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Not to get into a pizzing match but from checking actual facts I feel the 4th Inf. Div. had

about the roughest time of all Inf. Divisions in all theatres. In their time of combat, from June '44 till wars end (less than a year) they had 22,660 battle casualties. Yes, fewer "days of combat", but among the 3 highest battle casualties in all theatres. My hat goes off to these guys and little is said about them.. True, such as the outfit I served with (3rd Inf) had the most batle casualties. But in a longer period of time. But did

anyone see a movie or T.V. series about them ? Seems damn strange.

Guess we'll have to call Tom Hanks and take charge of the situation. No movies on the 3rd, no movies on the 540th Combat Engineers. Wouldn't that be the greatest?!

Thanks for elaborating on the stats. It's always cool to learn new things and never too late. Let's hear it for the Internet and the opportunity it provides for learning.

THanks for the lists.

I was just thinking about posting with the question of who had the least amount of time in combat, and, bingo! you obviously read my mind.

Very interesting stuff.

Marion: Your figures on casualties by Divs. in WW 2 leaves out the Marine Divs, and possibly (?) the Airborne Divs. This is going back about a year or so you posted it.

"

Casualties

The ten divisions with the most battle casualties are presented below. Casualties are defined as killed in action, wounded in action, captured and interned, and missing in action.

Casualties - Division - Theater

25,977 - 3rd Infantry Division - Mediterranean & European

23,277 - 9th Infantry Division - Mediterranean & European

22,660 - 4th Infantry Division - European

20,993 - 45th Infantry Division - Mediterranean & European

20,659 - 1st Infantry Division - Mediterranean & European

20,620 - 29th Infantry Division - European

19,466 - 36th Infantry Division - Mediterranean & European

19,200 - 90th Infantry Division - European

18,446 - 30th Infantry Division - European

17,087 - 80th Infantry Division - European

Source: Army Battle Casualties and Nonbattle Deaths in World War II, Final Report, 1 December 1941 - 31 December 1946.

This post has been edited by Walt's Daughter: Apr 26 2006, 05:42 PM

Also seems to have left out the 34 Inf Div in the ETO which I belive also had high casualties. Any figures on the Airborne Divs (or where they included in Infantry Divs which none showed up) and the Marine Divs in the PTO . Surely the Airborne Divs should have had high casualties along with the Marine Divs. Please, official records only or acreditied historians.

Dear Joe:

Please note that I NEVER MAKE-UP statistics. I take directly from historical sites and books. Mind you many of the sources do not agree with each other. This happens over and over again in history. I too thought it was odd that the 34th wasn't listed there, but...those sources were from one site.

As to the stats on casualties, this was only for infantry divs. We weren't excluding airborne etc., but the site was only dealing with certain types of units.

Here's the info on the 34th:

http://34thdivdeathcasualties.homestead.com/HomePage.html

Here's a general site about casualties in WWII:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties

Navy and Marine Corps

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq11-1.htm

Merchant Marine

http://www.usmm.org/casualty.html

Casualties by state and type of unit

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/worldwar/

I will post more as I find other sources.

"Please note that I NEVER MAKE-UP statistics." I know this very well Marion and want it kep the same. What I

cant find on the internet is any casualty stats on the Airborne Divisions or Marine Divs. Possibly the A.B. Div

stats are in with the Infantry Div stats and dont show up. Marine stats are mixed in with the Navy stats.

I too had problems finding the overall stats for airborne, etc. I searched for a LONG time last night, and mostly came up with stats for individual units, but not the whole. Will keep looking.

If you find anything, please share with us too. That's a challenge for all members!