TallDave wrote:Heh, that's what carriers are for. The Russian coast was vulnerable.Hardly. The Russians had so much artillery in East Germany at the end of the war, that they had trouble finding enough places to park it all, and most of that, by that time, was manufactured far to the east, out of range of German planes.
Had we been bombing them instead of arming them, they would have (at best) been bogged down with the Germans in Eastern Europe. Even if we didn't actually invade them, we could have contained the Communist disease within Russia. Along with conventional forces, the threat of nukes could have convinced Stalin to remain within Russian borders.
We even had a legitimate cassus belli in the Hitler-Stalin pact. After all, the original aim of WW II was the restoration of Poland, by which measure the western Allies lost the war.
Not much good against planes. The P51s were great tank-killers (they're the reason we have Ford Mustangs, too). The Soviets were always too enamored of quantity over quality.Throughout the cold war, the warsaw pact held a consistent 20 to 1 advantage in artillery and a 10 to 1 advantage in tanks, starting from the end of WWII.
A friend of mine married a Russian Girl a few years ago. He gave me a couple of his magazines showing a huge selection of women vying for American Husbands. I, and several of my other friends were astonished at the quantity and beauty of the Russian women, most highly educated as well. (His wife is a doll.)
We all speculated as to the reason why they were so beautiful and why there were so many available. I pointed out that the Russians lost something like 20+ million men in World War II. Most likely, the surviving men had their pick of the ladies, and naturally chose the most beautiful women to be the mothers of their children.
Perhaps what we are seeing is merely an illusion of abundant beautiful women, (for I can see how that would be in the best interest of the companies promoting these Russian brides.) but if not, I think my theory is as good as another, till a better one comes along.