If there was any one theater of World War II that was truly hell on earth, it was Russia. This was where most of the troops were, and where most of the troops died. Here was the scene of the biggest battles, grandest victories, and most dismal defeats. All by itself, the war in Russia killed more people than all of World War I (Dirty Little Secrets). The immense scale of this war leaves many questions to be analyzed. Hitler began the second world war in Western Europe but, after only a few months of fighting, turned back East. When the conflict began, Hitler's success was unprecedented, Russia was unprepared, caught by surprise, and the German's expected their Blitzkrieg to seal a victory within months -- this would not be the case. "The war in Russia was extremely different from any other theatre, it was as Hitler said it would be, utterly different in character from that in Western Europe. It was a war of unparalleled genocidal barbarity which, at its end, left a death toll of over 30 million(Rees,1). From 1941 to 1944 the Soviet Union was forced to battle the Nazi Juggernaut without much Allied support. A second front in Europe was not opened until mid 1944, after a full 3 years after operations began in the East; however, support from the Allies was found in materials via lend-lease. The question of 'Who Beat the Germans?' is one that is often encountered and a "a case can be made that the Soviets defeated the Germans in World War II, pretty much single-handedly. This has long been the official Soviet position; the numbers of troops involved and subsequent casualties support the Soviet position" (Dirty little Secrets).