China, India: Where's that $100 billion you promised?

“Liberation of Europe”. How would Poland view their ‘liberation’? Or Czechoslovakia, Hungary and East Germany?
Russia’s defeat of the Nazi war machine in the East was an extraordinary achievement and I was not aware that it was ignored or belittled. Also Russia’s might was not something that the allies could do much about because without the western allies landing in Italy and France then Russia would have ‘liberated’ all of Europe. Stalin’s military tactics were brutal to his own forces and probably meant many more died than was necessary. Operation Barbarossa and what followed was unimaginable and Russia was in a desperate state, but Stalin’s view of his own people meant the Russian’s had to survive not only the German onslaught but Stalin’s inhumanity. There is no denying the great achievements of General Zhukov (for example) but Stalin tried to deny even his achievement. If the Western view of Russia’s WW2 achievements is supposedly less than it should then that is the fault of Stalin and how Russia treated those countries ‘liberated’ following the defeat of the Nazis. And what about the Gulags?
So yes, Eisenhower did liberate Europe, at least Western Europe

MRW May 18, 2015 at 12:44 am
With respect and apologies as I expect you know this. The opening of the Eastern Front took the threat of invasion away from Britain. The western front when it opened took pressure off the Eastern front which is something Stalin had been pressuring Britain and the US to do. The western front, when it opened was made possible by all the preceding victories and defeats including Dieppe. The tide began to turn in the Allies favour with the routing of the Nazi army at El-Alamain in North Africa. Rommel was pushed all the way back up the North African coast until met by the US coming the other way. Meanwhile Malta was under siege and under continuous attack because of its vital strategic position. Operation Pedestal was an extraordinary operation that broke the siege and meant this important island did not fall. One vital US ship with aviation fuel was so badly damaged it was carried into Valetta by two RN Destroyers. The first Western front to open was the landing of British and US soldiers on Sicily. To prepare for this, Gliders were towed all the way from Cornwall to North Africa and this had to be done by flying far out into the Atlantic to get around Spain, and then air towed all the way along the North African coast to the starting point. The success of the invasion of Sicily was greatly assisted by Operation Mincemeat which deceived the Nazis into think the allies were going to invade Greece and Sardinia and thus meant the loss of life was greatly reduced.
The allies battle up Italy and especially Monte Casino was not a picnic, but was greatly helped by the Italians themselves who were now enemies of the Germans.
The D-Day invasion was made possible by not just the lessons learned from the Dieppe raid but the developments in Radar and Code-Breaking. Both of these helped the Allies defeat the German Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic. The Code Breaking meant strategic messages were being deciphered in less than 30 mins and advances in radar meant U-Boat periscopes could be detected from Coastal Command aircraft and then attacked. The Battle of the Atlantic should not be belittled as the number of ships being sunk with valuable supplies was reaching dangerous levels. For D-Day itself the US and Canada had to move not only enough soldiers to be effective but all the equipment including boats and planes. So Radar and Code Breaking meant all the US and Canadian troops made it across 3,500 miles of hostile ocean.
Before D-Day began Britain was under attack from two new secret weapons in the form of cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, and these weapons kept coming until well after D-Day. Here again advances in Radar greatly reduced the loss of life. Arranged along the South coast of England were radar controlled anti-aircraft guns that shot down 40% of the cruise missiles.
For D-Day the allies had almost complete air supremacy which was achieved after 5 years of brutal air combat. The Battle of Britain was the first turning point and the RAF also owes much to the many seasoned Polish pilots who made it to the UK after Germany invaded Poland. The arrival of the USAAF and long range fighters meant the air war could be taken all the way to Berlin and beyond. There were raids that were carried out on the request of the Russians and some that were blocked such as the planned supply drop in support of the Warsaw uprising. The life expectancy for the crew of a bomber was two weeks.
Finally the preparation for D-Day was greatly assisted by the bravery of the French Resistance with actions of sabotage and espionage and then the direct assistance they gave on D-Day itself and the following days.
Besides the bulk of D-Day being made of British, Canadian and US troops there were many other nationalities including French and Polish and the loss of life was remarkably low, but it was planned to be so.
I will not belittle anyone’s efforts to beat the Nazis as this was a World War with unimaginable tragedies but also stories of extraordinary bravery. The Battle for Moscow was the worlds largest battle ever! The amount of soldiers and equipment is truly staggering. But to temper this, Napoleon also led a large Army into Russia and the outcome was almost identical. The German advance was so fast that they bypassed entire Russian armies but then as with Napoleon the Russian winters took their toll. Hitler was Germany’s liability and he made dreadful strategic decisions, the worst being to invade Russia.
There are many other nationalities that risked their lives and fought for freedom in Europe, such as the Norwegians, Australians, New Zealanders, West Indians, US Indians (First Nations) but in the end I would hope that all the stories of bravery are put together rather than vie for tribal supremacy based on whose s**t was the biggest. Otherwise we are right back at square one.