"The high-water mark of the American Empire was...." Pretend you're a historian and fill in the

[Kwarg]

76. So nice to see others interested in this...

That's not true entirely either.

YES. It was mostly Russian weapons and blood that stopped Germany in front of Moscow in 1941. The last time I was there and I was traveling from Domodedovo into Moscow I drove by the large "tank obstacle" monuments near the highway and realized just how close to Moscow the Germans reached.

But look at the non-Russian history. I spent a glorious week reading Barbarossa, by Alan Clark mostly in Moscow. The Germans smashed their way across Western Russia. Alan Clarke hit it right on the head... he said the Germans basically "Victored themselves to Death". In the first 6 months of the invasion, Russia lost 72% of their tanks, 34% of their combat aircraft, 69% of their anti tank guns and 56% of their small arms.

The Germans used a strategy of bypassing large Russian armies and encircling them on their way to the East. The Germans killed the Russians in numbers unprecedented in military history. German heavy and small arms were literally falling apart by the end of the year from killing so many Russians.

The Germans pulled up in front of Moscow with Army Group Center early enough to take Moscow. Hitler made strategic mistakes including transferring Army Group Center divisions to the Northern Sector to assist Army Group North. By the time Army Group Center made a stab at Moscow many German units were maybe 40% of their original strength and Winter came early in 1941.

The Russians were fortunate in 1941. Stalin pondered an exodus to the Urals as the Germans approached. They decided to stay and fight it out and Zhukov and the Siberians showed up to save the day.

Many historians claim that any number of strategies could have taken Moscow in 1941. The most prominent one being a classic "pincer movement" coordinated between Army Groups North, Center and South.


But regarding Lend Lease supplies...

from another forum I inhabit:

On December 1st, Red Army tank strength stood at 6347, with only about 1400 being medium or heavy. Thus, British Lend-Lease vehicles represented 25% of all available Russian medium/heavy tanks. The importance of Lend-Lease vehicles becomes even more evident when the situation in front of Moscow is examined in more detail. According to Soviet sources, the Red Army had a total of 670 tanks, of which 205 were medium or heavy. Of the integrated and Independent tanks units operating in the Battle for Moscow, Hill asserts that 30 – 40% of their medium/heavy tanks were of British origin!

During the spring and early summer of 1942, tanks from the UK continued to play a valuable role in Soviet formations. While the ratio of LL to domestic vehicles steadily declined as Russian production began to kick in, LL vehicles still amounted to 16% of total available strength.

So there you go... in front of Moscow in 1941, approximately 30-40% of Russian tanks were LL.

And of course... it was the nearly 500,000 motor vehicles that flowed later that allowed Russia to travel West to defeat Germany.