Canadian Armoured Corps:
Casualties During WWII
When World War II began, casualty "wastage" rates had been worked out for the British Army by the War Office, based on rates from World War I. Canada, for lack of anything better, adopted these rates as the basis for calculating reinforcement requirements. The wastage rates evolved during the war and were based on actual British fighting experiences to that period in time. While the rates were based on global fighting by British forces, the campaign in North Africa became the chief determinant. By the time that Canadian formations were in action long enough to develop their own wastage rates, it became obvious that infantry rates had been calculated far too low while armour unit rates were proving to be much too high. By July of 1944, overall Canadian casualty rates were made up of 65% infantry, 22% armour, and the rest were from the other Corps such as Engineers and Artillery etc.
Casualty List: The Canadian Armoured Corps 1939-1945
(Figures depict: Officers - Other Ranks)
Unit | Presumed Killed | Missing | Killed | Died of Wounds | Total | Grand Total |
Brigaded Units | ||||||
HQ Sqn 1st Cdn Armd Bde | 0 - 1 | 0 -1 | 1 | |||
11th Armd Regt (Ont R) | 0 - 1 | 1 - 0 | 4 - 29 | 3 - 15 | 8 - 45 | 53 |
12th Armd Regt (TTR) | 0 - 1 | 9 - 59 | 6 - 16 | 15 - 76 | 91 | |
14th Armd Regt (Calg R) | 2 - 3 | 1 - 10 | 13 - 53 | 1 - 12 | 17 - 78 | 95 |
HQ Sqn 2nd Armd Bde | 3 - 3 | 3 - 3 | 6 | |||
6th Armd Regt (1 H) | 4 - 21 | 0 - 9 | 14 - 121 | 1 - 11 | 19 - 162 | 181 |
10th Armd Regt (FGH) | 0 - 4 | 1 - 3 | 12 - 95 | 1 - 19 | 14 - 121 | 135 |
27th Armd Regt (Sher H) | 0 - 4 | 1 - 4 | 10 - 77 | 2 - 19 | 13 - 104 | 117 |
HQ Sqn 4th Cdn Armd Div | 0 - 1 | 0 - 4 | 1 - 0 | 1 - 5 | 6 | |
HQ Sqn 4th Armd Bde | 1 - 6 | 1 - 9 | 1 - 2 | 3 - 17 | 20 | |
21st Armd Regt (GGFG) | 0 - 1 | 8 - 71 | 4 - 15 | 12 - 87 | 99 | |
22nd Armd Regt (CGG) | 1 - 1 | 1 - 2 | 10 - 62 | 2 - 13 | 14 - 78 | 92 |
28th Armd Regt (BCR) | 2 - 21 | 0 - 11 | 8 - 51 | 2 - 13 | 12 - 96 | 108 |
HQ Sqn 5th Cdn Armd Div | 0 - 3 | 0 - 2 | 0 - 5 | 5 | ||
HQ Sqn 5th Armd Bde | 0 | 0 | ||||
2nd Armd Regt (LdSH (RC)) | 0 - 1 | 8 - 68 | 4 - 22 | 12 - 91 | 103 | |
5th Armd Regt (NBH) | 4 - 32 | 1 - 16 | 5 - 48 | 53 | ||
9th Armd Regt (BCD) | 0 - 1 | 0 - 3 | 2 - 51 | 2 - 15 | 4 - 70 | 74 |
Unbrigaded Units | ||||||
3rd Armd Recce Regt (GGHG) | 6 - 44 | 4 - 12 | 10 - 53 | 63 | ||
29th Armd Recce Regt (SAR) | 1 - 3 | 8 - 53 | 3 - 13 | 12 - 69 | 81 | |
1st Armd Car Regt (RCD) | 5 - 35 | 4 - 12 | 9 - 47 | 56 | ||
18th Armd Car Regt (XII Man. Dragoons) | 1 - 2 | 5 - 38 | 1 - 7 | 7 - 47 | 54 | |
4th Recce Regt (4 PLDG) | 1 - 0 | 2 - 11 | 8 - 123 | 1 - 37 | 12 - 171 | 183 |
8th Recce Regt (14 CH) | 1 - 3 | 10 - 65 | 1 - 27 | 12 - 95 | 107 | |
7th Recce Regt (17 DYRCH) | 0 - 1 | 7 - 64 | 2 - 15 | 9 - 80 | 89 | |
25th Armd Del Regt (Elgins) | 0 - 4 | 0 - 2 | 2 - 11 | 0 - 1 | 2 - 18 | 20 |
1st Cdn Armd Personnel Carrier Regt | 1 - 12 | 0 - 3 | 1 - 15 | 16 | ||
1 Cdn Assault Troops | 1 - 3 | 1 - 3 | 4 | |||
3 CACRU | 1 - 0 | 1 - 0 | 1 | |||
Reinforcement Depot CAC | 0 - 1 | 0 - 1 | 0 - 1 | 0 - 3 | 3 | |
32nd Armd Recce Regt (RMR) | 0 - 1 | 0 - 1 | 1 | |||
Totals | 11 - 68 | 11 - 69 | 158-1235 | 48 - 322 | 228-1689 | 1917 |
Battle Casualties: Canadian Armoured Formations
In 21 Army Group As Of 16 Jun 45
(Figures depict: Officers - Other Ranks)
Formation | Jun-Jul 1944 | Aug-Sep 1944 | Oct-Nov 1944 | Dec44-Jan45 | Feb-Mar 1945 | Apr-May 1945 | Totals |
4th Cdn Armd Division | 3 - 71 | 225-2609 | 96-1130 | 31 - 363 | 84-1043 | 73-1242 | 512-6458 |
5th Cdn Armd Division | - | - | - | - | 1 - 10 | 53 - 472 | 54 - 482 |
1st Cdn Armd Bde | - | - | - | - | - | 3 - 12 | 3 - 12 |
2nd Cdn Armd Bde | 79 - 575 | 43 - 380 | 12 - 89 | 0 - 5 | 19 - 83 | 10 - 45 | 163-1177 |
Totals | 82 - 646 | 268-2989 | 108-1219 | 31 - 368 | 104-1136 | 139-1771 | 732-8129 |
The contents of the above tables are from John Grodzinski's
Operational Handbook For The First Canadian Army
1944-1945
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© Chris Johnson, 1997