On Fri, 09 Jan 2004 17:14:34 +0000, Clams Canino wrote:


Exactly. One cannot diminish the contributions of the USSR but those
casualty numbers are inflated. Joe Stalin may even eclipse Hitler as
Europe's biggest mass murderer.

When you consider pre-war, I don't think there is any doubt Stalin was a
bigger mass murderer. It is true on the 20 million I quoted, I didn't see
a combat/non-combat breakdown. Regardless, the Soviets paid a tremendous
cost.

Our critical contribution was typical American cowboyism. While the
English were bombing at night at to save losses, they also weren't
hitting much. We got over there with our B17's and B24's and commenced
daylight precision raids on Hitlers infrastructure, despite him having
the best air defence system known to man. Our boys signed up for 25
missions when the average survival expectency was 15 missions. If you're
in Memphis stop off and visit the Belle, she sits peacefully by the
water now, forever on her 26th mission - to make sure we never forget.
If Col. Bob Morgan is ever speaking near you, go see him - and look in
the eyes of a real hero.

I didn't in any way mean to diminish our contribution. It's just I was
shocked to think of 20 million deaths, and I think we should all be
thankful the Soviets were an ally at the time.

The bomber crews took tremendous casualties, especially before the
Mustang. I was also surprised at the percentage of the merchant marine
that didn't survive the war. I have heard they suffered death rate than
any other service.