CALCULATING GERMAN CASUALTIES
Sut,—In Mr. C. R M. F. Cruttwell's History of the Great War, 1914-1918 (second edition, 1936), the following figures, from official returns, are given for German casualties over the four and a quarter years: Dead 1,808,545
Wounded
4,247,143
Prisoners 617,922 Total 6,673,610 Mr. Cruttwell points out that the total of prisoners is certainly understated: well over 700,000 were taken in the western theatre alone, besides those in the Russian and other eastern campaigns. But we should probably be near enough to the truth if we reckon the average weekly loss at 30,000 to 35,000 men, or, say 5,000 a day— days of triumpant advance, days of stagnation, and days of defeat and collapse, all lumped together. Compare with this the estimated figures for the first two months of this year's Russian campaign, taking the lower limit of Mr. Churchill's" certainly a million and a half, perhaps two millions, have bitten the dust" (and assuming that this includes unwounded prisoners). This works out at roughly 25,000 a day— five times the earlier rate, and that in a victorious advance. Who can say that Progress is a delusion?—! am, &c., G. Edinburgh.
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