Lend-Lease: How the US Kept the Soviets Afloat in World War II It was part of a scratch operational group of the Western Front consisting of the 18th Rifle Brigade, two ski battalions, the 5th and 20th Tank Brigades, and the 140th Independent Tank Battalion. 28, 30, 31, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFHardesty1991 (, Soviet Supply Protocols. Most visibly, the United States provided the Soviet Union with more than 400,000 jeeps and trucks, 14,000 aircraft, 8,000 tractors and construction vehicles, and 13,000 battle tanks. Championed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Lend-Lease Act authorized the transfer . Interested in U.S. History? aid from Britain can be argued to have had the most significant impact. [55], In total, the U.S. deliveries to the USSR through Lend-Lease amounted to $11 billion in materials: over 400,000 jeeps and trucks; 12,000 armored vehicles (including 7,000 tanks, about 1,386[57] of which were M3 Lees and 4,102 M4 Shermans);[58] 11,400 aircraft (of which 4,719 were Bell P-39 Airacobras, 3,414 were Douglas A-20 Havocs and 2,397 were Bell P-63 Kingcobras)[59] and 1.75million tons of food. [75] Reciprocal contributions included the Austin K2/Y military ambulance, British aviation spark plugs used in B-17 Flying Fortresses,[75] Canadian-made Fairmile launches used in anti-submarine warfare, Mosquito photo-reconnaissance aircraft, and Indian petroleum products. [55] This constituted some 23% of the total aid to the USSR during the war. President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease bill into law on March 11, 1941. How important was the Lend-Lease to the Soviet war effort? [35] Most tank units were Soviet-built models but about 7,000 Lend-Lease tanks (plus more than 5,000 British tanks) were used by the Red Army, eight percent of war-time production. Stettinius. However, the real significance of Lend-Lease for the Soviet war effort was that it covered the "sensitive points" of Soviet production -- gasoline, explosives, aluminum, nonferrous metals, radio communications, and so on, says historian Boris Sokolov. Dear h, I don't doubt the word of the old gent seeing USA on "Soviet" equipment. Canada was not a direct recipient of Lend-Lease aid. Lend-Lease - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org In a few paragraphs the Wiki page shows the importance of the deliveries. [83] However, none of this cargo has been salvaged, and no documentation of its treasure has been produced.[84]. . In a November 1943 report to Congress, President Roosevelt said of Allied participation in reverse Lend-lease: the expenditures made by the British Commonwealth of Nations for reverse lend-lease aid furnished to the United States, and of the expansion of this program so as to include exports of materials and foodstuffs for the account of United States agencies from the United Kingdom and the British colonies, emphasizes the contribution which the British Commonwealth has made to the defense of the United States while taking its place on the battle fronts. CMV: Lend Lease to the Soviet Union during WWII was a massive mistake Roosevelt concluded that the United States needed to help the Soviets fight against the Germans. In the case of the Soviet Union, this residual civilian-type lend-lease was valued by the United States at $2.6 billion (out of total lend-lease to the Soviet Union of $10.8 billion). "[10] As the President himself put it, "There can be no reasoning with incendiary bombs."[11]. After the German assault on Russia in June 1941, the defenders got aid with this system through war material, food, fuel and other important raw materials. The lend/lease military aid program, and the Matilda's role in it, was hardly decisive to the Soviet Union's subsequent victories on the Eastern or Western front. And many of the supplies needed by our Air Force are procured for us without cost by reverse lend-lease. About $11 billion in war matriel was sent to the Soviet Union under that program. the president asked at a press conference. 151 Wing in Operation Benedict, to provide air defence of the port and to train Soviet pilots. The Red Army was a force to be reckoned with and was willing to sustain unlimited casualties. [6], After the Fall of France during June 1940, the British Commonwealth and Empire were the only forces engaged in war against Germany and Italy, until the Italian invasion of Greece. Initially, this proposal failed, but after Germany invaded Poland in September, Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1939 ending the munitions embargo on a "cash and carry" basis. From: 30 Military Mission. In a secret protocol of this pact, the Germans and the Soviets agreed that Poland should be divided between them, with the western third of the country going to Germany and the eastern two-thirds being taken over by the U.S.S.R. Popular Questions What was the cause of World War II? The first American tanks and planes reached Egypt in time to be used in the second British drive into Libya which started on November 2, 1941. It carried 40 Hawker Hurricanes along with 550 mechanics and pilots of No. The Lend-Lease Act was initially created to help Great Britain as they struggled in World War II. The Soviet Union got arms, ammunition, aircraft, and industrial equipment for its army. Bill Introduced in the House Would Allow US to Lend Weapons to Taiwan [citation needed]. Lend-Lease also sent aviation fuel equivalent to 57 percent of what the Soviet Union itself produced. The Lend-Lease law was adopted by the U.S. Congress on March 11, 1941; according to it, all the supplied vehicles, arms, equipment and materials were not to be paid for should they be destroyed. Collection. In practice, most equipment was destroyed, although some hardware (such as ships) was returned after the war. How much Soviet equipment was Lend-Lease? 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When poll participants were asked their party affiliation, the poll revealed a political divide: 69% of Democrats were unequivocally in favor of Lend-Lease, whereas only 38% of Republicans favored the bill without qualification. In spring 1944, the House passed a bill to renew the Lend-Lease program by a vote of 334 to 21. In fact the British intercepted German communications indicating that German forces had first come in contact with British tanks on the Eastern front on November 26, 1941. . There were apparently only 263 LaGG-3s in the Soviet inventory by the time of the Moscow counteroffensive, and it was an aircraft with numerous defects. How important was lend lease to Soviet Union? I recently heard someone claim that the Soviet Union would have been unable to survive Operation Barbarossa and subsequent German offensives without the vast amount of supplies they received from the Allies under the Lend-Lease program. L.7711, H.R. 2009. . I believe that lend lease to the USSR was a massive mistake that led directly to the cold war and all the issues associated with it. In Walter Yust, ed., "17 Billion Budget Drafted; Defense Takes 10 Billions. The munitions totaled 308m (not including naval munitions supplied), the food and raw materials totaled 120m in 1946 index. It is an indication of the extent to which the British have been able to pool their resources with ours so that the needed weapon may be in the hands of that soldierwhatever may be his nationalitywho can at the proper moment use it most effectively to defeat our common enemies.[76]. Democrats. Although it was not entirely reasonable that Canada should pay for any construction that the Canadian Government considered unnecessary or that did not conform to Canadian requirements, nevertheless considerations of self-respect and national sovereignty led the Canadian Government to suggest a new financial agreement. Exmo. The United States and the British Commonwealth provided 55. Agriculture also suffered a loss of labour; between 1941 and 1945, 19.5 million working-age men had to leave their farms to work in the military and industry. [11] Isolationists were strongly opposed, warning it would result in American involvement with what was considered by most Americans as an essentially European conflict. But the Soviet Union was never alone: Months before the United States formally entered the war, it had already begun providing massive military and economic assistance to its Soviet ally through the Lend-Lease program. In 194546, the value of Reciprocal Aid from New Zealand exceeded that of Lend-Lease, though in 194243, the value of Lend-Lease to New Zealand was much more than that of Reciprocal Aid. [43] Lend-Lease also supplied significant amounts of weapons and ammunition. Although most of the actual construction of joint defense facilities, except the Alaska Highway and the Canol project, had been carried out by Canada, most of the original cost was borne by the United States. In terms of its relationship with the Soviet Union, lend-lease served as a powerful tool for demonstrating the benefits of the . Canada operated a program similar to Lend-Lease called Mutual Aid that sent a loan of Can$1billion (equivalent to Can$15.4billion in 2021)[30] and Can$3.4billion (Can$52.3billion) in supplies and services to Britain and other Allies.[31][5]. [35] But listen, one cannot deny that the Americans shipped over to us material without which we could not have equipped our armies held in reserve or been able to continue the war.[48]. This act set up a system that would allow the United States to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States." . In fact our armed forces in Britain, ground as well as air, receive as reverse lend-lease, with no payment by us, one third of all the supplies and equipment they currently require, Britain furnishes 90% of their medical supplies and in spite of her food shortage, 20% of their food.[78]. Almost all European nations outside the Soviet bloc were members of the plan from the beginning. [1] There was no repayment required. In accordance with the Anglo-Soviet Military Supplies Agreement of June 27, 1942, military aid sent from Britain to the Soviet Union during the war was entirely free of charge. [21], After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States entering the war in December 1941, foreign policy was rarely discussed by Congress, and there was very little demand to cut Lend-Lease spending. In April 1945, Congress voted that it should not be used for post-conflict purposes, and in August 1945, after Japan surrendered, the program was ended. Tens of thousands of agricultural machines, such as tractors and threshers, were destroyed or captured. Lend-Lease's precise significance to Allied victory in WW2 is debated. On the Allied side, there was almost total reliance upon American industrial production, weaponry and especially unarmored vehicles purpose-built for military use, vital for the modern army's logistics and support. First, I would like to tell about some remarks Stalin made and repeated several times when we were "discussing freely" among ourselves. BM-13N Katyusha on a Lend-Lease Studebaker US6 truck, at the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, Moscow, In June 1941, within weeks of the German invasion of the USSR, the Anglo-Soviet Agreement was made and the first British aid convoy set off along the dangerous Arctic Sea route to Murmansk, arriving in September. How Much Did Lend Lease Help Russia? - Czech Heritage Lend-Lease aircraft supplied to the Red Air Force 1942-1944: References and literature American M3 tanks on the railway near Murmansk after arriving in Northern Russia.

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