USSR:
-Starts WW2 by invading Poland WITH the nazis. avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/a…
-Gets blindsided by obvious nazi betrayal.
-Forces young men into combat with no weapons, they die by the millions because communism incapable of mass production, and devalues human life.
-American steps in with lend lease providing:
$11.3 Billion ($200 Billion Today)
Assets
~400,000 jeeps & trucks
~14,000 airplanes
~8,000 tractors
~13,000 tanks
~350 Locomotives
~1,640 Train Cars
~500,000 tons rails
~1.5 million blankets
~15 million pairs of army boots
~107,000 tons of cotton
~2.7 million tons of petrol products (5.9 Billion Pounds)
~4.5 million tons of food (9.9 Billion Pounds)
~guns
~ammunition
~explosives
~copper
~steel
~aluminum
~medicine
~field radios
~radar tools
~and other items
"The most important things in this war are machines. The United States ... is a country of machines. Without the use of those machines, through Lend-Lease, we would lose this war." - Stalin
-Survives WW2
-Eventually collapses under the cultural weight of blue jeans and Metallica.
Fast forward 80 years:
“Omg communism is the best look. They killed the most nazi” - some “communist” living in America tweeting from a fucking iPhone
some good shit on there but linked vids have no sound for us non-x'ers, which sucks
ReplyDeletelook up war factories on Youtube and you see/find out just how big of a deal this was.
ReplyDeleteRussia would have lost bigtime if it wasn't for lend lease. the only reason why they the Russians did so well after 43-44 was the ships brought in tons of stuff they needed to fight a real war.
side note, in 1977 I was on duty at the 4 powers building in then West Berlin when some old Russian officer came up to us and shook everyone had and said Studabaker or something close it with a big smile on his old face. one of many weird times when dealing with the Russians there.
at the time, I had no idea what he was going on about. they didn't teach us any of this back in high school . and the kids today are taught even less than we where. God help them.
You my friend sound like a wealth of awesome stories...
Deleteyeah, it was a strange time to say the least. but really West Berlin was a great place to party !
DeleteI think it had one of the highest STD rates in Europe back then. and going to the "East", well you be amazed at what you could trade a pair of jeans for ! yup. 7 dollar Levi's at the PX was like gold in east Berlin. unreal what they would do for a pair of jeans.
OH, back in 1978. a few of us thought it would be a neat idea to shoot a tennis ball canon at the east German guard towers. needless to say, it was exciting as hell to watch but ended up costing us a couple of months pay and stripes. and NO. I will not name names as to protect the guilty. then there was the flying roll of TP on fire right before the flag came down one time. so, yeah. we where the guys they warned you about. if we got bored enough we would set the rug on fire. and since I was what they called a "problem child"
Deletethey moved my bunk across from the CQ desk. so they could keep a eye on my ass.
they also moved me to the ARMS room as to keep me away from the younger troops (?)
anyway,,
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL64-uvJRwJ5kCO_b8YnBmsjXBwv37aTLQ
ReplyDeletenot the complete list, but it will get you started.