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94-597: The Rifle, .303 Pattern 1914 (or P14) was a British service rifle of the First World War period, principally manufactured under contract by companies in the United States. It was a bolt-action weapon with an integral 5-round magazine. It served as a sniper rifle and as second-line and reserve issue, until declared obsolete in 1947. The Pattern 1914 Enfield was the successor to the Pattern 1913 Enfield experimental rifle and

188-533: A 15-page letter for American help. In his December 29, 1940 Fireside Chat radio broadcast, President Roosevelt proclaimed the United States would be the " Arsenal of Democracy " and proposed selling munitions to Britain and Canada. Isolationists were strongly opposed, warning it would result in American involvement with what was considered by most Americans as an essentially European conflict. In time, opinion shifted as increasing numbers of Americans began to consider

282-536: A design fed from a five-round internal box magazine. With its prominent sight protection ears on the receiver, "dog-leg" bolt handle and "pot-belly" magazine, it was distinctive in appearance. The action was essentially a Mauser design with some Lee–Enfield features and optimised for rapid fire, with the action cocking on closing, a feature highly valued by the British Army with its emphasis on riflemen highly trained for rapid fire, but less valued in other armies, such as

376-519: A loss of labour; between 1941 and 1945, 19.5 million working-age men had to leave their farms to work in the military and industry. Agricultural issues were also compounded when the Soviets were on the offensive, as areas liberated from the Axis had been devastated and contained millions of people who needed to be fed. Lend-Lease thus provided a massive quantity of foodstuffs and agricultural products. According to

470-570: A matter of days. In turn, this would have allowed the German commanders to escape at least some encirclements, while forcing the Red Army to prepare and conduct many more deliberate penetration attacks in order to advance the same distance. Left to their own devices, Stalin and his commanders might have taken twelve to eighteen months longer to finish off the Wehrmacht; the ultimate result would probably have been

564-540: A rapid expansion of the United States Navy . In the meantime, Great Britain was running out of liquid currency and asked not to be forced to sell off British assets. Hampered by public opinion and the Neutrality Acts, which forbade arms sales on credit or the lending of money to belligerent nations, Roosevelt eventually came up with the idea of "lend–lease". As one Roosevelt biographer has characterized it: "If there

658-417: A recess in the receiver. Much faster and smoother to operate than a Model 98 Mauser, the bolt was well-supported throughout its travel and the camming action on opening and closing the bolt facilitated ease and speed of operation. The unusual 'dog-leg' shaped bolt handle is low profile and places the bolt knob just rearwards of the trigger close to the firer's hand, again facilitating rapid cycling and fire. Like

752-606: The Korean War . The P14/No3Mk1 was declared obsolete in British service in 1947. Surplus P14s were sold throughout the Commonwealth, especially Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, where they proved popular for full-bore target shooting, and being sporterised for game shooting. Adapting the design to fire the standard .303 British round led to the Rifle, .303 Pattern 1914 (P14),

846-677: The Neutrality Acts of the 1930s . It was a decisive step away from non-interventionist policy and toward open support for the Allies. Lend-Lease's precise significance to Allied victory in World War II is debated. Khrushchev claimed that Stalin told him that Lend-Lease enabled the Soviet Union to defeat Germany. The 1930s began with one of the world's greatest economic depressions , and the later recession of 1937–1938 (although minor relative to

940-672: The No3Mk1 . Prior to and during World War II , over 670,000 Pattern 1914 Enfields were used, after undergoing modification ("Weedon Repair Standard", formally the Mk II standard) in the UK, mainly as a rearguard rifle. The modification consisted of armourers at the Weedon Royal Ordnance Depot or various other commercial companies inspecting the rifles, removing the volley sights and performing any necessary repair prior to issue. Post Dunkirk and with

1034-461: The Pattern 1913 Enfield (P13); effective mass production was still not in effect when World War I started, due to the logistical issues that introducing a new rifle cartridge in wartime would cause, so nothing came of it. The primary contractor ( Vickers ) was unable to produce more than a handful of rifles, so the P14 became a de facto afterthought. The Short Magazine Lee–Enfield therefore remained

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1128-651: The Soviet Union , France , the Republic of China , and other Allied nations of the Second World War with food , oil , and materiel between 1941 and 1945. The aid was given free of charge on the basis that such help was essential for the defense of the United States. The Lend-Lease Act was signed into law on March 11, 1941, and ended on September 20, 1945. A total of $ 50.1 billion (equivalent to $ 672 billion in 2023 when accounting for inflation) worth of supplies

1222-606: The Springfield Model 1873 was the first single-shot breech-loading rifle adopted by the United States War Department for manufacture and widespread issue to U.S. troops. The development of Poudre B smokeless powder in 1884, introduced with the French Lebel Model 1886 rifle , spelt the end of gunpowder warfare and led to a jump in small arms development. By the beginning of World War I , all of

1316-546: The StG 44 , which is capable of controllable fully automatic fire from a 30-round magazine with the newly developed 7.92x33mm Kurz intermediate rifle cartridge. After the war, the StG 44 was of particular interest to the Soviet Union, whose AK-47 was derived heavily from the German design. In the 1960s and 1970s, the United States developed and produced the M16 rifle , cementing the applicability of

1410-528: The Tizard Mission to the United States. The aim of the British Technical and Scientific Mission was to obtain the industrial resources to exploit the military potential of the research and development work completed by the UK up to the beginning of World War II , but that Britain itself could not exploit due to the immediate requirements of war-related production. The British shared technology included

1504-619: The assault rifle as an effective and versatile combat weapon for future conflicts. Lend-Lease Lend-Lease , formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States ( Pub. L.   77–11 , H.R. 1776, 55  Stat.   31 , enacted March 11, 1941 ), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom ,

1598-786: The cavity magnetron (key technology at the time for highly effective radar ; the American historian James Phinney Baxter III later called "the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores"), the design for the VT fuze , details of Frank Whittle 's jet engine and the Frisch–Peierls memorandum describing the feasibility of an atomic bomb. Though these may be considered the most significant, many other items were also transported, including designs for rockets , superchargers , gyroscopic gunsights , submarine detection devices, self-sealing fuel tanks and plastic explosives . On December 7, 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pressed Roosevelt in

1692-514: The "cash and carry" program, as required by the U.S. Neutrality Acts of the 1930s, but by 1941 it had liquidated a large part of its overseas holdings and its gold reserves were becoming depleted in paying for materiel from the United States. During this same period, the U.S. government began to mobilize for total war, instituting the first-ever peacetime draft and a fivefold increase in the defense budget (from $ 2 billion to $ 10 billion). The Two-Ocean Navy Act of July 1940 set in motion

1786-807: The 1840s and 1850s, such as the Swiss Infanteriegewehr Modell 1842 , the British Pattern 1853 Enfield , and the American Springfield Model 1840 and Springfield Model 1855 were all muzzleloading muskets. Ordnance rifles were introduced in the 1860s and 1870s, with the French Chassepot Model 1866 , the Swiss Peabody Gewehr Modell 1867 , and the Prussian Mauser Model 1871 . In the United States,

1880-575: The 1939 amendment to the previous Neutrality Acts marked the beginning of a congressional shift away from isolationism, making a first step toward interventionism. After the Fall of France during June 1940, the British Commonwealth and Empire were the only forces engaged in war against Germany and Italy , until the Italian invasion of Greece . Britain had been paying for its materiel with gold as part of

1974-455: The 19th century, but were not widely used until the mid-19th century in conflicts such as the Crimean War and American Civil War . Thus, rifles in the early 19th century were for specialist marksmen only, whilst ordinary infantry were issued less accurate smoothbore muskets which had a higher rate of fire, with bore diameters as high as 19 mm (0.75 inch). Early "service rifles" of

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2068-591: The Allied side, there was almost total reliance upon American industrial production, weaponry and especially unarmored vehicles purpose-built for military use, vital for the modern army's logistics and support. The USSR was very dependent on rail transport and starting during the latter half of the 1920s but accelerating during the 1930s (the Great Depression), hundreds of foreign industrial giants such as Ford were commissioned to construct modern dual-purpose factories in

2162-558: The Allied victory. Even after the United States forces in Europe and the Pacific began to attain full strength during 1943–1944, Lend-Lease continued. Most remaining Allies were largely self-sufficient in frontline equipment (such as tanks and fighter aircraft) by this time but Lend-Lease provided a useful supplement in this category and Lend-Lease logistical supplies (including motor vehicles and railroad equipment) were of enormous assistance. Much of

2256-435: The Allies during the war, to provide each other with goods, services, and mutual aid in the widest sense, without charging commercial payments. A total of $ 50.1 billion (equivalent to $ 672 billion in 2023) was involved, or 17% of the total war expenditures of the U.S. Most, $ 31.4 billion ($ 421 billion) went to Britain and its empire. Other recipients were led by $ 11.3 billion ($ 152 billion) to

2350-562: The Americans shipped over to us material without which we could not have equipped our armies held in reserve or been able to continue the war. David Glantz , an American military historian known for his books on the Eastern front, offers a similar view: Although Soviet accounts have routinely belittled the significance of Lend-Lease in the sustainment of the Soviet war effort, the overall importance of

2444-660: The Boer War experience which had led to the P13/P14 project, World War I conditions favoured volume of fire, at which the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield excelled. Service rifle If the issued weapon is not a rifle or carbine, but instead a different type of firearm intended to serve in a specialized role such as a combat shotgun , submachine gun , or light machine gun , it is called a service firearm or service weapon . Firearms with rifled barrels existed long before

2538-477: The Buffington battle sight of the 1903 Springfield. The front sighting element consisted of a wing guards protected front post, and was adjusted laterally and locked into position during assembly at the arsenal. The Pattern 1914 Enfield rear sight element was situated on an elongated receiver bridge, which added weight to the action, as well as lengthening the bolt. There were also volley-fire sights similar to those on

2632-625: The Great Depression) was otherwise also one of the worst of the 20th century. In 1934, following the Nye Committee hearings, as well as the publication of influential books such as Merchants of Death , the United States Congress adopted several Neutrality Acts in the 1930s , motivated by non-interventionism —following the aftermath of its costly involvement in World War I (the war debts were still not paid off), and seeking to ensure that

2726-542: The Lee–Enfield the Pattern 1914 Enfield was more accurate and more durable; however it was heavier – it weighed 8 lb 10 oz (3.91 kg) empty – and had only half the magazine capacity, giving it a significantly lower effective rate of fire. The pre-World War professional British Army emphasized marksmanship and rapid-fire training, resulting in the annual Mad minute qualification shoot for their riflemen. In contrast to

2820-453: The Lee–Enfield, the safety falls under the firer's thumb and can be operated silently. Due to the original Pattern 1913 Enfield action being designed around the high-powered .276 Enfield experimental cartridge with a larger diameter case than the .303 British, the internal box magazine capacity for the smaller diameter .303 British was six rounds, although the employed stripper clips held only five cartridges. The Pattern 1914 Enfield, as well as

2914-590: The Lend-Lease bill was strongest among isolationist Republicans in Congress, who feared the measure would be "the longest single step this nation has yet taken toward direct involvement in the war abroad". When the House of Representatives finally took a roll call vote on February 8, 1941, the 260 to 165 vote was largely along party lines. Democrats voted 236 to 25 in favor and Republicans 24 in favor and 135 against. The vote in

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3008-510: The Mauser Gewehr 98, did not have a magazine cut-off mechanism which when engaged permits the feeding and extraction of single cartridges only while keeping the cartridges in the magazine in reserve. The rifle was designed with an iron sight line consisting of rear receiver aperture battle sight calibrated for .303 British Mk VII ball ammunition at 300 yd (274 m) with an additional ladder aperture sight that could be flipped up and

3102-618: The Model of 1917. Sometimes called the M1917 Enfield , it was chambered for the standard US .30-06 Springfield cartridge and enjoyed some success as a complement to the Springfield M1903 rifles which were America's official standard issue, soon far surpassing the Springfield in total production and breadth of issue. In 1926 the Pattern 1914 Enfield was re-designated by the British military as

3196-576: The President deems vital to the defense of the United States] any defense article." In April, this policy was extended to China, and in October to the Soviet Union, which was attacked by Germany on 22 June 1941. Roosevelt approved $ 1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to Britain at the end of October 1941. This followed the 1940 Destroyers for Bases Agreement , whereby 50 US Navy destroyers were transferred to

3290-403: The President's proposal. When poll participants were asked their party affiliation, the poll revealed a political divide: 69% of Democrats were unequivocally in favor of Lend-Lease, whereas only 38% of Republicans favored the bill without qualification. At least one poll spokesperson also noted that "approximately twice as many Republicans" gave "qualified answers as ... Democrats." Opposition to

3384-485: The Red Army, eight percent of war-time production. A particular critical aspect of Lend-Lease was the supply of food. The invasion had cost the USSR a huge amount of its agricultural base; during the initial Axis offensive of 1941–42, the total sown area of the USSR fell by 41.9% and the number of collective and state farms by 40%. The Soviets lost a substantial number of draft and farm animals as they were not able to relocate all

3478-482: The Red Army. The British tanks first saw action with the 138 Independent Tank Battalion in the Volga Reservoir on November 20, 1941. Lend-Lease tanks constituted 30 to 40 percent of heavy and medium tank strength before Moscow at the beginning of December 1941. Significant numbers of British Churchill , Matilda and Valentine tanks were shipped to the USSR. Between June 1941 and May 1945, Britain delivered to

3572-714: The Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy in exchange for basing rights in the Caribbean. Churchill also granted the US base rights in Bermuda and Newfoundland for free; this act allowed their British garrison to be redeployed to more crucial theatres. In 1944, Britain transferred several of the US-made destroyers to the USSR. After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States entering

3666-795: The Russian historian Boris Vadimovich Sokolov , Lend-Lease had a crucial role in winning the war: On the whole the following conclusion can be drawn: that without these Western shipments under Lend-Lease the Soviet Union not only would not have been able to win the Great Patriotic War, it would not have been able even to oppose the German invaders, since it could not itself produce sufficient quantities of arms and military equipment or adequate supplies of fuel and ammunition. The Soviet authorities were well aware of this dependency on Lend-Lease. Thus, Stalin told Harry Hopkins [FDR's emissary to Moscow in July 1941] that

3760-614: The Senate, which occurred on March 8, revealed a similar partisan difference: 49 Democrats (79 percent) voted "aye" with only 13 Democrats (21 percent) voting "nay". In contrast, 17 Republicans (63 percent) voted "nay" while 10 Senate Republicans (37 percent) sided with the Democrats to pass the bill. President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease bill into law on March 11, 1941. It permitted him to "sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such government [whose defense

3854-448: The Short Magazine Lee–Enfield fitted to the left side of the weapon for use up to 2,600 yd (2,377 m), though these were of little use and were usually deleted when the weapon was refurbished. The advanced aperture sights with their long sight radius contributed to a well-deserved reputation for accuracy, and WW1 snipers considered it to be more accurate than the standard Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III infantry rifle. Compared to

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3948-461: The Soviet Union, $ 3.2 billion ($ 42.9 billion) to France, $ 1.6 billion ($ 21.5 billion) to China, and the remaining $ 2.6 billion to the other Allies. Reverse lend-lease policies comprised services such as rent on bases used by the U.S., and totaled $ 7.8 billion; of this, $ 6.8 billion came from the British and the Commonwealth , mostly Australia and India. The terms of

4042-444: The U.S.S.R. could not match Germany's might as an occupier of Europe and its resources. Nikita Khrushchev , having served as a military commissar and intermediary between Stalin and his generals during the war, addressed directly the significance of Lend-lease aid in his memoirs: I would like to express my candid opinion about Stalin's views on whether the Red Army and the Soviet Union could have coped with Nazi Germany and survived

4136-784: The US and Canada, and to prevent the US monopolizing British orders, the Hyde Park Declaration of 20 April 1941 made weapons and components manufactured in Canada for Britain eligible for Lend-Lease financing as if they had been manufactured in the US. Canada operated a program similar to Lend-Lease called Mutual Aid that sent a loan of Can$ 1 billion (equivalent to Can$ 17.1 billion in 2023) and Can$ 3.4 billion (Can$ 58.1 billion) in supplies and services to Britain and other Allies. Roosevelt made sure that Lend-Lease policies were supportive of his foreign policy goals by putting his top aide Harry Hopkins in effective control of

4230-438: The US entered the war in 1917. However, each factory produced slightly differing parts, leading to interchangeability issues. Therefore, the official designation of the rifle was dependent upon its manufacturer: e.g., the Pattern 1914 Mk I W is a Mk I of Winchester manufacture, R would be Remington, or E for Eddystone. Problems were encountered with specifications, quality and shortage of machine tools and skilled workers, with

4324-458: The US or Germany, where cock-on-opening designs such as the M1903 Springfield and Gewehr 98 were preferred. Cock-on-opening actions became more difficult to operate when heated by rapid fire as the effort to open the bolt had to overcome the striker spring to cock the action as well as unsticking the fired case from the chamber. The P14 was an advanced design for the time, and was said to be

4418-448: The USSR lost a huge number of military aircraft. Some of them were lost at airfields in the first days of the fighting, some were abandoned for various reasons, and some were lost in air battles. The losses of Soviet aviation in 1941 is one of the most controversial topics for military historians and publicists. The situation was aggravated by the loss of many aircraft factories that produced aircraft and components for them, which remained in

4512-462: The USSR, 16 alone within a week of May 31, 1929. With the outbreak of war these plants switched from civilian to military production and locomotive production ended virtually overnight. Just 446 locomotives were produced during the war, with only 92 of those being built between 1942 and 1945. In total, 92.7% of the wartime production of railroad equipment by the USSR was supplied by Lend-Lease. including 1,911 locomotives and 11,225 railcars. Much of

4606-455: The United States needed to help the Soviets fight against the Germans. Because of its utmost importance, Roosevelt directed his subordinates to heavily prioritise shipments of aid to the Soviet Union above most other uses of available shipping. Soviet Ambassador Maxim Litvinov significantly contributed to the Lend-Lease agreement of 1941. American deliveries to the Soviet Union can be divided into

4700-593: The Western Hemisphere to the USSR, 94% coming from the US. For comparison, a total of 22 million tons landed in Europe to supply American forces from January 1942 to May 1945. It has been estimated that American deliveries to the USSR through the Persian Corridor alone were sufficient, by US Army standards, to maintain sixty combat divisions in the line. In the first weeks and months of the German–Soviet war,

4794-421: The Winchesters being thought to be of superior quality). Eventually Winchester manufactured 235,293 rifles, Remington manufactured 400,000 and Eddystone manufactured 600,000, totaling 1,235,293 rifles. When the U.S. entered World War I, the P14 was modified and standardized by the Ordnance Department and went into production at the same factories as had produced the P14, production of that rifle having ceased, as

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4888-432: The act to allow warring nations to purchase military goods, arms and munitions if they paid cash and bore the risks of transporting the goods on non-American ships, a policy that would favor Britain and France. Initially, this proposal failed, but after Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland in September, Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1939 ending the munitions embargo on a "cash and carry" basis. The passage of

4982-446: The act was supplied at no cost, to be used until returned or destroyed. In practice, most equipment was destroyed, although some hardware (such as ships) was returned after the war. Supplies that arrived after the termination date were sold to the United Kingdom at a large discount for £1.075 billion, using long-term loans from the United States, which were finally repaid in 2006. Similarly, the Soviet Union repaid $ 722 million in 1971, with

5076-424: The advantage of funding the British war against Germany, while staying free of the hostilities themselves. Propaganda showing the devastation of British cities during The Blitz , as well as popular depictions of Germans as savage also rallied public opinion to the Allies, especially after Germany conquered France . After a decade of neutrality, Roosevelt knew that the change to Allied support must be gradual, given

5170-423: The agreement provided that the U.S. materiel was to be used until returned or destroyed. In practice, very little equipment was in usable shape for peacetime uses. Supplies that arrived after the termination date were sold to Britain at a large discount for £1.075 billion, using long-term loans from the United States. Canada was not a direct recipient of Lend-Lease aid. To address balance of payment issues between

5264-412: The animals in an area before it was captured and of those areas in which the Axis forces would occupy, the Soviets had lost 7 million of out of 11.6 million horses, 17 million out of 31 million cows, 20 million of 23.6 million pigs and 27 million out of 43 million sheep and goats. Tens of thousands of agricultural machines, such as tractors and threshers, were destroyed or captured. Agriculture also suffered

5358-401: The assistance cannot be understated. Lend-Lease aid did not arrive in sufficient quantities to make the difference between defeat and victory in 1941–1942; that achievement must be attributed solely to the Soviet people and to the iron nerve of Stalin , Zhukov, Shaposhnikov , Vasilevsky , and their subordinates. As the war continued, however, the United States and Great Britain provided many of

5452-432: The aviation fuel including nearly 90 percent of high-octane fuel used, 4,478,116 tons of foodstuffs (canned meats, sugar, flour, salt, etc.), 1,911 steam locomotives, 66 diesel locomotives, 9,920 flat cars, 1,000 dump cars, 120 tank cars, and 35 heavy machinery cars. Ordnance goods (ammunition, artillery shells, mines, assorted explosives) provided amounted to 53 percent of total domestic consumption. One item typical of many

5546-491: The country would not become entangled in foreign conflicts again. The Neutrality Acts of 1935 , 1936 , and 1937 intended to keep the United States out of war by making it illegal for Americans to sell or transport arms or other war materials to warring nations, be they aggressors or defenders. In 1939, however—as Germany, Japan, and Italy pursued aggressive, militaristic policies— President Roosevelt wanted more flexibility to help contain Axis aggression. He suggested amending

5640-457: The creation of a liberalized international economic order in the postwar world." That is the U.S. would be "repaid" when the recipient fought the common enemy and joined the world trade and diplomatic agencies, such as the United Nations. If Germany defeated the Soviet Union, the most significant front in Europe would be closed. Roosevelt believed that if the Soviets were defeated the Allies would be far more likely to lose. Roosevelt concluded that

5734-464: The fire is over." To which Senator Robert Taft (R-Ohio), responded: "Lending war equipment is a good deal like lending chewing gum—you certainly don't want the same gum back." In practice, very little was returned except for a few unarmed transport ships. Surplus military equipment was of no value in peacetime. The Lend-Lease agreements with 30 countries provided for repayment not in terms of money or returned goods, but in "joint action directed towards

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5828-417: The following phases: Delivery was via the Arctic Convoys , the Persian Corridor , and the Pacific Route . The Arctic route was the shortest and most direct route for lend-lease aid to the USSR, though it was also the most dangerous as it involved sailing past German-occupied Norway. Some 3,964,000 tons of goods were shipped by the Arctic route; 7% was lost, while 93% arrived safely. The Persian Corridor

5922-410: The great loss of arms that the British forces endured in 1940, the No3Mk1 stock suddenly became a valued resource. The rifle was also used again as a sniper rifle, the configuration being different from the World War I incarnation. Additionally, the US sent some M1917 Enfield rifles to the UK under Lend-Lease , though the different .30-06 Springfield chambering limited use and necessitated clearly marking

6016-414: The implements of war and strategic raw materials necessary for Soviet victory. Without Lend-Lease food, clothing, and raw materials (especially metals), the Soviet economy would have been even more heavily burdened by the war effort. Perhaps most directly, without Lend-Lease trucks, rail engines, and railroad cars, every Soviet offensive would have stalled at an earlier stage, outrunning its logistical tail in

6110-812: The logistical assistance of the Soviet military was provided by hundreds of thousands of U.S.-made trucks and by 1945, nearly a third of the truck strength of the Red Army was U.S.-built. Trucks such as the Dodge 3 ⁄ 4 -ton and Studebaker 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -ton were easily the best trucks available in their class on either side on the Eastern Front . American shipments of telephone cable, aluminum, canned rations and clothing were also critical. Lend-Lease also supplied significant amounts of weapons and ammunition. The Soviet air force received 18,200 aircraft, which amounted to about 30 percent of Soviet wartime fighter and bomber production (mid 1941–45). Most tank units were Soviet-built models but about 7,000 Lend-Lease tanks (plus more than 5,000 British tanks) were used by

6204-670: The meaning of Lend-Lease aid can be better understood when considering the innovative nature of World War II , as well as the economic distortions caused by the war. One of the greatest differences with prior wars was the enormous increase in the mobility of armies. This was the first big war in which whole formations were routinely motorized; soldiers were supported with large numbers of all kinds of vehicles. Most belligerent powers severely decreased production of non-essentials, concentrating on producing weapons. This inevitably produced shortages of related products that are required for industrial or logistical uses, particularly unarmored vehicles. On

6298-405: The most advanced service rifle of World War I. The Pattern 1914 Enfield had a large, strong bolt action made from nickel-steel, and the bolt travel is long, as it was designed for the dimensionally large and powerful .276 Enfield cartridge. The bolt action had a Model 98 Mauser type claw extractor and two forward lugs; there was also a rear safety lug formed by the base of the bolt handle sitting in

6392-422: The needs of the Soviet Navy , 2,141 aircraft were delivered to the USSR. Not all of the delivered aircraft could be fully called modern models. But even those that could be called obsolete (the English Hurricane and the American Tomahawk) were more advanced and superior in most characteristics than the I-153 and I-16 aircraft that made up the basis of Soviet fighter aviation in the most difficult first months of

6486-456: The past and present, and when we would return to the subject of the path we had traveled during the war, that is what he said. When I listened to his remarks, I was fully in agreement with him, and today I am even more so. In a confidential interview with the wartime correspondent Konstantin Simonov , the Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov is quoted as saying: Today [1963] some say the Allies didn't really help us ... But listen, one cannot deny that

6580-421: The port and to train Soviet pilots. The convoy was the first of many convoys to Murmansk and Archangelsk in what became known as the Arctic convoys , the returning ships carried the gold that the USSR was using to pay the US. By the end of 1941, early shipments of Matilda , Valentine and Tetrarch tanks represented only 6.5% of total Soviet tank production but over 25% of medium and heavy tanks produced for

6674-411: The predecessor of the U.S. Rifle M1917 Enfield . During the Second Boer War the British were faced with accurate long-range fire from Mauser rifles, model 1893 and 1895, in 7×57mm caliber. This smaller, high-velocity round prompted the War Office to develop their own "magnum" round, the .276 Enfield , in 1910. An advanced new rifle using a modified Mauser M98-pattern action was built to fire it,

6768-583: The program. In terms of administration, the president established the Office of Lend-Lease Administration during 1941, headed by steel executive Edward R. Stettinius . In September 1943, he was promoted to Undersecretary of State, and Leo Crowley became director of the Foreign Economic Administration , which was given responsibility for Lend-Lease. Lend-Lease aid to the USSR was nominally managed by Stettinius. Roosevelt's Soviet Protocol Committee

6862-560: The remainder of the debt written off. Reverse Lend-Lease to the United States totalled $ 7.8 billion. Of this, $ 6.8 billion came from the British and the Commonwealth . Canada also aided the United Kingdom and other Allies with the Billion Dollar Gift and Mutual Aid totalling $ 3.4 billion in supplies and services (equivalent to $ 61 billion in 2020). Lend-Lease weakened the United States' neutrality which had been enshrined in

6956-507: The result that the first rifles were not accepted by British inspectors until February 1916. In December 1916, a modification was made to enlarge the bolt lugs and the rifle became the Mark I*. They were still designated by the letter of their manufacturer (W, R or E), although production had become more standardized. The Mk I were soon confined to training usage and marked DP , meaning Drill Purpose. The P14's principal combat use during World War I

7050-524: The rifles with a 2 inch wide red band around the stock. The Australian Army also used some quantities of the sniper variant of the P14 during World War II. Once sufficient numbers were built up of the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield and No4 rifles, the No3Mk1 were either relegated primarily to equip the World War II British Home Guard or used as sniper rifles. Some sniper rifles were used during

7144-504: The same, except that Soviet soldiers could have waded at France's Atlantic beaches. Roosevelt, eager to ensure public consent for this controversial plan, explained to the public and the press that his plan was comparable to lending a garden hose to a neighbor whose house is on fire. "What do I do in such a crisis?" the president asked at a press conference. "I don't say ... 'Neighbor, my garden hose cost me $ 15; you have to pay me $ 15 for it' ... I don't want $ 15—I want my garden hose back after

7238-451: The standard British rifle during World War I and beyond. The need for additional small arms combined with a shortage of spare industrial capacity led the British government to contract with United States commercial arms manufacturers, Winchester , Remington and Eddystone (a subsidiary of Remington set up principally to manufacture the P14) to produce the P14 for the British, which continued until

7332-471: The support for isolationism in the country. Originally, the American policy was to help the British but not join the war. During early February 1941, a Gallup poll revealed that 54% of Americans were in favor of giving aid to the British without qualifications of Lend-Lease. A further 15% were in favor of qualifications such as: "If it doesn't get us into war," or "If the British can give us some security for what we give them." Only 22% were unequivocally against

7426-414: The territory occupied by the Germans. Some of the factories were hastily evacuated to the east of the country, but it took time to resume production and reach its maximum capacity. In December 1941, all aircraft factories of the Soviet Union produced only 600 aircraft of all types. This was the reason that the supply of aircraft, primarily fighters and bombers, became the main topic in the negotiations between

7520-558: The top leadership of the USSR, Great Britain and the United States. The vast majority of the total number of aircraft received by the USSR under the Lend-Lease program was made up of British Spitfire and Hurricane fighters , American P-39 Airacobra, P-40 fighters , known in Russia under the names "Tomahawk" and "Kittyhawk", P-63 Kingcobra, American bombers A-20 Havoc, B-25 Mitchell . A significant amount of C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft and PBY Catalina flying boats were also delivered. For

7614-589: The total. In total, the U.S. deliveries to the USSR through Lend-Lease amounted to $ 11 billion in materials (equivalent to $ 148 billion in 2023): over 400,000 jeeps and trucks; 12,000 armored vehicles (including 7,000 tanks, about 1,386 of which were M3 Lees and 4,102 M4 Shermans ); 11,400 aircraft (of which 4,719 were Bell P-39 Airacobras , 3,414 were Douglas A-20 Havocs and 2,397 were Bell P-63 Kingcobras ) and 1.75 million tons of food. Roughly 17.5 million tons of military equipment, vehicles, industrial supplies, and food were shipped from

7708-596: The war in December 1941, foreign policy was rarely discussed by Congress, and there was very little demand to cut Lend-Lease spending. In spring 1944, the House passed a bill to renew the Lend-Lease program by a vote of 334 to 21. The Senate passed it by a vote of 63 to 1. In February 1942, the U.S. and Britain signed the Anglo-American Mutual Aid Agreement as part of a greater multilateral system, developed by

7802-411: The war without aid from the United States and Britain. First, I would like to tell about some remarks Stalin made and repeated several times when we were "discussing freely" among ourselves. He stated bluntly that if the United States had not helped us, we would not have won the war. If we had had to fight Nazi Germany one on one, we could not have stood up against Germany's pressure, and we would have lost

7896-412: The war. No one ever discussed this subject officially, and I don't think Stalin left any written evidence of his opinion, but I will state here that several times in conversations with me he noted that these were the actual circumstances. He never made a special point of holding a conversation on the subject, but when we were engaged in some kind of relaxed conversation, going over international questions of

7990-560: The war. The superiority in high-altitude characteristics of American and British aircraft, powerful armament and the provision of communications ensured their use in the air defense forces – out of 10 thousand aircraft received by the USSR during the war, 7 thousand were from received via Lend-Lease. From October 1, 1941, to May 31, 1945, the United States delivered to the Soviet Union 427,284 trucks, 13,303 combat vehicles, 35,170 motorcycles, 2,328 ordnance service vehicles, 2,670,371 tons of petroleum products (gasoline and oil) or 57.8 percent of

8084-631: The world's major powers had adopted repeating bolt-action rifles, such as the British Lee–Enfield , the German Gewehr 98 , and the Russian Mosin–Nagant . During the Second World War , the United States adopted the M1 Garand , which was the first widely adopted semi-automatic rifle that was brought into military service in 1936. Despite advancements in rifle technology, the United States

8178-791: Was a tire plant that was lifted bodily from the Ford Company's River Rouge Plant and transferred to the USSR. The 1947 money value of the supplies and services amounted to about $ 11.3 billion. On 12 July 1941, within weeks of the German invasion of the USSR, the Anglo-Soviet Agreement was signed and the first British aid convoy set off along the dangerous Arctic Sea route to Murmansk , arriving in September. It carried 40 Hawker Hurricanes along with 550 mechanics and pilots of No. 151 Wing in Operation Benedict , to provide air defence of

8272-432: Was as a sniper rifle, since it was found to be more accurate than the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield, either in standard issue form or with modified "fine-adjustment" aperture rearsights designated Pattern 1914 Mk I W (F) and Pattern 1914 Mk I* W (F) or, from April 1918, Aldis Pattern 1918 telescopic sights designated Pattern 1914 Mk I* W (T) (modified and telescopic sights were mainly used on Winchester-manufactured rifles,

8366-437: Was calibrated for 200–1,000 yd (183–914 m) in 100 yd (91 m) increments and 1,000–1,650 yd (914–1,509 m) in 50 yd (46 m) increments. The ladder aperture sight moves vertically on a slide, and hence was not able to correct for wind drift. The rear sight element was protected by sturdy "ears" and proved to be faster and more accurate than the typical mid-barrel sight offered by Mauser, Enfield or

8460-462: Was dominated by Harry Hopkins and General John York, who were totally sympathetic to the provision of "unconditional aid". Few Americans objected to Soviet aid until 1943. The program was gradually terminated after V-E Day . In April 1945, Congress voted that it should not be used for post-conflict purposes, and in August 1945, after Japan surrendered , the program was ended. Lend-Lease contributed to

8554-471: Was no practical alternative, there was certainly no moral one either. Britain and the Commonwealth were carrying the battle for all civilization, and the overwhelming majority of Americans, led in the late election by their president, wished to help them." As the President himself put it, "There can be no reasoning with incendiary bombs." In September 1940, during the Battle of Britain the British government sent

8648-435: Was shipped, or 17% of the total war expenditures of the U.S. In all, $ 31.4 billion went to the United Kingdom, $ 11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $ 3.2 billion to France, $ 1.6 billion to China, and the remaining $ 2.6 billion to other Allies. Roosevelt's top foreign policy advisor Harry Hopkins had effective control over Lend-Lease, making sure it was in alignment with Roosevelt's foreign policy goals. Materiel delivered under

8742-510: Was the longest route, and was not fully operational until mid-1942. Thereafter it saw the passage of 4,160,000 tons of goods, 27% of the total. The Pacific Route opened in August 1941, but was affected by the start of hostilities between Japan and the U.S.; after December 1941, only Soviet ships could be used, and, as Japan and the USSR observed a strict neutrality towards each other, only non-military goods could be transported. Nevertheless, some 8,244,000 tons of goods went by this route, 50% of

8836-502: Was the only country to adopt a semi-automatic rifle as their primary service rifle. While other countries did develop semi-automatic rifles later on and used in limited numbers during the war. For comparison, Germany produced 402,000 Gewehr 43 rifles, compared to 14,000,000 of the Karabiner 98k (a shortened variant of the Gewehr 98). However, it was during the war that Germany also produced

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