10 Bloodiest Battles of World War II

DECEMBER 1, 2011 BY WILL

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From 1939 to 1945, the largest conflict the world has ever known raged on relentlessly.
Beginning in Europe, before taking in Asia, Africa, America and the Pacific, World War
Two saw over 60 million deaths and countless lives blighted. Bloodshed had never been
seen on such a scale before. Even World War I whose fatalities numbered 35 million
did not witness the same level of sheer destruction, meted out on all sides, throughout the
early 1940s. What follows are the bloodiest battles of World War Two a startling
reminder, if one were needed, that war can indeed be hell.

10. Battle of Monte Cassino, 17 January18 May 1944: 185,000 casualties

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Waged between the Allies and the joint German and Italian troops in the early part of 1944,
the Battle of Monte Cassino was one of the hardest fought battles of the Second World War.
The main objective for the Allied forces fighting their way up from Southern Italy was to
break through the Germans Gustav Line a series of military fortifications running
across Italy and gain control of Rome. Named after the 1,400-year-old monastery of
Monte Cassino that stood at the center of the German defensive line (and which was
controversially destroyed by American bombers during the battle), the fighting was made
up of four smaller battles that took place in January, February, March and May,
respectively. The eventual capture of Rome came at a high price, with at least 125,000
casualties on all sides and as many as 185,000 by some estimates.

9. Battle of the Bulge, 16 December 194425 January 1945: 186,369 casualties

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The Battle of the Bulge so-called by the British because of the bulge in the map where
the German forces broke the Allied line was the last major German offensive on the
Western Front of World War II. Also known as the Ardennes Offensive named after the
densely forested area of Belgium, France and Luxembourg the aim of the operation was
to split the Allied troops in two, capture Antwerp in the process, then destroy the remaining
Allied forces. Fortunately for the Allies, the battle did not go to plan for the Germans.
Despite catching an overconfident and unsuspecting Allied force unawares, superior
numbers, timely reinforcements and improving weather conditions (which allowed the
Allied air forces to take to the skies) sealed the Germans fate. With around 840,000 men
committed, it was the largest battle the American Army fought in World War II, as well as
among the bloodiest.
8. Battle of Kursk, 5 July23 August 1943: 257,125388,000 casualties

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A decisive victory for the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front, the Battle of Kursk saw the
largest series of armored tank clashes of the entire war and the costliest single day of aerial
conflict in history. Having been warned months in advance of the Germans intention to
eliminate the Kursk bulge created in the aftermath of their devastating defeat at the
Battle of Stalingrad the Red Army was well prepared to take on the Nazis. Through a
vast and brilliantly constructed network of minefields, anti-tank guns and defenses 155
miles deep, the Soviets wore down their attackers and then launched counter strikes,
hemming the Germans back across a broad front. According to the Soviets, the Germans
alone lost 500,000 men killed, wounded or captured though other estimates are more
conservative. The Soviets went on to liberate most of Ukraine in what was to be a major
turning point in the war.

7. Second Battle of Kharkov, 12 May28 May 1942: 300,000 casualties

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Kharkov was a strategically important city in the Ukraine that had seen fierce fighting in
the autumn of 1941, when the Germans captured it. The following year the Red Army
launched a major offensive to retake the prized city. Unfortunately for the Red Army, the
Germans were still very much active in the area and were able to call upon forces to launch
a strong defense and counter-offensive. The Germans encircled the three Soviet armies and
effectively destroyed them. In a devastatingly effective operation, the Germans wiped out
nearly 280,000 Russian men and 650 tanks. A disaster for the Soviets, the Second Battle of
Kharkov pressed home the importance of staying on the defensive to the Red Army and
inflated the Germans confidence which many saw as playing a part in their downfall on
the Eastern Front.

6. Battle of Luzon, 9 January15 August 1945: 332,330345,330 casualties

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Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines, was seen as being of great strategic importance
to the United States. Despite General MacArthurs belief in value of the island, American
troops would have to wait until 1945 to launch an attack on Luzon, which was taken by the
Japanese in 1942. When the Americans did make it back to Luzon, the fighting
complicated by the Japanese use of the famous kamikaze pilots was frenzied and fierce,
with incredibly high numbers of casualties, particularly for the Japanese. By the 11th of
February American troops had captured Manila; however Japanese resistance from
scattered forces making sorties from the mountainous areas of the island continued for
some considerable time afterwards.

5. Battle of France, 10 May25 June 1940: 469,000 casualties

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The Battle of France marked the end of the so-called Phoney War that strange, uncertain
period of the Second World War which saw neither side commit to serious military action
and witnessed the German forces invade France and the Low Countries. Despite similar
numbers in their respective forces, the Germans managed to overcome the French,
bolstered by the British Expeditionary Force and Belgian and Dutch divisions. This was
mainly due to superior German training and communication, and the Allies wrongly held
belief that the Maginot Line the heavily fortified French border with Germany would
firstly hold; and secondly, that the Germans would concentrate their efforts on it. In the
event, the Germans attacked through Belgium and Holland, thereby rendering the line an
expensive mistake. The Germans devastated the inexperienced French (and other Allied)
troops and took the entire country soon after.

4. Battle of Narva, 2 February10 August 1944: 550,000 casualties

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The strategically important Estonian county of Narva Isthmus saw ferocious fighting
between the German army bolstered by Estonian conscripts desperate to resist Soviet re-
occupation and Stalins Red Army. Both sides were desperate to hold the valuable
territory. Separated by historians into two distinct phases (the Battle for Narva Bridgehead
and the Battle of Tannenberg Line), the fighting was amongst the most intense seen in the
entire war. In the end, after months of terrible combat that left tens of thousands dead
particularly on the side of the Soviets, who suffered at the hands of German counterattacks
Hitler evacuated all troops from Estonia. The country was then largely free until the
Soviets reoccupied it shortly after the war ended.
3. Battle of Moscow, 2 October 19417 January 1942: 1,000,000 casualties

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Soviet Russias successful defense of their capital against the German forces who sought to
capture it in 1941 was a major turning point in the war. Hitler believed that if he could
capture Moscow, the spirit of the Red Army war machine would be crushed and they would
be at the Germans mercy. However, due to a combination of fierce and strategically well-
executed Russian resistance (bolstered by reinforcements from the east) and a terrible
winter with temperatures down to minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit (30C) and colder, the
Germans were destined not to take Moscow. Losses were massive on both sides. The
Soviets suffered at least 650,000 casualties (perhaps many more) while in just twenty days
of fighting the Germans are believed to have lost around 155,000 men a mark of the
devastation they suffered here.

2. Battle of Berlin, 16 April2 May 1945: 1,298,745 casualties

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The last major offensive of the war in Europe, the Battle of Berlin saw the fall of the
German Army, the suicide of Hitler and the beginning of the end of the Second World War.
The inexorable push of the Soviet army westwards saw them advance as much as 25 miles
a day before stopping just 35 miles east of the German capital. The Red Army then
proceeded to attack the city from the east and south, while a third group devastated German
defenses from the north. The relentless Soviet army marched ever onwards, causing
widespread panic in the already depleted German defenses (bolstered by inexperienced
Hitler youth members) and, following fierce and bloody fighting, took the Reichstag on the
30th of April 1945, more or less signaling the conclusion of the war.

1. Battle of Stalingrad, 23 August 19422 February 1943: 1,250,0001,798,619 casualties

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The Battle of Stalingrad, which saw Hitlers major push for dominance on the Eastern
Front, was marked by terrible losses on both sides. The Russians alone had over a million
men wounded or killed. Barring their inability to conquer Moscow in the previous year, the
war had generally been progressing well for the Germans up until this point, with valuable
successes in North Africa and Europe. However, previously unseen brutality and crippling
losses devastated the German offensive and severely dented their confidence. Once their
Romanian and Italian allies had been eliminated, the Germans found themselves
surrounded in Stalingrad, vulnerable and starving in the rubble to which the Luftwaffe had
reduced the city. Some would argue that the Germans never fully recovered from this most
destructive of battles one of the bloodiest of all time.