World War II

===Casualties and war crimes===
{{Main|World War II casualties}}
{{Further|War crimes in World War II}}
[[File:World War II Casualties.svg|thumb|upright=1.8|World War&nbsp;II deaths]]

Estimates for the total number of casualties in the war vary, because many deaths went unrecorded.<ref>''Quick Reference Handbook Set, Basic Knowledge and Modern Technology'' (revised) by [[Edward H. Litchfield]], Ph.D 1984 p. 195 {{ISBN?}}</ref> Most suggest that some 60&nbsp;million people died in the war, including about [[Battle casualties of World War II|20 million military personnel]] and 40&nbsp;million civilians.<ref name="WWII: C&C">{{cite web|last=O'Brien |first=Joseph V |title=World War II: Combatants and Casualties (1937–1945) |url=https://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/reference/ob62.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225004221/https://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/reference/ob62.html |archive-date=25 December 2010 |work=Obee's History Page |publisher=John Jay College of Criminal Justice |access-date=28 December 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Matthew|last=White|title=Source List and Detailed Death Tolls for the Twentieth Century Hemoclysm|url=https://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm#Second|work=Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century|publisher=Matthew White's Homepage|access-date=20 April 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307141223/https://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm#Second|archive-date=7 March 2011|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=World War II Fatalities|url=https://secondworldwar.co.uk/index.php/fatalities|publisher=secondworldwar.co.uk|access-date=20 April 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922185149/https://secondworldwar.co.uk/index.php/fatalities|archive-date=22 September 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Soviet Union alone lost around 27&nbsp;million people during the war,<ref>{{Harvnb|Hosking|2006|p=[{{GBurl|id=CDMVMqDvp4QC|p=242}} 242]}}</ref> including 8.7&nbsp;million military and 19&nbsp;million civilian deaths.<ref name="Ell&Mak 1994">{{Harvnb|Ellman|Maksudov|1994}}.</ref> A quarter of the total people in the Soviet Union were wounded or killed.<ref>{{Harvnb|Smith|1994|p=204}}.</ref> Germany sustained 5.3&nbsp;million military losses, mostly on the Eastern Front and during the final battles in Germany.<ref name="Herf 2003">{{Harvnb|Herf|2003}}.</ref>

An estimated 11<ref>{{cite web|author=Florida Center for Instructional Technology|url=https://fcit.usf.edu/Holocaust/people/victims.htm|title=Victims|work=A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust|publisher=[[University of South Florida]]|year=2005|access-date=2 February 2008|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160516094229/https://fcit.usf.edu/Holocaust/people/victims.htm|archive-date=16 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> to 17&nbsp;million<ref name=Niewyk45>{{Harvnb|Niewyk|Nicosia|2000|pp=45–52}}.</ref> civilians died as a direct or as an indirect result of Hitler's [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|racist policies]], including [[mass killing]] of [[the Holocaust|around 6{{nbsp}}million Jews]], along with [[Romani Holocaust|Roma]], [[Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany|homosexuals]], at least 1.9&nbsp;million ethnic [[World War II casualties of Poland|Poles]]<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/07/16/holocaust-the-ignored-reality/|title=Holocaust: The Ignored Reality|first=Timothy|last=Snyder|journal=The New York Review of Books|access-date=27 August 2017|date=16 July 2009|volume=56 |issue=12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010063645/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/07/16/holocaust-the-ignored-reality/|archive-date=10 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005473|title=Polish Victims|website=www.ushmm.org|access-date=27 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507145904/https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005473|archive-date=7 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[World War II casualties of the Soviet Union|millions of other Slavs]] (including Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians), and [[Holocaust victims|other ethnic and minority groups]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/articles/2005/01/20/holocaust_memorial_other_victims_feature.shtml|title=Non-Jewish Holocaust Victims : The 5,000,000 others|work=[[BBC]]|date=April 2006|access-date=4 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303054845/https://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/articles/2005/01/20/holocaust_memorial_other_victims_feature.shtml|archive-date=3 March 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Niewyk45 /> Between 1941 and 1945, more than 200,000 ethnic [[Serbs]], along with Roma and Jews, were [[Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia|persecuted and murdered]] by the Axis-aligned Croatian [[Ustaše]] in [[Yugoslavia]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Evans|2008|pp=158–160, 234–236}}.</ref> Concurrently, [[Bosniaks|Muslims]] and [[Croats]] were [[Chetnik war crimes in World War II|persecuted and killed]] by Serb nationalist [[Chetniks]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Redžić|first=Enver|title=Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War|year=2005|publisher=Tylor and Francis|location=New York|isbn=978-0-7146-5625-0|page=155|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pVCx3jerQmYC&pg=PA155|access-date=18 August 2021|archive-date=7 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307201309/https://books.google.com/books?id=pVCx3jerQmYC&pg=PA155|url-status=live}}</ref> with an estimated 50,000–68,000 victims (of which 41,000 were civilians).<ref name="Geiger">{{cite journal|first=Vladimir|last=Geiger|publisher=Croatian Institute of History|title=Human Losses of the Croats in World War II and the Immediate Post-War Period Caused by the Chetniks (Yugoslav Army in the Fatherand) and the Partisans (People's Liberation Army and the Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia/Yugoslav Army) and the Communist Authorities: Numerical Indicators |journal=Review of Croatian History |volume=VIII |issue=1 |date=2012 |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/103223?lang=en|page=117|access-date=25 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117064114/https://hrcak.srce.hr/103223?lang=en|archive-date=17 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Also, more than 100,000 Poles were massacred by the [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]] in the [[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia|Volhynia massacres]], between 1943 and 1945.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://volhyniamassacre.eu/zw2/history/179,The-Effects-of-the-Volhynian-Massacres.html|title=The Effects of the Volhynian Massacres|last=Massacre|first=Volhynia|work=Volhynia Massacre|access-date=9 July 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621015851/https://volhyniamassacre.eu/zw2/history/179,The-Effects-of-the-Volhynian-Massacres.html|archive-date=21 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> At the same time, about 10,000–15,000 Ukrainians were killed by the Polish [[Home Army]] and other Polish units, in reprisal attacks.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://dzieje.pl/aktualnosci/od-rzezi-wolynskiej-do-akcji-wisla-konflikt-polsko-ukrainski-1943-1947|title=Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji Wisła. Konflikt polsko-ukraiński 1943–1947|work=dzieje.pl|access-date=10 March 2018|language=pl|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624040412/https://dzieje.pl/aktualnosci/od-rzezi-wolynskiej-do-akcji-wisla-konflikt-polsko-ukrainski-1943-1947|archive-date=24 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Nanking bodies 1937.jpg|thumb|left|Bodies of Chinese civilians killed by the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] during the [[Nanjing Massacre]] in December 1937]]
In Asia and the Pacific, the number of people killed by Japanese troops remains contested. According to R.J. Rummel, the Japanese killed between 3{{nbsp}}million and more than 10&nbsp;million people, with the most probable case of almost 6,000,000 people.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP3.HTM|title=Statistics|last=Rummell|first=R.J.|work=Freedom, Democide, War|publisher=The University of Hawaii System|access-date=25 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323044733/https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP3.HTM|archive-date=23 March 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the British historian [[M. R. D. Foot]], civilian deaths are between 10 million and 20 million, whereas Chinese military casualties (killed and wounded) are estimated to be over five million.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dear|Foot|2001|p=182}}.</ref> Other estimates say that up to 30 million people, most of them civilians, were killed.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Carmichael|first1=Cathie|last2=Maguire|first2=Richard| title=The Routledge History of Genocide|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|page=105|isbn=978-0-367-86706-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.historynet.com/a-culture-of-cruelty/ |title=A Culture of Cruelty |publisher=HistoryNet |date=6 November 2017 |access-date=7 May 2022 |archive-date=7 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507032834/https://www.historynet.com/a-culture-of-cruelty/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The most infamous Japanese atrocity was the [[Nanjing Massacre]], in which fifty to three hundred thousand Chinese civilians were raped and murdered.<ref>{{Harvnb|Chang|1997|p=102}}.</ref> Mitsuyoshi Himeta reported that 2.7&nbsp;million casualties occurred during the [[Three Alls policy]]. General [[Yasuji Okamura]] implemented the policy in [[Hebei]] and [[Shandong]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Bix|2000|p=?}}.</ref>

Axis forces employed [[Biological warfare|biological]] and [[Chemical warfare|chemical weapons]]. The [[Imperial Japanese Army]] used a variety of such weapons during its [[Second Sino-Japanese War|invasion and occupation of China]] (''see [[Unit 731]]'')<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gold|first=Hal|title=Unit 731 testimony|publisher=Tuttle|year=1996|pages=75–77|isbn=978-0-8048-3565-7}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2004|p=320}}.</ref> and in [[Battles of Khalkhin Gol|early conflicts against the Soviets]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Harris|2002|p=74}}.</ref> Both the Germans and the [[Japanese human experimentation on the Chinese|Japanese tested]] such weapons against civilians,<ref>{{Harvnb|Lee|2002|p=69}}.</ref> and sometimes on [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Japan tested chemical weapons on Aussie POW: new evidence|newspaper=[[The Japan Times Online]]|date=27 July 2004|url=https://search.japantimes.co.jp/member/nn20040727a9.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120529003741/https://search.japantimes.co.jp/member/nn20040727a9.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 May 2012|access-date=25 January 2010}}</ref>

The Soviet Union was responsible for the [[Katyn massacre]] of 22,000 Polish officers,<ref>Kużniar-Plota, Małgorzata (30 November 2004). "Decision to commence investigation into Katyn Massacre". Departmental Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation. Retrieved 4 August 2011.</ref> and the imprisonment or execution of [[NKVD prisoner massacres|hundreds of thousands of political prisoners]] by the [[NKVD]] secret police, along with [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|mass civilian deportations to Siberia]], in the [[Occupation of the Baltic states|Baltic states]] and [[Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|eastern Poland]] annexed by the Red Army.<ref>Robert Gellately (2007).'' Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe''. Knopf, {{ISBN|978-1-4000-4005-6}} p. 391</ref> Soviet soldiers committed mass rapes in occupied territories, especially [[Soviet occupation zone in Germany|in Germany]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Women and War|url={{GBurl|id=lyZYS_GxglIC|p=480}}|year=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-770-8|pages=480–}}</ref><ref name=Bird>{{cite journal |last=Bird |first=Nicky |title=Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Antony Beevor |journal=International Affairs |volume=78 |number=4 |date=October 2002 |pages=914–916 |institution=Royal Institute of International Affairs}}</ref> The exact number of German women and girls raped by Soviet troops during the war and occupation is uncertain, but historians estimate their numbers are likely in the hundreds of thousands, and possibly as many as two million,<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Naimark|first=Norman|title=The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949|publisher=Cambridge: Belknap Press|year=1995|isbn=|location=|pages=70}}</ref> while figures for women raped by German soldiers in the Soviet Union go as far as ten million.<ref>[http://www.gegenwind.info/175/sonderheft_wehrmacht.pdf Zur Debatte um die Ausstellung Vernichtungskrieg. Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941–1944 im Kieler Landeshaus (Debate on the War of Extermination. Crimes of the Wehrmacht, 1941–1944)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718080318/http://www.gegenwind.info/175/sonderheft_wehrmacht.pdf |date=18 July 2011 }} (PDF). Kiel. 1999.</ref><ref>Pascale R . Bos, "Feminists Interpreting the Politics of Wartime Rape: Berlin, 1945"; Yugoslavia, 1992–1993 ''[[Journal of Women in Culture and Society]]'', 2006, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 996–1025</ref>

The mass bombing of cities in Europe and Asia has often been called a war crime, although no [[Positive law|positive]] or specific [[Customary international law|customary]] [[international humanitarian law]] with respect to [[aerial warfare]] existed before or during World War&nbsp;II.<ref>{{cite book |title=Terror from the Sky: The Bombing of German Cities in World War II |year=2010 |page=167 |publisher=[[Berghahn Books]] |isbn=978-1-84545-844-7}}</ref> The USAAF [[Air raids on Japan|bombed a total of 67 Japanese cities]], killing 393,000 civilians, including the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]], and destroying 65% of built-up areas.<ref>{{cite journal|author=John Dower|title=Lessons from Iwo Jima|journal=Perspectives|year=2007|volume=45|issue=6|pages=54–56|url=https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/september-2007/lessons-from-iwo-jima|access-date=17 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110117075824/https://www.historians.org/Perspectives/issues/2007/0709/index.cfm|archive-date=17 January 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>