , which includes 7 . 4 million victims of Nazi genocide and reprisals ; 2 . 2 million deaths of persons deported to Germany for forced labor ; and 4 . 1 million famine and disease deaths in occupied territory . Total Soviet war dead include losses include an estimated 2 . 5 to 3 . 2 million civilian dead due to famine in Soviet territory not occupied by the Germans . Additional famine deaths which totaled 1 million during 1946 – 47 are not included with World War II casualties . Documents from the Soviet archives list the total deaths of prisoners in the Gulag from 1941 to 1945 at 621 , 637 . An independent Russian journalist believes the actual death toll may be as high as 1 . 7 million , when one takes into account summary executions and deaths of those forcibly deported during the war . The genocide of Roma people was 30 , 000 persons . Jewish Holocaust victims , within 1939 borders , totaled 1 , 000 , 000 . There were 4 , 500 military deaths with the all Spanish Blue Division serving with the German Army in the U . S . S . R . The unit was withdrawn by Spain in 1943 . R . J . Rummel estimates the deaths of 20 , 000 anti - Fascist Spanish refugees resident in France who were deported to Nazi camps , these deaths are included with French civilian casualties . During the Winter war of 1939 – 40 the Swedish Volunteer Corps served with the Finnish Armed Forces and lost 117 men in combat . About 300 Swedish volunteers served in the German Wehrmacht and 30 – 45 were killed in action . 33 Swedish sailors were killed when submarine HMS Ulven was sunk by a German mine on April 16 , 1943 . During 1939 – 1941 Swedish merchant shipping was attacked by German submarines and 391 merchant seamen were killed . Soviet attacks on Swedish merchant shipping from 1941 – 1944 cost the lives of 187 merchant seamen . The Red Cross Ship " Stureborg " was attacked by Italian aircraft in July 1942 resulting in the deaths of 19 of the crew and a Red Cross Official . The Americans accidentally bombed Switzerland during the war causing civilian casualties . Losses of about 300 Swiss in the German Armed Forces are included with German casualties . Military deaths included : 108 dead in the French – Thai War ( 1940 – 41 ) and 5 , 559 who died either resisting the Japanese invasion ( 1941 ) , or fighting alongside Japanese forces in the Burma Campaign of 1942 – 45 . Allied bombing in 1944 – 45 caused 2 , 000 civilian deaths . Unlike other parts of South East Asia , Thailand did not suffer from famine during the war . The Refah tragedy ( Turkish : Refah faciası ) refers to a maritime disaster during World War II , when the cargo steamer Refah of neutral Turkey , carrying Turkish military personnel from Mersin in Turkey to Port Said , Egypt was sunk in eastern Mediterranean waters by a torpedo fired from an unidentified submarine . Of the 200 passengers and crew aboard , only 32 survived . The losses listed here are those reported by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission . Total military deaths were 383 , 786 . is the source of the military dead for the British Empire . The losses of Newfoundland ( 956 military ) are included in these figures . The ' Debt of Honour Register ' from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists the men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars . The Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains a Roll of Honour of those civilians under Crown Protection who died as a result of enemy actions in the Second World War . The names of 67 , 080 are commemorated in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour . UK casualties include losses of the colonial forces . UK colonial forces included units from East Africa , West Africa , Ghana , the Caribbean , Malaya , Burma , Hong Kong , Jordan , Sudan , Malta and the Jewish Brigade . The Cyprus Regiment made up of volunteers that fought with the UK Army , and suffered about 358 killed and 250 missing . Gurkha s recruited from Nepal fought with the British Army during the Second World War . < br > The preliminary 1945 data for colonial forces was killed 6 , 877 , missing 14 , 208 , wounded 6 , 972 and POW 8 , 115 . The official UK report on war casualties of June 1946 provided a preliminary tally of war losses . This report listed the war deaths of 357 , 116 ; Navy ( 50 , 758 ) ; Army ( 144 , 079 ) ; Air Force ( 69 , 606 ) ; Women ' s Auxiliary Territorial Service ( 624 ) ; Merchant Navy ( 30 , 248 ) ; British Home Guard ( 1 , 206 ) and Civilians ( 60 , 595 ) . The total still missing on 2 / 28 / 1946 was 6 , 244 ; Navy ( 340 ) ; Army ( 2 , 267 ) ; Air Force ( 3 , 089 ) ; Women ' s Auxiliary Territorial Service ( 18 ) ; Merchant Navy ( 530 ) ; British Home Guard ( 0 ) and Civilians ( 0 ) . These figures included the losses of Newfoundland and Southern Rhodesia . There were an additional 31 , 271 military deaths due to " natural causes " which are not included in these figures . Deaths due to air and rocket attacks were 60 , 595 civilians and 1 , 206 British Home Guard . The deaths of civilians interned was not given in the report . Total U . S . military deaths in battle and from other causes were 416 , 837 , the U . S . Coast Guard and U . S . Merchant Marine are not included in United States Department of Defense total of 405 , 399 war dead . The breakout by service is as follows : Army 318 , 274 , Navy 62 , 614 , Marine Corps 24 , 511 , United States Coast Guard 1 , 917 , and United States Merchant Marine 9 , 521 . < br > Deaths in battle were 292 , 131 . The breakout by service is as follows : Army 234 , 874 , Navy 36 , 950 , Marine Corps 19 , 733 , United States Coast Guard 574 . These losses were incurred during the period 12 / 1 / 41 until 12 / 31 / 46 including an additional 126 men in October 1941 when the USS Kearny and the USS Reuben James were attacked by U - Boats . The United States Army Air Forces losses , which are included in the Army total , were 52 , 173 deaths due to combat and 35 , 946 from non - combat causes . U . S . Combat Dead by Theater of war : Europe – Atlantic 183 , 588 ( Army ground forces 141 , 088 , United States Army Air Forces 36 , 461 , and Navy / Coast Guard 6 , 039 ) ; Asia – Pacific 108 , 504 ( Army ground forces 41 , 592 , United States Army Air Forces 15 , 694 , Navy / Coast Guard 31 , 485 , Marine Corps 19 , 733 ) ; unidentified theaters 39 ( Army 39 ) . Included with combat deaths are 14 , 059 POWs ( 1 , 124 in Europe and 12 , 935 in Asia ) . The details of U . S . casualties are listed online : the US Army , the U . S . Army Air Force , the U . S . Navy and Marine Corps , the U . S . Merchant Marine . Civilian dead were 1 , 704 American civilians interned : 1 , 536 by the Japanese , and 168 by Germany . During the Attack on Pearl Harbor 68 U . S . civilians were killed , mostly by friendly fire , and 6 U . S . civilians were killed in Oregon in 1945 by Japanese balloon bombs . The names of individual U . S . military personnel killed in World War II can be found at the U . S . National Archives . The names of U . S . Merchant Mariners killed in World War II are listed by USMM . org . American Battle Monuments Commission website lists the names of military and civilian war dead from World War II buried in ABMC cemeteries or listed on Walls of the Missing . Based on recent research actual losses are now put at about 1 . 0 million persons . < br > The U . S . Bureau of the Census published a report in 1954 that concluded that Yugoslav war related deaths were 1 , 067 , 000 . The U . S . Bureau of the Census noted that the official Yugoslav government figure of 1 . 7 million war dead was overstated because it " was released soon after the war and was estimated without the benefit of a postwar census " . A recent study by Vladimir Žerjavić estimates total war related deaths at 1 , 027 , 000 which included military losses of 237 , 000 Yugoslav partisans , Chetniks , and 209 , 000 Ustaše . Civilian dead of 581 , 000 , including 57 , 000 Jews . Losses of the Yugoslav Republics were : Bosnia 316 , 000 ; Serbia 273 , 000 ; Croatia 271 , 000 ; Slovenia 33 , 000 ; Montenegro 27 , 000 ; Macedonia 17 , 000 ; and killed abroad 80 , 000 . Bogoljub Kočović a Yugoslav statistician , calculated that the actual war losses were 1 , 014 , 000 . The late Jozo Tomasevich , Professor Emeritus of Economics at San Francisco State University , believes that the calculations of Kočović and Žerjavić " seem to be free of bias , we can accept them as reliable " . The reasons for the high human toll in Yugoslavia were as follows : A . Military operations between the Germans , Italians and their Ustaše collaborators on one hand against the Yugoslav partisans and Chetniks . B . German forces , under express orders from Hitler , fought with a special vengeance against the Serbs , who were considered Untermensch . One of the worst massacres during the German military occupation of Serbia was the Kragujevac massacre . C . Deliberate acts of reprisal against target populations were perpetrated by all combatants . All sides practiced the shooting of hostages on a large scale . At the end of the war many Ustaše collaborators were killed during the Bleiburg tragedy . < br > D . The systematic extermination of large numbers of people for political , religious or racial reasons . The most numerous victims were Serbs . The USHMM reports between 77 , 000 and 99 , 000 persons were killed at the Jasenovac concentration camp . The genocide of Roma was 40 , 000 persons . Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 67 , 122 . E . The reduced food supply caused famine and disease . F . Allied bombing of German supply lines caused civilian casualties . The hardest hit localities were Podgorica , Leskovac , Zadar and Belgrade . G . The demographic losses due to a 335 , 000 reduction in the number of births and emigration of about 660 , 000 are not included with war casualties .