Hillary: 'What Difference Does It Make'
Posted on 05/14/2015 2:44:35 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Edited on 05/14/2015 3:42:31 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
May 8 marked the end of World War II in Europe 70 years ago
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Is there seriously any doubt about this?
If we had never got in, just defended our naval assets, Russia would have eventually beaten the Germans. It would have been at great cost, and would have caused the fall of the Soviet Union even faster since they would not have been supported by us.
The real difference would have been the acquisition of the scientists who built the atomic bomb. That would have been our great loss from WWII.
“Russia would have eventually beaten the Germans”
Um....., no.
“...Roughly 17.5 million tons of military equipment, vehicles, industrial supplies, and food were shipped from the Western Hemisphere to the USSR, 94% coming from the US. For comparison, a total of 22 million tons landed in Europe to supply American forces from January 1942 to May 1945....”
When World War II started, America was isolationist and the Soviet Union collaborationist.
The U.S. may have been "isolationist" in terms of formal declarations of war, but there's no question that we were already involved in the war in terms of supplying one side and providing direct military support. I find it hard to take an author seriously when he describes America as "isolationist" before World War II when it was American-made ships carrying American supplies, escorted by American submarines, that kept Great Britain in the game before 1941.
Born and raised in and around Marietta, Georgia from several generations there, I was well aware of the Lockheed Plant (Air Force Plant 6) located there. Today it’s LM where F22s and C-130s are built.
I remember my aunts and uncles who’d worked there during and later after the war call it the Bell Bomber plant. I’ve since found Joe Kirby’s book on it.
Groundbreaking started in March 1942 and it was completed 54 weeks later. At the end of it’s B29 production run in 1946 when the plant was closed it had been pushing out TWO B-29s every day, seven days a week.
The main assembly building (still standing and working today) was large enough to house 20 battleships, 69 submarines and 24 PT boats. It employed 28,000 workers.
If you think about it, this isn’t America’s only unique feat. It was replicated in every state, every urban area and many rural areas. By the end, they were spitting out one liberty ship per DAY. Plants? Thousands of them - millions of workers putting out the largest arsenal this planet has ever seen.
That’s why.
American war production proved astonishing. At the huge Willow Run plant in Michigan, the greatest generation turned out a B-24 heavy bomber every hour. A single shipyard could mass-produce an ocean-going Liberty merchant ship from scratch in a week. ///
It’s almost silly to be able to produce a ship a week. Were it not history, I would not believe it. The rest of the story is even more amazing.
A lot has been made that the Russians fought 120 divisions and we fought 80, and the crack troops went to Russia.
This story puts things in perspective, and gives the impression that Russia was doomed without US aid.
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Hillary: 'What Difference Does It Make'
And look how grateful the French have been to us ever since we saved their ass...
VDH is correct in saying that America was icolationist ‘when WW2 started’. Yes, America supplied both Britain and later Russia with equipment after Lend-Lease was passed, but Britain had to endure a long year or so before Congress passed Lend-Lease. The supplies from America before then were pretty paltry and often consisted of obsolete equipment. FDR had to proceed slowly in helping Britain because Americans did not want to join the war.
“...would have been the acquisition of the scientists who built the atomic bomb...”
We already had the bomb. But the Germans were important to developing the rockets with which to deliver them. But perhaps the Germans did help us with the Hydrogen bombs??
not only was America isolationist then it still is now.
Many isolationists are alive and well and posting on Free Republic
I think some German said something like “For every bomber we shoot down, you send back 12 in it’s place.”
Who knew? /sarcasm
Right. But America has been “isolationist” since its founding to a large degree. George Washington’s warning to Congress in his farewell address is a pretty good indication of a prevailing wisdom even back then.
The actual facts on the ground show that we helped them, but they, the Soviet Union, were already producing enough armament in the Ural mountains to sustain their war machine.
We kept them from even greater manpower losses through our help, but they still would have won the war. Germany had nowhere near the manpower to sustain those losses on the Eastern Front, while the Soviet Union did.
Our help sped up the victory, but Russia won the war.
We captured quite a few scientists who would have helped the Soviet Union to build their own bomb.
By capturing them we kept them from the Soviets.
Not without American supplies they wouldn't have, and not without the destruction of German industrial capabilities.
The Soviet Union was the 2nd major recipient of US lend/lease behind Great Britain.
The numbers do not support that view. Lend Lease provided 10% of Russian production. That is the difference between defense and an offense.
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