I agree but the surviving Germans with experience in the East and West are pretty consistent in ranking the Russian soldier as having the best fighting qualities.
Yes fighting on the Eastern Front was terrible, BUT I doubt that the "fighting" was any worse then the Western Front.
This entire thread is based on the question of what the Western Allies should have done upon reaching the Elbe. The generally accepted reason why we reached the Elbe so much earlier than the Russians is because the Germans were putting up a much more determined resistance against the Russians than the Western Allies.
Pretty much once the Allies crossed the Rhine, the resistance from the Germans was relatively miniscule to that of the resistance against the Russians in the East. Even in Bavaria, which was considered the stronghold of Nazism. There was great fear that Hitler would go the Bavaria and fight a protracted Guerrilla war there (the National Redoubt), but that did not happen. Hitler never even endorsed the plan because he knew most Germans at that point, with the war all but lost, would fight against the Americans and British. Much easier to surrender to them.
Which of course makes my point that the Nazis should have learned. To win a war, make it easy on your enemy to surrender. The Russians could have used that lesson as well, instead of losing a half million in the fight for Berlin alone.
A telling evidence of that fact is the complete lack of significant use of the ruthlessly effective German tank busting aircraft variants of the Stuka and later the He-129 on the western front.