Lend-Lease certainly did not win the war on the eastern front. The Soviet Union would most likely have been able to cope without this support. However, to argue that Lend-Lease helped to shorten the war by 1-2 years and thereby save hundreds of thousands of lives of Soviet citizens would be at least dishonest and impolite. There was help, it was great and very diverse. Everyone knows about the supply of resources and equipment, but not everyone remembers that under Lend-Lease, including small arms, was supplied.
The Soviet Union did not really need ready-made small arms. What was really desperately lacking in the first two years of the war was gunpowder and explosives. Own factories producing gunpowder and explosives in the country of the Soviets appeared shortly before World War II. Nevertheless, in the ill-fated June 22, 1941, they had not yet been launched at full capacity. Therefore, the Red Army had every chance of encountering "ammunition starvation". The worst of all was in the artillery. Largely because of the lack of gunpowder and explosives in the first 1.5-2 years of the war, the USSR could not give an adequate response to German artillery domination. The problem was finally solved by Soviet industry by 1943.
And yet, ready-made small arms of American and British production were supplied under Lend-Lease.
1. Tommy Gun M1928A1
The Allies supplied most of the small arms to the USSR with submachine guns. First of all, these were the well-known "gangster" Thompson submachine gun, Caliber .45, M1928A1. Also under the Lend-Lease were to be delivered American PPs Reising submachine gun, Caliber .45, M50 / M55. However, according to American documents, only 3,990 pieces were left in the USSR. But "Tommy-gans" were delivered over 137 thousand units. However, you need to understand that against the background of the millions of copies of Soviet weapons, the sent M1928A1 simply drowned.
2. Colt M1911
The famous American pistols M1911 and M1911A1, Caliber .45, produced by the "Colt" films, were also delivered to the Soviet Union. True, during the war years, there were not many of them, since they were still relied on only to officers. According to documents, 12,997 of these pistols were sent to the Soviet Union.
3. Browning machine gun
The no less famous 12.7 mm Browning heavy machine gun - Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .30, М1919А4 - was also delivered to the Soviet Union. Most often they came complete with tanks and trucks as auxiliary turret anti-aircraft guns. However, they were supplied with bipods for use as easel. In total - 5 403 machine guns.
4. Vickers machine gun
British machine gun, which is actually an American machine gun. This is because Vickers is a de facto reworked Maxim. Literally a tiny amount of these machine guns got to the USSR - 92 pieces during the entire war. They were installed as portable light anti-aircraft weapons. Most of the Vickers were "mated" into improvised anti-aircraft guns and installed on boats.
5. "Bazooka"
According to the documents, it is known that the Americans also delivered a small number of rocket-propelled grenade launchers of their own production, which are popularly known as "bazooka", to the Soviet Union. Correctly, these grenade launchers are called Anti-tank Rocket Launcher, Caliber 2.36 M1 and M9 (two modifications). In total, exactly 3 thousand 60-mm "bazookas" were brought to the USSR.
6. PTR "Boys"
The famous British-made anti-tank rifle Rifle, Anti-Tank, .55in, Boys also visited the eastern front. The British planted a total of 1,100 13.8mm Boyz. True, most of them arrived already in 1943. Before that, only 200 guns had been delivered.
7. "Piats"
In addition to the already mentioned "Boys", the British sent their own Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank or simply PIAT grenade launchers to the USSR under Lend-Lease. There were not a lot of them - 831 pieces. The system was not particularly successful, both in the estimates of the Soviet and the British soldiers.
Continuing the military theme, read about "Catboy": what the legendary SU-100 is and why it had too bad seams.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/050221/57721/
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