D-Day Snub Insults Russia's Wartime Role

Russians, both in government and on the street, are justifiably insulted that their contribution to the victory over Hitler has not been recognized with an invitation to the 50th anniversary of the allied D-day landing in France.While we all remember attempts by the Soviet government to rewrite history, now it would seem that it is the West that needs to refresh its memory as Western leaders and media label the D-day landing as the beginning of the end of Hitler.The Soviet army fought the war against Germany virtually alone from June, 1941, until D-day in 1944. During that time, Stalin repeatedly received promises from the United States and Britain to open a second front in Europe. In 1942 and again in 1943, plans for an invasion of France were put off because the risks of casualties were considered too great. The Soviets, and foremost among them the Russian people, did not have the luxury of choosing when and where to fight and they died by the millions as a result.During these years, Germany continued to pull troops out of France and throw them at the Soviet Union. By the time D-day finally rolled around, only 56 German divisions remained in France, while the Red army faced 157. Because Germany's air force was largely deployed against Russia, the Nazis were only able to muster 890 planes to combat more than 12,000 British and American aircraft on D-day.How many more American, British, Canadian or French lives might it have cost had the armies of the Axis powers not been so heavily engaged on the Eastern front?The Normandy landing on June 6, 1944 was a phenomenal logistical achievement, but it did not defeat Nazi Germany. In fact, rather than the beginning of the end for Hitler, D-day can be seen as the beginning of the Cold War. An important and laudable part of Operation Overlord's goal was to keep the Soviets, who had already nearly pushed the Germans out of Soviet territory, from capturing all of Germany and establishing an iron curtain on the English Channel. In this context, it is easy to see why the Russians were not invited to the commemoration. But the time has come for the West to admit that the Russian defeat of Hitler was an extraordinary feat of courage and endurance which, for reasons of Cold War ideology, has never been adequately acknowledged.It is too late to do anything about the D-day commemoration. But next year, on May 9, the world will mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. All parties -- including the Russians and Germans -- should then join in putting the Cold War behind them and come out from under the shadows of Hitler and Stalin.