Sgt. Anthony Glola, a B- 17 waist gunner, shakes hands with a red Army soldier in 1944 next to lend lease materials

Sgt. Anthony Glola, a B- 17 waist gunner, shakes hands with a red Army soldier in 1944 next to lend lease materials

The Lend-Lease Act of the United States supplied needed goods to the Soviet Union (as well as to China and the UK) from 1941 to 1945 worth $11.3 billion ($180 billion in 2016 currency). After Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, America sent the first convoys with goods to the Soviet Union by August. They sent military equipment: 400,000 jeeps and trucks, 14,000 airplanes, 8,000 tractors and 13,000 tanks. And these supplies: more than 1.5 million blankets, 15 million pairs of army boots, 107,000 tons of cotton, 2.7 million tons of petroleum products and 4.5 million tons of food. The Americans also sent guns, ammunition, explosives, copper, steel, aluminum, medicine, field radios, radar tools, books and other items. They even transported an entire Ford Company tire factory, which made tires for military vehicles, to the Soviet Union. At a dinner toast with Allied leaders during the Tehran Conference in December 1943, Stalin added: "The United States … is a country of machines. Without the use of those machines through Lend-Lease, we would lose this war." Nikita Khrushchev, who led the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, agreed with Stalin’s assessment. In his memoirs, Khrushchev described how Stalin stressed the value of Lend-Lease aid: “He stated bluntly that if the United States had not helped us, we would not have won the war.” Comment - Tag - Share - Follow

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