Only one nation stood between Hitler's Germany and victory, and that nation was the Soviet Union. Had Hitler defeated the USSR during the summer of 1941, as he had planned, the Allies would not have been victorious. All the peoples of the USSR sacrificed and contributed to defeat the Nazi invaders, but no peoples suffered as much, nor exhibited such valor, as the peoples of Belorussia, Russia, and Ukraine. These three republics of the USSR absorbed the brunt of Hitler's attack with massive casualties on a scale unheard of in Western Europe. Hitler, as well as the Allies, did not expect USSR to survive such bloody casualties as they took in the first six months of the invasion - but survive they did. USSR needed time: time to survive and time to rebuild. The survival of the USSR in the first year of the invasion is the miracle of the Second World War. The USSR survive enough to deny Hitler his strategic objectives for the first six months of the invasion: (1). Destruction of the Red Army; (2). Capture of Leningrad; and, (3) Capture of Moscow. This failure ensured that Hitler would lose WW II. Some people attribute Hitler's failure in Russia to the weather. Others attribute it to Stalin. I don't believe either is true. I believe the reason for Hitler's failure is his underestimation of the peoples of Belorussia, Russia and Ukraine. Medvedev properly paid his respect for those who died and suffered in the Great Patriotic War.

I am forever grateful to the people of Stalingrad. And my father, an American, a Sargent in the US Army during World War II, a volunteer, he saw Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill as leaders of the Popular Front against fascism. That damned vacant, blank stare that he had so often that I never understood until recently ought to be worth something, he paid such a price, and to require me to spit on him and the people he regarded as heroes -- it is WAAAAY too much to bear! And need I say that he did not suffer anywhere near like the people of Russia, and especially the people of Stalingrad.

It was not a winter as many of west propaganda said:it was Russian- brave heart-nation and their secret weapons(katyusha,the best jet and tank T-34) who demolish Nazis...Prior the war all best Germany soldiers (SS,Prince Eugen etc) training with Russian instructors in Siberia(much harsh condition than in Stalingrad)for 9 years(non-stop) before WW2 started!For Russia WW2 started in Mongolia in 1938 when Russians demolish Japanize and stop them to link their Army with Germany(thats was a Germany-Japan plan) across Siberia-Russia-Hitler watching victorious Russians offer peace dill(Ribentrop-Molotov) just to make Nazis more stronger...Stalingrad fight but also Kursk(over 6 Million soldiers, 40000 jets,over 150000 artilery weapons,tens of 1000 plus tanks fight non stop for 3 weeks-night was as day light) is EPIC INDEED!Front line was at one point 46000 plus kilometers... Attacking Russia always was and always will be suicide! In my opinion Russia always have some suprise for potential aggressor-still today for sure...Glory to all who fight Nazis(DEVIL HIMSELF) and fall for freedom in Europe(and the world)..Rest in peace - BRAVE HUMANS....Thanke you!

While Kihnu enthuses over the Red Army (whose bravery I do not doubt), may I remind him of something that he knows perfectly well already, but simply chooses to close his eyes to: the heroism of the Red Army brought no freedom to Russia or its neighbours. How could it? The Red Army was the instrument of an evil dictator and existed to serve his aims. Prime amongst those aims was to defeat the purposes of his Nazi totalitarian counterpart so as to have only his own brand of totalitarian oppression, not freedom, triumph. The victory of the Red Army brought no freedom to Russia or its neighbours. In Russia, it simply confirmed and shored up the rule of one of history’s most horrific mass murderers. Amongst its neighbours, including in Kihnu’s country of residence, Soviet victory simply replaced one murderous foreign occupier with another. And as mass graves, cattle wagons packed full of innocent civilians on their way to Siberian slavery, and decades of grey, impoverished, soulless Soviet oppression testify, that victory was nothing to celebrate. Freedom was nowhere to be found where the Red Army trod. Nevertheless, the Red Army did contribute significantly to the restoration of freedom – but only in Western Europe, where the Nazi yoke fell away not only because of the exertions of the Western Allies, but also because of the huge losses that Germany sustained in the East. And for this, I acknowledge the Red Army. Yet until Medvedev and his successors can bring themselves to also stand, with head bowed, before memorials to the hundreds of thousands of innocent victims of Soviet oppression in Eastern and Central Europe which the Red Army was directly instrumental in helping to establish, they are acknowledging only part of the story of the Red Army’s deeds. The part that they self-servingly omit is a horrible part, and it ensures that Russia cannot have normal relations with its neighbours until that part, too, is both acknowledged and forgiven.

Marzipan6: "...the heroism of the Red Army brought no freedom to Russia or its neighbours. " Welcome Marzipan6! I expected you to show up with your comments about evilness of the USSR whenever I post something positive about Russia. You know as well as I do that the valiant Red Army was the salvation of Russians and all the slavic peoples of the USSR. Had Hitler defeated the Red Army, the slavic people would have been subjected to a hell from which they would never have recovered. Slava Krasnaya Army!!! I know that Estonians supported the Germans during WW II and cheered for a German victory against the Red Army, in hopes of eating some of the crumbs the Nazis would throw their way. Too bad you dream of a Greater Germany (including Estonia) was thrown into the sewer by the Red Army. Be sure to watch the Den Pobeda Parade in Moscow on May 9, 2010. I will be in Tbilis that day to enjoy the ceremonies in Vake Park.