The USSR contributed more to the defeat of Germany and its European Allies than the Western Allies.

As my opponent stated, the USSR suffered far greater losses than the west. However 20 million is not really the number you are looking for when describing them. Many modern historians agree that the USSR suffered 27 million military and civilian deaths if one was to include the deaths from war related famine. This does not include the tens of millions injured or left homeless by every town or city between Moscow and Poland being left in ruins by the war.However this is irrelevant in such a debate. These are my arguments to support the resolution.Location of Axis Soldiers Throughout WWIIIn June, 1941 at the start of Operation Barbarossa there were approximately 4 million axis soldiers including 80% of the German Army. In 1942, 80% of German forces were still in the east. During 1943-45 this number dropped to approximately 60%. In addition, hundreds of thousands of soldiers from Romania, Hungary, Finland and Italy fought on the Eastern Front. As the war shifted in favor of the allies and Britain and America began to make progress in Africa and Europe more and more Germans were redeployed to face them. However the majority were still located in the east facing the Red Army. [1]Casualties on the Eastern FrontBetween September 1, 1939 and May, 1944, the German Wehrmacht suffered an estimated 80%of its deaths fighting the Soviet Union. Minor Axis nations such as Romania and Hungary suffered all of their losses on the Eastern Front while the Italians lost 150,000 men including dead, injured or captured soldiers.Almost half of all deaths during WWII occurred on the Eastern Front. [2]Armored Losses on the Eastern FrontDuring WWII, Germany lost an estimated 33,000 tanks, assault guns and other armored vehicles on the Eastern Front which accounted for nearly 2/3 of total armored losses during the war. Tanks are expensive in terms of resource and production cost. Furthermore, Blitzkrieg was impossible without them. [3]How the Soviets Contributed to the Success of the Western AlliesAfter the success of German operations throughout Europe, Britain was in a weak position. In 1942, Britain was forced to withdraw to El Alamein, where it successfully defeated Erwin Rommel. Often, people today do not realize that at the time a far greater threat loomed in the north. Germany was pushing for the oil fields of the Caucuses. Had Hitlersiezedthis area, he could then threaten British controlled oil in Iran, Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle-East. The fall of these oil fields would put a major strain on the British economy and industry, forcing Britain to rely almost entirely on overseas shipments of oil, mainly from the United States. The loss of these oil fields and factories in the region would have greatly lowered Britain's industrial output including their ability to field tanks, planes and other motorized and mechanized vehicles since oil was required for these vehicles to run. Furthermore, Germany would have been able to dramatically reduce their own oil shortages, something they suffered greatly from later on in the war. British manpower would have to be redeployed to cover the new front. This however would almost certainly have failed to halt the Wehrmacht advance in time and the Germans may well have been able to push further and link up with Rommel in Egypt and perhaps even Japan in India.Howevera decisive Soviet victory at Stalingrad saved the day and this grave threat was never realized. [4]The Normandy Landings were a huge success in 1944. The second front tied down an ever increasing number of German divisions and aircraft. But why were there so few German divisions in France at the time? How did the allies smash Fortress Europe with relatively few casualties? One may only find the answers to these questions on the other side of Europe. In 1944, "the Wehrmacht had 58 divisions in the west, of which only 11 were deployed against the D-Day landings. At the same time, however, the Germans deployed 228 divisions in the east. Thus, the Germans had almost four times as many troops facing the Soviets. And they had less than one-20th of that number in Normandy." Shortly after the beginning of Operation Overlord, the Red Army launched Operation Bagration, an offensive that completely shattered German Army Group Center and forced the Germans to redeploy 46 division to the eastern front, including some from France. [5]ConclusionThese are the facts supporting the case for the USSR playing the decisive role in the defeat of Germany and its European Allies. While the USSR, without a doubt, fought off the bulk of the axis war machine, a lack of help from other nations may well have resulted in a Soviet defeat. Nevertheless, although aid from the Western Allies was significant, it was still relatively minor in comparison with the colossal events unfolding on the Soviet-German front throughout WWII.Sources:[1] David Glantz, When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler[2] http://www.nytimes.com...[3] Paul Winter, Defeating Hitler: Whitehall's Secret Report on Why Hitler Lost the War[4] http://users.humboldt.edu...[5] http://www.timescolonist.com...