A landing craft sets out with Canadian troops aboard destined for the Normandy beaches. Canadians at Juno penetrated further inland on June 6, 1944, than any Allies at the five D-Day beachheads.
[Dennis Sullivan/DND/LAC/PA-132790.]

Donald Trump made the statement after a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron who, he said, told him France was “celebrating our victory over the Germans.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Trump said a week after VE-Day on May 8. “Now, we don’t take credit for what we do. And I said, what the hell? Every country I’ve spoken to in the last week is celebrating the war but us. Isn’t that terrible?

“Russia was celebrating, France was celebrating, everybody was celebrating but us. And we’re the ones that won the war. We won the war.”

He had earlier proclaimed May 8 as America’s “Victory Day for World War II,” ignoring the fact the U.S.-led war in the Pacific didn’t officially end until Aug.  17, 1945. He declared Nov. 11 “Victory Day for World War I.”

The last Monday in May is already marked as Memorial Day in the United States, honouring and mourning U.S. military personnel who died in service.

Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that the Americans “did more than any other country, by far” to win the Second World War.

The claims are dubious, at best.

Canadian soldiers guard German prisoners captured on the Normandy beachhead.
[DND/LAC]

The United States, however, provided US$50.1 billion (more than $1 trillion in 2025) in materiel to Allied nations during the war, or 17 per cent of America’s total war expenditures: $31.4 billion went to the U.K., $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $3.2 billion to France, $1.6 billion to China, and $2.6 billion to other Allies.

The supplies and hardware, which began flowing shortly after the war began, were ostensibly provided at no cost, to be used until returned or destroyed. In practice, some recipients, including the then-British colony of Newfoundland, provided the U.S. with land and ports for military bases or other considerations. Wartime production also proved a boon to the U.S. economy, effectively ending the Great Depression and setting the table for America’s unparalleled postwar prosperity.

Most of the equipment ended up destroyed, although some (such as ships) was returned after the war. Supplies arriving after the termination date were sold to the U.K. at a large discount, using long-term loans from the U.S., which were finally repaid in 2006. Similarly, the Soviet Union repaid $722 million in 1971, with the remainder of the debt written off.

In the Pacific, the Americans did carry a heavy load after Japan’s attack, aided by the British and their Empire allies, including Canada, along with the massive burden borne by China as well as guerilla fighters throughout the occupied islands.

But let’s look at the important numbers—how many fought, what percentage of their populations did they represent, and how many died.

More than 16 million Americans served in the Second World War, nine per cent of the country’s 1941 population. About 407,316 were killed, or one death for every 39.28 Americans who served.

Here are the comparative contributions and sacrifices among the Allied nations of WW II (virtually all numbers are approximated and debated):

• More than 1.1 million Canadians served between 1939 and 1945, or 10 per cent of the population. About 45,400 were killed, according to the U.S. National WW II Museum in New Orleans. That’s one death for every 25.94 Canadians who served.
• Over 900,000 Poles served in the Polish Armed Forces fighting under British command in Western Europe and as individuals serving in other Allied militaries, including those of France and the United States. That’s 26 per cent of its 1939 population. Poland was occupied by both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany until 1941 when the Nazis took the rest. Yet Poland contributed the fourth most resources to the Allied force in Europe. Some 240,000 Polish military were killed, or one for every 3.75 of those serving.
• About 34.5 million Soviets served, or 17.7 per cent of the U.S.S.R.’s 1939 population (the prevailing figures cite 35 per cent of Soviet men, but don’t provide calculations for the total force, which included 800,000 women). Between 8.8 million and 10.7 million uniformed Soviets were killed, or about one in every four Red Army fighters. (The U.S.S.R. suffered a total of about 26 million military and civilian deaths, more than any other WW II combatant).
• The Chinese were fighting WW II before WW II. The whole affair was known to the Chinese as the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937. An estimated 14 million Chinese were mobilized by the war’s end in 1945, or about five per cent of the country’s 1937 population. Between three million and four million uniformed Chinese were killed. That’s about one in four. (China suffered a total of about 20 million military and civilian deaths).
• Almost 5.9 million Britons served, or 14.8 per cent of its 1939 population. Some 383,000 uniformed Brits were killed, or one in every 15.4 of those serving. (Additionally, about 40,000 civilians were killed in the Blitz.)
• Approximately five million French citizens answered the call during the course of the war, or about 12.2 per cent of the country’s 1939 population. About 217,600 French service personnel were killed, or one for every 23 who suited up. These figures don’t include French partisans, who contributed immeasurably to the Allied victory in Europe.
• A million Australians served, or 13.5 per cent of the country’s 1939 population. Some 39,800 were killed, or one for every 25.1.
• About 104,000 New Zealanders served, or about six per cent of the country’s 1939 population. Some 11,900 were killed, or one for every 8.74 serving Kiwis.
• Some 1.75 million Greeks served during the war, or 28 per cent of the country’s 1939 population. Between 20,000 and 35,000 were killed or, taking the higher number, about one in every 50.

Soviet Red Army troops defend a position in Stalingrad during 1943 fighting.

The war might have ended in total loss in 1940 had not a handful of British and Allied pilots (and 11 American volunteers)—all comprising Churchill’s “Few”—turned back Hitler’s war machine during the Battle of Britain. The last bastion of democracy in Europe stood firm against tyranny, leading to Hitler’s fateful decision to invade the Soviet Union and open an eastern front the following spring.

Likewise, Allied efforts in Europe, the U.S.S.R. and Africa would have fallen flat had not navy sailors and tens of thousands of merchant seamen from Canada, Britain and around the world, along with an army of Polish and Bletchley Park code breakers, overcome the U-boat menace during the six-year Battle of the Atlantic.

But the preponderance of credit for the Allied victory among objective scholars tends to lean toward the Soviets, with their massive sacrifice and deadly effectiveness—Soviets killed more than 3.5 million German military. That’s a whopping three-quarters of the total 4.7 million German combatants killed by Allied forces in the entire Second World War.

In a postwar survey conducted by the Institut français d’opinion publique in May 1945, 57 per cent of French respondents credited the U.S.S.R. with making the greatest contribution toward the victory, even though Soviet troops never set foot on French soil.

U.S. Marines move supplies and weapons during the battle for Cape Gloucester, New Britain Island, New Guinea, during the Pacific War.
[U.S. Department of Defense]

The Soviet Union “without a doubt,” contributed the most to the Allied victory, renowned historian J.L. Granatstein told Legion Magazine in a 2018 survey of some of Canada’s most-respected chroniclers of military history.

He noted Britain’s stubborn defence and America’s “vast” industrial and military resources.

“But the U.S.S.R., despite its catastrophic defeats in the first year after the German invasion, swallowed the Wehrmacht whole in the steppes, inflicted huge losses on it, and wore it down. The Soviets took enormous military and civilian casualties but triumphed in the war against Hitler. It must be said that aid from the Western Allies mattered greatly in this victory, but the Russian people fought and won the war.”

John Boileau, a 37-year army veteran and author of 15 books and more than 650 articles, agreed.

“The U.S.S.R. made the greatest contribution to the Allied victory in Europe,” he said. “Wars are won by physical means and morale. On the physical side—men, materiel and money—the Soviets contributed about 62 per cent of Allied soldiers (491 divisions in 1945 versus 125 American/British), 57.5 per cent of all artillery, 45 per cent of tanks, 25.6 per cent of aircraft and 34.7 per cent of military expenditures.

“All Soviet resources were directed against Germany; American and British ones were used against other enemies in other theatres. On the morale side, unlike Britain and the U.S., the Soviets had parts of their homeland occupied by Germany, giving added impetus to defeat the invader.”

Said historical writer Hugh A. Halliday: “It goes without saying that the Soviet Union played the largest role in determining victory.”

Others among the eight historians who responded to the survey credited the entirety of the Allied effort for the win; one said Britain and one said the United States were most responsible. Sixty-five per cent of more than 2,000 readers who answered the question “What do you think?” voted the Soviets.

‘L’ Detachment Special Air Service (SAS) in their Jeeps, just back from a three-month patrol in the North African desert. [IWM/E21337]

The fact is, very few of the Allied soldiers, sailors or aircrew who were there would likely say any one country was responsible for the victory. Virtually every one respected American might, British doggedness, French resistance, Polish fervour, Aussie initiative, Kiwi tenacity, Canadian pluck and clarity.

The Danish crew of a steamer crawling across the cold and stormy North Atlantic, their superstructures laden with ice, didn’t keep score of which nation’s crew were aboard the ships that sank the U-boats that hunted them. They were equally grateful whether their lives were saved by Canadians, British or, later, Americans.

Many a bomber crew of whatever Allied stripe owed their lives to multiple fighter pilots, whether they were Canadian, British, American, Polish, Kiwi or Australian.

Even the team responsible for creating the atomic bombs that ended the war in the Pacific, though American-led, was supplied and populated by multiple nations and nationalities, including Canadian.

Every Ally deserves to be proud of their contributions to victory in history’s greatest conflict. Comparisons and unnecessary claims only serve to divide and, in some instances, conquer.

—

And here are the numbers for the three highest contributors to the coalition effort in Afghanistan:

• More than 40,000 Canadians served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014; 158 uniformed Canadians died. Ratio—1:253.
• Some 150,610 British military served; 457 were killed. Ratio—1:330.
• About 832,000 Americans served; 2,459 were killed. Ratio—1:338.

While the Americans, on whom the 9/11 attacks were targeted, took the greatest hit in sheer numbers killed in action, Canadians are believed to have endured the highest per capita KIA ratio in the coalition.

The Afghanistan war is the one and only time Article 5 of the NATO treaty, declaring an attack on one member is an attack on all, has ever been enacted.