The reason the Russian  effort and loss was downplayed was the fact the Communist leaders proceeded to use victory over the Nazis to implement their own dictatorship over Eastern Europe. As a child born a few years after WWII, I was fully aware of the various combatants including those who fought for Canada. As well, I understood that our once ally, the Soviet Union, had become our enemy. I was proud of Canada, Britain and the United States as liberators and detested the communist occupiers. I certainly have empathy for the millions of soldiers killed on the eastern front trying to save their country from the Nazis but I know that Stalin would have turned the survivors on the West to expand his communist empire had he thought he could succeed.