World War II casualties of the Soviet Union

World War II casualties of the Soviet Union from all related causes numbered over 20,000,000, both civilians and military, although the exact figures are disputed. The number of 20 million was considered official during Soviet era. In 1993 a study by the Russian Academy of Sciences estimated total Soviet population losses due to the war at 26.6 million, including military dead of 8.7 million calculated by the Russian Ministry of Defense. These figures have been accepted by most historians outside of Russia. However the official figure of 8.7 million military dead has been disputed by some Russian historians who believe the number of POW dead and missing is understated. Officials at the Russian Central Defense Ministry Archive (CDMA) maintain that their database lists the names of roughly 14 million dead and missing service personnel. Some critics in Russia put total losses in the war, both civilians and military, at over 40 million.

A 1993 Russian Ministry of Defense report authored by a group headed by General G. I. Krivosheev detailed military casualties. Their sources were Soviet reports from the field and other archive documents that were secret during the Soviet era, including a secret Soviet General Staff report from 1966–68. Krivosheev's study puts Soviet military dead and missing at 8.7 million and is often cited by historians. In April 2016 the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation issued a statement that put Soviet military war dead at 8,668,400.Krivosheev maintains that the figure of 8.668 million is correct because it excludes called up reservists that were never inducted, men who were duplicated as conscripts because they were conscripted again into the Soviet army and Navy during the war as territories were being liberated and non combat civilian personnel. The statistic of 8.668 million military dead includes only the deaths of the forces in the field units of the Army and Navy and does not include civilian support forces in rear areas, conscripted reservists killed before being listed on active strength, militia units, and Soviet partisan dead, Krivosheev maintains that they should be included with civilian war losses

The Schedule below summarizes Soviet casualties from 1941–1945.

Krivosheev's analysis shows that 4,559,000 were reported missing (including 3,396,400 per field reports and an additional 1,162,600 estimated based on German documents), out of which 500,000 were missing and presumed dead, 939,700 were re-conscripted during the war as territories were liberated, 1,836,000 returned to the U.S.S.R. after the war, while the balance of 1,283,300 died in German captivity as POWs or did not return to the USSR. Krivoshhev wrote "According to German sources 673,000 died in captivity. Of the remaining 1,110,300, Soviet sources indicate that over half also died captivity". Sources published outside of Russia put total POW dead at 3.0 million. Krivosheev maintains that this figure based on German sources includes civilian personnel that were not included in the reports of the Army and Navy field forces. In a 1999 article Krivosheev noted that 2,016,000 POW survived the war, of which 1,836,000 POWs are known to have returned to the U.S.S.R. after the war and another 180,000 liberated POWs who most likely settled in other countries.

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