What was the most lethal American battle of WWII?
From D-Day to 21 August, the Allies landed 2,052,299 men in northern France. The cost of the Normandy campaign was high for both sides. Between 6 June and the end of August, the American armies suffered 124,394 casualties, of which 20,668 were killed. Casualties within the First Canadian and Second British Armies are placed at 83,045: 15,995 killed, 57,996 wounded, and 9,054 missing. Of these, Canadian losses amounted to 18,444, with 5,021 killed in action.
Battle, Siege, or Offensive Conflict
Estimated number of Americans killed
Battle of Normandy World War II June 6 to August 30, 1944 - 29,204 killed
Battle of Okinawa World War II April 1 June 21, 1945 - 20,195 killed
Battle of the Bulge World War II December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945 - 19,276 killed
Battle of Hürtgen Forest World War II September 19, 1944, to February 10, 1945 - Over 12,000 killed
More Info:
en.wikipedia.org
What are your thoughts on this subject?
54 Comments
matthew rosa
The Bulge was a "Make-Or-Break" battle between us and the Nazis. A lot hinged here and we could have lost. WE FOUGHT!-HARD! When you said "American Battle," I thought you meant one with strictly, -or at least predominantly,-American troops, as the Battle For Normandy included the entire mix of Allied Forces. That's where I got confused.
dlh
What is so tragic is looking at numbers - if one just sees + 100,000 killed and doesn’t stop to think of the living breathing individuals lost. My family has been in every US conflict/war back to the War of 1812 - each one accepted the call because they love this country and felt the cause was worth a possible sacrifice. God Bless and thank our Veterans.
Keith Minnix
My dad was in the Army Signal Corps and was honorably discharged after WWII. He was a quiet man by nature and he never talked about his time in the military. As for a lot of veterans, it is too painful to remember or talk about it. There are fewer and fewer WWII veterans living and we will forever owe them for their service.
Lynda Flanger
Normandy is normally cited with 16+K fatalii and the Bulge with 19+K Apparently someone decided to add 6 weeks to the battle which is normally listed as June 6-July 14. This is a bad question.
✨KRISTA✨
CJC, that is what I was taught!
CJC
Sry but the bulge was more lethal then Normandy! Look up the causalities and compare..
Alane Holmes Nuzum
The Normandy Invasion was an amazing operation! My father was in the 101st Airborne and parachuted into Normandy on D-day, Landing
in an apple orchard next to a church in the village of Saint Mer Eglise... visiting the area is a sobering experience... they truly were “The Greatest Generation”
Jeauxbert
My uncle died in the Battle of Okinawa and is buried in Hawai'i...
Todd Van Dell
"Saving Private Ryan" was the Battle of Normandy.
Very bloody in the movie and real life.
lollygagger
Carroll Price, because we fought better doesn't mean our role was less significant. The logistics alone were overwhelming for the technology of the time. We moved troops, and equipment along with food, medicine, etc. over 2 oceans or 4 fifths of the world. Stalingrad? Casualties due to starvation and disease.Waiting for brutal Russian winter to help, eating your own dead, and finally being able to advance because of Normandy? Get real. We provided over 90 percent of the effort in the Pacific theater while simultaneously 60 percent of the effort on D-day. Patton constantly outperformed Montgomery in tactics. These are just a few points to consider. People dying is sacrifice, sure. But it's hardly effort.
earlepg
I give credit to movies for knowing who the contestants were (but not knowing what it was about is on me).
Connie S Brock
My husband watches a lot of war shows, so I learn from him.
dsneed
Battle of the Bulge was my first choice.
dsneed
Normandy was my second choice.
littledick
And what did the Russians do in the Pacific theater? Not much. In fact, during the war in 1943, they occupied Tannu Tuva which was part of a country that was on the ALLIED side! Then, toward the end of the war, with Japan on its knees due to American casualties, they swiftly took over the Kurils and Karafuto. Even now, they refuse to give back to Japan the southern two islands in the Kuril chain, islands which have Japanese burial grounds on them. At least the U.S. has returned some of its captured islands to Japan.
littledick
Picked the "Bulge", since a friend of ours was captured there and had stories to tell.
John Reddy
Russia did destroy much of the German army. But the Germans would have destroyed Russia without American aide. We sent them billions of dollars in in arms so they could stay in the war. Without it , Germany would have taken Moscow