Estimated Battle Casualties During the Normandy Invasion and Campaign to Liberate Paris (June–August 1944)

The exact number of casualties suffered in the Normandy Invasion, which began on D-Day (June 6, 1944), and the campaign that liberated Paris several months later will never be known. The figures given in this graph were selected from official histories or provided by advisers as generally agreed upon estimates. They are presented mainly for purposes of comparison and to give a sense of the scale of the human losses.
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This graph provides a comparison of the estimated battle casualties during the Normandy Invasion, which began on D-Day (June 6, 1944), and the subsequent Allied campaign that liberated Paris several months later, in August—a crucial period that helped bring World War II to an end in Europe the following year.

The figures given in this graph were selected from official histories or provided by advisers as generally agreed-upon estimates. They are presented mainly for purposes of comparison and to give a sense of the scale of the human losses.

The estimated total battle casualties for Germany were 320,000, including 30,000 killed, 80,000 wounded, and 210,000 missing. More than 70 percent of the missing were eventually reported as captured.

German casualties were extrapolated from a report of German OB West, September 28, 1944, and from a report of a German army surgeon for the period June 6–August 31, 1944.

The estimated total battle casualties for the United States were 135,000, including 29,000 killed and 106,000 wounded and missing.

United States casualties are taken from Office of the Adjutant General, Army Battle Casualties and Nonbattle Deaths in World War II: Final Report, 7 December 1941–31 December 1946, page 92. Figures are for U.S. Army and Army Air Forces casualties in Normandy and northern France, June 6–September 14.

The estimated total battle casualties for the United Kingdom were 65,000, including 11,000 killed and 54,000 wounded or missing.

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British casualties are taken from L.F. Ellis et al., Victory in the West, vol. 1, The Battle of Normandy (1962, reissued 1993), page 493. Figures are for 21st Army Group, June 6–August 31, minus Canadian numbers given in C.P. Stacey, below.

The estimated total battle casualties for Canada were 18,000, including 5,000 killed and 13,000 wounded or missing.

Canadian casualties were taken from C.P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944–1945 (1960), page 271. Figures are for June 6–August 23. Under Canadian command were the Poles, who suffered some 1,350 casualties from August 1 to August 23, 1944.

The estimated total battle casualties for France included 12,200 civilians killed or missing.

French casualties were provided by the Mémorial de Caen, France. Figures are for the départements of Calvados, Manche, and Orne from June 6 to August 31, 1944.

The combined battle casualties of the Normandy Invasion were 550,200.

(Find out how the D-Day landings at Normandy happened.)

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What Allied Troops Encountered at Omaha Beach During the Normandy Invasion

Examine the obstacles found on a typical section of Omaha Beach during the Normandy Invasion.
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This infographic offers a description of the obstacles Allied forces faced on a typical section of Omaha Beach during the Normandy Invasion.

In the ocean below the low-tide line were a line of log posts (some with mines affixed) followed by a line of hedgehogs, five-foot-tall obstacles made of three crossed steel beams.

Situated between low tide and high tide (a distance of 300–400 yards) were a line of Belgian gates (seven-foot-seven-inch-tall steel frames) followed by another line of log posts (some with mines affixed), a line of log ramps made of one long log (to which mines were sometimes affixed) supported by two shorter logs, and another line of hedgehogs.

Just beyond the high-tide line were 5–10 yards of shingle backed by seawall or sand dunes, with a line of concertina wire behind that.

On the other side of the seawall and concertina wire were about 200 yards of shelf ending in cliffs that rose 100–170 feet vertically from the shelf.

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