The Allies and the Role of Lend-Lease in WWII: The Russian View Lend-Lease aircraft deliveries were also of significance during the Battle of Moscow. And it is a salient point that over 80% of the aid was received after June 1942, when the tide of the war had already turned against the Germans on the Eastern Front. 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. When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, we Mongols stood with our northern neighbor as best we could. The total amount that Canada agreed to pay under the new arrangement came to about $76,800,000, which was some $13,870,000 less than the United States had spent on the facilities. Campbell, Thomas M. and George C. Herring, eds. On May 11, 1947, 27 people were rescued, having spent nearly three weeks in the icebound wreck. 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. How important was Lend-Lease for the Soviet war effort? [8] The Two-Ocean Navy Act of July 1940 set in motion a rapid expansion of the United States Navy. Underestimation of lend lease to the Soviet Union during WW2 The Government of Mongolia donated its gold and hard currency reserves to the Soviet Union for four years in a row. Did Russia Really Go It Alone? How Lend-Lease Helped the - HistoryNet But since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a trickle of information has emerged from archives in Moscow, shedding new light on the subject. Part of the bill required the British to open their empire to trade. [65], Warsaw 1945: Willys jeep used by the Polish First Army as part of U.S. Lend-Lease program. 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. Without the machines we received through Lend-Lease, we would have lost the war.". United States and Britain, not the Soviet Union, China, or other United Nations . History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. Surplus military equipment was of no value in peacetime. [citation needed]. Given the disruption to Soviet production and Red Army losses, the Soviet Union was understandably eager to put British armor into action as soon as possible. [7], During this same period, the U.S. government began to mobilize for total war, instituting the first-ever peacetime draft and a fivefold increase in the defense budget (from $2billion to $10billion). World War II | Facts, Summary, History, Dates, Combatants, & Causes 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. United States Army in World War II, Statistics: Lend-Lease World, U.S. Army in WW II, Statistics: Lend-Lease Chief of Military History, 15 Dec 1952, Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, Rape during the Soviet occupation of Poland, United States aircraft production during World War II, Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Military history of the United States during World War II, Springwood birthplace, home, and gravesite, Little White House, Warm Springs, Georgia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lend-Lease&oldid=1141045045, United States federal commerce legislation, United States foreign relations legislation, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, "Pre Lend-lease" June 22, 1941, to September 30, 1941 (paid for in. 1415 FDR Library", "Anglo-American Mutual Aid Agreement, February 28, 1942", "The Hyde Park Declaration 1941: Origins and Significance", "Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted", "Consumer Price Index by product group, monthly, percentage change, not seasonally adjusted, Canada, provinces, Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit", "America Reports On Aid To Allies etc. 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. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. During World War II, the Soviet Union received almost 15,000 U.S.-built aircraft under the lend-lease program. Photo: Museum of the U.S. Air Force (Courtesy Photo). Courses on the British tanks for Soviet crews started during November as the first tanks, with British assistance, were being assembled from their in-transit states and undergoing testing by Soviet specialists. A map of lend-lease shipments from the United States to the U.S.S.R. from 1941-45. The Warplanes to Siberia Project | Historical Spotlight | News | Wargaming Collection. 1. [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. Lend Lease | Encyclopedia.com This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 02:14. In all, the United States shipped $50 billion ($608 billion in 2020 money) worth of materiel under the program, including $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union. Heavy bombers had not been mentioned in previous protocols. As one Roosevelt biographer has characterized it: "If there was no practical alternative, there was certainly no moral one either. On December 7, 1940, its Prime Minister Winston Churchill pressed President Roosevelt in a 15-page letter for American help. 'We Would Have Lost': Did U.S. Lend-Lease Aid Tip The Balance In Soviet Under Lend-Lease, the U.S. shipped more than $50 billion in supplies equivalent to more than $700 billion today. The United States, the Soviet Union, and the End of World War II 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." The Short History Of The Great Patriotic War, also from 1948, acknowledged the Lend-Lease shipments, but concluded: "Overall this assistance was not significant enough to in any way exert a decisive influence over the course of the Great Patriotic War. Any mention of the role that Western assistance played in the Soviet war effort was strictly off-limits. American shipments of telephone cable, aluminum, canned rations and clothing were also critical. 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. In Walter Yust, ed., "17 Billion Budget Drafted; Defense Takes 10 Billions. [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. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 2023 RFE/RL, Inc. All Rights Reserved. According to the Russian historian Boris Vadimovich Sokolov, Lend-Lease had a crucial role in winning the war: On the whole the following conclusion can be drawn: that without these Western shipments under Lend-Lease the Soviet Union not only would not have been able to win the Great Patriotic War, it would not have been able even to oppose the German invaders, since it could not itself produce sufficient quantities of arms and military equipment or adequate supplies of fuel and ammunition. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. 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. Dec 7, 1941 . Most famously, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin raised a toast to the Lend-Lease program at the November 1943 Tehran conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. It allowed the USSR to conquer and subjugate eastern Europe and Manchuria and allowed them to prop up communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe, China and North Korea. U.S. Citizens with emergencies, please call +(7) (495) 728-5577, Outside of Office Hours, contact: +7 (495) 728-5000. This was the first big war in which whole formations were routinely motorized; soldiers were supported with large numbers of all kinds of vehicles. -8. 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." But for decades the official Soviet line went much further. The British Military Mission to Moscow noted that by December 9, about ninety British tanks had already been in action with Soviet forces. The terms of the agreement provided that the materiel was to be used until returned or destroyed. Lend Lease Acts - Lend Lease Lend Lease: A Transformation of - Studocu By October, German troops were poised outside both Leningrad and Moscow. 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. [18], The vote in the Senate, which occurred on 9 March, revealed a similar partisan difference: 49 Democrats (79 percent) voted "aye" with only 13 Democrats (21 percent) voting "nay". 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. When the House of Representatives finally took a roll call vote on February 9, 1941, the 260 to 165 vote was largely along party lines. WWII program to provide U.S. allies with free armaments, This article is about the World War II program. 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. Lend-Lease was the most visible sign of wartime cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Roosevelt concluded that the United States needed to help the Soviets fight against the Germans. Part I. The British Commonwealth and, to a lesser extent, the Soviet Union reciprocated with a smaller Reverse Lend-Lease program. The American Lend-Lease program was signed into law in March 1941. "[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. Canada also aided the United Kingdom and other Allies with the Billion Dollar Gift and Mutual Aid totalling $3.4 billion in supplies and services (equivalent to $61 billion in 2020) .[4][5]. The US Supported Soviet Union with Lend-Lease Program - YouTube [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. Mystery surrounds the infamous burning of the Reichstag in 1933. 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. Known today as Lend-Lease. . Lend-Lease: How American supplies aided the USSR in its darkest hour [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). Subscribe to our HistoryNet Now! Learn more about quality higher-education opportunities in the U.S. that you will not find anywhere else in the world. It was a decisive step away from non-interventionist policy and toward open support for the Allies. Dear h, I don't doubt the word of the old gent seeing USA on "Soviet" equipment. No one ever discussed this subject officially, and I don't think Stalin left any written evidence of his opinion, but I will state here that several times in conversations with me he noted that these were the actual circumstances. New Ukraine Military Aid Bill Isn't Your Grandfather's Lend-Lease Act The supplies dispersed under the Lend-Lease Act ranged from tanks, aircraft, ships, weapons and road building supplies to clothing, chemicals and food. It was quite important, and it became especially important during the second half of WWII when the Red Army went from defending to attacking. [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. 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. What percent of Soviet equipment was Lend-Lease? [53] Soviet Ambassador Maxim Litvinov significantly contributed to the Lend-Lease agreement of 1941. Supply volumes and the significance of lend-lease. Alerts and Messages for U.S. visitors to Russia. [29] 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]. Of this, $6.8 billion came from the British and the Commonwealth. This was agreed upon before the signing of the first protocol on October 1, 1941, and extension of credit. uboat.net - Fighting the U-boats - The Lend-Lease Act Most remaining Allies were largely self-sufficient in frontline equipment (such as tanks and fighter aircraft) by this time but Lend-Lease provided a useful supplement in this category and Lend-Lease logistical supplies (including motor vehicles and railroad equipment) were of enormous assistance. In addition, much of the $31 billion worth of aid sent to the United Kingdom was also passed on to the Soviet Union via convoys through the Barents Sea to Murmansk. 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. Without Lend-Lease food, clothing, and raw materials (especially metals), the Soviet economy would have been even more heavily burdened by the war effort. Lend-Lease tanks and aircrafts > WW2 Weapons [33], The program was gradually terminated after V-E Day. For the Australian company, see. President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease bill into law on March 11, 1941. Thanks to Lend-Lease, during the war years, the Soviet Union received about 14.8 thousand aircraft, 7.1 thousand tanks, 8.2 thousand anti-aircraft guns, a large number of cars, tractors and other vital supplies. Many of our pilots fly Spitfires built in England, many more are flying American fighter planes powered by British Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, turned over to us by the British. Such assessments, however, are contradicted by the opinions of Soviet war participants. How important was Lend-Lease for the Soviet war effort? Myths and Misconceptions About the Soviets in World War II - TheCollector From 1941 to 1945, total lend-lease aid to the Soviet Union accounted for only 5% of the Soviet GDP in total. It is obvious from this information that during the period of October 1, 1941, to May 1, 1944, the U.S.A., under Lend-Lease, Sent the Soviet Union arms, equipment, materials, and food totaling $5,357,300,000 and weighing 8,514,000 long tons, not including the weight of 92 delivered ships or the weight of 3333 airplanes, which arrived by air. On March 12, 1943, the plane was given to the Soviet Air Force in Fairbanks, Alaska, and given the registration USSR-N238. Saudi Arabia-Top 10 most important events in the History. The Lend-Lease Act was initially created to help Great Britain as they struggled in World War II. Deane, John R. 1947. And now they are saying that we had plenty of everything on our own.". By July 1942 the Red Army had 13,500 tanks in service, with more than 16 percent of those imported, and more than half of those British. As early as October 12, 1941, the Soviet 126th Fighter Air Regiment was operating with Tomahawks bought from the United States by Britain. The United States and Soviet Union secretly ferried thousands of warplanes from Great . Left to their own devices, Stalin and his commanders might have taken twelve to eighteen months longer to finish off the Wehrmacht; the ultimate result would probably have been the same, except that Soviet soldiers could have waded at France's Atlantic beaches. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. So the Soviets were charged 10 cents on the dollar of actual cost. Arctic convoys of World War II - Wikipedia Painting of Lend-Lease tanks and equipment - Axis History Forum Stalin needed trucks and was provided with Studebaker trucks on a massive scale. Has Russia paid off the USSR's Lend-Lease debt? - Quora Lend-Lease assistance to the USSR. The Soviet air force received 18,200 aircraft, which amounted to about 30 percent of Soviet wartime fighter and bomber production (mid 194145). 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. Perhaps most directly, without Lend-Lease trucks, rail engines, and railroad cars, every Soviet offensive would have stalled at an earlier stage, outrunning its logistical tail in a matter of days. Langer, William L. and S. Everett Gleason. If Germany defeated the Soviet Union, the most significant front in Europe would be closed. [32] In September 1943, he was promoted to Undersecretary of State, and Leo Crowley became director of the Foreign Economic Administration, which was given responsibility for Lend-Lease. [61][62], Restrictions in the supply of weapons from the United States were mainly limited to heavy bombers. American contributions of the time were far fewer. On April 28th, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act ( S.3522 ), which has now gone to President Joe Biden's desk for signature.. Under Lend-Lease, the United States provided more than one-third of all the explosives used by the Soviet Union during the war. Lend-lease | Facts & Definition | Britannica Roosevelt's Soviet Protocol Committee was dominated by Harry Hopkins and General John York, who were totally sympathetic to the provision of "unconditional aid". Payment was to be stretched out over 50 annual payments, starting in 1951 and with five years of deferred payments, at 2% interest. 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. 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. Particularly important for the Soviets in late 1941 were British-supplied tanks and aircraft. The Yak-1, arguably the best of the batch, and superior in most regards to the Hurricane, suffered from airframe and engine defects in early war production aircraft. Such machines were of higher quality than analogues produced in the Soviet Union, which made a significant contribution to boosting Soviet industrial production. 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. [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. The 19th and Early 20th Century History. [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. 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. The railroads would have periodically come to a halt. "During World War II, only the supplies brought in by Lend-Lease prevented the paralysis of rail transport in the Soviet Union.".