List of battles with most German military fatalities

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

Introduction

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

In this article the numbers of killed refer to those killed in action, killed by disease, missing presumed dead, or someone who died from their wounds.

Battles

Battle or siege Conflict Date Estimated number killed Opposing force References
Battle of Verdun World War I February 21 to December 18, 1916 143,000 killed[a] France France [1]
Battle of Berlin World War II April 16 to May 2, 1945 100,000 killed[b] Soviet Union Soviet Union
Poland 		[2]
Battle of the Seelow Heights (part of the Battle of Berlin) World War II April 16 to 19, 1945 12,000 killed Soviet Union Soviet Union
Poland 		[3]
Battle of Gravelotte Franco-Prussian War August 18, 1870 5,237 killed France France [4]
Battle of Bautzen[c] World War II Apirl 21 to 30, 1945 5,000 killed Soviet Union Soviet Union
Poland 		[5]
Battle of Humin-Bolimów World War I January 14 to February 28, 1915 4,631 killed Russia [6]
Battle of Saint-Mihiel World War I September 12 to 16, 1918 2,000 killed United States United States
France France 		[7]
Battle of Tannenberg World War I August 23 to 30, 1914 Over 1,726 killed[d] Russia [8]
Battle of Sedan Franco-Prussian War September 1 to 2, 1870 1,310 killed France France [9]
Opération Vésuve[e] World War II September 8 to October 4, 1943 1,000 killed Kingdom of Italy Italy
Free France Free France
United Kingdom United Kingdom
United States United States 		[10]

Campaigns

Campaign Conflict Date Estimated number killed Opposing force References
Operation Bagration World War II June 22 to August 19, 1944 ~381,000 killed[f] Soviet Union Soviet Union
Poland
Free France France 		[12][13]
Vistula–Oder offensive World War II January 12 to February 2, 1945 295,000 killed Soviet Union Soviet Union
Poland 		[14]
Operation Barbarossa World War II June 22 to December 5, 1941 186,452 killed Soviet Union Soviet Union [15]
Bobruysk offensive (part of Operation Bagration) World War II June 23 to 28, 1944 50,000 killed Soviet Union Soviet Union [16]
Battle of Moscow[g] World War II October 2, 1941 to January 7, 1942 Over 35,757 killed[h] Soviet Union Soviet Union [18]
Vilno-Dvinsk offensive World War I August 29 to November 30, 1915 33,337 killed Russia [19]
Mogilev offensive (part of Operation Bagration) World War II June 23 to 28, 1944 33,000 killed Soviet Union Soviet Union [20]
Meuse–Argonne offensive (part of the Hundred Days Offensive) World War I September 26 to November 11, 1918 28,000 killed United States United States
France France
Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932) Siam 		[21]
Battle of France World War II May 10 to June 25, 1940 27,074 killed French Third Republic France
French Algeria French Algeria
French protectorate in Morocco French Morrocco
French protectorate of Tunisia French Tunisia
French West Africa French West Africa
French Madagascar French Madagascar
French Indochina French Indochina
Belgium Belgium
United Kingdom United Kingdom
Netherlands Netherlands
Poland
Canada Canada
Czechoslovak government-in-exile Czechoslovakia
Luxembourg Luxembourg 		[22][23]
North African campaign World War II June 11, 1940 to May 13, 1943 18,594 killed United Kingdom United Kingdom
British Raj India
Dominion of Newfoundland Newfoundland
Free France Free France
Australia Australia
New Zealand New Zealand
Union of South Africa South Africa
United States United States
Polish government-in-exile Poland
Greek government-in-exile Greece
Czechoslovak government-in-exile Czechoslovakia 		[24]
Allied invasion of Sicily World War II July 9 to August 17, 1943 4,325 killed United Kingdom United Kingdom
United States United States
Canada Canada 		[25]
Norwegian campaign World War II April 8 to June 10, 1940 3,692 killed[i] Norway Norway
United Kingdom United Kingdom
French Third Republic France
Poland 		[26][27]

Notes

  1. ^ Estimates range from 71,000 to 143,000 killed
  2. ^ Estimates range from 92,000 to 100,000 killed and are based on incomplete archival data. These figures do not include the 125,000 German civilians who were also killed during the battle.
  3. ^ Also known as the Battle of Budziszyn
  4. ^ Between August 21 and 30
  5. ^ Also known as the Liberation of Corsica
  6. ^ Estimates range from 26,397 killed[11] to around 381,000 killed
  7. ^ Also known as Operation Typhoon
  8. ^ The figure per official Wehrmacht daily casualty for the Battle of Moscow was 35,757 killed, 128,716 wounded, and 9,721 missing between 1 October 1941 and 10 January 1942. However, the data from the official report does not match unofficial reports from individual battalion and divisional officers and commanders at the front, who record suffering far higher casualties than was officially reported.[17]
  9. ^ 1,317 killed on land and 2,375 died at sea.

References

  1. ^ Clayton 2003, p. 110.
  2. ^ Müller 2008, p. 673.
  3. ^ Hastings 2005, p. 468.
  4. ^ Howard 1991, p. 143.
  5. ^ Wawer, Zbigniew (26 August 2010). "Zapomniana bitwa (Forgotten Battle)" (in Polish). polska-zbrojna.pl. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  6. ^ С. Нелипович, 1915, 2022, p. 52
  7. ^ ref: William R. Griffiths: The Great War: Strategies & Tactics of the First World War. Square One Publishers, 2003. S. 161
  8. ^ Sanitätsbericht über das deutsche Heer im Weltkriege 1914/1918, III. Band, Berlin 1934, S. 36
  9. ^ Clodfelter 2017, p. 185.
  10. ^ "The liberation of Corsica, 9 September - 4 October 1943 | Chemins de mémoire". Archived from the original on 2024-10-04. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
  11. ^ Frieser 2007, pp. 593–594.
  12. ^ Glantz & Orenstein 2004, p. 176.
  13. ^ "Наша Победа. День за днём — проект РИА Новости". Archived from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
  14. ^ Bahm 2001, p. 51-52.
  15. ^ Askey 2014, p. 178.
  16. ^ Beevor and Vinogradova, p.273
  17. ^ Jones 2009, p. 107, 126–27, 292.
  18. ^ "Heeresarzt 10-Day Casualty Reports per Army/Army Group, 1941". Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
  19. ^ Нелипович 2022, p. 718.
  20. ^ Glantz, Belorussia 1944, p.97
  21. ^ "Collier's New Encyclopedia: A Loose-leaf and Self-revising Reference Work". 1922. Page 209.
  22. ^ Frieser 1995, p. 400.
  23. ^ Sheppard 1990, p. 88.
  24. ^ Carell 1960, p. 596.
  25. ^ Santoni 1989, pp. 400–401.
  26. ^ Lunde 2009, p. 542
  27. ^ Derry 1952, p. 230

Bibliography

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  • Frieser, Karl-Heinz; Schmider, Klaus; Schönherr, Klaus; Schreiber, Gerhard; Ungváry, Kristián; Wegner, Bernd (2007). Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg: Die Ostfront 1943/44 – Der Krieg im Osten und an den Nebenfronten [Germany and the Second World War: The Eastern Front 1943/44 - The War in the East and on the Neighbouring Fronts] (in German). Vol. VIII. München: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. ISBN 978-3421062352.
  • Glantz, David; Orenstein, Harold S. (2004). Belorussia 1944. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-30920-9.
  • Krivosheev, G. F. (1997). Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1853672807.
  • Müller, Rolf-Dieter (2008), Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, Band 10/1: Der Zusammenbruch des Deutschen Reiches 1945 und die Folgen des Zweiten Weltkrieges – Teilbd 1: Die militärische Niederwerfung der Wehrmacht (in German), Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, ISBN 978-3-421-06237-6
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  • Howard, M. (1991). The Franco-Prussian War: The German Invasion of France 1870–1871. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26671-8.
  • Santoni, Alberto (1989), Le Operazioni in Sicilia e in Calabria (Luglio-Settembre 1943) (in Italian), Roma: Stato maggiore dell'Esercito, Ufficio storico, OCLC 26838236
  • Clayton, A. (2003). Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914–18. London: Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-35949-3.
  • Нелипович, Сергей Геннадьевич (2022). Русский фронт Первой мировой войны. Потери сторон 1915 [Russian front of the First World War. Losses of the parties 1915] (in Russian). Moskva: Квадрига. ISBN 978-5-91791-447-3. OCLC 1342447102.
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  • Sheppard, Alan (1990). France, 1940: Blitzkrieg in the West. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-0-85045-958-6.
  • Jones, Michael (2009). The Retreat. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-0-7195-6926-5.
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