The list has an irregular format. It’s odd to call the least bloody #1 and the most #10.
But anyway –
The value of this list hinges on the distinction between a battle and a campaign. There is no hard and fast distinction. For example, this list considers the Battle of Normandy in the “battle” category and places it in the #1 spot, while other sources call it a campaign, and thus place it lower in that category.
Some say that the Battle of Baatan was the worst, with some 10,000 men dying only to result in a surrender. Counting surrendered soldiers, fatalities and other casualties, the American military and its Filipino allies finished the battle with 100,000 fewer soldiers. Thousands of the captured prisoners died in a forced march to POW camps, and more died in the camps. All of those fatalities could also be considered a result of this battle. This demoralizing defeat started just a month after Pearl Harbor, making many Americans wonder whether we could prevail in the war.
But …
The “Battle” of Bataan could also be considered a campaign, since it lasted three months and was fought in many different places.
Whichever battle was the worst, it is “fitting and proper,” as Lincoln said, to remember all these battles, and all that these soldiers did for us and for the world.
Sidebar: My dad claimed that Americans never doubted the outcome of the war, and that the only question was how long it would take. That was a fair assessment, because America had a vast capacity to build tanks, ships and planes, and was protected by two great oceans that prevented our enemies from bombing our factories. But I think my dad’s hindsight was probably blurred by a bit of patriotism and his knowledge of the eventual outcome. I have to think that some Americans must have considered the possibility of defeat after Pearl Harbor and Bataan.
How is Antietam not on the list?
If the category was most military fatalities on a single day, Antietam would be on the list. The U.S. Military suffered 2,108 fatalities that day, in third place behind D-Day and Pearl Harbor.
Top three, most deaths in one day, US Military only:
June 6, 1944 – 2,499
December 7, 1941 – 2,335
September 17, 1862 – 2,108
Top three, most Americans to die in a single day from enemy action:
The Sept 11, 2001 attack: 2,976 (all civilian)
June 6, 1944 -2,499 (all military)
The December 7, 1941 attack: 2,403 (68 civilian and 2,335 military)
The usual claim that Antietam was the highest is misleading because it is not an apples-to-apples comparison with the other battles. The number normally cited includes enemy combatants. However, Antietam would be the single highest if you were to word the category very specifically – “Most deaths in one day for military combatants born in the USA.”