What Americans should always remember that if the Russians at such a great cost to themselves had not fought the Germans so long and so well and not destroyed the best of the German army, American casualties in WWII would have been much Simply put, many Americans who live today, simply would not have come to exist.
Russians got a lot of help from us, but they hushed that up.
True.
That a significant number of those men fighting Hitler did so at the point of their own comrade’s guns doesn’t change that fact. Or the fact that hundreds of thousands of Russians exposed to direct contact to the West during the war spent the rest of their lives in the Gulags, worked and starved to death.
It was indeed at great cost to themselves, but a significant portion of that cost (and a morally far more disturbing cost than those Soviets actually killed or wounded in the war) was at the hands of their own countrymen who treated them as cannon-fodder, if not worse (as outright traitors) as they found out when they were both repatriated from German POW camps or simply returned home as veterans when the war ended.
We (the allies, specifically us and the British) share a blame in some of that repugnancy (the repatriations who were imprisoned upon their return) but that was the way the world was then.
God Bless the brave Russians on this one ... they showed vile Germans how tough they were... and yeah, saved millions of lives in the process.
We should ALSO remember that if the Russians had not colluded with Germany over the invasion and seizure of Poland, millions of lives on ALL SIDES would not have been lost.
I don’t disagree with you in general but there are lot of scenarios that defy your prediction.
Roosevelt wanted to fight in Europe — he had been plotting to with Churchill behind the scenes for more than two years — but if Hitler hadn’t declared war on the USA after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, it is entirely possible that the USA would have fought on only one front.
Remember, the “unconditional surrender” decision was not made until 1944 when it was pretty clear that Hitler would eventually lose.
It is entirely possible that a negotiated outcome in Europe would have been Hitler keeps Russia and Eastern Europe but eventually leaves Western Europe. That would have been consistent with Mein Kampf.
Without the USA fighting in Europe there is no invasion of Sicily. Without Sicily, Hitler probably prevails on the Eastern Front in 1943, the year after Stalingrad, or at least maintains parity with the USSR. Once the futility of lend lease is revealed, the USA backs off providing provisions to the Communists in exchange for an end to the carnage.
Lots of alternate scenarios than just the USA leading the invasion of Western Europe and taking on the entire burden on conquering Germany.