WW2 Poll

It cannot be said that one of the three did more than the others to defeat nazi Germany. Had the UK never fought, than the western allies would not have had a chance to launch the invasion at Normandy. Plus, the royal navy almost single handedly delayed the axis navies until America and Russia entered the war. Had Russia never fought, than Germany never suffers massive casualties at Stalingrad and Leningrad. Had America never fought, than the invasion of Normandy is never launched. Plus, American factories provides weapons to the other allies. This was particularly useful to Russia and China, as, despite that fact that they had millions of soldiers, were practically throwing sticks and stones at the axis. My neighbors grandfather fought for the red army, and she said at the beginning of the fighting his platoon had two working guns. So yeah. It was the efforts of all three. Plus China, France, several smaller nations such as Canada and Australia, rebellions in occupied nations, and volunteer fighters from neutral nations.

@Neep honestly that's how I feel, I made this comic base on the poll

In my opinion, It would probably be the USSR in first because Germany didn't really start to waver until Russia did what Russia did best and gave them a whole bunch of icy cold winter, pushing them back. One reason the allies started the western front because they didn't want the Soviets to control all of Germany, so they figured they would control some of it before Stalin did. The UK was like the last man standing and in reality, they didn't do a whole lot, but just their existence was enough to help. Germany was actually very scared of Britain and would never try to invade it, which is why they only bombed it. Britain was doing what Britain does best: Rule the waves. Germany didn't have a very good navy, and I believe their best shot at gaining control over the channel came in the form of the Bismarck. But that didn't work, and it reaffirmed to the Germans that if they tried to cross the channel, even with aerial superiority, they would just be decimated by the British. This is also reinforced by the battle of Dunkirk, where family fishing boats were able to make it across the channel safely, with the only threat being the german Bombers. The USA didn't actually do much against Germany, because by the time they joined Germany was pretty much-taken care of. Where the USA shines is in the East Asian Theatre against Japan. As far as I know, they were either the sole reason or heavily helped with the taking down of Japan. They were going to Nuke Germany, but since Germany was already taken care of, they used them on Japan instead.

So My ranking would go:

1.) USSR
2.) UK
3.) USA

@AjarTadpole7202 The USA and UK gave a huge amount of material support to the USSR, which allowed the Soviets to fight better against the Germans. The UK also gave intel to the USSR, but Stalin was pretty famous for ignoring it. But that actually does bring me to one of the UK's great accomplishments: cracking the German codes. Germany suffered terrible losses due to the British being able to decode the Enigma messages.

Germany would have loved to invade the UK, but they didn't really believe in their chances all that well. The first condition was total air superiority, which they didn't manage to achieve, partially due to their own errors but even more due to the quality of the British fighters, pilots, and the ground crew supporting them. The radar tech naturally helped a lot, the Brits being pioneers. Germany lost far too many planes in the air battles over Britain, for very little benefit. All of those planes and pilots were away from other operations. Consequently during Operation Barbarossa, there were times and areas when the Soviets were flying alone in the skies, free to harass the Germans on the ground, because the Germans troops were sporadically lacking air support entirely.

The time of battleships was already over. Bismarck, as nice a ship as she was, was just a show of power and status. The u-boats were the real German navy during the war, and they were doing quite well, in fact, causing horrifying losses to the Allies. That was their sole purpose, to crush the UK economically by cutting it off from the rest of the world. However, like the German military in general, they couldn't keep up with the competition.

Objectively the USSR did most of the work, but I might have still voted the USA just to piss off Putin's trolls.

@Louhikaarme Well First, obligatory Sabaton reference, and second, Rule Britannia

@Louhikaarme the US did more in the war than what people give them credit for though I'm not gonna be like "oh America saved the day" blah blah, I know it was a team effort, and like you said if it wasn't for the lend-lease program the USSR and other allies would have been way worse off not to mention the USSR was multiple countries not just Russia and they did suffer the most lose in life compared to their western neighbors that's mostly due to Nazis genocidal rampage and their hatred of Slavic people

I read that the Soviet Union tried to get the US to declare war on Finland cause it was technically an Axis but the US refused
though the UK did, but I'm not sure if the Soviet Union asked them to

honestly, it reminds me of that scene from Half-Baked (I never seen the movie but I know the scene) where the guy quits his jobs and tells everyone fuck you but one old lady he says you're cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af7Jctuqhcg

imagine the guy swearing is America,
the two employees he's saying "Fuck you" to is Germany and Japan
and the old lady he says " you're cool" to is Finland

that's just how my mind imagine the US refusal to declare war on Finland

@AmericanButterfly The Finnish-American relationship was actually still a bit more complicated during the war. Although the Finns didn't really ever believe in Germany's chances against the Soviet Union, already when Germany failed to capture Leningrad and Moscow as they planned, the Finnish leadership realised Germany is going to lose the war. After Stalingrad, the Finnish leadership started to actively seek means of detaching Finland from the whole war.

The Finns secretly contacted the Americans to try to negotiate a much earlier cease fire with the Allies, along with the Americans landing in Finland from the north (through northern Norway) to deal with the German troops in northern Finland. Finns wouldn't naturally aid the Germans in that scenario. The point was to have Americans in Finland so that the Soviets wouldn't try to occupy anymore.

However, the USA deemed that scenario impossible because such a northern operation would be too costly and not relevant enough under those circumstances, plus the Soviet Union, before the race to Berlin caught their whole attention, still wanted to annex (or turn into a communist puppet state) the whole Finland through an unconditional surrender, and thus wouldn't agree to any cease fire. So, funnily enough the Americans told Finns that their best bet is to keep fighting the Soviets like they have been doing, to avoid an occupation. Maybe Washington foresaw that when Germany starts to collapse, the Soviets will put all of their effort in getting as close to the Atlantic Ocean as possible. That indeed happened.

@Louhikaarme I know it was more complicated I was just generalizing I just thought it was an interesting tidbit that the US didn't declare war on Finland despite being on opposite sides of the war

That's what we call soft power : do less but spread it like you're the only one having done anything.
What we do remember the most is D-Day, when the US did bother to enter the game after years of 'meh, not my war, but I can sell you equipment for a price. Who TF bombed my Pacific island? Maybe I should do something about the messe.' and the rebuilding effort where they actually were useful and gave a lot of money when Soviet Union started to buid a wall that would stay for decades.

I'm Norwegian and I feel usa focused a bit more on the Japan front than the European Front

@NorskViking01 The USA fought on both Pacifica and European fronts, and before the US entered the war it gave supplies to the allies due Lend-Lease Program

The US fought 29 battles against Germany (5 of those with Italy and Germany) in Europe plus the Battle of the Atlantics

The US fought 31 battles against Japan

here's WW2 battles the US fought in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_battles_involving_the_United_States

@AmericanButterfly usa dident declear war on Germany.

Germany Decleared War on USA

@NorskViking01 Yeah so? the USA was still very important in helping take down Germany
and just because the USA fought in the Pacific didn't mean we didn't fight in Europe too

also, the UK also fought Japan

is was a WORLD WAR, there were battles in Europe, Africa and Asia

@AmericanButterfly i know but uk fought more against Germany than the US

@NorskViking01 They fought first and declare war on Germany after they invaded Poland, in 1939 the US joined in 1942, but just because the US didn't join the war right away due to being isolationist and not wanting to deal with another European war and didn't lose the most men or kill the most people. doesn't mean the US wasn't important in helping take down the nazis

I do wonder why the Germans gave the British the least amount of credit for helping defeat the nazis

the US was critical in helping fight the nazis but UK and USSR and other allies were also very critical all three were needed and USSR really benefited from the lean lease act before the US officially joined

@AmericanButterfly i was saying that UK helped a bit more usa did help alot too,but UK did more

germany finally fixed his hair

@svenska_ghost I just forgot the spikes

This is disappointing - I really thought most Europeans knew better then this.

The answer is obviously the Soviet Union.

After Barbarossa (the German attack on the Soviets), Germany never committed less then 75% of her land forces against the Soviets.
While the British and American contribution obviously was valuable as well, and it was the combined effort of all Allied forces that ended the war - and at the time it did - there is still no question that the Soviet Union did the majority of the heavy lifting.

The western Allies would have gotten absolutely nowhere in North Africa, Italy or France if they had been met by the kind of German forces the Soviets fought on the eastern front.

@Nisse_Hult They say it was won by British ingenuity, American arms and manufacturing, and Soviet blood...

edit: Rather simplistic actually, since the French bought the British time, and the Polish sacrificed even more than the Soviets per capita, but *shrug*

@txag70

Yes, the British were ingenious - that's' true. They had to be, since they neither had the industrial output nor the manpower of the US or USSR. And they hold the distinction of being the only country that continuously fought the entire World War - from 3 September 1939 to 15 august 1945.
So they did a lot of fighting and contributed a lot.

The French honestly bought them very little time. It actually took Germany as long to conquer Norway as France in 1940.
And the Polish losses where terrifying - but they don't actually say much about their military contribution in defeating the Germans as the majority of Polish losses where civilian. Which makes it all the more terrifying of course - but it didn't help fighting the Germans, unfortunately.

The US did have enormous industrial production - absolutely. But just talking about Germany (or the Nazis as the comic puts it) we have to remember that much of that US production went into fighting Japan.
And when you say "American arms" we have to remember that much of the arms the US did make actually where inferior to what the Soviets made.
So looking at Lend-Lease for instance, which many Americans will say made a big difference to the Soviets - that's both true and not.
Because the arms the US sent the Russians where actually inferior to what they produced themselves.

But - on the other hand - much of the other stuff the US sent was very helpful. Like trucks and food and even uniforms. Because the USSR had basically retooled their entire industry for making arms - which is why they in 1943 could produce more tanks then the rest of the combined world.
And they mostly built T-34's - much superior to the American Sherman tank.
But as I said - they really where helped by the trucks and food the US sent, so that was important.

America also had the edge in fighters (especially when they started building British Rolls-Royce Merlin engines on license) and heavy bombers.
So the Soviets total industrial output was smaller then the US - but everything they built fought the Nazis, and almost all of it was good stuff.
And as I said - after June 1941 the Germans never had less then 75% of their land forces against the Soviets.
Which meant that what the US and UK was fighting in North Africa, Italy or France was never more then 25% of the German land forces.

So really - the major credit for defeating the Nazis has to go to the USSR, there is no way round that fact.

@Nisse_Hult
We sent roughly to the USSR: 400,000 jeeps & trucks, 14,000 airplanes, 8,000 tractors, 13,000 tanks, 1.5 million blankets, 15 million pairs of army boots, 107,000 tons of cotton, 2.7 million tons of petrol products, 4.5 million tons of food.

Manufacturing is manufacturing -- especially given that it needed to be transported halfway across the globe to reach the Soviet Army. Much of that food had to be packaged and contained, which required heavy industry, the likes of which no country on earth could have done.

There was also a second theatre in the War you Europeans often forget about that American arms and manufacturing very much did win. The Japanese were shocking in terms of who and how they brutalized -- very much on the level of the Nazis in some ways. What they did in Nanking was so bad even the Germans stationed there at the time were stunned. The burden of the Pacific front was almost completely borne by the USA, and we won it because we could out-produce and out-manufacture Japan.

Edit: Oh shit, I missed your middle paragraph -- nice! Glad at least one of y'all remembered. Yeah.

During the war, it's pretty even between UK and USSR, I think - sure, the Soviets did most to grind up the Wehrmacht, but the British were definitely fighting smarter (and way luckier) - guess that happens when you don't have lots of ablative land and manpower.
After the war, though, the US did a lot of the work (well, the successful work, at least) of defeating NS support in the minds.

Then, of course, there's European integration - so I guess France and the Benelux countries share a bit in the credit - but on the other hand, France is largely responsible for the rise of Fascism especially in Germany, so I guess they're out - but Benelux get a supporting actors award.

And last but not least, Hitler and much of the Nazi leadership were raving idiots and the generals were idiots by association by letting them get away with this shit but again, I guess they're also responsible for the whole mess happening so no cigars there.

It was the Red army from Soviet that did the most work. America just came in and thought they had won it all, but it was the Red army who won against Hitler. And the Red Army was losing against Finland on the first try, but later when they bombed Helsinki Finland gave up and more than a hundred thousands children where leaved on trains to Sweden, where they got new families. The parents where forced to leave their children if they wanted them to survive.

America didn't do a lot, just fighting with Japan. America just came in to the war and did kinda nothing against Hitler. So the Americans still believe that their country, "the country most near under God", did the most to defeat the Nazis they has wrong. It was the communism who defeated the Nazis, not America.

You've got an history lesson of me.

@Smartis I won't deny that USSR does deserve way more credit than polls gave hack even your own country voted USA but I think unfair and even misconception to say that USA didn't do a lot in Europe during WW2 yes the US was the main enemy of Japan but we did a lot of fighting in Europe and supreme commander of the allies was an American General Eisenhower also without the help of Lend-Lease the allies would have been so much worse off especially the USSR I am not saying they would have lost but the death toll would have been much higher

My personal opinion is all THREE major Allies were crucial in fighting and defeating the Nazis

British intelligence, American steel, and Russian blood won so yeah America did win WW2 because we were on the same side as the UK and USSR

here's an interesting article about how lend-lease helped the USSRDid US lend-lease aid to the balance in the soviet fight against nazi germany

And am not saying all this to be like "US number one" truth is I really don't care where on the polls we are I would be fine third place it is the whole attitude of thinking any ally nation rather one of big three or smaller ones were not important to defeating the Nazis that rubs me the wrong way

'@AmericanButterfly' It was the heroes from Soviet and the communism who defeated Hitler's army and the Nazis.
But it is weird how America just came in in the war, it didn't make them any problems.

But the war with Japan is more horrible than the rest of the war, it also killed a lot of innocent people.
So America was kinda a destroyer to, to nuke two whole sexual intercourseing cities with innocent people.
What a waste of lives, only for mercy?
Why could they don't sit down and talk about it?

It was an other thing with the war in Europe,the Nazis where attacking and the otherscould not stop them.

@Smartis am not saying USSR doesn't deserve the credit but western allies also played a huge part in defeating Hitler and the Nazis who btw Hitler killed himself and the US did tell Japan to surrender but Japan refused and land invasion would cost way more lives atomic bombs were terrible but you got realize the Japanese imperial army did many war crimes on par with the Nazis yes innocent Japanese civilians died but you know what "heroes" of the Sovite Union army mass raped women from fomer axis country hell they even raped women from countrirs they "liberated" so am sorry if am not on hands and knees thanking the great heroes of Soviet Union for defeating the Nazis

'@AmericanButterfly' No matter, but they are important. Without the Red army the UK or USA had defeated the Nazis.

Let the communist empires win!

@Smartis I do not care where the US is ranked on this oppion poll which btw your country of Sweden voted the for the US over UK and USSR

But even though I agree the Soviet Union does deserve way more credit than what they are given in the polls I find it extremely unfair and disrespectful to all the Americans who fought and died fighting the Nazis and to say America didn't do much in Europe is grossly undermining the USA's roles in helping defeat the Nazis does US desver first place in the polls maybe not am fine second even third but don't underestimate my country in that war

'@AmericanButterfly'
I'm sorr

I will always think that England's shock/horrified face while Norway tries to comfort him by patting his ear (cause I suck at drawing patting his back) to be one of the funniest England drawing

@AmericanButterfly I just like to think that Norway had terrible hand-eye coordination and if he used a bit more force he would've just punched England on accident

@BinBin ha ha ha

USA did a lot of stuff, including the infamous Capital "B" Bomb. I'm American. Born and raised in the Midwest. We learned the usual Southern History Version of WWII where they taught us "USA!!! USA!!! AMURRIKA!!!! BEST COUNTRY!" and that no other countries could have ended WWII.

I actually enjoy history, though, and read up on WWII on my own. No, we did not do the most to defeat Hitler. I don't know who did, but it wasn't us. We dropped a nuke and fought on some beaches. So did the other countries. Except the bomb thing.

@miryasan85 there is a funny video of the scene from Jurassic World where Rexy and Indie fight
World War II explained by Jurassic World

Rexy=USA
Indie=Nazi Germany
Blue=UK
and Mosasaur=USSR

honestly, this makes sense being Blue/UK was enemies with Indie/Nazi Germany and Indie/NG defeated Blue's/UK's sisters/allies while Rexy/USA was basic minding her own business (well besides the whole lend-lease program and oil embargo on Japan) and of course, the USSR is the mosasaur because the USSR was the one that actually took the capital

The truth is I think it was a group effort and all the Allies not just the main 3 did an important role in defeating the Axis, it was a world war after all