Figure 1.--Three-year-old Eileen Dunne sits in bed with her doll at Great Ormond Street Hospital, after being injured during an air raid on London (September 1940). Today September 15, is known as Battle of Britain Day because it was the day the Luftwaffe suffered a huge defeat in the skies over London. World War II bombing is not well understood. It was basically the most difficult way to kill people. And during the War, bombing proved to be a very small part of the horrendous deal toll of the 70-85million people who perished. Not only was in a small part, but irreplaceable military assets had to be expended in the process.

World War II proved to be much more lethal than World War I which had traumatized Europe. But unlike World War I, the great majority of the war deaths, perhaps 50-55 million were civilians, far exceeding military deaths. Because of the dramatic photographic record, most people just assume that bombing was one of the most lethal if not the single most lethal aspect of the War. In fact it was not. Bombing was not, however, the major killer of World War II. Noting could be further from the truth. Just the opposite is true. No one know precisely how many people died in the War, but we have a rough idea. Estimates of War deaths were about 50-55 million people, but now it is believed to be more like 70-85 million people, primarily because war-related disease and famine need to be included. Bombing was a minor contributor to that total. Just look at the Soviet Union. The moralities were about 27 million people and he country was not heavily bombed. Or look at Britain which was heavily bombed by the Germans, especially during the Blitz (1940-41). With a population of 66 million people this would mean a small fraction of only 1 percent. Or look at Germany which was the most bombed country in Europe. Fatalities totaled some 0.5 million people were killed in the bombing. Germany had a population of some 87 million people. (This is a little tricky to calculate given border changes so we are using the pre-War population.) That would mean one half of 1 percent. Compare that to the countries that were decimated by the War and not heavily bombed. Some 75 million people perished in the Soviet Union. Or a quarter of the population of Poland which was only bombed for a month, but a quarter of the population was killed. Yugoslavia was another county heavily impacted by the War. About 7 percent of he population perished, very little from bombing. Despite the heavy bombing, very few civilians were killed in the Axis bombing of Malta. So it clearly not the bombing that killed in huge numbers. The real killer killer was being occupied by the NAZIs which was the case in Poland, the Western Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. Greece also had substantial losses, very little from bombing. Two small countries (Lithuania and Latvia) also had horrifying losses, but were not heavily bombed. All of the European countries with heavy losses were not countries heavily bombed, but countries occupied by the NAZIs. In the end it would be the two countries who launched the War (Germany and Japan) and began bombing other countries that would be the primary victims of the bombing. And it would be the bombing that played a major role in ending the horrific atrocities perpetrated by these two barbaric regimes.

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Created: 11:42 PM 5/10/2025
Last updated: 11:47 PM 8/6/2025