how important was lend lease to the soviet union

The United States used lend-lease to induce recipients to the American way of thinking, especially regarding the economy and free-market trade. on the Soviet war effort during the first year of the war was in the far. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. 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. Stalin needed trucks and was provided with Studebaker trucks on a massive scale. [36] The USSR was very dependent on rail transport and starting during the latter half of the 1920s[37] but accelerating during the 1930s (The Great Depression), hundreds of foreign industrial giants such as Ford were commissioned to construct modern dual-purpose factories in the USSR, 16 alone within a week of May 31, 1929. The handing over of forty imported machine tools to Aviation Factory No. Britain wished to retain some of this equipment in the immediate post-war period. The plan proposed by FDR was to "lend-lease or otherwise dispose of arms" and other supplies needed by any country whose security was vital to the defense of the United States. The agreement was that all temporary construction for the use of American forces and all permanent construction required by the United States forces beyond Canadian requirements would be paid for by the United States, and that the cost of all other construction of permanent value would be met by Canada. Canada was not a direct recipient of Lend-Lease aid. He stated bluntly that if the United States had not helped us, we would not have won the war. During the war the USSR provided an unknown number of shipments of rare minerals to the US Treasury as a form of cashless repayment of Lend-Lease. 2009. pp. The British Military Mission to Moscow noted that by December 9, about ninety British tanks had already been in action with Soviet forces. After this final payment, Britain's Economic Secretary to the Treasury formally issued thanks to the U.S. for its wartime support. Most went to Britain, but the Soviet Union received more than $11 billion. [24], A total of $50.1billion (equivalent to $606billion in 2021)[26] was involved, or 17% of the total war expenditures of the U.S.[2] Most, $31.4billion ($380billion) went to Britain and its empire. 31, enacted March 11, 1941),[1] was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, France, China, and other Allied nations with food, oil, and materiel between 1941 and 1945. 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. Actual military production was achieved by sacrificing the civilian economy for short-term gain (and likely by burning up pre-existing stockpiles of raw materials). [34], Lend-Lease contributed to the Allied victory. It was a decisive step away from non-interventionist policy and toward open support for the Allies. In time, opinion shifted as increasing numbers of Americans began to consider the advantage of funding the British war against Germany, while staying free of the hostilities themselves. Allen (1946) p 252. That is the U.S. would be "repaid" when the recipient fought the common enemy and joined the world trade and diplomatic agencies, such as the United Nations.[51]. Under these circumstances even small quantities of aid took on far greater significance. Secret Cipher Telegram. Franklin D. Roosevelt had committed the United States in June 1940 to materially aiding the opponents of fascism, but, under existing U.S. law, the United Kingdom had to pay for its growing arms purchases from the United States with cash, popularly known as cash-and-carry. In contrast, 17 Republicans (63 percent) voted "nay" while 10 Senate Republicans (37 percent) sided with the Democrats to pass the bill.[19]. Of these, 99 Hurricanes and 39 Tomahawks were in service with the Soviet air defense forces on January 1, 1942, out of a total of 1,470 fighters. How important was the US lend-lease? On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. On May 11, 1947, 27 people were rescued, having spent nearly three weeks in the icebound wreck. [60], Roughly 17.5million tons of military equipment, vehicles, industrial supplies, and food were shipped from the Western Hemisphere to the USSR, 94% coming from the US. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act on March 11, 1941. British Matilda tanks are loaded onto a ship for transportation to the U.S.S.R. as part of the Lend-Lease program. The supplies dispersed under the Lend-Lease Act ranged from tanks, aircraft, ships, weapons and road building supplies to clothing, chemicals and food. Some idea of the scope of economic collaboration can be had from the fact that from the beginning of 1942 through 1945 Canada, on her part, furnished the United States with $1,000,000,000 to $1,250,000,000 in defense materials and services. [49], Roosevelt, eager to ensure public consent for this controversial plan, explained to the public and the press that his plan was comparable to one neighbor's lending another a garden hose to put out a fire in his home. 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. The Soviet air force received 18,200 aircraft, which amounted to about 30 percent of Soviet wartime fighter and bomber production (mid 194145). When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, we Mongols stood with our northern neighbor as best we could. The country's agriculture was in a difficult situation. Lend-Lease was the most visible sign of wartime cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union. [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. Our Fortresses and Liberators take off from huge air bases built, equipped and serviced under reverse lend-lease at a cost to them of hundreds of millions of dollars. This inevitably produced shortages of related products that are required for industrial or logistical uses, particularly unarmored vehicles. The terms of the agreement provided that the materiel was to be used until returned or destroyed. Roosevelt's top foreign policy advisor Harry Hopkins had effective control over Lend-Lease, making sure it was in alignment with Roosevelt's foreign policy goals.[3]. Nikita Khrushchev, having served as a military commissar and intermediary between Stalin and his generals during the war, addressed directly the significance of Lend-lease aid in his memoirs: I would like to express my candid opinion about Stalin's views on whether the Red Army and the Soviet Union could have coped with Nazi Germany and survived the war without aid from the United States and Britain. [53] Soviet Ambassador Maxim Litvinov significantly contributed to the Lend-Lease agreement of 1941. This was agreed upon before the signing of the first protocol on October 1, 1941, and extension of credit. Similarly, the Soviet Union repaid $722 million in 1971, with the remainder of the debt written off. Between June 1941 and May 1945, Britain delivered to the USSR: In total 4million tonnes of war material including food and medical supplies were delivered. The plane spent 69 years on the tundra before a Russian Geographical Society expedition rescued it in 2016 and returned the wreckage to Krasnoyarsk. ", United States Army Center of Military History, "Britain pays off final instalment of US loan after 61 years", "Salvor's report citing recovery of further 29 bars", "Treasure hunters 'find $3billion in platinum on sunken WW2 British ship', Official New Zealand war history of Lend-lease, from, Official New Zealand war history; termination of Mutual Aid from 21 December 1945, from. The 1947 money value of the supplies and services amounted to about $11 billion. Then in 1972 agreement was reached on $722 . Overcoming massive defeats and colossal losses over the first 18 months of the war, the Red Army was able to reorganize and rebuild to form a juggernaut that marched all the way to Berlin. But the speed at which Britain in particular was willing and able to provide aid to the Soviet Union, and at which the Soviet Union was able to put foreign equipment into frontline use, is still an underappreciated part of this story. Roosevelt made sure that Lend-Lease policies were supportive of his foreign policy goals by putting his top aide Harry Hopkins in effective control of the program. [61][62], Restrictions in the supply of weapons from the United States were mainly limited to heavy bombers. President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease bill into law on March 11, 1941. Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. [citation needed] The USSR had only a very small number of heavy bombers in comparison. Originally intended to lend arms and material to the. 1776, 55Stat. "[50] To which Senator Robert Taft (R-Ohio), responded: "Lending war equipment is a good deal like lending chewing gumyou certainly don't want the same gum back. Crowley, Leo T. "Lend-Lease". Officially the "Special Committee on Investigation of the Munitions Industry". In turn, this would have allowed the German commanders to escape at least some encirclements, while forcing the Red Army to prepare and conduct many more deliberate penetration attacks in order to advance the same distance. By the end of 1942, the Nazi advance into the Soviet Union had stalled; it was finally reversed at the epic battle of Stalingrad in 1943. "In order to really assess the significance of Lend-Lease for the Soviet victory, you only have to imagine how the Soviet Union would have had to fight if there had been no Lend-Lease aid," Sokolov wrote. [38] With the outbreak of war these plants switched from civilian to military production and locomotive production ended virtually overnight. The 1930s began with one of the world's greatest economic depressionswhich had started in the United Statesand the later recession of 193738 (although minor relative to the Great Depression) was otherwise also one of the worst of the 20th century. [16] Propaganda showing the devastation of British cities during The Blitz, as well as popular depictions of Germans as savage also rallied public opinion to the Allies, especially after Germany conquered France. 151 Wing of the RAF, which operated briefly from Soviet airfields near Murmansk. 2009. . Yes, in 1942 Lend-Lease was of course important for Soviet Russia. British and Commonwealth deliveries to the Soviet Union in late 1941 and early 1942 would not only assist in the Soviet defense of Moscow and subsequent counteroffensive, but also in increasing Soviet production for the next period of the war. During early February 1941, a Gallup poll revealed that 54% of Americans were in favor of giving aid to the British without qualifications of Lend-Lease. The Soviets have long insisted that Lend-Lease aid made little difference. James Phinney Baxter III (Official Historian of the Office of Scientific Research and Development), Wolfgang Schumann (et al. A further 15% were in favor of qualifications such as: "If it doesn't get us into war," or "If the British can give us some security for what we give them." This was mostly in the form of landing, servicing, and refueling of transport aircraft; some industrial machinery and rare minerals were sent to the U.S. | AHA", "Lend-Lease and Military Aid to the Allies in the Early Years of World, The United States at war; development and administration of the war program by the federal government, Sea routes of Soviet Lend-Lease:Voice of Russia, "$220 Million in Gold Bullion was Recovered from HMS Edinburgh", "Report to Congress on Reverse Lend-Lease", "Chapter XIV: The United States and Canada: Copartners in Defense. Both were superior to all but the Soviet KV-1 and T-34 in armor, and indeed even their much maligned winter cross-country performance was comparable to most Soviet tanks excluding the KV-1 and T-34. D.C. 4 Ottawa Protocol (July 1, 194430 June 1945). Lend-Lease effectively ended the United States' pretense of neutrality which had been enshrined in the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s. [citation needed]. Few Americans objected to Soviet aid until 1943. The United States did not provide them to the USSR when requested. Borodin said he wished to honor and show gratitude to the United States and its veterans who rendered aid to the Soviet Union during World War II. Some 3,964,000 tons of goods were shipped by the Arctic route; 7% was lost, while 93% arrived safely. 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. [65], Warsaw 1945: Willys jeep used by the Polish First Army as part of U.S. Lend-Lease program. [56] Nevertheless, some 8,244,000 tons of goods went by this route, 50% of the total. 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. In fact, for a brief period during December 1941, the relative importance of British aid increased well beyond levels planned by the Allies as a result of American reaction to the outbreak of war with Japan; some American equipment destined for the Soviet Union was actually unloaded from merchant vessels and provided to American forces instead. TNA WO 193/580, Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022, Allied technological cooperation during World War II, "Letter, Winston Churchill to Franklin Roosevelt, December 7, 1940, pp. It is our living history. The body of the captain, Maksim Tyurikov, was found by local hunters about 120 kilometers from the wreck in 1953. Lend-lease will be considered, first, as a method of wartime supply allocation; second, as a method of accounting which may create inter- . At the end of November 1941, only 670 Soviet tanks were available to defend Moscowthat is, in the recently formed Kalinin, Western, and Southwestern Fronts. Tomahawks also served in defense of the Doroga Zhizni or Road of Life across the ice of Lake Ladoga, which provided the only supply line to the besieged city of Leningrad during the winter of 194142. aid from Britain can be argued to have had the most significant impact. Heavy bombers had not been mentioned in previous protocols. An oft-quoted statement by First Vice-Chairman of the Council of Peoples Commissars Nikolai Voznesensky summed up the standard line that Allied aid represented only 4 percent of Soviet production for the entire war. Almost all European nations outside the Soviet bloc were members of the plan from the beginning. Message to U.S. Citizens Winter Holiday Hours U.S. Mission Russia, Security Alert U.S. Mission Russia (December 14, 2020), U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirbys Interview with TV Rain, Russias War Against Ukraine One Year Later, G7 Foreign Ministers Statement on the Illegal Annexation of Sovereign Ukrainian Territory, U.S. Embassy Moscow Spotlights Posters for Peace, Message to U.S. Citizens: U.S. Mission Russia Reduction of Consular Services, Security Incident at Spaso House, the U.S. Ambassadors Residence in Moscow, Ambassador Sullivans Interview with Echo Moskvy in St. Petersburg Radio, Young Actors Present a New Interpretation of An American Classic, American Choreographer Bob Boross Introduces Jazz Dance to Russian Students, Statement from the Consul General on the Suspension of Operations at U.S. Consulate General, Vladivostok, Temporary Suspension of Operations at the U.S. Consulate General in Vladivostok, Ambassador Jon Huntsman Speaks at Media Roundtable in Vladivostok, April 24, 2018, Statement from Consul General Amy Storrow U.S. Consulate General Yekaterinburg, Celebrating 295th anniversary of Yekaterinburg, World War II Allies: U.S. Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union, 1941-1945, Novaya Gazeta Europe Interview with Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. [15] Though these may be considered the most significant, many other items were also transported, including designs for rockets, superchargers, gyroscopic gunsights, submarine detection devices, self-sealing fuel tanks and plastic explosives. Only 22% were unequivocally against the President's proposal. [63] The production of heavy bombers in the United States until 1945 amounted to more than 30,000. [76] Australia and New Zealand supplied the bulk of foodstuffs to United States forces in the South Pacific. 150 in July 1942, for example, was the critical factor in enabling the factory to reach projected capacity within two months. ", In practice, very little was returned except for a few unarmed transport ships. Reverse lend-lease policies comprised services such as rent on bases used by the U.S., and totaled $7.8billion; of this, $6.8billion came from the British and the Commonwealth, mostly Australia and India. 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. The British Commonwealth and, to a lesser extent, the Soviet Union reciprocated with a smaller Reverse Lend-Lease program. First protocol period from October 1, 1941, to June 30, 1942 (signed October 7, 1941), Second protocol period from July 1, 1942, to June 30, 1943 (signed October 6, 1942), Third protocol period from July 1, 1943, to June 30, 1944 (signed October 19, 1943). Collection. He never made a special point of holding a conversation on the subject, but when we were engaged in some kind of relaxed conversation, going over international questions of the past and present, and when we would return to the subject of the path we had traveled during the war, that is what he said. When I listened to his remarks, I was fully in agreement with him, and today I am even more so. newsletter for the best of the past, delivered every Monday and Thursday. Before becoming secretary of commerce in the Truman administration, he had served in two crucial posts during World War II, as Lend-Lease representative in Britain and then as U.S. ambassador to Moscow. Lend-Lease thus provided a massive quantity of foodstuffs and agricultural products.[44]. Without the machines we received through Lend-Lease, we would have lost the war.". By spring and summer of 1942 the Hurricane had clearly become the principal fighter aircraft of the Northern Fleets air regiments; in all, 83 out of its 109 fighters were of foreign origin. Joseph Stalin never revealed to his own people the full contributions of Lend-Lease to their country's survival, but he referred to the program at the 1945 Yalta Conference saying, "Lend-Lease is one of Franklin Roosevelt's most remarkable and vital achievements in the . The Soviet Union got arms, ammunition, aircraft, and industrial equipment for its army. "It should be remembered that during World War I, the transportation crisis in Russia in 1916-17 that did a lot to facilitate the February Revolution [which lead to the abdication of the tsar] was caused by a shortage in the production of railway rails, engines, and freight cars because industrial production had been diverted to munitions," Sokolov wrote. Nikita Khrushchev offered the same opinion. Dec 7, 1941 . Havlat, Denis. Churchill also granted the US base rights in Bermuda and Newfoundland for free; this act allowed their British garrison to be redeployed to more crucial theatres. In May 1942, HMSEdinburgh was sunk while carrying 4.5 tonnes of Soviet gold intended for the U.S. Treasury. The pact was terminated when Germany launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union. For comparison, a total of 22 million tons landed in Europe to supply American forces from January 1942 to May 1945. It carried 40 Hawker Hurricanes along with 550 mechanics and pilots of No. Lend-Lease: Western Aid for the Soviet UnionPart of Eastern Front Fortnight (4) on WW2TVWith Denis HavlatDuring WWII the Soviet Union received large amounts . 19329 posts. Lend-Lease started in March 1941, providing for military aid to any country whose defense was considered vital to the security of the U.S. American deliveries to the Soviet Union can be divided into the following phases: Delivery was via the Arctic Convoys, the Persian Corridor, and the Pacific Route. After a decade of neutrality, Roosevelt knew that the change to Allied support must be gradual, given the support for isolationism in the country. Supplies that arrived after the termination date were sold to the United Kingdom at a large discount for 1.075 billion, using long-term loans from the United States, which were finally repaid in 2006. 5,218 tanks (including 1,380 Valentines from Canada), 323 machinery trucks (mobile vehicle workshops equipped with generators and all the welding and power tools required to perform heavy servicing), 1.15bn ($1.55bn) worth of aircraft engines, Allen, R. G. D. "Mutual Aid Between the U.S. and The British Empire, 1941-45". [81], While repayment of the interest-free loans was required after the end of the war under the act, in practice the U.S. did not expect to be repaid by the USSR after the war. . Trucks such as the Dodge '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000003F-QINU`"'34-ton and Studebaker 2+12-ton were easily the best trucks available in their class on either side on the Eastern Front. Totaling $11.3 billion, or $180 billion in todays currency, the Lend-Lease Act of the United States supplied needed goods to the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1945 in support of what Stalin described to Roosevelt as the enormous and difficult fight against the common enemy bloodthirsty Hitlerism., By U.S. Mission Russia | 10 May, 2020 | Topics: History, News, U.S. & Russia. Lend-Lease kept the Soviet home front going through the winter of 1941 and throughout 1942. [43] Lend-Lease also supplied significant amounts of weapons and ammunition. Materials totalling $. [11] Isolationists were strongly opposed, warning it would result in American involvement with what was considered by most Americans as an essentially European conflict. Part of the bill required the British to open their empire to trade. Mackenzie, Hector. 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. That the Soviet victories of late 1941 were won with Soviet blood and largely with Soviet weapons is beyond dispute. Roosevelt's Soviet Protocol Committee was dominated by Harry Hopkins and General John York, who were totally sympathetic to the provision of "unconditional aid". The British Eighth Army under Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery employed U.S. planes, guns and tanks when they whipped Rommel's Afrika Korps at El Alamein. Recd 11/12/41. This followed the 1940 Destroyers for Bases Agreement, whereby 50 US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy in exchange for basing rights in the Caribbean. The invasion had cost the USSR a huge amount of its agricultural base; during the initial Axis offensive of 194142, the total sown area of the USSR fell by 41.9% and the number of collective and state farms by 40%. The American Lend-Lease program was signed into law in March 1941. 3, S. 468. If Germany defeated the Soviet Union, the most significant front in Europe would be closed. Lend Lease came as a response to the Axis Powers' violence and showed that America was committed to defending their nation and its . Totaling $11.3 billion, or $180 billion in today's currency, the Lend-Lease Act of the United States supplied needed goods to the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1945 in support of what Stalin described to Roosevelt as the "enormous and difficult fight against the common enemy bloodthirsty Hitlerism." ", "How America Helped Build the Soviet Machine | American Heritage", "Ford Motor Company signs agreement with Soviet Union", "Russian historian: Importance of Lend-Lease cannot be overestimated", "Russia and Serbia, A Century of Progress in Rail Transport", "How Much of What Goods Have We Sent to Which Allies? Britain and the Commonwealth were carrying the battle for all civilization, and the overwhelming majority of Americans, led in the late election by their president, wished to help them. Evolucin de los . The total of defense materials and services that Canada received through lend-lease channels amounted in value to approximately $419,500,000. American aid also provided 4.5 million tons of food, 1.5 million blankets, and 15 million pairs of boots. . It is commonly agreed that the implementation of the Lend-Lease Act greatly increased the strength of the Soviet Union and Great Britain against Germany, the two biggest gainers in this Act. Particularly important for the Soviets in late 1941 were British-supplied tanks and aircraft. The political fog of the Cold War often marred the truth about the vehicles received. Photo: Museum of the U.S. Air Force (Courtesy Photo). Surplus military equipment was of no value in peacetime. According to research by a team of Soviet historians, the Soviet Union lost a staggering 20,500 tanks from June 22 to December 31, 1941. A total of 699 Lend-Lease aircraft had been delivered to Archangel by the time the Arctic convoys switched to Murmansk in December 1941. In addition, the Lend-Lease program propped up the Soviet railway system, which played a fundamental role in moving and supplying troops. When the war ended, almost 33 percent of all the Red Army's vehicles had been provided through Lend-Lease. 1776, 55 Stat. According to Biriukovs service diary, the first 20 British tanks arrived at the Soviet tank training school in Kazan on October 28, 1941, at which point a further 120 tanks were unloaded at the port of Archangel in northern Russia. 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. But Was He Drugged Into Confessing. It seems to fly in the face of some stories I've heard about Stalin ordering the obliteration of all USA and British markings on Lend Lease Materiel so as to maintain the illusion of the USSR doing it all on its own and that the others fighting the common enemy were the "little allies". This is the official website of the U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Russia. The Lend-Lease Memorial in Fairbanks, Alaska, commemorates the shipment of U.S. aircraft to the Soviet Union along the Northwest Staging Route.

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