Editing Lend-Lease (section)

==Deliveries to the Soviet Union==

=== United States ===
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+Allied shipments to the Soviet Union<ref>Hans-Adolf Jacobsen: ''1939–1945, Der Zweite Weltkrieg in Chronik und Dokumenten''. Darmstadt 1961, p. 568. (German Language)</ref>
|-class="hintergrundfarbe6"
!Year
!Amount <br />(tons)
!%
|-class="hintergrundfarbe2"
|align="left"|1941
|align="right"|360,778
|align="right"|2.1
|-class="hintergrundfarbe2"
|align="left"|1942
|align="right"|2,453,097
|align="right"|14
|-class="hintergrundfarbe2"
|align="left"|1943
|align="right"|4,794,545
|align="right"|27.4
|-class="hintergrundfarbe2"
|align="left"|1944
|align="right"|6,217,622
|align="right"|35.5
|-class="hintergrundfarbe2"
|align="left"|1945
|align="right"|3,673,819
|align="right"|21
|-class="hintergrundfarbe2"
|align="left"|'''Total'''
|align="right"|'''17,499,861'''
|align="right"|'''100'''
|}
If Germany defeated the Soviet Union, the most significant front in Europe would be closed. Roosevelt believed that if the Soviets were defeated the Allies would be far more likely to lose. Roosevelt concluded that the United States needed to help the Soviets fight against the Germans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://notevenpast.org/lend-lease/|title=Lend-Lease|date=September 21, 2011|website=Not Even Past}}</ref> Because of its utmost importance, Roosevelt directed his subordinates to heavily prioritise shipments of aid to the Soviet Union above most other uses of available shipping.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Herring, Jr. |first1=George C. |date=June 1969 |title=Lend-Lease to Russia and the Origins of the Cold War, 1944-1945 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1902065 |journal=[[The Journal of American History]] |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=93–114 |doi=10.2307/1902065 |jstor=1902065 |access-date=18 March 2023}}</ref> Soviet Ambassador [[Maxim Litvinov]] significantly contributed to the Lend-Lease agreement of 1941. American deliveries to the Soviet Union can be divided into the following phases:
* "Pre Lend-lease" June 22, 1941, to September 30, 1941 (paid for in [[gold]] and other minerals)
* First protocol period from October 1, 1941, to June 30, 1942 (signed October 7, 1941),<ref>{{Cite report |date=1946 |title=The United States at war; development and administration of the war program by the federal government. |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015004950914;view=1up;seq=1 |publisher=Bureau of the Budget |page=82 |access-date=May 29, 2015 |quote=On October 7, 1941, the President approved the Moscow Protocol under which it was agreed to furnish certain materials to Russia.}}</ref> these supplies were to be manufactured and delivered by the UK with US credit financing.
* 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)
* Fourth protocol period from July 1, 1944 (signed April 17, 1945), formally ended May 12, 1945, but deliveries continued for the duration of the war with Japan (which the Soviet Union entered on August 8, 1945) under the "Milepost" agreement until September 2, 1945, when Japan capitulated. On September 20, 1945, all Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union was terminated.
[[File:Cincinnati, Ohio. Preparing canned pork (Russian- "svinaia tushonka") for lend-lease shipment to the USSR at the Kroger grocery and baking company. Inspectors see each can after it comes out of the LCCN2017856951.tif|thumb|left|Women at the [[Kroger]] grocery and baking company in Cincinnati prepare canned pork for shipment to the USSR, June 1943]]

Delivery was via the [[Arctic convoys of World War II|Arctic Convoys]], the [[Persian Corridor]], and the [[Pacific route (Lend-Lease)|Pacific Route]].
The Arctic route was the shortest and most direct route for lend-lease aid to the USSR, though it was also the most dangerous as it involved sailing past German-occupied Norway. Some 3,964,000 [[Long ton|tons]] of goods were shipped by the Arctic route; 7% was lost, while 93% arrived safely.<ref name="Kemp">Kemp p. 235</ref>

The Persian Corridor was the longest route, and was not fully operational until mid-1942. Thereafter it saw the passage of 4,160,000 tons of goods, 27% of the total.<ref name="Kemp"/>

The Pacific Route opened in August 1941, but was affected by the [[Japanese invasion of Malaya|start of hostilities]] between Japan and the U.S.; after December 1941, only Soviet ships could be used, and, as Japan and the USSR observed a strict neutrality towards each other, only non-military goods could be transported.<ref>[http://english.ruvr.ru/2007/12/19/168522.html Sea routes of Soviet Lend-Lease:Voice of Russia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401192603/http://english.ruvr.ru/2007/12/19/168522.html |date=April 1, 2012 }} ''Ruvr.ru.'' Retrieved: December 16, 2011</ref> Nevertheless, some 8,244,000 tons of goods went by this route, 50% of the total.<ref name="Kemp"/>

In total, the U.S. deliveries to the USSR through Lend-Lease amounted to $11 [[1,000,000,000 (number)|billion]] in materials (equivalent to ${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US-GDP|11000000000|1945|r=-8}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}):<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ru.usembassy.gov/world-war-ii-allies-u-s-lend-lease-to-the-soviet-union-1941-1945/|title=World War II Allies: U.S. Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union, 1941-1945|date=May 10, 2020|work=[[Embassy of the United States, Moscow|United States Embassy in Russia]]}}</ref> over 400,000 [[jeep]]s and trucks; 12,000 [[armored vehicle]]s (including 7,000 tanks, about 1,386<ref>Zaloga (Armored Thunderbolt) pp. 28, 30, 31</ref> of which were [[M3 Lee]]s and 4,102 [[Lend-Lease Sherman tanks|M4 Shermans]]);<ref>''Lend-Lease Shipments: World {{nobr|War II}}'', Section IIIB, Published by Office, Chief of Finance, War Department, December 31, 1946, p. 8.</ref> 11,400 aircraft (of which 4,719 were [[Bell P-39 Airacobra]]s, 3,414 were [[Douglas A-20 Havoc]]s and 2,397 were [[Bell P-63 Kingcobra]]s)<ref>{{harvnb|Hardesty|1991|p=253}}</ref> and 1.75&nbsp;million tons of food.<ref>[http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/PDF/Chapter05.pdf ''World {{nobr|War II}} The War Against Germany And Italy''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506174749/http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/PDF/Chapter05.pdf |date=May 6, 2017 }}, US Army Center of Military History, p. 158.</ref>

[[File:Map US Lend Lease shipments to USSR-WW2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6]]

Roughly 17.5&nbsp;million tons of military equipment, vehicles, industrial supplies, and food were shipped from the Western Hemisphere to the USSR, 94% coming from the US. For comparison, a total of 22 million tons landed in Europe to supply American forces from January 1942 to May 1945. 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=The five Lend-Lease routes to Russia |url=http://www.o5m6.de/Routes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031212063805/http://www.o5m6.de/routes.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 12, 2003 |website=Engines of the Red Army |access-date=July 12, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Motter |first1=T.H. Vail |title=The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia |date=1952 |publisher=Center of Military History |pages=4–6 |url=https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/persian/index.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224152307/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/persian/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 24, 2007 |access-date=July 12, 2014}}</ref>

In the first weeks and months of the German–Soviet war, the USSR lost a huge number of military aircraft. Some of them were lost at airfields in the first days of the fighting, some were abandoned for various reasons, and some were lost in air battles. The losses of Soviet aviation in 1941 is one of the most controversial topics for military historians and publicists. The situation was aggravated by the loss of many aircraft factories that produced aircraft and components for them, which remained in the territory occupied by the Germans. Some of the factories were hastily evacuated to the east of the country, but it took time to resume production and reach its maximum capacity. In December 1941, all aircraft factories of the Soviet Union produced only 600 aircraft of all types. This was the reason that the supply of aircraft, primarily fighters and bombers, became the main topic in the negotiations between the top leadership of the USSR, Great Britain and the United States. The vast majority of the total number of aircraft received by the USSR under the Lend-Lease program was made up of British [[Supermarine Spitfire|Spitfire]] and [[Hawker Hurricane|Hurricane fighters]], American P-39 Airacobra, [[Curtiss P-40 Warhawk|P-40 fighters]], known in Russia under the names "Tomahawk" and "Kittyhawk", P-63 Kingcobra, American bombers A-20 Havoc, [[North American B-25 Mitchell|B-25 Mitchell]]. A significant amount of [[Douglas C-47 Skytrain|C-47 Skytrain]] transport aircraft and [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|PBY Catalina]] flying boats were also delivered.{{sfn|Котельников|2015|p=58—59}} For the needs of the [[Soviet Navy]], 2,141 aircraft were delivered to the USSR.<ref>''Федулов&nbsp;С.&nbsp;В., Лосик&nbsp;А.&nbsp;В.'' «Такие виды вооружения… дали возможность не только решать ряд боевых задач, но и создавать образцы этих видов вооружения». Деятельность Отдела внешних заказов Наркомата Военно-морского флота СССР в годы Великой Отечественной войны. // [[Военно-исторический журнал]].&nbsp;— 2017.&nbsp;— №&nbsp;3.&nbsp;— С.24.</ref> Not all of the delivered aircraft could be fully called modern models. But even those that could be called obsolete (the English Hurricane and the American Tomahawk) were more advanced and superior in most characteristics than the [[Polikarpov I-153|I-153]] and [[Polikarpov I-16|I-16]] aircraft that made up the basis of Soviet fighter aviation in the most difficult first months of the war. The superiority in high-altitude characteristics of American and British aircraft, powerful armament and the provision of communications ensured their use in the air defense forces – out of 10 thousand aircraft received by the USSR during the war, 7 thousand were from received via Lend-Lease.{{sfn|Котельников|2015|p=58—59}}

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,<ref name="Weeks 2004, p. 9"/> 4,478,116 tons of foodstuffs (canned meats, sugar, flour, salt, etc.), 1,911 steam locomotives, 66 diesel locomotives, 9,920 flat cars, 1,000 dump cars, 120 tank cars, and 35 heavy machinery cars. Ordnance goods (ammunition, artillery shells, mines, assorted explosives) provided amounted to 53 percent of total domestic consumption.<ref name="Weeks 2004, p. 9"/> One item typical of many was a tire plant that was lifted bodily from the Ford Company's River Rouge Plant and transferred to the USSR. The 1947 money value of the supplies and services amounted to about $11.3 billion.<ref>Deane, John R. 1947. The Strange Alliance, The Story of Our Efforts at Wartime Co-operation with Russia. The Viking Press.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ru.usembassy.gov/world-war-ii-allies-u-s-lend-lease-to-the-soviet-union-1941-1945/|title=World War II Allies: U.S. Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union, 1941-1945|date=May 10, 2020|work=[[Embassy of the United States, Moscow|United States Embassy in Russia]]}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160">
File:Aleje Jerozolimskie waf-2072-1002-40 (1945).jpg|Warsaw 1945: [[Willys MB|Willys jeep]] used by the [[First Polish Army (1944–1945)|Polish First Army]] as part of U.S. Lend-Lease program
File:Defense.gov photo essay 060827-F-0193C-028.jpg|The Lend-Lease Memorial in [[Fairbanks, Alaska]], commemorates the shipment of U.S. aircraft to the Soviet Union along the [[Northwest Staging Route]]
File:Verkhnyaya Pyshma Tank Museum 2011 029.jpg|BM-13N [[Katyusha rocket launcher|Katyusha]] on a Lend-Lease [[Studebaker US6]] truck, at the [[UMMC Museum Complex]], [[Verkhnyaya Pyshma]], Russia
</gallery>

=== Great Britain ===
[[File:Britain Has Sent to Russia…Our Products Fight on Russian Fronts - DPLA - 66c8ac9de0e377888aea261d43095dd4.jpg|thumb|Poster advertising British aid to the Soviet war effort]]
On 12 July 1941, within weeks of the German invasion of the USSR, the [[Anglo-Soviet Agreement]] was signed and the first British aid convoy set off along the dangerous [[Arctic Sea]] route to [[Murmansk]], arriving in September. It carried 40 [[Hawker Hurricanes]] along with 550 mechanics and pilots of [[No. 151 Wing RAF|No. 151 Wing]] in [[Operation Benedict]], to provide air defence of the port and to train Soviet pilots. The convoy was the first of many convoys to Murmansk and [[Archangelsk]] in what became known as the [[Arctic convoys of World War II|Arctic convoys]], the returning ships carried the gold that the USSR was using to pay the US.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/hms-edinburgh.html|title = $220 Million in Gold Bullion was Recovered from HMS Edinburgh| newspaper=Warhistoryonline |date = July 27, 2020}}</ref>

By the end of 1941, early shipments of [[Matilda II|Matilda]], [[Valentine tank|Valentine]] and [[Light Tank Mk VII Tetrarch|Tetrarch]] tanks represented only 6.5% of total Soviet tank production but over 25% of medium and heavy tanks produced for the Red Army.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century |last=Krivosheev |first=G. F. |publisher=Greenhill Books |year=1997 |isbn=978-1853672804 |location=London |page=252}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Ленд-лиз и северные конвои (Lend-Lease and Northern Convoys), 1941–1945 |last=Suprun |first=Mikhail |publisher=Андреевский флаг |year=1997 |isbn=978-5-85608-081-9 |location=Moscow |page=358}}</ref> The British tanks first saw action with the 138 Independent Tank Battalion in the [[Battle of Moscow|Volga Reservoir]] on November 20, 1941.<ref>Secret Cipher Telegram. From: 30 Military Mission. To: The War Office. Recd 11/12/41. TNA WO 193/580</ref> Lend-Lease tanks constituted 30 to 40 percent of heavy and medium tank strength before Moscow at the beginning of December 1941.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hill |first=Alexander |year=2006 |title=British "Lend-Lease" Tanks and the Battle for Moscow, November–December 1941 |journal=The Journal of Slavic Military Studies |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=289–294 |doi=10.1080/13518040600697811 |s2cid=144333272 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Tanki – frontu! Zapiski sovetskogo generala |trans-title=Tanks-front! Notes of a Soviet General |last=Biriukov |first=Nikolai |publisher=Rusich |year=2005 |isbn=978-5813806612 |location=Smolensk |page=57}}</ref>

Significant numbers of British [[Churchill tank|Churchill]], Matilda and Valentine tanks were shipped to the USSR.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hill |first=Alexander |year=2007 |title= British Lend Lease Aid and the Soviet War Effort, June 1941 – June 1942|jstor= 30052890 |journal=The Journal of Military History |volume=71 |issue=3 |pages=773–808 |doi=10.1353/jmh.2007.0206 |s2cid=159715267 }}</ref>

Between June 1941 and May 1945, Britain delivered to the USSR:
* 7,411 aircraft (>3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft)
* 27 naval vessels
* 5,218 tanks (including 1,380 Valentines from Canada)
* >5,000 anti-tank guns
* 4,020 ambulances and trucks
* 323 machinery trucks (mobile vehicle workshops equipped with generators and all the welding and power tools required to perform heavy servicing)
* 1,212 [[Universal Carrier]]s and [[Loyd Carrier]]s (with another 1,348 from Canada)
* 1,721 motorcycles
* £1.15bn ($1.55bn) worth of aircraft engines
* 1,474 radar sets
* 4,338 radio sets
* 600 naval radar and sonar sets
* Hundreds of naval guns
* 15&nbsp;million pairs of boots
In total 4&nbsp;million tonnes of war material including food and medical supplies were delivered. The munitions totaled £308m (not including naval munitions supplied), the food and raw materials totaled £120m in 1946 index. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vif2ne.org/nvk/forum/arhprint/1885711 |title=ВИФ2 NE : Ветка : Re: А разве |website=Vif2ne.org |access-date=December 30, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1946/apr/16/russia-british-empire-war-assistance |title=Russia (British Empire War Assistance) |date=April 16, 1946 |volume=421 |at=cc2513-9 |work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |access-date=December 30, 2016 |archive-date=September 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926224154/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1946/apr/16/russia-british-empire-war-assistance |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some of the 3,000 Hurricanes given to Soviets were broken up & buried after the war to avoid paying US back under the Lend-Lease legislation.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65955365 Ukraine finds British WW2 Hurricane planes outside Kyiv]</ref> In 2023 eight broken up planes were found buried together in a forest south of Kyiv and were excavated in an archaeological dig by the State Aviation Museum of Ukraine.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://the-past.com/news/new-pictures-show-remains-of-rare-wwii-hurricanes-found-in-ukraine/#:~:text=New%20photographs%20have%20been%20released,been%20described%20as%20exceptionally%20rare. | title=New pictures show remains of rare WWII Hurricanes found in Ukraine &#124; the Past | date=September 12, 2023 }}</ref>

<gallery mode=packed heights=160>
File:Lend-Lease x Universal Carrier x Intrarea Armatei Sovietice in Bucuresti - Bulevardul Carol.jpg|The [[Red Army]] in Bucharest near Boulevard of [[Carol I of Romania|Carol I.]] with British-supplied [[Universal Carrier]]
File:Valentine-tank-Stalin.jpg|alt=A Valentine tank destined for the Soviet Union leaves the factory in the United Kingdom.|A [[Valentine tank]] destined for the Soviet Union leaves a factory in Britain
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-277-0850-11, Russland, zerstörter russischer Panzer.jpg|British [[Valentine tank|Mk III 'Valentine']] destroyed in the [[Soviet Union]], January 1944
</gallery>