CHINA'S FIVE MILLION DEAD!

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 57, 16 March 1945, Page 4

CHINA'S FIVE MILLION DEAD!

THE Chinese Army suffered a total of 2,802,220 casualties during the seven-year period from July 7, 1937 to June 30, 1944, according to figures released by the Board of Military Operations of the National Military Council. The * heaviest toll was taken in 1938 when the Chinese forces suffered 735,417 casualties. This more than doubled the casualties for the six months of the war from July 7 to December 31, 1937, which was given as 366,382. An abrupt drop to 341,543 was registered in 1939, followed by another increase to 673,386 in 1940. From there on, the graph showed a steadily downward trend: 282,169 in 194], 246,390 in" 1942 and 87,113 in 1943. The number of casualties for the six-month period from January 1 to June 30, 1944, was estimated at 69,820. Casualties for the months of January, February and March when the China iront was comparatively quiet were respectively 1,446, 1,210 and 1,127. With the Japanese invasion of central Honan in April and later that of Hupeh and Hunan, casualties for April, May and June rose to 26,706, 19,551 and 19,780 respectively. No accurate statistics as to the number of civilian casualties are obtainable. Reports from the National Relief Commission give the number of air raid casualties as 181,977. Of this number, 179,955 casualties including 70,403 killed and 109,552 wounded were reported during the period from June, 1938, to the end of 1941, while 2,022 casualties including 855 killed and 1,167 wounded were reported from July 1943 to March 1944. These casualties were limited to cases handled by the Natonal Relief Commission which maintains emergency joint offices for air raid relief in various centres of Free China. The actual air raid casualties list must have been a much longer one. The Japanese at the end of May, 1944, had incurred a total of 2.144,000 army casualties on the China front, besides €00,000 suffered by their garrisons, supply and transport units in the real, according to the Board of Military Operations oi the Chinese National Military Council. The estimated total does not include the enemy killed and wounded m the current, Hunan campaign, during which the Japanese lost men in the siege of Hangyang alone.