The Soviet Red Army crushed the Nazi war machine. Never forget

We have liberated Europe from fascism, but they will never forgive us for it. Marshal Zhukov

The historic importance of the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in WWII simply cannot be overstated. It is why the annual Victory Day commemoration, marked each year on 9 May by Russians and friends of Russia all over the world, is so significant.

The epic sacrifice of the Russian-Soviet people in defeating Hitler’s Nazi war machine, a military force more powerful and seemingly invincible than any the world had seen hitherto, is still breathtaking over seven decades on.

As US historian Peter Kuznick writes:

Up to D-Day, June 1944, the Soviet Union had almost singlehandedly battled the German military. Until the invasion of Normandy, the Red Army was regularly engaging more than two hundred enemy divisions while the Americans and British together rarely confronted more than ten. Germany lost over 6 million men on the eastern front and approximately…