<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Two russian tank commanders, old friends, run into each other while on leave in Paris. "By the way," one of them asks the other, "Do you know who won the air war?"<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


I love that joke.

About the Free French in escadrille Normandie Nyemen, their story is well known in France. They were doing good with "inferior" Russian plane against the Luftwaffe, I doubt P47 or P51 would have swept the sky of Soviets in low altitude dogfights over rushing Red Army T34 brigades.

USSR armaments industry was for away in the East, well beyond Stalingrad. Nobody actually knew where they were, the U2 spy plane wasn't there at the time. You can't A Bomb a military target if you don't know where it is. Sure you can attack civilians, that won't change anything of the combat power of the Red Army. Maybe just enrage them more.

German industry was already destroyed, slaves POW freed. "Secret Weapons" were not operationnal, there was no better tank ready in may (or august) 1945 for the Sherman. Most of the european partisans would have turned against the US in case of a war, because most of the partisans were communists.

BTW Yankee, do you actually believe there is money to be made and prosperity for all in Germany when after 6 years of total war, 4,200,000 killed 5,000,000 wounded 3,500,000 POW or MIA and a ruined country you start another war on your homeland?

I wonder why we bothered with a Marshall Plan then.