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Which country killed the most enemy soldiers in WW2?

Moderate71

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Which country killed the most enemy soldiers in WW2?

Russia lost about 11 million, with Germany killing slightly more than half of them. Lets say 6 million killed by Germany and 5 million killed by Italy. Italy was also tearing things up in the Balkans and North Africa and gave the Allies fits trying to invade them. I'd still give Germany a slight edge in enemy soldiers killed though.

Germany lost about 5 million, probably 4.9 million killed by Russia.

I say:

1. Germany
2. Italy
3. Russia
 
That's a good question.

the distinction though I would say, is are we also talking about those POW's that died in captivity on the Russian and German sides and would you limit that to wartime only, cause that's going to massively skew the numbers, if its a direct result of combat, it's a very, very difficult thing to measure.

I think you're massively overrating Italy and forgetting about the Japanese Vs. Chinese.
 
That's a good question.

the distinction though I would say, is are we also talking about those POW's that died in captivity on the Russian and German sides and would you limit that to wartime only, cause that's going to massively skew the numbers, if its a direct result of combat, it's a very, very difficult thing to measure.

I think you're massively overrating Italy and forgetting about the Japanese Vs. Chinese.

I would count POWs because they had to capture them first. I wouldn't count civilians killed though. How do you think a war between Germany and Italy would have gone?

For that matter, how would the following invasions have gone?

Germany invades Russia with neither country having allies.

Italy invades Russia with no country having allies.
 
I would count POWs because they had to capture them first. I wouldn't count civilians killed though. How do you think a war between Germany and Italy would have gone?

For that matter, how would the following invasions have gone?

Germany invades Russia with neither country having allies.

Italy invades Russia with no country having allies.

If you were familiar with WWII history you would know that the Italian military was a hapless mess, and a minor contributor to the axis. Most axis troops in Russia were German, and the entire Axis in North Africa were but a few to several divisions - a drop in the axis battle order (Germany sent 150 divisions into Russia, by comparison).

There isn't any doubt that Germany inflicted more deaths on their enemy than were inflected upon them - at least 3 or 4 or 5 to one.
 
Japan in China.
 
I would count POWs because they had to capture them first. I wouldn't count civilians killed though. How do you think a war between Germany and Italy would have gone?

For that matter, how would the following invasions have gone?

Germany invades Russia with neither country having allies.

Italy invades Russia with no country having allies.

If we're counting POW's that died in captivity, we have a better idea, but then it comes down to whether you want to count the massive amount of Germans that died in Soviet Captivity following the end of the war.

I would say, it probably goes:

Germany
Soviet Union
Japan

In terms of total enemy combatants killed.

Germany would have steamrolled Italy, Italy was inferior in virtually every way to the German Military except for perhaps Naval capability.

Well, in essence Germany did invade the Soviet Union with it having no allies, that changed quickly afterwards, as Stalin had signed the Non-Aggression Pact and tried to avoid the entire thing, but the Western Powers prior to 1939 didn't really help themselves in that regard.

The Soviet Union invading Italy... Um... That's a tough one, I mean it's not really a practical question with the geography involved and I'm afraid I don't possess knowledge of Soviet Naval Invasion capability, but I can imagine it probably wasn't great, particularly in what it could deploy in the Mediterranean.
 
If we're counting POW's that died in captivity, we have a better idea, but then it comes down to whether you want to count the massive amount of Germans that died in Soviet Captivity following the end of the war.

I would say, it probably goes:

Germany
Soviet Union
Japan

In terms of total enemy combatants killed.

Germany would have steamrolled Italy, Italy was inferior in virtually every way to the German Military except for perhaps Naval capability.

Well, in essence Germany did invade the Soviet Union with it having no allies, that changed quickly afterwards, as Stalin had signed the Non-Aggression Pact and tried to avoid the entire thing, but the Western Powers prior to 1939 didn't really help themselves in that regard.

The Soviet Union invading Italy... Um... That's a tough one, I mean it's not really a practical question with the geography involved and I'm afraid I don't possess knowledge of Soviet Naval Invasion capability, but I can imagine it probably wasn't great, particularly in what it could deploy in the Mediterranean.

Thanks for the response.

One minor point. I wasn't talking about the Soviet Union invading Italy. I was talking about Italy invading the Soviet Union 1V1 in 1940.
 
Thanks for the response.

One minor point. I wasn't talking about the Soviet Union invading Italy. I was talking about Italy invading the Soviet Union 1V1 in 1940.

Oh sorry.

Yeah the only thing I have to say to that is... lol.

As dire a state as the Soviet Military was in 1939, Italy would have been unlikely to have been able to take on Poland, let alone them.
 
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Which country killed the most enemy soldiers in WW2?

Russia lost about 11 million, with Germany killing slightly more than half of them. Lets say 6 million killed by Germany and 5 million killed by Italy. Italy was also tearing things up in the Balkans and North Africa and gave the Allies fits trying to invade them. I'd still give Germany a slight edge in enemy soldiers killed though.

Germany lost about 5 million, probably 4.9 million killed by Russia.

I say:

1. Germany
2. Italy
3. Russia
1. Japan
2. Russia
3. Germany
4. U.S.
 
1
1. Japan
2. Russia
3. Germany
4. U.S.

Who did Russia kill other than Germans? About 100,000 Italians and Rumanians is all I can think of. The Germans killed more Russians than vice versa. Also Germany killed British, French, and Americans.
 
Which country killed the most enemy soldiers in WW2?

Russia lost about 11 million, with Germany killing slightly more than half of them. Lets say 6 million killed by Germany and 5 million killed by Italy. Italy was also tearing things up in the Balkans and North Africa and gave the Allies fits trying to invade them. I'd still give Germany a slight edge in enemy soldiers killed though.

Germany lost about 5 million, probably 4.9 million killed by Russia.

I say:

1. Germany
2. Italy
3. Russia

I would probably think germany due to how many they killed in russia, the soviet union saw more action in the eastern front than the entire western from combined saw, they took more casualties but also inflicted them back, but germany managed to kill quite a few soviet soldiers, the bulk of them from russia. This is just counting military casualties because the number goes higher if famine were in play, as the soviet union was barely feeding itself then and had just been through multiiple famines, and germanies advance through eastern europe would have starved many, it was bad enough both eastern and western fronts relied on food from north central and south america, and russia relied on america through lend lease for food, as it was hard to feed anyone when your farms were either taken by germans or just destroyed by them.
 
Who did Russia kill other than Germans? About 100,000 Italians and Rumanians is all I can think of. The Germans killed more Russians than vice versa. Also Germany killed British, French, and Americans.

Russia fought briefly in the eastern front in asia, they helped the chinese push out the japanese and started to invade the islands of japan when the war ended, so yes they did kill other than germans, but their start in the asian theater was too late to rack up any major kills.
 
Who did Russia kill other than Germans? About 100,000 Italians and Rumanians is all I can think of. The Germans killed more Russians than vice versa. Also Germany killed British, French, and Americans.
People who Ioseph had killed.
1. Russians
2. Germans
3. Italians
4. Hungarians
5. Japanese
6. Poles
 
Which country killed the most enemy soldiers in WW2?

Russia lost about 11 million, with Germany killing slightly more than half of them. Lets say 6 million killed by Germany and 5 million killed by Italy. Italy was also tearing things up in the Balkans and North Africa and gave the Allies fits trying to invade them. I'd still give Germany a slight edge in enemy soldiers killed though.

Germany lost about 5 million, probably 4.9 million killed by Russia.

I say:

1. Germany
2. Italy
3. Russia

Italy??? Italy was the military laughingstock of WW2.

Italy might not have killed 100,000 Russians, and certainly killed nowhere near 1mil, much less 5mil.

And Italy did not "tear" anyone up, anywhere. The only place it went in the Balkans was Greece (tiny Albania was conquered before WW2 started), and the Greeks completely routed them. As for North Africa Italy not only did not put a dent in the British, they were torn to shreds. All the "fits" in the Balkans, North Africa and the Italian mainland were provided by the Germans. And Germany lost more than 100k dead outside the USSR, although POWs far exceeded battle deaths.
 
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Italy??? Italy was the military laughingstock of WW2.

Italy might not have killed 100,000 Russians, and certainly killed nowhere near 1mil, much less 5mil.

And Italy did not "tear" anyone up, anywhere. The only place it went in the Balkans was Greece (tiny Albania was conquered before WW2 started), and the Greeks completely routed them. As for North Africa Italy not only did not put a dent in the British, they were torn to shreds. All the "fits" in the Balkans, North Africa and the Italian mainland were provided by the Germans. And Germany lost more than 100k dead outside the USSR, although POWs far exceeded battle deaths.

If you ever watched the movie "Head" with 'The Monkees' there is a vignette where a large group of Italian soldiers, with Tank, surrender to one of the musicians lost in the desert....
 
If you ever watched the movie "Head" with 'The Monkees' there is a vignette where a large group of Italian soldiers, with Tank, surrender to one of the musicians lost in the desert....

Haha- I missed that one.

Seriously though, it would not suprise me if like scenes actually took place.
 
People who Ioseph had killed.
1. Russians
2. Germans
3. Italians
4. Hungarians
5. Japanese
6. Poles

The thread is title "Which country killed the most enemy soldiers in WW2?", not who killed the most of their own civilians. Russia killed maybe a couple hundred thousand enemy soldiers not counting Germans.
 
Nobody's talking about France much to the relief of the French.

Soo...


Why is the Champs Elysees lined with trees?

So the Germans can march in the shade.



US btw killed something like 2 million axis soldiers during WW 2. UK and US each killed around 500K Germans. US set up Russia well toward enabling the counter attack that drove the Germans back into Hitler's bunker. US getting out of the Russians way to Berlin minimized US casualties, which is why I support Ike on the decision.
 
The thread is title "Which country killed the most enemy soldiers in WW2?", not who killed the most of their own civilians. Russia killed maybe a couple hundred thousand enemy soldiers not counting Germans.

But according to Ioseph, he was killing enemy soldiers when he was wiping entire districts of his own people off the map.
 
That's a good question.

the distinction though I would say, is are we also talking about those POW's that died in captivity on the Russian and German sides and would you limit that to wartime only, cause that's going to massively skew the numbers, if its a direct result of combat, it's a very, very difficult thing to measure.

I think you're massively overrating Italy and forgetting about the Japanese Vs. Chinese.

The high estimates I am seeing have total deaths in China (mil and civ) being less than the USSR military casualties alone. Russia lost up to 11 million soldiers...

I think the more interesting question is who killed more Russian soldiers, the Nazis or the Soviets?
 
Which country killed the most enemy soldiers in WW2?

Russia lost about 11 million, with Germany killing slightly more than half of them. Lets say 6 million killed by Germany and 5 million killed by Italy. Italy was also tearing things up in the Balkans and North Africa and gave the Allies fits trying to invade them. I'd still give Germany a slight edge in enemy soldiers killed though.

The German SS and Wehrmacht are responsible for by far the largest amount of fatalities inflicted on their enemies, second would be the Japanese then followed by the Soviets.
 
Which country killed the most enemy soldiers in WW2?

Russia lost about 11 million, with Germany killing slightly more than half of them. Lets say 6 million killed by Germany and 5 million killed by Italy. Italy was also tearing things up in the Balkans and North Africa and gave the Allies fits trying to invade them. I'd still give Germany a slight edge in enemy soldiers killed though.

Germany lost about 5 million, probably 4.9 million killed by Russia.

I say:

1. Germany
2. Italy
3. Russia

Moderate71:

1) China (civil war and Japanese invasion so all sides are counted, Chinese killing Chinese with or without Japanese aid.)
2) Germany.
3) USSR/Russia.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.
 
...I think the more interesting question is who killed more Russian soldiers, the Nazis or the Soviets?

What are you talking about?

With the Nazis at their throat the Soviets were not going to kill their own soldiers! I have read of one Soviet colonel performing a literal decimation, but Soviet resistance was for the most part ferocious, and not too many decimations need have been contemplated.
 
Tricky question because Stalin had NKVD troops at the rear whose orders were to shoot on sight any Russian soldiers either deserting or retreating.

Russian generals oftentimes ordered human wave attacks.
 
Considering how few prisoners were taken by the Japanese without executing them soon afterwards, that alone should move them to the top of the list. That and the lands they seized and tried to depopulate.
 
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