Most Germans say that on the Eastern Frot Germany was fighting Russia with one hand tied behind her back because it was basically Germany against Russia and Russian had a bigger population. Germany still had to garrison all of Europe, send an expeditionary force to Africa, keep a large submarine fleet in the Atlantic, prop up Italy and defend key areas, in Germany and beyond, from air attack.

The Russian view is that it was never just Germany vs. Russia. By June 1941, most of Europe was either allied with Germany against Russia or was occupied and their industrial complex/resources were being put to work for the Reich against Russia. This became even worse once after the German victories of 1941: Now there were millions of Russian prisioners working for the Reich. This was in addition to all the other slaves the Reich had. French and Czech factories worked for the Germans, Swedish iron ore and Romanian petroleum was availbale in quanty to Germany. As such it was never really Germany vs. Russia but an entire Europe led by Germany against Russia.

Which side is right?