I am so pleased to read this. The tedious distortion of history by some who overplay Russian WWII achievements (undoubtedly their sacrifices cannot be forgotten) often accompanied by a downplaying of Western allied effort is something that needed balancing. Sometimes one senses an agenda. A tendency to boost the Russian war effort in memory simply based on disparate casualty comparisons between Russia and its allies is not, as so brilliantly articulated in this article the full story. It fails to account for the contrast in the ‘human wave’ military approach of Russia with the superior ‘steel before flesh’ of the western allies.

Also as you point out and it is a point I often make when dealing with this ‘Russia did most of the fighting’ approach is it fails to recognise the extraordinary level of support in arms provided by the allies including by GB when we ourselves were straining every sinew to keep our forces in the field on land air and sea across the globe.

One additional point I would add is that those who offer an excessively pro Russian anti Western analysis often criticise the failure to open up an early second front to relieve pressure upon the Russian. This ignores the huge training, resource and logistical challenges of a sea invasion of Europe. It also ignores that GB when alone in 1940 far from having Russian help had to cope with a German threat boosted economically by the Nazi/ Soviet pact.

So thank you so much for redressing the balance with this retrospective look at Russian military performance and as you quite rightly point out by the grossly incompetent Russian war effort in Ukraine it would seem both politically and militarily Putin’s country and army has not learned many of the lessons of WW2 in the face of spirited resistance of the Ukrainian army, leadership and people.

Thank you for this timely piece.