A little history trivia . . .

[MrFun]

What is the largest, SINGLE battle (not war) that occured in human history? Let's say some of the criteria is in terms of numbers of soldiers involved from both sides, and maybe the physical size/scale of battlefield.

I don't know.

[Drake Tungsten]

I think it would be Kursk on the Eastern Front in WWII. I know it had the most tanks; I'm assuming there were a lot of infantry as well.

[Boris Godunov]

I'd be almost positive it was Verdun or the Somme... WWI had the largest use of infantry of any war before or since.

[AnnC]

It's got to be Gettysburg.

[Drake Tungsten]

A quick Google search has brought up the Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of Berlin, Kursk and Verdun as candidates. This could be a hard question to answer...

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by AnnC
It's got to be Gettysburg.

The forces at Gettysburg were piddling compared to the numbers of men in battles in WWI. In the battle of the Somme, there were 60,000 casualties by the end of the first day.

Gettysburg is, IIRC, the largest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere, though.

[Lord Merciless]

I agree that Somme is the largest battle ever fought, in terms of manpowers involved. On the first day of the artillery bombardement, the British army used more artillery shells than their total prewar inventory.

On the first day of the infantry assault (7 days after the initial artillery bombardement), the British suffered 60,000 casuaties, of which 20,000 were killed.

At the end of the 4 months long Battle of Somme, the Entente lost 650,000 men, while the Germans lost 450,000.

As a comparison, the total number of combatants at Gettysburg was around 200,000.

[AnnC]

Hmm ok, I did a Google search. According to PBS, the Battle of the Bulge is the largest every fought by the US Army. source

[MrFun]

AnnC -- I said human history, not American history. From the ancient era, to today, in any part of the world.

[AnnC]

Hey, I'm a Southerner. History begins and ends with the War Between the States, doesn't it?

Ok, back to Google...

[notyoueither]

Either the Somme or Verdun for sure.

[Lord Merciless]

But I think Verdun might have seen the most number of combatants. This battle lasted from February 1916 until almost October, and more than 2/3 (!) of the French army had served in Verdun through a rotational system. In the end, the British Somme offensive and the Russian Brusilov offensive relieved the French.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by AnnC
Hey, I'm a Southerner. History begins and ends with the War Between the States, doesn't it?

Ok, back to Google...

Does it always go back to that issue?


Anyway, I do remember a book that I'm reading for my American Military Experience course about World War II.

The book's title is "A War to Be Won" by Allan R. Millett. In Chapter 11 somewhere, he discusses a particular battle between Soviet Union and Germany, at the time that the Soviets have begun their massive counter-offensive on the Eastern front.

I wish I can locate this again, but he claimed that this particular battle was the largest in human history. If I get the urge to go back, I will let you know if I find it again. Unless someone else might know which battle I'm alluding to.

[notyoueither]

Given time involved, I would say Verdun probably had the most people involved.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Lord Merciless
But I think Verdun might have seen the most number of combatants. This battle lasted from February 1916 until almost October, and more than 2/3 (!) of the French army had served in Verdun through a rotational system. In the end, the British Somme offensive and the Russian Brusilov offensive relieved the French.

Beaten to the punch.

Unfortunately, it also broke their will. The German's very nearly gained their goal, Pyrrhic though it would have been.