U.S. Wartime Aid to Soviets Praised

The late Marshal Georgi K. Zhukov, in memoirs published on Monday, says U.S. aid to the Soviet Union during World War II was crucial to the victory over Nazi Germany.

His remarks stood in contrast to occasional Soviet press articles that have given the impression that the U.S. assistance was minimal.

Zhukov’s assessment was important since he was chief of the Soviet general staff in the war and knew all major details of Moscow’s military effort. He died in 1974.

“We would have been in a difficult position without American gunpowder, we could not have produced the quantities of ammunition we needed,” he said.

“Without U.S. Studebakers (trucks), we would have had nothing with which to pull our artillery. They largely provided our front transport. . . . Producing special steels, necessary for the most diverse needs of war, also involved certain U.S. supplies.”