# how many soldiers died IN germany?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-soldiers-died-in-germany/519607>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 1, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-soldiers-died-in-germany/519607 "2009-12-01T18:17:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-soldiers-died-in-germany/519607/41 "2009-12-03T14:48:59Z")

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> [@spifflog](#):
>
> I’d argue that it’s not exclusively an American thing, but a human thing.
> 
> We all think we’re at the “center of the universe.”

Concur. Even Europeans have blind spots about WWII history; it isn’t exclusively an American failing, [as my conversations with a German exchange student revealed](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7893806&postcount=56).

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**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-soldiers-died-in-germany/519607/42 "2009-12-04T18:47:33Z")

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> [@Dissonance](#):
>
> To take a very (very) rough stab at some numbers, the official figures of US Army strength and casualties in the ETO broken down by month is [here](http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Supreme/USA-E-Supreme-E.html). From March the fighting was largely in Germany, adding the numbers from March til May they come to:
> 
> 18,834 KIA  
> 66,736 WIA  
> 2,803 Died of Wounds
> 
> Again, this is a very rough and entirely imprecise set of figures, but I’d guess it is fairly close to the number of US soldiers who were killed or wounded in Germany.

Only a bit more than the British casualties during the First Day on the Somme.

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**Author:** ![foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9a140/32.png) [@foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolscap)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-soldiers-died-in-germany/519607/43 "2009-12-05T16:45:15Z")

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> [@Shakester](#):
>
> Hopefully we agree that “Russians” as a general word for the peoples of the USSR is wrong.

My friend IS russian(ethnic), and I refer to myself as American (even if I should say  
United States American)  
.  
What was important to us, is, how many of our bunch were involved.  
we kinda ignore everyone else. In a perfect world this shouldn’t happen  
but, it does.

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-soldiers-died-in-germany/519607/44 "2009-12-05T17:03:58Z")

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> [@Shakester](#):
>
> Hopefully we agree that “Russians” as a general word for the peoples of the USSR is wrong.

It’s not wrong. It’s called synecdoche, and it’s an established rhetorical device.

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