Comments by "Andy Dee" (@AndyViant) on "Germany’s Perspective on the Major Allied Armies of WW2 - Where Did they Rank Them?" video.
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@jakemurray2635 Only 34,000 odd T-34 tanks made by the Russians, and the 29,000 more T-34-85. Plus the 8,000 odd heavy tanks, and the over 20,000 Self Propelled Guns/Tank Destroyers of the SU series.
By comparison, Americans sent about 7,000 tanks to Russia, with about 4000 of those being Shermans, the rest being mostly M3 Stuart and the M3 Lee (mostly not used for combat). Exact records of how many were landed versus lost in shipping are unclear.
Also of note, the British and Canadians sent about 4,000 Valentines, 1,000 Matildas, and 300 Churchill heavy tanks. Not THAT far behind what the Americans sent there.
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@deeacosta2734 Lend Lease? Yeah right. The great American story of America believing it's own lies about being the great saviours.
What won the war was the huge sacrifice of 20 odd million Russian dead, despite Russia pleading it's Allies to start a second front to take the pressure off. By the time the Normandy Landings occurred, the Russians had pushed the Nazis back out of the Caucasus, Crimea, Russia proper, most of Ukraine and Belarus. The Germans had lost millions in dead, most of their planes and tanks. The war was effectively already over and it was basically mopping up only.
80% of German troops died in the Russian front.
So, lets look at Lend Lease in more detail, eh?
USSR got 1/3 of the goods through Lend Lease that Britain did, despite having almost four times the population at the start of the war.
So per head of population, that works out of 1/12th the assistance, despite Britain basically being secure in it's sea borders and "Russia" having over a 1000 mile long front engaged in constant warfare.
Of that amount of lend lease goods, over half of it was shipped through Russian Shipping through Japanese controlled seas (there was a neutrality agreement between USSR and Japan at the time) under strict inspection routines that there were no arms, munitions or the like onboard.
Of the goods that the Americans managed to land in Russian territory, the level of respect for them varied greatly. American trucks and trains were sought after as there was insufficient logistical equipment for the level of industrial production that the Russians were gearing up for. Food was obviously important with so much of Russian lands under German occupation, the "Scorched Earth" defence policy, and the majority of Russian men in the army. Or exterminated on the spot by the Germans, put into death camps or forced labour camps.
As for the American tanks, the M3 Medium (Lee) was referred to as "a coffin for seven brothers" and was quickly relegated to training duties. About 2000 early M4 (Shermans) made it to the Russians, and were considered inferior to their domestic tanks, being prone to catching fire easily, due to gasolene fuel, and also sinking into the mud and getting bogged due to high weight with narrow tracks. Both Russia and Germany made wide track vehicles for the Eastern Front to reduce ground pressure to prevent this, because a bogged tank is a sitting target.
It was also slower, yet less well armoured than the T-34, and armament was only on par with the early T-34's. The 2000 later delivered M4 Sherman 76mm addressed some of these issues, but by then the Russians were using far superior versions of their own T-34's, specifically the T-34-85, and the 76mm gun was still massively undergunned compared to the standard German tanks of the time
About half the total "armoured vehicles" that made it to Russia were M3 "White" half tracks and M3 scout cars, including anti aircraft versions. So many versions of "M3" (let alone the M3 "Stuart" the Russians also recieved) caused great confusion, both for the Russians and also the British using them in Africa, which is how they all got their separate names.
Lend Lease had far less impact than Americans think. Any aid was still useful and welcomed, but it certainly didn't have the impact you seem to believe.
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