NKVD said:
we can think what we feel its a free country. Facts are facts but who do you think provided the victory to the Allies is an opinion...I also thought it was the USA with Canada and Australia who won WW2...then I began to read books...after reading ''a ****load'' (like americans says) of books I made my opinion that the great russian people made us won the war. USA only helped to shorten it. Even if Moscow would have fall and/or Stalingrad and/or Leningrad, USSR would have strike back. I can't say by looking at the number of deaths for each nations and the number of german divisions concentration in Europe that the US helped much...as much as WWI anyway but thats only an opinion
That the USSR did have a huge influence in the ultimate allied victory over Germany, of that there is no doubt. But do not discount the western allies contribution. It was Britain who stood alone after the fall of France. It was the USSR who in alliance with the Reich invaded Poland and to all Russians WW2 began in 1941, not 1939.
It was the Western Allies who destroyed Germanys capacity to conduct a war. And it was the USA who were the industrial powerhouse of the war, and while fighting the Western Axis powers were also fighting the Japanese (with the UK and Commonwealth forces). The USSR never truly fought a two front war. The Manchuria Campaign at the end was pure opportunism, and while it help lead to the ultimate Japanese surrender, it did not help all that much.
Numbers of deaths and the military deployment are only a small part of the story. You cannot talk of Stalingrad without talking about El Alemein. You cannot talk about Leningrad without touching on the Battle of Britain and of the Battle for the North Atlantic. You cannot talk about the T34 or the size of the Red Army without talking about RAF & US Air Corp bombing campaigns. Kursk was indeed a huge battle that broke the back of the Reich in the East, but Normandy signalled the start of a 3 front war for the Reich and was the real beginning of the end.
WW2 was in all senses a World war, it touched everywhere and everyone. Indeed the USSR was a major player in Europe, but so were the USA, UK and the Commonwealth forces. As for the Asia campaign the USSR was pretty irrelevant until the very end.
As an aside, it would be a mistake to discount the blow the USSR would have suffered it Moscow had fallen. It was the world centre of Communism; it contained the centres of Soviet power and prestige. Imagine how it would have played with wavering nations within the Axis to see Fascists parading down Red Square. Imagine how it would have looked to the Soviet people.
And on a last note, in relation to your handle mate, I realise that it is your free choice to have it, and I am sure that there is loads of peeps that use it or the KGB or whatever, but please remember, this was not a nice organisation.
