h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Peter.
I would like to apologise for not contacting you earlier to thank you for the two bits of research that you did for me.
The one about Pre-war volunteers was to try and assess the situation the country would have been in if it hadn't been for the part-time volunteers in September 1939. I feel that they have not had the recognition they should have. I would think you could probably count the number of pre war volunteers that contribute personally to this site on the fingers of one hand.
The other bit of research was to see if it was possible to determine the number of aircraft shot down by night fighters during the Blitz on London and other cities before the advent of airborne radar and SLC (searchlight control by radar). I suspect that the score was negligible.
I was reading and interesting article or comment in the Weekly Telegraph No 671 about Normandy written by Kevin Myers in which he states among other things that the allies lost 425 000 men killed wounded and missing and that the Germans only lost roughly half that figure. He also states that the casualties amongst Norman civilians was126 000 killed and wounded. Quite high figures would you think?.
Thank you again for your help.
Yours Aye
John

John

Published statistics for the Battle of Britain are quite unreliable and, depending on the source, often contradictory. Let me give you some examples. I have all three volumes of "Royal Air Force - Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War" compiled by Norman L.R. Franks; the work appears to be meticulously researched. I also have the highly regarded "Battle Over Britain" compiled by Francis K Mason, a very expensive work which cost £40 in 1990. But the two do not agree.

I took a day at random: Tuesday, 29th October 1940. Mason lists 18 fighter losses with full details; for the same day Franks lists 11 fighter losses (he includes one, a forced landing not listed in Mason). Taking an entry common to both at random, a Hurricane of 615 Squadron piloted by Fg Off. N.D. Edmund, Mason records the hurrican sustaining Cat.3 damage and destroyed. Franks lists this same incident as "Aircraft damaged in combat at 1245. Aircraft repaired as Mk II BV158" On another day at random, Wednesday, 10th July 1940, Mason lists 8 losses with full details, Franks lists only 3, again he gives one not listed in Mason. These are typical entries for all dates, if we were to tot up fighter losses for the Battle of Britain from these respected sources we would arrive at wildly disagreeing totals. Of the two I prefer Mason, but that is purely a personal subjective choice.

As to Normandy casualties, here we are on firmer ground. Carlo D'Este has collated figures from various authoritative sources (for example, from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and ther number of graves) for the period 6 June to 29 August 1944:

Britain's 21st Army Group: 15,995 killed, 57,996 wounded, 9,054 missing = total 83,045.

United States: 20,838 killed, 94,881 wounded, 10,128 missing = total 125,843.

RAF: 8,178 killed and missing.

US Army Air Force: 8,536 killed and missing.

A total of 225,606 killed, wounded, and missing.

German losses (estimated): 200,000 killed and wounded.
German PoW: 200,000

German equipment losses:

1,300 tanks; 20,000 vehicles; 500 assault guns; 5.500 field guns; 3,545 aircraft. The equivalent of five panzer divisions destroyed and six severely mauled. The equivalent of twenty infantry divisione wiped out, with a further twelve badly crippled. One parachute and two infantry divisions trapped in Brittany and an infantry division cut off in the Channel Islands.

Statistics from Appendix B, "Decision in Normandy" by Carlo D'Este.

Peter