In addition to their own direct contributions to the defeat of the Axis Powers, the Western nations made vital shipments of large quantities of war material to the U.S.S.R. In spite of losses to Nazi submarines, a great quantity of planes, tanks, and munitions arrived in the U.S.S.R. In a rare moment of praise for its wartime allies, the Soviet Government announced on Radio Moscow and in leading Soviet newspapers, on June 10 and 11, 1944, the receipt of these supplies from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada during the period from October 1, 1941, to April 30, 1944. Among the items mentioned were:
12,056 aircraft from the U.S. and U.K.
8,026 tanks from the U.S. and U.K.
116 naval craft
37,407 motor trucks and military personnel carriers
17,017 motorcycles from the U.K.
22,400,000 shells
87,900 tons of gunpowder
245,000 telephone sets
II. World War II and Postwar Developments
Soviet Allegations:
The Soviet note states that the Western Allies had a “joint concerted policy” toward Germany in World War II. It maintains that, if these policies had been continued, as inaugurated by President Roosevelt, there would have been peaceful coexistence after the war. Instead, according to the Soviet note, the atmosphere was poisoned by Winston Churchill and others seeking an aggressive course against the U.S.S.R. The note says:
This is the sad pass to which has come, after the 13 postwar years, the once joint and concerted policy of the Four Powers—the U.S.S.R., the United States, Great Britain, and France—with regard to Germany. [ . . . ]
The policy of the Western Powers, however, was increasingly influenced by forces obsessed with hatred for Socialist and Communist ideas but which concealed during the war their hostile designs against the Soviet Union. As a result, the course was set in the West toward the utmost aggravation of the ideological struggle headed by aggressive leaders, opponents of the peaceful coexistence of states. The signal for this was given to the United State and to other Western countries by W. Churchill in his notorious Fulton speech in March 1946. [ . . . ]
The Soviet Government deeply regrets that events took such a turn, since this prejudices the cause of peace and runs counter to the natural desire of peoples for peaceful coexistence and friendly cooperation. There was a time when the leaders of the United States and Great Britain, in particular Franklin D. Roosevelt, the outstanding American statesman, reflecting the sentiment of the mass of the people, proclaimed the necessity of creating such a system of mutual relations between states under which the nations would feel secure and people everywhere could live all their lives without fear.
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