"Nowadays, we have new traditions created by the people, such as the Immortal Regiment. This is the memory march that symbolises our gratitude, as well as the living connection and the blood ties between generations.
Millions of people ever year come out to the streets carrying the photographs of their relatives who defended their Fatherland and defeated the Nazis. This means that their lives, the ordeals and sacrifices they endured, as well as the Victory that they passed to us will never be forgotten.
We have a responsibility to our past and our future to do our utmost to prevent those horrible tragedies from ever happening again. Hence, I was compelled to come out with an article about World War II and the Great Patriotic War." V. Putin
You are absolutely correct. The reason the Soviet Union post war power and influence was so great was for the tremendous sacrifices. They won the war.. D-Day was huge loss of life for Americans but it was an average day for the Russians. They fought a war of attrition that Nazis couldn't compete with. FDR is lambasted to this day for giving away too much at Yalta. He gave them what he thought they earned.