ERIC ARNOW—As it turned out, (not realizing it) I planned to visit 3 socalled “Hero Cities” of the Soviet Union’s “Great Patriotic War”. Russians call the invasion, which was only a part of WWII, the Great Patriotic War. It was an existential struggle of the Soviet people against the planned destruction of the country, and the enslavement or death of the people. The Soviet Union lost 27 million people, and one third of the country –the equivalent of from the East Coast of the USA to Chicago levelled.
By contrast, the USA lost about 400,000 people and the UK lost 550,000. They faced 11 worn out German divisions vs the Soviet Union facing 220 divisions. As you read below, both President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill knew all too well what the Soviet Union did to win WWII.