In the years that followed 1945, one of the more contentious debates between Soviet and Western scholars of the Second World War concerned the role of the Allied Lend-Lease program in contributing to the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany. Western scholars tended to view the Allied delivery of materiel and equipment as the decisive factor in determining victory on the Eastern Front. Meanwhile, official Soviet-era histories downplayed the Allied contribution (when they mentioned it at all); correctly, though disingenuously, noting that American and British airplanes represented only a small percentage of the total number of aircraft produced by Soviet factories while ignoring the immense amount of raw materials, communications equipment, and ground vehicles supplied via Lend-Lease.

Since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Russian and western scholars have arrived at a general consensus that while Lend-Lease was far more important to the USSR’s war effort than Soviet scholars were willing to acknowledge, the decisive role in securing victory was, nevertheless, played by Soviet soldiers and citizens. It’s a view that is on display, for example, at the visually rich English-language Lend-Lease page sponsored by the Russian Air Force (ВВС России).

While post-1991 revelations have provided us with a clearer picture of the material aspects of Lend-Lease, there hasn’t been as much written about Lend-Lease as “lived experience” in the USSR. Just what was life like for the Soviet airmen, soldiers, and civilians who helped transport American supplies to the front lines from isolated outposts in the Far East?

The subject has garnered some attention as of late at least in Russia. The Lend-Lease program provided the backdrop for the 2006 motion picture, Перегон: a “detective-drama” set in 1943 at a transit airfield in the desolate and icy Chukotka peninsula. (Unfortunately, the recently released DVD version is not available with foreign subtitles.)

If you’re not willing to drop $22 on the Russian-language DVD, you can still catch glimpses from the daily life of Soviet “lend leasers” for free on-line. Earlier this month, a personal collection of more than 150 photographs from the period were uploaded to the Internet. The photos belonged to Nikolai Ivanovich Aleksandrov, a VVS pilot who was based in the Far Eastern city of Yakutsk during the latter half of the war. You’ll find plenty of photographs of Lend-Lease airplanes (including American B-25 “Mitchells” and P-63 “Kingcobras”). More interesting, I think, are the fascinating images of the “everyday life” experienced by fliers, support staff, and local civilians during the War. Although non-Russian readers will find themselves at a disadvantage (the captions are in Russian), the photos are well worth one’s time. If you’re interested in these things, I’d suggest that you take a look at the collection sooner rather than later. There’s no telling how long it will be available.

The collection bears the title “Peregon” (roughly, “The Transit Station”) after the movie. A more accurate title might be: “Lend-Lease Photos: A Private Archive.”

ScP

[Many thanks to Ray Finch of KU's Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies for brining the Aleksandrov photos to my attention]