Highest casualty rate in any conflict?
You might bring up the Zulu Wars.....less Rourke's Drift!
By the end of WW2, the German submarine fleet had 80 % of its sailors KIA/MIA. I hope we will never again see such carnage in any service....
Last edited by Big Pistons Forever; 3rd Nov 2013 at 16:16.
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<< Battle of Towton - and I'd wager a lot of you don't know of it. >>
I seem to remember 28,000 odd killed - but as a percentage of total engaged forces ???
I seem to remember 28,000 odd killed - but as a percentage of total engaged forces ???
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The most devastating war in recent times was the Paraguayan War (1864-70) fought between Paraguay and an alliance of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Estimates suggest that somewhere between 60% and 90% of Paraguay's pre-war population died.
In terms of devastating and sudden losses, the Battle of Jutland (31st May 1916) involved the sinking after magazine explosions of three Royal Navy battlecruisers (HMS Indefatigable, HMS Queen Mary and HMS Invincible) and two heavy armoured cruisers (HMS Black Prince and HMS Defence), each with 99%+ crew fatalities - 100% in the case of Black Prince and Defence. Of their combined crew of more than 5,000, only 26 survived.
In terms of devastating and sudden losses, the Battle of Jutland (31st May 1916) involved the sinking after magazine explosions of three Royal Navy battlecruisers (HMS Indefatigable, HMS Queen Mary and HMS Invincible) and two heavy armoured cruisers (HMS Black Prince and HMS Defence), each with 99%+ crew fatalities - 100% in the case of Black Prince and Defence. Of their combined crew of more than 5,000, only 26 survived.
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"Towton..wager a lot of you don't know of it" ...I do, dctyke, used to run by the site while based at Church Fenton lots of years ago. 28,000 dead out of 70-80,000 represents a horrendous toll, but many WWII aviators on both sides would have been delighted to accept those odds!
Have we forgotten how many Romans perished at Cannae?
