XIII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2021

ПОМОЩЬ СОЮЗНИКОВ СОВЕТСКОМУ СОЮЗУ ВО ВРЕМЯ ВТОРОЙ МИРОВОЙ ВОЙНЫ

Черногор А.А.

Научный руководитель: Попкова О.В.

Владимирский государственный университет имени Александра Григорьевича и Николая Григорьевича Столетовых

Владимир, Россия

ASSISTANCE OF THE ALLIES TO THE SOVIET UNION DURING WORLD WAR II

Chernogor A.A.

Scientific advisor: Popkova O.V.

Vladimir State University named after Alexander Grigoryevich and Nikolay

Grigoryevich Stoletovs

Vladimir, Russia

Аннотация: В статье рассматривается экономическая и военная помощь, оказанная союзниками Советскому Союзу во время Второй мировой войны, политические предпосылки формирования антигитлеровской коалиции и этапы формирования союзного договора. В статье также отражены послевоенные отношения стран в рамках союзного договора.

Abstract: The article deals with the economic and military assistance rendered by the Allies to the Soviet Union during World War II, political prerequisites for the formation of the anti-Hitler coalition and the stages of the formation of the Union Treaty. The article also reflects the post-war relations of the countries within the framework of the Union Treaty.

Ключевые слова: вторая мировая война, помощь союзников, Ленд-Лиз, высадка в Нормандии, взятие Берлина, Потсдамская конференция.

Keyword: Second World War, the allied aid, Lend-Lease, the Normandy landing, the capture of Berlin, the Potsdam conference.

The second world war of 1939-1945 was the largest war in the history of humanity. Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and militaristic Japan expanded their spheres of influence irresistibly in an effort to re-divide the world. Their goal was also to review the results of the Versailles peace Treaty of 1919 and the Washington conference on the limitation of naval weapons; as well as the problems of the Far East in 1921-1922, which established an unfavorable balance of power for Japan between the states in China and the Pacific. The totalitarian regime made it possible to increase the military power not only of these states, but also of the entire world. Military operations took place on the territory of 40 states. More than 80% of the world's population was involved in this bloodbath. Only the efforts of the USSR and the allies managed to break the spine of this deadly machine.

In the 30-40s of the XX century all international politics was more precarious than ever. The Union Treaty between the U.S.S.R., Britain, France, and, of course, the United States could not have been signed for so long. Not all these countries were seen as allies of the Communist government at that time. Simultaneously, the U.S.S.R. was not yet ready for a solid alliance with the capitalists. The activities of the Comintern hindered the establishment of friendly relations. The US created a Pact to provide humanitarian assistance to Europe from the aggressor country. Propaganda in the United States showed that they wanted to see the USSR as such an aggressor. That was probably why Stalin did not want to expose the Union as an aggressor in the confrontation with Germany. Everyone understood that all agreements could be terminated during this period. Therefore, the order not to give in to provocations on the border played a cruel joke on June 22, 1941.

Already on July 12, 1941, the Soviet-British agreement on joint actions against Germany and its allies was signed in Moscow, which served as the beginning of the formation of the anti-Hitler coalition against the axis countries. On July 18, 1941, the government of the USSR signed an agreement with the government of Czechoslovakia, and on July 30 – with the government of Poland on a joint fight against the common enemy. Since Nazi Germany occupied the territory of these countries, their governments were located in London, which served as an additional guarantee of the promotion of British interests on the content. On August 2, 1941, a military-economic agreement was signed with the United States. At the Moscow meeting held in September-October 1941, the USSR, Great Britain and the United States considered the issue of mutual military supplies and signed the first Protocol on them.

The Axis powers were not idle. In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the American military base at Pearl Harbor in the Pacific Ocean. On December 8, Japan declared war on the United States, Great Britain, and a number of other States; on December 11, following Japan, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

Thus, two military units of the Second World War entered the theater of operations. [1]

The contribution of individual countries to achieving the goals of the anti-Hitler coalition was different. The United States, Great Britain, France, and China participated in the struggle against the countries of the fascist bloc with their own armed forces. Separate formations of some other countries of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, India, Canada, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and others also took part in the fighting. Some of the States of the anti-Hitler coalition helped their main participants mainly by supplying military raw materials.

The U.S. Congress passed the Lend-Lease act on March 11, 1941, but the Soviet Union did not immediately begin receiving aid. According to documents, the USSR was officially included in the lend-lease program only on June 11, 1942.

According to official American data, at the end of September 1945, 14,795 aircraft, 7,056 tanks, 8,218 anti-aircraft guns and 131,600 machine guns were sent to the USSR from the United States; 3384 aircraft and 4292 tanks – from Great Britain (until April 30, 1944); from Canada, 1188 tanks were delivered, which took a direct part in helping the USSR in the summer of 1943. All products supplied were fully paid for by the Soviet Union, both for the cargo that reached it and for the lost one. Some of the American cargo (about 1 million tons) did not reach the Soviet Union, because the enemy destroyed it during the transportation.

In general, US military supplies during the war accounted for 4% of Soviet military production. As payment, the Soviet Union gave the States 300,000 tons of chrome ore, 32,000 tons of manganese ore, and a significant amount of platinum, gold, and wood for Lend-Lease supplies.

In the USSR, there were about ten food delivery routes through lend-lease. Many of them took place in areas of intense military operations. The first deliveries were carried out in absolute secrecy, the sailors did not know what was being delivered and where exactly. In the subsequent years, the supply of lend-lease was one of the most difficult. German aircraft shelled caravans of ships, planes were shot down. There was a tense game of intelligence agencies of all countries for maintaining secrecy.

The main routes were along the Pacific Ocean through the Far East (about 47.1% of all cargo), through the North Atlantic, skirting Scandinavia - to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk (about 22.6%), through the South Atlantic, the Persian Gulf and Iran (23.8%), through the Black sea ports (3.9%), through the Arctic - 2.6%. Aircraft moved by sea and independently (up to 80%) on the way to Alaska-Chukotka. [5]

Aid from the allies went beyond the lend-lease program. In the United States, in particular, the Committee "Russia War Relief" was created, during the war it collected and sent to the USSR goods worth more than one and a half billion dollars. In England, Clementine Churchill the Prime Minister’s wife headed such a Committee. [4]

Diplomatic interaction between the countries did not stop. On November 28-December 1, 1943 at the conference in Tehran, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt agreed to open the Second front in Western Europe.

In February 1945, the Yalta conference was held. The heads of USSR, USA and UK considered the questions of the postwar world and Soviet participation in the war with Japan. On February 11, 1945, an agreement was signed at the conference, which resulted in the USSR's commitment to enter the war against Japan on the side of the allies two or three months after the German capitulation. Mongolia's sovereignty would be preserved and Russia's rights violated by the treacherous attack of Japan in 1904 would be restored. At the same time, the issue of opening of the second front was finally resolved. But the landing in France was repeatedly postponed. As a result, the US President Franklin Roosevelt issued an ultimatum to the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. If the British had refused to land in 1944, the United States would have been forced to move inactive landing facilities to the Pacific Ocean.

On the eve of the operation “Neptune”, a huge American force was assembled in England: 1,100,000 ground troops, 124,000 sailors, 427,000 personnel, and one air force staff member.

The designation "D-Day" in the allied headquarters corresponded to the conventional, pre-known day of the beginning of operations. The operation of land allied troops in Northern France was codenamed "Overlord". Actually, the naval landing in Normandy was held as the operation “Neptune". This amphibious operation was the largest in the history of wars.

The allies had managed to turn the situation around only by the end of July. On the twenty-fifth, the expeditionary forces launched a general offensive along the entire front. Due to their numerical superiority over the enemy, they immediately broke through the German defenses, liberated the Brittany Peninsula, and blocked the ports of Saint-Malo, Brest, and Saint-Nazaire. A large group of Hitlerisms near the city of Falaise was surrounded. By August 25, the main forces of the 1st American, 2nd British, and st Canadian armies had reached the Seine in a broad front, liberated Paris, and occupied all of northwestern France. In a matter of weeks, the allies made their way to the Western border of Germany and wedged themselves into the fortified Siegfried line. [3]

In December, the Wehrmacht command made the last attempt to turn the tide of the war and launched the Ardennes operation to defeat the allied forces and withdraw them from the war. After a brief successful offensive, the German forces were stopped and in the course of the counteroffensive they were driven back across the Rhine. The German operation "Watch on the Rhine" did not achieve the goal of a separate peace with the Allies and the elimination of the second front. In Soviet popular historiography it is generally believed that the Red Army offensive, which began on Stalin's orders and had started earlier than planned at the request of the allies, saved the allies from being defeated in the Ardennes. However, it is one of many legends. In the letter to Stalin dated January 5, Churchill wrote that there was no doubt about the outcome of the battle. In the letter dated January 6, he only asked about the plans of the Soviet command, which of course they wanted to know for planning their own operations. [2]

The meeting on the Elbe was an event of the final stage of combat operations of the armed forces of the anti-Hitler coalition in Europe. The historic meeting of the allies took place on the Elbe on April 25, 1945, near the town of Torgau. Then parts and divisions of the 69th infantry division of the first American army and the 58th rifle division, which was part of the troops of the first Ukrainian front, commanded by Marshal Ivan Konev, met. A picture of the Soviet and American lieutenants who first shook hands during the fraternization of allied troops on the Elbe, in a few hours, went around the world's publications. Moscow saluted the meeting in Torgau with 24 volleys of 324 guns, the same celebrations were held in Times Square in New-York. Meetings of soldiers of the US and the British armies with Soviet soldiers and officers resulted in the demonstration of friendship of fellow soldiers.

Because of the meeting of the allied forces, the remnants of the German Armed forces were split into two parts — the North and the South. The allied plans for the capture of Berlin served to force the Berlin operation. On May 2, 1945, Berlin capitulated. Since July 17, 1945, Potsdam hosted the last meeting of the heads of the Soviet Union, The USA and Britain during the Second World War. It lasted until August 2. The meeting put an end to the fight against Nazi Germany. Germany and Berlin itself were divided into four occupation zones of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain and France.

Список используемой литературы:

1. В поисках союзников. СССР и Западные державы в канун Второй мировой войны. [Электронный ресурс], – https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/v-poiskah-soyuznikov-sssr-i-zapadnye-derzhavy-v-kanun-vtoroy-mirovoy-voyny

2. Горячий берег. Как союзники высаживались в Нормандии. [Электронный ресурс], – https://ria.ru/20190606/1555296453.html

3. Крупнейшая десантная операция в истории. Высадка союзников в Нормандии. [Электронный ресурс], – https://tass.ru/info/6509411

4. СССР и Союзники в годы Второй мировой войны. [Электронный ресурс], – https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/sssr-i-soyuzniki-v-gody-vtoroy-mirovoy-voyny-chelovecheskoe-izmerenie-sotrudnichestva (

5. «Существенная, но не решающая». Вся правда о военной помощи американцев СССР в годы Войны. [Электронный ресурс], – https://histrf.ru/biblioteka/b/sushchiestviennaia-no-nie-rieshaiushchaia-vsia-pravda-o-voiennoi-pomoshchi-amierikantsiev-v-ghody-voiny