Do people use 駆逐 in general to mean "exterminate"?


In episode 25 of Attack of the Titan anime, the protagonist said

> 駆逐してやる…いや、殺す (yelling very loudly)

Now, "exterminate" seems to be a pretty common translation of 駆逐, for example

  * [JMDict](http://beta.jisho.org/word/51859a98d5dda7295400b49a) defines it as "Extermination; expulsion; destruction."
  * [A Stack Exchange post by cypher](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/12488/6840) mentions a translation which uses "exterminate" for 駆逐.
  * 駆逐艦 means destroyer.

* * *

Despite that, [大辞泉・大辞林](http://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%A7%86%E9%80%90) defines
them along the lines of

> 敵などを追い払うこと

i.e. "to drive (enemy etc.) away; to get rid of"

[研究社 新和英中辞典](http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E9%A7%86%E9%80%90) also uses words
like

> drive away [out]; oust; expel; get rid of

for 駆逐(する), but never "exterminate".

* * *

So, I wonder if it's correct to say that 駆逐 means "to exterminate" or "to
destroy", or if such a meaning is only inferred indirectly from the context.
An example in English is "to get rid". Usually we won't think of "get rid" as
killing, at least not _specifically_ , right? Or rather, killing is but one of
the many ways of getting rid of something. But say

> That guy's asking too much questions. Get rid of him.

and you would associate "get rid = kill".

Is this the same case with 駆逐?

* * *

Seems like 駆逐 is used very often in military context. For what it's worth,
here are some in non-military context I've come across

  * [スマートフォン、タブレットがパソコンを駆逐する？](http://pc.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/column/20110830/1036534/)
  * [動物駆逐用煙火（連続発射式）の取扱いにご注意ください！](http://www.safety-hokkaido.meti.go.jp/sangyo_hoan/kayaku/caution/index140729.htm)
  * [直訳文を駆逐せよ](http://japanenglish.jp/column/%E7%9B%B4%E8%A8%B3%E6%96%87%E3%82%92%E9%A7%86%E9%80%90%E3%81%9B%E3%82%88.html)




I think 「駆逐する」 is stronger than _get rid_ , but not as strong as
_exterminate_.

Literally speaking, 駆 means to _drive_ , and 逐 means to _chase_. As 大辞泉 says,
there is no meaning of _killing_ or _destroying_ explicitly included in this
word.

However, 駆逐 is almost always used in a military context, and usually implies
_killing_ or _destroying_ , as the simplest measure to keep enemies away.

And I feel _every last one_ or _all_ is also implied in 駆逐 (getting rid of
every last enemy). In this sense, _extermination_ is not too far. That said,
killing is not necessarily required.

> 駆逐してやる…いや、殺す

In this sentence, I think the speaker is already not hesitating to kill the
enemies by saying 駆逐してやる. And with 殺す, the speaker explicitly denies the
enemies' chance of survival.

