I don't pretend to recall what percentage of people get here in my adventures in apocalyptic fiction reading. If I had to take a guess, the heroes get hit about 90% of the time in the arms or legs (to make for a handy flesh wound) and the bad guys get head/neck shot 60% of the time. Good guy, sacrificial lambs (gay or otherwise) are never head-shot because that would keep them from having a last minute death bed conversation with the hero.
So what are the most likely places to get hit? From Kneubuehl's Wound Ballistics: Basics and Applications (hat tip: TMP)
Body Part - Surface Area - WW2 actual % of hits
Head/neck 12% 21%
Arms 22% 23%
Thorax 16% 13%
Abdomen 11% 08%
Legs 13% 35%
I am presuming that the high percentage of head/neck and arm hits is related to what parts of the body are kept exposed while firing. Most troops in World War 2 are firing from cover.
2 comments:
I am surprised legs are so high.
Wonder how many are self inflicted.
Pioneer: Might be a few. But although the source wasn't detailed, I suspect the numbers are weighted toward the Western Allies, who much like in WW1, were out of the trenches/foxholes attacking for a greater period of time.
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