PQ17
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Biggus, apologies, too tired 
Could be why the V-bombers were designed with a secondary role as mine layers - Vulcan certainly.
Could be why the V-bombers were designed with a secondary role as mine layers - Vulcan certainly.
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Cambridge, UK
Age: 45
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by Hangarshuffle
Russians didn't like either the Hurricane or the tanks (Churchill, Valentine and US Sherman) we sent them and found them markedly inferior to their own T34 or KV1 and varients. Its sometimes hard to find reference to any of the war material we despatched via the North Cape IMHO.
Did it all work as well as the propaganda makes out?
Was it all really that useful to the Russians?
Did it all work as well as the propaganda makes out?
Was it all really that useful to the Russians?
If I remember correctly too, Gunston also recounted the story of meeting some senior officers from the Russian Airforce post-war and they told him they wouldn't let anyone over 35 fly the aircraft. Asked why, the Russian officer replied (straight-faced) "balls get caught in prop-shaft"
Anyway, it was an excellent documentary. JC seems to have a knack for getting the 'tone' of these right.
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Fife, Scotland
Age: 78
Posts: 247
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
"Was it all really that useful to the Russians?"
My father-in-law was on the Russian convoys - they were treated with great suspicion and rarely allowed off the ships.
Considering the conditions experienced in getting there (spent a lot of time hacking off ice in atrocious conditions to avoid turning turtle), he was not amused.
My father-in-law was on the Russian convoys - they were treated with great suspicion and rarely allowed off the ships.
Considering the conditions experienced in getting there (spent a lot of time hacking off ice in atrocious conditions to avoid turning turtle), he was not amused.
Whatever the Russian Government said or didn't say, or what it told its own people, the Russian Convoys were an essential lifeline to a beleaguered country. It's all very well to say that a Red Army victory was inevitable over the Wehrmacht, but it takes more than overwhelming manpower to get there. The convoys bought the Soviets time to get their own act together, having lost most of their aircraft and tanks in the initial blitzkrieg.
If your father in law wanted the Nazi regime defeated, then his part in the Arctic War was a vital component in that, no matter how he was treated by our Russian allies.
If your father in law wanted the Nazi regime defeated, then his part in the Arctic War was a vital component in that, no matter how he was treated by our Russian allies.
