Soviet Union oddly missing from US-made coin ‘saluting’ WWII Allies

A US-made collectable coin lists Britain and France among the honored US allies in WWII, but, strangely, the Soviet Union, whose Red Army delivered a crushing blow to the Nazis in Europe and fought Japan, is omitted.

The 24-carat gold-plated coin was designed by collectable goods and jewelry company Bradford Exchange. It was the first entry into a collection meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Allied victory in WWII, depicting “key” Allied battles and honoring the Allied nations.

The coin’s reverse side shows the 33rd US president, Harry Truman, along with the 34th president, Dwight Eisenhower, who was the supreme commander of the US and British expeditionary force in Europe during the war.

The obverse side, however, contains only the flags of the US, Brittan, and France, as Allied nations the item wishes to “salute.” Oddly enough, it completely omits the Soviet Union, whose troops were instrumental to crushing the bulk of the Nazi armies in Europe.

It would have been fair to assume that the Soviet flag would possibly appear on other coins of the collection, but, according to the company’s website, the design of the obverse side will remain the same.

The Soviet Union was attacked by Nazi Germany and other Axis powers on June 22, 1941. Once that happened, the nation was almost immediately recognized by the US and Britain as an essential partner within the anti-Hitler coalition.

After fierce resistance and four years of bloody battles, the Red Army repelled the invasion and liberated Eastern Europe from the Nazi occupation.

In 1945, Soviet soldiers captured Berlin. After the warfare in Europe was over, Moscow agreed to US requests to enter the war against Japan, defeating its forces in Manchuria.

More than 26.6 million Soviet citizens died in the war, with 8.7 million killed in combat.