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World War II casualties of the Soviet Union from all related causes numbered over 20,000,000, both civilians and military, although the exact figures are disputed. The number of 20 million was considered official during Soviet era. In 1993 a study by the Russian Academy of Sciences estimated total Soviet population losses due to the war at 26.6 million, including military dead of 8.7 million calculated by the Russian Ministry of Defense. These figures have been accepted by most historians outside of Russia. However the official figure of 8.7 million military dead has been disputed by some Russian historians who believe the number of POW dead and missing is understated. Officials at the Russian Central Defense Ministry Archive (CDMA) maintain that their database lists the names of roughly 14 million dead and missing service personnel. Some critics in Russia put total losses in the war, both civilians and military, at over 40 million.
Contents
- Krivosheevs analysis
- Criticism of Krivosheev
- POW deaths
- Reconciliation of conscripts
- Russian Military Archives database
- Critics
- Male war dead
- Krivosheevs rebuttal
- Civilian losses
- Population of the Soviet Union 192291
- Voters lists in 1946 election
- Alternative sources of demographic losses
- Estimates of losses by individual Republic
- Erlikman
- OBD Memorial database
- Causes
- References
Krivosheev's analysis
A 1993 Russian Ministry of Defense report authored by a group headed by General G. I. Krivosheev detailed military casualties. Their sources were Soviet reports from the field and other archive documents that were secret during the Soviet era, including a secret Soviet General Staff report from 1966–68. Krivosheev's study puts Soviet military dead and missing at 8.7 million and is often cited by historians. In April 2016 the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation issued a statement that put Soviet military war dead at 8,668,400.Krivosheev maintains that the figure of 8.668 million is correct because it excludes called up reservists that were never inducted, men who were duplicated as conscripts because they were conscripted again into the Soviet army and Navy during the war as territories were being liberated and non combat civilian personnel. The statistic of 8.668 million military dead includes only the deaths of the forces in the field units of the Army and Navy A1and does not include civilian support forces in rear areas, conscripted reservists killed before being listed on active strength, militia units, and Soviet partisan dead, Krivosheev maintains that they should be included with civilian war losses
The Schedule below summarizes Soviet casualties from 1941–1945.
Krivosheev's analysis shows that 4,559,000 were reported missing (including 3,396,400 per field reports and an additional 1,162,600 estimated based on German documents), out of which 500,000 were missing and presumed dead, 939,700 were re-conscripted during the war as territories were liberated, 1,836,000 returned to the U.S.S.R. after the war, while the balance of 1,283,300 died in German captivity as POWs or did not return to the USSR. Krivoshhev wrote "According to German sources 673,000 died in captivity. Of the remaining 1,110,300, Soviet sources indicate that over half also died captivity". Sources published outside of Russia put total POW dead at 3.0 million. Krivosheev maintains that this figure based on German sources includes civilian personnel that were not included in the reports of the Army and Navy field forces. In a 1999 article Krivosheev noted that 2,016,000 POW survived the war, of which 1,836,000 POWs are known to have returned to the U.S.S.R. after the war and another 180,000 liberated POWs who most likely settled in other countries.
The June 1945 force strength of 12,840,000 included 11,390,600 on active service; 1,046,000 in hospital; and 403,200 in civilian departments.
Krivosheev's group estimated losses for the early part of the war, because from 1941–1942 no surrounded or defeated divisions reported their casualties. Thus field reports from that period are regarded by historians as unreliable.
Total wounded and sick includes 15,205,592 wounded, 3,047,675 sick and 90,881 frostbite cases.
Field reports stated the number of wounded and sick as 18,344,148, while the records of the military medical service show a total of 22,326,905. According to Krivosheev the difference can be explained by the fact that the medical service included sick personnel who did not take part in the fighting.
Criticism of Krivosheev
Krivosheev's analysis has generally been accepted by historians, however his study has been disputed by some independent researchers in Russia. His critics maintain that he understated the number of missing in action and POW deaths and deaths of service personnel in rear area hospitals.
POW deaths
Krivosheev's analysis put Soviet military POW dead and service personnel remaining abroad at 1.283 million, while most estimates by Western historians are about 3 million out of 5.7 million total.
A Russian historian Vadim Erlikman put Soviet military dead at 10.6 million including 2.6 million POW; he included the deaths of an estimated 1,500,000 conscripted reservists who were captured before they were listed on troop registers as well as draft age men treated as military POWs by Germany, along with 150,000 militia and 250,000 Soviet partisans.
Krivosheev maintained that the figure of 3.0 million POW dead reported in western sources included partisans, militia and civilian men of military age taken as POWs in the early stages of the war in 1941. According to S. A. Il'Enkov, the Russian Military Archives database of individual war dead (which lists over 7 million missing soldiers and sergeants). This is in conflict with Krivosheev's analysis.
Reconciliation of conscripts
In 2000 S. N. Mikhalev published a study of Soviet casualties. From 1989 to 1996 he was an associate of the Institute of Military History of the Ministry of Defence. Mikhalev disputed Krivosheev's figure of 8.7 million military war dead, he estimated Soviet military 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 was not definitive. In 1995 the Russian Academy of Science published his analysis that indicated total population losses, including civilians and military, range from 21.240 million to 25.854 million. Mikhalev pointed out that his figures were based on a range of possible estimates for the pre-war population in 1939 and the population of the annexed territories that remained uncertain.
Notes:
Russian Military Archives database
An alternative method is to determine losses the Russian Military Archives database of individual war dead. S. A. Il'Enkov, an official at the Russian Military Archives, maintained that the "complex military situation at the front did not always allow for the conduct of a full accounting of losses, especially in the first years of the war" He pointed out that in the reports from the field units did not include deaths in rear area hospitals of wounded personnel. Il'Enkov maintained that the information in the Russian Military Archives alphabetical card-indexes "is a priceless treasure of history, which can assist in resolving the problems of the price of Soviet victory" Il'Enkov maintained it could provide an accurate accounting of war losses. Il'Enkov concluded by stating "We established the number of irreplaceable losses of our Armed Forces at the time of the Great Patriotic War of about 13,850,000. A more recent compilation made in March 2008 of the individuals listed in the card files put total dead and missing at 14,241,000 (13,271,269 enlisted men and 970,000 officers) This database does not include all men killed in the war; graves registration teams continue to identify war dead who are not currently included.
Critics
Critics in Russia of the official figures base their arguments analyses of documents in the Soviet archives and on alternative demographic models of the Soviet population during the Stalin era. They requested that the Russian government reinvestigate the subject. Critics and their arguments:
Male war dead
Andreev, Darski and Karkova (ADK) put total losses at 26.6 million. The authors did not dispute Krivoshev's report of 8.7 million military dead. Their demographic study estimated the total war dead of 26.6 million included 20.0 million males and 6.6 million females. In mid-1941 the USSR hosted 8.3 million more females; by 1946 this gap had grown to 22.8 million, an increase of 13.5 million.
Krivosheev's rebuttal
In 2002 Krivosheev defended his report. He maintained that it was derived in a scientific manner by a team of professional researchers who had access to the military archives and that it reflected a realistic view of casualties based on the operational situation during the war. He maintained that the database of individual war dead is unreliable, because some personnel records are duplicated and others omitted.
Civilian losses
A 1995 paper published by the M.V. Philimoshin, an associate of the Russian Defense Ministry, put the civilian death toll in the regions occupied by Germany at 13.7 million. Philimoshin cited sources from Soviet era to support his figures and used the terms "genocide" and "premeditated extermination" when referring to deaths of 7.4 million civilians caused by direct, intentional violence. Civilians killed in reprisals during the Soviet partisan war account for a major portion. Philimoshin estimated that civilian forced laborer deaths in Germany totaled 2,164,313. Germany had a policy of forced confiscation of food that resulted in famine deaths of an estimated 6% of the population or 4.1 million. Russian government sources currently cite these civilian casualty figures in their official statements.
Population of the Soviet Union 1922–91
Andreev, Darski and Kharkova (ADK) authored The Population of the Soviet Union 1922–1991, which was published by the Russian Academy of Science in 1993. Andreev worked in the Department of Demography Research Institute of the Central Statistical Bureau (now the Research Institute of Statistics of Federal State Statistical Service of Russia). The study estimated total Soviet war losses of 26.6 million. As of 2015 this was the official Russian government figure for total losses. These losses are a demographic estimate rather than an exact accounting. The main areas of uncertainty were the estimated figures for the population in the territories annexed from 1939–1945 and the loss of population due to emigration during and after the war. The figures include victims of Soviet repression and the deaths of Soviet citizens in German military service. Michael Haynes noted, "We do not know the total number of deaths as a result of the war and related policies". We do know that the demographic estimate of excess deaths was 26.6 million plus an additional 11.9 million natural deaths of persons born before the war and 4.2 million children born during the war that would have occurred in peacetime, bringing the total dead to 42.7 million. At this time the actual total number of deaths caused by the war is unknown since among the 16.1 million "natural deaths" some would have died peacefully and others as a result of the war.
Notes:
Remarks:
Voters lists in 1946 election
Another study, The Demographic History of Russia 1927–1959, analyzed voters in the February 1946 Soviet election to estimate the surviving population over the age of 18 at the end of the war. The population under 18 was estimated based on the 1959 census. Official records listed 101.7 million registered voters and 94.0 million actual voters, 7.7 million less than the expected figure. ADK maintained that the official results of the 1946 election are not a good source for estimating the population. They claimed that the total of expected voters should be increased by 10.5 million because the roll of voters excluded those deprived of their rights, in prison or in exile. ADK maintained that many young military men did not participate in the election, and an overestimation of women in rural areas without internal passports who sought to avoid compulsory heavy labor. Included in the voter total were 29.9 million "excess" women. However number of expected voters estimated by ADK the gap between males and females was 21.4 million, which approximates the 20.7 million gap revealed by the 1959 census. The prewar population of 1939 (including the annexed territories) had an excess of 7.9 million females. The ADK analysis found that the gap had increased by about 13.5 million.
Alternative sources of demographic losses
Russian demographer Rybakovsky found a wide range of estimates for total war dead. He estimated the actual population in 1941 at 196.7 million and losses at 27–28 million. He cited figures that range from 21.7–46 million. Rybakovsky acknowledged that the components that are used to compute losses are uncertain and are disputed.
Population estimates for mid-1941 range from 191.8–200.1 million, while the population at the end of 1945 range from 167.0 million up to 170.6 million. Based on the pre-war birth rate, the population shortfall was about 20 million births in 1946. Some were born and died during the war, while the balance was never born. Only rough estimates are available for each group. Estimates for the population of the territories annexed from 1939–45 range from 17 to 23 million persons.
Rybakovsky provided a list of the various estimates of Soviet war losses by Russian scholars since 1988.
Estimates of losses by individual Republic
Former Soviet republics
The contemporary nations that were formerly Soviet Republics dispute Krivosheev's analysis. In a live broadcast of December 16, 2010 "A Conversation with Vladimir Putin", he maintained that the Russian Federation had suffered the greatest proportional losses in World War II—70 per cent of the total. Official estimates by the former republics of the USSR claim military casualties exceeding those of Krivosheev's report by 3.5 times. It is claimed by the website sovsekretno.ru that there are no Memory Books published in the USSR, Russia and the other contemporary republics in the 80s and 90s listing casualties of 25 per cent of the draft or less, but there are many Memory Books with 50 per cent and more with some telling us of a 70, 75, 76 and up to 79 per cent mortality rate among the conscripted.
(A) The Ukrainian authorities and historians ardently dispute these figures. They put the military casualties alone may be estimated as exceeding 7 million, according to the final volume of the Ukrainian book "In the memory of posterity" and research of V. E. Korol, writes an American (former Soviet) Doctor of History Vilen Lyulechnik. Former President of Ukraine Victor Yanukovych maintains that Ukraine has lost more than 10 million lives during the Second World War. The military casualties alone may be estimated as exceeding 7 million, according to the final volume of the Ukrainian Book "In the memory of posterity" and research of V. E. Korol, writes an American (former Soviet) Doctor of History Vilen Lyulechnik.
(B) According to a Belorussian military historian, Doctor of History, professor V.Lemeshonok, the Belorussian military casualties, including partisans and underground group members, exceed 682,291.
(C) The Memory Book of Tatarstan Government contains names of about 350,000 inhabitants of the republic, mostly tatars.
(D) An Israeli historian Itskhak Arad maintains that about 200,000 Soviet Jews or 40 per cent of all draft were killed in battles or captivity — the highest percentage of all nations of the USSR.
(E) Kazakhstan estimates its military casualties at 601,029.
(F) Armenians estimate their military casualties at over 300,000.
(G) Georgians also estimate their military casualties at over 300,000.
(I) Among the others Azerbaidzhans claim military casualties of 300,000, Bashkirs of about 300,000, Mordvas of 130,000 and Chuvashes of 106,470. But one of the most tragic figures comes from a Far Eastern republic of Yakutia and its small nation. 37,965 citizens, mostly Yakuts, or 60.74 per cent of 62,509 drafted have not returned home with 7,000 regarded missing. About 69,000 died of severe famine in the republic. This nation could not restore its population even under 1959 census. The record breaking estimates of 700,000 military casualties out of a total 1,25 million Turkmenian citizens (with slightly less than 60 per cent being Turkmens) are attributed to the late President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov. Historians do not regard them trustworthy.
Erlikman
Russian historian Vadim Erlikman pegs total war deaths at 10.7 million, exceeding Krivosheev's 8.7 million by an extra two million. This extra two million would presumably include Soviet POWs that died in Nazi captivity, partisans, and milita.
OBD Memorial database
The names of Soviet war dead are presented at the OBD (Central Data Bank) Memorial database online.
Causes
The Red Army suffered catastrophic losses of men and equipment during the first months of the German invasion., In the spring of 1941 Stalin ignored the warnings of his intelligence services of a planned German invasion and refused to put the Armed forces on alert. The bulk of the Soviet combat units were deployed in the border regions in a lower state of readiness. In the face of the German onslaught the Soviet forces were caught by surprise. Large numbers of Soviet soldiers were captured and many perished due to the brutal mistreatment of POWs by the Nazis U.S. Army historians maintain the high Soviet losses can be attributed to 'less efficient medical services and the Soviet tactics, which throughout the war tended to be expensive in terms of human life"
Russian scholars attribute the high civilian death toll to the Nazi Generalplan Ost which treated the Soviet people as "subhumans", they use the terms "genocide" and "premeditated extermination" when referring to civilian losses in the occupied USSR. German occupation policies implemented under the Hunger Plan resulted in the confiscation of food stocks which resulted in famine in the occupied regions. During the Soviet era the partisan campaign behind the lines was portrayed as the struggle of the local population against the German occupation. To suppress the partisan units the Nazi occupation forces engaged in a campaign of brutal reprisals against innocent civilians. Historian Albert Seaton maintains that the Soviet government's "disregard for life and its contempt for any form of humanity and decency was one of the decisive factors in recruiting and control of the partisan movement". According to Seaton the local population was coerced by the Soviet led partisans to support their campaign which led to the reprisals. The extensive fighting destroyed agricultural land, infrastructure, and whole towns, leaving much of the population homeless and without food. During the war Soviet civilians were taken to Germany as forced laborers under inhuman conditions.