The civilian casualties suffered by our Merchant marine do get lost in our WWII narrative..The Murmansk runs were pure hell.Another phase of American involvement and sacrifice of WWII, all the Americans who were lost at sea transporting those supplies and equipment to Russia. My father in law served on Liberty Ships. Never really got recognized for his service. Thankfully, he survived and came home or my first wife would not have been born.Never mind the African Campaign. Most Americans don't even know about the early days of the War..they think that it all began with Ike and D-day---victory after victory. They don't remember Kassarine Pass at all.The second front in Europe was begun on July 9, 1943, followed by an invasion of the Italian mainland on Sept 3, 1943.The US won the war in Europe?
The Soviets experienced one 911 per day every day for 24 years.
The equivalent of every American east of Chicago dying at Nazi hands.
"It was the Soviet army that broke Hitler's back at Stalingrad, but the myth that the American army liberated Europe, serves aggressive U.S. policy, including Trump targeting Iran...."
Why did the allies wait until 1944 to open a "Second Front" in Europe?
"You have to remember that in May of ’42, Roosevelt took the initiative to ask Stalin to send Molotov and a trusted general to Washington D.C.
"He met there with them.
"And during that meeting he turns to General Marshall, and he says, can the United States open up the second front before the end of 1942, open up the second front in Europe?
"And Marshall says yes.
"And then they issue a proclamation committing the United States to open up a second front."
Two years after the Soviets tore the guts out of Hitler's war machine.
D Day: Mythology of America as Liberator Feeds Trump’s Militarism
Yes, The Russians took it on the chin..after Hitler reneged on his deal with Stalin. But--there WAS a deal. Russia would have been fine with Hitler doing whatever..as long as he kept it out of Russia. So..to some extent, Stalin reaped what he sowed.
The Russian counter-offensives were fueled by American resource. I take nothing away from the Russian sacrifice--but let it be known that without American support...Russia probably would have lost--Britain also..for that matter.
"The Red Army used a large number of lend-lease tanks and other armoured vehicles from the USA, Great Britain and Canada.
A total of 22,800 armoured vehicles were delivered to the Red Army during World War II, of which 1,981 were lost in dangerous Arctic convoys. These deliveries represented about 20 percent of the total number of armoured vehicles produced by Russia during the war. Specifically, this was 16 per cent of Russian main battle tanks, 12 per cent of Russian self-propelled gun carriages and tank destroyers, and 100 per cent of Russian infantry fighting vehicles, as Russia did not manufacture any armoured infantry fighting vehicles during the Second World War.
The first deliveries of tanks took place already in 1941, namely 487 Matilda II tanks, Valentine and Tetrarch from UK as well as 182 M3A1 Stuart and medium tanks M3 Lee from the USA.
In 1942 Britain delivered another 2,487 tanks and the USA 3,023. The first Russian units equipped with these lend-lease tanks went into action with Valentine and Matilda tanks at Staraya Russia and in the Valdai area in December 1941 and January 1942.
At the beginning of 1943 there were 1,023 lend-lease tanks in Russian units, although 6,179 had been delivered since 1941. In the years 1944 and 1945, with the large access of American M4A2 Sherman, some Tank Corps and Mechanized Corps were equipped exclusively with this tank type. The M4A2 Sherman was not as brilliant a design as the Russian T-34 tank, but in the subsequent conflicts in Korea and the Middle East the US tank was – despite the superiority of the T-34 on paper – always the winner between the two.
Of much more decisive importance for Russian warfare, however, were the deliveries of motor vehicles, especially from the United States. During the Second World War, Russia built only 343,624 cars and trucks, since the major automobile manufacturers, such as the GAZ factories, were used to manufacture armoured combat vehicles. The USA alone supplied the Russians with 501,660 tactical wheeled and tracked vehicles, including 77,972 Jeeps, 151,053 1.5 t trucks and 200,622 2.5 t trucks."
Lend-Lease tanks and aircrafts
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/battle-of-the-kasserine-pass
Running the Gauntlet: The Murmansk Run & WWII’s Arctic Convoys
"Thousands of cargo ships, manned by tens of thousands of brave British, Canadian, and American civilian merchant mariners, along with Navy and Coast Guard personnel, made the hazardous voyages carrying invaluable supplies to America’s chief Allies—Great Britain and the Soviet Union—months before, and years after, the United States was propelled into the war on December 7, 1941.
The voyages across the North Atlantic and from Iceland to the Russian ports of Murmansk, Archangel, and Kola Inlet involved more hazards than in any other kind of naval duty. Severe weather was commonplace. Ice fields could be encountered at any time of year. Floating mines were a constant menace. German submarines, surface craft, and warplanes could strike at will from nearby bases in German-occupied Norway. And, prior to the spring of 1943, when an effective Allied antisubmarine offensive got underway, ships and men making the so-called “Murmansk Run” had about one chance in three of returning."
