Lend Lease Weapons

[SgtShaw]

I know the US sent the USSR weapons in WW2 but what I'm asking is what all the types of guns they sent them are? I'm considering getting a M1928, but i don't want to get a weapon not used back then and this will hold over for airsoft until the PPSH's hit the market or until I can afford one of Gryphon's masterpieces.

[theriseandfall]

good questions. I'm not sure exactly what small arms were given to them, but i do remember seeing a few pics of halftracks and scout cars and such. I'd be intereted in the answer as well if anybody has the answer.

[YankeeDiv26]

A M1928 would cost more than a PPSH41, so I'd just save up for the PPSH41.

-Tim

[Adler69]

I have to look on my books and CDs , but the Soviets received a lot of stuff between 22 June 1941 and 20 September 1945 thanks to the Lend Lease Act.
And when i say a lot , i mean a lot ,$10,200,000,000 worth , including about 14,000 aircraft.
One of the Soviet Unions best fighter aces scored all his victories on a P39 , but he was never recognized because he did this on a non Soviet aircraft.

[Adler69]

Here's a list of aircraft supplied to the Soviets

A-20 Boston
B-25 Mitchell
P-39Q Airacobra
Consolidated PBY Catalina

Vehicles

Dodge WC-51
GMC CCKW 353
Studebaker US6
M3 Stuart
M4 Sherman
M7 Priest

[Adler69]

Here's a better list of aircraft supplied to the Soviets

B17 1
B24 1
B25 807
B26 510
A20 3,066
P36 6,695
P39 4,423
P40 2,069
P47 203
C47 708
C52 30
AT6 84

[Adler69]

Better list of vehicles

M3 Halftracks - 900
M3A1 Scout Cars - 3092
M3A1 Stuart - 1233
M3A3 Lee/Grant - 1200
M4A2 75mm Sherman - 1750
M4A2 76mm Sherman - 1850
Half Tracks - 820
Light Trucks - 151,000
Heavy Trucks - 200,000
Jeeps - 51,000
Tractors - 8070

[kalbs]

Actually the M1928 was delvered to the Soviets as part of the lend lease kit with the Stuart tanks. Not common however. There is a famous picture somewhere that shows soviets pointing their tommys skyward on the stuarts.

Note the soviet markings on this lend lease tommy.

[lrich]

Also, a quick note on Thompsons, they were supplied, as noted, however, due to the use of .45Cal ammunition, i don't think they weren't used very much, because the Russkies didn't make extra .45 cal ammo, and once they blew through the U.S. stuff, they didn't have any extra. Therefore, most of them would presumably stick with a gun that used ammo the Russians produced, to not risk running out of ammunition, and being stuck with a useless gun. As such i don't think many used Thompson's, or other U.S. guns using U.S. specific ammunition.

[kalbs]

I found this blurb below. Interesting topic


"In addition, the Soviet Union received M1928A1s, included as standard equipment with the M3 light tanks obtained through Lend-Lease. The weapons were never issued to the Red Army, however, because of a lack of .45 ACP ammunition on the Eastern Front, and were simply put in storage. As of September 2006, limited numbers of these weapons have been re-imported from Russia to the United States as disassembled "spare parts kits", the entire weapon less the receiver (as required by Federal law)."

source: www.45rifle.com/The_Tommy_Gun.html

To counter the above statement though I found this picture below of a German holding a liberated Tommy behind a lend lease Soviet Churchil Mk I. I guess for an impression technically you could carry an M1928A1 but it certainly was not common.

[gryphon]

The Soviets had only three US-made small arms in any quantity (and when I say "any quantity," I mean a few thousand each when compared to the literally millions of Soviet-made small arms issued. NONE of these small arms would have been found in the hands of any but specialty troops or paramilitaries.)

First, there was the Czarist-issue lever-action Model 1895 Winchester in 7.62mm which was a popular civilian hunting rifle and showed up in the hands of quite a few partisans and militiamen during the war:

www.rarewinchesters.com/gunroom/1895/M95-174513/details.shtml

Second, the Russian Army purchased 51,000 M1911 Colt .45 ACP pistols in 1917 which the Red Army inherited (collectors call these either Russian Contract or English Order Colts,) and an additional shipment of M1911 pistols was said to have been included as part of a WWII Lend-Lease package. I remember hearing that 4,000 of these turned up in a Ukrainian warehouse a while back. Quite a few of these Cyrillic-marked Colts were sent or sold to the Red Chinese sometime in the late '40s or early '50s.

Third, an undetermined number of M1928 Thompson submachineguns in .45 ACP were supplied as part of WWII Lend-Lease. They were shipped over in the weapons racks of M3 Light Tanks, mostly. Primary sources and historians disagree on whether the Red Army utilized these weapons. Some say that they were issued to tankers, rezvedchiki and paratroopers, and there is some (very scant) photographic evidence to suggest this may have been the case; others insist that all of them were warehoused in much the same way as most of the M1911 Colts were.

If I were you, I'd get a VSR clone springer to convert into a Mosin-Nagant rifle or carbine; or get an M14 AEG to convert into an SVT-40, DP, or PPSh41.

[Adler69]

I am still searching for weapon types sent to them , but i did find my PDF copy of the complete list of Lend Lease goods sent to every country that requested aid.
Here are some copies of the pages

[airbornerocks]

M10 Tank

The only known photo of a Russian M10 in action in 1944,
belonging to the 1223rd Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, 29th Tank Corps, 5th Guards Tank Army, 3rd Belorussian Front.

M3 Light Tank near Orel 1942