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Who won World War II?
By Konstantin Rozhnov
BBCRussian.com
The Nazi regime collapsed in May 1945, squeezed ever more tightly between two fronts - the Soviet Union on one side and the Western Allies on the other.
But which of these fronts was the most important?
Soviet troops and equipment at Seelower Hoehen
Allied aid to the Soviet Union, from food to lorries, played a vital role
Throughout the Cold War, and ever since, each side has tended to see its own contribution as decisive.
“In the West, for some time… public opinion has taken the view that the Soviet Union played a secondary role,” says the Russian historian Valentin Falin.
On the other hand, opinion polls show that two-thirds of Russians think the Soviet Union could have defeated Hitler without the Allies’ help, and half think the West underestimates the Soviet contribution.
Ribbentrop’s view
Richard Overy, professor of contemporary history at King’s College London, notes that after the war, Hitler’s foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop listed three main reasons for Germany’s defeat:
* Unexpectedly stubborn resistance from the Soviet Union
* The large-scale supply of arms and equipment from the US to the Soviet Union, under the lend-lease agreement
* The success of the Western Allies in the struggle for air supremacy.
Because Britain and the US had to invade Europe by sea they have a sense of ‘liberating’ a German-conquered Europe
Professor Richard Overy,
King’s College London
Mr Overy says that for decades Soviet historians underplayed the significance of US and UK lend-lease in the Soviet Union’s success, but that Russia has recently shown just appreciation.
Mr Falin, however, says Russians never forgot the help they received from their allies.
“You ask any Soviet person, whether he remembers what a Dodge or a Willis is!” he says.
“The Americans supplied us with 450,000 lorries. Of course, in the final stages of the war this significantly increased our armed forces’ mobility, decreased our losses and brought us, perhaps, greater success than if we had not such help.”
Bombers
Mr Overy accepts that the Western powers played a smaller role on the battlefield itself than the Soviet forces but says their bombing campaigns made a huge contribution.
German POWs at Stalingrad
POWs at Stalingrad: Most German losses were on the eastern front
“Bombing diverted a lot of manpower and military equipment from the front in Russia, while it restricted the expansion of the German war economy,” he says.
He also agrees that the West still only has a weak understanding of the Soviet Union’s role.
“Because Britain and the US had to invade Europe by sea [Italy in 1943, and France in 1944] they have more of a sense of ‘liberating’ a German-conquered Europe,” he says.
Second front
Mr Falin, meanwhile, argues that the war could have been brought to an end more quickly if the second front, in France, had been opened before 1944.
“How many millions of people would have remained alive?” he asks.
“Many death camps reached full power precisely in the second half of 1943 and in 1944.”
Mr Overy says that the West has a view of the war as a global conflict, because of its fight against Japan, for example, whereas the Soviet view is of a “national crusade to repel the invader”.
Mr Falin cites figures suggesting that German forces suffered 93% of their casualties on the Soviet front and argues that this shows the Soviet contribution was decisive.
But he adds that every single US, UK, Canadian or other Allied soldier who died “made a big, important and necessary contribution to the victory, which was a shared victory”.
Do you agree or disagree with the views expressed in this article? Please send us your opinions using the form below.
Your comments (from bloggers):
[i]Technically the Red Army defeated Nazi Germany. Eisenhower halted the Western allies and allowed Zhukov and Konev to commit the Coup de Gras by taking Berlin. However, no single nation can claim credit, victory very much belonged to all the Allied forces.
Paul Ellison, Frome
We all seem to forget that Soviet Russia was instrumental, together with Nazi Germany, in starting the Second World War, attacking Poland in September 1939. Russian and German forces even held joint victory parades in Polish towns. Russia was allied with Nazi Germany, and Russia only joined the fight again Germany after Germany attacked Russia in 1941. In Russian history, the war only started in 1941.
Voytek, Sydney, Australia
Russian boys won the war! It is considered politically incorrect in Western countries to admit that Russians did anything good. These days they pay tribute to Nazis in Baltic countries, not to those who opposed them.
Sergey, Volgograd, Russia
World War 2 belongs to history now. Who won it is not all that important, but how to prevent another one and eradicate Hitler-like leaders from this planet.
Patrick Atta-Larbi Sakyi, Belgorod, Russia
We won! That’s all it matters! The Nazi regime collapsed and we got rid of a terrible monster. We should be celebrating and thanking our veterans for their sacrifice. I thank you!
Leonardo Calcagno, Montreal, Quebec
I think the problem is more ‘mass culture’ issue than history. When you watch a Western movie about WWII you can’t say even what side Russians fought on. This is a disgrace. And don’t forget USSR also fought Japan twice - in 1938/39 (which nearly destroyed the elite Kwangtung army) and in 1945.
Stefan Kirov, Knoxville, TN, USA
I don’t think you can be so crass as to try and to claim one victor. Too many lives were lost, on all sides, and too many emotional scars left open for anybody to claim to be an absolute winner. Everybody loses with war, it isn’t a particularly nice thing to have to engage in and it certainly can’t be trivialised by arguing about who made the biggest contribution. Let’s not talk about beating Germany, because so many had to sacrifice their lives who should never have had to, and the same on the Allied side.
Jennifer Hynes, Plymouth, UK
I’m really not sure what all the fuss is about. You can argue either side until you’re blue in the face and you’ll never change the other side’s mind. If the US had never entered the war would the Soviets have been defeated? There’s a good chance that the government would have fallen, but there would probably always be successful insurgent groups. If the Germans hadn’t invaded the Soviets would they have been able to defeat Britain? Again, quite probably. But if we’re asking if questions. How would the world be if the powers that were would have used a little logic and stopped Hitler before he could trump all of Europe?
Nathan Hatch, Farmington, UT, USA
The political climate in the US during the post-war period was such that it was very difficult to admit that the USSR had done anything right since its inception. In the past couple of decades, we’ve begun to have an appreciation for what they (the Russians) went through. I don’t think this was intentional on anyone’s part. It’s obviously easier, if you’re writing a history, to go to source material in your own language and in your own country. It’s time to recognise that all the Allies made significant contributions. No one of us could have won WWII by ourselves.
Pat O’Brien, Sutton Coldfield
The outcome of WWII is what it is. Trying to determine whose contribution was greater is nonsense. If and buts cannot replace the facts that it was an Allied effort that lead to the downfall of the Nazis period.
Richard, Houston, USA
If the Germans had won the Battle of Britain it would have been all over. If it wasn’t for us standing alone while our Allies declared neutrality we wouldn’t be having this argument. We worked as a team to get the job done and in the end that is all that matters. But could you imagine the 18-32yr olds of today willingly getting on a boat and being told we are entering German occupied France and your job is to storm the machine gun firing German troops from the beaches and accepting it as the right thing to do? Come on - we’re the generation that thinks it’s too much trouble to vote!
IH, West London, UK[/i]
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