| I'm not going to claim that Russia fought the war on the Eastern Front intelligently, but I will say this. Nobody but Russia ever stopped the full might of the German Wehrmact. Nobody really ever came close. There were success stories such as Norway and North Africa that succeeded in defeating or delaying tiny fractions of the whole. Britain was victorious when facing ONLY the Luftwaffe. But the credit must go to Russia for being the ONLY nation to successfully face the entire German War Machine.
Did Stalin ask for a second front? Of course he did. He and his people were getting massacred. Did US and UK strategic bombing raids help the Russian cause? Only a little and it was a lot less effective than most people believe. Germany's economy and production did not decrease. It increased throughout the war, seemingly ignoring the bombing raids.
Did North Africa help? Yes. It also prevented a drive toward the oil-rich middle east.
The USA and UK certainly provided a good contribution to the European Front. But had the USSR not stopped the German War Machine ... what would have? Not only that, Russia had already turned the tide BEFORE D-day! The addition of a second front in France sped things along, but Russia was on their way to winning that Europe ground war solo.
How does this relate to the topic? Well, what Romell was doing on a microscopic scale in North Africa was mirrored by the German commanders on the Eastern Front ... but on a scale that Rommel never faced. Millions of troops faced off in bloody battles of attrition, movement and countermovement; and they did much of it in the Russian Winter. German exploits on the Eastern Front were absolutely miraculous.
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"It is well that war is so terrible, else we should grow too fond of it."
- General Robert E. Lee
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