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.
Dogdaddy 