gotta interject here (and with the greatest respect to my American friends) but there are a few issues here which need to be cleared up...


IIRC the US never declared war on Germany, Hitler declared war on the US (thankfully!!) prior to that a LOT of aid was coming to the UK - however it wasn't a 'gift' it was lend/lease and the UK had to pay for it

If the Russians hadn't been bleeding the ***** dry on the eastern front d-day would/could never have succeeded - as it was it was pretty close - as far as the war in the east is concerned the biggest factor for the allies was...... LUCK plain and simple, the Germans delayed their invasion thanks to the Balkan campaign so they invaded in June 1941 rather than march as planned, Hitler would appear to be the only person to forget about the Russian winter which in 1941 came early and was one of the hardest for decades, despite this Moscow was only about 7 miles from the tacks of the panzers... If Hitler hadn't been so stupid with his "no retreat" mania it is very possible things could have changed (Stalingrad, Falaise pocket etc etc)... if Hitler hadn't been an evil racist he would have had help from large areas of Russia sick of Stalin... if the Germans had taken Dunkirque rather than pause for a few days letting the BEF escape things may have turned out differently

What finally did for the Germans was being out-produced and sheer manpower aligned against it...

as an aside

Best tank of WWII: Panther (IIRC this tank influenced tank design for decades afterwards with regards to cannon, suspension, targeting)
Most influential tank: T34 (IIRC this was also the most numerous tank ever built - even more so than the Sherman)