Unmurderous War

The most extraordinary thing about World War II is not its speed, not its extent, not its tactical scope -- but its relative unmurderousness. Last week Britain revealed that in the first 21 months of the war only 18,627 members of the Army, Navy and R.A.F. had been killed in action.

Almost twice as many civilians had been killed in air raids (35,756),* and more than ten times as many soldiers were killed in a similar period in World War I.

A breakdown of casualties showed that relative to the number of men employed in the three services the Army was the safest place to be: Army: 7,879 killed, 19,610 wounded, 743 missing, 5,482 died of wounds or diseases, 40,450 captured (not including Crete --perhaps 10,000 captured, perhaps 5,000 killed).

Navy: 4,422 killed, 3,553 wounded, 7,323 missing, 81 died, 517 captured (not including the Hood -- about 1,300 lost).

R.A.F.: 6,326 killed, 1,338 wounded, 1,879 missing, 1,045 died, 408 captured.

* Approximately the number killed every twelve months in U.S. motor accidents.

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