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Line 54: − Evading the fact that there would not have been a Second World War without the [[Nazi-Soviet pact]], it is often claimed that the Great Patriotic War represented a massive sacrifice by the "Motherland" in terms of loss of life. This is not true. In fact, during the five years from 1941 through 1945 -- including the period when the Soviet Union was at war with Germany -- Soviet deaths (including deaths from natural causes) totaled some 8.4 million, or about 1.7 million deaths per year. By comparison, during the ten years from 1931 through 1940, the Soviets suffered some 21.7 million deaths, or about 2.2 million deaths per year. So annual Soviet deaths during World War II were about half a million <I>less</I> than during the preceding decade of peace. Far from costing millions of Soviet deaths, WWII actually <I>saved</I> a net of about 2.5 million Soviet lives over five years, by forcing Stalin to ease up on the [http://www.haciendapub.com/articles/stalin-communists-and-fatal-statistics mass murder] of his own people.<ref>Kazuhiro Kumo, Takako Morinaga, and Yoshisada Shida (2007), "[http://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/rs/bitstream/10086/15722/1/RRC_WP_No2.pdf Long-Term Population Statistics for Russia, 1867-2002]," Table 1, pp. 33-34.</ref>
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In the third year of war Germany began to suffer from a lack of important resources such as oil. Hitler therefore ordered the German army to take the city of Stalingrad and the oil fields of Baku in South Russia. The operation failed after the 6th German army was encircled in Stalingrad and completely annihilated. The [[Battle of Stalingrad]] marked a turning point in the war and the Soviet Union started launching their own offensives. After a time of comparatively slow progress, the brilliant Soviet officer, Konstantin Rokossovsky, engineered "Operation Bagration", named-so after the Napoleonic Russian hero. The operation was extremely successful for the Soviets, leading to around 600,000 Soviet casualties and over 500,000 German casualties, including over 60,000 German vehicles and tanks. Even the Germans' best officer, Erich von Manstein, couldn't turn the situation around. [[V-E Day|Finally, in 1945, Soviet troops stormed Berlin, and forced Nazi Germany into capitulation]].
In the third year of war Germany began to suffer from a lack of important resources such as oil. Hitler therefore ordered the German army to take the city of Stalingrad and the oil fields of Baku in South Russia. The operation failed after the 6th German army was encircled in Stalingrad and completely annihilated. The [[Battle of Stalingrad]] marked a turning point in the war and the Soviet Union started launching their own offensives. After a time of comparatively slow progress, the brilliant Soviet officer, Konstantin Rokossovsky, engineered "Operation Bagration", named-so after the Napoleonic Russian hero. The operation was extremely successful for the Soviets, leading to around 600,000 Soviet casualties and over 500,000 German casualties, including over 60,000 German vehicles and tanks. Even the Germans' best officer, Erich von Manstein, couldn't turn the situation around. [[V-E Day|Finally, in 1945, Soviet troops stormed Berlin, and forced Nazi Germany into capitulation]].
==Far East==
==Far East==