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A battlefield is a commotion where it is hard to deem any decision as rational. Among heavily weaponized opponents, decisive moments are often obscure while the chances of a soldier’s safe return are highly unpredictable.
“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte
The Battle of Somme was one of the largest battles of World War I, and among the bloodiest in the entire human history.
This battle was a joint operation, by the British and French forces, intended to achieve a decisive victory over the Germans on the Western Front during WW1. It turned into one of the most deadly, costly and bitter battles in history, resulting in Britain suffering more than 57,000 casualties, with more than 19,000 soldiers being killed on the first day alone. By the time the Battle of Somme ended, nearly 5 months later, more than 3 million soldiers on both sides had fought in the battle, and more than 1 million had been killed or wounded.
Prior to the attack, the Allies launched a week-long heavy artillery bombardment, using around 1.75 million shells, aimed to cut the barbed wire guarding German trench defences and destroy the enemy's positions. Along the line, German machine gun and rifle fire cut down thousands of the attacking British troops with many of them caught in "no man's land" between the two sides.
Some 19,240 British soldiers were killed and more than 38,000 wounded by the end of the first day alone. The Allied victory at the Somme, despite its horrific costs, inflicted serious damage on German positions in France, forcing the Germans to strategically retreat in March 1917 rather than continue battling over the same land that spring. Though the exact number is disputed, German losses by the end of the Battle of Somme probably exceeded Britain's, with 450,000 soldiers lost as compared to 420,000 on the British side.
The Battle of Verdun was also fought during WW1, in which the French repulsed a major German offensive. It is one of the most ferocious battles of the war; French casualties amounted to about 40,000, and the German to about 350,000. A total of 300,000 soldiers were killed.
Over 10 months in 1916, the two armies at Verdun suffered over 700,000 casualties, including some 300,000 killed. The pastoral landscape surrounding the city had been permanently transformed and nine villages were entirely destroyed. After the war, the villages were memorialised as having "died for France" and, although uninhabited, continued to be administered by mayors to preserve their existence as administrative entities.
The heavy German losses at Verdun, combined with even greater casualties suffered on the Somme, created a manpower crisis within the German army that would become increasingly difficult to resolve as the war progressed.
The Battles of Isonzo were a series of 12 battles between the Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies in WW1 mostly on the territories of present day Slovenia, and the remainder in Italy along the Isonzo River on the eastern sector of the Italian front between June 1915 and November 1917. It remains one of the bloodiest battles, as a total of 1.5 million soldiers were killed, wounded or captured during the Battles of Isonzo on both sides. There were at least 250,000 casualties. Around 700,000 soldiers were wounded or poisoned with chemical weapons, and more than 500,000 went missing or were captured on both sides.
The Battle of Rzhev in the summer of 1942 was part of a series of battles that lasted 15 months in the centre of the eastern front. It is known in Soviet history of WW2 as the first Rzhev-Sychyovka offensive operation, which spanned from 30 July to 23 August 1942. The Red Army suffered massive casualties for little gain during the fighting.
The participating Soviet armies suffered 290,000 casualties in the Rzhev fighting, a figure that covers the main army groupings for the period of their offensive commitments, but does not cover the independent corps nor air force losses; overall losses were in excess of 300,000.
The rifle divisions of the attacking armies had to receive additional men to continue the attack due to high attrition rate in soldiers. To maintain the offensive, General Konev requested 20,000 replacements for just two armies involved. By 10 September, the Soviet armies had been decimated: losses had reduced them to half-strength, with 184,265 men and 306 tanks.
The high losses and few gains made during the two month struggle left a lasting impression on the Soviet soldiers who took part. In October, the strategic balance in the centre of the Eastern front remained essentially unchanged. However, the German army had also suffered grievous losses, and whilst its defence had been tactically successful, it had achieved little more than maintaining the status quo.
World history is marred with the bloodiest and most ferocious of battles known to mankind. Not only do these losses reflect the true nature of humans but also shed light on how human lives are turned into mere numbers, with less importance and even lesser significance. That these lives, though lost, will never be appreciated.
