Everyone - British, French, Americans, and (ahem) Canadians, would have had a REALLY rough time in Northwest Europe if it weren't for the Russians standing up to Hitler. Most historians now estimate 9 million military KIA's among them *... many times the combined Western total. I hate to imagine what would have happened had the Russians declared a "Separate Peace". Just think of all the armour, artillery, troops, etc that the Germans threw against the Red Army being turned on us Western Allies instead....... []

*The same sources estimate an additional 18 million Russian civilians were also killed, for a final toll of 27 million.