There's no doubt that American supplies, especially of explosives, fuel, steel and aluminum, were very important to the Soviet victory over Germany. There's also no doubt that it was Soviet Union who did the fighting and dying to obtain that victory. The United States lost about 400,000 soldiers and civilians in WWII - on two fronts: Europe and the Pacific. Less than one half of 1% of our population.
The Soviet Union lost about 25 million soldiers and civilians in that war - on what we would call today "The Eastern Front". About 13% of their population.
I wonder what the response of the people in the US would have been if the US lost 13% of our population in that war. The Soviet Union was a dictatorship so they were able to continue the war (and the losses) without a political revolt.
I'm no fan of the Soviet Union - or of Russia today - but we have to recognize the sacrifices made by them in order to achieve victory over Germany.
Mike
[By D-Day, the Soviets had pushed the German army back almost to the German border. The Germans had been retreating for at least a year and after Kursk (1943) the Germans never took the offensive again on the Eastern Front. It was clear by 1944 that the Soviet Union was going to push into Germany.]
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