List of battles with most Russian military fatalities

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

Introduction

This article lists battles and campaigns in which the number of Russian 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 Tannenberg	World War I	August 23 to 30, 1914	32,458 killed[a]	Germany	[1]
Battle of Łódź (1914)	World War I	November 11 to December 6, 1914	25,000 killed	Germany Austria-Hungary	[2]
Battle of Humin-Bolimów	World War I	January 14 to February 28, 1915	17,385 killed	Germany	[3]
Battle of Berezina	French invasion of Russia	November 26 to 29, 1812	10,000 killed	France Poland Italy Naples Bavaria Westphalia Württemberg Saxony Hesse	[4]
Siege of Silistria (1854)	Crimean War	May 11 to June 23, 1854	10,000 killed	Ottoman Empire	[5][6]
Battle of Mukden	Russo-Japanese War	February 20 to March 10, 1905	8,705 killed	Japan	[7]
Siege of Silistra (1773)	Russo-Turkish war (1768–1774)	June 18 to 29, 1773	Over 8,000 killed[b]	Ottoman Empire	[9]
Battle of Mărășești	World War I	August 6 to September 3, 1917	7,083 killed	Germany Austria-Hungary	[10]
Battle of Lode	Livonian War	January 23, 1573	7,000 killed	Sweden	[11]
Siege of Port Arthur	Russo-Japanese War	August 1, 1904 to January 2, 1905	6,000 killed	Japan	[12]
Second Battle of Bolimów	World War I	May 31 to July 7, 1915	5,196 killed[c]	Germany	[13]
Battle of Shaho	Russo-Japanese War	October 5 to 17, 1904	5,084 killed	Japan	[7][14]
Battle of Tsushima	Russo-Japanese War	May 27 to 28, 1905	5,045 killed[d]	Japan	[15]
Siege of Brăila (1809)	Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812)	April 20 to May 28, 1809	5,000 killed[e]	Ottoman Empire	[16]
Siege of Izmail	Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)	December 2, 1790	4,000 killed	Ottoman Empire	[17]
Battle of Liaoyang	Russo-Japanese War	August 25 to September 3, 1904	3,611 killed	Japan	[18]
Battle of the Chernaya	Crimean War	August 16, 1855	3,330 killed	United Kingdom Kingdom of Sardinia Ottoman Empire	[19]
Battle of Inkerman	Crimean War	November 5, 1854	3,286 killed	United Kingdom France	[20]
Battle of Lesnaya	Great Northern War	October 9, 1708	3,000 killed[f]	Sweden	[22]
First Battle of Plevna (part of the Siege of Plevna)	Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)	July 19 to 20, 1877	2,845 killed[g]	Ottoman Empire	[23]
Battle of Kulevicha	Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829)	June 11, 1829	2,000 killed	Ottoman Empire	[24]
Battle of Gemauerthof	Great Northern War	July 26, 1705	2,000 killed	Sweden	[25]
Siege of Polotsk (1579)	Livonian War	August 11 to August 30, 1579	2,000 killed	Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth	[26]
Battle of Sandepu	Russo-Turkish war (1768–1774)	January 25 to 29, 1905	1,727 killed	Japan	[7][27]
Siege of Bender (1770)	Russo-Turkish war (1768–1774)	July 26 to September 27, 1770	1,700 killed	Ottoman Empire	[28]
Battle of Poltava	Great Northern War	July 8, 1709	1,572 killed[h]	Sweden Cossack Hetmanate[i]	[30]
Battle of Kushliki	Polish–Russian War (1654–1667)	November 4, 1661	1,500 killed	Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth	[32]
Battle of Champaubert	War of the Sixth Coalition	February 10, 1814	1,400 killed	France	[33]
Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)	First Chechen War	December 22, 1994 to March 6, 1995	1,376 killed	Chechen Republic of Ichkeria	[34]
Siege of Azov (1736)	Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739)	March 30, 1736 to July 8, 1736	1,250 killed	Ottoman Empire	[35]
Battle of Krasnokutsk–Gorodnoye	Great Northern War	February 21, 1709	1,200 killed	Sweden	[36][37]
Battle of Shipka Pass	Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)	July 17, 1877 to January 9, 1878	1,122 killed	Ottoman Empire	[38]
Battle of Erastfer	Great Northern War	January 9, 1702	1,000 killed	Sweden	[39]
Siege of Erivan (1808)	Russo-Persian War (1804–1813)	October to November, 1808	1,000 killed	Qajar Iran	[40]

Campaigns

Campaign	Conflict	Date	Estimated number killed	Opposing force	References
Gorlice–Tarnów offensive	World War I	May 2 to July 13, 1915	118,112 killed	Germany Austria-Hungary	[41]
Great Retreat	World War I	July 13 to September 19, 1915	Over 96,820 killed[j]	Germany Austria-Hungary	[42]
Carpathian Campaign	World War I	January 14 to April 24, 1915	69,436 killed[k]	Germany Austria-Hungary	[43]
Brusilov offensive	World War I	June 4 to September 20, 1916	62,155 killed	Germany Austria-Hungary Ottoman Empire	[44]
Vilno-Dvinsk offensive	World War I	August 29 to November 30, 1915	53,173 killed	Germany	[45]
Rovno offensive	World War I	August 27 to October 15, 1915	41,205 killed	Germany Austria-Hungary	[46]
Kerensky offensive	World War I	July 1 to 19, 1917	~40,000 killed[l]	Germany Austria-Hungary Ottoman Empire	[48]
Vistula–Bug offensive (part of the Great Retreat)	World War I	July 14 to August 28, 1915	39,654 killed	Germany Austria-Hungary	[49]
Bug–Narew offensive (part of the Great Retreat)	World War I	July 13 to August 27, 1915	37,987 killed	Germany	[50]
Russian invasion of East Prussia (1914)	World War I	August 17 to September 14, 1914	24,589 killed[m]	Germany	[51]
Caucasus campaign	World War I	October 29, 1914 to October 30, 1918	22,000 killed	Ottoman Empire	[52]
2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive	Russian Invasion of Ukraine	June 4 to December 31, 2023	Over 3,755 killed[n]	Ukraine	[53]
Erzurum offensive (part of the Caucasus campaign)	World War I	January 10 to February 16, 1916	2,339 killed	Ottoman Empire	[54]
Campaign of Dobruja	Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812)	April 8 to September 4, 1809	2,229 killed	Ottoman Empire	[55]
Bergmann Offensive (part of the Caucasus campaign)	World War I	November 2 to November 21, 1914	1,000 killed	Ottoman Empire Germany	[56]

Notes

1. 5,522 confirmed dead and 26,936 likely dead
2. 8,000 killed on June 18 only per Austrian historian Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall^[8]
3. 1,800 in combat and 3,396 due to poison gas
4. 216 officers and 4,614 sailors
5. Estimates range from 3,000 to 5,000
6. Estimates range from 1,111^[21] to 3,000^[22]
7. 74 officers and 2,771 soldiers
8. Estimates range from 1,345^[29] to 1,572^[30]
9. Cossacks led by Ivan Mazepa sided with the Swedish Empire^[31]
10. 96,820 killed between July 13 and August 28 only
11. 570 officers and 68,866 soldiers between January 14 and May 1
12. Estimates range from 6,905^[47] to 40,000
13. Official Russian medical report
14. 3,755 confirmed by name

References

1. Nelipovich 2023, p. 265.
2. Nelipovich 2021, p. 151.
3. С. Нелипович, 1915, 2022, p. 52
4. Chandler 1966, p. 846.
5. Harris 2018.
6. Macphail 2024, p. 78.
7. Russian Main Military Medical Directorate (Glavnoe Voenno-Sanitarnoe Upravlenie) statistical report. 1914.
8. von Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph. Çevik, Mümin (ed.). Büyük Osmanlı Tarihi [Great Ottoman History] (in Turkish). Vol. 16. Translated by Özdek, Refik. Istanbul: Üçdal Neşriyat. p. 223.
9. von Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph. Çevik, Mümin (ed.). Büyük Osmanlı Tarihi [Great Ottoman History] (in Turkish). Vol. 16. Translated by Özdek, Refik. Istanbul: Üçdal Neşriyat. p. 223.
10. Bătălia de la Mărăşeşti, pe unde nu se trece Archived 27 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine (in Romanian)
11. Harrison, Dick (2024-02-01). Fienden: Sverige och Ryssland från vikingatid till idag (in Swedish). Ordfront. ISBN 978-91-7945-181-3.
12. Clodfelter, Micheal, Warfare and Armed Conflicts, a statistical reference, Volume II 1900–91, pub McFarland, ISBN 0-89950-815-4 p648.
13. Nelipovich 2022, p. 467.
14. Kowner 2006, p. 347–350.
15. Corbett 2015, p. 333.
16. Ömer Faruk Uzun, "The Danube Campaign of the Russian Army in the 1806–1812 Russo-Turkish War", Hacettepe University, Ankara (2020), pp. 104–105.
17. Orlov 1890, p. 81.
18. The Official history of the Russo-Japanese War / prepared by the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence Part IV p 115
19. Bodart 1908, p. 474.
20. Kinglake 1863, p. 458.
21. Konovaltjuk & Lyth (2009)
22. Gordon A. The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia: To which is Prefixed a Short General History of the Country from the Rise of that Monarchy: and an Account of the Author's Life, Volume 1. Aberdeen. 1755. pp. 277–278
23. "The Plevna Delay". MilitaryRifles.com.
24. "Кулевчинское Сражение 1829 • Great Russian Encyclopedia – Electronic version". old.bigenc.ru. 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
25. Velikanov, Vladimir; Mekhneev, Sergei (2014). Курляндский поход Шереметева и «упущенная виктория» при Мур-музе (Гемауэргофе) 26 июля 1705 г [Sheremetev's Courland campaign and the "missed Victoria" at the Murmuiza (Gemauerthof) on July 26, 1705]. Старый Цейхгауз (in Russian): 70–80.
26. Kupisz 2003, pp. 155–156.
27. "Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century by G. F. Krivosheev". Archived from the original on May 9, 2006.
28. Petrov 1866, p. 334–336.
29. (in Swedish) Christer Kuvaja: Karolinska krigare 1660–1721, p. 192. Schildts Förlags Ab 2008. ISBN 978-9515018236.
30. Krotov 2014, p. 420.
31. Tucker, S.C., 2010, A Global Chronology of Conflict, Vol. Two, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC, ISBN 978-1-85109-667-1
32. Бабулин И. Б. Генерал из Шотландии//Армия и битвы, 2004, № 3
33. Nafziger 2015, p. 143.
34. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
35. Baiov A.K. The Russian army during the reign of Empress Anna Ioannovna. The war between Russia and Turkey in 1736–1739. — P. 227.
36. Carlsson 1947, pp. 194–195.
37. Nordberg 1740a, pp. 893–894.
38. Francis Vinton Greene,Report on the Russian Army and its Campaigns in Turkey in 1877-1878. D. Appleton and Company. 1879. p. 356.
39. История русской армии.– Москва: Эксмо, 2023. – 768с.–(Подарочные издания. Российская императорская библиотека). IBSN 978-5-699-42397-2. P.45
40. Mikaberidze 2020, p. 438.
41. С.Г. Нелипович, 2022, pp. 380–381
42. Nelipovich 2022, p. 695–696.
43. С.Г. Нелипович, 2022, p. 225
44. Ипполитов Г. М., Кужилин С. Ф. Славная страница российской военной истории. К 100-летию Брусиловского прорыва, Известия Самарского научного центра Российской академии наук, 2016, p. 76
45. Нелипович 2022, p. 718.
46. С.Г. Нелипович, 2022, p. 721
47. Heenan 1987, p. 117–124.
48. The Kerensky Offensive: A desperate operation that backfired (Archive)
49. С.Г. Нелипович, 2022, p. 582
50. С.Г. Нелипович, 2022, p. 550
51. С.Г. Нелипович, Два похода, 2020, p. 99
52. Kernosovsky 1938, p. 557.
53. "Цена удержанных позиций: что известно о потерях России в Украине к ноябрю". BBC News Русская служба. 10 November 2023. Archived from the original on 11 November 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
54. Oleynikov 2024, p. 428.
55. А. Н. Петров. Война России с Турцией 1806-1812 гг. p. 228
56. Eugene Rogan. The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East. Hachette UK. 2015. P. 78

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