Black Friday (1944)

Black Friday
Part of the Western Front of 1944-45 in the European theatre of World War II
Date 13 October 1944 Location Hoogerheide, Netherlands Result German Victory
Belligerents
Canada	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Unidentified "A Company" commander †	Unknown
Casualties and losses
56 killed 95 wounded 27 captured Total: 178 casualties[1][2]	Unknown

Black Friday was the nickname given by the 1st Battalion The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada to the date 13 October 1944. On that day, during World War II's Battle of the Scheldt in The Netherlands, the regiment attacked German positions on a raised railway embankment near the village of Hoogerheide after advancing across 1,200 yards of open beet fields. When final casualty totals were tabulated, it was determined the battalion had lost 145 men killed or captured; fifty-six men were killed, including all four of the commanders of the lettered companies, 95 wounded and twenty-seven men were taken prisoner. One company of ninety men had only four men present and fit for duty the next day.