Rachel is pointing out that the Soviets did defeat the Nazis

[malthaussen]

68. Well, that's an easy one.

I think Germany was defeated on 1 September, 1939. I am of the camp who believe they really had no chance of defeating the world, although they could have made things very interesting if a few different choices had been made. So many things would have had to break differently for them to have had a chance to actually win the conflict. Even if the USSR had been knocked out of the war, Germany still had the problem of the enormous manpower and material resources of the Commonwealth and the US to overcome. And no real way of getting at the UK, nevermind the US. Atomic bombs? Still a problem of delivery systems, and the US, with much greater industrial capacity than Germany, and moreover one that was not constantly under air attack, only managed to make a few before the end of the war. I think if Moscow had fallen, it would have probably been little different from when Napoleon performed the same feat. Maybe not, maybe the USSR would have fallen apart, but given the total indifference of the rulers to the sufferings of their people, more likely they would have fallen back to another city and kept up the fight. And even if not, the other Allies would have continued to blockade and nibble around the edges until Germany was defeated by attrition. In the final analyis, IMO, Germany simply lacked the seapower to sufficiently project force to overcome the enemies she could not reach overland.

So, to answer your question about Lend-Lease, I think it contributed materially (so to speak) in shortening the war.

-- Mal