The Role of Lend-Lease in Securing Allied Victory - Essay Example

?Contents Contents Introduction 2 Background 2 Lend – Lease Act 3 Impact 4 Repayment 7 Conclusion 8 Bibliography 10 Introduction History has provedthat military battles and conflicts have been triggered by economic, political and social reasons. However, it has been rare that a single policy or act has had an impact across these factors. The Lend – Lease Act of 1941 is one such piece of legislation during the Second World War that significantly impacted its direction. Hence, in the below report, we study the role of the Act in the victory of the allied powers. As we delve on the effects of the Act, it is revealed that the formulation of the Act was based as much on the events of the time as it was on economic sense. However, the trigger for the development of the Act was the position of Germany in Europe. Germany had conquered France and had thus completed the conquest of mainland Europe and had broken its peace agreement with Britain by attacking it. Although the Royal Air force had proved a key force in defending the country in the Battle of Britain, the war machinery of the country had weakened and it was struggling to hold its position. Germany was consolidating its position in Europe and was preparing to attack the Soviet Union. Background The allied powers of Britain and France remained passive in spite of the growth of the German war machinery. In fact, they remained quite even after Czechoslovakia was attacked and attempted to protect their immediate interests. Britain and France declared war on Germany when it attacked Poland however France fell into German hands soon after. America was able to maintain its non – involvement through its physical isolation. President Roosevelt time and again stressed that it was not their war and intended to stay away from it. Subsequently, when war reached the shores of the British mainland, the United States began to act and President Roosevelt called for a legislation to ‘Promote the Defense of the United States’. Although it took many months for the act to come into motion, the terms took shape much earlier. The Lend – Lease Act which provided supplies to the USSR was much more complicated and took more time. However, Britain had initiated help to the USSR much before the United States and supplied a small but significant number of tanks and aircrafts in 1941 – 42. Sensing that the German offensive had begun to weaken on the eastern front, the United States became more involved in its aid to the USSR. Hence, a significant amount of American aid to Russia followed only after the victories of the Red Army on the eastern front. Lend – Lease Act The Lend - Lease Act was approved by the US Congress on 11th March 1941. It was the arrangement through which all war supplies that included food, machinery and other services apart from weapons were transferred to nations whose security was considered important to the security of the US. The Lend – Lease Act also gave powers to the President of the United States to decide the terms of repayment and also decide on the time period up to which the recipient nations would receive aid, mentioned in the act as "The terms and conditions upon which any such foreign government receives any aid authorized under subsection (a) shall be those which the President deems satisfactory, and the benefit to the United States may be payment or repayment in kind or property, or any other direct or indirect benefit which the President deems satisfactory" (Lend - Lease Act, 1941). The Act contained only 11 sections but it would prove to have a wide ranging impact at the time and beyond since many of the clauses gave the President a great deal of power. Unspecified powers were given to the President in terms of support that could be extended through the act. Lend – Lease activities continued not only between the US and other allied nations but also between the allied nations themselves such as Britain and the USSR, etc. However, the United States was the main contributor to the other nations and by mid 1945, when it was called off, nearly $50 billion was extended under appropriation to many nations which constituted nearly 13% of the total military budget of the United States at the time. This gives us an idea of the significance of the Act and the amount of resources that were allocated to it. The British Commonwealth was the main beneficiary and had received nearly $31 billion while the USSR received nearly $11 billion. Repayment methods and terms depended on the nation borrowing the aid and the schedule, for some nations exceeding nearly 50 years (CEE, 2010). This implied that during the war, the beneficiary nations of the Lend – Lease agreement could defer the payment for the American goods received until after the war. The Act also negated any existing restrictions to the purchase of American goods by the recipient nations thus giving them free – access to the industrial output of the United States. In addition, France was also a beneficiary of the Lend – Lease agreement. It would be important to note at this point in time that Canada also contributed through the Lend – Lease Act to Britain and her war effort while the commonwealth nations such as China were also allocated resources to defend themselves (Lebedev, 1997). Impact The Lend – Lease agreement between the allied powers had an impact on the military, industrial and political happenings of the time. Its primary impact was felt in Britain. The immediate impact of the Act was that it gave a boost to the UK war effort by sharing the burden of weapons and machinery production. The US was able to account for 104% of Britain’s production of tanks, nearly a quarter of combat aircrafts, 60% of ships and landing aircraft and two – thirds of the small arms and ammunition during the war (Floud & Johnson, 2004). Britain in turn supplied a great deal of war machinery to the USSR after the losses it suffered on the eastern front. In fact, by the end of 1941, British supplies constituted nearly a third of the medium and heavy tanks of the Red Army (Hill, 2009). It is the position of the Russian government that the Red Army was single – handedly able to fend off the German aggression on the eastern front, however post the break – up of the Soviet Union in 1991, reports have emerged that contribute a number of successes of the USSR to the Lend – Lease aid of the allied powers. The USSR government held that only 4% of Soviet production during the war was supplied by the allied powers. In fact, post the split of the USSR, some historians have suggested that it would not have been possible for the Soviet Union to win the Great Patriotic War were it not for the allied supplies. Let us therefore look at the scale and form of the Lend – Lease aid provided to different nations (Hill, 2009). The first period of aid to the USSR which constituted the first Lend – Lease Protocol provided limited aid until June 1942 and constituted mainly of medium tanks and aircrafts. Another important factor is that these supplies were not to the specifications desired by the USSR; however, they proved extremely crucial since the production inside the country was not able to meet the demand. As a result, these supplies were immediately put into action and hence constituted the war effort. One of the reasons that the Soviet production was not able to keep pace with the high demand was that a number of their industrial installations had either been destroyed by the advancing Nazi troops or had been evacuated as a result of their advance. Hence, during this period of late 1941 – 1942 any supplies of machinery proved significant, no matter how small. However, Britain was able to contribute a significant portion of the Soviet tank and aircraft composition during this period. In fact, the Soviet Union had lost nearly 20,500 tanks in a 6 – month period starting June 1941 when the German offensive began and was left with only 670 to defend Moscow. In this light, the British delivery of 466 tanks, although small – medium build proved extremely significant to the revival of the Red Army. The British also quickly provided the technical know – how and training required for the operation of the tanks. In addition, by December 1941, the Soviet Union also benefitted from nearly 700 aircrafts of the allied make and almost 15% of the air force strength defending Moscow consisted of Tomahawks or Hurricanes (Hill, 2008). During this period, the main route for the delivery of supplies was through the Northern Sea whereas supplies from the United States were routed through the Iraqi port of Basra. However, as the war progressed into 1942, the United States became increasingly involved in the Lend - Lease program in Europe especially with respect to the Soviet Union. New routes were opened up and a significant amount of aid was transferred to the country. This was in part as a result of the earlier successes of the USSR against the German troops. The United States sensed the weakening German presence and not only increased the amount of aid but also changed its nature. The USSR grew from receiving light to medium tanks and light aircraft to heavy ammunition, anti – aircraft artillery, etc. In fact, half of all American tanks shipped until 1943 had been to the USSR and nearly 40% of tactical planes were also shipped to USSR. In addition, nearly 100,000 transport vehicles consisting of trucks, jeeps and armored cars were also provided to the USSR (Life, 1943). However, as the German forces retreated, the USSR regained its capability to produce the necessary war machinery, however, it still lacked a number of other supplies such as munitions, transport vehicles, etc for which it still relied on the lend – lease agreement. Through the Act, the United States and to a much lesser extent Canada were able to supply the additional support which also included food to their allies in Europe. Repayment It is important to look at the nature of repayment of the aid given to the allied powers since it was one of the factors that determined the likelihood that the recipient nations would accept aid in the first place. The reverse Lend – Lease, as it is called also proved to be an important factor in the allied offensive later on in the war when they attacked the German and other axis forces. However, reverse Lend – Lease gains significance once the entire war is considered, not only the developments in Europe, but those in North Africa, the Pacific and the far – east. Britain and other allied powers that received Lend – Lease aid used their resources and strengths in their colonies to repay the debt that they had incurred. Britain provided support for American troops in Panama, Australia and many other locations where the US had stationed troops in the Pacific. This helped American react to the attack on Pearl Harbor more decisively and consolidate its position in the Pacific once it had gained victory over the Japanese. Scientific know – how was another common but less known form through which repayment was made. For example, British scientific advancements were used in the manufacture of advanced guns which were once manufactured in Britain and subsequently shifted to the United States. Britain also agreed to lease bases in the Caribbean and New Found land to the United States for 99 years in exchange for 50 destroyers it received (Stettinius, 1942). In the period from June 1942 to 1943, Britain provided the US forces with nearly half of the engineer, medical, Air Corps and chemical warfare service supplies (ALMA, 2006). In terms of dollar value, the United States received $8 billon mainly from Britain. Therefore, it is important to look at the repayment of the Lend – Lease aid in terms of facilities, support, bases, etc apart from monetary returns to assess its true value. Hence, it would be safe to say that America benefitted significantly from the Lend – Lease Act and the larger war effort gained doubly from the cooperation of the allied powers. Through a coordination of effort, the allied powers were firstly able to maintain their strength in Britain once the Battle of Britain had been won, resist the German advance on the eastern front and stage a revival that eventually led to the fall of Berlin, resist the Japanese advance in China and the Pacific and help retaliate against its invasion on the Pearl Harbor and finally consolidate enough resources to stage an attack on Germany in Europe that finally ended the war in Europe (Dobson. 1986). It is hard to precisely estimate the effect of the Lend – Lease agreement but is best hypothesized by predicting the situation in its absence. Without the aid given to Britain, it is likely that it would not be able to sustain its resistance against the German offensive and had both Europe and Britain fallen to the Germans, its offensive on the eastern front would have gathered momentum in the face of a weakened Russian despite its resistance in Stalingrad and Moscow. Japanese occupation of China and an enhanced position in the Pacific would have meant that the United States would have been alone to fight the Axis Powers by itself. The Lend – Lease in part helped prevent the war from advancing onto the shores of the United States (Commager, 2004; Taylor, 1965). Conclusion A number of battles during the Second World War proved that they were decided solely on the resources available to them. The Lend – Lease act helped provide many nations with the required support. By distributing resources to a number of nations, the United States was able to form various alliances that helped it later on in the war as they fought a common enemy and thus prevented the war advancing onto the shores of America. In fact, the cooperation of Russia and the other allied powers show how future enemies came together. It increased the technical knowhow of the American war machinery as a result of technical transfers. It significantly stimulated the US industry and thereby helped maintain its economic strength. This would prove to be a significant factor in itself since industrial output became imperative for such a long drawn war. It helped US's own war effort in the Pacific and helped resist the advance of Japan. The successes of the United States against Japan was imperative since it had become extremely strong and surrendered only months after the surrender of Germany. Finally, it led to reverse Lend – Lease which enhanced the position of America significantly and turned it in the favor of the allies. Many of the effects of the Lend – Lease agreement were unintended but fruitful. It also had a number of post – war implications, however, its impact on the war cannot be overstated (ALMA, 2000). Therefore, the Lend – Lease Act was not a simple economic or military policy and had wide ranging effects, the most important of which was the advancement of the war effort and the protection of the United States and its allies. Hence, the Lend – Lease act was able to realize its objectives. Bibliography ALMA. 2000. The Logistics of War.. DIANE Publishing. Alabama ALMA (Air Force Logistics Management Agency) 2006. Old Lessons New Thoughts...DIANE Publishing. Alabama. Barth, A. 1943. Lend – Lease Works both ways. Nation. Vol. 157. Issue 6. P148-150. CEE (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). 2010. Lend-Lease. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edn. Commager, H. 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