A CLOSE RUN THING
“nearest run thing you ever saw in your life”
Arthur Wellesley
By Christopher C.L. Custer, MD
The Russians, in WW ll, fought with a courage and resiliency never seen before and perhaps never since. The country sacrificed millions of people to turn back the tide of Nazi aggressors during the war. To give an idea of Russisa’s significance in the Allied victory is that the 80% of german casualties occurred on the Eastern Front. With great aplomb, Stalin appealed to fight for Mother Russia and not Communism. He called the people, brothers and sisters- not comrades. Hence to the Russians the war was called the " Great Patriotic War."The Russians sacrificed enormously in the war. Over 25 million Russians gave the ultimate sacrifice- their lives(1).Yet the question remains, were the Russians justified in claiming victory for themselves solely. Did Britain and the U.S. contribute significantly to Russia’s defeat of Germany? . Not surprisingly, Russians in tamounthe Cold War, failed to honor or even recognized the merchant and HMS sailors who gave the ultimate sacrificed manning and protecting the ships carrying the Lend-Lease aid to Murmansk and Archangel. The Russian party line during the Cold War claimed that Lend-Lease contributed only an insignificant to their war effort (2)).However, now with glasnos and the break up of the USSR. Records and interviews are consistent along with newly released figures. These tell an opposite story- that yes indeed Lend-Lease did contribute significantly influenced the Russo- German war. While Lend-Lease didn’t approach Russia’s industrial output, the help immensely aided in Russia’s " sensitive" areas- shortages in key bottlenecks in Russian industry which affected it to an inordinate amount. These included 50% of all Russia’s gasoline output, explosives, aluminum, radio equipment and over 400,000 trucks(3). Just the gas and number of trucks gave the Soviets the mobility they needed to exploit their breakouts in 1943 and '44 and '45, which led to the gates of Berlin and beyond and defeated the Germans. Consistent with this fact were the records and interviews given by Stalin, Khushchev, and Marshal Zhukov(4)They all agreed that without Lend-Lease aid, Russian victory over Nazi Germany would at the least be, " nearest run thing you ever saw in your life," at most impossible(5). Had the Germans on the Eastern Front prevailed, the conclusion of WW ll may have been very different.“nearest run thing you ever saw in your life," In the last analysis, the Russians had several advantages, almost unlimited land and manpower, a highly motivated people, and abundant natural resources. Land-Lease should not be forgotten as tipping the balance in favor of the Russians. Whether we should be grateful for Lend-Lease is a completely different question.
REFERENCES
1) https://www.rbth.com/history/330625-soviet-citizens-died-world-war-statistics
2)caption...https://www.rbth.com/defence/2016/03/14/lend-lease-how-american-supplies-aided-the-ussr-in-its-darkest-hour_575559
3)https://www.rferl.org/a/did-us-lend-lease-aid-tip-the-balance-in-soviet-fight-against-nazi-/30599486.html
4)https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/06/lendlease_how_the_us_kept_the_soviets_afloat_in_world_war_ii.html
germany
5)https://kingscollections.org/exhibitions/specialcollections/the-nearest-run-thing-you-ever-saw-the-battle-of-waterloo/