The appalling cost in lives is understood by all, and is a given.

No-one is "denigrating" the dead, except those who call them dupes with no understanding of why they fought. Teribus, Hilo and I respect them for their belief in a just cause and their willingness to make a stand against an imperialist, militarist, cruel invader.

The "petty point scoring " is all done by the comrades.
What we do is put the actual history before them, which they feel qualified to reject even though they can find no historian who supports their baseless beliefs.