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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