The imponderable is not kit - theirs broadly quite as good as ours, in overwhelming quantity - but motivation, especially of conscript infantry. They need a good reason to advance into harm's way.
Well, in 3 days, August,1945, Ivan disposed of the Imperial Japanese Army. We read that we faced that in SE.Asia, and that USMC faced it in the Pacific...but no: it sat throughout 1941-8/45 up on the edge of the Arctic. Rolled up in brief hours, by brown jobs whose understanding of their Mission will have been vague.
So, 1946, Ivan would have rolled forward and swamped us, reaching Antwerp briskly, heedless of casualties. So, what then? Well: Q: why would Stalin have done this: West of the Urals Mother Russia was devastated - why add to that? A: to spread the good word in France, Italy, everywhere really.
And, I surmise, to good effect. Chaos, revolution, workers and peasants rising up all over. In the real world:
France's Chief of Staff, early '47 “concurred (USSR) would be in Paris by August(’47)” Bullock,Attlee,P537: Joliot-Curies and other nuclear physicists, and 182 French National Assembly Members (11/46), were Communist; so to 11/3/47 were some Belgian Ministers. Soviet Arctic Fleet route to our Atlantic passed Iceland - ⅓ MPs were his; Occupied Austria seethed with Third Man strife.
Stalin had a one-time chance to create his version of Socialism throughout the European land-mass. Nothing we could have done to stop him. Truman had pledged to bring all the boys home by 8/47.
Last edited by tornadoken; 18th Sep 2016 at 09:33.