World War II casualties of the Soviet Union World War II casualties of the Soviet Union World War II fatalities of the Soviet Union from all related causes number was approximately 27,000,000, both civilian and military, although the exact figures are disputed. The number 20 million was considered official during the Soviet era. The Russian government puts the Soviet war dead at 26.6 million based on a 1993 study by the Russian Academy of Sciences. this includes 8,668,400 military deaths as calculated by the Russian Ministry of Defense. The figures published by Russian Ministry of Defense have been accepted by most historians outside Russia (see table below "Western
Military operations of the Iran–Iraq War marshes as a springboard for future attacks/infiltrations. Four years into the war, the human cost to Iran had been 170,000 combat fatalities and 340,000 wounded. Iraqi combat fatalities were estimated at 80,000 with 150,000 wounded. Unable to launch successful ground attacks against Iran, Iraq used their now expanded air force to carry out strategic bombing against Iranian shipping, economic targets, and cities in order to damage Iran's economy and morale. Iraq also wanted to provoke Iran into doing something that would cause the superpowers to be directly involved in the conflict on the Iraqi side. The so-called "Tanker War" started