I could help noticing that when ever lend-lease and the soviet union keeps popping up in the posts on the forum..it mentions that 5-10% figure. Sounds kinda puny..until you really look at what 5-10% really was to the soviet union in WWII

The following link is to article written by of all things to the Russian on-line Pravda newspaper. It details in great length, the story of the Lend-lease actions given to the country by the United States and the other Allies during WWII. It really makes for some fascinating knowledge.

http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/...roosevelt.html

Now just to put a perspective on that 5-10%:

We gave the USSR the following number of ships (yes Ships!) “ 595 ships, including 28 frigates, 105 submarines, 77 trawlers, 22 torpedo boats, 140 anti-submarine vessels and others”

Planes. 4,952 Aerocobras, 2,410 Kingcobra fighter planes, 2,700 A-20 and 861 B-25 bomber planes.

Tanks: 7,056 tanks of all types.

Anti-aircraft guns: 8,218 anti-aircraft emplacements

Guns: 131,600 machine guns and other arms

During the WWII years, the USA delivered defense technology in the sum of $46 billion to the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. The costs made up 13 percent of America's defense spending. The lion's share of deliveries was given to England - $30.3 billion. The Soviet Union received defense technology in the sum of $9.8 billion, France $1,4 billion and China $631 million. In total, the USA supplied arms to 42 countries

“ Back in those years, it was said that the Soviet Union had produced 30,000 tanks and 40,000 planes since the middle of 1943. Well, as a matter of fact, this was true. However, one has to take into consideration the fact that lend and lease deliveries were made to the USSR during the most difficult period of the war - during the second half of 1942. In addition, the USSR would not have been capable of producing its arms without the lend-lease agreement: The USA shipped 2.3 million tons of steel to the USSR during the WWII years. That volume of steel was enough for the production of 70,000 T-34 tanks. Aluminum was received in the volume of 229,000 tons, which helped the Soviet aviation and tank industries to run for two years. One has to mention food deliveries as well: 3.8 million tons of tinned pork, sausages, butter, chocolate, egg powder and so on. The lend-lease agreement provided orderlies with 423,000 telephones and tens of thousands of wireless stations. Deliveries also included oil distillation equipment, field bakeries, tents, parachutes, and so on and so forth. The Soviet Union also received 15 million pairs of army boots.”

This doesn't even take into account what went to the bottom of the ocean during the murmask run..nor the number of ships sunk and people lost trying to deliver it..this only represents what they actually got to do the job.

Its only 5-10% guys. You really want an eye opener..read the last paragraph of the article.

And this was one country out of 42 that participated in the lend lease program. Our american ancestors in WWII must have been workaholics.

Yes Mark the Soviets do have a lot to thank the US for in war materials and food supplies ( as well as many other countries including Australia).

I suppose what we can thank the Soviets for is the slow grinding up of the best Germans Divisions. They paid for this in spilling alot more blood (20 million people approximately in total!!!) than the Western allies had too.

heres to the defeat of the common enemy in WWII...it was a shame that the lat 60 years afterward were so painful for both countrys.

the question is did all of the countries of the lend lease action pay us back yet?

its a good question..to be honest, roosevelt never expected a penny back. Now i know that Britain paid painfully..they gave us the rights to naval bases, and a substantial amount of gold early on for the fifty destroyers we gave them (the neutrality act kept it from being a gift, in order not to provoke Germany into a premature war.)

There is a whole US government site on the amount of lend-lease and the countries given it: ill do some more research and post it.

Mr Conley I dont know how it was that I didnt notice this topic of yours.
I've been talking about how false a belief it was that the soviets owed nothing to the US for what the US gave to them during WW2 for years.
I just needed a set of info, data and evidences. The article is a supergreat source, man.
YOU KICK ASS.
I'm gonna show this to my housemate who 's got a USSR flag hanging on his wall ( I got an Italian and a huge US flag instead- along with a Canadian one ).

guy..some advice..

legends die hard. It might help your friend that its from a russian newspaper dedicated to the truth, but look at it this way. even urban legends die hard in my country...and they are fairy tales.

be gentle.

Yeah I'll try cause him little trauma, not big.

It would have meant alot but does it mean that the USSR would have been defeated by the Germans without it? The Eastern Front War may have dragged on longer but I think they would have pushed the Germans back eventually with even greater loss of life.

I have always wondered how the US would have handled an invasion in June 1941 by a force of the quality and professionalism of the German military.

Who can say that though?