If we define a pitched battle as
a fierce military engagement on close combat on the ground between two armies at war. Both intending on fighting the other and not retreating or escaping before the main engagement that constitutes the battle.
To avoid discussions on too small battles, let us consider only those involving at least 500-people a side.
Images of wars prior to WWII seems to indicate the large importance of pitched battles in strategies of war. For example in Napoleonic Wars, up until Waterloo, the battles were the main determinant.
However, most recently, post WW-II, major conflicts between most developed countries have reduced considerably, and the advent of weapons made that such battles would turn to be essentially a waste a human life (most like no large scale naval battle was fought after the Juntland.
I was thus wondering when was the last pitched battle that took place, involving a sizeable army from a Western nation (We could narrow it down to the USA, the UK, Germany, France or Italy)?
I am curious about the others too, but I'd rather have only limited to those countries
The last ones that I can figure out are during the WW-II, like El-Alamein in North Africa, the Siege of Bastogne, etc.
Dien Bien Phu during the Indochine war.
And even those might not be accepted as pitched battles really.
But then I am not really sure. I couldn't figure out whether there were any in the Gulf War (90-91)..
Looking around, I found that Culloden is supposedly the last one on Brittish soil.