Quote Originally Posted by Sarmatian View Post
You make a hypothesis how western allies were, directly or indirectly, responsible for the defeat of Nazi Germany and then write a half-page post filled with vague generalisations.

Let's turn the tables, shall we? I'm gonna prove now that Soviets were responsible - would western allies be able to land in North Africa, Italy or France if the Red Army had not destroyed 80% of Wehrmacht and 50% of the Luftwaffe?
The Allies would probably have been able to land in North Africa whatever the Soviets did. Morocco and Algeria were still French territories taking orders from a government that had already fought with the British (actions with French ships, Syria, etc.), and there was at least some token resistance against the Americans (the British didn't land at all, to avoid causing too much offence). Only when the French started going over to the Allies too quickly did the Germans take direct action in Tunisia, and that had to be preceded by taking over Vichy France as well, turning the whole of the French empire against the Axis.

Also, AFAIK it was the Battle of Britain that to that date took out the largest chunk of the Luftwaffe's most experienced pilots, and certainly their fighter pilots. Stuka pilots racked up incredible numbers on the eastern front, but they were only used in the BoB for a short period before being pulled out again, as they were sitting ducks against the state of the art fighters that were involved in the BoB.