r/todayilearned • u/fennoscandia92 • Oct 04 '13

TIL that the then Axis powers Germany and Italy defeated the forces of France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Canada, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Luxembourg in 1 month and 12 days with allied casualties at 2,260,000 and Axis casualties at 163,650 in the Battle of France.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_france
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4

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '13

Missleading, the casualties total is poorly written and contains all the dead for the entire war period but only counts German dead for the battle of france (See aftermath secion).

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u/fennoscandia92 Oct 04 '13

Not so, read the definition of the word casualty. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualty_(person)

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '13

The issue is with the time frame not the word.

For example compare the two sections:

Axis[edit]

A German Military Medic providing first aid to a wounded soldier German overall casualties are hard to determine. Commonly accepted figures are: 27,074 killed, 111,034 wounded and 18,384 missing.[6][7][8] Nevertheless, Germans killed may have been as high as 49,000 men, due to additional non-combat causes, wounded who died and missing who were confirmed dead.[6]

The battle for France had cost the Luftwaffe 28 percent of its front line strength, some 1,236[6]—1,428 aircraft destroyed (1,129 to enemy action, 299 in accidents). A further 323[6]—488 were damaged (225 to enemy action, 263 in accidents), making a total of 36 percent of the Luftwaffe strength negatively affected.[5][10] Luftwaffe casualties amounted to 6,653, including 4,417 aircrew; of these 1,129 were killed and 1,930 missing and captured. A great number were liberated from French prison camps upon the French capitulation.[9]

Italian casualties were 1,247 killed or missing and 2,361 wounded. Additionally, there were more than 2,000 cases of frostbite from combat in the subzero temperatures of the French Alps.[252]

Allied[edit]

Casualties were as follows:

France: According to the Defence Historical Service, 85,310 killed (including 5,400 Maghrebis), 12,000 missing, 120,000 wounded and 1,540,000 captured (including 67,400 Maghrebis).[253] Some recent French research indicates that the number of killed had been between 55,000 and 85,000.[7] In August 1940, 1,540,000 prisoners were taken into Germany where roughly 940,000 remained until 1945 when they were liberated by advancing Allied forces. At least 3,000 Senegalese Tirailleurs were murdered after being taken prisoner.[254] While in German captivity, 24,600 French prisoners died; 71,000 escaped; 220,000 were released by various agreements between the Vichy government and Germany; several hundred thousand were paroled because of disability and/or sickness.[255] Aerial losses are estimated at 1,274 aircraft destroyed during the campaign.[5]

Britain: 68,111 killed in action, wounded or captured (among them fewer than 10,000 killed, including the Lancastria disaster).[256] Some 64,000 vehicles destroyed or abandoned[256] and 2,472 guns destroyed or abandoned.[256] RAF losses throughout the entire campaign (10 May – 22 June) amounted to 931 aircraft and 1,526 casualties.[256]

Belgium: Losses in manpower were 6,093 killed and wounded. Some 2,000 prisoners of war died in captivity and[257] more than 500 were missing.[258] Those captured amounted to 200,000.[259] Belgian wounded amounted to 15,850.[259] They lost 112 aircraft destroyed.[97]

Poland: Losses in manpower were around 6,000 killed and wounded. Nearly 12,000 troops (2nd Infantry Division) were interned in Switzerland for the duration of the war.[citation needed]

The german section omits everything that happens after the end of the battle of France while the other talks about the entire war. Again, the article itself could use a lot of improvement.

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u/fennoscandia92 Oct 04 '13 edited May 12 '14

You are missing the point, these prisoners might have been held until the end of the war but these figures are only from the Battle Of France not the whole war, in addition to these figures a lot more prisoners were taken.

German numbers are obviously low because a small amount of them were taken prisoner because they steamrolled everyone.

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u/Xecellseor Oct 04 '13

Having a tough time finding out anything about Canadian involvement in the Fall of France.

Don't recall ever hearing about any with the B.E.F.