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whowasthatmaskedman If you look back and ignore what post war arm chair generals, so called experts, etc., had to say, I believe especially the occupied states 9around 14) that made up what when then the USSR were particularly ready for freedom from the USSR. That in fact Hitler missed that opportunity with his ethnic cleanings manifesto and that was the key to Russia. Sea ports, oil, grain, etc., was what Russia needed to rebuild and survive. Done smartly, a full scale occupation would not have been necessary. Bring collapse to the State (Stalin and his regime) and with a small occupation force, Russia could have been away from the pathway they eventually took. The same with China. China was not then a nation that outside of a few important cities was a prosperous land to live in. The factions wared one another, poverty and unrest reigned and with the damage inflicted by the Japanese and the treatment of the Chinese, I believe a more benevolent force could have done the same thing in China and turned it away from what we see today.
I don't think a goal of swallowing up either country was the goal or even necessary and I think those who advocated for continuing on knew this.
