Russia’s Life-Saver

Russia's Life-Saver brilliantly examines the diplomatic rationale for and results of the U.S. decision to grant over $12 billion in Lend-Lease aid to Soviet Russia during World War II. Author Albert L. Weeks wields many facts and statistics never before published in the U.S. Of particular interest is the statement by Soviet Army Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov that U.S. Lend-Lease aid was indispensable, despite Soviet propaganda that sought to minimize its importance.

'The United States is a country of machines. Without the use of these machines through Lend-Lease, we would lose this war.' —Josef Stalin (1943), quoted in W. Averell Harriman and Elie Abel, Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 1941-1946, Random House, N.Y., 1975, p. 277 The United States shipped more than $12 billion in Lend-Lease aid to Stalin's Russia during World War II. Materials lent, beginning in late 1941 before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, included airplanes and tanks, locomotives and rails, construction materials, entire military production assembly lines, food and clothing, aviation fuel, and much else. Lend-Lease is now recognized by post-Soviet Russian historians as essential to the Soviet war effort. Wielding many facts and statistics never before published in the U.S., author Albert L. Weeks keenly analyzes the diplomatic rationale for and results of this assistance. Russia's Life-Saver is a brilliant contribution to the study of U.S.-Soviet relations and its role in World War II.

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 The Arsenal of Democracy
Chapter 3 Stalin and America
Chapter 4 Historical Roots of Lend-Lease—1
Chapter 5 Historical Roots of Lend-Lease—2
Chapter 6 Historical Roots of Lend-Lease—3
Chapter 7 Western-Soviet Relations Before Barbarossa
Chapter 8 The Strange Alliance Is Born
Chapter 9 Summation: Will the Debt Be Repaid?
Chapter 10 Appendix: Mutual Aid Agreement between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, June 11, 1942