Recently I heard an historian give a breakdown of how Germany's troops were allocated during WWII... 5% in Italy, 15-20% to other occupied countries, and a whopping 75-80% of German troops & armor were needed on the Eastern Front during the war, just to keep the Russians back! It made me think how fortunate it was that Hitler betrayed Stalin in 1941, and also that FDR's cool head was in the White House to keep Stalin and Churchill at the same table. Just consider how horrific our own losses were during WWII...then imagine Germany with 75-80% more troops,tanks, and airplanes available. It is doubtful that we could have prevailed with only the British & Canadians on our side. On the other hand, Germany was just a stone's throw from Moscow...Give Hitler back the 25% of his forces that were tied up with the Western front, and take away the lease/lend aid to Russia, and the world might be very different today! All things considered I think both the USA and Russia were fortunate that we were able at least temporarily, to put our differences aside. It's a shame that the brave soldiers who fought with the Red Army and defeated one Tyrant had nothing better to return to than another one, but they were fighting for their motherland, not Stalin. I hope that before all our veterans of WWII are gone , there will be some kind of celebration that includes the elderly veterans of the former Soviet Union.
I agree 100% with you Dogdaddy, good for us that AH thought he could get the whole world under his boot and overstrained his army if he did not I think I would speak German today and we were not together on this wonderfull board.
There's been a series on TV about Stalin's secrets that were unknown to the West until the early 1990's after the fall of communism. I caught only one episode, but it was very interesting. Stalin it seems had some rather large expectations when he and Hitler signed the "no-attack" agreement in 1939, shortly before the invasion of Poland. After the first agreement was signed, he sent Molotov back to Berlin to deliver a message to Hitler that basically said that "We (Russia) would not stand by if our German friends found themselves in trouble with England and France." Stalin seems to have had ambitions on a full partnership with the nazis rather than just a non-aggression agreement. Hitler and his cohorts had a big laugh about that behind Stalin's back, knowing full well that they would in reality never consider the Russians, who they considered inferiors as their "equals." As we know today things didn't work out so well on Hitler's side, but Stalin ended up with half of Europe behind the Iron Curtain after Hitler betrayed him. Stalin understood treachery, which is why he was so paranoid about the possibility of US Ambassador Allan Dulles brokering a deal with Himmler during the secret meetings in Sweden....a deal which could have ended up with the Allies & the Krauts joining forces against the Bolsheviks. Of course after the death camps were discovered that never would have happened. My own personal opinion is that Presidents Roosevelt and (later) Truman made the right call by choosing the lesser of two evils.......even if evil number two was only "lesser" by a short hair.
Ah, fine hairs they were. A fraction here, a fraction there. The possible scenarios were all frightening. But yes, if it wasn't for the Russian front. Well that's pretty much a gimme!
Ran into a bunch of vets at our local grocery store, and to make a long story short, we all exclaimed together, "Thank God for Harry Truman!"
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
