by JBG » Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:28 pm
It is very true that the Soviet Union carried the lion's share of the fight against Germany. They suffered the highest casualties, took the greatest material destruction and also inflicted the bulk of casualties on the Germans.
However, people should not forget the effort made by Britain and America's significant contribution.
Britain played a relatively minor role in the fighting when you look at the bigger picture and the far greater numbers involved on the Eastern front. However, Britain's refusal to yield and come to terms with Germany in 1940 was crucial to the outcome of the war. Hitler had always hoped that he could enlist the British as allies in his planned war against communism and had Britain sought a peace in 1940 it would almost certainly have been one of Hitler's terms that she contribute towards his planned war in Russia. By refusing to yield Britain ensured that Hitler did not have an entirely free hand in his attack on Russia and Britain's limited engagements in the Mediterannean in 1940 and 1941 were an unwanted distraction for Hitler in his war against Russia.
Later in the war British and American buildup in Britain and the Italian campaign necessitated Hitler withdrawing armoured divisions from the Eastern front at a time when that front was starting to crumble after the cancellation of Zitadelle. Towards the end of the war British (but primarily American) forces decisively defeated German forces on the Western front.
America's role was crucial to all of the allies and should not be forgotten. While Russian forces took the bulk of casualties America effectively bank rolled the war against Hitler before her own forces could be brought to bear against him, much the same as Britain bankrolled the war against Napoleon while Russian and Prussians paid with their blood. In much the same way as Tsar Alexander and the Prussians could not continue the fight without British aid and finance in the Napeolonic wars, Britain and arguably Russia could not have defeated Hitler without American material and financial assistance. Had America turned its back on Europe in WWII Britain would undoubtedly become bankrupt and starved by late 1941/early 1942 and would have had to sue for peace. America supplied tanks, anti aircraft guns, artillery pieces, airplanes and most importantly, trucks and jeeps, to the Soviet Union in enormous quantities as well as raw materials and food supplies. It is arguable that without this aid the Soviet Union could have buckled at any one of the pivotal times during the Eastern war.
The following FACTS should be bourne in mind by those who have posted a lot of misconceptions and falsehoods in this thread.
1. It is not true to say that America would have stayed out of the war until Pearl Harbour. Prior to Pearl Harbour a state of war existed between Germany and America. It was an undeclared and unofficial war but it existed in the Atlantic. Roosevelt occupied Greenland and Iceland in 1941 to assist Britain and extended America's defensive zone in the North Atlantic under which he (eventually) ordered American naval vessels to "shoot on sight" at u-boats. American mariners died prior to Pearl Harbour in the Atlantic. Hitler declared war on America as he recognised that a state of war already existed and his declaration of war was taken as a measure to pre-empt the inevitable and allow his u-boat commanders to have unfettered access to American waters.
2. America gave Britain (and the USSR) aid on a lend lease basis whereby the materials were given to Britain "on loan" or on credit with no payments necessary until after the war. This was merely a deviation on what Britain herself had done in countless wars in the past, most famously in the Napeolonic wars.
Jolly Bob Grumbine.
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