eddy8men Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 hi fella's found these items for sale on polish website and was surprised to find out we had supplied matilda's to russia is this correct. http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.allegro.pl/item921036029_kawalek_angielskiej_matildy_mk_ii.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dallegro%26hl%3Den&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhj3q0OWkqjw65bNOFwDLJL1Jd8qlw i wonder if the rest of it is still buried eddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Matildas and Churchills from the UK, Valentines from Canada, thousands of Shermans not to mention Spitfires, Hurricanes, P39s and P40s, Thompson SMGs etc etc etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 thanks adrian it's strange but you never see any pics of british armour in russian hands except for the valentines, anyone got any of the said pics to post. cheers eddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex van de Wetering Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 Eddy, I think you will find Oliver Missings website on this subject very interesting, http://www.o5m6.de/ In the links section you will also find several websites with more info and picture of lend lease equipment. thanks adrianit's strange but you never see any pics of british armour in russian hands except for the valentines, anyone got any of the said pics to post. I understand that after WW2 the Russians were very accurate in avoiding release of WW2 pictures which showed the help from the Western Allies in the form of Lend Lease vehicles etc. But over the past few years a lot of pictures have come available of Jeeps, Scout cars, Shermans (even the pretty late examples) and of course Studebaker and Chevy trucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmac Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 after WW2 the Russians were very accurate in avoiding release of WW2 pictures which showed the help from the Western Allies They were! I'd like to think that some interested party will be researching and publishing photos from the Russian and Ukranian archives within the next 10 years. If you've ever read Anthony Beavors works you'll know he spent years in the Moscow archives, both national and ex-KGB with fantastic payback. PS. That link was a great site, took me back to the early days of the net :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
25 pounder Posted February 23, 2010 Share Posted February 23, 2010 thanks adrianit's strange but you never see any pics of british armour in russian hands except for the valentines, anyone got any of the said pics to post. cheers eddy Russian comanders surely wern't proud they had to rely on the "Kapitalyst" nations AND their equipment !!:mad: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 thanks guys now for my next question, does anyone have a use for these parts,i don't suppose there's much demand for matilda bits but if there is and they need any help to buy them just let me know. eddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted February 24, 2010 Author Share Posted February 24, 2010 thanks west front that's an excellent site,very interesting i wonder what the germans thought of the matilda,i bet they liked the armour it afforded them. cheers eddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveo578 Posted February 24, 2010 Share Posted February 24, 2010 (edited) hi eddy the numbers of lend lease tanks suppliedto the russians were 4100+ m4a2s both 75 and 76 gun types 3800+ valentines from canada and UK 1600+ m3 light tanks 1400+ M3 mediums 1100 Matilda 2 2400+ Universals both canada and UK 3.340 M3 scout cars t48 M3 based tank destroyers 650 1000 M17 MMGC 100 M15a1 MGC M10 52 115 M31 arv churchill 301 tetrarch 20 valentine BL 25 In addition numberrs do not reflect lossed due to u boats. one third of all US studebacker U6S 2.5ton trucks were also trasfered along with a huge amount of othe war materials including several complete tyre manufacturing plant and at least 1 oil production plant. Even nuclear materials were transfered. they even received on loan a british revenge class battleship. they also received numbers of other vehicles as test examples seems odd that a matilda 2 component appeared in Poland, I would think most of thesoviet matildas were out of service by the time poland was "liberated" , possibly could have been a beute panzer or german training aid. the following link gives a good idea of the amount of stuff supplied to the soviet union in ww2 it is debatable whether they would have rallied against the german attack withou this aid- possibly would have to make peace similarily to what happened in 1918 and would have had to accept a loss of huge amounts of land european russia http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/pearl/www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6315/lend.html?q=pearl/www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6315/lend.html steve Edited February 24, 2010 by steveo578 addition Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted February 25, 2010 Author Share Posted February 25, 2010 thanks steve that makes for interesting reading ,that's a lot of kit.i doubt the russians would ever thank us, ungrateful buggars. eddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveo578 Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 They actually said thank you to Canada for the Valentine Tanks, personally I think they were making sure they had somewhere nice to flee to if things went bottom up.:-D They never did thank the U.S.A or the British just constant whining about a second front and lack of equipment. But then again we did offer them the Covenantor:wow: Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 But then again we did offer them the Covenantor:wow: Steve A fine tank! It makes a man of you..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveo578 Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Assuming the motor could be kept running at least the crew wouldn't freeze in the Russian winter:-D:-D steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveo578 Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 I found this tank while looking for a link to the Polish restored StuG 4 it shows a matilda wreck found in a river called the Jasenok (according the web site www.detektorweb.cz) however as yet I cannot find any google web map reference to it. but is possibly in the Belorus/ Northern Ukraine area- Kalinin front area. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griff66 Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 bet it was fun getting those bars out after a load was put on the cables!:cool2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreadnought Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Just on the theme of Russia not admitting that anyone else was involved in WW2 except them and the Germans, my American ex- brother in law who arrived with the US Airforce in the late 60,s was puzzled watching old war films on TV in UK!!! he was educated, but had no idea that the british fought for a long time before the Americans joined in. At school he was taught that WW2 began the day the Americans started to fight, likewise WW1 (History is written by the winning side! and the Americans always believed they won it! - cashed in on it more like!) And on to British/American equipment in 'Iron Curtain' films, in Poland there is a classic TV Series from either the 60,s or 70,s that follows the fortunes of a T34 Tank crew (and their dog - a German Shepherd called 'Szarik') in it you will see a sten gun being carried by a Polish resistance man and several Studebaker trucks and probably some more that I missed, it is very well done for the time, except for the fake tigers (not even as good as kelly Heroes Tigers) and the Russian 60,s armoured cars with German crosses! but all in all a fun thing to watch for any military enthusiast, (just remember that when they fire the gun, it is probably a real shell!!! they didn,t 'do' stunt men or 'health and safety in Poland back then! (they don,t where I live now!) It is called 'Sterej Pancerni e pies' (the tank was called 'RUDI') Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveo578 Posted June 25, 2010 Share Posted June 25, 2010 Dreadnought my American ex- brother in law who arrived with the US Airforce in the late 60,s was puzzled watching old war films on TV in UK!!! he was educated, but had no idea that the british fought for a long time before the Americans joined in. At school he was taught that WW2 began the day the Americans started to fight, likewise WW1. Doesn't surprise me at all, but then the U.S. state educational system does tend to concentrate on Washington - War of Independance and the Constitiution, consider the popularity of the series "John Adams" I doubt a similar peak time drama documentary about the 7 years or Napoleonic war would get produced in the U.K. unless Sean Bean was lead actor:-( probably the same in Poland but I can't think of a suitable analogy. It is called 'Sterej Pancerni e pies' (the tank was called 'RUDI') -in the UK we had Dr Who -bugger we still have Dr Who.:-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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