The Second World War officially claimed the lives of nearly 500,000 Britons.
But the true death toll of the conflict is likely to be far higher as a new study has shown that the war left survivors at greater risk of suffering diabetes, depression and heart disease.
The first large study of the long-lasting consequences of the conflict has found that living in a war-torn country increased the likelihood of physical and mental problems later in life.
Food shortages, displacement from homes and the loss of relatives all created a toxic legacy that was still being felt for decades after fighting ceased in May 1945.
People who experienced the war were 3 per cent more likely to have diabetes as adults and nearly six per cent more likely to have depression, researchers at the University of Munich found.
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