They're not strictly-speaking weapons, but the Soviets received a positively mammoth amount of trucks from the US. Russia didn't really need weapons as much as it needed help ferrying supplies across its rather sizable territory.
History questions not worth their own thread V
- Thread starter Plotinus
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Oh, of course. Even if the Soviet stuff was of the same quality as the American stuff, why use your own stuff when you can save money by using someone else's instead?
MilesGregarius
Half-baked Renegade
Not just Eagle Squadrons, which were US pilots in the RAF. The USN used them during the Normandy landings as spotters, and a few fighter squadrons flew them in the Med.
The Soviets got a good deal of US equipment. Beyond soft-skinned transport, the Soviets received US-built Stuart, Lee, and Sherman tanks, P-39 and P-63 fighters, and A-20 light bombers.
The Soviets also got quite a bit of UK weaponry, particularly Hurricane fighters, Valentine tanks, and universal carriers. They also got some Churchills and Matildas.
Sure. Except, in the case of the Airacobra, the Soviet stuff was markedly inferior. And after the Sherman was upgunned, it was a better all-around tank than pretty much any T-34.
I never said the Soviet stuff was as good or superior. Merely that even if it was, it would make sense to use US equipment. Unless, of course, the Soviet materiel was vastly superior, which it never was.
MilesGregarius
Half-baked Renegade
Markedly inferior is pushing it. Neither the Stuart nor the Lee was better than native Soviet equipment. The Sherman, of which the Soviets did receive some 76mm-armed versions, was at a decided disadvantage to the T-34 in terms of mobility until the HVSS versions (which the Soviets never received) and presented a much higher silhouette - a cardinal sin in the eyes of the Soviets. You can argue the merits of the Sherman versus the T-34 all you want, but the Soviets themselves preferred the strengths of the T-34 to those of the Sherman.
Yeah, most of the tanks we shipped east were pretty crappy, I agree, and yeah, the Sherman was kinda up and down in some respects. I was only saying that the P-39 was better than pretty much any natively developed Soviet airframe during the war. So I guess I should've reordered those sentences to make what I was referring to clearer.
MilesGregarius
Half-baked Renegade
The Soviets didn't lack so much in airframes as in everything else that went with a modern aircraft - gunsights, cockpit ventilation, cockpit heating, electrical systems, et cetera. The Soviets were quite content with their native fighters, but they appreciated the extras that allowed pilots to get more out of the P-39.
r16
not deity
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ı would disagree about the P-39 to some extent . As once mentioned it's really surprising to see they were front line equipment in 1945 , Yak-9 / 3 and La-5 / 7s were quite capable machines even without the "American" extras .
looking up for Reverse Lend-Lease might turn up some statistics as well .
Edit : Out of curiosity ı did and not much appears . Apart from this maybe :"Through the course of the war, the US received around $7.8 billion in Reverse Lend-Lease aid with $6.8 of it coming from Britain and the Commonwealth nations." ı believe the Americans turned over 36 Billions themselves . ı think some 600 Spitfires and a certain amount of Beaufigter Nightfighters were useful additions before American equivalents were fielded and Mosquito as recon planes were more "impressive" than the F-4 / 5s ; the last were P-38 versions with cameras .
looking up for Reverse Lend-Lease might turn up some statistics as well .
Edit : Out of curiosity ı did and not much appears . Apart from this maybe :"Through the course of the war, the US received around $7.8 billion in Reverse Lend-Lease aid with $6.8 of it coming from Britain and the Commonwealth nations." ı believe the Americans turned over 36 Billions themselves . ı think some 600 Spitfires and a certain amount of Beaufigter Nightfighters were useful additions before American equivalents were fielded and Mosquito as recon planes were more "impressive" than the F-4 / 5s ; the last were P-38 versions with cameras .
CaptainLost
Oberleutnant
Thanks very much, everyone, you guys are great! You told me everything I wanted to know and more. 
MilesGregarius
Half-baked Renegade
Understood, but some USAAF units that were never part of the RAF also flew Spits.
Domen
Misico dux Vandalorum
You know, Domen, if you're going to quote me from two months ago, I'd prefer you didn't alter my quote and kept in the 'go-to-post' tags.
Two months is not really a long time.
Domen
Misico dux Vandalorum
There is never too late for comedy!
Not by Domen's standards, no.
Serutan
Eatibus Anythingibus
How much did Stalin have to do with the Red Army's defeat at Warsaw in 1920? IIRC he
was Tukhachevskii's political officer or some such.
was Tukhachevskii's political officer or some such.
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