The Russian T-34 was produced very solidly and were functional, but the welds weren’t polished and everything was put together just well enough. They made 60,000 of them.

Not only that, but the crews met the tanks at the factory east of the Urals, rode with them on trains to the front and drove them straight into battle. Despite claims that capitalism is the ultimate production system and the profit motive the ultimate motivator, Stalin seemed to get incredible results by informing the factory managers that they would be summarily shot if they didn’t meet goals. Seemed to work well, given that an incredible number of normal production workers, men and women, were in the army and mainly the dregs left to make things.

The same was true of their Sturmovik Il-2 airplane, a superb design for it’s mission of which the USSR produced over 42,000, the most produced military plane in history. The Il-2 aircraft played a crucial role on the Eastern Front.

“Joseph Stalin paid the Il-2 a great tribute in his own inimitable manner: when a particular production factory fell behind on its deliveries, Stalin sent an angrily-worded cable to the factory manager, stating “They are as essential to the Red Army as air and bread.”[5] “I demand more machines. This is my final warning!”[6]” In this case the factory manager was left to guess what “final warning” meant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-2

Hitler knew the implications of Mussolini’s invasion of Greece and was stark, raving mad about it. You’re correct, Hitler bailing out Italy delayed his invasion of Russia by a length of time which proved to be critical.

My favorite was Hitler’s biggest mistake. Prior to invading Russia, Hitler persuaded Italy to invade Greece and secure his right flank against attack by British forces in the Mediterranean.

Mussolini attacked Greece in the fall of 1940, and was totally humiliated. The Greeks had trained extensively for mountain warfare, and used their country’s rugged terrain to their advantage. The Italians got a bloody nose and were totally bogged down, forcing the Germans to postpone Barbarossa and strike south to bail out Il Duce’s forces. The Greeks, caught in a vise, were eventually forced to capitulate.

However, because of this, the German attack on Russia was delayed until summer of 1941, and crucial months of spring were denied to the Wehrmacht. By December 6, the day before Pearl Harbor, the Russians stopped the Nazi blitz outside the gates of Moscow and rolled the Germans back. Although they were able to counter-attack the following year, the Germans were never able to regain the ground they had lost. The war was lost for Germany on Pearl Harbor Day, for more reasons than one. And Greece, like at Thermopylae and Salamis, saved Western civilization.