The Soviet offensives since July have cost the Red Army dearly. A few days ago while doing some research on this period of the war, I found ranges of estimated casualties of killed, wounded missing and POW for the Red Army. Based on statistics in David Glatz’ “When Titans Clashed” it appears that in each operation conducted, about a third or more of the Red Army forces become casualties.
I tend to accept Glantz’ figures; he bases his off the Russian compilation prepared by G. F. Krivosheev in 1993. I took a look at Glantz’ numbers for the period from July 12, when the Red Army began the counter offensive at Orel, to more less the end of November, and looked only at the operations from Smolensk southward. The total number of killed, wounded, and missing for the Soviet forces involved is:
3,503,000.
Approximately. Yes, that’s over three million combat casualties. To be sure, the greatest portion of that number is wounded. A considerable number of them will return to active duty after convalescence, but still...
Three and one half million casualties in six months of fighting. To put it in perspective, the largest land battle fought by the United States Army was the Battle of the Bulge. Most official statements put American casualties at 75,000, although some have counted as high as 100,000. In the east, the nasty little fight we read about down at Melitopol a week or two ago cost the Red Army almost 200,000 casualties, of which 45,000 were KIA or missing. Melitopol is a footnote in the war in the east.
These figures do not count the first six months of fighting for 1943, including the defensive fight at Kursk. It’s no wonder Alexander Werth referred to 1943 as “The Year of Hard Victories.”
The vast scope of the Eastern Front is still hard for me to grasp. Although this fighting is technically in Europe, to me this history drives home the wisdom of American military leaders who cautioned against getting into a land war in Asia.