Posted on 02/10/2022 5:00:48 AM PST by Phoenix8
An estimated 25 million Soviet citizens perished in the titanic conflict with Nazi Germany between June 1941 and May 1945. 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 Soviet Union was never alone: Months before the United States formally entered the war, it had already begun providing massive military and economic assistance to its Soviet ally through the Lend-Lease program.
(Excerpt) Read more at rferl.org ...
Imagine the Red Army fighting a modern war against the Wermacht without: 1/3 of all its explosives 80% of all its copper 1/2 its processed Aluminum 15 million boots (pairs) 400,000 Trucks/Jeeps Perhaps most importantly and forgotten 2000 modern, powerful and DIESEL locomotives (as opposed to the old wheezy steam ones they had) Etc the list goes on
Sadly Communist USSR lied for decades minimizing what we did to enable their victory.
Of course it tipped the balance.
My mom and dad worked in a USA factory that made Red Army overcoats. The great War was great for our industry. Maybe we can have another? s/ s/ s/
Also correct if I am wrong but we also gave the Soviets, A-20 Havocs, and P-40 fighters.
Yes 15,000 Sherman’s as well. Although I remember it being P-40 and P-39s mostly?
There is another article I read that talks about the critical British Armor sent to the USSR right before the Battle of Moscow. The Nazis and commies and blown the crap out of each other tanks so that the British armor made up 1/3 of all medium types available for the battle to the Red Army.
If you’ve never read From Major Jordan’s Diaries, you should.
http://citizensnewswire.org/files/mjd.pdf
The fact that he was able to find a handful of highly competent senior leaders among what he hadn't purged such as Konstantin Rokossovsky, Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev also made a huge difference.
Hitler vs Stalin...a war which all decent people wish that *both* sides had lost.
Lots of locomotives too.
Correct. WWII the Americans had the money and the industry, but the Soviets did most of the dying.
The Russians have found themselves in a similar place in their current alliance with China. Russia has the boots on the ground around the world, while China funds the operation.
I forgot about the Sherman’s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvBk1FD80RQ
This is an interesting piece on us giving the light bombers to the Soviets, at the time I didn’t even know that, also I think there was a US Navy program to lend ships to the Soviet Navy around the time they declared war on Japan, need to find it again.
During WW2 China liked us...
“Stalin didn’t help his situation much by purging his most competent military commanders to replace them with boot licking ideologues in the years leading up to the war.”
One of the books I read talked of a train full of Soviet officers headed to the gulag and certain death.
Stalin turned it around and had it head back right after the invasion started...
Stalin also wisely took a hand-off approach to military planning. He set the overall strategy, but let his generals work out the details. Contrast that with Hitler, who interfered with his generals at all levels.
There’s a lesson in all that. FDR took the hands-off approach, and was quite successful in WW II. LBJ tried to micro-manage his war, and was much less successful.
If Japan hadn't attacked Pearl Harbor and brought us into the war, China today might still be Japan's back-slapped whore. It's something to think about as China to this day refuses to make payments on old treasury debt American investors bought a century ago. They owe us ("us" being the heirs of the original treasury purchasers) over $1.5 treelyun.
Being able to supply the Red Army with food, fuel and ammunition was a necessity for it to gain the mobility that enabled it to overcome the Wehrmacht.
I have watched several recent WW II Russian video depicting the efforts of various Russian units fighting the Germans. They are post USSR and seem factual
The message is that the efforts were made under various handicaps from lack of or old everything. They were primitive. It was hard. horses....... they used lots of horses.
However, American stuff unquestionably made a difference. Number and generalship won for Russia. Russian Generals on the assault ought thought German Generals on defense
Americans can’t conceive of the Russian loses.
The Russians had 1,254,000 killed at Stalingrad/Kursk. America had 407,000 killed in all theaters.
Don’t forget tons of SPAM that the Russian considered a delicacy. The Koreans still do.
Add DC-3, PBY Catalinas, and B-17s—many copied/modified or built under license.
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