Many died, too, in World War One.
I spent three years, complements of Uncle Sam, in England in the mid-80s. It used to amaze me how, in the square of most little towns and villages there would be a monument to the men of that town or village that died in The Great War. The names of the local fallen, as often as not, were inscribed somewhere on the monument. What was particularly stunning was the sheer number of those names, given the size of the town or village.
France, too, had amazing casualty rates in World War One. As did Germany.
and when you went to those towns did you notice the dearth of children ?