Donald Trump's grotesque lie about US role in European theater during World War II

And just when you think Donald Trump has made the dumbest comment on social media – a comment that has absolutely no connection to reality – he decides to sink even lower by demonstrating a blatant ignorance of history.

His post on Truth Social about World War II is so ridiculously inaccurate that I had to double-check the date of the post to make sure it wasn’t a belated April Fool’s joke .

Let's take a look at history. World War II in Europe ended on May 8, 1945 , known as VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) , when Nazi Germany officially surrendered to the Allied forces.

The unconditional surrender was signed on May 7, 1945 in Reims, France, by the following persons:

• General Alfred Jodl (Chief of Staff of the German Armed Forces) signed on behalf of Germany.

• General Walter Bedell Smith (Chief of Staff to Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower) signed on behalf of the Western Allies.

• General Ivan Susloparov (Soviet liaison officer) signed on behalf of the USSR.

• Major General François Sevez (French representative) witnessed the signing.

Terms: The document stipulated that Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effective May 8 at 11:01 p.m. Central European Time .

Joseph Stalin rightly protested, arguing that the Soviet forces had done most of the fighting against the Nazis and that the Soviet Union had earned the right to preside over a more formal signing in Berlin, which took place on 8 May 1945. 

Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signed on behalf of Germany in the presence of Allied representatives, including Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov. Although the capitulation came into effect at 23:01 Central European Time on 8 May, in Moscow it was 00:01 on 9 May. Thus, while the capitulation at Reims on 7 May was the first, the signing in Berlin on 8 May is celebrated in the West as the official end of the war in Europe, while Russia commemorates the event on 9 May.

NAZI-GERMANY - Defeat according to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer

Now for the facts about who suffered the most:

The Soviet Union killed at least 3-4 million German soldiers (killed + missing), plus millions more wounded or taken prisoner. If we include the deaths among POWs, the death toll rises to about 5 million.

No other Allied country inflicted even close to such losses on Nazi Germany. In contrast, the US and Western Allies killed about 374,000 German servicemen, permanently disabled about 85,000, captured over 8 million German soldiers, and killed between 350,000 and 500,000 German civilians through strategic bombing during WWII.

The fear of falling into the hands of the Soviet army explains why so many German units fled like scared rats to the Western Allied front lines and surrendered to the American and British soldiers. The figure that should haunt the West is the number of German civilians killed by American and British bombing of cities – they killed more civilians than German soldiers.

German Military Casualties vs. Western Allies

(North Africa, Italy, Western Europe, strategic bombing)

The Soviets and the Germans fought several large-scale battles, which resulted in terrible losses for both sides. For the West, the Battle of the Bulge is the only battle that comes close to the Battle of Moscow, Stalingrad, the Siege of Leningrad, the Battle of Kursk and Operation Bagration.

Despite the Western glorification of World War II as a heroic victory for the United States and Britain, both countries suffered relatively few casualties compared to what Soviet soldiers and civilians experienced. In terms of combat deaths, the total number of U.S. casualties in both the European and Pacific theaters was less than 300,000. Here is a breakdown:

The number of Soviet soldiers, sailors and pilots killed is estimated at 8.1 to 11 million. Even more shocking, an estimated 16 to 19 million civilians were murdered by the Nazis.

That is why I am appalled and disgusted by Trump’s claim that: ”No one equaled us in strength, courage or military brilliance”. The facts – irrefutable facts – prove otherwise, at least in the war against the Nazis. The Soviets, both military and civilian, outmatched the United States on every front.

If Trump wanted to celebrate a remarkable military achievement, he should have focused on the Pacific War. In that case, the United States lost 111,000 Marines, sailors and soldiers in combat, compared to the staggering losses of the Japanese, 2.1 to 2.3 million. In other words, for every American casualty in the war, 20 Japanese soldiers were killed.