It is well known that the leading killer in all wars is disease. We can look up the estimates of those killed by disease in just about every war. Yet, I am finding no numbers on those killed in WWII by disease.

I realize that Hitler suspended all death by natural causes and personally killed everyone with his bare hands, but I have a real problem believing that disease wasn't the huge factor in this war that it was in every other.

I mean...it IS nice thinking that everyone died as the result of "evil" and all, but I'd like more tangible proof if possible.

Anyone know where I might find the skinny on disease as a cause of death in WWII?

TIA...

Would you remove diseases from such causes as Cholera etc that were rampant in the Concentration Camps from your stats?  It does not matter what method is used to kill someone....its MURDER no matter how you slice it.

The recurrence of disease is attributable to dead bodies being left above ground, lack of sanitation due to destruction of services and hospitals. If you are looking to put this on some upsurging wave in God's wrath, you're on the wrong track. War is started by powerful men(not weak men) looking to control or advance their interests with little or no regard to those it affects in any way. They are guilty for every death, whether by lead, or by disease.

I'm looking for the totals killed by disease, which seems woefully neglected in discussions held on WWII.

I'm not trying to attach any moral, or immoral status to either those killed, or those who lived. I'm merely searching for answers.

I want to make up my own mind on a few things and will need all the facts before attempting to do so.

Does anyone know where such info can be found?

Interesting question [b]Jesred[/b].  

Up until WWII, more Americans were killed in each war by disease than by actual wounding.  Around the 1940's commercially-prepared penicillin began to be made available and that dramatically reduced battlefield deaths by disease, at least on our side.

[url=http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/cwc/other/stats/warcost.htm][b]This website[/b][/url] compares casualties and deaths for each of America's wars.

As far for other countries and their troops is concerned, that's probably not available.  Even if it was, I'd say it probably resembles the trends we saw in WWI.

Wherever penicillin was not widely available (Russia, Germany, Japan, ect.) there would probably be more deaths among their troops from disease than from wounding.

In response to you, The Macallan...
Let me say thanks for the site. It is still lacking in particulars though. I've seen stats before on the huge toll that typhus, cholera and other diseases took on non combatants during WWI. The influenza of that period was especially devestating. We also know that Typhus in particular breeds especially well in the cool climes of northern Europe.

Perhaps I should have been clearer in that I want the stats on civilian populations, as I find it BEYOND bizarre that this angle is never seriously discussed in any form in relation to the European theater.

I'm not up on my diseases...but are Cholera and Typhus cureable with pennicillin?

I remember reading that Ann Franks father was cured of Typhus in one of the camp infirmaries, which struck me as odd, considering the pictures drawn of the camps after the war.
It is also known that until the very last days of the war, Germans kept meticulous records of almost every aspect of the camps, even down to daily rations fed the camp dogs. It is because of this that we know that Anne Frank died of disease in one of the camps.

It would seem to me that if Allied forces were bombing the hell out of the German infrastructure TRYING to induce casualties through starvation and disease, then we can't very well lay all of the blame for civilian casualties at the feet of some sinister motive.

I have a suspicion that the death rates by disease in the German theater are not mentioned
so as to lend weight to more dramatic claims in which EVERY death was the result of Nazi evil.
In my mind, one can often learn more by what ISN'T said than what is.

If I'm not mistaken...those Zyklon B cannisters we hear so much about were a low grade fumigant to kill the very lice that spread Typhus.

In thinking about the situation, I become "curiouser and curiouser" about the omissions of this very real aspect of war.
I just can't believe that WWII suddenly saw the disappearance of the leading killer in every war, disease, just because the Nazis were too evil to allow disease to compete with their dastardly plans.

The analogy would be to assume that Southerners were practicing Genocide at Andersonville, when the local populations weren't faring much better.

Thanks...I'll keep looking. It's out there somewhere. If not, I want to know why.