Historical most lop-sided casualty-ratio battles(preferably w/ the underdog winning)

[Forgetful Coyote]

Aint know where better this topic'd fit in than here, so here yall go...

I'm gone go head vote the Siege/Battle of Muret:

The French Crusaders had 8(yea, EIGHT !!!!!) casualties)!!!!) even tho they only had like 2000 troops, if that, on their side(and thats a higherish estimate dpendign on source used..).

The combined forces of Aragorn and 2 other allies, with 20000-40,000 troops on ther side suffered 15,000-20,000 casaulties... yeah. LOL cant even call it a David v Goliath situation... David vs Goliat looks like a mostly equal fight in comparison.

I'll let the below vids give ya a mush better explanation-illustraion than I possiblye could after several brewskis...

Short summary:


PC Video Game LOOSE(!) simulation + somewhat more detailed summary in beginning:




All things considered... IMO this is one of the most impressive feats of combat I've ever read about..

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Aragon?

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Finland in 1940. Battle of Saomussalmi. Sorry if I butchered that name.

Though legend says that the last stand of the three hundred... is probably no 1.

Though do not forget the Battle of Shirouyama.

Last... Custer.

Cheers, Sirhr

 

[Forgetful Coyote]

Thx for the replies yall, tho I still dont think any of them suggestions come close to the casualty ratio of Muret,
8 : 15-20k

All while'st being the underdog by a absolute ridiculous margin. The odds were goddang staggering, not Thermopylae level bad, but.. damn near I'd say.

ETA: You're right Mr Greg, its Aragon, not Aragorn. For some reason I've heard some historians pronounce it Aragorn so I assumed it was spelled that way.. apologies and thanks for correction!

 

[Just Macca]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dingo

200 Rhodesian SAS, paratroopers and some pilots versus 10,000 Zimbabwe militia.

End result: 1 SAS soldier killed, 1 pilot crash landed his aircraft and was killed. 8 wounded.

3,000 militia dead. 5,000 wounded.

That's an effective raid. The Rhodesian's could never be bested in the field and were the most effective counter insurgents to ever hand out dirt naps.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Mirbat also comes to mind.

One has to be careful with the numbers in medieval and crusader battles. Legend, lore and memory/myth can inflate and deflate numbers substantially. The sizes given by early accounts and historians for some of these armies is often now questioned based on things like logistics. Aragon’s forces are thought to have been more like 4-6k.

Cheers, Sirhr

 

[Spblademaker]

PA Peach Massacre of 2016-2018

One man, and his rifle, stands alone against a hoard of fuzzy grey tree rats.

Thousands of peaches lost.

Hundreds of squirrels killed.

Human casualties : 0

(Official numbers may be a bit off from reported numbers. ?)

 

[Fig]

 

[Fig]

 

[pmclaine]

Finland in 1940. Battle of Saomussalmi. Sorry if I butchered that name.

When in doubt just add another "S", "U" or "I"

It will be kosher.

 

[EchoDeltaSierra]

https://westernrifleshooters.wordpr...ken-review-of-martinos-resistance-to-tyranny/

A review of one of the best books written about the OP’s original question. Well worth reading.

Digital (PDF & text): https://www.scribd.com/doc/245082649/Resistance-to-Tyranny-a-Primer-Joseph-Martino

Dead tree edition: https://www.amazon.com/Resistance-Tyranny-Joseph-P-Martino/dp/1450574289

 

[sandwarrior]

Custer's last stand...that lasted about 10 minutes.

 

[Macca]

The emu war,

 

[sandwarrior]

The emu war,

57,034 bounties were collected without a single known casualty to the Australians....

 

[thaifighter]

battle of New Orleans, 1814...

 

[TheGerman]

The Russian/Finnish winter war.

 

[Spaghetti Western]

Battle of Long Tan in 1966, probably not the most outrageous ratio, but still an incredible modern example of being inordinately outnumbered & somehow coming away victorious.

 

[sandwarrior]

Battle of Long Tan in 1966, probably not the most outrageous ratio, but still an incredible modern example of being inordinately outnumbered & somehow coming away victorious.

A link to it. I read it many years ago, but thought it was woth others reading:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-18/battle-of-long-tan-explainer-vietnam-war/7710612

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Suomussalmi

 

[Hollywood 6mm]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dingo

200 Rhodesian SAS, paratroopers and some pilots versus 10,000 Zimbabwe militia.

End result: 1 SAS soldier killed, 1 pilot crash landed his aircraft and was killed. 8 wounded.

3,000 militia dead. 5,000 wounded.

That's an effective raid. The Rhodesian's could never be bested in the field and were the most effective counter insurgents to ever hand out dirt naps.

The Selous Scouts raiding the ZANLA camp is another good one. Body count wasn't quite as lopsided, but the Scouts were on the offense instead of defense, and it was all ground action - no air strike.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eland

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Jadotville.

One reason why I'm not quite so derisive of UN peacekeepers.

Greg

 

[sandwarrior]

Jadotville.

One reason why I'm not quite so derisive of UN peacekeepers.

Greg

Interesting though, that the main perpetrator was a Belgian, the biggest country all about keeping peace in foreign lands....

 

[Spaghetti Western]

Interesting though, that the main perpetrator was a Belgian, the biggest country all about keeping peace in foreign lands....

Vested mineral interests are a very powerful motivator, belgian or not