LEND-LEASE AID

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 5, 7 January 1944, Page 5

LEND-LEASE AID

REPORT TO AMERICA

BASIS OF OPERATIONS

Rec. noon. RUGBY, Jan. 6. A wealth of detail about vital United Nations war transactions is contained in the latest United States lend-lease report. The cost of lendlease aid from March, 1941, to the end of November last was 13.5 per cent, of all United States war expenditure. The report states: "American food is helping to maintain the rations of the Soviet army, British soldiers, and war workers and others on the front or behind the lines. Lend-lease is an essential element in the United Nations strategy to win principally with their own weapons. "Their factories use principally their own raw material and equipment. Their peoples raise most of the iood they eat. But lend-lease supplies have been essential to supplement their own resources. . . "Aeroplanes, guns, raw materials, food, and other goods transferred were 87 per cent, of the total aid to date. The transfers of finished munitions were 53 per cent, of the total. INDUSTRIAL ITEMS. "The industrial items were 21 per cent, and foodstuffs and other agricultural products were 13 per cent, of the total. The upward trend has been due, in large part, to the sharp rise in aircraft, ordnance, and other munitions transferred. Munitions were *}LP er cent, in the. first 11 months of 1943. "The rental and charter of ships and ferrying aircraft were the most important services, being over half the value of all services. Much _of the balance consisted of the training of combat pilots, the repair of warships and merchantmen, the assembly or aircraft abroad, and similar war services, "Over 600,000,000 dollars have been expended on guns, aeroplanes, and other war production facilities in the United States. This represented a substantial addition to our own industrial capacity. "These plants have not been transferred to foreign Governments. Some are producing munitions for our armed forces. poWER TQ ALLIES< I "Our allies have been able to strike more damaging blows and are fightling more strongly than ever by the side of our own forces. The war will be much shorter for it. This, of course, is the principal war benefit the United States receives under the lend-lease I pr°fn aaddition, the United States is receiving directly as reverse lend-lease, without payment, substantial supplies provided by the Allies within the limits of their material and financial : resources. "Up to last June the United Kingdom spent, for reverse lend-lease to the United States, -811,000,000 dollars, New Zealand 51,000,000 dollars, and India 57,000,000 dollars. "These figures did not include supplies or services to the United States forces in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and elsewhere. Similar aid is being provided by the Belgians and French. "The United Kingdom, New Zealand, and India also agreed to provide, without payment, the raw materials, commodities, and foodstuffs previously purchased by the U.S. in Southern Rhodesia and the colonial empire. CARRIED BY BRITISH SHIPS. "Similar arrangements, states the report, are under negotiation with South Africa and Australia. • "British shipping to carry these supplies, which included such strategic materials as rubber, rope fibre, chrome, cocoa, tea. and oils, is also under reverse lend-lease. The French have similarly undertaken to supply strategic materials in North Africa. "We. are also receiving reverse aid, as the need arises, in Chinaj and the Soviet Union. Both had to strain thenown man-power, transportation, and other resources to the utmost in fighting our enemies on their soil, and have not been in a position to provide large amounts of aid. "The real measure of the aid which we and the other United Nations have received in China is the 6£ years during which our indomitable ally has engaged large Japanese armies with everincreasing losses to the Japanese. The real measure of the aid which we and the other United Nations have received from the Soviet people is to be found in Stalingrad, Kharkov, and Kiev, and in the millions of Nazi soldiers killed, wounded, and captured who will not be able to oppose our forces in western Europe. SIMILAR POSITION. "And so with all our fighting Allies, the British, whose forces fought in the Mediterranean campaign and were considerably larger than our own, and the French, who fought with us in Tunisia and are fighting now, not only in Italy but as a. heroic army of underground resistance in France itself. "The cost of reverse aid, great as it is, is no sure measure of the help we receive from our allies. Our principal allies have contributed fully in proportion to their resources. "The total of United States war expenditures, including lend-lease, increased from one-third of the national income last year to one-half this year. The report continues that shipments to the Soviet Union have been over onequarter of lend-lease exports to all countries. In the first 10 months of this year the shipments' were 63 per cent, higher than in the whole of 1942. . "In October we sent the Soviet nearly 7000 planes—more than any other lendlease ' country—over 3500 tanks, 195,000 motor vehicles, including trucks, jeeps, and motor-cycles. We also shipped 1,790,000 tons of food and agricultural products. BUTTER FOR RUSSIA. "These have been largely the items in which our production has fallen far short of requirements, including wheat flour, sugar, canned meat, edible fats, oils, and dried fruits and vegetables.

"The Soviet urgently requested butter for the army, particularly the many wounded soldiers recuperating in hospitals. We were able to send 33,400 tons. No butter has been scheduled for lend-lease export to any other country." '

The United States received, as reverse lend-lease, 8250 tons of butter from Australia and New Zealand for the Pacific forces.

"We also sent to Russia 10,000 tons of seeds for 30 staple crops, 5,500,000 pairs of army boots, 16,600,000 yards of woollen cloths, 251,000 tons of chemicals, 144,000 tons of explosives. 1,198,000 tons of steel, 342,000 tons of non-ferrous metals, and 611,000 tons of petroleum. "Lend-lease exports to the United Kingdom totalled nearly 6,000,000,000 dollars, or 43 per cent, of shipments to all areas. Military items have been 40 per cent, of the total divided equally amongst the three major categories, namely, ordnance and ammunition, aircraft and parts, tanks and other motor vehicles. BIG RISE IN TANKS. "Industrial items have been 26 per cent., foodstuffs and agricultural products the remainder. "There has been a sharp increase in

the export of munitions to the United Kingdom. "The value of tanks and parts sent this year has been over 9 a times the combined total of 1941 and 1942. "Although the food sent was only 10 per cent, of the British total requireI ments it represented the difference bei tween having and not having enough ito carry on the war effort effectively. i The foods have been mainly concen- ! trated varieties with high food value | and essential to the health of the j armed forces, munition workers, yet ! requiring minimum space. S "The British supplied to our soldiers fresh vegetables, flour, potatoes, cocoa, and tea, foods grown in Britain and the colonial empire. "The aid involved hundreds of special projects. After studies had revealed a serious shortage of coal for future military operations and essential civilian requirements, funds were made available to purchase relatively small amounts of mining machinery to increase production. British coal has been used to supply the American and Allied forces in the Mediterranean and for overseas needs. Ferry routes have been developed by the United States and Britain jointly to facilitate the delivery of planes to Britain, the Middle East, and Russia. "Lend-lease funds were an imiportant factor in the building and 'equipping of airports along the routes and the constructing and maintaining of repair and supply depots. The British, under reverse aid, have built i a great number of airfields for our !forces. BRITISH EXPENDITURE. "Britain, like the United States, has spent several hundred million dollars in building in various parts of the I world airfields essential for carrying on the war. These are used by many of the United Nations. The supplies from the United States used in building or equipping airfields in the lands of the Allies were furnished under the Lend-lease Act. "The Act provides that a benefit to the United States may be a payment, or repayment in kind or property, or any other direct or indirect benefit the President deems satisfactory. The final determination of a benefit is deferred until the extent of the defence aid is known and the progress of events makes clear the final terms and conditions of benefits which will be in the mutual interests of the United States and the countries receiving aid. "The equipment of airfields abroad will be fully taken into account in the final summing-up, for strategic and commercial purposes involve many other factors besides lend-lease. The final complete answer can be found only through the continuing successful collaboration of the United Nations in international commerce after the war and the development of a system of general military security in which the interests of the United States and the other United Nations are fully protected."—B.O.W.