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Appendix E: Strength and Casualty Figures

Table 7: Assigned Strength of U.S. Army Forces in European Theater of Operations, June 1944–July 1945

End of Month Total Strength Location Type
On Continent United Kingdom Air Ground Service Other*
July 1944 1,770,614 790,519 980,095 365,429 749.476 355,805 299,904
August 1944 1,904,709 1,017,817 886,892 377,325 838,108 374,054 315,222
September 1944 2,053,417 1,353,079 700,338 429,671 928,042 402,192 293,512
October 1944 2,203,583 1,401,165 802,418 426,266 1,095,682 419,156 262,479
November 1944 2,588,983 1,921,481 667,502 435,692 1,337,981 506,889 308,421
December 1944 2,699,467 2,048,421 651,046 438,428 1,410,514 522,142 328,383
January 1945 2,829,039 2,184,184 644,855 432,304 1,484,330 534,700 377,705
February 1945 2,934,924 2,329,042 605,882 429,822 1,585,242 551,466 368,394
March 1945 3,029,579 2,539,334 490,245 438,051 1,644,986 565,221 381,321
April 1945 3,065,505 2,623,086 442,419 447,482 1,671,008 572,478 374,537
May 1945 3,021,483 2,639,377 382,106 442,155 1,703,613 580,497 295,218
June 1945 2,811,820 2,488,406 323,414 368,064 1,682,593 568,876 192,287

* Theater overhead, replacements, patients in hospitals and personnel in process of transfer out of theater.

Note: Excludes strength in Italy for July 1944 through June 1945 and in Southern France for August 1944 through November 1944 assigned to Mediterranean Theater of Operations.

Source: Location, AGO, Machine Records Branch, “Strength of Army, STM-30”; Type, Office, Chief of Staff USA, SARO report, “Strength of Army”; respective months.

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Table 8: Battle Casualties of U.S. Army in European Theater of Operations, June 1944–May 1945

Month Total Killed in Action Wounded in Action Captured or Interned Missing in Action*
Returned to Duty Died of Wounds Returned to Duty Died prior to Release Returned to Duty Died
Total 552,117 104,812 360,6661 16,012q 56,646 855 12,056 1,075
1944
Jun 30,367 9,379 24,210 1,318 3,384 39 902 135
Jul 51,424 10,891 34,771 1,8876 3,041 27 763 55
Aug 42,535 9,111 27,733 1,558 2,782 21 1,264 66
Sep 42,183 8,830 25,934 1,495 4,743 37 1,011 133
Oct 31,617 6,119 20,436 983 3,203 25 760 91
Nov 62,437 11,260 43,957 1,569 4,235 48 1,231 137
Dec 77,726 12,795 40,407 1,834 19,339 495 2,647 209
1945
Jan 69,119 10,391 47,849 1,566 8,215 129 865 104
Feb 39,414 7,202 28,628 1,010 1,928 17 592 37
Mar 53,209 10,483 36,821 1,512 3,274 10 1,053 56
Apr 41,048 7,994 28,469 1,224 2,425 4 891 51
May 2,028 357 1,446 67 77 3 77 1

* Excludes those initially reported as missing in action but subsequently determined to have been killed in action, wounded in action, captured or interned. Such determinations were deleted from Missing and added to the appropriate category.

Source: AGO, Statistical and Accounting Branch, “Army Battle Casualties and Non-battle Deaths in WW II, Final Report,” 1953.

Table 9: British and Canadian Strengths, Northwest Europe, 1944–45

Date Total Strength* British Canadian
31 October 1944 895,912 771,267† 124,645
8 November 1944 925,664 807,028 118,636
31 May 1945 1,095,744 907,553 188,191
16 June 1945 1,072,717‡ 890,285 182,432

* Includes RAF and Royal Navy personnel. The totals under this column, broken down onlky in the 31 October 1944 report and the 16 June 1945 report, show for the former 82,902 RAF and 8,142 RN personnel; for the 1944 date they show 93,013 RAF and 20,856 RN personnel. The RAF figure of 93,013 is quite near the figure of 96,078 (plus 1,308 WAAF) for 1 May 1945 given in a statement furnished to OCMH by the Air Ministry, London.

† Because the strength reports for the other three dates do not include personnel in hospitals, this figure does not include the 13,893 listed in hospitals in the report of 31 October 1944. It does include 2,815 women.

‡ Does not include women.

Source: Cabinet Office, Historical Section, London.

Note. These statistics must be used with the warning that they cannot be the basis of comparison between the U.S. and British air efforts. U.S. air strengths listed in Table 7 include the air forces both in the United Kingdom and on the Continent. The British forces in this table include only those on the Continent. Total British air force strength (including WAAF) amounted to 819,578 on 1 May 1945. Needless to say a considerable part of this force was used in the preinvasion period and during the campaigns in northwest Europe in support of the Allied campaigns.

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Table 10: Battle Casualties of the British 21 Army Group, D Day to V-E Day

Formation Total Casualties* Killed Wounded Missing
21 Army Group 191,219 41,044 131,386 18,789
British 141,291 † † †
Canadian 43,249 † † †
Polish 5,598 † † †
Dutch 127 † † †
Belgian 364 † † †
Czech 590 † † †

* Including firm figures to 0600 hours, 1 April 1945.

† Breakdown not furnished.

Source: 21 Army Group “A” SITREP No. 337, compiled by Q(AE) STATS (Quartermaster [Army Equipment] Statistics, 14 May 1945.

Note: The figures in this table, supplied by British authorities, are presented in the absence of any more definitive report and must be used with the understanding that they are subject to considerable error. They do not include air casualties, and they were compiled too soon to have the Missing total corrected. A revised British figure would probably show a sizable Captured total as well as a higher Killed total and smaller Missing total than the ones above. A comparison of the Missing figure above with the corrected figure given for U.S. forces in Table 8 will give some idea of the difference. The British figures are likely to be less accurate than the U.S. casualty figures of Table 8, inasmuch as the latter tabulation was prepared in 1953 on the basis of later data. The statistics of this table are useful for purposes of indicating the size of the British and Canadian casualties but not for purposes of exact comparison with U.S. statistics. As an example of variations in casualty figures one may note that a different casualty report (known as AG Hot Spot Casualties-Northwest Europe), which summarizes British, Canadian, and Royal Marine losses from D Day to 30 April 1945 shows a casualty total of 196,980 as compared to the 14 May 1945 cumulative figure above of 191,219.

Table 11—Battle Casualties of French Army, 8 November 1942–8 May 1945

Area and Date Total Killed in Action Wounded in Action Captured Missing in Action
Total 115,600 24,209 80,355 6,081 5,135
North Africa, 1942–1943 18,023 5,187 7,342 2,088 3,406
Italy, 1943–1945 30,751 6,255 23,500 117 879
Northern Europe, 1944–1945 66,826 12,587 49,513 3,876 850

Source: Office, Chief of Staff, Ministry of National Defense, France.