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9 Volume 73 Number 1
15 February 2021
carriers close to Russia via the northern routes Norway and a back up fleet of destroyers. The
and dispatching aircraft such as hurricanes and outlook for these convoys looked bleak to say the
spitfires. Britain was only able to manufacture least.
about half of what it needed in the fight against As the convoys began, very soon a third of a mil-
Hitler. The rest had to come from the USA. Roo- lion tons of war materials reached Murmansk and
sevelt stepped in and with persuasion from Archangel with the loss of only one freighter and
Churchill began to Lend Lease vital supplies to one destroyer. It seemed that Hitler was more
Stalin. The Russians needed planes, tanks, alu- concerned about directing his land armies that he
minum and rubber in vast quantities. Churchill had ignored the convoys thinking that the rough
explained in a cable to Stalin that there was no seas and cold weather would take its toll on the
question of selling these goods to Russia and that ships. This didn’t last long, however. Beginning
Britain’s contribution would be lend lease in ac- with convoy PQ13 which included the loss of the
HMS Edinburgh—Enlarged Town Class Cruiser
https://geoff_lambertsen.artstation.com/projects/4bZLQk
cordance with the arrangement with the USA. cruiser HMS Trinidad and 5 merchantmen in
Roosevelt responded in equal part by amending March 1942. Losses climbed steadily to maraud-
the Lend Lease Act to include sending supplies to ing U boats and land based enemy aircraft. PQ17
Russia. But the fact remained that Russia would convoy lost 23 out of 34 ships despite a strong
have to pay; the question was how much and escort cover: 2 battle ships, 8 cruisers a fleet car-
when? Stalin realised this and that he would have rier and 26 destroyers. In addition, nine British
to pay for it in part hard cash and in gold. and three Russian submarines were unable to
Churchill cabled Stain in October 1941 outlining stop the destruction and carnage. Hitler now
the plan to assist in shipping the war materials to knew he had to stop these Russian war supplies
the Soviets by convoy routes leaving the UK eve- especially after his first winter in Russia. The fight
ry 10 days. This included the dangerous Archan- was well and truly on.
gel run from British and Icelandic ports, through And was Stalin paying for these war materials?
the Barents Sea. This route brought the convoys In October 1941 HMS Suffolk with 10 tons of bul-
within range of Luftwaffe aircraft and German U lion aboard successfully transported this shipment
Boats based in Norway. Then there was the threat from Archangel to Scapa Flow in 13 days. (Scapa
of the German battlecruiser Tirpitz, also based in was the home anchorage of the Royal Navy’s
http://www.noabc.com/
