The biggest battle ever fought

NEGI RK Thursday, January 28, 2021

The biggest battle ever fought

According to said article (a very well documented one, as far as I can assess) the numbers are, as you say, very different - but horribly enormous nonetheless. Poor souls… Sometimes you hear the opinion that fighting to the death was the only option to defeat Hitler and that the Soviets did most of that dirty work. The total number of casualties for them during the war is unknown, but a figure around 20 million is often suggested. The Soviet Union was a murderous, nightmarish dictatorship, but they undoubtedly crushed the nazis, sacrifying millions - millions who didn’t have much of a choice. It is interesting, however, to read accounts of the resolution and bravery of many who fought, not least fighting women. One behemoth of a book on that subject is this one: No one could have made much of a good job of that mess.

By early 1942 both armies were essentially wrecked and neither side was going to be able to force a clear victory, there was just no way for either side to force much of anything on the other. The Battle of Kursk was also one of the largest battles in history. There is an excellent semi-fictionalized account of it in a book called The Last Citadel, which I highly recommend. We in the U.S. are never taught anything about these enormous battles on the eastern front which completely dwarfed those on the western front. This isnt really a battle but a series of battles ranging from Dec 1941 to March 43 when the salient was abandoned. Those casualty numbers are beyond believable too. It was a site of terrible battles though.

It became either “feed the beast” with what scraps you have, or retreat. No one looks good playing that game.

Thank the stars that we weren’t there!!!

This battle was literally nicknamed ‘THE MEAT GRINDER’.

More casualties than the battles of Stalingrad, Berlin and D-day combined.

I am talking about the battle of Rzhev.