--dexippus writes "The largest battle involving American troops was the Battle of the Bulge, or Ardennes offensive, which involved over 1 million GIs and over 35 divisions, from Dec. 16th 1944 to Jan 16th 1945. Roughly 16,000 GIs were killed during this period."
--That's incorrect, though most people THINK it's the largest American battle ever. Possibly due to all those hitler channel shows <g>.
--The largest is actually the Battle of the Meuse-Argonne, which lasted from 26 September 1918 until 11 November 1918, with the strategic aim of capturing the rail center of Sedan and cutting the lateral rail net of the German Army on the Western Front.
--It involved nearly 1,300,000 American troops, who suffered more than 120,000 casualties. With nearly 27000 dead, it's the bloodiest battle in American history, as well as being the largest.
--In case you want to read more about it, I recommend Robert Ferrell's excellent account, "America's Deadliest Battle: Meuse-Argonne, 1918".
The Battle of Salsu was an enormous battle that occurred in the year 612, during the second Goguryeo-Sui War, between Goguryeo (Korea) and Sui Dynasty (China). Goguryeo cavalry forces, although outnumbered, overwhelmed the Chinese troops in combat and eventually emerged victorious.
In 612, the Sui Emperor Yangdi invaded Goguryeo with a million men.[1][2] However, at this time, Goguryeo General Eulji Mundeok defended fortresses against the Sui army and navy for several months and destroyed the Sui troops in retreat. An ambush at Salsu (Chongchon River) caused massive Sui casualties, leading to an overall campaign loss of all but 2,700 Sui troops out of 305,000 men.[3]
When the Sui army had reached Salsu, the water level was shallow. Eulji Mundeok had already cut off the flow of water with a dam. When the Sui army had half crossed the river, Eulji opened the dam, and the onslaught of water left many thousands of Sui soldiers dead. The Goguryeo cavalry then charged the remaining Sui force. The surviving Sui forces were forced to retreat to Liaodong Peninsula to avoid being killed.
With the victory over Sui dynasty in Salsu, Goguryeo eventually became the victor of the war itself, while the Sui Dynasty started to crumble from within and was finally brought down by internal strife.
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Topic: Largest battles
