Figure 1.--The Soviet Union was a partner with NAZI Germany in launching World War II, carrying out its own invasion of Poland and other neighboring states like Finland. The American media, however, focused primarily on NAZI aggressions, probably because they were fighting Britain and France in the West, although there was some coverage of tghe Soviet invasion of Finland. Hollywood while producing a series of anti-NAZI films nerver produced one film about Sovirt aggressions. After the NAZI invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941), the American media shifted gears. Rather than Communist aggressors and Hitler ally, the Soviets became a peace-loving people valiantly defending their homeland. This image appeared in Life during 1941, almost certainly after the German invasion. We suspect this was a file photo that the magazine had on hand. It is not the kind of image that the Soviet Union would have released while engaged in its aggressions (1939-41). Hollywood never had to shift gear having never made anti-Soviet films. Click on the image for more information about the boys.

It was not immediately apparent how the Allies would respond to the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The Soviets were Communists with azctive programs to subvert America, Britain, and other countries. And Hitler had not launched World War II on his own. Stlalin had very much been a partner in the horrible exercise. And Stalin had engaged in a series of aggressions of its own as a ally of Hitler. Less well known at the time was the extent of Soviet attrocities in the occupied territories--the Bltics, Poland and Romania. (This was not the case inFinland as the population almost to a man fled the area seized by the Soviets.) Even so, there was not the slightest hesitation on the part of Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt. Both resonded immediately. Churchill told Parliament that Britain would aid the Soviets. There was not much the British could do. America was a very different matter and Roosevelt indicated that America would assist the Soviets in defending their country (June 24). Aid to the Soviets was more contencious than to other countries. Some Americans wanted to restrict aid to the Soviets on ideological grounds. Some like Ambassador Standley may have also understood the evil nature of the Soviet regime, but the extent of Soviet atrocities were not well known in the West. Nor was the extent and nature of German attricities in the Soviet Union. Lend Lease Administrator Hopkins was a strong advocate for aid to the Soviets. [McJimsey, pp. 293-294] After debatihg the issue, Congress approved legislation extending Lend Lease to the Soviet Union (September 1941). Here a case can be made that America erred in so copiously supplying the Sovierts. Certainly the trucks which America supplied the Soviets to fight the Wehrmacht were later used to cart unknown numbers of people off to the Gulag. These arguments can safely made today after the NAZIs ere defeated. That defeat was, however, much less certain in 1941-43. And there is no doubt that the Soviet Union with American aid smashed the Whermacht, saving countless lives, including many American GIs.

Sources

McJimsey, George. Harry Hopkins: Ally of the Poor and Defender of Liberty (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1987), 474p.

Created: 10:44 AM 1/31/2011
Last updated: 1:30 AM 2/1/2011