Worst WW2 Battle for a Common Soldier (2 Viewers)

[gk5717]

After reading many books and watching countless documentorys on WW2 I have come to the conclusion that for the common soldier Stalingrad, followed by Iwo Jima, had to be the worst battles for your average WW2 soldier.
any other opinions?
Gary

 

[eborris]

After reading many books and watching countless documentorys on WW2 I have come to the conclusion that for the common soldier Stalingrad, followed by Iwo Jima, had to be the worst battles for your average WW2 soldier.
any other opinions?
Gary

Bastogne and Guadacanal were no picnics at the beach either.

 

[lancer]

What about Buna and the Kokoda Trail? Peleliu? -- lancer

 

[trooper]

When the bullets start kicking up the ****e near you everything is the worst, whether it be a small skirmish or a full scale battle. As the man said, there are no atheists in foxholes. The only GOOD battles are those where you arrive just too late for the action but early enough to share in the glory.

 

[Lewey Gun Vick]

On the Western powers front: Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Omaha Beach on D-Day, Bastogne, and Arnhem.

Vick

 

[Warrior]

Stalingrad was the worst IMO; the average life expectancy of a Russian soldier was 24 hours, the Russians suffered 500,000 casualties, the Germans 600,000, the sixth armywas wiped out, 91,000 Germans surrendered, less than 6,000 returned to Germany. Of the 23 senior officers captured, all but one made it back.

The battle started in late summer of 1942 and ended late winter of 1943. Russian snipers had over 1,000 kills, it was a meat grinder, not a battle................

 

[jrsteel]

Phillipines 1942 facing the Bataan Death March.

 

[sceic2]

I have never been in battle and I hope never to be either. However, I would think that the worst battle for the common soldier is all relative to the individual soldier. Every battle must be the worst to those in the battle.

 

[1879fanatic]

After reading many books and watching countless documentorys on WW2 I have come to the conclusion that for the common soldier Stalingrad, followed by Iwo Jima, had to be the worst battles for your average WW2 soldier.
any other opinions?
Gary

Gary,
I'm thinking The War for St.Louis? Even though it's not the murder capitol
2nd would be Guadalcanal... You had to get off the LC.
Mike

 

[Rob]

As someone said earlier there is no such thing as a good Battle,WW2 created millions of individual tales of horror,death and suffering that thank god most of us never had to experience.So naming one battle is not really accurate,however i think we can generally agree on some of the worst.

Stalingrad,Iwo Jima,Omaha Beach,The Bocage,Monte Cassino,Bulge etc were all terrible.But in doing this it seems to belittle if not on purpose scores of other Battles like Alamein,Kesserine,Battle Of Britain,Kursk,Tunisia,Arnhem and all the Islands The US Marines had to clear.Another little recognized taste of hell was the German soldiers underneath the RAF Bombing of Caen.

Rob

 

[Canadian Samurai]

Don't forget Leningrad on the Russian side - one of the only battles where cannibalism was a legitimate survival tactic.... or to put it another way, Bastogne was surrounded for about a month - imagine what it would have been like for the men inside if the siege had continued on for close to 3 and a half years - that's Leningrad.

Welcome to the eastern front, check all previous hells in the waiting area.

The worst part was, a lot of what they could scrounge up to eat was sent to the soldiers - the women and children had to dine on what remained.

 

[Rob]

Thing is, its all about the human experience of each individual.We 60yrs later cannot tell one soldier that his experience is not as bad as any other.Yes Cannibalism was a terrible trauma to go through and would no doubt haunt you for the rest of your days.However saying 'check all hells in the waiting area' compared to the Eastern front is in my view plain wrong.If your wounded or dying in any battlefield who can say your suffering is not as bad as anyone elses?.

How do you compare Cannibalism to being burnt alive in a Sherman in the Bocage,or burning in a Spitfire as it plummets to the ground,or freezing to death in the North Sea after a U Boat attack,or being cut in half by a machine gun burst on Omaha Beach?.Don't get me wrong,i am not belittling the horror of the Eastern front in anyway,i've studied it myself and am aware of the monumental scale of human suffering.However to disregard all other areas of the conflict in a sweeping statement is both unfair and disrespectful to those who suffered and died in them.(no offence meant though CS)

Rob

 

[binder001]

I agree with the assessment that the worst battle is the one that you were in.

My major inspiration for my appreciation of the WW2 GI was Bill Mauldin. In one of his cartoons Willie is reading the "Stars and Stripes" newspaper while Joe is leaning back and looking at him saying "The hell this ain't the most important hole in the world, I'M in it!"

Gary

 

[gk5717]

Mike, the fighting in the Pruitt-Igoe Housing Projects in the late 60's was hell on earth. I,m sure D.C. was no picnic.
But I still put Stalingrad & Iwo Jima a slight bit ahead, at least I could go home at night and drink a few beers.
Gary

 

[1879fanatic]

Mike, the fighting in the Pruitt-Igoe Housing Projects in the late 60's was hell on earth. I,m sure D.C. was no picnic.
But I still put Stalingrad & Iwo Jima a slight bit ahead, at least I could go home at night and drink a few beers.
Gary

You went home??? We had to stay in the Anacostia Navy Yard 5 nights a week for most of '94 during Rodney and OJ! Fun as hell, though!
Mike

 

[Canadian Samurai]

Don't get me wrong,i am not belittling the horror of the Eastern front in anyway,i've studied it myself

Have you really? Do tell.

I'm not disregarding other battles in the slightest, I'm just answering the original poster's question which forced one to choose a single worst battle. I said Leningrad because on top of the usual threat of being stabbed, shot, bombed and blown up by artillery, you were freezing to death and worst of all starving at the same time.

Of course every battle has the potential to inflict wounds and experiences as horrible as the next on each individual involved.

But I do think honestly the eastern front (and the Sino/Japanese conflict) continues to get massively downplayed in western (english) history books and popular culture, and perhaps my post was a reaction to that. For example from your list of worst battles Rob we have 11 battles in which England and/or America fought in but only 2 stereotypical eastern front ones thrown in as a token gesture I'd imagine, also no mention of battles on the entire Asian continent. But I can understand if you only watched 1950s war movies you'd come to believe this was quite an accurate representation of World War 2 (no offence meant though Rob ).

 

[Rob]

Have you really? Do tell.

I'm not disregarding other battles in the slightest, I'm just answering the original poster's question which forced one to choose a single worst battle. I said Leningrad because on top of the usual threat of being stabbed, shot, bombed and blown up by artillery, you were freezing to death and worst of all starving at the same time.

Of course every battle has the potential to inflict wounds and experiences as horrible as the next on each individual involved.

But I do think honestly the eastern front (and the Sino/Japanese conflict) continues to get massively downplayed in western (english) history books and popular culture, and perhaps my post was a reaction to that. For example from your list of worst battles Rob we have 11 battles in which England and/or America fought in but only 2 stereotypical eastern front ones thrown in as a token gesture I'd imagine, also no mention of battles on the entire Asian continent. But I can understand if you only watched 1950s war movies you'd come to believe this was quite an accurate representation of World War 2 (no offence meant though Rob ).

Actually you imagined wrong but ok you obviously did mean to offend(i actually meant it when i said no offence) and this is just another of the endless negative posts,so lets just give it a miss shall we

Rob

 

[Canadian Samurai]

I didn't mean to offend any more than you did when you left out horrific battles like Leningrad in your first list. Since this is a kind of subjective question (none of us were actually present at any of these battles), what we're left with is opinions which always offend someone so I don't know how constructive it is to debate this issue.

 

[1879fanatic]

Gary asked for opinions, he's merely getting them. It could be broken down by nation and it's forces biggest hellstorm.
Mike

 

[Rob]

I didn't mean to offend any more than you did when you left out horrific battles like Leningrad in your first list. Since this is a kind of subjective question (none of us were actually present at any of these battles), what we're left with is opinions which always offend someone so I don't know how constructive it is to debate this issue.

Fair enough,but your snide remark about 1950's War films was clearly intended to insult me and had nothing to do with the question.

Rob