A reader sees off Max Hastings:
“Derb—What irritates me about comparisons like the one you posted between
Soviet and British/American contributions to WWII is that it is all so much
crap. The Soviet Union was INVADED by Germany, thus they were forced to put
up a fight (meanwhile, the French were invaded and did not). Britain was
bombed, but never invaded by the Nazis. American shipping was attacked, but
Germany never posed any threat to the mainland. Thus for a Russian to get
all snippy about who did what is pretty asinine. Frankly, we didn’t HAVE to
do ANYTHING, at least not immediately. Furthermore, weren’t the Soviets the
country who appeased Hitler with the infamous non-aggression treaty? For a
country so brave, they sure did everything they could to avoid fighting
until Hitler’s Panzers drove right through their front yard.
“Furthermore let it be noted that we were kind of, you know, fighting the
Japanese at the same damn time. Call me crazy, but I would say that counts
for something. Given their proximity to one another, I’m sure the Soviets
and Japanese had their skirmishes, but I rather doubt the Reds were even so
much as a splinter in the sides of the Japs.”