Well that chart speaks for itself - Perceptions about who contributed to the victory have clearly changed. With an almost direct attribution transfer from USSR to USA; while UK remains static. I can't help but feel this has in part to do with the rise and rise of post-war America and the relative decline of USSR/Russia.

Feeds into the old adage "the victors write history" - clear example of the fact that this speaks to the broader cultural narrative over a span of time and not just discrete points of victory.

The USSR did not defeat Hitler, nor did the British nor did the Americans. It was a combined effort. Without three fronts to deal with or if the Germans had had an uncontested supply of oil and iron, there would only have been a single front and what we think of as Europe would now be called Germany. This is just fact.

To secure the resources of war, Germany needed to open and secure three fronts. In some respects Germany was doomed to defeat before they even started with the aggression. That said, defeating Germany was a international effort and without the terrible sacrifices made by the Soviet (and Polish) people, the heroic (almost suicidal) actions of the British air force or the industrial might of the Americans.. German may have prevailed.

By the same logic, the author might have argued that China "not the Americans" defeated Japan.

China suffered unspeakable civilian casualties in the war (civilians from the USSR and China likely account for 1/2 of all deaths in WW2 certainly so if one includes Poland). China supported Allied air raids on Japan even when the USSR would not. Without China's sacrifice and support for the Americans, Japan would have been able to direct military efforts elsewhere. Again though, it is clear that Japan knew that the only way to prevail was a quick set of wins in the Pacific then sue for peace with the Americans. There was no way that Japan was going to prevail against the might of American manufacturing.

America did not defeat Hitler nor Hirohito but neither did the Soviets nor the Chinese. The sacrifices made by the peoples of the allied nations (particularly the peoples of the USSR, China, and Poland) allowed the un-contested might of American manufacturing to come to bear and ultimately prevail.

In the end Germany was defeated by the Allies ending in a footrace to Berlin and ultimately a falling out between the western front allies and the eastern front allies resulting in a divided Germany carved up as the spoils of war. To attribute the victory to one member state or another does not make sense to me.