What was the #1 cause of Casualties?????

Hi everybody.
I was searching for a site that had what the number one cause of casualties was during WWII. Im only talking military casualties though, not civilian. I came accross this site and was hoping mabey sombody could help me. I was thinking it was from artillery, but am not sure. Any input you guys have will be appreciated. Thx

 

I know that on the western front most allied men losses came from the German mortar fire. Probably the German losses came both from artillery fire and bombing (by the allied air forces)on the western front.

 

At the eastern front most German casualties came from Soviet artillery. Or that's what I've heard…

 

Without doing any research I would say it's a safe bet that artillery would be the #1 cause of casualties in the European theater.

Later

 

In the first unpleasantness of the 20th century artillery was the biggest killer and I've no doubt in my mind it was in the second too.....

 

Theres nothing like the sound of shrapnel wizzing around you to make you wish you had dug a better trench or found a better hole.

 

starvation or dehydration

 

Diseases must have been causing quite alot of casualties especially in the autumn,winter and early spring phases.

 

I believe artillery to be the biggest killer in the front lines, but when I look at total figures of military losses I suspect the PoWs that did not make it back probably outnumber them at least for the Soviet and German military, I would need to look up some figures though.

 

The biggest killer was the mighty Kar98k, or the Stg44, fifty-fity! The MG-34 run in at a close second. They even made a History Channel 3-hour special about this for Christmas!