Trump has created a fury when the White House made the above Tweet on May 8. Washington once again attempts to re-write history by claiming that the US and the UK defeated Nazi Germany.
But in fact it was the Soviet Union that defeated the Nazi Army. (It was May 8, 1945 in Berlin when Soviet soldiers captured the city and at the same moment it was May 9 in Moscow due to time differences. The Russians claim victory day as May 9.)
Throughout most of WWII, the US and UK faced just 10 German divisions combined. The Soviets alone fought more than 200 German divisions largely as a result of Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union.
The numbers don't lie. Here are the figures for total losses in WW II:
- UK 451,000
- U.S. 419,400
- France 600,000
- Soviet Union 27 million
You can imagine the outrage that is felt in nations that were part of the former Soviet Union when they hear the west (US-NATO countries) attempt to erase their dramatic contributions toward defeating fascism during WW II. In response the Russian Foreign Ministry made the following statement.
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| Soviet soldier raising the flag after they took Berlin from the Nazis on May 9, 1945 |
Statement by the Foreign Ministry concerning US attempts to rewrite the history of the Victory over Nazism
Attempts to distort the results of the defeat of Nazism and the decisive contribution our country made, which are continuing in Washington even during these days of universal celebration of the 75th anniversary of Victory, cause utter indignation.
In this context we cannot neglect the commentary posted on the White House pages in social networks where the victory over Nazi Germany is credited exclusively to “America and Great Britain.” On the eve of this sacred holiday US officials could not garner the courage and will to even in passing pay tribute to the indisputable role and incomparable colossal losses suffered back then by the Red Army and the Soviet people for the sake of the humankind. Remarks by US official representatives turned out to be extremely restrained.
Regretfully, such an attitude is in apparent contrast with the statement made Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on April 25 on the occasion of the historic meeting of Soviet and US soldiers on the Elbe in 1945.
The document stresses the joint efforts of our nations in the fight against a common enemy.
We proceed from the assumption that real historical facts may not be ignored, regardless of feelings towards both the Soviet Union, which liberated the world from the brown plague, and our country of today. This is evidenced not only by the numerous grounded responses to the White House tweets from Russians and also from Americans who know their history and people from around the world. It is indicative that their reasonable and fact-based comments are being regularly deleted. And this is being done in the “most democratic country,” which tirelessly proclaims its “adherence to freedom of speech”!
The topic of the scared deeds of the older generation in that war must not turn into another problem in bilateral relations, which are going through hard times as it is. Russia and the US, despite disagreements, can counter ever-increasing present-day challenges on the basis of trust, mutual respect and while taking into account each other’s interests.
We intend to have a serious conversation on this issue with US officials.
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