[CaptainHaplo]

Bit players.... thats funny.

Without those "bit players" devastating the industrial heart of Germany, ruining its strategic ability to produce war machines, the Soviets would not have had the success they had in the West late in the war.

The air war in Europe, as it played out, tore the warmaking ability out of the Reich's hands. Not something Russia could have done, since it could not reach the industrial regions. Had the peace that Hitler repeatedly offered to those same "bit players" been accepted, Russia would have been facing a foe much larger, much better equipped, and much more fight worthy.

Stalingrad happened because the German army was overextended and unable to press forward properly. The relieving army failed to breakthrough and reopen supply lines. 500 additional fighters and bombers, along with another field army of panzers and infantry added in to the rescue force would have easily done so, and stalingrad would not have been a German defeat. But Germany didn't have those resources, because its industrial might was reduced to rubble.

In the end, the Germans and Russians would have ended up at a standstill, neither able to hit the others industrial heart, and reduced to a more modern version of trench warfare, trading lives for no real gain.

As for a Japanese-Russian conflict, that had happened repeatedly and most of those times the Russians lost. However, in all fairness, it was Khalkhin-Gol that kept Japan from targetting Russia when Germany invaded them. Had Japan done so, Russia would not have been able to concentrate on one front, as they did. They also would not have had the benenfit of Zukov on both front.....

Germany proved that its troops and people were as tough as the Soviets. Had they had the equipment and supplies, the Germanic-Russo conflict would have had a drastic different outcome, and for that you can thank those "bit players".