I have noticed people have very different opinions regarding Lend-Lease. Some people are of the opinion that Lend-Lease was insignificant. I believe that Lend-Lease was more important than people think.
Yes, a lot of the tanks and weapons were inferior to the Russian ones, but it is the other material provided by Lend-Lease that is the most significant. The other material gave the Russians the chance to use their industries for the main purpose of producing tanks and other weapons. How many T34's would have been produced if the Russian industry was burdened with having to produce the things Lend-Lease was providing? Check out some of the following numbers:
-9,214 tanks, tank destroyers and Sp Guns
-12,230 aircraft
-4,111 20mm and 40mm AA guns
-434,000 trucks
-28,000 jeeps
-5,500 artillery tractors
-330,000 field telephones
-2,670,000tons of petroleum products including 476,000 tons of aviation fuel
-5,500,000 pairs of boots
-25,000,000 yards of uniform cloth
-1,045 locomotives
-8,260 wagons
-218,000 tons of various explosives
-1,200,000 tons of steel
-26,000 machine-tools
-etc.etc.etc.
Some people are also of the opinion that the Soviet Union could of defeated Germany alone. I disagree with this. People use as their reason, they say, look at the successes achieved before D-Day, without Allied help. I have several arguments against this.
Firstly, would those achievements have been possible if the FULL might of the German Armed Forces have been arrayed against Russia? What I mean is, if Germany did not have to watch her back, if Britain had been eliminated. No Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht forces in France and North Africa.
Secondly, those victories, like Stalingrad and Kursk etc., were NOT achieved without Allied help. During Stalingrad, for example, major Luftwaffe forces were in North Africa as well as Two Panzer Divisions. There was also Two Panzer Divisions in France. During Kursk as well, there were many Luftwaffe units in the West, as well as several Panzer Divisions. And remember the Kursk offensive was called off when the Allies invaded Sicily.
What difference would a few Panzer Divisions have made, you ask? Well, three SS Panzer Divisions made all the difference during Manstein's Kharkov Counter-Attack. One Panzer Division ( the 11th PzDiv.) made all the difference on the Chir River in December 1942 holding the front-line open.
What would have been the difference in the East, if there had been always a Mobile Reserve of a few Panzer Divisions, waiting to come to the rescue in the event of any crisis??
Anybody feel free to comment! I am open to anyones suggestions or opinions! [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]
Jon Fitzgerald
Calgary,AB,Canada