The affect of the strategic Air War on the Eastern Front of WWII

One of the main debates about WWII is how the Soviets shouldered the lion's share of the fighting while the Western Allies had a far easier time over on the Western and Mediterranean Fronts. And while it's true that the Eastern Front saw ground warfare on a scale that dwarfed these fronts, there was another front where the Soviets were totally absent. That front was the strategic air war.

First, a bit of an explanation of the difference between a tactical air war and a strategic air war. A tactical air war is when small to medium sized fighters and bombers attack front line formations. For example American P-47's knocking out German Panzer's in France is tactical air war. Strategic air war though is when massive numbers of bombers penetrate deep into enemy airspace to hit targets such as industrial, communication, and command & control centers. It was in this regard that the Soviets got off easy in WWII. They simply never developed a strategic air force to speak of. Which this is quite ironic due to the fact in the 20s & 30s the Soviets lead the world in heavy bomber development.

So what affect did all this have on the Eastern Front. Well, first you've got to look at the massive expenditure in wealth, materials, and men the Americans & British put into formations such as the strategic air forces of the Americans (8th, 9th 12th, and 15th Air Forces Respectively) and Bomber Command for the British. These formations constitutes tens of thousands of men, planes, and all the bases, equipment, and supplies to keep these formations in fighting conditions. And these formations took horrible losses. In fact the American 8th Air Force suffered a higher casualty rate than any Army or Marine infantry division in WWII. Without these forces, the Soviets would have been left to try to build and supply their own strategic air forces (when they already didn't have the resources to support the Red Army or Red Air Force on their own. They had neither the trained manpower, the industrial capacity or the resources to field anything like what the Americans & British fielded. Needless to say, there is simply no way the Soviets could have built and supported such a force. Only the Western Allies could do this.

And then there is the affect of the Strategic Air War on Germany itself. Factors such as the massive number of forces and resources that were sorely needed on the Eastern Front but instead were stuck back in Germany trying to defend the Fatherland from thousands of bombers hitting Germany literally 24/7. Think of all the devastating "88"'s that were in places like Cologne, Hamburg, Dresden, and countless other German cities pointed skyward instead of on the Eastern Front pointed at Soviet tanks. Now consider the fact each one of those 88's had a crew of 8 and multiply that number but the thousands of guns they had to keep in Germany. And then there is the loss of precious fuel and resources when targets like factories, bridges, and vital rail junctions were damaged or outright destroyed. All these things vital to the German war effort had to be repaired and this took manpower, a lot of manpower. Just as the Germans had tens of thousands of vital troops tied up in Germany manning AA guns, they also had massive numbers tied up in Germany to repair (as best they could) the damage those bombers left in their wake.

So in conclusion, while it's true the Soviets did most (but certainly not all) of the fighting from a ground war standpoint, the Soviets did nothing in return to help the Western Allies in the Strategic Air War. And without winning the strategic air war, the Soviet Union would have been crushed by Nazi Germany. When you add in the fact the Western Allies kept the Red Army supplied in everything from it's trucks (without which the Red Army would have been immobilized) to grain and Spam (without which the Red Army would have starved), and factor in the hard fighting the Western Allies did in North Africa, Italy, and Western Europe, it can be argued the Western Allies role in defeating Nazi Germany was as big or even bigger than that of the Soviet Union.

Thoughts?