60 years ago the Second World War ended. I just read in the economist that three quarter of German soldiers that died, did so on the east front. Considering how tough it was to beat the Germans on the west front there is no other conclusion possible that without Stalin sending off his compatriots to the slaughter of the Great Patriotic War it would have all ended very badly.
In the Netherlands we tend to concentrate on the Canadians as the country that freed us. And so they did, but only because they happened to be there first. Now, considering how things ended, we can be glad that it were the Canadians and not the Russians, but if you look at the numbers with the Canadians losing 37 000 people in World War II and the Russians 27 000 000, we should at least mention the Russians when we celebrate the 5th of May.
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