What was the survival rate of a soldier in World War 2?

Answer 1

I believe it was 1 in 5, but I defer to someone else.

It also depends on the country.

It's impossible to say at anything other than the most general level. If you compare the total number of men mobilised with the total number of casualties you get, for the UK for instance, a casualty rate of 35%, meaning a WW1 soldier stood a 2/3 chance of surviving. But this of course ignores all the nuances of statistical analysis. More significantly, it depends on the role played by the soldier. I presume the question means what are the chances of someone under arms in August 1914 still being alive and well in November 1918 (or even 1919 for those who fought in the subsequent clashes in Russia).

Taking just the British perspective, the standing strength of the British Army prior to the outbreak of war was 247,432. Of these, 150,000 were sent to France as the British Expeditionary Force. By the end of 1914, this force had suffered 90,000 casualties, including 50,000 dead. So, roughly speaking, if you were in the British Army at the outbreak of War and you were sent to France, you stood a 40% chance of making it to Christmas without getting killed or wounded.

Over the course of the whole war, those odds obviously improved, because more men came in and the weight of fighting spread more thinly across more units. These odds would have varied massively depending on what unit you were in and how you were utilised. Some of the first units to attack the German line on the first day of the Battle of the Somme were entirely wiped out. Throughout the Somme campaign, casualty rates of 75% and above in a single attack were not uncommon. Rear area personnel would, by contrast, obviously suffer far fewer casualties. Given the sheer enormity of the operation required to keep the fighting troops in the field, a massive number of the total uniformed strength of an army never came anywhere near a life-threatening situation.

Answer 2

There were many improvements in medicine and care of the wounded in WW2. I read the other day that only 47 patients out of some 1 Million died while being flown to area hospitals for surgery(this does not refer to the ratio that died during surgery). This is an amazing statistic in that it reflects the high number of wounded who were flown out of the combat area to a safe place to be treated. Also, for this few fatalities meant that the doctors knew how to stabalize and treat patients at the front so they had a chance of surviving.

Answer 3

It depends entirely on where you were. If you were in a neutral country, you were comparatively safe. If you were in Great Britain, you were more safe than in France, but not as safe as in North or South America. If you were in the US Navy, you were not invulnerable in the Atlantic, but much safer than in the Pacific. If you were a Russian, your chances of being killed by the enemy were compounded by the chances of being killed by your own. There are many factors involved. Years ago, I talked with a World War 2 US Army veteran who fought in Western Europe, and he credited his survival to the fact that he arrived late in the war. A US Army private had a life expectancy of about six weeks, and the war in Europe ended before his six weeks were up. * US killed on the ground in Europe was higher than US bomber crews lost, but the bomber crews lost a higher percentage. * The same applied on the Axis side, most Germans were killed in Russia. German submarine crews had fewer killed, but they lost a higher percentage.

Answer 4

The survival rate of a soldier depended on the soldier's duties and which theater of the war the soldier served in. For example, a flame thrower in the Pacific theater had a life expectancy of seven seconds. A soldier in the infantry battling the Japanese was expected to live two hours. A Corpsman or what you know as a medic had a thirty minute life expectancy. It was longer in the European Theater. An Army Air Force person in a bomber lasted seven bombing runs on the average. The tank personnel might last one battle or many.

Answer 5

I dont know about foot troops but the average life expectancy for fighter pilots was about 2 weeks in WWI.