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Let's just say if it were not for the Soviet contribution Europe would be speaking German now.
Throughout 1941-1945 >65% of all German armies were committed to the eastern front, even after D day. 70% of all German military casualties were inflicted by the soviets. The size of the forces involved in the Italian campaign (10-15 divisions) would have been insignificant by the standard of eastern front. Such a force would have been chewed up and spat out in a few days during the peak campaigning season on the eastern front. The entire Italian campaign would not have warranted a foot note if it had been part of the war in the eastern front. The destruction of the German army in the east by the Soviets summer offensive in 1944 doomed Nazi Germany. Compared to the eastern front, the land war in the west is but a side show. Even in late 1944, Hitler believed his hope to stave off defeat lies in shattering the more easily defeated Americans and British in the Ardennes, because there is no hope of making a meaningful dent on the soviets.
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True enough. But who led the bombing campaign abasing German cities destroying much of the industrial capacity? I believe that was the Yanks and Brits!
(August 29, 2017 at 3:40 pm)CatholicDefender Wrote: I guess they did, but for some reason Ive always had sort of an aversion to reading about them and their exploits.
I vastly prefer reading about the battle of London, Operation Torch and D-day as opposed to anything the Russians did. It just seems like such a bloody, bad and cold place to be at that time, so I prefer not to read about it. I also pity the German soldiers who froze to death and were starved at Stalingrad. Not all of them were Nazis you know!
Btw, I really really hate reading about the Italian campaign. It just was a long hard slog to nowhere it seemed. Ever wonder why hollywood makes so few movies about the Italian theater? There was no Italian campaign version of saving Private Ryan(thoughh the Pacific version, the Thin Red Line is fantastic!!). Perhaps because it was primarily a British/Austrlian venture with only minority Yankee support?
Anyway, the Soviet contribution just doesn't interest me much, so I tend not to read about it.
Let's just say if it were not for the Soviet contribution Europe would be speaking German now.
Throughout 1941-1945 >65% of all German armies were committed to the eastern front, even after D day. 70% of all German military casualties were inflicted by the soviets. The size of the forces involved in the Italian campaign (10-15 divisions) would have been insignificant by the standard of eastern front. Such a force would have been chewed up and spat out in a few days during the peak campaigning season on the eastern front. The entire Italian campaign would not have warranted a foot note if it had been part of the war in the eastern front. The destruction of the German army in the east by the Soviets summer offensive in 1944 doomed Nazi Germany. Compared to the eastern front, the land war in the west is but a side show. Even in late 1944, Hitler believed his hope to stave off defeat lies in shattering the more easily defeated Americans and British in the Ardennes, because there is no hope of making a meaningful dent on the soviets.
[/quote]
True enough. But who led the bombing campaign abasing German cities destroying much of the industrial capacity? I believe that was the Yanks and Brits!
