Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Worst possible battle to have endured

A quick Google search on Verdun shows that 40 million artillery shells we expended over the battle.

https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Battle_of_Verdun.html

This brings up percentages. Total casualties or casualties per numbers involved. Intensity.

Number of days. Some of the Civil War battles; one, two, three days, horrific days.
The worst day? Omaha Beach?
The worst hour? Vietnam HOT LZ's?

Daytime temperatures on Pelelui hit 115 degrees. To make things worse 'fresh' water was brought ashore in 50 gallon drums that had held petroleum previously and were'nt well cleaned.

If a man can read the reports of those battles without crying, and without giving thanks, he's no man.

Lest we forget.

The seige of Leningrad and the battle of Stalingrad didn't sound like a walk through the daisies..

I worked with a man who survived that, and Tarawa, and Okinawa. He was one of the kindest souls I've ever met. When he told me where he'd been, all I could do what stammer "My God, thank you". His response? He laughed and said "well, I wouldn't want to do it again, that's for sure. Your thanks is for those that didn't come home, but I'll say that I'm welcome nonetheless". Then, he wanted to go get lunch. I bought; he protested.

As long as we are speaking of incredibly harsh conditions of weather, including poorly equipped and often untrained troops, lets not forget the U.S. Army out on the vast plains of the American West, fighting the Sioux and their allies, and other Indian tribes.

For just one example of many, read of the constant two year fighting in 1866/1867 that went on around Fort Phil Kearney, including the Fetterman Massacre. Often in the winter it was -40� F to -60� F, and the soldiers were very poorly clothed. (As usual, the fault of the fat cat, ignorant, non-caring politicians in Washington, D.C.)

Or read of the "Piney Island" fight, aka the "Wagon Box" fight, where 32 U.S. soldiers held off 3,000 Sioux and Arapaho Indians until they were finally relieved by another column of soldiers from Fort Kearny. There were unbelievable acts of courage and sacrifice by both many officers and enlisted men.

It seems to me that it is rare that we consider the horrible fights and conditions that were standard with the soldiers of the U.S. Army in the West during the Indian Wars, but those soldiers suffered great losses.

Not to make light of our soldiers during the later foreign wars, but never downgrade what went on out West. It was misery personified for many years.

L.W.

Peleliu.

If you've never read this, you need to.

http://www.amazon.com/With-Old-Breed-Peleliu-Okinawa-ebook/dp/B000VMFDW2

Amen to that brother. Those left dead on the field of battle were the finest America had to offer.

That was the largest single battle in the history of mankind IIRC.

The Frozen Chosin, ranks high in my book.

OK, I will play.

How about being a Spartan at the Battle of Thermopylae? It sucked to be a Spartan, they all died, with honor yes, but dead is dead.

took a lot of those fuggin' persians with them..

Whatever the case may be, I don't think the Western world has the stomach for such things now. The Arabs do, and if they ever get some decent weaponry and organization, the West will be in big trouble.

I have read that the stench of the dead at Verdun was so bad that pilots refused to fly over the sector.

Still, as a participant I would much prefer the northern climes for a myriad of reasons, many battle-field related... bias of course, personal bloodlines are predominantly Scandinavian.

Funny, I was just looking at some old printed stuff from the First World War that I have lying around. Fascinating stuff, and just noticed that it's 100 years old this year.

Modern?
CHOSIN.

prior to that ...
Alexander's campaigns in Afghanistan

I have to wonder if the Germans ever compared Verdun against Stalingrad?

The First Marine Division commander, O.P. Smith, got the division out intact. Because he ignored the orders of X Corp commander Ned Almond. Had Smith followed the directives of General Almond and General McArthur the First Marines probably would have been destroyed by those twelve Chinese divisions. The Army's Regimental Combat Team at Chosin wasn't able to break out and was destroyed there by one Chinese division.