Ww2 uk saved by usa?

Question

hey i hear lots of people from the USA saying "we saved your *** in WW2". my standard reply is saying the majority of the german army and air force was fighting the ussr whilst the uk attacked the german navy and fought the germans in the dessert.

as i am from the UK this upsets me because my grandad fought in the dessert along with his brother who was killed in the Battle of the Katerine Pass.

now i think i am right in saying that the uk only just paid back the war debt that the usa charged us for the supplies, of course i may be inaccurate with this.

so my questions are

1) how did the USA SAVE the UK in WW2.

2) did the USA charge the UK for the supplies sent.

3) was the majority of the German army fighting the USSR.

Answer 1

Q1 - They did and they didn't.

WWII was a collaborative effort, all the allied armies were responsible for victory - UK, US, USSR as well as Empire troops, troops from occupied countries and, of course - all those who worked in the factories making the weapons.

I think the USSR has a greater claim to victory than anyone - but they could not have done it without the Convoys shipping American spam and materiel.

Q2 - of course they bl00dy charged - we only finished paying them back a couple of years ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6215847.st...

Q3 - The vast majority of German troops, tanks and aircraft were facing the Soviets.

http://www.theeasternfront.co.uk/

Answer 2

1. First I agree, it is a stupid comment to say "We saved your asses!"  We had fresh troops.  Had we been fighting since 1939 (as UK was) we would have been just as disheveled.  Americans are poor students of history and they forget that the war started in 1938; we didn't enter until 1941.  That being said, we did save your ***.  The tide of the war was turning but the UK was badly in need re-enforcements.  Between the air superiority campaign over Britain and the Battle for Britain greatly over extended Britain's military.

2. Yes.  See the lend lease act and http://europeanhistory.about.com/b/2006/...

3. Yes.

Answer 3

  The US might be considered the 'savior' of the UK, because of the supplies, ships and equipment it provided even before it entered the war.  US destroyers were being sunk by the Germans even before Pearl Harbor, doing convoy duty.

  The British were losing more ships than it could build (more than both the US and UK could build) and despereately needed US support to maintain resistance.

  Much of the war debt was repaid, but some was forgiven.

  Most of the German army was fighting the USSR- which got a large part of its supplies from the US as well.

Answer 4

The reason a lot of Americans say this is because many of us are not overly educated in our history.  However some of us have gone beyond the typical education we receive in school and expanded our knowledge on this to realize that:

a) The Soviets bore the brunt of the war.  The Germans and Soviets hated each other.

b) D-Day was not the turning point in the war in Europe the Battle of Stalingrad was.

c) The USA did help both the USSR and UK by supplying them with a lot of war materials.

Ok now to your questions.

1)  The USA did kind of save the UK in WWII.  Had it not been for the manufacturing power of the USA the UK would have been vastly under supplied.  The UK lacked the infrastructure to mass produce both war materials and materials to supply its population.  This where the USA was able to help out tremendously.  The USA was able to produce both war materials and domestic materials, not only for the USA, but for the USSR and UK.  This allowed both European nations to concentrate on the war effort, while the USA was able to concenrate on both cause of our location.  The UK did produce their own materials such as tanks, planes and such, however the USA was able to produce bullets and such.

2)  The USA did charge all its allies for supplies sent.  However under the program the nations receiving the supplies were just borrowing them.  However at the end of the war all nations involved realized they needed the materials still so the USA sold the materials to the nations at $.10 on the dollar with a loan payable of 50 years at 2% interest.  The UK paid off their loan on 12/29/2006.  Payments were extended several times throughout the payment schedule.

3)  Yes a majority of the German army was engaged with the Soviets.  The Germans started their invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941 with Operation Barbarossa, the largest invasion in human history.  In total the invasion included about 4.5 million Axis soldiers.

Answer 5

yes the US helped win WW2, but if the US had not sold weapons to Germany as well as the Allies the war would not have lasted as long as it did.  Most of the first U-boats that sunk Allied ships and also American ships were built in the US for Germany.  Many Allied soldiers including Americans were killed by US built weapons.  The US became rich and powerful because of these sales.  

So yes the US helped win the war, but their greed made it last longer, causing more death and destruction.

Germany spread their forces too thin, if they had not attacked Russia they would have had more forces in Europe and maybe would have won(more greed)

If England had fallen to Germany, the Allies would not have had a base in Europe, and that would have made it harder or maybe impossible for the Allies to win.

No one country won the war, I believe that England did the most to help the Allies to victory.  And that the US did help a lot, but only after they helped make things even worse than they were.  If Japan had not attacked the US, would the US have helped the Allies?  We do not know this answer.  We do know that American greed extended the war!

Not sure about the financial part, but war is expensive, especially to the countries where the fighting took place.

War is stupid and so are the idiots who start them.

Answer 6

make no mistake about it the u.s.  did save your a.s.s.

1. yeah we charged you for materials and you really want me to believe the u.k. wouldn't have done the same. right.

2. why is it, that only the u.s. 8th army air corps flew daylight missions over germany. the raf flew night missions. they refused to participate in daylight bombing missions...i guess easier that way.

3. lets talk about monty. he said, he would be in caen shortly after june 6 and he wasn't. lets not forget about that brilliant airborne operation "market garden" and how many lives did it cost.

you bet we saved your but. just what would you have done without us?