re: Would you rather have gone “over the top” in WWI or been on the first wave on D-Day?

Going Over The Top Survival Rate

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If you were in the British Army the average fatality rate was 17.5% on the first day of the Somme and 35% chance of being wounded.

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^ 17.5%, and not all Army personnel went over the top

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17.5% may not seem that bad - but the survivors would do it every day. One source I read suggested that a battalion would be on the offensive for 5 - 10 days - which is more than enough to give you a zero statistical chance of surviving

But that assumes that every days was as bad. These are the worst figures and by the end of the war with the concept of infiltration and storm troopers together with tank warfare and improved artillery planning and control techniques changed this significantly.

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^ 39% KIA From this unit (that actually went over the top). I imagine some were better and some worse.

Basically when including wounded in action there there was a very small chance you would make it back from over the top in one piece, ~ 10%, and a pretty good chance you wouldn’t make it back at all.




I’ll take D-Day