The numbers involved on the Eastern Front are staggering. 15,000 Germans killed in four days, a Russian force of 2 million. Just wow.
The Right-Bank Ukraine Offensive, which is essentially all of the activities of Vatutin’s First Ukrainian Front and Konev’s Second Ukrainian Front from December 23, 1943 to April 17, 1944, involves 2,406,100 Soviet soldiers, with KIA of 270,198, and 839,330 wounded.
During the opening ceremony of the Olympics, when they did the “History of Russia,” Mrs. henkster asked if there was any positive history from Russia. I replied that there certainly was a lot from the arts and music. But for most of the rest of it, what they did accomplish was done at a human and environmental cost that Americans would consider unacceptable.
The Russians have every reason to be proud of what they accomplished in the Great Patriotic War, but the cost was staggering.