I would say the fiercest battle is the one that never happened - the invasion of Japan.

Originally Posted by Zucchini

I would say the fiercest battle is the one that never happened - the invasion of Japan.

Which one, the American or the Soviet which was supposed to occur only a week or two after the Bombs were dropped? Of course, with the nuclear destruction of the two cities, the plan was scratched due to the capitulation of the Japanese forces.

Originally Posted by Vitaly

Which one, the American or the Soviet which was supposed to occur only a week or two after the Bombs were dropped? Of course, with the nuclear destruction of the two cities, the plan was scratched due to the capitulation of the Japanese forces.

He probably means the American one which had predicted conservative casualties of 1 million US soldiers dead. It's a certainty that it would have been very bloody and intense that's for sure.

the soviets would also have invaded from hokkaido and the northern japan since they were at war with Japan at this time.
i dont really believe it, but some people think that in addition to the threat of A-bombs the japanese were just totally unwilling to bear russian troops on their island, (they really hated each other back then) etc.

I guess it's possible, but Togo had been stationed in Moscow and he was looking to the Soviets for help in negotiating terms right up to moment when the Soviets declared war on Japan, which was at the invitation of the allies. FDR never seemed to tire of having the Soviets take out millions of men instead of the USA doing it.

The American invasion was scheduled to land on November 1st. Could the Russians have been ready with a material force by that date?

well, i would really like to say this:

i think americans and westerns have exertertated the western front and the invasion of france as well as the offensive into germany as too covered and most attention went to this

something you ought to know before judging it

the eastern front was by far more brutal inbattle and it is just titantic

most of the german panzerarmee, shock troops, elite units, tank strength and ifnantry was involved here, more than 60-eeven 80% of the german strength went aginist teh soviet army

you could say that the russians had stalled the germans and saved the allies from facing aginist the crack german untis

on this topic of the most fierest battle of the world, stalingrad definetly is, but although most of you disagree with me, this is my reason why( above)

When I was a kid, back in the day, school history teachers barely mentioned the Soviet's participation in the war. And when they did it was usually laced with anti-communist propaganda.

We in the USA can complain that a slanted version of history has been taught in schools in other countries, but we have done our fair share of that ourselves.

In my mind, for WWII, it comes down to Stalingrad and Iwo Jima.

agreed

but iwo jima? though celebrated, it didn't do as much for the pacific war because the united states forces were already on the offensive and it wasnt as significant as a turning point

id say midway, stalingrad and kursk

I will grant much of what you are saying is true, but how does that negate its ferocity?

I was thinking about it, and actually nothing tops a large amount of eastern front battles. Imagine the unbelievable courage of the Soviet and German soldiers in the east. There was Stalingrad, Seige at Leningrad, Berlin, Operation Mars, Kursk, and others like Brest.