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Originally Posted by redcoat I would never call an air force with 10,000 front-line aircraft, 'little'. That was the strength of the Soviet air force in 1945, most of it modern effective aircraft like the excellent fighter, the Lavochkin La-5, considered by most aviation experts to be as good as a P-51.
Also if you think pilot quality will swing the air war the Wests way, it should be pointed out that by the end of the war, the Soviet air force had 39 aces with scores of more than 40, the highest score of any US pilot.
ps, my view is that if the West had had an bout of insanity and attacked the Soviets, the casualty list would have run into the tens of millions.
Ike was right, Patton was wrong. |
The one thing I would say is that the Red Army had suffered huge casualties against the Germans, even when things were going their way. It is difficult to believe but the Red Army actually lost more men and equipment in 1943 and 1944 than they did in 1941/1942. Thus by 1945 even the Russians were beginning to run low on manpower. This, and not the air situation, is the one concern I would have if I had been Stalin and the West was picking for a fight.
In saying that though, I do believe that the Red Army would have pushed the Western Allies back into the Atlantic for 2 reasons. The first being that they had much bigger forces in theatre and the second being that they had a great forward momentum. The Germans inflicted enormous casualties on the Red Army yet they were brushed aside. The same thing would happen to the Western Allied Armies.