World War II: A Statistical Survey: The Essential Facts and Figures for All the Combatants

by John Ellis

Uses maps to trace the course of the war, provides command structures and orders of battle, and includes information on casualties, equipment, war production, and hardware

Genres: History, War, World War II

315 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

John Ellis was born in Bradford and educated at the Universities of Sussex and Manchester. He was a lecturer in the latter's department of Military Studies. His books include The Sharp End: The Fighting Man in World War II; The Social History of the Machine Gun, Eye-Deep in Hell, an account of trench life in the Great War; Cassino: The Hollow Victory; and Brute Force: Allied Strategy and Tactics in the Second World War.

Reviews

[Matteo Avallone · Rating 4 out of 5]

300 pages filled up with tons of maps, block diagrams, tables. This unique book contains almost every aspect of WWII that can be somehow put into numbers. A masterpiece for anyone who wants to study the deadliest war in human history, even though it has less narrative drive than a telephone directory. Nevertheless, this amazing hoard of data comes with a downside. The author himself warns us from the very beginning, writing the witty dedication: “Lies, damned lies and statistics – This book is respectfully dedicated to all those for whom the Second World War was all too real.” History cannot be exclusively explained by quantitative data. Moral and spiritual factors play an important role too. The book highlight the enormous gap between the productive capacity of the Allies on the Axis forces, but does not tell us why Germany and Japan fanatically fought to the end, or explain the fierce willpower that drove the Red Army in its gory ride from Moscow to Berlin. It’s a book worth reading but beside a more traditional, narrative one.

[Pascal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alles, was man numerisch erfassen kann auf 300+ Seiten zusammengefasst.

Sämtliche Statistiken und Karten, jeglicher Art. Seien es Förderzahlen, Produktionszahlen, Truppenstärke oder sonstige Dinge.

Damit ist das Buch ein großartiges Werkzeug für Historiker, die diese Daten als Grundlage nutzen können, auch wenn durch neuere Quellen das ein oder andere sicher abweichen kann.

Sicherlich auch für nicht-Historiker interessant, auch wenn die blanken Zahlen einerseits vielleicht langweilig sind und andererseits inhaltlos, ohne entsprechende Einordnung. (bspw.: wie viele Panzer produziert wurden sagt nichts über deren Kampfnutzen oder Qualität aus)

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

"World War II : A Statistical Survey" is a must-have reference book for any serious student of the war. John Ellis has done a masterful job of sifting through the conflict's myriad sources to boil it all down to numbers.

Many may consider this volume to be a dull slog of statistics, columns, and charts. Sorry, that dishonor goes to Ellis' other book, "Brute Force," more a narrative failure than a successful reference work.

Ellis divides his work to show the war through command structures, theater force levels, manufacturing output, casualties, orders-of-battle for the various belligerents, even division tables of organization and equipment. For the serious reader willing to drill down into details, much can be found here in one place.

Some things sadly cannot be rendered complete, but Ellis deserves honors for trying. This may sound dull, but he actually listed every Soviet division that fought in the war, a challenge well marred by incomplete record keeping and repeated unit destruction.

Ellis is an author far more comfortable with numbers than words. He is clearly in his element authoring the WWII statistical survey. The book is a bit pricey, but the serious reader understands that he has to bite the bullet some time to get the right book that completes a topic in his shelf.