Two thirds of Russians believe USSR could have won WWII without allies

 

(Moscow) Russians are certain that the USSR could have won World War II without the help of allies, and they consider the role of Great Britain and France in defeating fascism insignificant in a poll.

Almost two thirds of Russians (63 per cent) say that the Soviet Union could have won World War II even without the help of allies, although the number of such respondents has fallen from 71 per cent since 2001, sociologists from the All-Russia Centre for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) reported to Interfax on the basis of the results of an all-Russian survey carried out on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the start of the World War 2.

Twenty-three per cent of Russians surveyed are of the opposite view, whereby victory in World War II would have been impossible without the help of other countries. At the same time, over recent years the share of people who do not know how to answer this question has has doubled from 7 to 15 per cent.

The overwhelming majority of our citizens regard the USSR's contribution to victory in that war as the main one (87 per cent). As a rule, respondents view the role of Great Britain and France as insignificant. Only 26 and 22 per cent respectively consider the UK and French role as significant. Russians tend to express both the former and latter viewpoints in equal measure regarding the USA (30 per cent each). In the opinion of many Russians, China did not make any contribution to the victory in World War II (47 per cent).

According to the VTSiOM figures, over the last seven years the opinion of our compatriots about the role of specific countries in the victory in World War II has changed somewhat. The proportion of Russians pointing to the USSR making the main contribution has fallen from 92 per cent to 87 per cent. There are now also less people who regard as insignificant the role of Great Britain, China , USA, and France. At the same time, the number of people who consider the USA's contribution as very or quite significant has risen slightly from 10 to 14 per cent).

The VTsIOM survey was carried out on 22-23 August in 140 locations in 42 regions, territories and republics across Russia. At the same time, more respondents give credit to the US, considering America to be the main force in putting Hitler down.

Rightardia comment: The Russians primarily fought the Germans on one front while the US conducted operations in the Pacific against the Japanese. The US also fought the Axis powers in Northern Africa, the Mediterranean and Italy.

The US also provided more than $11 billion of lend lease military supplies and equipment to the Russians. The US and the UK also bombed Nazi Germany continually during the war although the effectiveness of the bombing is questionable.

In addition to the fighter aircraft deliveries. the American Lend-lease deliveries to Russia included also more than 400.000 trucks, over 12.000 tanks and other combat vehicles, 32.000 motorcycles, 13.000 locomotives and railway cars, 8.000 anti-aircraft cannons and machine-guns, 135.000 submachine guns, 300.000 tons of explosives, 40.000 field radios, some 400 radar systems, 400.000 metal cutting machi­ne tools, several million tons of foodstuff, steel, other metals, oil and gasoline, chemicals etc. A price tag was naturally attached to all deliveries, with following typical fighter prices: P-40 Kittyhawk - $44.900, P-39 Airacobra - $50.700 and P-47 Thunderbolt - $83.000.

This is an interesting perspective because most Americans have little understanding of the Russian contribution to World War 2 and think the US defeated the Nazis. Clearly the Russians took the brunt of the Germans Wehrmacht and 8 million Russians were killed in ferocious battles with the Germans.

Perhaps the Russians could have defeated the Germans by themselves but it would have taken longer. The Normandy Invasion in 1944 hastened the end of the war.  At the time of the Normandy invasion the Russians were attacking Axis forces in the Ukraine and Romania.

sources: http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/2009-163-2.cfm and http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/geust/aircraft_deliveries.htm

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