Quote:
Originally Posted by Jesus H Christ
This is somewhat factually correct, but the tide of the war changed when the Russian defeated the Germans at the Battle of Stalingrad (1943), the bloodiest battle in the history of warfare. In short, the Russians suckered in 800,000 Germain troops and killed 600,000 and took 200,000 as prisoners in 6 months. Then the Russians did it again three months later at the Battle of Kursk, the largest tank/armor battle in History.
I don't know what history books you're reading but between these two battles in a 10 month period the Russians destroyed the Germain 6th Army (Waffen-SS troops) and then destroyed the best panzer German tanks regiment at Kursk with their "own" Russian made tanks and equipment.
After that there was nothing stopping them all the way to Berlin. BUT the Russian can give Americans a lot of credit because they would have suffered 5x more casualties if the Americans and Brits air-war (bombing factories) never started. Meaning, it would have been a quagmire because the Germans lost due to fighting 2 fronts and did not have steady supply-lines/equipment needed to defeat the Russians.
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The Russian victory at Stalingrad happened at the end of January '43. The Russians were provided...in part...this victory because of the Lend/Lease provided to them by the U.S. beginning in October of '41. It also happened in part...because German troops were tied down in the North African Campaign...the Sicily and Italian Campaign...and they were tied down in France awaiting the invasion.
Without the assistance of the U.S. in war materials and motorized vehicles and without the entry of the U.S. into the war and engaging German Forces...by land...sea and air...the victories of the Russians over the Germans...may never have took place as they were losing and losing badly prior to these events.
The Russians never regained complete control of their country until July of '44 when they took back Minsk...a month after D Day. So it seems to me that the tide of the war changed when the U.S. began supplying materials to Eurpope/Russia and put troops on the ground in North Africa...Sicily...Italy and France...since the Russians did not regain their country until a month after D Day.
It is true that the Russians engaged...captured and killed more German troops than the Allied forces did...but they could not have done it without the assistance of the U.S. in war materials/motorized vehicles and U.S/Allied forces engaging...capturing and killing German troops...end of story.
Eurpoe had been lost...England was on the verge of being lost...the Russians were being badly defeated...but when the U.S. begin to supply and when they entered the war and when they engaged the German forces...this losing trend began to reverse itself. Once again it pretty much sounds like saving the day to me.