How did Russia's contribution to World War 2 lead to the Allies victory?

Answer 1

Although the allied victory over Nazi Germany was a victory for all of the allies, the ultimate victory was for the Soviets. The Soviet Union was betrayed by Hitler when Hitler resigned on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (the non-aggression pact between the two states). No other front in WWII was more brutal than the Eastern front in Europe. Omer Bartov's book "Hitler's Army" does an outstanding job describing the de-humanization of the enemy that both armies were forced in to. I highly suggest this book to anyone who is interested in the war in the East. Most wars still have "rules" or "regulations": we often describe these as the "rules of war". In the Eastern Front, there were no rules, no care in treatment of prisoners, no tolerance, and most definately, NO MERCY. The reason that I say "Ultimate victory" is because the Soviet people made the Ultimate sacrifice. For years it was said that the USSR lost 11 million people fighting the Germans (the Germans lost 2.5 in the entire war). More recent numbers have been as high as 29-35 million Soviets. One striking factor of the USSR was their lack of weaponry and how the Soviets dealt with it ... they instituted a policy in which soldiers were paired in twos on the battlefield. One man had a loaded rifle, the other only a clip. When the man with the rifle was killed, the other was to pick it up and continue the fight. This gives us a sense of the despair that the Soviets were experiencing while fighting. How did the Soviets help win the war? in a word: sacrifice.