** World War II campaigns -- Arsenal of Democracy Lend Lease countries Soviet Union Russian view








Lend Lease: Country Trends: Soviet Union--Russian View


Figure 1.--

A retired Red Army officer has provided us a view of Lend Lease from a Russian perspective. He provides some very useful statistics. We agree with his point that Lend Lease did not sugnificantly aid the Soviets in 1941 and 42. Here it was the Red Army that stopped the NAZIs largely with Soviet manufactured arms. We disagree with our reader, however, on some of his other points concernng Lend Lease. We are very interested in his comments, in part because the war in the East is often not sufficently covered in World War II histories. Thus his comments provide a very useful addtion to our coverage of World War II which relies almost completely on Western sources.

Russian Comments

A retired Red Army officer has provided us a view of Lend Lease from a Russian perspective. He provides some very useful statistics. We are very interested in his comments, in part because the war in the East is often not sufficently covered in World War II histories. Thus his comments provide a very useful addtion to our coverage of World War II which relies almost completely on Western sources.Here is the Russian text of our reader's comments on Lend Lease. We have done a basic internet translstion, but we stress that it does not do justice to our reader's comments. We hope to eventually improve on the translation.

Russian text

Давайте поговорим о 2 мировой войне. Хочу начать не сначала войны, а о поставках в Советский Союз техники и вооружения по Land Lease. Думаю, Вы знаете, что этот план был начат в США еще весной 1941 года для помощи в основном Великобритании. В последние годы в средствах массовой информации, в том числе в интернете, можно встретить очень много мнений, что СССР в 1941 годы выдержал натиск германских войск только благодаря поставкам США и Англии в СССР большого количества техники и вооружений. Однако, осенью 1941 года поставки только начались и имели совсем незначительный характер. Существенной роли поставленная техника осенью и зимой 1941 года в в оборонительных боях и в сражении за Москву сыграть не могла. Если быть более точным, то даже прибывшия техника просто не успела дойти до фронта и поучаствовать в тех боях.

English translation

Give let us have a talk about two world wars. I want to begin not first wars, but about the deliveries into the Soviet Union of technology and armament on Land Lease. I think, you know that this plan was begun in THE USA still in the spring of 1941 for the aid in essence of Great Britain.

HBC Discussion

We agree with some, but not all of what our Russioan reader has to say about Lend Lease. We certainly agree that Lend Lease did not save Russia in the crucial fighting before Moscow (1941) and even in the key battle of Stalingrad (1942). It was only in 1943 that Lend Lease supplies began to reach the Soviet Union in quantities that made a significant cintribution. We differ with our reader on some of his other comments. In addition we have some background informztion to add to put Lend Lease in perspectice. Here we will not dscuss Lend Lease in general, but rather address the major points made by our reader.

Stopping the NAZIs

We believe tht our Soviet reader is totally correct that Lend Lease did not play an important role in the Soviet sucess before Lennigrad and Moscow in stopping the NAZIs. That was done with Soviet weaponry. Lend Lease deliveries were negligible in 1941 and still minimal even in 1942. ut there is more to the story of xstopping the NAZIs before Moscow (December 1941). The reason that the Red Army was successful before Moscow was that Marshal Zukov was able to bring reserves west from Siberia. Soviet spies in Moscow had learned that Japan would not strike the Soviets in Siberia, but would strike south at the Americans in Pearl Harbor. They reason they decided to do this rather than support the NAXZIs (their Axis partner) was in large part because of the pressure President Roosevelt was putting on them. Roosevelt moved the Pacific Fleet to Pearl Harbor and embargoed oil, steel and other strategic materials. So while Lend Lease did not yet play a role in 1941, American pressure on the Japanese did play an important role.

Actual Early Deliveries

Our Russian reader reports that the United States did not meet the early commitments made under Lend Lease. Here I do not know at this time. It is something I will look into. The Lend Lease program had been created by the time the NAZIs invaded the Soviet Union (June 1941). But the Roosevelt Administration had to convince the Congress to include the Soviet Union in the program. Here there were problems. Some Congressmen objected because the Soviet Union was a Communist country. Others objected because of the NAZI-Soviet Non-Agression Pact. This had made the Soviet Union and NAZI Germany virtual allies. The Soviets delivedred huge quantities of strageic material to the NAZIs. In addition the Soviet Union had conducted a series of aggressions nearly as infamous as those of the NAZIs. Even when Congress agreed to include the Soviet Union in Lend Lease, the program got off to a slow start, in part because of Soviet pencant for secrecy. The Soviets conceived of Lend Lease as simply supplying the Americans with a list to be filled. The Amercans wanted details about the campaign. This was necessary so that the different requests for aid from different allies could be properly accessed and the aid directed to where it was most urgently needed.

Aircraft

Our Russian reader claims that early shipments of aircraft from Britain were obsolete types. Lend Lease was an American program. The British I believe began shipments to the Soviet Union before actual Americam Lend Lease shipments began. I simply do not know about the aircraft the British shipped. This I will have to look into. My understanding is that once American shipments of aircraft began that it played an important role in rebuilding the Red Air Force, most of which was destroyed by the Luftwaffe in the ealy weeks of the NAZI invasion. Much of the American air craft shipments were flown to Alaska where Soviet pilots flew them on to Siberia.

1942 Shipments

Our Russian reader reports that Lend Lease shipments to the Soviet Union were still relatively limited in 1942. This I believe is a correct statement. We believe that it needs to be put in some perspective. America only entered the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941). The United states had been increasing military production, but the economy was not on a war footing. It has to be mentioned that under orders from Moscow, American Communists (until June 1941) were very critical of the Roosevelt Administration's efforts to expand military preparations. It is this a little unfair to criticise America for limited delivreies in 1942 when the Soviet Government attempted to limit American efforts to prepare for war. American industry in 1941 was still geared to the consumer market (cars, washing machines, refrigerators, ect). Thus military production was still limited in 1942. Production increased, but it took some time to convert factories over for war producttion. This was not an easy effort, in part because many companies did not want to shift from lucrative consumer products. Not only was America just gearing up its industrial production, but there were many demands for the limited production. The British were hard-pressed in the Western Dessert. And America was creating a hugely expanded army and vast quantities of arms were needed for the new army which would lunch two offensives in 1942 (Guadacanal and the Torch North African landings).

Arctic Convoys

Artic convoys were one of three principal routes for Lend Lease supplies. (The other two were: 1)around the Cape of Good Hope therough Iran ans 2) to Vladivostock and shipment over the Trans-Siberian Railroad. It was a great irritation to the NAZIs that the Japanese did not intrdict the Pacific shipments.) The Artic convoys had the advantages in that it was by far the shortest route to the front. It was also by far the most dangerous route. Convoys to Archangel nd Murmansk faced German U-boats, surface ships, and Luftwaffe aircraft. The water was so cold that there was little channce that any one would survive if there ship sank. The subject of the artic convoys is not one that I have yet persued. I am not sure that the British admiralty fought the battles over these convoys correctly, but the word "cowardice" does seem very strong. Perhps this is a problem with the cmputer translation. The very fact that the British sent these convoys trough the NAZI gauntlet is in fact a statement of their determination to aid the Soviet Union at a very critical time. Here I was a little surprised at our Russian reader's comments.

Allied Strategy

Our Russian reader wonders if the limited 1942 deliveries were because Roosevelt and Churchill were unsure if the Soviets would hold in the face of the German 1942 summer offensive that lead to the Battle of Stalingrad. Here I know that it was a concern of some American plnners about asssting Britain in 1940 that Britain might surreder to the NAZIs. I also know that some American military figures belived in 1941 that the Soviets could not hold up against the NAZIs. Once America joined the War and the Soviets stopped the Germans before Moscow, the primary Allied objective became the defeat of NAZI Germany. I have never noted any indication that the Allies denied Lend Lease deliveries to the Soviet Union thinking they might collapse. Deliveries were limited in 1942, but this was because of the factors discussed above.

Overall Lend Lease Deliveries

Britain was by far the greatest recipient of American Lend Lease supplies. This seems understanable because the British and amerucans fought side-by-side in the same campaigns. The Soviets were the next most important recipient.

Deliveries to the Soviet Union

Massive quantities of aid were delivered to the Soviet Union during 1943-45. The question becomes just how important was the Lend Lease aid. We agree with our Russian reader that Lend Lease did not play an importnt role during 1941-42, but our understanding is that it was very important during 1943-45. Sources we have consulted suggest that American aid was espcially critical in three areas: 1) air craft, 2) trucks, and 3) food. Triucks of course does not sound all that important, but americans trucks added greatly to the Soviet capability of waging a highly mobile campaign against the Germans over the great expanse of the Eastern Front. This is not to say that the United States through Lend Lease single handeldly supplied the Red Army. The Soviets had a massive arms industry which not only produced high-quality weaponry, but by 1943 was out producing the Germans. The T-34 Tank was arguably the best tank of the war. Our point is that Ldnd Lease contributed greatly to the Soviet war effort in important crtical areas.

Payments


Sources

Bogdanov, Victor. E-mail message, October 6, 2005.







CIH -- WW II







Navigate the CIH World War II Section:
[Return to Main Lend Lease country page]
[Return to Main Lend Lease page ]
[Return to Main World War II American isolation page]
[Return to Main World War II page]
[About Us]
[Biographies] [Campaigns] [Children] [Countries] [Deciding factors] [Diplomacy] [Geo-political crisis] [Economics] [Home front] [Intelligence]
[Resistance] [Race] [Refugees] [Technology]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Return to the Main World War II page]





Created: 6:20 PM 10/6/2005
Last updated: 6:20 PM 10/6/2005