Great statistic. How many were lost on D-Day? More then this I bet. I have a Liberal just like the woman who wrote this in my building. She cares more about convicted terrorists having thier rights abused and how many troops in Iraq have died vs. the historic call for Democracy throughout the Middle East - All thanks to Bush. If she had her way Saddam would still be in power and Kerry would be sitting in the Oval office. Amazing how Liberals can only look at one side of the coin....
When the smoke cleared and the Invasion of Normandy was at an end, thousands of men lie dead on the beaches of Normandy, France. The Germans were hit the hardest after the invasion. Over 30,000 men had to be buried, and almost 80,000 wounded soldiers were carried off. The United States was devastated nearly as hard as the Germans. A shocking 29,000 soldiers were picked up lifeless from the beach. One hundred six thousand men were in pain from their wounds. The United Kingdom did not suffer as bad as The United States and Germany. Around 11,000 soldiers were killed on D-Day. Fifty-four thousand British Men were injured. The Canadians had the fewest casualties. Only 5,000 men died during the invasion. This is very low compared to the other countries. Canada only had to care for about 13,000 wounded soldiers. At the Omaha Memorial, the many casualties of D-Day can be remembered in the hearts of their fellow countrymen.
If today's press was reporting, they would have declared it a quagmire and agitated the citizens that we must pull out immediately.
How many Allied and German casualties were there on D-Day, and in the Battle of Normandy?
“Casualties” refers to all losses suffered by the armed forces: killed, wounded, missing in action (meaning that their bodies were not found) and prisoners of war. There is no "official" casualty figure for D-Day. Under the circumstances, accurate record keeping was very difficult. For example, some troops who were listed as missing may actually have landed in the wrong place, and have rejoined their parent unit only later.
In April and May 1944, the Allied air forces lost nearly 12,000 men and over 2,000 aircraft in operations which paved the way for D-Day.
Total Allied casualties on D-Day are estimated at 10,000, including 2500 dead. British casualties on D-Day have been estimated at approximately 2700. The Canadians lost 946 casualties. The US forces lost 6603 men. Note that the casualty figures for smaller units do not always add up to equal these overall figures exactly, however (this simply reflects the problems of obtaining accurate casualty statistics).
Casualties on the British beaches were roughly 1000 on Gold Beach and the same number on Sword Beach. The remainder of the British losses were amongst the airborne troops: some 600 were killed or wounded, and 600 more were missing; 100 glider pilots also became casualties. The losses of 3rd Canadian Division at Juno Beach have been given as 340 killed, 574 wounded and 47 taken prisoner.
The breakdown of US casualties was 1465 dead, 3184 wounded, 1928 missing and 26 captured. Of the total US figure, 2499 casualties were from the US airborne troops (238 of them being deaths). The casualties at Utah Beach were relatively light: 197, including 60 missing. However, the US 1st and 29th Divisions together suffered around 2000 casualties at Omaha Beach.
The total German casualties on D-Day are not known, but are estimated as being between 4000 and 9000 men.
Naval losses for June 1944 included 24 warships and 35 merchantmen or auxiliaries sunk, and a further 120 vessels damaged.
Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy. This figure includes over 209,000 Allied casualties, with nearly 37,000 dead amongst the ground forces and a further 16,714 deaths amongst the Allied air forces. Of the Allied casualties, 83,045 were from 21st Army Group (British, Canadian and Polish ground forces), 125,847 from the US ground forces. The losses of the German forces during the Battle of Normandy can only be estimated. Roughly 200,000 German troops were killed or wounded. The Allies also captured 200,000 prisoners of war (not included in the 425,000 total, above). During the fighting around the Falaise Pocket (August 1944) alone, the Germans suffered losses of around 90,000, including prisoners.
Today, twenty-seven war cemeteries hold the remains of over 110,000 dead from both sides: 77,866 German, 9386 American, 17,769 British, 5002 Canadian and 650 Poles.
Between 15,000 and 20,000 French civilians were killed, mainly as a result of Allied bombing. Thousands more fled their homes to escape the fighting.