How Many Casualties Did Germany Suffer During The Invasions of Poland and France?

A surprising number

(By Puttnam (Lt), War Office official photographer — http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//40/media-40401/large.jpgThis photograph H 9218 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25337952)

In 1939 and 1940, Germany shocked the world by rapidly invading Poland and France. In a matter of months, the Germans had overrun thousands of miles of territory and inflicted heavy blows on their enemies. Most histories breeze over this period of the war. Germany was so dominant and their invasions were so successful that most people jump over the Fall of France to where the “real war” began. Because of this, most people imagine that the invasions of Poland and France were walks in the park and largely bloodless affairs. But that was not the case. The early German operations incurred massive numbers of casualties that are often overlooked.

So how many people did Germany actually lose during the opening phase of the war?

The invasion of Poland began on September 1st, 1939 and had concluded by October 5th. It was an extremely quick capitulation. The speed in which Germany toppled Poland paralyzed Poland’s allies and prevented them from coming to their aid. In the five weeks of fighting, Germany lost 15,000 killed, and 30,000 wounded. There were also roughly 3,500 missing which pushes the number up to roughly 50,000 total casualties. Germany also lost 225 tanks and over 800 trucks and 250 planes. For a single month of…