soc.history.war.world-war-ii

"Cubdriver" wrote in message
news:umg6s3pfpbj0lueqhv8kqfjhqti032a406@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:14:49 -0500, teuton263@aol.com wrote:
>
>>Without D-Day the USSR would have taken western Europe by late 1945 by
>>itself.
>
> Without Lend Lease, the Russians would have been forced into a
> standoff truce with Germany by 1943. Those were American trucks and
> locomotives that carried the Red Army to the front.

The short answer is probably no.

The US did not supply rail equipment until the third protocol
period, post 1 July 1943. It had supplied 665,000 tons of trucks
and other vehicles by July 1943 and another 1.4 million tons from
July 1943 to May 1945. Over 1.3 million tons of food to July
1943 and then nearly 3 million tons July 1943 to May 1945.

The overall vehicle totals were 7,537 tanks, 51,503 jeeps, 35,170
motorcycles, 8,701 tractors, 375,883 trucks. So if you assume
around 1/3 of this mix arrived before July 1943 then the total is
around 125,000 trucks by mid 1943.

Lend Lease played no part in the 1941 battles and if the USSR
is still in the war in 1943 it can watch as more and more German
strength is pulled westward.

Where lend lease plays its big part is in the 1942 battles, and in
providing key materials, like explosives. It should also be noted
aid from the UK and Canada formed a high percentage of total
aid in 1941 and 1942.

The 1941/42 counter attack recaptured the coal mines around
Moscow, which was very important given the cuts in production
in the USSR, there were no coal lend lease deliveries.

The German 1942 offensive was not heading towards major
economic areas but it was defeated by a force having what
looks like the biggest percentage of lend lease tanks in the
front line for the war.

Also lend lease was very end loaded, late in the war and you
have to watch the fact the equipment took months between leaving
the west and making it into front line service in the east.

The Red Army recaptured the Ukraine at about the speed they
lost it in the mid/late 1943 period.

Geoffrey Sinclair
Remove the nb for email.