Originally Posted by silent driller

For the Marines, it was Bellau Wood. But it was also the greatest ass whoopin' ever administered to the Germans in WWI.

Hmmm.......that's a little biased..........

The Australians gave the Germans quite a kicking of the arse during Passchendaele. As did the British, but yes, you Yanks did "whoop some ass" with the USMC.

As for bloodiest battle, The Somme, Passchendaele and Verdun would have to be top of my list. But, if it's loss of life, nothing compares to the Somme.

My great-grandfather fought there, and lost many of his comrades. He says their regiment was down to around 15% of it's total strength after the first week or two

And the Black Watch/Argyll Sutherland Highlanders (both Scotland) kicked a lot of arse during WW1.

These regiments have the highest VC rate in the whole British Army, I believe.

the somme was a shocking place to fight at fluerbaix the 60th battalion of the AIF attacked german position and to quote from one diary"Fifty six remained of a full thousand. It was over in five minutes"
to lose that many men that quickly must of been truly herendous;


those highlanders were quite amazing some of the brave deeds they did!

Originally Posted by VEK

Hmmm.......that's a little biased..........

The Australians gave the Germans quite a kicking of the arse during Passchendaele. As did the British, but yes, you Yanks did "whoop some ass" with the USMC.

As for iest battle, The Somme, Passchendaele and Verdun would have to be top of my list. But, if it's loss of life, nothing compares to the Somme.

My great-grandfather fought there, and lost many of his comrades. He says their regiment was down to around 15% of it's total strength after the first week or two

And the Black Watch/Argyll Sutherland Highlanders (both Scotland) kicked a lot of arse during WW1.

These regiments have the highest VC rate in the whole British Army, I believe.

Fair enough. Greatest ass whoopin' administered by the Marines in WWI.

But one thing about the Somme. It was probably the most pointless battle in WW1. Months of bitter and endless fighting, and at the end of it all, nobody gained any territory. Over a million dead for nothing.

While the Somme was bloodier, i would say Verdun eclipsed it in brutality and pointlessness. At least the Somme relived some off the pressure on the French defenders of Verdun. A disgusting fact about the Somme is the utter disregard from the british leadership regaring the hard learnt lessons of the French. The most successful troops on the first day was the French contingent, capturing almost all of their first day objectives.

The reason for that was that they advanced in squads, using cover. While the British generals prefered a walking advance, in perfect lines, towards the enemy...

A very good read on the battle of Verdun is Alstair Hornes book "The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916"