Germans vs the Soviets during WW2 were a Clash of the Titans : Is this an overstatement?

Question

Esp. with respect to strong militant powers involved such as the Americans and the British?

Answer 1

NO it is not overestimated, the British or Americans never used half as many divisions asthe germans and Soviets did against each other. the largest battle in world history was not D_day, it was Kursk, each side used over 1.5 million men, and thousands of tanks, it raged for a few months, and over 700,000 died, and three times that wounded. It so weaked both sides, that what aved the soviet union,was that the germans where so depleted on there easten front, and it truely was a knowck down drag out war for both sides, the germans lost 3 times more men against the soviets from 1941-45 then against all the allies of the US,Britian,France and the other smaller nations combined. the funny thing is few people know that the germans learned from the soviets in the early 1930s about modern warefare ideas and tactics, such as the use of aircraftand tanks, for shock purposes, they where close military bed buddies , Grmany did surpass the soviets by the late 30s in tank dsign and aircraft capabilities, but the traing and alll else where very similar and tacticswhere shared in peacetime. Remember they where allies for years , and so when Hitler tuned on them, they knew to well each others strenghts and weakness. it was the real clash of the titans in that war with out a doubt.

Answer 2

nater and Coach are drunk- the Soviet Army in 1945 was not 'exhausted', but rather at the height of its power in numbers, equipment and tactical skill. The Soviet army that was nearly defeated in 1941 was very different to that which was smashing the Germans at will in 1944 and 1945, and nor was it only winning by sheer weight of 'dumb numbers'.

By any measure- distance, numbers of men engaged, numbers of units engaged, extent of national effort, quality of weapons- the German-Soviet front was where the guts of the war was fought. North Africa and Italy were just sideshows to the Germans- a few divisions in each theatre compared to hundreds of divisions in Russia. D-Day was not until June 1944- Germany invaded Russia in June 1941 and the war was over by the end of April 1945. The D-Day/Normandy battle itself was smaller than the Soviet Army's Operation Bagration which happened at the same time- and which was just as decisive, smashing a German Army Group (several hundred thousand men) and leaving very few survivors.

Russia was not seriously defeated at any time after Stalingrad in late 1942/early 1943, a time when the US/British war effort was only an inconvenience to the Germans. They had some economic aid but the military aid was useless (supplied tanks were not good enough to survive in Russia). Claims that Russia needed Western help and/or was weak simply don't stack up against the facts- they serve only to support self-serving myths. If Russia was going to be defeated it could only have been before mid-1942- after this the Soviets were organised and crushing all before them.

It is fair to say Britain and the US helped Russia win the war- though this view does not suit us in the West.

Answer 3

no this isn't an understatement because they were the first two to clash against each other during the war. thatis to say the russians were the first to put up a major fight for the nazi's. the americans didn't actually get into the fight in europe until later on and the british had a strong defensive military but they didn't really have the manpower or resources for a full scale invasion like the russians or americans did. although if the americans hadn't become involved the russians would have fell eventually. and if we had listened to men like general patton the russians wouldn't even be a superpower today and the cold war wouldn't have happened.

Answer 4

It is an overstatement indeed. Yes, these were some large battles, and very deciseve. However, Germany was stretched thin by this time in the war, and didn't want to have to fight Russia on another front. Furthermore, Stalingrad was evacuated to leave the Germans starving in the winter. Certainly a brilliant tactic, but no "Clash of the Titans".

Answer 5

If you look at the amount of men and material thrown into the conflict, yes. Also, the number of lives lost during WW2 was the greatest during the Soviet German conflict. The Soviet German conflict also produced 2 epic battles in the drive towards Stalingrad and the battle for Berlin. I wouldn't say it is an overstatement if you look at the conflict in those terms.

Answer 6

yeah it was a team effort, but in my humble opinion, the fate of the second world war was decided by the outcome of Operation Barbarossa.....

A decisive role was played by the USSR, USA, and Britain. THE decisive roll was played by the USSR, go ask its 20 million dead.....

Just to give you an idea of battle deaths on both sides check these out:
EASTERN FRONT:
Stalingrad: 1.8 million
Siege of Leningrad: 1.5 million
Moscow 1941-42: 700,000
Smolensk 1941: 500,000
Kiev 1941: 400,000
Vorenesh 1942: 370,000
Belarus 1941: 370,000
2nd Rzhev-Sychevka: 270,000
Caucasus 1942: 260,000
Kursk: 230,000
Lower Dnieper: 170,000
Kongsberg: 170,000
Rostov: 150,000
Budapest: 130,000
and others with less killed

Whereas on the Western Front
Battle of France 180,000
Normandy: 132,000
El Alamein: 70,000
Battle of the Bulge: 38,000


Not even on the same scale....do the math....

Answer 7

One of the Reasons it is Difficult to get an exact Number of Civilians Murdered By the Nazis is the Nazi practice of Slash and Burn the Germans Destroyed Towns and Villages and Murdered the Inhabitants to make way for Germans to move in

Answer 8

It is quite a truth...since Germany had the mightest army at that time, and it was Russia that defeated Germany after all. WW2 was simply the battle between Russia and Germany...and it was mainly Russia that ruined Hitler, as they doomed Napoleon.

* But it was Britain + US that took out Italy and Japan out of war..but...we all know who was the biggest bad ***...Germany, of course

Answer 9

The germans obviously learnt nothing from the Franco-Russian War

Answer 10

Yes it is. If we had listened to Patton and kept going into Russia, our army would have crushed them. They were so decimated from their advance into Germany, it was unbelieveable. They could not have withstood another massive army attacking them. Then the cold war would have never happened. We had the men, machines and the willpower. Ah, if we had only listened to Patton!