Thursday, June 13, 2013

Where you get shot?

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:

PioneerPreppy said...

I am surprised legs are so high.

Wonder how many are self inflicted.

russell1200 said...

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.