Quote Originally Posted by Keba
The Allied commanders were less bold for a very simple reason. Western democracies cared about casualty lists in combat, the Russians didn't. The western allies attempted to minimize casualites on their side, which made them appear somewhat indecisive.

The Soviets simply didn't care ... there was a quote of Zhukov's (I think, it could have been Konev, though): 'If my infantry runs into a mine-field, I want them to march over it like it wasn't there.' Hardly an attitued a western commander would have had.

And that attitude won the war.
The rationale was that the principal purpose of a minefield is not to destroy a unit, but to pin it down so that supporting artillery can blanket them with fire. Walking through a minefield as if it didn't exist was therefore actually the best way of minimising casualties. IIRC British paratroopers in the Falklands took the same view, ignoring the relatively minor problem of the minefield to get to the major problem of the Argentine troops defending the position.