"As historians note, the Normandy landing did not have a decisive impact on the outcome of World War II and the Great Patriotic War. It had already been pre-determined as a result of the Red Army's victories, mainly at Stalingrad (in late 1942) and Kursk (in mid-1943)," Zakharova told reporters.
More than 150,000 allied troops launched an air, sea and land attack on Normandy on June 6, 1944 that ultimately led to the liberation of western Europe from Nazi Germany.
Moscow, which had been fighting German forces in the east for almost three years by the time of D-Day, and gradually pushing them back from early 1943, had been urging Britain's Winston Churchill to open a second front as far back as August 1942.
"There was a wish to wait for the maximum weakening of Germany's military power from its enormous losses in the east, while reducing losses in the west," she said.
And I’m sure Russia scoffs at any mention of Lend/Lease.
Perhaps if Stalin wouldn’t have sided with Hitler at the outset, there would have been no need for the “Great Patriotic War”.
D-day saved Europe and everything under Nazi attack/invasion.
All the money and supplies we gave Stalin were though.
Does the Putin Gang also now deny the importance of Lend-Lease?
Then again, what should the Russians expect? Thanks to Progressive Libtards taking over our schools, our younger generations are lucky if they know anything positive about our own contributions to World War II.
Oh, suck balls, Russia.
WE never signed a Non-Aggression Pact with Adolf, Ivan.
Yeah. Maybe the USSR wouldn’t have lost 25 million lives if it first hadn’t sold its soul to Germany for a piece of Poland, and then compounded it by driving their troops through minefields at the point of a gun.
Soviets were total scum. Imprisioned their own soldiers who became POW’s and survived to come home, only to rot in a gulag felling timber in the snow until they died.
Screw them and the memory of them. I feel bad for the individual soldiers and civilians who lost their lives, but if Russia/Soviets want to talk about their “great sacrifices” I could give a crap less.
Russians should be grateful to the Americans for allowing them to enter FIRST and take over Berlin. Americans stopped short of entering Berlin on purpose. Patton was headed right to Berlin when Eisenhower said “NO”!
It wasn’t the Soviet Union’s efforts that did it in for the Nazi’s in the East. It was the Soviet winter that did them in.
I meant “Screw them” referring to the scum in power from then to now in the Soviet Union and Russia who want to paint their sacrifices in whatever light suits them.
Not the memory of the individuals. They were just people who trusted their government only to find out what their government was really like when they woke up to a knock on the door.
Whatevs, Russkies.
They aren’t wrong....
While there were several “Turning points” in the Second World War, the point can be argued that the most “Significant” turning point was the Allied Invasion of Sicily and Italy.
The Italian Invasion forced the Germans to redirect several of their strongest divisions, several equipped with the very latest and best of German tanks and Arty, to the Italian Theater, that were enroute to be the Anvil of follow on forces smashing exhausted Russian forces during and after the 4th Battle of Kursk, including 1200+ of the latest aircraft. Without those forces at Kursk, the Germans were not able to exploit the gains that they did make, at great expense.
The King Tigers, King Panthers, Hummels, Wespe’s, jagdTigers, etc, of these divisions are a large part of why the fighting in Italy was such a slog.
After Kursk, the Germans were never again able to regain the initiative anywhere in Europe.
The germans would disagree.
Once the Germans fell at Stalingrad, it was only a matter of time before the Russians kicked the Germans out of the Soviet Union. Without the D-Day invasion, the Russians would probably have defeated the Nazis by early 1946.
The landing in Normandy launched the Western Front of WW II that the German army dreaded and within six weeks they attempted to assassinate Hitler because he refused to sue for peace.
Also, the Russian article ignores the land lease supplies sent at great cost by the Allies to Russia that included everything needed to defeat the Nazis - especially important was the food and four wheel drive trucks/ jeeps that gave the formerly horse and foot Red Army infantry an edge over the German military.
The articles ignores the air war in the West that tied down upwards of 75% of the German air force and the bombing campaign that did great damage to German industry and transportation.
Yes, 75% of the German ground forces were deployed on the Eastern Front - and its questionable whether the Allied landing would have been successful against this massive ground force of over 100 well trained, equipped and experienced divisions in a Western campaign.
So I think fair to say the Western Allies would have been forced to the peace table and WW II ended as a draw - but likewise the same thing would have happened to Russia without the Western Front.
And all the while we were also fighting a separate war in the Pacific - thanks for all the help out there, Uncle Joe.
A few people doing something over Hiroshima and Nagasaki may had had an impact.
It is well documented that Stalin was crying for a second front from the first day he was attacked by Hitler. And while the Soviet contribution was critical in terms of casualties and occupation of German strength in the East, without Allied materiel delivered to Murmansk at great cost by Allied merchant marine the Soviets would have been overrun in 1943.