sheep said:
In WW2, Russia was the saving grace. They single handedly won the eastern front. We could barely park our boats while the battled back with nothing.
Sheep, This is what you said. Here is some actual history. This is rather long, but may give some idea as to the scope of WWII. I left out about 95%, too ...
Realistically, the Brits were mostly on their own for 2 + years.
And I imagine Hitler was REALLY angry on Dec. 7, 1941. He had failed in the Battle of Britain, the Battle on the eastern front was raging, and now he knows he will have the USSR on one side, and the USA on the other.
Note, too, The USA pretty much had to handle Japan on its own.
***10 May, 1941 : German bombers assault London in what tums out to be the final heavy mission of the Battle of Britain. More than 500 aircraft drop high*explosive and incendiary bombs which result in many fires and cause more than 3,000 casualties induding many dead. Some 27 German aircraft are lost. In the preceding ten months approximately 50.000 metric tons of bombs have been dropped on the UK, but the Battle of Britain has heen lost, and with it has gone Germany's chance of winning the war. Partly because of their lack of long-range fighters and heavy bombers, but also because of the eventual mastery of the RAF fighter squadrons and their tactics, the Germans will regard this as first significant turning*point in World War Two.***
Now that Hitler knew defeating Britain was impossible, and that war with Stalin was inevitable :
***22 June, 1941 - Operation "Barbarossa": Germany declares war on and begins (3.15u) an invasion of the Soviet Union. The Eastern Front quickly becomes 2,000-miles wide. Italy (60,000 men to Ukraine), Finland, and Romania also joined the German battle against the Soviet Union and declare war.***
Having passed "Lend-Lease" in March, 1941, the USA agrees to :
***18 September, 1941 - Conference at Moskow; Stalin, Harriman (United States) and Beaverbrook (United Kingdom).
The United States extended assistance to the Soviet Union through its Lend-Lease Act of March 1941.***
Back to important battles from the Russian point of view ...
***2 Oct, 1941 - Germans Begin of Operation "Typhoon": attack on Moskow (Von Bock).***
***6 December 1941,
(till 31 January). Soviet troops counter-attack at the whole front. Radio Moskow: Moskow would be defend till the last man died.***
On 7 December, 1941, the day after Stalin declares Moscow will be defended until the last man dies, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
***1 July 1942,
German and Romanian troops capture Sevastopol, Russia after 8 month siege. General on Manstein is promoted to Field Marshal. The Germans have expended more han 46.000 shells and 20.000 tons of bombs against Sevastopol; the figure is marginally less than the total dropped on the UK during 1941.
***15 September 1942,
Begin of the Battle of Stalingrad.***
***19 November 1942,
7.30u; Soviet forces begin a counteroffensive to break-out of Stalingrad.The "South West front": about 3 tank-, 2 cav.corps and 21 inf.div., the "Donjetsfront": about 20 inf.div., 6 tankbrig. and 2 motor.brig.***
***10 January 1943,
Russia requires surrender German 6th Army.
Begin of the liquidation of German troops in Stalingrad of troops from Armygroup "Don front", General Rokossowky. Fighting during the battle of Stalingrad was bitter and exhausting.***
***11 January 1943,
America produces in 1942; more then 48.000 planes, 56.000 tanks and the American Army count more then 7.000.000 men.***
***19 January 1943,
Russia liberate Leningrad.***
***27 January 1943,
First attack against a German target by US bombers, 64 B-17 and B-24, on Wilhelmshaven, which had also been the target for the first British daylight raid in 1939. Day raid on Copenhagen, night raid on Duesseldorf***
***2 February 1943,
German force surrender at Stalingrad, Soviet Union.***
***12 May 1943,
Axis forces are completed defeat in North Africa. Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel flees to Germany.***
***5 July 1943,
(till 15 July)."Unternehmen Zitadelle"; Germany started the last offensive in the East, the Tank offensive at Kursk.***
***17 August 1943,
Allied troops reach Messina and occupy all of Sicily, Italy.***
***8 September 1943,
"Fall Achse": Disarming of the Italian Army.
Italy surrenders to Allied forces, by Marshall Badoglio.***
***27 January 1944,
After Siege of 2½ years, Russian troops relieve Leningrad. Railway Moskow- Leningrad is free.***
***9 June 1944,
Begin of the Russian offensive from the "Karelish landengte" against the Finnish Army (Marshal Mannerheim).
Prime Minister of Italy Marshal Badoglio is forced to resign and replaced by Ivanoe Bonomi, a opponent of the Fascist movement.***
***22 June 1944,
Operation Bagration.The Sovjet Army under Stalin began offensive Bagration into Poland; in 6 weeks advanced 500 km to the Vistula. Three years to the day after Germany's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, the Red Army launched a massive offensive in Byelorussia. Codenamed 'Operation Bagration', this campaign climaxed five weeks later with the Red Army at the gates of Warsaw. The Wehrmacht's Army Group Centre was routed, a total of 17 Wehrmacht divisions were utterly destroyed, and over 50 other German divisions were shattered. It was the most calamitous defeat of the German armed forces in World War II.***
***3 July 1944,
Soviet forces recapture Minsk.***
***31 August 1944,
American forces reach the old French Maginot Line.
Russian troops capture the oil-fiels of Ploesti, Romania.***
***11 September 1944,
Units of the 1th American Army cross German border, north of Trier.
Patrols of the 2th British Army cross Dutch border, north of Leopoldsbrug.***
***7-16 October 1944,
The battle of Aachen, the capture of Aachen, the first German city to fall (secured on 21th october), the offensive of the American 1st and 9th Armies to the Rür, which included the battle of the Hürtgen Forest, Operation Queen, the largest aerial close support operation of the war against the German lines east of Aachen; A total of 2,807 planes dropped 10,097 tons of bombs.***
***6 November 1944,
Joseph Stalin renounce the neutrality pact between the Soviet Union and Japan.***
***25 December 1944,
Soviet forces reach Budapest, Hungary.***
***6 February 1945,
Soviet settle down at the other side of the river Oder (border between Poland and Germany).***
***26 March 1945,
The entire western front of Europe is now east of the Rhine River.
U.S. Army and Marines secure Iwo Jima. About 200 of the 20.000 Japanese troops are taken prisoner; Americans lost nearly 6.000 dead and more than 17.000 wounded. After this a few thousand aircraft will make landings on this base after they made missions over Japan. ***
***16 April 1945,
Battle of Berlin Stalin has ordered a major offensive on Berlin. He doubts the validity of Eisenhower's message of 28 March and believes the Western Allies may head for Berlin. His instructions to his commanders are not entirely complete, neither Zhukov nor Konev being awarded the honour of making the final assault, but these two fine Marshals have more than two million men, 6.000 tanks, more than 5.500 aircraft and 16.000 guns available for the task. The German defensive lines at the Oder have already been weakened by earlier attacks and they are hopelessly short of guns, tanks and air support.***
