A little history trivia . . .

[Lord Merciless]

Originally posted by notyoueither


Beaten to the punch.

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

That also reflected in their 'dreaded' Maginot Line.

[AnnC]

Does it always go back to that issue? If you grow up in South Carolina it does. One of these days, when I have time, I'll post my father's (long and elaborate) taxonomy of Yankees.

And Google never fails me... (drum roll) the largest and bloodiest battle in history was the Battle of Stalingrad where 1,109,000 soldiers died and 650,800 Russian soldiers were wounded but survived - no numbers for non-fatal casualties on the German side.

Source: Guiness Book of World Records

[Drake Tungsten]

Unless someone else might know which battle I'm alluding to.

I think you're alluding to Kursk, otherwise known as Operation Citadel. I have "A War to Be Won" here; if you are a little more specific I could probably find the line you are remembering...

[Lord Merciless]

The largest tank war was actually the Gulf War 1, with 4000 allied tanks facing 3000 Iraqi tanks. In the Operation Zitadelle, the German side had only about 2000 tanks at the start of the offensive, the Russian side had even less. Also, there were far more APC, IFV, SP Artilleries, and other motorized vehicles involved in Gulf War 1.

The honor of the largest single tank engagement happened indeed during the Operation Zitadelle, at Prokhorovka on July 12 1943, where 1000 tanks from sides collided near that tiny village...

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Unless someone else might know which battle I'm alluding to.

I think you're alluding to Kursk, otherwise known as Operation Citadel. I have "A War to Be Won" here; if you are a little more specific I could probably find the line you are remembering...

I will let you know if I get the urge to look it up again.

[Bosh]

What about the biggest battle in Asia?
I can't think of anything that beats the fighting around Shanghai in August of 1937. About 250K Chinese casualties and 40K Japanese if you add in the civilian casualties and strech for the Rape on Nanjiang its definately up there.
Also Verdun and Somme shouldn't really count, a battle that last most of the year is a series of battles....

[Drogue]

Depends on what you mean by largest. In terms of casualties, it would have to be Stalingrad, in terms of overall impact on the world, I'd say the Somme. However, since a battle is fought in one place, I think the 'largest' might not be the right phrase. If it is, maybe the Battle of Britain. That was over much or England, and parts of France/Germany.

Originally posted by Boshko
What about the biggest battle in Asia?
I can't think of anything that beats the fighting around Shanghai in August of 1937. About 250K Chinese casualties and 40K Japanese if you add in the civilian casualties and strech for the Rape on Nanjiang its definately up there.
Also Verdun and Somme shouldn't really count, a battle that last most of the year is a series of battles....

Yes, but I think battles can last any length of time, but are continuous in one particular location. I could be wrong though

[Lord Merciless]

The biggest battles in Asia occured between forces of Chinese Communists and Nationalists. The "Battle of Huai-Hai" saw the destruction of several Nationalist armies with up to 600,000 men.

[Az]

Gettysburg was the largest battle fought in the western peninsula?

bah, Roman armies had largest battles millenia ago.

[Bosh]

The biggest battles in Asia occured between forces of Chinese Communists and Nationalists. The "Battle of Huai-Hai" saw the destruction of several Nationalist armies with up to 600,000 men.

Ah ok, don't know Chinese Civil War history as well as I should.

in terms of overall impact on the world, I'd say the Somme

Nah, if you're going by that standard everything from Yarmuk to Manzikert beat the Somme.

[Boris Godunov]

The Somme changed little in the war, so I can't see it being considered one of huge impact, other than the massive casualties. I believe, to this day, it has the distinction of having the most dead per acre, but it didn't shake up anything in the war. It was just a huge, disgusting slaughter.

[AnnC]

Originally posted by Azazel
Gettysburg was the largest battle fought in the western peninsula?

bah, Roman armies had largest battles millenia ago.

Uhmm, Rome is in the eastern hemisphere.

[korn469]

i wonder which single battle involved the largest percentage of the entire's world population since 1492

see if you history people can find that one out

[Lord Merciless]

Originally posted by korn469
i wonder which single battle involved the largest percentage of the entire's world population since 1492

see if you history people can find that one out

Somme is still the winner. Assuming a KIA rate of 20% (very high already), a total of 4.5 million men would have participated. Given the population to be around 2 billion in 1916, it means 0.225% of the world population had fought in this battle.

[Drake Tungsten]

I will let you know if I get the urge to look it up again.

I found it for you. On page 295 of "A War to Be Won", Murray and Millett say that "both sides marshaled massive forces for this climactic battle of World War II - the largest battle in human history." They are referring to Operation Zitadelle.

Chalk a point up for me...