BRITISH LOSSES

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20995, 23 December 1939, Page 9

BRITISH LOSSES

GREATER THAN FRENCH NAVY CHIEF SUFFERER (Times Air Mail Service) LONDON, November 25. Since this war began Britain’s heaviest casualties have been borne by the Royal Navy, the lightest by the Army, says the military correspondent of the Evening Standard. The Admiralty have reported 1526 dead. The loss of the Courageous and the Royal Oak accounted for 1388 of these. Next comes the Royal Air Force with 370 dead or missing. Enemy action is not responsible for most of those killed. They were not shot down, but crashed within our lines. It is reckoned that only one in three Air Force casualties can be credited to the enemy. The merchant marine have lost 250 men; 170 of these were by U-boat action and 80 by mines. The Army have reported one man killed in France. The French have not published any casualty lists. I estimate their total dead at fewer than a thousand by land, sea and air. Some ill-qpnditioned folk are saying that “England will fight to the last Frenchman.” The figures do not justify it.