List of battles with most Canadian military fatalities

This article contains a list of battles and military campaigns with most Canadian military deaths.

Introduction

This article lists battles and campaigns in which the number of Canadian military fatalities exceed 1,000. The term casualty in warfare refers to a soldier who is no longer fit to fight after he or she has been in combat. Casualties can include killed, wounded, missing, captured or deserted.

Battles

Battle or siege	Conflict	Date	Estimated number killed	Opposing force	References
Battle of Passchendaele	World War I	July 31 to November 10, 1917	Over 4,000 killed	Germany	[1]
Battle of Vimy Ridge	World War I	April 9 to 12, 1917	3,598 killed	Germany	[2]
Battle of Flers–Courcelette (part of the Battle of the Somme)	World War I	September 15 to 22, 1916	~2,500 killed	Germany	[3]
Battle of Hill 70	World War I	August 15 to 23, 1917	2,025 killed [a]	Germany	[4]
Second Battle of Ypres	World War I	Apirl 22 to May 25, 1915	Over 2,000 killed	Germany	[5]
Siege of Louisbourg (1758)	French and Indian War	June 8 to 26, 1758	Less than 1,751 killed [b]	Great Britain British America	[6]
Falaise pocket	World War II	August 12 to 21, 1944	1,479 killed	Germany	[7]
Battle of Ortona	World War II	December 20 to 28, 1943	1,375 killed	Germany	[8]
Battle of Mont Sorrel	World War I	June 2 to 13, 1916	Over 1,100 killed	Germany	[9]
Battle of Amiens (1918)	World War I	August 8 to 12, 1918	Over 1,036 killed [c]	Germany	[10]
Battle of St. Julien (part of the Second Battle of Ypres)	World War I	April 22 to May 5, 1915	~1,000 killed [d]	Germany	[11]

Campaigns

Campaign	Conflict	Date	Estimated number killed	Opposing force	References
Hundred Days Offensive	World War I	August 8 to November 11, 1918	11,000 killed	Germany Austria-Hungary	[12]
Battle of the Somme	World War I	July 1 to November 18, 1916	8,000 killed [e]	Germany	[13]
Liberation of the Netherlands	World War II	September 1944 to April 1945	Over 7,600 killed	Germany	[14] [15]
Italian campaign	World War II	July 9, 1943 to May 2, 1945	~5,900 killed [f]	Germany Italian Social Republic	[16] [17]
Battle of Normandy	World War II	June 6 to August 25, 1944	5,021 killed	Germany	[18]
Battle of the Atlantic	World War II	September 10, 1939 to May 8, 1945 [g]	4,352 killed [h]	Germany Italy	[19]
Rhineland Offensive	World War II	February 8 to March 27, 1945	Over 2,300 killed	Germany	[20]
Western Allied invasion of Germany	World War II	March 22 to May 8, 1945	1,747 killed	Germany Hungary	[21]
Gothic Line offensive (part of the Italian campaign)	World War II	August 25, 1944 to March 1945	1,016 killed	Germany Italian Social Republic	[22]
Liberation of Belgium	World War II	September 2, 1944 to February 4, 1945	~1,000 killed [i]	Germany	[23]

Notes

1. 881 from the 1st Canadian Division, 763 from the 2nd Canadian Division, and 381 from the 4th Canadian Division
2. 102 Regulars, militia and Mi'kmaq and 1,649 Acadian militia, Acadian partisans, and Acadian civilians
3. August 8th only ^[10]
4. Between April 22nd and May 3rd only
5. Estimates range from 7,000 to 8,000
6. Estimates range from 5,300 ^[16] to 5,900 ^[17]
7. Canada joined the Battle of the Atlantic on 10 September 1939 ^[19]
8. 2,000 from the Royal Canadian Navy, 1,600 merchant seamen, and 752 from the Royal Canadian Air Force
9. Over 800 known graves

References

1. "Canada and the Battle of Passchendaele". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
2. "Battle of Vimy Ridge". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
3. Nicholson (2009) [1962]. Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914–1919 (PDF). Ottawa: Department of National Defence, Directorate of History and Heritage. ISBN   978-0-7735-4618-9.
4. Edmonds, J. E. (1991) [1948]. France and Belgium 1917: 7th June–10th November. Messines and Third Ypres (Passchendaele). History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. II (Imperial War Museum & Battery Press ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN 978-0-89839-166-4.
5. https://www.mountpleasantgroup.com/en-CA/Resources/first-world-war-memorial/the-second-battle-of-ypres.aspx
6. "Acadian Expulsion (the Great Upheaval)". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
7. Stacey, Colonel C. P.; Bond, Major C.C.J. (1960). "The Victory Campaign: The operations in North-West Europe 1944–1945" (PDF). Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War. The Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery, Ottawa. OCLC   606015967. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 December 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
8. Zuehlke, Mark (1999). Ortona: Canada's epic World War II battle. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 1-55054-557-4.
9. "Battle of Mount Sorrel". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
10. "Battle of Amiens". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
11. Rawling, B. (1992). Surviving Trench Warfare: Technology and the Canadian Corps, 1914–1918 . London: University of Toronto Press. ISBN   978-0-8020-6002-0.
12. Cook, Tim (2008). Shock troops : Canadians fighting the Great War, 1917–1918. Toronto: Viking Canada. p. 746. ISBN   978-0-670-06735-0 . Retrieved 25 August 2025.
13. Cook, Tim (2007). At The Sharp End: Canadians Fighting The Great War 1914–1916. Toronto: Viking Canada. p. 610. ISBN   978-0-670-06734-3 . Retrieved 25 August 2025.
14. "Liberation of the Netherlands". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
15. "Canadian Soldiers and the Liberation of the Netherlands". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
16. "Canada and the Italian Campaign". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
17. "WWII Italian Canadian Campaign – Devils Brigade Tour | Canadian Battlefield Tours".
18. Stacey & Bond 1960, p. 271.
19. "Battle of the Atlantic". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
20. "Battle of the Rhine | Canadian Battlefield Tours".
21. Stacey & Bond 1960, p. 611.
22. "Gothic Line | 48th Highlanders of Canada". 48thhighlanders.ca.
23. https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/wars-and-conflicts/second-world-war/liberation-of-belgium