The magnitude of German losses in WWII (and their relationship with the losses of the USSR) is a rather complicated topic. Otherwise, it would have been dismantled and closed long ago, but the number of publications on it is only growing. Particular interest in the topic arose after a series of screeching about it in the media, that is, emotional statements (they filled up with corpses, they put 10 of their own on one German), which, in fact, turn out to be dubious, if not outright false.
Fundamental source on the topic - "The German Land Army 1933-1945", author Müller-Hillebrand (MG). The section on the losses of the German armed forces goes there from 700 pages. M-G first indicates that the population of Germany (with Austria and the Sudetenland) before the war was 80.6 million, including 24.6 million men aged 16 to 65 years. For the period 1939-01-06 - 1945-30-04, 17, 9 million people were drafted into the German Armed Forces (VSG).
A number of historians believe: since M-G indicates the time from July 1, 1939, then 17, 9 million are mobilized after 06/01/39. Consequently, this figure must be added to those mobilized before 1939-01-06 - 3.2 million people. The total is 21, 1 million - so many people were mobilized in the WASH during the Second World War. This figure, in particular, is indicated by Krivosheev (more precisely, a team of authors led by Krivosheev) in the well-known work "Losses of the Armed Forces of the USSR in Wars …"
M-G himself does not do such an addition (17, 9 million + 3, 2 million), although the material is presented to them in such a way that the addition operation suggests itself. Many researchers criticize the addition, pointing out that the indicated MG 17, 9 million is the total number of those mobilized, it also contains those who were already mobilized in July 1939. In foreign sources, the addition is unknown, everywhere 18 million are called up. in the WASH.
Most likely, the addition is really wrong, and 21 million mobilized is an overestimated figure. By 1942 in Germany there were 17, 2 million men 17-45 years old (draft contingent). Of these, 8, 7 million, 5, 1 million have already been mobilized, exempted from mobilization, 2, 8 million were recognized as unfit for combat service (figures from "Germany in the Second World War (1939-1945)", author Blair V. and etc.). That is, there were very few people left for the army in Germany. The Germans had to reconsider the grounds for declaring them unfit for health; in particular, the notorious battalions for soldiers with ear and stomach diseases appeared. They were combing those freed from mobilization to see if the war economy could not do without them. They pushed the age of those to be mobilized. A considerable number of women have been mobilized. A lot of foreigners were also mobilized.
In general, the Germans could find 21 million people for the army. But people were needed not only in the actual armed forces.
Table from M-G. It can be seen that a huge number of people were in the civilian composition of the WASH and paramilitary organizations; already in 1941 there were 900,000 people in them - this is before the appearance of the Khivi-foreigners. In 1944, this category already numbered 2.3 million people (together with the actual military personnel, it turns out to be 12.07 million). In addition, in 1944, a Volkssturm of 1.5 million people appeared. Plus, Todt's organization (German construction battalion) - 1.5 million people in June 1944 (200,000 of them Germans). Plus the police: in 1944 - 573,000 people, of which 323,000 in Germany. Plus the functionaries of the Nazi party - 343,000 in 1944. Plus hundreds of thousands of people in the administration of the occupied territories, the formations of the security service (SD), the secret police (Gestapo), the general forces of the SS. And, of course, a significant number of men of military age had to remain in the economy, not all could be replaced by foreigners and women. The WASH would clearly not have enough people for all this and for 21 million, no matter what the tricks were.
So, the number M-G - about 18 million mobilized in the WASH - this is exactly their total number. Another thing is how correct is this figure? Speaking about German losses, MG pointed out that not all of them could be taken into account, and in the last months of the war, the accounting of losses was fundamentally incomplete, since a general collapse began, which also affected the accounting system. But the same applies to the registration of the mobilized - the centralized collection of information about them in recent months has been very difficult. How fully accounted for the mobilizations of 1945? Then the personnel from the Volkssturm, Hitler Youth and other paramilitary organizations often poured into the Wehrmacht formations right at the front; in the front-line cities, workers were mobilized, previously not subject to conscription (the factories were already stopped anyway).
MG himself, right under the mobilized table, writes: "The digital data can be regarded as reliable for the entire period, with the exception of the last five months of the war." The M-G figure must be corrected for the underestimation of the mobilized. At least not about 18 million, but over 18 million.
Some of the publicists believe that 18 million people indicated by MG are mobilized from the territory of Germany. Foreigners were not included in this number. The form of M-G submission contributes to this assumption: first, he gives the population of Germany by the beginning of the war (80.6 million), and then the number of mobilized - 17, 9 million. In what borders of Germany the mobilized are counted, he does not specify. Therefore, foreigners must be added to 18 million.
It is known that the WASH was replenished not only by the natives of Germany (within the borders of 1939). After the outbreak of the war, the territory and population of Germany increased. Alsace with Lorraine, Luxembourg, western Poland, Slovenia were annexed. Additional draft contingents were at the disposal of the Nazis. Also, mobilization was carried out among the Volskdeutsche Germans * of Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania and partly the USSR (the number of Volskdeutsche in 1938 according to German estimates: in Poland - 1.2 million, Romania - 0.4 million, Hungary - 0.6 million, Yugoslavia - 0.55 million, USSR - 1.15 million (about 300,000 were in the occupied zone)). The SS troops were recruited a mass of rabble from almost all of Europe. Hundreds of thousands of citizens of the USSR have joined the WASH.
In some publications, the scale of non-German recruitment is somewhat exaggerated. An excerpt for an example: “Next are the Alsatians, whose total number in these years was determined at 1.6 million people, and in whom the Germans could put about 300-400 thousand people under arms during the general mobilization of men. About 100 thousand more could have been given in the same way by Luxembourg, which was included in the Reich”. Not here at once, 100,000 is about half of the total population of Luxembourg, if you look at the sources, the Germans mobilized 10-12,000 people there. In Alsace, 130,000 were mobilized, there are sources for this too. In total, the number of those mobilized outside the borders of Germany in 1939 is estimated at about 2 million people. In total, the total amount turns out to be 20 million.
However, this thesis: MG counted only those mobilized within the borders of Germany in 1939, and those mobilized outside these borders should be added to them - this is only an assumption. And most likely wrong. The famous German historian R. Overmans seems to bring some clarity to the question. His data on those mobilized with distribution at the place of mobilization:
1) Germany, post-war borders: 11,813,000 mobilized - 3,546,000 of them killed.
2) Former eastern German territories: 2,525,000 mobilized - 910,000 killed.
3) Foreigners of German origin from the annexed territories (Polish regions, Sudetenland, Memel): 588,000 mobilized - 206,000 killed.
4) Austria: 1,306,000 mobilized - 261,000 killed.
5) Total big Germany: 16.232.000 mobilized - 4.932.000 killed.
6) Foreigners of German origin from Eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia): 846,000 mobilized - 332,000 killed.
7) Alsace-Lorraine: 136,000 mobilized - 30,000 killed.
8) Others (from Western Europe): 86,000 mobilized - 33,000 killed.
Total: 17.300.000 mobilized - 5.318.000 killed. The mobilized are considered only in the Wehrmacht, the killed - and in the Wehrmacht and the SS troops.
Overmans does not take into account those mobilized into the SS troops (900,000 people), since it is not known for certain - how many of them are Germans and how many are foreigners. That is, it seems like Overmans only counts a soldier of German origin. It is not clear with the Poles and Slovenes who lived in the territories included in Germany, as well as the Czechs from the protectorate. Polish historians write that 375,000 Poles were mobilized in the WASH (you can google "Polacy w Wehrmachtu" about them). Perhaps the Poles are among the 846,000 people from column (6), the German population of the territories indicated in the column was not large enough to give so many soldiers. Moreover, part of the Germans in Hungary and Romania were mobilized in the armies of these countries, and not in the army of Germany.
It is also unclear with the number of mobilized SS troops. Overmans gives a figure of 900,000 people. Adding it to the number of those mobilized in the Wehrmacht, we get 18, 2 million - this is how much, according to Overmans, was mobilized in the WASH. But, there are other numbers; As of March 1945, the SS troops numbered 800,000 people, therefore, during the war, more were mobilized in them - up to 1, 2-1, 4 million.
Also, Overmans does not include in the total number of mobilized (and, accordingly, in German losses) natives of the USSR - from Vlasov to the Baltic states. According to MG information: "the total number of the" eastern troops "(without the" hivi ") at the end of 1943 reached 370,000 people." Further, their number increased even more.
Not taken into account also the Spaniards, who passed through the Wehrmacht about 50,000 people.
So, to the Overmans' figure (18, 2 million) it is necessary to add all the unaccounted for - as a result of underestimation of those mobilized both in the Wehrmacht and in the SS troops, plus the natives of the USSR, etc. The total can be taken: 19 million people were mobilized in the WASH during the war. There is definitely no less, it is unlikely that much more.
19 million are mobilized in the WASH. Civilian (including hivi), paramilitary organizations, various types of police, etc. are counted separately. But with the deterioration of the situation on the fronts, all of them were also drawn into hostilities. It is known about the many battalions of the Volkssturm and the police thrown into battle. Another example: the labor service (detachments of adolescents serving the term of labor service in Germany) - 400 anti-aircraft batteries were transferred to it. From the movie "Bunker" I remember the fanaticism of the teenage antiaircraft gun crew in the battles for Berlin. Whole squads of women and girls were included in the air defense services of Germany.
Krivosheev complains that people from civilian personnel (including Khivi) and paramilitary organizations often fought like real military men, but their losses are counted as civilian casualties. Well, that's just fine; from our side, as military, the losses of partisans, militarized improvisations of 1941 - fighter detachments, militias are not taken into account. Even the 0.5 million allocated by Krivosheev who were called up, but not enlisted in army units, should, in my opinion, be attributed to the losses of the civilian population of the USSR.
The incoming part of the balance of the German armed forces is approximately established. Now the consumable part. M-G gives the following losses of the WASH from September 1, 1939 to April 30, 1945:
MG presents these figures as reliable and official. More precisely, this is the official report of the OKW loss accounting department. The account of losses in Germany was conducted through two channels: 1) the troops sent reports of losses; 2) each called-up was entered by the mobilization bodies of Germany in the card indexes of the roll-call register, then in these card indexes it was noted what happened to the called-up. The general report is based on these two accounting systems: the reports from the troops were summed up with clarification according to the name registration files.
But below M-G writes about the shortcomings of accounting. The reports from the troops about the losses contained "a whole series of erroneous information"; “By the time the report was sent … it was not always possible to collect complete and reliable information about the number of those killed”; "In the conditions of a fleeting mobile war … especially during the periods of retreat of troops, there was, of course, some delay in the submission of reports or partial absence of such reports for many days due to the current combat situation or damage and failure of communications."
That is, the reports from the troops were incomplete. Card indexes were also not a reliable accounting tool - many of them burned down in the fire of the bombing, a significant part of the card indexes from the eastern regions of Germany was lost during the expulsion of the German population from there. Named data on the eastern regions have not been preserved - and in fact those mobilized from them suffered the greatest losses. As M-G writes: "the losses in the war of the population of the eastern German provinces - East Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, Silesia - in percentage terms were higher … since here in the East, the active troops were replenished with people from the eastern regions of Germany."
That is, the numbers of losses M-G are reliable, official, but not complete. MG himself writes about it directly. Quote: “To the number of those killed who were listed in the category of missing persons, equal to one or two or even more million people, it would be necessary to add an approximate number of killed, equal to 2,330 thousand people, and then the total number of killed servicemen would be between 3, 3 and 4.5 million people. That is, it is not known in fact - how many were missing, how many of them died; in general, the death toll may be more than indicated in the report - up to 4.5 million (here the estimate of German losses according to M-G coincides with their estimate according to Krivosheev).
Let's draw up the balance: 19 million were mobilized in the WASH, 7 million of them dropped out (2, 2 million were killed, 2, 8 million were missing, 2, 3 million were crippled - as reported by MG). The question is: where did the rest go? There were 19 million fighters, 7 million left - 12 million remain.
There are publicists who give out M-G's figures as real losses of Germany, not paying attention to the incredible discrepancy between the arrival and the decline and not even paying attention to the reservations of M-G himself. This is false rubbish. But if you type in the search for "Losses of Germany in WWII" - then this garbage is highlighted in the first lines. In general, someone stuffed a lot of such rubbish into wikireading.
Germany itself doubted these figures. Although not immediately, but 50 years after their appearance. Before that, there was a request for something else, the beaten commanders wrote memoirs: how they successfully attacked with a ratio of forces of 1 to 4 in favor of the Soviet troops, successfully defended at a ratio of 1 to 7, and were forced to retreat with a ratio of 1 to 15. Large losses of German troops did not fit in here.
There is an opinion about German pedantry, by virtue of which they must accurately calculate their losses. No, they didn't. The reasons here are quite objective: the reports from the troops on losses simply could not be complete, and in recent months, even more so. A significant part of the roll-to-name card indexes has not survived either.
The Germans were also unable to count the number of victims of the bombing. The estimates do not differ by percentage, but at times. It has also not been established how many Germans died during the expulsion of the German population from the Czech Republic, Poland, Yugoslavia and the former eastern provinces of Germany. The range of estimates - from 0.5 million to 2.5 million. It is not even known how many women were mobilized in the WASH, "the number has not been established" - a quote from the German collection "Results of the Second World War. Conclusions of the vanquished. " So the opinion that the Germans, by their pedantic nature, calculated everything accurately, is swept aside.
In general, a direct statistical calculation of the losses of the German army is impossible. There are simply no reliable sources for this.
