Casualties Battle of Verdun

souvenir of battle showing french soldier.

in second edition of world crisis (1938), churchill wrote figure of 442,000 other ranks , figure of 460,000 casualties included officers. churchill gave figure of 278,000 german casualties of whom 72,000 killed , expressed dismay french casualties had exceeded german 3:2. churchill stated eighth needed deducted figures both sides account casualties on other sectors, giving 403,000 french , 244,000 german casualties. grant gave figure of 434,000 german casualties in 2005. in 2005, foley used calculations made wendt in 1931 give german casualties @ verdun 21 february 31 august 1916 281,000, against 315,000 french casualties. afflerbach used same source in 2000 give 336,000 german , 365,000 french casualties @ verdun, february december 1916.

in 2013, jankowski wrote since beginning of war, french army units had produced états numériques des pertes every 5 days bureau of personnel @ gqg. health service @ ministry of war received daily counts of wounded taken in hospitals , other services casualty data dispersed among regimental depots, gqg, État civil, recorded deaths, service de santé, counted injuries , illnesses , renseignements aux familles, communicated next of kin. regimental depots ordered keep fiches de position record losses continuously , première bureau of gqg began compare five-day field reports records of hospital admissions. new system used calculate losses since august 1914, took several months system had become established february 1916. états numériques des pertes used calculate casualty figures published in journal officiel, french official history , other publications.

the german armies compiled verlustlisten every ten days, published reichsarchiv in deutsches jahrbuch of 1924–1925. german medical units kept detailed records of medical treatment @ front , in hospital , in 1923 zentral nachweiseamt published amended edition of lists produced during war, incorporating medical service data not in verlustlisten. monthly figures of wounded , ill servicemen treated published in 1934 in sanitätsbericht. using such sources comparisons of losses during battle difficult, because information recorded losses on time, rather place. losses calculated particular battles inconsistent, in statistics of military effort of british empire during great war 1914–1920 (1922). in 1920s, louis marin reported chamber of deputies not give figures per battle, except using numerical reports armies, unreliable unless reconciled system established in 1916.

some french data excluded lightly wounded did not. in april 1917, gqg required états numériques des pertes discriminate between lightly wounded, treated @ front on period of 20–30 days , severely wounded evacuated hospitals. uncertainty on criteria had not been resolved before war ended, verlustlisten excluded lightly wounded , zentral nachweiseamt records included them. churchill revised german statistics, adding 2 percent unrecorded wounded in world crisis, written in 1920s , british official historian added 30 percent. battle of verdun, sanitätsbericht contained incomplete data verdun area, did not define wounded , 5th army field reports exclude them. marin report , service de santé covered different periods included lightly wounded. churchill used reichsarchiv figure of 428,000 casualties , took figure of 532,500 casualties marin report, march june , november december 1916, western front.

the états numériques des pertes give french losses in range 348,000 378,000 , in 1930, wendt recorded french second army , german 5th army casualties of 362,000 , 336,831 respectively, 21 february 20 december, not taking account of inclusion or exclusion of lightly wounded. in 2006, mcrandle , quirk used sanitätsbericht adjust verlustlisten increase of c. 11 percent, gave total of 373,882 german casualties, compared french official history record 20 december 1916, of 373,231 french losses. german record sanitätsbericht, explicitly excluded lightly wounded, compared german losses @ verdun in 1916, averaged 37.7 casualties each 1,000 men, 9th army in poland 1914 average of 48.1 per 1,000, 11th army average in galicia 1915 of 52.4 per 1,000 men, 1st army somme 1916 average of 54.7 per 1,000 , 2nd army average on somme of 39.1 per 1,000 men. jankowski estimated equivalent figure french second army of 40.9 men per 1,000, including lightly wounded. c. 11 percent adjustment german figure of 37.7 per 1,000 include lightly wounded, following views of mcrandle , quirk, loss rate analogous estimate french casualties.