400,000 U.S Soldiers died in WW2 Why so many?

Question

How did 400,000 U.S Soldiers die in WW2? I mean U.S joined in the middle of the war....

Is the number correct? Can someone explain, Thanks

Answer 1

Watch the movie, Saving Private Ryan.

I understand it is one of the most accurate rendition of what it was like being a soldier in that war.

We were fighting a well equipped force that was just as good as us.

Iraq is piecemeal, the second world war was a shooting gallery.

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Please don't ignore the fact, in both wars we are in now, both armies we went up against is as if they were equipped with pea shooters and us machine guns. Of course we are going to suffer far less caualties. If Iraq and Afghanistan could have matched us in technology and experience, you bet the casualties would have been significantly more.

If Iraq unleashed its assumed arsenal of WMD's, again, casualies would have been significantly more.

Technology, being the reason, is ignoring basic facts. True, we can save a soldiers life faster, but that is about it, that is, everything being equal.
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Peace

Jim

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Answer 2

So many died because of the fact it was a "World War" In Iraq it is a guerrilla war against militia's and terrorists. In WW2 it was a global spanning conflict which involved upwards of 16 million US servicemen, which involved the army, navy, army air force, marines fighting battles in France, Italy, Germany, Pacific, China etc. Yes the tactics do come into it and the level of technology but mostly the amount of men involved and the fact that they were fighting against two strong nations in the form of Germany and Japan. The US did take over the majority of the fighting in the Western front and all of the fighting in the Pacific.It must be remembered 400,000 is not a lot compared to the 10 million russian soldiers and 20 million civilians who died for the USSR in WW2 and russia entered the war only 6 months before the US.

Answer 3

First, the battles were much larger. Plus, unlike today, if they had a stubborn enemy position, they just kept going at it until they took it, rather than sit back and call in a surgical air strike. There were battles in the Pacific where Marines landed on islands of not even the size of Atlanta International Airport. They would take 3-5 thousand casualties in the first 36-48 hours. The Japanese would lose 20-30 thousand. All this would happen in 4 days to 3 weeks. This war has to lowest casualty rate and highest survival rate for wounded of any war in history. Our tactics, weapons and equipment allow us to successfully engage the enemy in a manner that would have been thought impossible even 20 years ago. In WWII, it could not even be conceived of.

Answer 4

War was different then. Technology was not as advanced as it is today. The tactic was to send as many soldiers into an area as possible. This strategy leads to very high casualty rates. Today the focus is on precision.

Answer 5

Maybe that's why it was called World War.
Medical advances save lives that would have been lost just a few years ago.
Smarter weapons systems do a better job in target acquisition than in the past

Answer 6

Might want to recheck your numbers. A quick search indicated:
Military dead (meaning all US and allies deaths) and there
were enemy deaths in addition:
Over 14,000,000
Civilian dead:
Over 36,000,000
Total dead:
Over 50,000,000
US had approximately 418000 death military.
Further details at source.

Answer 7

We were fighting on five fronts against massed troops.

Answer 8

They did not have the technology as we do today. Technology has saved countless lives.