Quote Originally Posted by Yamaneko View Post
The Russians did more to sway the fight towards Allied victory during World War II than the United States did. One of the greatest misconceptions propagated today on the American public is that the Normandy invasion was the turning point of the war, when in fact the defeat of Hitler's Sixth Army at Stalingrad in 1943 placed the first nail in the Nazi war machine. By the time U.S. and British forces stormed the beaches in 1944, the German armies were already weakened, and the Red Army was on its way to Germany. Don't get me wrong, the United States did its share of the fighting, but they certainly did not win the war single-handedly, and its doubtful they could have won it without the immense sacrifice of the Russian people.
From what I've learned about the war, I don't think the Allies could have won it if any of them were absent. Without American equipment prior to their actual military commitment, the British would have been kicked in. Without a Western front, Germany could have committed the vast majority of troops to fighting the Soviet Union, and let's be honest, they were good at what they did. I'm not sure I'd put my money on the Soviets if it was just them and the Third Reich going toe to toe. Similarly, had the Russians not been involved, the Nazi war machine could have been committed to fighting Western Europe, with likely very dire consequences again for Britain.

I really don't like this "We did the most to win WWII!" business that's going on in the world today. Most prominent, it's true, is the US with the movies and stuff, but over here in Britain we act exactly the same way, just less loudly. We really do seem to be of the opinion that it was Britain who won the Second World War, our tenacity and unwillingness to give in, and so forth. We all did a great deal to win WWII and I argue that if any of the major powers involved hadn't been involved, the others would have had a far, far more difficult time, if victory was possible at all.