Could the soviets have won without lend lease? Under the Lend-Lease Act, the United States sent enormous quantities of war materiel to the Soviet Union, which was critical in helping the Soviets withstand the Nazi onslaught. President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease bill into law on March 11, 1941. Matilda II in Soviet Service - Tank EncyclopediaLend-Lease WW2 - American Supply to the Allies - Real History Online One of the greatest differences with prior wars was the enormous increase in the mobility of armies. [65], Warsaw 1945: Willys jeep used by the Polish First Army as part of U.S. Lend-Lease program. 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. In spring 1944, the House passed a bill to renew the Lend-Lease program by a vote of 334 to 21. Stettinius. 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. [69] Lend-Lease tanks constituted 30 to 40 percent of heavy and medium tank strength before Moscow at the beginning of December 1941. [56] Nevertheless, some 8,244,000 tons of goods went by this route, 50% of the total. 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. 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). newsletter for the best of the past, delivered every Monday and Thursday. [80], The final payment of $83.3million (42.5million), due on December 31, 2006 (repayment having been deferred in the allowed five years and during a sixth year not allowed), was made by Britain on December 29, 2006 (the last working day of the year). [36] Most belligerent powers severely decreased production of non-essentials, concentrating on producing weapons. In addition, there would have been constant shortages of transportation and fuel. [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. How important was the Lend-Lease to the Soviet war effort?Report from Mikoyan to Stalin and Molotov regarding Lend-Lease [64], From October 1, 1941, to May 31, 1945, the United States delivered to the Soviet Union 427,284 trucks, 13,303 combat vehicles, 35,170 motorcycles, 2,328 ordnance service vehicles, 2,670,371 tons of petroleum products (gasoline and oil) or 57.8 percent of the aviation fuel including nearly 90 percent of high-octane fuel used,[35] 4,478,116 tons of foodstuffs (canned meats, sugar, flour, salt, etc. Particularly important for the Soviets in late 1941 were British-supplied tanks and aircraft. Congress did not allow the aid to be free, so the U.S. discounted it's Lend-Lease supplies by 90 percent of costs. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. So the Soviets were charged 10 cents on the dollar of actual cost. Supplies that arrived after the termination date were sold to Britain at a large discount for 1.075billion, using long-term loans from the United States. The aid was given for free on the basis that such help was essential for the defense of the United States. From: 30 Military Mission. And though rapid increases in tank firepower would soon render the 40mm two-pounder main gun of the Matilda and Valentine suitable for use on light tanks only, the armor protection of these British models put them firmly in the heavy and medium categories, respectively. By the end of 1941, the lend-lease policy. Lend-Lease Act (1941) | National Archives Just 446 locomotives were produced during the war,[39] with only 92 of those being built between 1942 and 1945. The Senate passed it by a vote of 63 to 1. When the war ended, almost 33 percent of all the Red Army's vehicles had been provided through Lend-Lease. At the end of 1941 there were greater numbers of the MiG-3, but the plane was considered difficult to fly. Regardless of Soviet cold-war attempts to forget (or at least diminish) the importance of Lend-lease, the total impact of the Lend-Lease shipment for the Soviet war effort and entire national economy can only be characterized as both dramatic and of decisive importance. Even aid that might seem like a drop in the bucket in the larger context of Soviet production for the war played a crucial role in filling gaps at important moments during this period. Posted on 2/25/23 at 2:25 pm to WPBTiger. Lend Lease | Encyclopedia.com However, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov both stated that Lend-Lease enabled the Soviet Union to defeat Germany on the Eastern Front. 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. Did Soviet Union Repay Lend-lease? - Caniry [76] Australia and New Zealand supplied the bulk of foodstuffs to United States forces in the South Pacific. 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Most went to Britain, but the Soviet Union received more than $11 billion. 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. "One-on-one against Hitler's Germany, we would not have withstood its onslaught and would have lost the war. Lend-Lease aid did not arrive in sufficient quantities to make the difference between defeat and victory in 19411942; that achievement must be attributed solely to the Soviet people and to the iron nerve of Stalin, Zhukov, Shaposhnikov, Vasilevsky, and their subordinates. [6], In 1939 howeveras Germany, Japan, and Italy pursued aggressive, militaristic policiesPresident Roosevelt wanted more flexibility to help contain Axis aggression. Soviet industry in World War II - Wikipedia Dec 7, 1941 . [70][71], Significant numbers of British Churchill, Matilda and Valentine tanks were shipped to the USSR.[72]. [8] The Two-Ocean Navy Act of July 1940 set in motion a rapid expansion of the United States Navy. The 1947 money value of the supplies and services amounted to about $11 billion. 1776, 55Stat. They Say He Burned Down the Reichstag. The Warplanes to Siberia Project | Historical Spotlight | News | WargamingLend-Lease Helped Win World War II, But Not On The Eastern Front 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. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (Pub. Materiel delivered under the act was supplied at no cost, to be used until returned or destroyed. The country's agriculture was in a difficult situation. The others were never found. During World War II, the Soviet Union received almost 15,000 U.S.-built aircraft under the lend-lease program. 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. [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. [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. It has been estimated that American deliveries to the USSR through the Persian Corridor alone were sufficient, by US Army standards, to maintain sixty combat divisions in the line. A monument in Fairbanks, Alaska, to the American pilots who flew almost 8,000 U.S. planes to Alaska and to the Soviet pilots who flew them on to Siberia as part of Lend-Lease. Lend-Lease aircraft deliveries were also of significance during the Battle of Moscow. Mongolian lamb and meat donations to the front lines outperformed those sent by the Lend-Lease Act. Few Americans objected to Soviet aid until 1943. 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. "During World War II, only the supplies brought in by Lend-Lease prevented the paralysis of rail transport in the Soviet Union." The Lend-Lease program also sent tons of factory equipment and machine tools to the Soviet Union, including more than 38,000 lathes and other metal-working tools. The US Supported Soviet Union with Lend-Lease Program - YouTube 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. Originally intended to lend arms and material to the. The Lend-Lease act was enacted in March 1941 and authorized the United States to provide weapons, provisions, and raw materials to strategically important countries fighting Germany and Japan -- primarily, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China. A Soviet report by Politburo member Nikolai Voznesensky in 1948 asserted that the United States, described as "the head of the antidemocratic camp and the warrior of imperialist expansion around the world," contributed materiel during the war that amounted to just 4.8 percent of the Soviet Union's own wartime production. 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. In practice, most equipment was destroyed, although some hardware (such as ships) was returned after the war. It is our living history. How important was lend lease to Soviet Union? 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. Such assessments, however, are contradicted by the opinions of Soviet war participants. While much of the documentary evidence remains classified secret in the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense and the Russian State Archive of the Economy, Western and Russian researchers have been able to gain access to important, previously unavailable firsthand documents. 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. Lend-Lease was the most visible sign of wartime cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union officially ended in September 1945. By the end of the war, the United States had extended over $49 billion in Lend-Lease aid to nearly forty nations. I will quote at length: 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]. uboat.net - Fighting the U-boats - The Lend-Lease Act How much Soviet equipment was Lend-Lease? Dalton Delan: It's not World War II, but we are dealing with a new Axis ", "Address Is Spur To British Hopes; Confirmation of American Aid in Conflict is Viewed as Heartening, A joining of interests, Discarding of Peace Talks is Regarded as a Major Point in the Speech.". The total of defense materials and services that Canada received through lend-lease channels amounted in value to approximately $419,500,000. Some of these shipments were intercepted by the Germans. [79], Congress had not authorized the gift of supplies delivered after the cutoff date, so the U.S. charged for them, usually at a 90% discount. The Lend-Lease policy was officially titled "An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States", and was a program where the U.S. supplied Free France, Great Britain and the Republic of China with food, oil, and materiel between 1941 and August 1945. .