F rom the moment he signed the Anglo-Soviet Agreement on 12 July 1941 until the Western Allies landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944, Stalin harangued and harassed the West to open a "Second Front."   This isn't surprising. Stalin had been caught flat-footed by the German invasion in June 1941. The Germans came within 11 miles of Moscow before they were halted in December of that year, and they advanced again -- deep into the Soviet Union -- in 1942.  From the first day of the war in the east until Germany's Unconditional Surrender in May 1945, the Soviets faced bitter and costly fighting. There were many defeats, and even when battles ultimately ended in Soviet victories such as at Stalingrad and ultimately Berlin they were costly in terms of men. Although the numbers remain highly suspect and controversial, there can be no doubt that the Soviet Union suffered horrendous casualties in the course of the war. These were officially reckoned at around 8.6 mi...