While one should not discount the efforts of U.S. and allied troops in the ETO, there is absolutely no comparison as to who actually paid the cost to beat the Nazis. It’s not even vaguely comparable.
On the Western Front after the invasion of France, the allies had 783,860 casualties, including 164,590 killed. They inflicted 836,606 casualties on the Axis including 263,000(est) killed.
On the Eastern Front:
Russia lost (as in dead) 10,651,000. I don’t see a general casualty figure, but things were very brutal over there and the Soviets were not the best at taking care of their soldiers.
The Axis lost 5,178,000 dead.
I can’t actually find general casualty counts for either side in the East.
So just to give rough numbers, the Russians lost 80 times as many people (dead) and killed off 20 times as many Germans.
Do still want to make some kind of case that the U.S. won the war? Now, we certainly beat Japan almost single handedly, but against the Nazis, the Russians carried the load.
It should, however, be understood that the Russians managed this based on U.S. logistics. The majority of their transport and explosives were produced in the U.S. and shipped over. They would not have been able to make nearly as many tanks as they did without us filling in the gaps in what they needed.
Nonetheless, they paid the butcher’s bill like nobody else.
Do still want to make some kind of case that the U.S. won the war?
The U.S. lost less and provided more materials. It looks like the russians lost more than anyone else. The courage of the US soldiers was right up there with the best.
I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country.
Spoken by George C. Scott in the film Patton.
The Soviet Union did not value the lives of their soldiers and Stalin murdered much of the experienced and competent officer corps prior to WW II. Germans also new that surrendering to the Soviets was a death sentence.