Fionn... We were officially neutral in 39 and 40 When Lend Lease was passed in March 1941 it had been bitterly debated for two months. There was a strong isolationist feeling in America and there were people, like Charles Lindberg who admired Hitler. After Lend Lease pased our neutrality was a sham but passions still ran high. We began to send supplies to England and -to a lesser extent- to Russia. This support cost the US over 50 billion dollars by 1945. The Russian losses can, to a great extent, be laid at the feet of Stalin. He had purged all the competent general officers and replaced them with politically correct incompetents for the most part. The Red army was ill-equipped to face Hitlers troops although they did have a superior tank in the T-34. That Russia lost so many troops is no surprise considering the circumstances. As poorly led as they were, it's a wonder they weren't ALL killed.
The siege of Stalingrad and the defense of Leningrad will always be remembered as miracles of heroism. If Stalin had not had generals like Timoshenko and Zukhov, the story might have been very different on the Eastern Front. Even with all this, if Roosevelt had declared war before Pearl Harbor, the country would have been very divided and we would not have been as effective as we were AFTER Pearl Harbor. After Pearl, we were united in our effort and determination to defeat those who had attacked us. We did not prevaricate. We could not have done what we did had the country been divided against itself. Spotty, thanks for the kind words. Jets. Merchant Marine?

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