Assigned strength:

547,000

Table of Organization figure for 42 divisions.

Understrength:

186,000

An average of 34 percent based on interviews with captured officers who reported their own units understrength all the way from zero to two - thirds.

Captured:

63,000

The only accurate hard number.

Deserted:

153,000

An average derived from interviews with senior POWs, who reported 20 percent to 50 percent of their deployed strength deserting an average of 42 percent for the units covered.

Injured:

17,000

Based on POW interviews but - the range among units went from 2 percent to 16 percent. These are air war injuries only.

Killed:

9,000

Based on the interviews with senior officer POWs. The range among units was 1 percent to 6 percent of the troops deployed, with an average of 2 - 1 / 2 percent. These numbers do not include deaths in the ground war.

On leave:

few

A reasonable assumption.

Escaped at the end of the war:

120,000

The number that falls out if all the other numbers in this list are accurate. At the end of the fighting, one intelligence estimate based on aerial reconnaissance of the fleeing troops placed the number of escapees at 100,000. But because people cannot be accurately counted from the air, that number was more guessed at than scientifically derived.