I am trying to set a better standard for myself upon returning to this site, however, I cannot be completely and utterly offended by Putin's overly biased comments.
"The idea that the west contributing 4% of Soviet military production through lend lease was vital for the war is a joke."
You forget that just because Russia lost their millions of men fighting the Germans from Africa to the Baltics, does not mean that they were the only factor contributing to the defeat of Nazi Germany. There were numerous attacks in Eastern Europe that slaughtered the Russian forces, but there was plenty of fighting going on in the west. Sure, maybe America would have abandoned Europe altogether, had Germany and Japan not declared war on them, but that is hardly justification to negate the loss of the millions of Americans who died fighting the Axis Alliance.
Do you forget France? Though they may not have fought hard, their defenses along the Maginot line and their reaction to attack Germany after the seizure of Poland should not go unnoticed. They had an impact, they fought, and they lost.
And then there was England, who, united under Churchill fought the Germans harder than anyone expected them to. Through the months of constant bombardment and air raids, they pulled through and stopped (or at least slowed) Germany from uniting all of Europe under a Fascist regime. They fought on Normandy, they fought for France. They fought in London, they fought in Egypt and Arabia. You cannot say that they did nothing to stop Germany. They lost almost all of their remaining colonies after that attack, and they were majorly set back, practically losing their title as the most powerful nation in the world up until that point.
And then there was Australia...alright, we can forget that they did anything, but they at least tried.
And to whom does the greatest credit go? To America...
That is the mere fact of the matter, when people recognize the victories in the Pacific, on D-day, and for utterly defeating Germany and re-establishing world peace, people think of America. The war would not have been won in Germany, had the Americans not gathered the Allies together and launched a full scale attack on the beaches of France. The war would not have been won against Japan, had they not dropped two freaking nuclear warheads on Japanese soil. What on earth are you saying that those had no impact? Millions dying in the taking of Pacific Islands isn't good enough for you? America stopped Japan and sent them back to their little island. Russia didn't have that hard of a fight, Japan didn't have that great manpower. The only reason Russia had it hard in the Pacific was because of a lack of sustainable resources to fund the war.
In the end, Russia did a lot of good things fending off the Germans, but they simply had it far too hard on themselves for not providing the necessary funding to fight the Axis. I can't get out everything I want to say, because I have difficulty explaining things without being able to look at my subject, but I hope you're understanding that Russia merely provided the cannon fodder to slow Germany down until the Allies were able to intervene. It should have happened a bit sooner, but what are you going to do about it?