Does anyone has information about the amount of jeeps, munition, planes, guns, machine guns, oil, ... that where carried tot Russian - to Murmansk but also so to Archangelsk.
I can't answer your question, Albert - I know little about the convoys and would also like to know more. Meantime, there's an interesting online 'argument' at : - http://yarchive.net/mil/lend_lease.html A nice exchange of views ! Lend-lease is obviously a subject with its' own set of controversies.....
Here´s something: In Conclusion ...... Since August 1941, 78 convoys have sailed in both directions and passed through nearly 1,400 merchant ships for the loss of 85 - a loss rate of 6 percent. Millions of tons of vital cargo and thousands of tanks and aircraft have been delivered to the Russians. The cost to the Royal Navy includes one escort carrier severely damaged, two cruisers, six destroyers, eight other escorts sunk in the cold and often stormy waters of the Arctic http://www.naval-history.net/WW2CampaignsRussianConvoys.htm http://members.tripod.com/~Sturmvogel/SovLendLease.html http://www.wetheliving.com/pipermail/boston/2002-March/000076.html
I have just got a book from the public library called "Convoy, Drama in Arctic waters" by Paul Kemp. This book is all about the Arctic Convoys, and has a comprehensive list of the supplies sent to the Russian by this route, as well as listing both sides losses in the convoy battles. However the thing that made me sit up and take notice was that in the Arctic convoy battles, the cost in human casualties was far higher for the German forces than it was for the Allies . In the Artic convoys, eighteen Allied warships and 104 merchant ships were sunk, and 829 men of the Royal and Merchant Navies lost their lives. The German Navy lost 1 Battlecruiser ( Scharnhorst), 2 Destroyers, 2 Auxiliary vessels and 31 Submarines. With the loss of the Scharnhorst, with nearly 2,000 killed, and the 31 submarines which were nearly all lost "with all hands" we can see that the cost for German sailors in the Arctic battles was indeed a high one. I will post more info, when I have more time [ 02. December 2002, 06:18 AM: Message edited by: redcoat ]
Thanx Redcoat, Never came to think about that one! I read some even count in the loss of Tirpitz, with some 1200 German sailors dead. I think it´s ok to do so, as it was of danger to the convoys and it was feared it would attack them. What do you guys think? ----- 29 October 1944: LANCASTERS ATTACK TIRPITZ In the early morning hours 36 British Lancaster bombers take off from Scotland. Their target is the 42,000-ton German battleship Tirpitz, the biggest warship in the Western Hemisphere. The Tirpitz still threatens the lend-lease convoys to Murmansk and Archangelsk by its mere presence in the fjord of Tromsö. The bombers fly north mostly over Sweden. The attack is not successful and the planes are hit by anti-aircraft guns. One of them, christened "Easy Elsie", is damaged and the pilot decides to try to land in Sweden. At 1140 "Elsie" crash-lands in the marshes just northwest of the Swedish village of Porjus. Only the chief pilot David William Carey is hurt. The crew tries to set fire to their aircraft but is soon arrested by the local home guard who proudly pronounce "we are Swedish commandos!". After a brief period of pleasant internment they are allowed to be flown home to Scotland. 12 November 1944: 1200 SAILORS DIE WITH TIRPITZ A new Lancaster-raid sinks the Tirpitz by Tromsö and 1200 German sailors die with the ship. -------- The Fighter Commander at Bardufoss was facing court martial. Radar had warned him forty-five minutes before the bombers reached the ship, and all that time the Tirpitz's captain had been sending him urgent messages. He was still asking for the Fighters when the bombs blotted out his radio, the fighters never came. Just after Tirpitz saw the bombers come over the mountain, a message came from Bardufoss that an enemy formation was over the airfield and the fighters could not take-off, but there were no Allied fighters for a thousand miles. No one seems to know quite what happened. Some of the fighters are said to have taken off, but by some miracle they did not intercept... It was not till after the war they had found it had all been unnecessary (regarding further attacks against the Tirpitz). The bomb Tait and Daniels had dropped September 15, had damaged Tirpitz beyond repair. The Germans relocated her to Tromso, not to repair her but to moor her in shallow water as an unsinkable fortress. Powerful German forces in Northern Norway meant to hold out there. They moored her in 50 feet of water and tried to repair the mistake by filling in the sea-bed beneath her with dredges, but did not have time. There was still enough water below to let her down.. Nevertheless, the crews of 617 & 9 Squadrons received high praise for the sinking of Tirpitz. Between 1948-1957 The wreck of the Tirpitz is dismantled by British, Norwegian and German firms. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/overlander/attack.htm http://hem.fyristorg.com/arcticwar/timeline2.htm
Arctic convoys Major items sent to Russia by Great Britain between 1 Oct 1941 and 31 March 1946 Naval Supplies Battleship 1 Destroyers 9 Submarines 4 Motor minesweepers 5 Minesweeping Trawlers 9 Asdic sets 293 Radar sets 329 Mines 3,206 Paravanes 318 Depth Charges 6,800 Hedgehog Projectiles 2,304 Torpedoes 361 Army supplies Tanks (various) 5218 (with ammo) Motor transport 5,053 Bren carriers 2,550 Motor cycles 1,721 AFV and MT spares 4,090 tons PIAT A/T projectors 1,000 (with ammo) 2pdr A/T guns 636 (with ammo) 6pdr A/T guns 96 (with ammo) Boys A/T rifles 3,200 (with ammo) Bren guns 2,487 (with ammo) Radar sets 1,474 (with back-up equipment) Radio sets 4,338 (plus spares) Airforce Supplies Aircraft (various) 7,411( with spares) Aircraft engines 976 Petrol , oil and other products 14,146 tons This list does not include the vast amount of Ammunition, raw Materials , Machinary and Industrial plant supplied by the UK, as well as smaller amounts of weaponry I`ve not listed I will post the break-down of American supplies soon .
