Originally Posted by Korean Seaboy

Yes, I agree that Midway was one of the most decisive battles in WWII, but I still stand firmly on my position that Moscow was the most decisive.

I can't disagree with that. To the Soviets, the war was something that was fought on a daily basis. To the western allies, many days or weeks had no significant ground combat The Soviet spy Richard Sorge (NOTE) found out the Japanese only planned a limited incursion into the Soviet Union. When Stalin was sure Sorge's information was valid, many Soviet Army divisions were transferred from being prepared to fight the Japanese on the eastern front to the western front against Germany.
NOTE;
Richard Sorge was the Soviet spy in Tokyo who found out in October of 1941, that the Japanese planned to attack "Pearl Harbor" (by name) in the first week of December! The information was passed to Moscow which forwarded it to Washington!

Originally Posted by Korean Seaboy

It was the turning point of the war, when Soviet forces finally stopped the once invincible German war machine

Yes, after the Battle for Moscow all major battle were won by the Soviet Union.

I have never come across any information on what the Soviet military planned to do concerning the invasion of Japan beyond the Kuril Islands.

All were inportant battles, no doubt about that.

Wonder why no one votes leningrad frankly. They stopped the german advance in the northern front. I think they were sieged for over a year if memory isn't failing me.

Anyway i voted for other, namely the battle of britain. A handfull of pilots defended the only non german-occupated land. Without england = no D-Day and no second front to draw forces away from russian front.

I don't think people over look Leningrad but Leningrad was unique in that it did not stop the German advance but instead the German advance stopped to besiege it.

The aim of the Germans at Leningrad was starve the city and then demolish it rather than capture it in fact early in the campaign they could have taken it.

September 12: Hitler: “Leningrad will be starved into submission”


The last overland connections with the city were severed in early September. Leningrad and its population of 3 million were under siege, with enough food for one month. A trickle of supplies was hauled across Lake Ladoga. Terrible hunger set in. The German forces encamped on the outskirts of town for a protracted siege. Hitler forbade his commanders to accept a surrender. Leningrad and its population, Hitler ordered, would be bombed and shelled to death. Although Hitler’s plan was not carried out in full, by the time the siege was lifted and Leningrad liberated in January 1944, an estimated million inhabitants had died of severe hardship and horrifying starvation.

When you read about all battles that Russia took part in they were on a massive scale, running into millions of men. There was also that huge battle in the Crimea which swallowed up 250.000 Germans. Then there was that huge drive to Berlin where they just smashed there way through. There was also the Russian attack on the Japanese in China where they wiped the Japanese out in two weeks. When you take all the conflicts that Russia was involved with then you have to stand admire just what they achieved.