WARTIME DESTRUCTION OF THE SOVIET UNION

HUMAN COST:

20,000,000 dead, of which:
7,000,000 soldiers killed (4,000,000 in POW camps)
6,000,000 died in Nazi occupied zone
4,000,000 died in Nazi labor camps
3,000,600 died in unoccupied gone (of war-related injuries
1 out of every 8 Soviet citizens in 1939 died during WWII.
97% of the males ages 17 to 20 (in 1941) died.

Millions wounded, handicapped, severely weakened physically; in 1959, there were only 4 males for every 7 females ages 35-50; 50 Soviet citizens died for every American who died in the War

PHYSICAL DAMAGE:

1,710 towns wholly or partly destroyed
70,00 villages wholly or partly destroyed
25,000 homeless in 1945
- 50%of all urban living space destroyed
- 75%of all rural living space destroyed
30% of national wealth destroyed. 2/3 of Wealth in occupied zone destroyed

INDUSTRIAL DESTRUCTION

31,850 industrial enterprises destroyed (formerly employed 4,000,000)
40,000 miles of railroad track destroyed
4,100 railroad stations destroyed
13,000 bridges destroyed
15,800 Locomotives destroyed
429,000 railway cars destroyed

AGRICULTURAL DESTRUCTION:

98,000 Kolkhozi
1,676 Sovkhozi
2,890 Machine-Tractor stations
137,000 Tractors(=30% of 1939 total)
5,000,000 pieces of mechanical equipment
7,000,000 horses (=34% of 1939 total)
17,000,000 cattle (=30% of 1939 total)
20,000,000 hogs (=71% of 1939 total)
27,000,000 sheep and goats (=29% of 1939 total)
110,000,000 poultry

(NB - in 1953, the number of horses, cattle, sheep and goats was less than that in 1928)

The value of the property destroyed in the Soviet Union amounted to 679 billion rubles (at 1941 rates). With war expenses and lost incomes in Nazi-occupied areas, the losses totaled 2.6 trillion rubles. For the sake of comparison, in the prewar year of 1940 the national income in the Soviet Union was 128.3 billion rubles. In other words, the wartime destruction equalled 20 times the USSR's 1940 GNP.

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