What do traditionalist historians think about stalins request to create a second front in 1941?

Answer 1

In 1941 it was impossible for the Allies to open up a 2nd front in the West. The Pearl Harbor attacks on America did not take place until December of that year, and it took 3 years after that to amass the troops needed in Europe to launch a successful invasion of the beaches of Northern France.

Simply put, it took 2 superpowers (i.e. the Soviet Union, and the United States) and 2 global empires (i.e. the British Empire and French Empire), to halt the ambitions of Nazi Germany. It wasn't until 1943, after the Battle of Stalingrad, that the Soviets were even able to mount a successful counterattack against the German war machine; meaning there was a 3-4 year interval in which Nazi Germany went virtually unchallenged and were on the offensive (known as Blitzkrieg, or "Lightning War"). During this time, the Nazis realized some of the most stunning victories in military history. The entire country of France was conquered in a little over a month, as was Poland and much of the Western Soviet Union (i.e. European Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic States, etc..), and the conquests of countries such as Greece, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and various other European countries were attained in a number of mere days or weeks. In other words, the military might of Nazi Germany was overwhelming, and it took the forces of multiple countries acting in concert to overcome them.

In 1941 Soviet forces were in full retreat, the British were isolated from the rest of Europe, and the Americans had just entered the war in the last month of the year. Opening up a 2nd front in the West at that time was nothing more than a pipe dream. In fact, at that point in history, it appeared as if the Nazi juggernaut could not be stopped.