Looking back at history it’s now clear how critically important Russia was to defeating Nazi Germany.
No question about it. The Russians paid a much dearer price than we did, in terms of lives lost.
Maybe so, but what did they do with that "victory?" They subjugated Eastern Europe and the world to nearly five decades of the same terror Europe suffered for one under the Nazis. Nice tradeoff, wouldn't you say? New boss same as the old boss.
What's clear, looking back at history, is that Hitler would have taken Moscow before winter came if Churchill hadn't coordinated (with the US, who hadn't yet entered the war) a massive campaign to resupply Stalin because his army and air forces had been decimated by the Germans in the first weeks of Barbarossa.
American war materiel was so vital to the Soviets that the joke was, "The Red Army rides into battle in Studebaker duece-and-a-halves." They would have defended Stalingrad with nothing but spears and slingshots if not for the steady stream of arctic convoys Churchill was sending to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk.
Not Russia, the USSR. Russia would have been defeated easily. It was the Soviet troops from the East that came West that stopped Germany. That gave the Soviets unlimited manpower. Combine that with the never ending stupidity of invading the Russian (yes, Russia this time) steppes in winter and you always lose.
The USSR deserved massive losses for siding with the Nazis at first. They basically whored themselves, but what else can you expect from commie trash? In this period their cells in the WEst were busily telling all of their commie trash supporters that Hitler was a nice guy.
Once they called for the material help from the west (which is all that saved them) they deserved sympathy. And, for that, commemoration. What they lost before that time — they deserved it.
Not before Old Joe was a good buddy of Hitler.
Russia provided man power.
We supplied them the material, the money and loads of iron ore.
The Russians never paid us a dime for it.
Looking back at history, it is clear how Russia aided and abetted its partner, Nazi Germany, from 1939 to 1941 - supplying the Nazis with the oil it needed to fuel its holocaust and war in the west.
You Russians were Nazi allies.