• PolandIsAStateOfMind
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    22 days ago

    Lend lease was something around 4% of total Soviet war materials used, it only started to arrive in noticeable amounts in 1943, and a lot of arms send were more or less obsolete crap like the M3 Lee tanks or Airacobra fighters. It did have some effects like large number of US trucks freed some Soviet manufacturing to produce something else or when abovementioned obsolete crap was issued to second line troops allowing for more concentration of good equipment, but overall it was FAR from the importance murican propaganda makes you believe it had.

    • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      22 days ago

      Thanks for bringing up the raw figures, I always think its like 10% but thats still a wild overestimate. That’s why I mentioned things like food or the trucks because I do remember reading that those were quite helpful and they benefitted the civilian population as well as the Red Army. American propaganda would have you believing that Sherman tanks with red stars were rolling through Berlin with the amount of “but Lend-Lease!” that they toss about.

      It’s funny that American propaganda is so nazi apologist they’d have you believe the Sherman was a shitty tank compared to “zee über panzer.” The Sherman was a dependable tank with some flaws and oversights but it still had some good features and it could be upgraded to make it more competitive. That’s about the best you can hope for when you’re jumping into a giant war with a debut design.