The mystery of the German losses in World War II. Part I. About Muller-Hillebrand
A fundamental source on the topic is “Land Army of Germany 1933-1945”, author Muller-Gillebrand (MG). The section on the losses of the German armed forces goes there with 700 pages. M-H first indicates that the population of Germany (with Austria and the Sudetes) before the war was 80,6 million. Including 24,6 million men aged from 16 to 65 years. For the period 01.06.1939 - 30.04.1945, 17,9 million were called up to the German armed forces (WASH).
A number of historians consider: since MH indicates the time from 1 in July to 1939, then 17,9 million is mobilized precisely after 01.06.39. Therefore, it is necessary to add to this figure mobilized to 01.06.1939 - 3,2 million. 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, the group of authors under the leadership of Krivosheev) in the well-known work “Loss of the Armed Forces of the USSR in Wars ...”
The M-D itself of such an addition (17,9 million + 3,2 million) does not, although it feeds the material in such a way that the addition operation begs for it. Many researchers criticize the addition, indicating that the specified MH of 17,9 million is the total number mobilized, it also contains those who have already been mobilized for July 1939. In foreign sources, the addition is unknown, everywhere indicated 18 million conscripted in WASH.
Most likely, the addition is really wrong, and 21 million mobilized - the figure is too high. By 1942, in Germany there was 17,2 million 17-45 men of years (conscription contingent). Of these, 8,7 million has been mobilized, 5,1 million has been exempted from mobilization, 2,8 million has been declared unfit for combat service (figures from Germany in the Second World War (1939 — 1945), by Blair V. and others). That is, there were very few people left in Germany for the army. The Germans had to revise the grounds for declaring them unfit for health; in particular, the notorious battalions for soldiers with aural and gastric diseases appeared. Scratched exempted from mobilization - whether the military economy will not do without them. Spread the age to be mobilized. Mobilized a considerable number of women. Mobilized as a lot of foreigners.
In general, the Germans could find 21 million for the army. But people were needed not only in the actual armed forces.
Table of M-H. It can be seen that a huge number of people were in the civilian composition of the WASH and paramilitary organizations; already in 1941, they had 900 000 people - this is before the appearance of foreigners. In 1944, this category already included 2,3 million people (together with the military itself, it turns out 12,07 million). In addition, 1944 appeared folkshturm 1,5 million. Plus, the organization Todt (German construction battalion) - 1,5 million people in June 1944 (Germans are 200 000). Plus the police: 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, security service units (SD), secret police (Gestapo), the general forces of the SS. And, of course, a significant number of men of military age should have remained in the economy, it was not possible to replace everyone with foreigners and women. People on all of this and 21 million in the WASH would clearly not be enough, despite all the tricks.
So, the figure M-D - about 18 million mobilized in WASH - this is exactly the total number. Another thing - how true is this figure? Speaking about the German losses, MG indicated that not all of them could be taken into account, and in the last months of the war, accounting for losses was fundamentally incomplete, since the general collapse had begun, affecting the accounting system. But the same applies to the accounting of mobilized - the centralized collection of information about them in recent months has been very difficult. How fully accounted mobilization 1945 th? Then the personnel of the Folkshturm, Hitler Youth and other militarized organizations often infused into the Wehrmacht formations right at the front; in the front-line cities, workers were mobilized, previously not subject to conscription (the plants still stopped).
M-H himself, directly below the table of mobilized people, writes: “Numerical data can be considered as reliable for the entire period, with the exception of the last five months of the war.” It is necessary to amend the M-D figure for the underestimation of those mobilized. At least, not about 18 million, but more than 18 million
Some publicists believe that 18 million people indicated by MG are mobilized from Germany. Foreigners are not included in this number. The M-G filing form contributes to this assumption: first, it 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 limits of Germany does he not specify the mobilized. Consequently, foreigners must be added to 18 million.
It is known that WASH were replenished not only by the natives of Germany (within the boundaries of 1939 d). After the outbreak of war, the territory and population of Germany increased. Alsace with Lorraine, Luxembourg, western Poland, and Slovenia were annexed. At the disposal of the Nazis were additional conscription forces. Also, mobilization was carried out among Germans-Folskdeutsche * of Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania and partially the USSR (the number of Folskdeutsche on 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 (in the occupied area were approximately 300 000)). The SS troops received a mass of scum from almost all of Europe. In the WASH entered hundreds of thousands of citizens of the USSR.
In some publications, the scale of the non-German set is somewhat exaggerated. An excerpt for example: “Next are the Alsatians, whose total number in these years was determined in 1,6 million, and in which the Germans could mobilize men of the order of 300-400, thousand people, with total mobilization of men. About another 100 thousand in the same way could give Luxembourg, included in the Reich. " Immediately there is no, 100 000 - that's about half of the total population of Luxembourg, if you look at the sources, the Germans mobilized 10-12 000 people there. 130 000 was mobilized in Alsace, there are sources for this too. In total, the number of 1939s mobilized outside the borders of Germany is estimated at about 2 million. Total, the total is obtained 20 million
However, this thesis: MH considered only 1939 mobilized within the borders of Germany, and they should be added to those mobilized outside these boundaries - 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 the mobilized with the distribution at the place of mobilization:
1) Germany, post-war borders: 11.813.000 mobilized - 3.546.000 killed from them.
2) Former East German territories: 2.525.000 mobilized - 910000 killed.
3) Foreigners of German origin from the annexed territories (Polish regions, the Sudetes, Memel): 588000 mobilized - 206000 killed.
4) Austria: 1.306.000 mobilized - 261000 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): 846000 mobilized - 332000 killed.
7) Alsace-Lorraine: mobilized 136000 - killed 30000.
8) Others (from Western Europe): 86000 mobilized - 33000 killed.
Total: 17.300.000 mobilized - 5.318.000 killed. Mobilized are considered only in the Wehrmacht, killed - and in the Wehrmacht and the SS troops.
Overmans does not take into account SS mobilized into the 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 considers only soldiers of German origin. It is unclear here with the Poles and Slovenes living in the territories included in Germany, as well as Czechs from the protectorate. Polish historians write that 375 000 Poles were mobilized in WASH (about them you can google "Polacy w Wehrmachtu"). Perhaps the Poles are in the 846 000 people from the graph (6), the German population of the areas indicated in the graph was not so large as to give so many soldiers. Moreover, part of the Germans of Hungary and Romania were mobilized in the army of these countries, and not in the army of Germany.
It is also unclear with the number of troops mobilized in the SS. Overmans gives the number to 900 000 people. By adding it to the figure mobilized in the Wehrmacht, we get 18,2 million - so much, according to Overmans, everything was mobilized in WASH. But, there are other numbers; for March 1945 there were 800 000 people in the SS troops, therefore during the war more were mobilized in them - up to 1,2-1,4 million.
Overmans also does not include in the total number of mobilized (and, respectively, German losses) natives of the USSR - from Vlasovites to Balts. According to MG: “the total number of“ Eastern troops ”(without“ Xivi ”) at the end of 1943 reached 370 000 people”. Further, their number has increased.
The Spaniards who passed through the Wehrmacht around 50 000 people were also not taken into account.
So, to the figure of Overmans (18,2 million) it is necessary to add all those unaccounted for - as a result of underreporting mobilized both in the Wehrmacht and the SS troops, plus the natives of the USSR, etc. In total, it can be taken: during the war 19 million people were mobilized in the All-Ukraine Supreme Council. Less definitely not much more unlikely.
19 million is mobilized in WASH. Civilian (including hivi), militarized organizations, different types of police, etc. are counted separately. But with the deterioration of the situation on the fronts, they too were drawn into hostilities. Known about the many battalions Folkshturm and police abandoned in battle. Another example: the labor service (detachments of teenagers who are serving their time in Germany) - 400 anti-aircraft batteries were transferred to it. From the film “Bunker” I remember the fanaticism of the teenage calculation of anti-aircraft guns in the battles for Berlin. Whole women and girls were included in the German air defense services.
Krivosheev complains that people from civilian volunteers (including Khivi) and paramilitary organizations often fought like real soldiers, but their losses are counted as civilian casualties. Well, that's just fine; from our side, the losses of the partisans, the paramilitary improvisations of 1941, such as fighter squads and the militia, are not counted as military ones. Even allocated to Krivosheev 0,5 million designed, but not enrolled in the army, it is necessary, in my opinion, attributed to the loss of the civilian population of the USSR.
The incoming portion of the balance of the German armed forces is approximately fixed. Now the expenditure part. MG gives such a WASH loss from 1 September 1939 to 30 April 1945:
MH delivers these figures as reliable and official. More precisely, this is the official report of the department of accounting for losses at OKW. Accounting for losses in Germany was conducted through two channels: 1) troops sent reports of losses; 2) each called-up was entered by the mobilization authorities of Germany into the file of roll-call accounting, then it was noted in these files - what happened to the called-up. The general report is based on these two accounting systems: reports from the troops are summed up with a refinement of the roll-over records for the card indexes.
But below the MG writes about accounting deficiencies. The reports from the troops about the losses contained "a number of erroneous information"; “By the time of sending the report ... it was not always possible to collect complete and reliable information about the number of those killed”; “In the conditions of a fast-moving, maneuvering war ... especially during periods of troop retreat, there was, of course, some delay in the submission of reports or the partial absence of such reports for many days as a result of the current combat situation or damage and the failure of communications.”
That is, the reports from the troops were incomplete. Card files were also not a reliable accounting tool - a lot of them burned in the fire of bombardments, much of the card files from the eastern regions of Germany were lost during the expulsion of the German population from there. Call data on the eastern regions are not preserved - and in fact mobilized of them suffered the greatest losses. As MG writes: “The losses in the war of the population of the eastern German provinces — East Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, Silesia — were higher in percentage terms ... because here in the East, the active troops were replenished with people from the eastern regions of Germany.”
That is, the figures of losses M-G are reliable, official, but not complete. M-H himself directly writes about it. Quote: “Among those killed in the category of missing people, equal to one-two or even more than millions of people, one would add an estimated number of killed equal to 2330 thousand people, and then the total number of killed soldiers would be a figure 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 for M-D coincides with their estimate for Krivosheev).
We are reducing the balance: 19 million was mobilized in the WASH, 7 million were dropped out of them (2,2 million were killed, 2,8 million were missing, 2,3 million were crippled, as reported by М-Г). The question is: where did the rest go? There was 19 million fighters, the loss of 7 million - remains 12 million
There are publicists that give the figures of M-D as the real losses of Germany, not paying attention to the incredible discrepancy between the arrival and the loss and not paying attention even to the reservations of M-D himself. This is a lying trash. But if you type in the search for "Germany's losses in WWII" - then this garbage is highlighted in the first lines. In general, someone crammed a lot of similar garbage into wikireadings.
In Germany itself questioned these figures. Although not immediately, but years after 50 years after their appearance. Prior to that, there was a request for another, broken commanders wrote memoirs: how they successfully attacked with the ratio of 1 to 4 in favor of the Soviet troops, successfully defended with the ratio of 1 to 7, and had to retreat with the ratio of 1 to 15. The great losses of the German troops here did not fit in any way.
There is an opinion about German pedantry, by virtue of which they must accurately calculate their losses. No, not calculated. The reasons here are quite objective: reports from the troops about the losses simply could not be complete, and in recent months, even more so. Not a significant part of the card files of the names was kept.
The Germans were also unable to count the number of dead from the bombings. Estimates differ not by percentages, but by times. It is also not 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 in the WASH mobilized, “the number has not been established” - quoted from the German collection “Results of the Second World War. Conclusions of the vanquished. " So the opinion that the Germans, by their pedantic nature, accurately calculated everything, 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.
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