It is not customary to talk much about the assistance of the USSR allies during the Second World War. However, it was there, and it was considerable. And not only within the framework of Lend-Lease. Soviet troops were supplied with food, medicine, and military equipment.
As you know, from love to hate there is only one step. Especially in politics, where it is quite permissible to smile at those whom yesterday you reviled as fiends of hell. Here we are, if we open the Pravda newspaper for 1941 (before June 22), we will immediately find out how bad the Americans and British were. They starved their own population and started a war in Europe, while the Chancellor of the German people, Adolf Hitler, was just defending himself...
Well, even earlier in Pravda one could even find the words that “fascism helps the growth of class consciousness of the working class”...
And then they became suddenly good...
But then came June 22, 1941, and literally the next day Pravda came out with reports that Winston Churchill promised military aid to the USSR, and the US President unfrozen Soviet deposits in American banks, frozen after the war with Finland. That's all! Articles about hunger among British workers disappeared in an instant, and Hitler turned from “Chancellor of the German People” into a cannibal.
Convoy "Dervish" and others
Of course, we don't know about all the behind-the-scenes negotiations that took place at that time; Even the declassified correspondence between Stalin and Churchill does not reveal all the nuances of this difficult period of our common history. But there are facts showing that the Anglo-American allies of the USSR began to provide assistance, if not immediately, then in a sufficiently timely manner. Already on August 12, 1941, the Dervish convoy of ships left Loch Ewe Bay (Great Britain).
On the first transports of the Dervish convoy on August 31, 1941, ten thousand tons of rubber, about four thousand depth charges and magnetic mines, fifteen Hurricane fighters, and 524 military pilots from the 151st Air Wing of two Royal Military Squadrons were delivered to Arkhangelsk. British Air Force.
Later, pilots even from Australia arrived on the territory of the USSR. There were a total of 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945 (although there were no convoys between July and September 1942 and March and November 1943). In total, about 1,400 merchant ships delivered important military materials to the USSR under the Lend-Lease program.
85 merchant ships and 16 warships of the Royal Navy (2 cruisers, 6 destroyers and 8 other escort vessels) were lost. And this is only the northern route, because the cargo flow also went through Iran, through Vladivostok, and planes from the USA were directly transported to Siberia from Alaska. Well, then the same “Pravda” reported that in honor of the victories of the Red Army and the conclusion of agreements between the USSR and Great Britain, the British were organizing folk festivals.
Not only and not so much convoys!
The Soviet Union received assistance from its allies not only through Lend-Lease. In the USA, the “Russia War Relief Committee” was organized.
“Using the money collected, the committee purchased and sent medicines, medical supplies and equipment, food, and clothing to the Red Army and the Soviet people. In total, during the war, the Soviet Union received assistance worth more than one and a half billion dollars.” A similar committee led by Churchill’s wife operated in England, and it also purchased medicines and food to help the USSR.
When Pravda wrote the truth!
On June 11, 1944, the Pravda newspaper published significant material on the entire page: “On the supply of weapons, strategic raw materials, industrial equipment and food to the Soviet Union by the United States of America, Great Britain and Canada,” and it was immediately reprinted by all Soviet newspapers, including local and even newspapers of individual tank armies.
It reported in detail how much had been sent to us and how many tons of cargo were floating by sea at the time the newspaper was published! Not only tanks, guns and planes were listed, but also rubber, copper, zinc, rails, flour, electric motors and presses, portal cranes and technical diamonds!
Military shoes - 15 million pairs, 6491 metal-cutting machines and much more. It is interesting that the message made an exact division of how much was purchased in cash, that is, before the adoption of the Lend-Lease program, and how much was sent after. By the way, it was precisely the fact that at the beginning of the war a lot of things were purchased for money that gave rise to the opinion that still exists today that all Lend-Lease came to us for money, and for gold. No, a lot was paid for with “reverse Lend-Lease” - raw materials, but the payment was postponed until the end of the war, since everything that was destroyed during hostilities was not subject to payment!
Well, why such information was needed at this particular time is understandable. Good PR is always a useful thing! On the one hand, the citizens of the USSR learned how much they supply us with, on the other hand, the Germans learned the same thing, and they simply could not help but be overcome by despondency.
How much can you trust these numbers? Obviously it is possible. After all, if they contained incorrect data, then only German intelligence would have figured it out, although according to some indicators, how could they declare everything else propaganda and, of course, Stalin, giving permission for the publication of this information, could not help but understand this!
Both quantity and quality!
In Soviet times, equipment supplied under Lend-Lease was usually criticized. But... it’s worth reading the same “Pravda” and in particular the articles of the famous pilot Gromov about American and British aircraft, articles about the same English Matilda tanks, to be convinced that during the war all this was assessed completely differently than after its end!
How can one appreciate the powerful presses that were used to stamp turrets for T-34 tanks, American drills with corundum tips, or industrial diamonds, which Soviet industry did not produce at all?! So the quantity and quality of supplies, as well as the participation of foreign technical specialists, sailors and pilots, was very noticeable. Well, then politics and the post-war situation intervened in this matter, and everything that was good during the war years immediately became bad with just the stroke of a leading pen!
D. Yu. Medvedev-Baryakhtar
More and more often I come across the statement on the Internet that while the Russians, bleeding, fought the German Wehrmacht, our cunning and vile ones sat overseas and entered the war when its outcome was already a foregone conclusion. To be honest, I don’t like it at all when they give me a ready-made solution, where the emphasis has already been placed according to the “good - bad” principle. I would like, first of all, to remove the subjective assessment of events, and secondly, to try to look at the situation as a whole. By the way, a good exercise for thinking. Therefore, we will try to free events from emotional overtones, such as which battle of World War II was decisive. We believe that Stalingrad, the British - El Alamein, and the Americans - the Battle of Midway. Everyone has their own reasons and arguments. Let's try to operate only with facts.
On September 27, 1940, after numerous preliminary negotiations, Germany, Italy and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact on political and military mutual assistance, as well as on the delimitation of zones of influence. Since September 1939, Britain and France were at war with the Axis powers. In June 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union, and in December 1941, the Japanese attacked the US fleet at Pearl Harbor. Thus, the Soviet Union and the United States of America were drawn into the war in 1941 with a difference of about six months and began, naturally, allies in World War II. Two major theaters of military operations emerged - the first in Europe and North Africa, the second in the Pacific Ocean. These are well-known facts. Further, as a rule, our historians follow discussions about the priority of the European war because:
We will refrain from this emotional assessment. We consider the war in Europe to be more important, and the Americans and Japanese naturally give preference to the Pacific. It is clear that your own problems are always the most important for everyone, and other people’s problems are not worth a penny. The Wehrmacht was significantly superior to the Japanese army, but the Japanese fleet was much stronger than the German one. Everyone was preparing for their own war. Japanese aircraft carriers are as useless in the steppes of Ukraine as German tanks are unnecessary in the Pacific Ocean.
The estimate of losses that allies in World War II inflicted on the enemy during military operations, but here too the subjectivity is off the charts. We enthusiastically calculate how many more Wehrmacht divisions fought against us than against the Americans. On the Eastern Front, German losses in manpower were indeed significant, but the orderly picture is spoiled by the fact that for some reason we are counting only Wehrmacht divisions. Where did Germany's allies - the Italians and Japanese - go and why were their divisions not included in the count? In addition to losses in manpower, there are also very significant losses in equipment. For a very long time I was looking for the ratio of Luftwaffe losses at the fronts. For some reason, we don’t like to mention them. According to indirect data, in air battles with aircraft allies in World War II The Germans lost 62,733 aircraft on all Western fronts (from September 1, 1939 to May 8, 1945) and about 24,000 aircraft on the Eastern Front (from June 22, 1941 to May 8, 1945). And our share in the destruction of German, Japanese and Italian warships is generally close to zero. In a word, such statistics are a very subjective matter and whoever thinks is the one who gets the result. Talking about the large number of our losses generally looks more than strange. Can you imagine a normal general who takes credit for the losses of his own soldiers? Rather, it should be the opposite, like the Japanese General Nogi, who forced Port Arthur to capitulate in the Russian-Japanese War. After the conclusion of peace, he committed seppuku for himself, as he considered the large losses of the Japanese during the assault to be his personal fault. A large number of dead soldiers, at all times, is more likely an inability to conduct combat operations than efficiency. So we will not evaluate who is in charge and who is not, where the priority theater of operations is and where is the secondary one, but simply state the fact of the existence of two theaters of military operations, in which battles are fought at the same time and sometimes not allies in World War II.
The humor is that the Americans talk about our role in the war with Japan in the same way and in almost the same words. I attribute the following phrase to General MacArthur, which he said before signing the surrender of Japan: “The Russians entered the war with Japan when we had already won it. And now they are in a hurry to sign the surrender with us.”
So, allies in World War II are fighting in both theaters of war. Since 1941, the Americans have been fighting the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean and, by the way, at first they suffer defeat after defeat. The samurai turned out to be crack nuts and knew how to fight (just forty years ago, in 1905, we had to see this the hard way). However, the precarious situation in the Pacific Ocean did not prevent the Americans from landing in Morocco in November 1942 (at that time there were street battles in Stalingrad) and, together with the British, starting military operations in North Africa against the Germans and Italians. Here, again, they say that company in Africa is not a war at all, but a walk allies in World War II through the desert. Let us again refrain from emotional assessment. On the one hand, the total number of Axis troops in North Africa was less than in Eastern Europe, but on the other hand, more German and Italian troops were destroyed during Operation Torch in Tunisia than at Stalingrad. We also note that through operations in North Africa and Sicily, the Americans and British practically knocked Italy out of the war. The combat potential of the Italians, relative to the Germans or Japanese, is indeed small, but Italy is still the third member of the Axis. And, what is much more important, in the war with the Italians, we Russians did not lose a single soldier. Therefore, we simply state the fact that the Americans began fighting the Germans in Europe in 1942. The photo shows the landing of American and British troops in North Africa.
In 1944, the Americans transported 3 million soldiers, and God knows how much cargo (up to 10 tons of equipment per soldier) across the ocean to England. The operation is, to put it mildly, large-scale, the costs are enormous. It is unrealistic to keep such a transfer of troops secret, and communications are constantly attacked by German submarines. And all this simultaneously with the war in the Pacific. In June 1944, the Americans, British and Canadians landed at Normandy - widely known even to non-professionals as D-Day. Their contribution to the victory over Germany can be assessed differently, but every German machine gun that mowed down American paratroopers on Omaha Beach did not fire at our soldiers in Belarus. The result is well known - Germany is crushed on both sides by troops allies in World War II and capitulates in May 1945.
By 1945, the Americans gradually put the finishing touches on the Japanese. The basis of Japanese military power - the fleet and aviation - were practically destroyed, the Japanese lost all strategic positions and were pushed back to the shores of Japan itself, the military industry was left without resources, and the Axis allies in Europe were defeated. By 1945, no one doubted the outcome of the war in the Pacific, not even the Japanese. It was clear to everyone that an island country without a fleet and resources was not capable of fighting against the whole world (by 1945, Japan was at war with about 60 states). We often say that in 1945 Japan was going to continue the war relying on the resources of Manchuria. Maybe, maybe... But there is one difficulty here. In the 20th century, oil was called the blood of war, since all equipment drove, flew and sailed on gasoline, which was obtained from oil. There is no oil and planes will remain at airfields, ships in harbors, and tanks will stop where gasoline ran out, just as German tanks stopped when they broke through the Allied front in the Ardennes. The Japanese push to the south in 1941 - 1942 was due to the fact that the Land of the Rising Sun really needed oil, which the Japanese hoped to get in French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), which they lost by 1945. The fuel situation in Japan by the end of the war was so desperate that the Japanese tried to fill the engines with turpentine extracted from pine trees. Where could Japan get oil to continue the war? Have you heard anything about serious hydrocarbon deposits in Manchuria? I personally don't.
And at this moment of the general crisis of the entire Japanese military machine in August 1945, the Soviet Union entered the war in the Pacific and allies in World War II are now working together against Japan. Soviet tank wedges are crushing the Kwantung Army, and landing marine troops on the islands. By the way, think about why our landings were so successful? Imagine what would have happened to our transports if the Japanese fleet had not been disabled by the Americans by this time. The Japanese sank the fleet of the Russian Empire in 1905, and by 1940 the Soviet fleet was many times weaker than the Russian one. Two Soviet cruisers and 12 destroyers in the Pacific Ocean against Japanese battleships and aircraft carriers are practically nothing. But there is a fact - the Soviet Union entered the war in the East in August 1945. In the photo "Mikuma" is a Japanese cruiser attacked by carrier-based aircraft in the battle near Midway Atoll on June 7, 1942.
So, what do we have as a “bottom line”. There are two largest theaters of military operations - in Europe and in the Pacific Ocean. Since June 1941, Russians have been fighting with Germans in Europe (as well as the British with Germans and Italians in Africa). Since December 1941, the Americans and the Japanese have been enthusiastically drowning each other in the Pacific Ocean. In 1942, the Americans appeared in Africa and, together with the British, crushed the Germans and Italians in Tunisia, Sicily and Italy. At this time, the Russians first retreat to Moscow and the Volga, then methodically begin to “take away our inches and crumbs” and push the Germans to the West. In 1944, the Americans landed in Europe and, together with the Russians, destroyed the Third Reich in May 1945. What's there in the East? From the beginning of the Second World War until August 1945, there was peace and grace on the Soviet-Japanese border along the Amur River. In August 1945, the USSR declared war on Japan and took part in the war in the Pacific. A month later, in September, Japan surrenders and the war ends. It turns out that the Americans fought the Japanese from 1941 to 1945 and the Germans and Italians from 1942 to 1945. From 1941 to 1945, the USSR waged war with Germany, and for one month in 1945 it fought with Japan. This is information that is open and accessible to everyone, freed from emotional connotations.
Now you can ask a rhetorical question. Why did the USSR, having a common border with Japan, not want to help for 4 years? Allies in World War II and open a Second Front in the Far East? The war with the Japanese did not stop the Americans from fighting against the Germans for 3 years, but crossing the Amur is, after all, not crossing an ocean. It is clear that in 1942 - 1945 the Americans did little to distract German soldiers, planes, and tanks. It's time to ask the question - how many Japanese soldiers, ships, and planes have we diverted to ourselves during this period? And do the Americans have the right to say that the USSR entered the war against Japan only when everything in the Pacific Ocean had already been decided?
There is a separate question about American assistance under Lend-Lease. ally in World War II. During the program, the Americans brought military supplies, equipment, food, medical equipment, medicines, strategic raw materials (someone thought up to 300 items) to everyone fighting against a common enemy. The greatest assistance was provided to Britain, then Russia and then China. By the way, the “greedy Yankees” included the following clause in the Lend-Lease law (Article 5): “Supplied materials (cars, various military equipment, weapons, raw materials, other items) destroyed, lost and used during the war are not subject to payment " By the way, think purely logically about why it was necessary to pass the Lend-Lease law. If the British, Russians, and Chinese paid for everything in full, then no law would be needed. Go directly to American corporations that produce what you need (raw materials, medicines, weapons, food), pay money and get the products you need. World trade, including raw materials and weapons, has existed at all times. The meaning of the Lend-Lease law was that the Americans supplied everyone allies in World War II these goods are free. As always, we immediately start talking about the fact that they were transporting the wrong place, not what was needed, and in general not all the cargo arrived, and also that we paid for everything. Maybe not all of them made it (like the notorious convoy PQ-17), but in the winter of 1941/42, for 31 domestic tanks there were 10 imported ones, and for 13 Soviet aircraft, 10 were delivered under Lend-Lease. At the same time, if American tanks were inferior to Soviet ones in many respects, then American-made aircraft were seriously superior to our models. Oh, you must admit, a significant contribution to the most difficult period of the war for us! By the way, the total amount of Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union was 10.8 billion dollars, of which, after lengthy and repeated negotiations, we agreed to pay, minus those very losses, 800 million (and, it seems, have not yet paid off). But that’s not even important. You can compare equal values. So let’s compare the economic assistance that America provided to the warring Soviet Union with the economic assistance that the Soviet Union provided to America at war. On the second side of the scale there is a complete zero. In general, as a human being, when they give you something, and they give you a lot, and you cannot give anything in return, then you should just say thank you and not make a complaint.
In fact, I think it's pointless to consider allies in World War II through the prism of “who invested more in victory.” The Second World War is the tragedy of millions killed on all sides of the front, it is the crippled destinies of people, it is parents who lost their children and children left without parents, it is destroyed and burned villages and cities. All allies in World War II We invested everything we could into making sure this nightmare ended as soon as possible and helped each other as much as possible. Even the Germans and the French made peace, but we still cannot let go of the shadows of the past and argue over who shed more of our own and other people’s blood on this terrible altar. In the photo, French President Francois Mitterrand and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the memorial to the victims. Verdun.
World War II 1939-1945 - the largest war in human history, unleashed by fascist Germany, fascist Italy and militaristic Japan. 61 states (more than 80% of the world's population) were drawn into the war; military operations were carried out on the territory of 40 states.
In 1941, when the Nazis attacked the USSR, Great Britain was already at war with Germany, and the contradictions between the USA, Germany and Japan were on the verge of armed conflict.
Immediately after the German attack on the USSR, the governments of Great Britain (June 22) and the USA (June 24) came out with support for the Soviet Union in its fight against fascism.
On July 12, 1941, a Soviet-British agreement on joint actions against Germany and its allies was signed in Moscow, which marked the beginning of the formation of the anti-Hitler coalition.
On July 18, 1941, the USSR government signed an agreement with the government of Czechoslovakia, and on July 30 - with the Polish government on a joint fight against a common enemy. Since the territory of these countries was occupied by Nazi Germany, their governments were located in London (Great Britain).
On August 2, 1941, a military-economic agreement was concluded with the United States. At the Moscow meeting, held on September 29-October 1, 1941, the USSR, Great Britain and the USA considered the issue of mutual military supplies and signed the first protocol on them.
On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a war against the United States with a surprise attack on the American military base at Pearl Harbor in the Pacific Ocean. On December 8, the USA, Great Britain and a number of other states declared war on Japan; On December 11, Nazi Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
At the end of 1941, the following countries were at war with the aggressor bloc: Australia, Albania, Belgium, Great Britain, Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, Greece, Denmark, Dominican Republic, India, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Luxembourg, Mongolian People's Republic Republic, Netherlands, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Poland, El Salvador, USSR, USA, Philippines, France, Czechoslovakia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Yugoslavia, Union of South Africa. In the second half of 1942, Brazil and Mexico entered the war against the fascist bloc, in 1943 - Bolivia, Iraq, Iran, Colombia, Chile, in 1944 - Liberia. After February 1945, Argentina, Venezuela, Egypt, Lebanon, Paraguay, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and Uruguay joined the anti-Hitler coalition. Italy (in 1943), Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania (in 1944), and Finland (in 1945), which were previously part of the aggressive bloc, also declared war on the countries of the Hitlerite coalition. By the end of hostilities with Japan (September 1945), 56 states were at war with the countries of the fascist bloc.
(Military Encyclopedia. Chairman of the Main Editorial Commission S.B. Ivanov. Military Publishing House. Moscow. In 8 volumes, 2004. ISBN 5 203 01875 - 8)
The contribution of individual countries to achieving the goals of the anti-Hitler coalition was different. The USA, Great Britain, France and China participated with their armed forces in the fight against the countries of the fascist bloc. Separate units of some other countries of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, India, Canada, the Philippines, Ethiopia, etc. also took part in the hostilities. Some states of the anti-Hitler coalition (for example, Mexico) helped its main participants mainly with military supplies raw materials.
The USA and Great Britain made a significant contribution to achieving victory over the common enemy.
On June 11, 1942, the USSR and the USA signed an agreement on mutual supplies under Lend-Lease, i.e. loan of military equipment, weapons, ammunition, equipment, strategic raw materials and food.
The first deliveries arrived back in 1941, but the bulk of deliveries occurred in 1943-1944.
According to American official data, at the end of September 1945, 14,795 aircraft, 7,056 tanks, 8,218 anti-aircraft guns, 131,600 machine guns were sent from the USA to the USSR, from Great Britain (until April 30, 1944) - 3,384 aircraft and 4,292 tanks; 1,188 tanks were delivered from Canada, which had been directly involved in providing assistance to the USSR since the summer of 1943. In general, US military supplies during the war years amounted to 4% of the military production of the USSR. In addition to weapons, the USSR received cars, tractors, motorcycles, ships, locomotives, wagons, food and other goods from the United States under Lend-Lease. The Soviet Union supplied the United States with 300 thousand tons of chrome ore, 32 thousand tons of manganese ore, a significant amount of platinum, gold, and timber.
Some of the American cargo (about 1 million tons) did not reach the Soviet Union, because it was destroyed by the enemy during transportation.
There were about ten routes for delivering goods under Lend-Lease to the USSR. Many of them took place in areas of intense hostilities, which required great courage and heroism from those who provided supplies.
Main routes: across the Pacific Ocean through the Far East - 47.1% of all cargo; across the North Atlantic, skirting Scandinavia - to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk - 22.6%; via the South Atlantic, Persian Gulf and Iran - 23.8%; through the ports of the Black Sea 3.9% and through the Arctic 2.6%. Aircraft moved by sea and independently (up to 80%) through Alaska - Chukotka.
Help from the allies came not only through the Lend-Lease program. In the USA, in particular, the “Russia War Relief Committee” was created, which during the war collected and sent goods worth more than one and a half billion dollars to the USSR. In England, a similar committee was headed by Clementine Churchill, the wife of the Prime Minister.
In 1942, an agreement was reached between the USSR, Great Britain and the USA to open a second front in Western Europe. In June 1944, this agreement was implemented - Anglo-American troops landed in Normandy (northwest France), and a second front was opened. This made it possible to withdraw about 560 thousand German troops from the eastern front and contributed to the acceleration of the final defeat of Nazi Germany, which was now forced to fight on two fronts.
The material was prepared based on open sources
After the end of World War I, the international situation was complex and tense. To a large extent, this was due to the Versailles-Washington system, which was unfair to the losing countries and consolidated the dominance of England, France, and the USA. It became the basis of new imperialist contradictions and provoked interstate conflicts, including armed ones. A fierce struggle between the victorious powers began immediately after the truce. Germany sought to split the allies, achieve concessions, and in the future dreamed of revenge in a new war.
States emerged from the crisis in different ways. Thus, in Italy and then in Germany, fascist regimes arose based on nationalist priorities. Fascist propaganda was based on social demagoguery, criticism of bourgeois society with its individualism, parliamentary democracy, and market economy. Fascist regimes posed a real danger to other countries, openly declaring the need to establish their dominance throughout the world by subjugating or destroying all peoples of the “non-Aryan” race.
During the interwar period 1918 - 1939. all countries participating in World War I were preparing for a new military redistribution of the already divided world, regardless of what forces were in power. The difference between them was the ideological justification for the impending war. The policies of all states in the 20-30s were ideologized: the doctrines of anti-communism, anti-democracy, anti-imperialism, and fascism were in effect. Their manipulation made possible the union of Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union. The forces of peace were small and much weaker than the forces of war, and the governments of the great powers sought to ensure only their own security, often to the detriment of other states.
At the same time, secret negotiations were conducted, behind-the-scenes meetings were held, secret plans were developed, which resulted in mutual distrust and suspicion.
The foreign policy of Soviet Russia after the end of the civil war was formed under the influence of two mutually exclusive goals that the country's leadership strove for. First goal- pragmatic - implied the creation of mutually beneficial relations with other countries. But the principle of peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems did not mean a rejection of the class struggle. Second goal- ideological - contributed to the implementation of the principles of proletarian internationalism through the Communist International. The last one in 1919-1943. was an international organization for coordinating the actions of communist parties. From this organization came great material assistance (gold, money, weapons, specialists) to the communist and national liberation movements that destabilized the regime within the countries. Such an effective policy led to distrust of partners and repeatedly led to complications in international relations. So, for example, in 1927, relations with England were broken; 1929 - Soviet-Chinese conflict, etc. However, Soviet Russia emerged from international isolation relatively quickly: in the 20s, peace treaties were signed with Finland. Poland, Mongolia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan. During the Genoa Conference (1922), the Soviet-German Treaty was signed on the renunciation of mutual claims and the establishment of diplomatic relations. In the 1920s, the Soviet Union established official relations with more than twenty countries of the world. Including with England. France. Italy. Japan, China. In 1933, the Soviet Union was recognized by the United States. The fate of the Soviet-British-French negotiations in 1939 was predetermined by the lack of political desire of England and France to compromise and sign an agreement that would ensure peace in Europe. Totalitarian regimes - both communist and fascist - opposed Western civilization, each offering its own alternative. Therefore, their “Union”, concluded on the eve of the Second World War, became possible. The non-aggression pact, designed for ten years, was signed by the foreign ministers: from the Soviet side - V.M. Molotov, from German - A. Ribbentrop. The articles of this pact obliged the governments of Germany and the Soviet Union to “refrain... from any aggressive action and any attack against each other...” - in fact it was a treaty of friendly neutrality. Germany was able to use this neutrality much more effectively than the USSR and was better prepared for war against it. The policy of "non-interference" of England and France actually strengthened Germany's position in Europe. They encouraged her aggressive intentions towards neighboring countries (Austria, the Czechoslovak Republic). As a result, Germany broke away from Anglo-French control and started World War II.
On September 1, 1939, World War II began with the German attack on Poland. In response to Germany's invasion of Poland, England and France declared war on Germany, but did not provide effective and real assistance to the Poles, although they were united by armed forces militarily superior to Germany. On September 17, 1939, Soviet troops crossed the border with Poland and took under protection the lives and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus.
- On September 28, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union entered into an agreement on friendship and borders.
- On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the USSR without declaring war. At the same time, Germany's allies in the fascist bloc - Italy, Hungary, Romania, Finland, and Slovakia - opposed the Soviet Union. The million-strong Kwantung Army of Japan was concentrated on the Far Eastern borders of the Soviet Union, which, despite the neutrality treaty, was waiting for the moment to enter the war on the side of Germany.
Germany's war against the USSR was of an aggressive, predatory nature. Having a goal on the part of Germany: to destroy the Soviet state, territorially dismember the USSR, defeat and destroy the Red Army through a “blitzkrieg” war. A military victory over the Soviet Union, in the opinion of the German generals, was supposed to ensure the creation of favorable conditions for completing the struggle for world domination. One of the main tasks of the foreign policy of the Soviet Union was the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition. The prerequisites for its formation were: liberation goals in the war for most countries; the general danger that came from the fascist bloc.
- On June 22, 1941, Prime Minister of England Churchill, and on June 24, US President Roosevelt announced their countries’ intention to assist the Soviet Union in its fight against Germany, since the Soviet Union and Great Britain, unlike the United States, were already part of the war against Germany. The Soviet government invited England to immediately conclude an agreement on joint activities. The British government accepted this proposal.
- On July 12, 1941, the Anglo-Soviet Agreement on joint action in the war against Germany was signed, the USSR and England pledged to provide each other with assistance and support, as well as not to negotiate, not to conclude a truce or peace treaty, except with mutual consent. The USSR's proposal to open a front in northern France was rejected.
In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill, having met in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Canada, signed the so-called charter, which set out the official goals of the United States and Great Britain in the war - and became one of the program documents of the anti-Hitler coalition.
Thus, in the Second World War, the conflicting parties were divided as follows (Table 2).
Table 2 Opposing sides of World War II
The Atlantic Charter stated that the United States and Great Britain do not seek territorial or other changes and respect the right of all peoples to choose their own form of government.
They promised to seek the restoration of the sovereign rights and self-government of those peoples who had been deprived of this by force. Britain and the United States said that after the final destruction of Nazi tyranny they hoped for peace. Roosevelt and Churchill announced that they considered it necessary to disarm the aggressors and create an indivisible system of universal security. The charter was formulated in a democratic spirit and indicated ways to eliminate the fascist order. To fulfill these mutual obligations, there were three forms of cooperation between the coalition states:
material aid;
political.
The victory near Moscow (December 1941) contributed to the final formation of the anti-Hitler coalition. On January 1, 1942, in Washington, twenty-six states, including the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain, signed the Declaration of the United Nations. They pledged to use their resources to fight against the aggressors, cooperate in the war and not conclude a separative peace.
On May 26, 1942, an agreement was signed in London between the USSR and Great Britain on an alliance in the war against Nazi Germany and its accomplices in Europe. The agreement also provided for cooperation and mutual assistance after the war. In May-June 1942, Soviet-American negotiations took place in Washington, ending on June 11 with the signing of an agreement on principles applicable to mutual assistance in waging war against aggression. Both sides pledged to supply each other with defense materials, information and to develop trade and economic cooperation. The signing of these documents showed that differences in social structure and ideology are surmountable.
At the same time, there were deep differences between the participants in the anti-fascist coalition regarding the goals of the war and the program for the post-war world order.
Soviet Union saw the goals of the war in the defeat of Nazi Germany, the liberation of enslaved peoples, the restoration of democracy, and the creation of conditions for lasting peace. USA and UK They considered the main goal of the war to be the weakening of Germany and Japan as their main competitors. At the same time, the Western powers sought to maintain Germany and Japan as a military force to fight against the USSR.
D. Eisenhower believed that the quick path to victory lay through the opening of a second front in Europe, through the landing of the Allies in France. His position on this issue was determined by the fact that he, like many other American military and political leaders, seriously doubted whether the Soviet Union would be able to withstand the terrible blow of the Wehrmacht. Among the factors that forced the Allies to open a second front, the most important role was played by the speech of the broad masses of the United States and Great Britain demanding the landing of allied troops in Western Europe. One of the first joint actions was the decision of the USSR and England to send Soviet and British troops into Iran in August 1941 to prevent this country from taking the side of Germany.
1943 turned out to be a very difficult year in relations between the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. Anglo-American troops landed in Italy at the end of July 1943. Soon the fascist government of Mussolini fell as a result of a palace coup, but hostilities continued. However, the second front (understood as the Allied landing in France) was not opened. The US and British governments explained this by the lack of floating facilities to transport troops to the continent. The Soviet government expressed open dissatisfaction with the delay in opening a second front.
In October 1943, a conference of foreign ministers of the three powers was held in Moscow, at which the Western allies informed the Soviet side about plans to open a second front in May-June 1944. However, there was a certain lack of agreement in relations between the allies, a personal meeting of the heads of government was required to quickly resolve pressing issues. Such a Conference began on November 28, 1943 in the capital of Iran. There was no predetermined agenda. Although its participants knew what it would be about. I.V. met at the negotiating table. Stalin, F. Roosevelt, W. Churchill.
Stalin, in the eyes of millions of Westerners, embodied the entire Soviet people who courageously fought against fascism. He had power that none of his partners had. In May 1943, Stalin ordered the dissolution of the Comintern, which created the impression in the West that Stalin was abandoning his plans to establish communist regimes in other countries. Roosevelt had already established himself as the greatest reformer of the 20th century, the inspirer of the “New Deal,” while Churchill, a politician who emerged from the 19th century, personified the forces that stubbornly delayed the decline of the British Empire.
Each of them, arriving at the conference, was thinking about achieving their goals. Stalin managed to very subtly play on some of the contradictions between Churchill and Roosevelt. First of all, it was necessary to resolve the issue of a second front. After short but heated discussions between Churchill and Stalin about the timing of the opening of a second front, it was decided that the Allied landings in Northern France would take place in May 1944.
Thus, it was only in May 1944 that the Allies opened a second front. By this time, the Soviet armed forces had suffered enormous losses, the war had left millions of people homeless, personal consumption had dropped to 40%, money had depreciated, cards could not always be purchased, speculation and the naturalization of exchange were growing. All this was combined with constant psychological stress: grief due to the death of a loved one, waiting for a letter from the front, 11-12 hour working days, rare days off, anxiety for children who found themselves virtually unattended. And at the same time hard work in the name of approaching victory. Workers who fulfilled two standards began to give three and mastered related specialties. A particularly important role in the victory was played by the factor that at the beginning of the war, the relocation of heavy industry factories, previously located in the southern regions of Ukraine and Belarus, to the Urals and other regions of the Union, where tanks, aircraft, guns and other heavy military equipment were produced, took place in an organized and rapid manner. and ammunition. Thanks to the heroic work of the rear in the first half of 1944, it was possible to achieve superiority of the Red Army over the enemy in terms of equipping the troops with military equipment.
Therefore, the opening of a second front was clearly belated, since the outcome of the war was already a foregone conclusion. The USSR suffered the greatest losses in the war, but on the other hand, the offensive of the allied forces accelerated the defeat of Nazi Germany, chaining up to 1/3 of its ground forces.
On May 8, 1945, the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany was signed in the Berlin suburb of Karlsharst.
The Potsdam Conference (July 17 - August 2, 1945) was dedicated to the post-war structure of the world. I.V. participated in its work. Stalin, G. Truman, W. Churchill. The central question was German. Germany was viewed as a single, democratic, peace-loving state. The main principles of policy towards Germany were demilitarization and democratization. Berlin was subject to occupation by troops of the USSR, USA, and France in the relevant sectors. It was established that the Western border of Poland would pass along the Oder River, thereby returning its ancestral lands to Poland. Koenigsberg and the surrounding areas of eastern Prussia were transferred to the Soviet Union. The first body was created - the Council of Foreign Ministers, consisting of representatives of the USSR, USA, Great Britain, France, China to prepare a peace treaty with Germany's former allies, as well as the International Military Tribunal for the trial of the main fascist war criminals.
The main idea of the Potsdam Conference and the agreement of the three powers is partnership and cooperation in the name of peace without war and violence, based on a balance of legitimate interests - agreement that the victorious powers will never allow a repetition of aggression from Germany or any other state.
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“We will get along well with Marshal Stalin and with all the Russian people”
Allies of the USSR in World War II. Part One: Roosevelt
The day before, April 12, it was 70 years since the end of the political activity of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt; 10 years later, only a week earlier, on April 5, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill ended his active political career. Roosevelt's presidency was interrupted by death, Churchill's leadership by old age (he died a decade later, in 1965, at the age of 90). One way or another, both dates are an occasion on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Victory, which the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition are celebrating separately, to recall that in the person of both the American president and the British prime minister, the Soviet people had not only brilliant representatives of competing systems, but also outstanding statesmen who sincerely admired the feat of the USSR.
“The most important event is the crushing counter-offensive of the great Russian army”
Throughout the war, the parties argued, sometimes violently, over the volume of supplies to the Soviet Union from the United States and the Kingdom of weapons and materials, over the opening of a second front, separate negotiations with Germany and the post-war structure of the world, specifically Europe. But from the very beginning, since 1941, Roosevelt took an unequivocal and unshakable position: America is an ally and assistant to Soviet Russia, in which he saw a potentially “great society.” We emphasize this because not everyone shared the president’s goodwill towards the “class-hostile” state. Thus, Roosevelt’s future successor as President, Senator Harry Truman, did not hesitate to tell The New York Times: “If we see that Germany is winning, then we should help Russia, and if Russia wins, then we should help Germany, and so Thus, let them kill [each other] as much as possible!
The volume of American supplies to the Soviet Union during the war years amounted to more than $11 billion in 1940s prices.
By November 1941, Roosevelt assured Stalin of the American government’s determination to provide the USSR with an interest-free loan of $1 billion. In total, during the war years, under the Lend-Lease program, the United States sent military and civilian equipment, explosives, materials, fuel, food, etc. to the Soviet Union. by more than $11 billion (to imagine the volume of supplies in modern prices, multiply this amount by ten).
Today we often point to the historical ingratitude of the Americans, who took credit for the general victory of the Allies over the Third Reich. However, it is enough to read the texts of Roosevelt’s regular addresses to his people (they went down in history as “Fireside Chats”) to be convinced that he honestly - and with admiration - gave undeniable priority in the fight against fascism to the Soviet people. April 1942: “On the European front, the most important event of the past year, without a doubt, was the crushing counter-offensive of the great Russian army against the powerful German group. Russian troops have destroyed and continue to destroy more manpower, aircraft, tanks and guns of our common enemy than the rest of the United Nations combined.” September 1942: “The Russians are killing more Nazi soldiers and destroying more enemy aircraft and tanks than Hitler's opponents on any other front. The Russians fight not only bravely, but also skillfully. Despite all the temporary setbacks, Russia will endure and, with the help of its allies, will ultimately expel every last Nazi from its land.” December 1942: “The successes of the Red Army in this war represent the outstanding military achievements of recent centuries. For 18 months, she defends her fatherland against the attack of the strongest military enemy in history. During the Battle of Stalingrad, which will forever go down in history, she not only stopped the enemy, but also launched a counter-offensive, which is now developing along the entire huge front - from Leningrad to the Caucasus. The Red Army, its valiant soldiers, men and women, its talented military leaders, supported by the efforts of all Russian citizens - men, women and children, laid the foundation for the inevitable victory over Hitler's army."
"The successes of the Red Army in this war represent the outstanding military achievements of recent centuries"
We find the same superlatives in the personal correspondence of Roosevelt and Stalin. August 1942: "The United States is well aware of the fact that the Soviet Union bore the brunt of the struggle and the heaviest losses throughout 1942, and I can report that we greatly admire the magnificent resistance that your country has demonstrated." February 1944: “The magnificent victories that the Red Army achieved under your leadership were an inspiration to everyone. The heroic defense of Leningrad was crowned and rewarded by the recent crushing defeat of the enemy at the gates of that city. As a result of the victorious offensive of the Red Army, millions of Soviet citizens were freed from slavery and oppression. These achievements, together with the cooperation agreed upon in Moscow and Tehran, ensure our final victory over the Nazi aggressors."
“The soul and heart of Russia have their true representative in Stalin”
Despite all the differences in origin and fate, aristocrat Franklin Roosevelt and revolutionary Joseph Stalin were somewhat similar to each other: both secretive, cautious, pragmatic to the core. Perhaps that is why there was more unanimity and warmth in the relations between the president and the Council of People's Commissars than in the relations between Stalin and Churchill. Once, in response to his assistant’s remark that Stalin was a bandit who could not be dealt with as a gentleman, Roosevelt retorted: “No, we will treat him exactly like a gentleman, and he must gradually stop being a bandit.”
They say that the tone of the relationship between the two leaders was significantly influenced by an anecdotal episode. In 1942, the most difficult year for the USSR (the Red Army suffered a disaster near Kharkov, Sevastopol and Rostov-on-Don were surrendered, the Germans reached the Volga at Stalingrad), Stalin sent Roosevelt a copy of his favorite pre-war film “Volga-Volga”. The President guessed the catch when, getting acquainted with the tape in translation, he came to the couplets of one of the main characters:
America gave Russia a steamship -
Steam from the nose, wheels at the back
And terribly, and terribly, and terribly quiet!
"We will treat him like a gentleman, and he must gradually stop being a bandit."
Stalin delicately, with humor, and in a friendly manner hinted to his overseas colleague about delays in supplies and delays in opening a second front.
In his Christmas Fireside Chat in December 1943, Roosevelt told Americans: “To put it simply, I got along very well with Marshal Stalin. This person combines a huge, unyielding will and a healthy sense of humor; I think the soul and heart of Russia have their true representative in him. I believe that we will continue to get along well with him and with the entire Russian people.”
The President and the Secretary General really “got along very well.” A month before the Christmas “conversation”, in November 1943, during the Tehran Conference, Roosevelt, for security reasons, was located in the Soviet embassy. And during the Yalta Conference in February 1945, both allies, in front of the other participants, closed for a full 23 minutes on the American “half” for secret bilateral negotiations, so the wounded Churchill had to diligently pretend that nothing extraordinary had happened.
There were only two months left before the death of Roosevelt, who spent almost a quarter of a century in a wheelchair due to polio. According to the memoirs of the legendary Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, visiting the sick president during the Yalta Conference, Stalin quietly said: “Well, tell me, why is this man worse than others, why did nature punish him? Is it true that the president is not English? (The Roosevelts have Dutch roots. – Ed.). However, in his behavior and manner of expressing thoughts, he is more like an Englishman than Churchill. The latter somehow has less control over his emotions. Roosevelt, on the contrary, is all prudence and taciturnity.”
On the day of Roosevelt's funeral, mourning was declared in the USSR
As if returning well-deserved compliments, the president told his son Elliot about Stalin: “This man knows how to act. He always has a goal before his eyes. Working with him is a pleasure. No extravagances. He has a deep, deep voice, he speaks slowly, he seems very self-confident, unhurried - in general, he makes a strong impression.”
Over the years, in the eyes of the president, the bandit turned into a trustworthy gentleman. “Under the leadership of Marshal Joseph Stalin, the Russian people showed such an example of love for the motherland, fortitude and self-sacrifice, which the world has never known. After the war, our country will always be glad to maintain relations of good neighborliness and sincere friendship with Russia, whose people, by saving themselves, are helping to save the whole world from the Nazi threat,” Roosevelt said in “Fireside Chats” in July 1943.
The American president never even thought about fighting the Soviet Union after the joint defeat of Hitler, hot or cold. He valued the friendly ties between two leaders and two peoples, which had been suffered through a bloody war, and saw the USSR, USA, Great Britain and China as guarantors of global peace and prosperity. When Soviet intelligence reported to Stalin about the separate Allied negotiations with Himmler, Roosevelt hastened to send a conciliatory telegram to the Kremlin: “In any case, there should be no mutual distrust, and minor misunderstandings of this nature should not arise in the future.” The Soviet leader received a telegram on April 13, the day after Roosevelt's death: he dictated it a few hours before his death.
Mourning was declared in the Soviet Union. On April 15, the day of the president’s funeral, several hundred people gathered at the American embassy in Moscow. “In President Franklin Roosevelt, the Soviet people saw an outstanding political figure and an unyielding champion of close cooperation between our three states,” Stalin wrote to Winston Churchill. – The Soviet people will always highly value and remember President Roosevelt’s friendly attitude towards the USSR. As for me personally, I especially deeply feel the weight of the loss of this great man - our mutual friend.”
At the Potsdam Conference, Roosevelt's successor Truman informed Stalin that America had acquired nuclear weapons.
Just over three months later, at the Potsdam Conference of the Victorious Countries, Truman informed Stalin that America “now has a weapon of extraordinary destructive power” - atomic weapons. The following March, 1946, at Westminster College, Missouri, Churchill delivered the famous Fulton speech: “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended over Europe. On the other side of the curtain are all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe - Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, Sofia. All of these famous cities and the populations in their areas found themselves within what I call the Soviet sphere, all of them in one form or another subject not only to Soviet influence, but also to the significant and increasing control of Moscow... Communist parties that were very are few in number in all these states of Eastern Europe, have achieved exceptional power, far superior to their numbers, and are seeking to establish totalitarian control everywhere. Almost all of these countries are run by police governments, and to this day, with the exception of Czechoslovakia, they have no true democracy.”
The Cold War began. Without Roosevelt, there was no one to stop her. No wonder there are rumors that the president was killed: no autopsy was performed, and the funeral service took place with a closed coffin.
In the coming days, read the next part of the historical review - about the role of Winston Churchill in the victory over fascism.