cannon fodder

American  

noun

1. soldiers, especially infantrymen, who run the greatest risk of being wounded or killed in warfare.

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cannon fodder British  

noun

1. men regarded as expendable because they are part of a huge army

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Etymology

Origin of cannon fodder

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Was scheduling cannon fodder such as Missouri State a necessary step to reach the College Football Playoff or a cynical effort to conceal USC’s mediocrity?

From Los Angeles Times

To this day, an official cult of Stalin endures, deployed today to motivate Russians to serve as cannon fodder in Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine war.

From Salon

The Storm-V units have been used by Russia as cannon fodder, sent to stage assaults on the worst parts of the frontline.

From BBC

Then, just like the Confederate slave conscripts, just like the Russian cannon fodder in Bakhmut, they’ll be discarded — forgotten, broken and left to rot in the very ruins they helped create.

From Salon

The bad guys are cannon fodder, though I did like the way one mobster sadly sighs at a grenade before he explodes.

From Los Angeles Times