English assassin makes several excellent points.Originally Posted by Franconicus
I would add:
The wear and tear on military equipment in wartime conditions is extraordinary, without even taking combat damage into account. Most of the planes, tanks, and trucks which were shipped were probably scrap by the time the war ended.
The US (and all other) armed forces contracted dramatically at the end of the war, so even equipment in possession of the US was scrapped or mothballed shortly after the war ended.
The pace of technical innovation was such that much of the lent equipment was obsolete by the war's end. In the famous case of the 50 over-age destroyers lent to the British early in the war, the destroyers were obsolete (for all but ASW) when they were delivered.
Anyway, for the reasons mentioned above, most of the equipment delivered was not worth returning.
It was considered essential to keep the USSR in the war. Keeping them supplied meant more Germans fighting and dying in the east and fewer waiting to kill Americans on the beaches of France. So, this aid meant fewer American casualties.Originally Posted by Franconicus
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