What do you think was the single fiercest battle in history?

To me i think it would be preaty hard to determin the ferocity of a battle I could not imagine doing what soliders did 150 years ago during the american cival war at places like the bloody lane were the irish brigade marched within a 100 meters of the enemy and just stood there exchanging lead, now thats balls. but then again storming a castle doenst sound like much fun, nor does living in the trenches of the somme.

I'd probly say the Somme or one of the battles of Ypres. More the battles of Ypres though; the Somme was carnage, but I'm not sure if I'd call it fierce, as most of the casualties were just mowed down like grass.

Stalingrad..

the battle of Isurava 29th and 30th August 1942 on the Kokoda Trail. Between Japanese and Australian soldiers. Although not a huge body count like the Somme or Stalingrad it was incredibly brutal in tacitcs and nature. It became a horrible mess of bayonet fighting and grenade throwing for 2 days straight. Due to the terrain most times they didn't see each other until they were close enough to touch each other, hence the hand to hand combat. Nobody who recieved an abdomen wound during the battle lived, due to the impossibility of treatment or evacuation from the Owen Stanley Ranges.

Originally Posted by Snauhi

Stalingrad..

Could be a few urban battles of the Eastern Front but Stalingrad is a good choice.

THE ROMAN CONQUEST 43AD - 51AD

Ok I am going back in time but its interesting how britian was fored to now and how a super power came to term

43AD (May) – ROMANS INVADE

An enormous army of 40,000 Roman troops led by Claudius has landed at Richborough in Kent. British resistance has been heavily crushed and Caractacus, a British resistance leader, has fled north.

46AD – NORTHERN TRIBE ARE ROMAN CLIENTS
(North)
The Brigantes, a huge tribe whose territory stretches from the Pennines of southern Yorkshire to north of the Tyne, are recognised as a client kingdom of the Romans – they have not been conquered by the Romans but, hoping to be left in peace, accept the invaders as their rulers. The Brigantes’ queen is Cartimandua. Female leaders are quite acceptable to these war-like Britons. Their language resembles Welsh and is yet to be influenced by the Latin speech of the Romans.

perhaps thermopylae.

Black Hawk Down

I would say Stalingrad also, it holds the Guinness World Record for Bloodiest Modern Battle; "The greatest death toll in a battle has been estimated at 1,109,000 in the Battle of Stalingrad, USSR (now Volgograd, Russia), which started in the summer of 1942 and ended with the German surrender on January 31, 1943. Approximately 650,800 Soviet soldiers were wounded but survived.

Many experts consider Stalingrad to be the crucial turning point of World War II. The battle, which raged fiercely from the summer of 1942 until January 31, 1943, marked the fullest extent of Nazi Germany's incursion into Russia. Stalingrad, because of its commercial and industrial importance, was seen as a major prize.

One obvious reason behind the battle's terrible destructiveness was the importance of Stalingrad. Russian soldiers were ordered never to "take a step backwards". Stalin, the Soviet leader, knew that losing the city that bore his name would be of immense symbolic and military significance.

Hitler, the German leader, was equally determined. He showed a lack of military judgement by not allowing the Nazi armies to retreat even when they were almost completely encircled by the Russians. The Germans were made to remain and face near total annihilation by the ultimately victorious Russians."

Also the condition of the city with all of the house to house (CQB) combat would be a surreal experience. Don't forget there wasn't any set tactics for room clearing. Plus the amount of overall military units in the city would help place it as the Fiercest Battle in History. At least in my opinion.