Editing Trans-Siberian Railway (section)

===World War II===
{{main|Pacific Route}}
During World War II, the Trans-Siberian Railway played an important role in the supply of the powers fighting in Europe.  In 1939–1941 it was a source of rubber for Germany thanks to the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|USSR-Germany pact]]. While Germany's merchant shipping was shut down, the Trans-Siberian Railway (along with its [[Chinese Eastern Railway|Trans-Manchurian branch]]) served as the essential link between Germany and Japan, especially for rubber. By March 1941, {{convert|300|t|sp=us}} of this material would, on average, traverse the Trans-Siberian Railway every day on its way to Germany.<ref>{{Citation |last=Martin |first=Bernd |title=Deutschland und Japan Im Zweiten Weltkrieg |page=155 |year=1969 |publisher=Musterschmidt Verlag}}</ref>

At the same time, a number of Jews and anti-Nazis used the Trans-Siberian Railway to escape Europe, including the mathematician [[Kurt Gödel]] and Betty Ehrlich Löwenstein, mother of British actor, director and producer [[Heinz Bernard]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lowenstein |first=Jonathan |date=26 April 2010 |title=The Journey of a Lifetime: my grandmother's escape on the Trans-Siberian railway |url=http://jonathanlowenstein.blogspot.co.il/2010/04/journey-of-lifetime-my-grandmother.html |journal=Telaviv1}}</ref> Several thousand Jewish refugees were able to make this trip thanks to the Curaçao visas issued by the Dutch consul [[Jan Zwartendijk]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jan Zwartendijk. – Collections Search – United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url=https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1072299}}</ref> and the Japanese visas issued by the Japanese consul, [[Chiune Sugihara]], in [[Kaunas]], Lithuania. Typically, they took the TSR to [[Vladivostok]], then by ship to US. Until June 1941, pro-Nazi ethnic Germans from the Americas used the TSR to go to Germany.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170123092603/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/GERMAN%20INTELLIGENCE%20ACTIVITIES_0001.pdf "German Intelligence Activities in China during WW I."]}} United States War Department Strategic Services Unit, March 1, 1946</ref>

The situation reversed after 22 June 1941. By [[Operation Barbarossa|invading the Soviet Union]], Germany cut off its only reliable trade route to Japan. Instead, it had to use fast merchant ships and later large oceanic submarines to evade the Allied blockade. On the other hand, the USSR received [[Lend-Lease]] supplies from the US. Even after Japan went to war with the US, despite German complaints, Japan usually allowed Soviet ships to sail between the US and Vladivostok unmolested.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|1969|p=174}}</ref> As a result, the [[Pacific Route]] – via northern Pacific Ocean and the TSR – became the safest connection between the US and the USSR.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

Accordingly, it accounted for as much freight as the [[Arctic convoys of World War II|North Atlantic–Arctic]] and [[Persian Corridor|Iranian]] routes combined, though cargoes were limited to raw materials and non-military goods. From 1941 to 1942 the TSR also played an important role in relocating Soviet industries from European Russia to Siberia in the face of the German invasion. The TSR also transported Soviet troops west from the Far East to take part in [[Battle of Moscow|the Soviet counter-offensive in December 1941]].

In 1944–45 the TSR was used to prepare for the [[Soviet–Japanese War]] of August 1945; see [[Pacific Route]].  When an Anglo-American delegation visited Moscow in October 1944 to discuss the Soviet Union joining the war against Japan, [[Alanbrooke]] was told by General Antonov and Stalin himself that the line capacity was 36 pairs of trains per day, but only 26 could be counted on for military traffic; see [[Pacific Route]]. The capacity of each train was from 600 to 700 tons.<ref>{{cite book | last = Alanbrooke | first = Field Marshal Lord  | authorlink = Alan Brooke  | title = War Diaries 1939–1945 | publisher = Phoenix Press | date = 2001 | location =  | pages = 607, 608| url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 1-84212-526-5 }}</ref>

Although the Japanese estimated that an attack was not likely before Spring 1946, ''Stavka'' had planned for a mid-August 1945 offensive, and had concealed the buildup of a force of 90 divisions; many had crossed Siberia in their vehicles to avoid straining the rail link.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Glantz |first=David M. |url=https://archive.org/details/whentitansclashe00glan_0/page/278 |title=When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler |date=1995 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=0-7006-0899-0 |location=Kansas |page=[https://archive.org/details/whentitansclashe00glan_0/page/278 278] |author-link=David M. Glantz}}</ref>